Gräciõ's LäveñderBliss Café

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Happy Teachers' Day, Mama!

I've always loved celebrating Teachers' Day 'cuz my mommy would always come back with lots of pressies for me to open up on her behalf. I remember I'll always buy a red colour ball point pen for her as Teachers' day present since I don't have much money with me during school days. Mama always smile when she receives the red pen as a pressie during this special day, though it's just a small gift, but I think she appreciates.


Many years have passed and she has retired from teaching. I must say that I really take my hats off her. She was teaching for a good long 38 years as a chinese teacher in a secondary school and every night, she will stay up till very late just to mark those papers.

Anyway, I've not been doing anything for her eversince she retired, so this year I decided to surprise her with a cake. She doesn't like chocolatey, colourful & creamy stuffs. Here's what DH & I got for her...



(Photo courtesy of Jo)

Verdict: I'm glad she likes this cake very much! :) She called me and told me that it was really good!

Thanks Jo, u've done it well again!! I didn't get a chance to try it, but I know in future I will. :)

Mama, though you've retired, you'll always be the best teacher in my heart. Happy Teachers' Day and I love U!! :)

Monday, August 13, 2007

A Good Good Meal

I wanted to make something unique for dinner tonight, but there wasn't any inspiration or ideas. So in the end, I just took out the minced pork and marinated them, not knowing how I wanna cook it.

I looked around and saw the Korean Ottogi Sauce which I bought many weeks back. Hence, I decided to make Minced Pork Patties to go with it. Anyway, we've not been eating deep fried stuffs for quite awhile. I'm glad it turned out really well, DH likes it and even my indian colleagues whom I dine with everyday during lunch time. They love to say it this way, "It's very nice and tasty". :)



Here's my version of the patties. Try it and let me know how it is.

What you need:
300gm minced pork
1 red onion, diced
1 sprig of spring onion, diced
some bread crumbs
1 egg & 1 egg-white

Marinade for pork:
1 egg white
2tsp dark, light soy sauce
a pinch of black pepper & sugar
3tsp corn flour
1tsp oyster sauce

Way to go:
1) Marinade the pork with spring onion, onion and the marinade for 30mins.
2) Crack the whole egg in a bowl and prepare the breadcrumbs. Set aside.
3) Think of how big you want to make the patty, then knead to the size you want.
4) Dip the patty in the egg and breadcrumbs.
5) Heat oil in wok, when hot, either pan fry or deep fry them till golden brown. Serve hot.

Since I've got so many vegetables left in my fridge, I decided to Fry the Big Cabbage in Oyster Sauce. Yumyum!




After this whole cooking, I was totally tired out, but anyhow, I'm glad we enjoyed a good good meal. :)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

All About Seasonings...

I kind of love this seasonings. It contains seaweed, sea-salt and all other kinds of herbs which made it so tasty. However, I did not buy this. It was bought by my LOUSY, LOSER ex-boss for me. It's really good and sadly, it's from South Africa. I don't think can be found in Dubai... Oh well, if any of you ever go to South Africa, please remember to get this for me.. hehe...


Anyone knows whether we can get this in SG?




Here's the
homepage for the above seasoning.

If ever we're leaving Dubai for good, this is something I would definitely buy and bring back to Singapore. I'm not sure whether we can get this is SG, but to have an authentic Phillipino dish, you will definitely need this.

Datu Puti Vinegar

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

The Weekend...

Usually, weekends are spent at home, lazing around, reading, being a couch potato the whole of Fridays and Saturdays.


Friday mornings are usually spent either having breakfast at home or out. We love lazing at home in the mornings, having our ready-made dim sum which can be purchased at Carrefour here. While eating, we'll be watching Seinfeld or any other movies we have on hand. After feeding ourselves, DH will be working at his table, and me, oh well, cleaning the entire house. Hehe... I find washing toilets (or rather, my own toilets) therapeutic for me. All anger, thoughts and inspiration of mine comes from washing toilets. Sounds weird? Well, I guess everyone has their own way of finding inspiration. :)

Saturdays evenings are always dining at home 'cuz we need to "da bao" to work the next day for lunch. Curry Chicken was what I made yesterday. I've not eaten this for a long long time. Almost forgot how it tastes like. Yum yum!



Followed by an expensive fruit for dessert. I've NEVER bought this fruit here before as I found them super expensive here. But now, hehe, since I am working, I guess I just don't mind spending alittle more on food. :)

The expensive but yet beautiful fruit- Dragon Fruit

Monday, August 06, 2007

Glad 2B Back!

Yes, though I've been working, I've never ruled out the option of cooking daily. It's tiring, I must say honestly. But eating out here is expensive, and most of the time we run out of ideas on where to eat.

Rather than spending tons of money on eating chinese food, I would rather cook them myself. I craved for chinese, and nothing beats to having to eat a good meal after a hard day's work.

Yesterday I made Stir Fry Tom Yam Chicken. Added some fresh mushrooms & coriander instead. It's simple and easy. That's all I need nowadays,
just to reward ourselves for working so hard. Hehe... This ain't a recipe of mine, you can find it at Ching's Little Corner. Thanks Ching, for your wonderful & easy recipe, as always! :)



Was so excited when I finally found fresh Cai Xin! Look at the fresh green colour!! Okay, I might sound alittle "sua gu", but it's really not easy to get fresh vegetables, especially chinese veges here. So when I saw it, I couldn't help but just grab whatever is there. Though much more expensive, it's still very worth my money. Hehe... Oh well, that's life here. :)