Little Cozy Corner

This post has been waiting to be posted since a few days ago but finally - we made it!

I know I’m not a good cook but I guess what I can cook is good enought to keep Ted and me alive! lol I never used to step in the kitchen because my Mum does all the cooking and she is awesome at it plus I hated getting my fingers all smelling of onions, garlic and gunger. But today, it’s a whole new story for me - I cannot imagine cooking without them!! And I’m sure my Mum will be pleasantly surprised that most of my cooking now contains garlic and really finely chopped too. I only go throught the hassle because I know myself that if it’s any bigger in size, I would pick them out so in order for me to ingest it, I have to chop it up. In my personal opionion, everyone can cook. The difference is whether or not its mouth-watering and delicious or just good enough to fill the tummy. So even if you can only fry an egg - you can cook! At least you can still live on fried egg and bread everday la. Only problem is that your cholesterol level will sky rocket! Hehehe…

Both my Mum and Sis are awesome chefs. In fact, it’s a tragedy that I do not have the magic touch for cooking and I normally only cook to live and not live to cook. In another words, I only cook in times of desperation and not for fun. My Sis is more adventurous when it comes to cooking but not me. I like to follow the instructions to a T if possible - a bit of a chicken to try new things out for fear of spoiling the dish and wasting it. Before I got married, Mum used to tell me to get off my butt and learn to cook because I’ll be on my own here but because my Sis prefers to cook, I let her do it instead. I end up washing up afterwards coz she tends to forget that the pots and pans don’t really get up and wash themselves cleans after the cooking. I have to add that Mum doesn’t really like us cooking in her kitchen coz we tend to mess it up afterwards! lol Coming back to my Sis, I mean why want to rebut other people’s chance when that person enjoys it more right? *cheeky I know!* But I always tell my Mum that I know enough theory to save myself from hunger but theory is close to nothing when put into practice! Funny how in my mind, all the recipes I have is perfect but when I try it out - alamak, always tak jadi!

But now that I’ve been married for 1.5 years, I’m glad to say that I believe my cooking skills must be improving because Ted is getting more *prosperous* by the day, and not to mention I am too! Hahaha….so today, I want to show off my current speciality or my signature dish since I’ve been cooking this quite often and Ted really enjoys it.

Yvy’s Special Mince

Prep Time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : At least 45 minutes

Ingredients :

• Half a big onion diced [you can use the small ones but since I hardly buy them here, I use the big ones]

• 3 cloves of garlic chopped finely

• 1/2 kg of mince beef or pork

• Mixed herbs [I use McCormick's which is a blend of marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory and sage - this is optional if you're not into herbs]

• 1 fresh tomato diced or a can of chopped ones is fine too [Add more if you want it slightly sour]

• 3 to 4 fresh flat mushrooms diced [Alternatively you can use the canned button mushrooms]

• 200g of baked beans [Optional]

• 1 1/2 tablespoon Tomato paste

• Salt to taste

Method :  

1. Fry the onions and garlic until the aroma starts to rise.

2. Add in the mince and stir.

3. Once the mince is cooked [you can see from the change of color], add in the rest of the ingredients.

4. Mix well and simmer for at least 1/2 hour but the longer you simmer it, the better it will taste because all the flavours will then inffuse into the meat and YUM.

Once the mince is done, you can either have it with any pasta of your choice [I prefer those like macaroni or fusili kind compared to your regular spaghetti or linguine] or if you feel like having a snack with the mince, throw in some Doritos [corn chips] and you have nachos.

Don’t worry if you have any balance left which I normally do. Just keep it in the fridge overnight and have it with toast the next day - an awesome light lunch and no wastage at all. I normally cook a little extra for this purpose.

And if you’re like me - crazy over cheese, you can sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese or like the above since I didn’t have it with me, I threw in a slice of Cheddar cheese pun jadi la. Happy trying! [Maybe can cook for CNY eh?]

Next time I’ll share my MIL’s no-fail recipe for the perfect roast pork.

Ps. Note how my corn chips are also SUPREME cheese? LOL

Christmas came and went in a blink of the eye. All the anticipation and then you blink, and now it’s another 363 before Christmas comes again. So, how was your Christmas? Mine was quiet as it was last Christmas but the bonus if that we got Ella to celebrate it with. Partying started with a Christmas Eve party at Ted’s friends place and Ella got loads of toys there. It was rather claustrophobic [sp?] for me coz there were SO many kids running around. It was like a mad house! Good thing that Ella handled it VERY well and was only tough trying to get her to sleep being in a strange place and all but tiredness gave in any way. Ever seen what a place looks like after 10 odd kids have stripped their presents opened? Well, here’s what it looked like anyway…

After we got home, there was still one more present to be opened, so I opened it for Ella - Daddy had the chance to open the rest at the party.

On Chrismas morning, it was pressie opening time and this is what I got from Mum.

Very creative!!

Then it was time to get over to have Christmas lunch at Grandma’s.

Ella was suppose to wear this dress but it was a little chilly that day so she had to wear something else BUT the cute pink ribbon is still there! Btw, that yellow jumper she’s wearing was knitted by Grandma - talented Grandma!

Grandma roasted quails for us but had the ham and turkey bought and prepared, I think. Lunch was great but the presents were better!

She was obviously thrilled and so am I! She’s got a lot of clothes now so I don’t have to buy those cutes ones for now. We also got a train set from Grandma’s friends, it’s gorgeous!

It was about 5pm when we left for home, all happy and contented. Well, at least it was that way for Ella coz she was grumpy during lunch.

Chilling out with Uncle William’s [also known as Bill, my brother in law who was the one carving the leg of ham] teddy….all ready to go home.

Hope your Christmas was fun. Happy New Year!!!

Ps. If you’ve never seen a ‘drunk’ baby - be sure to check out more Christmas shots of Ella over at Kecik’s blog.

Today is most probably one of those days which I got high on food. I wont’ and can’t deny that I love food and I’ve been missing Malaysian cuisine since Mum went home so you can imagine my glee when Ted and I found a Malaysian food stall which was within walking distance from home!

We went shopping today and decided to have lunch outside. While looking around the foodcourt at Brand Smart’s lower level floor, I noticed that Oriental Tucker Box had all the stuff I love to eat! Amongst what I saw was char hor fun, wan tan mee, char koey teow, nasi lemak and laksa. They even had the gula melaka and sago dessert there!!! Wah…..just imagine how excited I was…..I quickly ordered the nasi lemak and Ted had his usual laksa. I must say that for a moment there, I felt as if I was home. I found a little bit of home in the most unlikely place - so close to home and I never noticed it. I must say that the 2 dishes we tried today is 90% as good as home which is super fantastic by my standards so far. Ted enjoyed his laksa too…the prawns were HUGE like those we had in Kuching.

I took a couple of picture but since I was in a hurry to tuck in, the photos didn’t quite turn out! lol But who cares??? As long as I am happy, Ted will be happy too. Can’t wait to go back there again, I don’t know what to eat next leh…coz they also have economy rice!!! Sure go botak from all this picking and choosing and deciding…..o, I was also told that they sell nyonya kuih as well but the lady who makes them has gone on holidays so I’ll wait for her to come back then I’ll stuff my face! Hehehehe…..

My nasi lemak which has chicken curry, beef rendang, half an egg, peanuts, sambal ikan bilis, cucumber and some prawny thing - belacan and dried shrimps kot….

I forgot to take the picture of laksa so this is one messed up one. lol Both of us couldn’t wait to tuck in so….this is what I get la.

HOME!!!! *grins happily*

It’s 1.50am and I’m still wide awake. Just had a wonderful time chatting with a gf and I guess that was what kept me awake. Since I’m still up at this ungodly hour, my tummy’s growling so I have with me a glass of warm milk to keep me company till I finish this post. Mum and Sis are also still awake so I’m not the only nut still wide-eyed at home. Heh.

On Saturday, after Pentecost mass, Mum, Sis and I decided to have dinner at this new western place owned by an uncle of a galpal of mine called Derek’s in Kulim. It’s a nice, cozy restaurant built in a single storey semi-d near Kulim town. We have heard a lot about this place and decided to check it out.

What I liked most about this place is the ambiance. The whole restaurant is filled with antique decorations which kept me more interested in taking pictures of those items than eating the food there. Because Derek had worked in Burma before this, he had bought many Burmese artifacts and decor to give the restaurant a very lived-in, colonial feel.

Really old Burmese lamps

900 year old China vases

An old Dutch clock

A piece of handmade leather decor on the wall

An old wooden jewelery box with the world map as the outside decor.

Other odds and ends around the restaurant. See that small brown dog under that huge Dane? I thought it was a real dog when I stepped in! Funny….

Just me being artsy-fartsy….

By the time I had taken all these pix, our entree arrived.

The onion soup was nice but it was a tad too peppery for me. Would have been better with a little less pepper.

After we had finished our soup, our main dishes were presented to us :

Mum’s order

Sis’ order

My order of crumbed fish & chips.

Once our main dish was done, we were served with dessert which was either ice cream or fruit and then followed by coffee. I felt as if I was back in Sydney, coz this is pretty much the line up for a set menu. Overall, I think the food was good and definitely worth it! Each set menu was about RM17 and the portions was more than enough. I certainly see myself going for another visit before I head off to Sydney so if you’re in Kulim, lemme know….I’ll take you there and we can have dinner together!

This should have been up yesterday since it was Mother’s Day yesterday but since we came back so late and my internet connection is still out of whack, I had to wait till now to post it up. I’m going over to the computer shop later to screw the guy who sold me a modem which only seems to work in his shop. Bah!! *not amused lar*

Anyway, Mother’s Day actually started in church when our priest gave us a sermon on how our first experience of true love is from our mothers. I wholly agree….she carried me for 9 months, suffered morning sickness and horrible heartburns and then, suffered even more to bring me into the world, and finally followed by decades of bringing me up. If it wasn’t love that she had by enduring all this pain and suffering, and most of the time, in silence, then I don’t know how else to define a mother’s love. From my experience, it is unconditional and nothing is required in return but as a daughter, I owe my whole life to her, I’m eternally bounded by her love.

Last night, the 3 of us had dinner at Kofi Haven. They had a special buffet dinner for this occasion at RM29.90++ with a live band accompanying dinner. The band happened to be a part of the band which played for my wedding so it was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it and more importantly, so did Mum. Each mother was given a door gift and since I’m 2/3 on the way of becoming one as I mentioned in Kecik’s blog, I got one too. You can catch me posing with it over at Kecik’s blog [Almost a bad case of cam-whoring!]. It turned out to be an apron.

They also had gifts given to anyone who had an enveloped stuck to the bottom of their chair, so at one point, everyone was in a frenzy turning their seat upside down, hoping that there would be an envelope under their chair. Sadly, we didn’t get any. O well, some you win, some you don’t…. Mum had an additional present because she bumpd into 2 of her old friends from school so she was very happy and it showed all over her face.

In addition to that, Sis made her a card and I slotted in a condensed version of something I blogged about some time back about her called ‘My Mummy, My Hero‘. It’s also over at Pelf’s blog too. I edited out some parts which I knew would bring back sad memories and I didn’t want to remind her of that. I knew she shed some tears over it because I could hear her blowing her nose after the rumpling of paper, early Sunday morning as we had placed our presents on the dining table the night before, as I lay in bed, waiting for her to finish reading. She loved both our simple presents and told me that what I wrote was very nice. To hear that really made me happy for although I know that whenever she’s proud of us, she hardly voices her happiness so that simple, ‘nice’ was more than enough for me. It must be that old habit of keeping a tough front.

All in all, we had a really nice day out and this must have been one of the best Mother’s Day celebration she’s had in years because this year, both my sis and I were home with her. Normally, it would only be me because sis is away at Uni in Johor.

To all the mothers, mohers-to-be and grandmothers too - HAPPY BELATED MOTHER’S DAY!! It’s never too late to say that and after all, everyday should be Mother’s Day. [Please apply my take on Valetine's Day here - EVERYDAY should be valentine's Day.]

It’s Easter and I can blog as much as I want from now. Sadly, I couldn’t really take any pictures of our Easter Vigil mass last night as I was the tambourine girl. Mass started at 9pm and lasted up to midnight. Some of you may think, ‘What a drag!!! 3 hours wor…..’ but what is 3 hours of celebrating the rising of the One who sacrificed His life on the cross for all sinners? *Food for thought eh?*

In any case, my family and I celebrated at Nasmir Nasi Kandar after midnight and we weren’t the only ones there! Half the church people were there…..I couldn’t believe it. Lol I thought it was kind of funny coz the majority of the patrons there were old people - not that old people can’t have a midnight snack but unusual right?? *Please correct me if me is wrong*

Anyway, here’s a peak of what I had and something I’ve never heard of….

This was my Paper Tosai. Notice the size in comparison to the steel plate. It is HUGE. But oh-so-yummy! Ever heard of Roti Anaconda? It’s 2 mamak tables long….*pengsan*

This what what my aunt ordered - any guesses what it is? Well, no cookies if you guessed wrong but it’s called Roti Hong Kong - don’t ask me why but I thought it would also include a sausage maybe?? *blur*

This one is an additional pix….ever since I came back home, I’ve been looking forward to having THIS particular kuay teow t’hng because I’m absolutely nuts over it. I practically went to this kopitiam [coffee shop] almost everyday but the taukey was never around. His stall was always shut - I was beginning to get really worried coz I knew that I just HAD to have this, there was no such thing as ‘never mind lah’ - it was on my mind, day and might! FINALLY, after weeks of stalking this kopitiam, I was estatic when I saw his stall open for business yesterday!

However, I was sorely disappointed that he had lost his touch. Not nice anymore wor….so I’m very upset. *sigh* Thank goodness the teh gelas [obviously a huge glass of TEH TARIK] was good. That was indeed a slight consolation….