Category Archives: Uncategorized

egg, mushroom, Pork, Uncategorized

Fried Bee Hoon/ Rice Vermicelli (炒米粉)

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I cooked fried bee hoon before, but didn’t turn out well. I think I dealt with bee hoon in a wrong way. This time, I corrected it and tried it again.

Ingredients:

bee hoon 100g

water

oil

dried shiitake mushroom 4

pork belly 100g

1 egg

1 small carrot

1 small onion

1/4 of a small cabbage

Singapore XO spicy chili sauce (optional)

light soy sauce 1 tsp

dark soy sauce 1/2 tsp

oyster sauce 1 tsp

salt 1/2 tsp

white pepper powder 1/2 tsp

1 stalk spring onion

 

  1. Soak bee hoon in warm water for 3-5 mins or till they get totally soft (Please read the instruction on the package). Drain them to dry.
  2. Soak shiitake mushroom in water. Then remove the bottom and cut into slice. Keep the mushroom water for later use.
  3. Cut pork belly into slices, vegetables (cabbage, carrot and onion) into strips. Beat egg into a bowl.
  4. Heat a pan. Brush the pan with oil. Pour the beaten egg in. Sway the pan to let the egg spread evenly. When egg gets solidified, gently flip it over to fry the other side a bit. Then take it out and cool down. Cut into strips.
  5. Heat pan again. Add in 1 tbsp oil. Add pork in. Stir fry till pork turns white in color. Add in shiitake mushroom slice. Stir fry for 1 min or 2.
  6. Add in 2 tbsp mushroom water and let them simmer for 3 mins to cook pork.
  7. Add in carrot and cabbage, stir fry for 2 mins.
  8. Add in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce oyster sauce, salt and white pepper. I also put in 1 tbsp Singapore XO spicy chili sauce to add more flavor and spicy taste to bee hoon. Stir fry evenly.
  9. Add in bee hoon and onion. I will change spatula to chopsticks to make sure each bee been be mixed with sauce.
  10. At last, add in egg and chopped spring onion. Mix evenly and ready to serve.

https://flic.kr/p/2ek4vKs

 

This is definitely the best bee hoon I’ve cooked so far. My husband also gave it thumps up.

https://flic.kr/p/2fmkJfE

I was not a big bee hoon fan, but now I think I am.

Pork, Potato, Uncategorized

Pork & Mixed Vegetable Stew Recipe

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In earlier days, transportation was not as convenient as how it is now. People in northern part of China didn’t have much choice about vegetables in winter. The most usually seen vegetables are potato, Chinese cabbage and turnip. They can be boiled, stewed, preserved and used to make soup. Pork stew together with these vegetables were very popular and so are they now. This hot dish is ideal for a cold winter.

1. Cut pork belly into smaller chunks. Put them into a pot. Add in enough water. Bring to boil with high heat. Take the pork out and rinse under water.

2. Heat a pan. Add in 2 tablespoon oil and 2 tablespoon sugar. Turn to low heat. Keep stirring to let let sugar melt first and then turn brown.

3. Add in pork. Stir fry and pork will also become brown. Add in spices: ginger, bay leaves, star anise, and dried chili. Stir fry till aromatic.

4. Pour in hot water about 2-3 cm higher than all ingredients. Cove the lid and simmer for 20 mins.

5. For the vegetables, I chose potatoes and puff tofu. Potatoes are peeled and cut into medium pieces. Place potatoes over pork and then tofu puff on the top. Those that hard to be cooked are always at the bottom layer. Cover with lid and simmer for another 25-30 mins.

6. Turn to high heat and reduce the sauce a bit. Then ready to serve.

Uncategorized, Vegetables

Radish Kimchi

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Don’t know why I am so obsessed with spicy kimchi recently. There happens to be a radish in the fridge, so I decide to make radish kimchi by myself.

1. Prepare a radish. Mine is about 250g. Peel it and chop it into small cubes. Place them in a big bowl and sprinkle 1 tablespoon salt. Leave it there for 1 hour. Drain them, because a lot of water will come out from the radish.

2. Put 1 pear (core removed), 8-10 cloves of garlic, 10g ginger into blend. Blend them till very smooth.

3. Add chili powder (according to your taste) to the pear paste and stir well.

4. Put all the radish in a big bowl, add add in chopped spring onion. Then pour the paste into the bowl. Toss a bit to mix them well.

https://flic.kr/p/2dQAt7p

5. Prepare a jar or a container. Boil in water first to be sterilized. Dry it. Put radish kimchi into it. Lid on but don’t close too tight. Leave it there for several hours to ferment. Then close tightly and store in the fridge.

https://flic.kr/p/T6j64S

Prawn, Uncategorized

Laksa

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Finally, I got the chance to cook Laksa at home. It all due to my husband. When we were shopping for groceries, he suddenly told me that he wanted to have laksa. He chose a pack of laksa paste and laksa noodles. We also bought bean sprouts and puff tofu yesterday. He was quite excited about the laksa I was going to cook.

The most important part of Laksa is the paste, which is made from all kinds of spices. I really don’t want to buy many kinds of spices and store in the fridge. Cos I’m pretty sure that I will forget about them and they just stay there and rot. So the most convenient way is what my husband did to buy Laksa paste from supermarket.

This is the one my husband chose.

Another ingredient may be time-consuming is prawn stock. Although the instruction on the package says you can just add in water. I still think prawn stock will be a better choice.

I used about 500 g prawns. Remove all the heads and shells (except the tail shell). Heat  a pan. Add in 1 tbsp oil. Put all the prawn heads and shells in. Stir fry till they all turn red. Pour in 4 cups water. Lid on. Simmer with low heat for 1 hour. When stock was on stove, my husband came to kitchen and said “it smells so so good”.

Blanch laksa noodles, bean sprout and fish cake in water for 2-3 mins. Then arrange them in a bowl.

When prawn stock is down, sieve the stock and get rid of all the shells.

Heat a pan. Put laksa paste in. Because there is too much oil in the paste, I poured some out. Stir fry the paste for a little while, till you can smell the aroma. Pour all the prawn stock in. I also added in 1 cup water, because prawn stock reduced during simmering. Bring the soup to boil. Add in prawns, clams and puff tofu. Boil for 2 mins. Pour in 200 ml coconut milk. Gently stir and simmer for another 3 mins.

Arrange prawns, clams and puff tofu over the noodles. Pour the soup over them.

https://flic.kr/p/2feC9hh

My husband loves it very very much.

I also served it with a half-boiled egg.

Uncategorized

#SAKURA MATSURI FLORAL DISPLAY# @GARDENS BY THE BAY 2019

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Yesterday, My husband and I went to Gardens By The Bay for Sakura Matsuri Floral Display.

Gardens By the Bay usually holds different floral display activities the whole year. They will display flowers from different places of different seasons. Now it’s spring time, so it’s sakura season.

The floral display is held in flower dome, which needs ticket if you want to go inside. Outside of it is free. You can see the famous skytree and other theme gardens.

Tickets for 2 of us is S$21.6. Even though it’s weekday, there are still many people there.

Sakura trees are not as many as we expected.

Looking from distance, the view is like this:

https://flic.kr/p/2f6zHGs

White sakura and pink sakura. Some are in full blossom while some are still in sprouts.

Petals fall from the tree and drift slowly in the air.

https://flic.kr/p/RpUxz6

Janpanese Marumado Art

https://flic.kr/p/24yJJh4

https://flic.kr/p/2f6zHTE

And others

https://flic.kr/p/2fbfGvX

There are more than sakura in Flower Dome.

We also visited the big Fish Aquarium @ Gardens by the Bay. My husband and I stayed there for a long while till it gets dark. We also made the fish video of that big aquarium.

Quick recipe, Uncategorized

Easy Gong Gong (Dog Conch Sea Snail) Recipe

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Dog Conch has a very cute name Gong Gong here in Singapore. My husband told me he never tried gong gong before. We were planning to give it a try when we went to Bintan. Yet, we changed our mind to try local Indonesian food instead.

Today, we saw live gong gong at supermarket. We were very curious about them. it was also the first time for my husband to see live gong gong. And we decided to buy some and cook at home.

We bought 10 gong gong, around 500 g @ S$1.5, very cheap.

I put them in a basin. and soaked them in salty water. After 30 mins, they spitted much dirt. I rinsed them again and again till water is clear.

  1. Boil some water in a pot. Add in several ginger slices and salt.
  2. When water boils, add gong gong in. And boil for 20 mins.
  3. Rinse them under water and wash them clean.
  4. Place gong gong in a plate. Spread some chopped spring onion, ginger and garlic.
  5. Heat a pan. Add in 2 tablespoon oil. Pour oil over the spring onion and garlic.
  6. Serve with chili sauce.

https://flic.kr/p/2f4E244

My husband loved them. He even washed and kept all the shells.

food hunting, Uncategorized

Indonesian Local Food @ Lagoi Bay

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Everytime my husband and I go to a new place, we will definitely try the local food. During our stay in Bintan, Indonesia, we also want to try more local food other than Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng. As I mentioned before, the food in the hotel is not very nice, we plan to have food outside the resorts. And there is free shuttle bus from our hotel Angsana to Lagoi Bay. We took the late afternoon bus to go there. I was thinking about seeing sunset there. Yet, when we got there, it’s almost dark. Too bad we missed sunset.

Famous love lock @ Lagoi Bay

We chose a restaurant just in front of the beach and sea – Warung Yeah.

https://flic.kr/p/24qtuwM

There were also many tourists having dinner there except us. We hose a seat outside just facing the sea and beach.

https://flic.kr/p/2dD6g6e

For the drink, my husband ordered fresh coconut water. (He’s a big fan). I ordered mango and lemon squash.

Very refreshing.

My husband also ordered one more drink. He told me the drink’s name is Bintan Coco Drink.

I must say, it’s very sweet.

https://flic.kr/p/2eXiUgJ

For the food, we ordered the first one Sego Tahu. And it looks ike this.

It’s a tofu dish. The specialty lies in sauce. Sweet and spicy. My husband loves it.

We also ordered a grilled round fish. Outside skin tastes a bit spicy. Flavor goes in so the inside fish is also very tasty. Dipping it in the Indonesian special chili sauce just makes it more yummy.

Here is my favorite Indonesian finger food, called Jajanan Pasar. Outside layer is banana leaf. Sticky rice is wrapped by it. And the filing inside rice is chicken and vegetable. It’s really special. I guess I love all the sticky rice snacks.

The price is very reasonable compared to hotel. And you can enjoy the sea view at the same time.

Uncategorized

Angsana Hotel (Bintan) Review

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During our stay in Bintan, Indonesia, My husband and I chose Angsana Hotel to live for one night.

After we arrived at Bintan Ferry terminal, staff from Angsana welcomed us and let us take a short rest in their lounge, which is just at the terminal hall.

Then we took the Angsana shuttle bus to hotel, and it takes about 15 mins.

The minute we got off the bus, a staff strike the gong in front of the hotel hall to welcome us.

It’s not peak season, but there are still many tourists in the hall busy with check-in or check-out procedure. A friendly staff guided us to the sofa. Then welcome drink and dessert were served to us.

https://flic.kr/p/2dAgZTr

Hall is connected with dinning area. That’s where guests have breakfast, lunch and dinner.

https://flic.kr/p/SQW8fJ

Corridor is very long, since there are many rooms in this hotel.

Finally, we reach our room.

Room is nice and cozy. And the best part is ocean view balcony.

From where, you can see the beautiful sea, beach and swimming pool.

Because when we arrived there, it’s already lunch time. And we were starving, so we had lunch there.

https://flic.kr/p/SQW8mL

We ordered Mi Goreng (stir-fried noodles) and Nasi Goreng (stir-fried rice). They served us with a kind of cracker first. My husband likes it. It also contains a special bean. As you can see, the lunch is really in big portion. Both of us like the chili sauce. It is special, because it also has sour tomato flavor. Hmmm, food is good. But considering the price, it’s not that good.

After lunch, we took a walk to the beach.

https://flic.kr/p/2dT9m8N

Walk through the garden first, then swimming pool and got to the beach.

https://flic.kr/p/2dAgZPP

It suddenly became cloudy after lunch.

https://flic.kr/p/2dAh27Z

It was supposed to be many water activities, but got called off due to bad weather. We were so looking forward to participate in releasing the sea turtle, but we were just told that activity already finished.

walking along the beach or lying down on the beach is quite relaxing.

Then we went to the activity room to have some fun.

https://flic.kr/p/2eZ6hp4

We almost tried every game. My husband was so surprised that I, as a Chinese, don’t know how to play table tennis. 🙂

They also have gym, but due to our schedule, we didn’t go there.

When we went back to our room in the evening, we received this letter and small gift  from the hotel.

Breakfast is buffet, including eastern and western food.

https://flic.kr/p/2eUuazs

They have congee,

pancake and waffle,

Soto ayam, (a kind of chicken soup, and I add in glass noodles and some vegetables)

bread and tea,

Indonesian special snack,

freshly made omelette,

and fresh fruit.

Breakfast is nice to me. But if let me rate the food, I will probably give it 3.5 out of 5. Just compared to the cozy room and warm service, food is not that great.

Before we left, my husband tried their special banana coffee.

If you are going to Bintan, you can take Angsana Hotel into consideration. We had great experience there.

And in the morning, we found some monkeys fighting/playing just in front of the hotel.

Uncategorized

Mangrove Tour in Bintan

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Angsana Bintan Review Part 1

My husband and I went to Bintan (Indonesia) for a short 2D1N trip. A highlight of our Bintan tour was the Mangrove Tour. It is available at Angsana Bintan Resort. It is probably by an external service provider rather than Angsana, but Angsana Bintan will help to facilitate the booking, including 2-way transport to and from the Mangrove Tour.

The price of the Mangrove Tour was around $45 SGD per person. It is rather pricy, but quite worth it if you like nature. First, the driver will arrive at Angsana Bintan to pick you up, and drive you to purchase the ticket from an office. Then, he will drive you to the Mangrove. Total travel time is approximately 15 minutes.

Upon reaching the Mangrove, life vests are provided and we boarded a small boat (maximum capacity should be around 6-8 people, but we were the only tourists at that time). There will be a boat driver, and also a guide. Amazingly, the Indonesian guide spoke Mandarin (and quite good Mandarin in fact)! Apparently, there are many Chinese tourists to Bintan.

https://flic.kr/p/24mNzz8

The Mangrove Tour itself is around 1 hour in duration. Other than looking at the mangrove trees, the guide will give some explanation. The people there used to burn mangrove tree roots to make charcoal, but the practice was banned due to environmental concerns. There are also many animals in the Mangrove. We managed to spot a snake (coiled up in the tree branches), a monkey (can be seen in the video), bird (should be kingfisher), as well as small fish. Apparently, there can be monitor lizards as well.

 

Overall, it was quite an unforgettable experience. There should be no such equivalent tour in Singapore (possibly there is land tour, but not river tour of mangrove).

https://flic.kr/p/2dSjT3E

https://flic.kr/p/2dSjXyJ

Note that the Fireflies tour is exactly the same tour as the Mangrove tour, but it is at night. We did not go for the Fireflies tour. Note that it can be very dark in Bintan at night, as there are very few street lights. Most places are completely dark at night.

Ribs, Soup, Uncategorized

My Husband’s Favorite Rib, Lotus Root & Peanut Soup Recipe

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I was born and grew up in northern part of China. Actually, my family didn’t have the habit of having soup during the meal. I know that people from southern part really like soup. Soup to them is a must-have dish on the table.

My husband is a soup lover. He basically likes all kinds of soup. Influenced by him, I start to realize soup’s charm.

There is a chicken rice stall near where we live. If you order chicken rice there, a small bowl of lotus root & peanut soup will be served as well. My husband loves the chicken rice there and also their soup. He mentioned more than once how much he loves the soup with lotus root and peanut in it.

That’s why I decided to cook this soup.

1. Rinse ribs under water.

2. Place all ribs in the pot. Pour in enough water covers and even higher than the ribs.

3. Bring to boil with high heat. Skim the soup.

4. Add in several ginger slices, lotus root chunks, some peanuts. Turn to low heat. Cook for 1-2 hrs.

Nice soup takes long time unless you have pressure cooker.

Season with salt before serving.

The amazing part of the soup is that it tastes a bit sweet even without adding in any sugar.

My husband can have 2 bowls of it.

https://flic.kr/p/2b3tQxq