Hua Tan Zhi Ke Cha

Dh came back from Japan and had been coughing badly for more than a week already. He had seen the GP thrice, taken antibiotics, cough mixtures, anti-phlegm medicine, lozenges and all of them don't seem to give him any immediate relief. The cough is really bad ... when he coughs it's as though he is coughing his lungs out and sometimes he retches out all that he had for lunch or dinner which is also not much.

I had a chat with the GP and she said that the kind of viral infection that's going around seems to be another kind that takes a longer time for the body to recover from. Also as we age our immunity is also taking a beating. So it seems the body will also take a longer time to heal.

Since dh's appetite is so poor, I had to cook soups for him. So here I chanced upon this chinese herb soup from Chwee Song which was good for clearing phlegm and for relieving persistent coughs. All I had to do was to empty the entire contents of the package into 500 mls of boiling water and simmer for about an hour to get the soothing soup out. Give it a pinch of salt and dh readily drinks this to get some relief from his wretched cough. I've made this many times now.

Dh is on his way to recovery as I can hear he is coughing less. I'm sure by the end of this week he will be well again.

Chocolate Dates With Almond

J called me one evening and told me that she was going to send some dates from Dubai over for me to try.
So here they are delivered to me in a white package. I am happy dancing now because I've never tried this kind of dates before. It's a date covered with chocolate and it also had an almond embeded in it. The sweetness of the chocolate and the date together is quite overwhelming but the almond nut and the flesh of the date together gives an interesting texture. If they had used bitter chocolate instead of milk chocolate to cover the date .... it would have been perfect.
Thanks J for sharing them with me :-)

Valentine's Day Cake

I baked this simple buttercake for dh before he left for his overseas assignment on Valentine's Day itself. It's his favourite recipe :-) As he was fighting a flu before he left we kept the celebration simple as in just gathering the family together to eat the cake before he left for the airport.

Flowers to brighten your day :-)

I braved the busy flying bees to take this shot at the flower show at Sentosa. I was so afraid that one of them might sting me while I took a shot. Luckily I got away with this precious moment and went away unscathed.

I love looking at fresh flowers. They really can do wonders at lifting my mood up.

I took more pics and had saved them in the slideshow below. They all look so beautiful naturally under the strong sunlight that afternoon. I hope they do wonders to your mood too :-) Enjoy!




http://cecsum03.multiply.com/photos/slideshow2/2

Friendship Ball

I got a friendship ball from E sometime ago. Thanks E for this! I know it's not easy to form friendship and maintain the relationship. It has to go both ways I guess. I only got to know E through the cyberworld and met her a couple of times too. She's a very energetic lady, very intense and passionate about what she does with her cooking, baking and her family and friends.
I on the other hand am very laid back and very lazy in the way I make friends and maintain my relationships LOL Maybe there's still hope for me to make more friends once I get my lazy butt off the couch LOL. So now I will pass this ball to some of my blogger friends. It is in these blogs that I read about what they cooked and baked for their families and friends and also shared their recipes so generously.

http://bakingmum.blogspot.com/
http://www.hutofcranberry.blogspot.com/
http://jthorge.blogspot.com/
http://eastmeetswestkitchen.blogspot.com/

Marche at Vivocity

Dd had been bugging us for sometime to eat her chocolate crepe at Marche. We promised dd that we would visit Marche at Vivocity again to eat her favourite crepe after we visited Sentosa to see the flowers.
So here we ordered her chocolate crepe and dh and I shared a bowl of calamari for tea time. It was here too I drank a gigantic cup of coffee ... my first time seeing such a huge cup of coffee LOL. I like the eating experience here on a lazy afternoon too when it's not the lunch time crowd.
Now I wonder where can I get chocolate crepe besides at Marche. Would really appreciate it if some kind soul would let me know :-)

Chicken in Sesame Oil

Sharing this lovely and yummy recipe here taken from The Chinese Pregnancy & Confinement Cookbook by Ng Siong Mui.

Ingredients

1 kg chicken parts, seasoned with some salt

50 g old ginger, sliced

3 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp chinese rice wine

Method

Heat the sesame oil in a wok.

Fry ginger slices till fragrant.

Put in chicken parts and stir- fry for a couple of minutes.

Cover wok and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add in the chinese rice wine and stir-fry for another couple of minutes till the chicken is done.

Munchy Donuts

Had this during the weekend. They look so good and taste just as good too. This must be the third time I bought this from the Hougang Mall Stall. Prices have also gone up by 30%
One of these donuts used to cost a dollar and now I have to pay $1.30
For a dollar thirty I can buy a loaf of bread to eat for three breakfasts LOL.

Chocolate Butter Cake

I received this recipe from a friend and adapted it to make a more moist cake. It's a good recipe if you like the butter cake kind of texture. Here's sharing it with you .....

Ingredients

250 g butter, softened
200 g caster sugar
4 nos. large eggs ( or 5 nos. medium size)
2 tbsp Irish cream of Bailey's
120 mls UHT milk
60 g Valhorna Chocolate/cocoa Powder
150 g Self Raising flour

Method

Sieve together the flour and the cocoa powder. Set aside.

Line a 9" round cake tin with greased proof paper.

Pre-heat oven at 180 degree C.

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

Add in beaten eggs with Irish Cream and milk, a portion at a time.

Add in the sifted flour cocoa mixture, a portion at a time.

Stir till all mixtures are well blended.

Bake for 50 minutes or till skewer comes out clean.

Remove cake on wire rack and cool completely before cutting up and storing.

Reunion 2 CNY 2008

Reunion 2 was at my MIL's place. She cooked all her children's favourite food. I contributed my share of Baked curry chicken wings and the Blueberry cake with crunchy nut topping.

My BIL bought duck and SIL bought roast pork. MIL cooked mushroom, beef, steamed white chicken, battered prawns, fried Ngoh Hiang and watercress soup.

I've always preferred this way for family gatherings with everyone contributing something to the lovingly prepared home cooked meal.

Xing Nian Kuai Le !

Wishing all who read my blog to have happy CNY celebrations!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Wan Shi Ru Yi

Nian Nian You Yu

Long Ma Jing Shen

And for those who do business ......

Shen Yi Xing Long

You Shui Duo Duo

Jin Yin Man Wu

Man Di Huang Jin

Reunion 1 CNY 2008

We had the first reunion dinner at Wah Lok at Carlton Hotel. It is a classy restaurant that served Cantonese food. Eversince mum had her fall last year, she had no confidence of cooking anymore. Her mental strength needed quite a bit of a work out. So it was decided that we would eat out this year to give her her chance to get out of the house.

So here you see some of the dishes that were served. The bill came up to a whopping $600!

These were the dishes from a set menu we ordered.

Actually I would have preferred to eat at home or to eat at our favourite Zi Char stall in Hougang LOL.