Moon Festival

The date of the Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th moon day of the 8th Chinese lunar month. This year the first day of the 8th lunar month is August 31, 2008 and the Moon Festival is on September 14, 2008. Thus here we are...

feasting on durian flavored yellow yolked moon cake! Long live Tu-ti Kung!

Vegetarian Brinjal Curry

I don't know what is with me that I have this Indian food craving for almost 3 weeks already. Right now even Hobbit gets sick of helping me prepare all the Indian spices before I start cooking. I knew at the tip of his tongue that he wanted so much to blurt out "can we change the menu?" but can't help it since unconsciously I kept telling him about all the spices I recently learned about from the Internet and how it has somehow enriched my cooking skills. Maybe I should snap myself back to reality and get back to normal cooking?! But before that, let me jot down one of Hobbit's favorite brinjal curry that I made for lunch before I forget the ingredients the next time I want to cook it.

Ingredients:

2 long brinjals (dice into 4 parts about 1 cm long)
1 tomato (diced)
2 big chilies
1/4 cup fresh ginger (finely cut)
1/4 tbsp curry powder
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 tsp garam masala
a bit of mushroom sauce (optional)
pinches of salt to taste
a pinch of cumin seeds
1/4 cup e.v olive oil

1. Heat oil in a pan until hot.
2. Pour in ginger and cumin seeds and stir fry until fragrant.
3. Add brinjals. Stir fry and cover for 3 minutes.
4. Add in tomatoes and chilies.
5. Mix water and curry powder in a bowl and pour into pan.
6. Pour in evaporated milk, pinches of salt, mushroom sauce and garam masala. Mix well.
7. Lower heat. Leave it to simmer for another 3 minutes and turn off heat.
8. Serve with hot rice.

Japanese Potato Salad

We had our Malaysian potluck today at a friend's house. I was rather confused of what to bring and told one of our friend that I would bring whatever others won't bring. So Hobbit and I decided to just bring salad, something that would not give us too much hassle on Sabbath morning.

Here's the ingredients I use:

1kg potatoes
1 carrot
1 Japanese cucumber
1 red apple
Japanese mayonnaise
Pinches of roasted sesame seeds
Pinches of salt and pepper to taste

Remember to refrigerate before serving! *_*

Filipino Style Fruit Salad

Every time I am invited to a Filipino gathering, be it a birthday party, a farewell party or just a simple get together, I never missed this famous Filipino style fruit dessert they call Buco. I know back home many of the housewives love to prepare this dessert too but using slightly different ingredients. I have made it several times especially when attending our group potlucks but never once stick to one recipe. I like to modify a little bit to suit my liking. When I fixed this dessert today, I thought it better be in my blog for reference sake. So here I am!

Ingredients



1 1/2 cups whipped cream
1/2 cup condensed milk (also depends on how sweet you want it to be)
2 cans of fruit cocktail (drain syrup)
2 cans of coconut de nata (drain syrup)
1 cup of coconut flesh
1 apple (optional)
1/4 cup of raisins (optional)

Directions

1. Mix whipped cream and condensed milk together to a smooth texture.
2. Combine all of the other ingredients and mix well. Chill overnight. Easy peasy! :)

Kindie Teachers Fellowship Lunch

We went for a lunch invitation at the Chus. Scrumptious food and lovely fellowship! Too busy eating and talking that I forgot to take pictures of the food! :)

Celebrating the new school year. Swensens!

The lovely host sharing the cake

Zic playing with dry ice!