Sunday, March 24, 2013

High Schoolmates Reunion Party

Date:  Mar 24, 2013

Let's "decode" the steam fish.

As usual, underneath the fish is two main ingredient that makes the steam fish soup/sauce base "sweet" and "a bit tasty oily".

1.  The clams (or la la).  Throw 6-8 of it and lie flat below the fish.  Smell each clams to make sure the la la is fresh not smelly.

2.  Thin slices of pork meat with fat.  三层肉.  Cut a few slices and place it below.

3.  This time, I also scope in quite some fish paste.  I don't know what you call it, but it is the paste before it becomes fish ball.  (Those white color slices on top of the fish.)

4.  Old ginger slices.

5.  Tomatoes slices.

6.  Tofu cubes.

7.  Chinese wine, sesame oil, soya sauce, and some water.

8.  Some green onions leafs.

That's it, sent it to the steamer.  Steam for 12-15 minutes (big fish).  :)  I think the fish is nice.  As I saw Jek Fang sit in front of the steam fish dish and keep scooping the soup.  hahaha

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Early birds get to eat the sausages.  (and I forgot about the bones marrows)

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So, I place some mustard and lime mayo aside.  It was nice!

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My wife already prepared the Chicken Curry.

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Before every one show up, I cook myself a pork chop.  And now I know to cook a nice pork chop is not easy.  So, the browning and appearance is nice.  But because we need the pork chop to be fully cooked, so, I did not have time to marinate the meat.  So, the outside looks good, but the inside is a bit tasteless.  Will spent time to think about his to make it good inside.

So, I cooked two pieces of extra raw steak for headmaster Shy Ching.  :)

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I used this garlic oil.  So that the pork chop got a bit of garlic hint.

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Lesson learned.  These pork chop is great for BBQ.  It was too "thick" for pan grill.

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The exterior taste was nice… with Nutmeg.

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Salty powder from Taiwan.

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Spicy chilli taste.

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MAke sure the herbs is there...

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Pan Grill it for 10-15 minutes.  Making sure it is fully cooked.

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Except for the clams, not so fresh.  I am glad they like the food.   These are friends from the Foon Yew high school.

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Early bird also gets to eat nice water melons.

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Delicious among the kids… the pan heated squids...

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As the guests have to drive all the way back from JB and they got stuck at the customs jam.  So, we got time for three person Mahjong.  

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We also make sure the kids are enjoying the XBox and Wii.

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She is the first timer to my party.  阿花 brought along her twins.   Its been around 25 years that I have not met her.  And now she is 品酒专家 (not 拼酒 like Jek Fang)…  阿花 was my table mate or desk mate while we study in 初一(3). 

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Don't be fooled by the photos.  Rest assure that that glass is actually Ribena.  And when Daniel arrived, Shy Ching bottoms up his Ribena too with Daniel drinking the real red wine.  HaHaHaHa… It was a popular drink that night… The kids love it, and Shy Ching loves it.  Let's call it "Ribena in a wine glass".  Celine drank the "Ribena" … hahaha

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The sister is not so lucky.  Celeste took the glass and drink.

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That was a real thing.  See the different red ruby colours.  And she loves it.

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And she love the 2007 Don Melchor. hahaha

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This "Super Tuscany" alike wine is a bit disappointing.  But it could be because it does not fits into today's dinner dishes.

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The Pouilly-Fume can't go wrong.  

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My son is helping to bake the chocolate lava cake.

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But the Pessac Leognan is also quite disappointing.  Not so sweet.  Should have open the Sauternes.

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We did not drink a lot yesterday, as some of them need to drive back to JB.  Thanks for coming!

When you are > 40's … you tends to have lots of such parties.  People who we did not met for 20+ years all come back into your life.  And the jokes and the funny memories all flashed out.  It was indeed a fun gathering yesterday.

Cook with Ken: Sour Veggie Duck Soup 咸菜鸭汤

Date:  Mar 24, 2013

Today, when I do my marketing at Tiong Bahru, the auntie asked me if I want to buy a duck.  I said that I don't know how to cook a duck.  So, she told me that another auntie can cook very good duck. So, she asked that auntie to teach me how to cook.

So, I bought the duck.  I asked her to keep the skin.  But she removed quite a lot of "fat".

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You need the sour veggie.  Buy a whole bunch.  The kind auntie even bring me to the stall who sell the best sour veggie.  How to cook a nice Sour Veggie Duck Soup?  The secret is here.  You soak the sour veggies for about 2 hours and change the water every half an hour.  The more you soak the less salty it will become.  Last time, I didn't know, I only soak for 30 minutes, etc.  So, soup does not taste so well.

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Cut the sour veggie into big pieces.

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Prepare a pot of water.  Place the duck meat in there.

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Next place the sour veggies in there.

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Cut some tomatoes (about 4 big one).

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Old ginger.  I cut a big piece and put it in.

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That's it.  A pot of water, put in the duck meat, pre-soaked sour veggie, tomatoes, old ginger.  And use the iCook to cook about 1.5 hours with small fire.  And then, after finished cooking, just leave it there for another 1-2 hours.  And reheat it.  

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And I love it.  The sour veggie duck soup is not that salty but it is tasty.  And it is lovely.  My friends like it too (except one who likes it to be more salty).  So, today I learned how to cook the duck soup.  :)

Another great gathering last night.  Beside the soup, we have bee hoon, curry, lala (but not fresh), bak-kien, lady fingers, steam fish, soya sauce pork, and so on.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Visit the Intrepid

Date:  Mar 23, 2013

Last Saturday, we went on board the Navy's frigate ship - Intrepid.  Its fun and it is a preview of what army life could be.

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Kay Kay says "I want to go on to this ship!"

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It is a frigate (whatever it means)… It's an army ship!

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It's called "Intrepid".

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Jay Jay is always everyone's favourite.  Let's ring the bell!

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Kay Kay says: "My koko has super power, he can fly!"

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It's the Seahawk!

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There is a gym room on board the ship.  When they go to non-aggressive place, then, the topedo room will be converted into a gym.

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This is where they store the speed boat.

 

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Why so many stairs and ladder one...

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Jay Jay: "This is the captain speaking."

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This is the officer quarters.

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Wow, very neat.  Got private toilet too.

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Just a normal out of sea mission, only 3 crew can handle the entire ship.  But when it is fully loaded, you can have so many people.

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They really need a lot of caffeine.

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The plaque.

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Wow, they also use this Singapore product.  Ebiq.

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Wow, laundry room.

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But it is the officer one.

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Some control room.

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Kitchen.

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So if you have craving for coke.  You got to pay those.

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Logo.

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Wishing card.

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Why there is this here… in the kitchen.

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This is the coxwine, the ship pilot. 

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That's it for the tour.

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Let's go sit train.

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