Curried Egg on Sour Cream and Chives Bread

I love my bread maker machine!!

Sour Cream and Chives Loaf- topped with curried egg. Yum!

Perfect for another Sunday Brunch

Curried Egg Sandwiches
3 hard boiled eggs
3 tablespoons of low fat mayo
3-4 tsp of curry powder
salt and pepper

Mash eggs and mix with other condiments. Serve with your favourite bread!

Wedding Thoughts

The Perth sitting plan is done! All rsvps in. The beauty of having different celebrations, we get to experience how things work in different cultures and countries. While it is natural for guests to rsvp 1 month in advance in Perth, it is different in SG or Malaysia.

One of the best things we have done so far is to embrace the challenge of doing different things in each location. Yes, it added more planning to it but to be able to look back and say that we experienced different “feel” and aspects of it-all worth it. For instance, in Perth, we are keeping it really simple and casual. Not more than 60 guests… people who are extremely close to us. In Singapore for instance, we opted for the whole Traditional routine. Hair combing, church blessing ceremony, Guo Da Li- we got it covered.

Each has it’s own beauty I suppose. But the traditional part of it reflects who we are and where we come from. Now, I may just have to locate an Indian Sari…… LOL

oh, our photos are from Rob Dose-A fantastic photographer in Perth!

25 days till we become Husband and Wife

Chicken Patty Penne

On the same topic of mince, I am a big fan of this chain chicken store called Leonards. Most days, their chicken products are priced reasonably and certainly easy to prepare. I bought 3 chicken meat patties for AU$1.50 each. They are pre-marinated + added chopped carrots. Not the cheapest but on some days, u just want half ready made meals that u can cook without thinking. No way am I going to shape patties every week!

So after grilling those chicken patties and using paper towels to soak up some of the oil, I cut them in pieces. Toss them with some pasta and cooked vegetables-there u hv it, a meal prepared!

Chicken Patty Penne
2 cups of pasta cooked and drained
3 pieces of chicken patties
1 capsicum sliced
2-3 cups of spinach leaves
1 cup of baby peas

Grill chicken patties, drained and cut in pieces. Saute veges with olice oil. Toss pasta, veges and patties together. Season with some cracked pepper. Serve and smile.

Dishing this up for my friends at Pasta Presto Nights founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast This week, it is hosted by the awesome Served with Love (What a great name for a blog!!!)

Wedding thoughts:

As the clock ticks and the day comes nearer, it makes me wonder what is your dream wedding? For me, it really wasnt abt the pretty dresses or the fancy dinning options. It’s about two people planning their lives together. My mum used to tell me that planning for a wedding itself can be a test-and after 1 year and 5 months I can tell u that it is a REAL test of endurance and patience.

But that aside, I’m blessed with a man who is persistent and patient. Seriously patient. Too patient. So he keeps me grounded while we run around like mad chooks trying to make sure we covered most grounds.

30 days to the wedding.

Spiced Meat Patties with Dhal and Savory Rice

I finally figured out that if I do grocery shopping after 5 pm on a weekday, there is a huge discount on mince. Turns out that grocery stores are not allowed to keep mince for next day sale and they would have to chunk out what they couldn’t sell that night!!! How wasteful! Therefore, they try to put a 50% discount on what is left in the fridge.

Since budgeting is “in” right now (hehehe, given that we have been surviving on student wages + first job wage for some time means we are soo used to budgeting anyway!), there are heaps of mince recipes in newspapers and magazines. I can’t quite remember where I recieved inspiration for this recipe for exactly.. Think it was ABC delicious mag.

The result was tender lightly spiced meat patties that has a slight crisp to the outside. Dahl was cooked in the magic cooker that mum bought me for Christmas.

Spiced Meat Patties with Dhal and Savory Rice (Serves 4)

Spiced Meat Patties
300 grams lean beef mince
1 tsp of garlic
1 tsp of olive oil
1 heap tsp of corn flour
1 egg
2 tsp fo tumeric
1 tsp of chilli
2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of mixed spiced
1 chopped chilli

Dhal
150 grams of mixed lentils (soaked overnight)
2 carrots
1 red onion chopped
3 tsp of tumeric
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp of chilli powder
4 cups of stock

Savory Rice
2 cups of rice
1 red onion chopped
1 tablespoons of garlic
1 tablespoon of spread

1) Heat oil in magic cooker around 6 hours before dinner time. Cook onion and garlic. Add all spices and cook till you can smell it. Place lentils and stock in. Bring it to boil. Place the whole pot in magic cooker. (If u r using slow cooker, just put everything in there and boil for 4-5 hrs, if using pot, allocate around 2 hrs).

2) Spiced Meat patties- Marinate all ingredients together for around 30 minutes. Shaped and fridge for another 15-20 minutes. Heat Grill till very hot and grill patties both sides for around 5-6 minutes.

3) Mean while, rinse rice and place it rice cooker. Melt spread and saute onions and garlic till done. Just before the rice cooks, place mixture into cooker.

4) Serve Spiced Meat patties with mango chutney!

Wedding thoughts

Nearly 1 month to the wedding now and all excitment is on board. RSVPS hv nearly all come through for the Perth side of the celebrations and I’m going to be doing sitting arrangements very soon! Not to mention, after saving $ for sooo long, we have started purchasing gifts, finalizing items, booking stuff, making sure ppl have accomodation and activities..etc It’s all in the details right?

The best thing I have learned so far is to trust the people who you have allocate the jobs to. I remembered feeling a little flustered-needing to arrange make up/hair for the other girls when one of my best friends just took over and said she will handle it. Then we have an issue with the invites printing, which another best friend then raised her hands and managed to take the initiative to solve the problem and got all invites on time as well. It’s those little moments that count more than the whole event-because u feel really loved. really really loved.

32 days to the wedding

Laksa Fried Noodles

Who says Laksa paste is only for making Laksa? I read from Singairishgirl that we can use Laksa paste for fried rice, and thought hey, if we can use it for fried rice, surely we can use it for fried noodles?

Hence Laksa Fried Noodles was born.

A very quick and simple dish, just remember to dilute the laksa paste with some warm water as the noodles soak up the flavours really quickly!

Laksa Fried Noodles
250 grams noodles of your choice
garlic
1 cup of dried mushrooms hydrated
8 Imitation crab sticks
1 cup of prawns or shrimps
2 eggs
1 packet of laksa paste

Fried Shallots for ganish.

Soak noodles in hot water. Heat wok with oil and stir fry garlic till fragrant. Fry paste till fragrant and add in chopped dried mushrooms, crab sticks and seafood. Add noodles in.. Don’t forget your eggs. Serve with fried shallots.

Dishing this out for Pasta Presto! Created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast and hosted by Pam of Sidewalk Shoes!

We have….

39 days to our wedding…

Bacon and Cheese Omelette

What else can beat the smell of freshly cooked brunch?

On a particular Sunday after church, and being tired of other light lunch options, I decided to cook a big omelette instead. A crispy yet fluffy omelette full of goodies.

Raiding the fridge, I came up with lean bacon, cheese, chives and mushrooms. Perfect!

Anyone want brunch? =)

Bacon and Cheese Omelette (serves 2)
4 eggs
2-3 tsp of milk
100 grams lean bacon chopped (fry gently first)
2 tsp chopped chives
1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms
olive oil
1/2 cup of low fat cheddar cheese

sea salt, cracked pepper

1) Whisk eggs with milk. Heat pan with oil till fairly warm. Add eggs.

3) After around 3-4 mins when it’s starting to cook, start swirling the eggs a little so the inside coats the outer area of the pan further…

4) Sprinkle bacon and mushrooms on half of the omelette. Sprinkle cheese and chives.. cook for 2 minutes till the cheese slightly melts..

5) Attempt to flip the omelette in half! Wait for 1 min..

6) Slide omelette onto plate…Season with sea salt and pepper and SERVE!

44 Days to our wedding!

What I have been busy with…

Pardon my absence recently! I have soooo much to update. What a fabulous week.

First up…

I have graduated!!!!! Do you like my fancy cape and pretty bonnet?

Me and my beautiful parents!

And my grandmother!

It’s the feeling of one milestone to another. It has always been my wish to graduate before getting married and at the last minute, I received notification that I have graduated. Just seeing my proud parents and grandmother at the ceremony brought a tear to my eye. Standing up on the stage, I cannot help but feel a sense of accomplishment. The promise that I made to God, my family and myself… The visualisation that I have done in 4 years.. and there am I standing up there. Surreal.

And of course, we have been busy with our wedding preparations. Can you believe it?
We have

46 days more to go.

I have become a walking, talking, sleeping, working wedding planner now. After slacking for the last 6 months, we are on full speed! Meeting up with co-coordinators, checking photos, buying furniture, new bed sheets, flowers, menus, sitting plan, invites, ceremony programs, gifts…the list seems endless.

But I’m really excited.

a tad stressed but excited.

3 best buddies

On my recent trip back to Singapore, my best buddies and I decided to take studio photos to celebrate our 18 years of friendship. They are my best of best girl friends and we laugh, cry, held each other through difficult and happy times.

I remembered being terribly homesick when I first arrived in Perth…and without fail, they would write me letters every couple of weeks. Now, we still keep in touch nearly everyday through emails.

One of our photos is up on the studio’s website for selection of “Best buddy” competition.

DeCharacter Best Buddy Competition 2009

We are best buddies B3. Holding the piggies! heheheh

Please Vote for us!!!!

Thank you!