Green and Black Olive Loaf


Olives are an acquired taste. I have never tasted olives until I arrived in Aus-and even so, it took me some time to get used to them. I encountered these strange black rings in my pizza first, and then slowly I realized then can be used in pasta and salads as well (read Amy’s Very Culinary Greek Summer salad) . Browsing through some of my old cookbooks, I found this savoury loaf. Made this one Friday evening for a group of friends and we nibbled over hot tea and good chats about the week.

Green and Black Olive Loaf

180grams flour
3 tsp baking powder
3eggs
100 grams olive oil
100 ml milk
100 grams grated cheese
200 grams assorted olives stoned
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180C. Line loaf tin with baking paper.

In a bowl, mix flour and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk eggs, oil and milk. Season.

Pour egg mixture to flour mixture and fold gently. Stir in cheese and olives. Pour mixture to prepared tin and bake for 50 mins. Allow to cool before turning it out.

PS- bacon or ham can be added.

Stir Fried Noodles with left overs


The good thing about having noodles in the pantry is that it is a great way to utilize it when the fridge needs clearing.

A handful of snow peas-Checked

1 carrot- Checked

2 eggs- yum! checked

shredded bbq chicken- checked!

couple of button mushrooms- checked!

1 fresh chilli- checked!

Rice vermicelli in pantry- oh yeah.

Sauces?

Of course!

2 tablespoons of soya
3 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of fish sauce
seasoning


So here we go, the wok gets heated, ingredients started and fired up. Fry up the chicken, snow peas, mushrooms and noodles. Add sauces and seasoning. Fry up the egg and serve noodles with fried onions!

Dishing this for my friends at Presto Pasta founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week’s host is the awesome Amy from Very Culinary.

Chilli Beef Pies


Due to my change in work hours, it is getting harder and harder to prepare dinner regularly. One of my favourite meals to make and freeze are individual pies. This is also probably one of the hubby’s most requested meal-simply because it is easy for him to grab a few pies off the freezer and re-heat it before I come home or to take it to work for lunch.

It is rare that I buy a pie (Unless it is Jesters’ Pie) from the shops. There is just something odd or artificial testing in pies these days. Making our own pies means that my paranoid of what goes in our body gets satisfied and we have “slightly healthier” pies to eat.

Chilli Beef Pies (makes around 12-14 pies)
400 grams of lean beef mince
1 red onion chopped finely
chopped mushrooms
3 tsp of chilli powder
2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
3 cups of shredded low fat cheese
5 pieces of reduced fat puff pastry

Defrost puff pastry. Heat 1 tsp of oil and cook onion till soft. Add mince and browned. Add mushrooms and chilli powder and sauce. Taste and season. Cool.
Preheat pie maker. Cut pastry to size. Place bigger round pastry onto maker. Top with beef then cheese. Cover with 2nd piece of pastry. Cook till machine says done!
Repeat for other pies!

Serve with salad and chips.

Pear and Chocolate Sticky Date Pudding

The flu bug is nearly conquered now. I’m feeling much better..it’s great to be able to be up and abouts! Woohoo. Life’s little luxuries. Being in bed for more than 2 days can make a person feel sad!

Every morning, I try to start my day by thanking the blessings I have. It’s a little harder when the sky is grey and sick in bed (plus hubby working long hours in bid to finish this HUGE project that he has) but counting blessings does help to take “poor me” out of the equation and to enjoy more of life.

Some blessings I’m counting
1) A roof and warm bed to be in when the weather gets tough. (Or when the flu bug decides to bite)
2) Wonderful friend who rang at around 5 pm for two days when I was ill.
3) A hubby who cares and tries his best.
4) It was only TWO days that I was really down (And a few more of feeling horrible).Thankful for being generally healthy with no other disabilities or health issues.
5) The rain for the garden.
6) Invention of medication.
7) And to meet an old friend who works in the pharmacy besides the GP that I went! (Would have never caught up with her if I wasn’t sick)
8) Enjoying the taste of food when my hunger came back.
9) Having the money for food to be bought back when I couldnt cook.
10) Being in doors at 7:30pm when I would be usually working or more than 1 hour drive away from home.

So I’m also learning to be thankful when a recipe doesnt turn out the way I envisioned it to be.

I love a GOOD sticky date pudding. It’s like one of my thing for winter- just have to bake at least once sticky date pudding. Generally I wait till there is a gathering of some sort because I would bake a 12 ppl portion size pudding and love dishing a warm dessert on a cold night. I spotted this recipe om Better Homes and Gardens and thought I will give my traditional Sticky date pudding a twist by trying it out.

It was… in my tastebuds’ opinon a little too overwhelming. Or perhaps I just like my sticky date pudding the way it is..sticky date! The chocolate though was a nice touch, seems to have overwhelmed the date taste. The texture was a little more cake like than pudding, and I’m not sure the pear did anything to it. It certainly looks pretty though!


Blessings counted:
1) Everyone was forgiving and ate it all up anyway. =)
2) It looks pretty.
3) Love the texture-a little more like a cake than pudding but who cares!
4) I tried something new!!! =)
5) Love a good traditional sticky date pudding.

(ps- prob not trying this again, but if you want the recipe, let me know! =) my mag is out on loan at the moment).

Garlic Cherry Tomato Tuna Pasta

I’m stuck at home feeling really ill. . The worse is that it is really difficult to arrange for a same day doctor’s appointment as most clinics are fully booked! Finally we managed to squeeze an appointment in as a private patient. Doctor gave me 3 days MC. Hate feeling sick. Love being at home but just not the “can’t be bothered to do anything” feeling. Reading and sleeping seem to be what I do the whole day yesterday.

*woah!-ATTITUDE CHECK! Daphne to use this time constructively and rest!

I made this pasta when I was feeling much much better and less miserable. Beautiful bursty cherry tomatoes were in season recently and I bought quite a few punnet of them- making salads or just eating them raw. This time round, I decided to cook cherry halfs in garlic and olive oil and then toss cooked pasta with tuna, mushrooms and peas. It was simple, quick and certainly a tasty meal!
Sharing this with my friends from Presto Pasta. Host this week is Pam from sidewalk shoes (love the name!)..This event was founded by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast.

Indian Spiced Baked Prawn Pilaf


Woah! What wild weather we are experiencing in Perth at the moment. Driving home with nearly zero visibility last night plus very scary sounding wind and hail! The wild winter weather is perfect for warm hearty food though..and I recalled making this very easy dish inspired by ABC delicious again.

The only thing is that I estimated the amount of spices I used, so judge it at your own peril! =)

Indian Spiced Baked Prawn Pilaf (Serves 4)
2 cups of basmatic rice
1.5 cups of hot/warm stock

2 cinnamon sticks
5-6 cardamon pods
3 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
2-3 tsp of tumeric powder
2 tsp of garam masala

1 red onion chopped
garlic

1 cup of peas
200 grams of shelled prawns.

Preheat Oven to 200C. If you have a casserole dish, fry spices with onion and garlic with oil till fragrant. Add rice and stir till well coated with spices. Add hot stock and season accordingly. When the stock boil, put the dish into the oven covered with aluminum foil. (If you dont have a dish, I used a deep pan, coat rice with spices and scooped in into an oven proof dish, pouring hot stock over it). Bake for around15 minutes. Rice should be nearly done. Stir in peas and place pawns on top of it. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or so.

Serve hot with mango chutney and veges.

Our Singapore Wedding-1st May 2009


Singapore was our 2nd wedding celebration. As a Singaporean with many friends and family in my home country, we made the easy decision to the biggest leg of the wedding celebration there. When I look back on that day, it was filled with so much emotion-largely joy and thanksgiving that words just cannot easily comprehend it.

Alot of our coordination has to be done via email. Not forgetting, our beautiful friends Peggy, Ruth who did alot of errands for us when we were not around. Ben who flew from Adel provided much needed support..and he was strangely quiet that day but so efficient! I turned around after our church ceremony and then remembered that we hardly took a photo with him…so I gave him this huge hug and the amount of emotions that flow through just explained it all. He wanted to give it his all for us that day and he was just happy to be with us.

I recall just feeling a sense of peace. It doesnt matter what went wrong because I am marrying the guy of my dreams. A sense of happiness that yes, the day is finally here. As we were gathered around our closest friends and family, it was their joy of wanting to be there for us, making the huge effort to fly in from various countries just to be with us that touched us tremendously.

We are very very blessed with the best of the best family and friends. It is God’s love, and our family and friends’ love that taught us what true love is.

All credits to Wang Yixin and Kelvin Koh for their wonderful photography from Lighted Pixels.

In this little box of old rusty chocolate box lies folded hearts and a little pocket watch. I folded those hearts when I was around 10 years old, praying that I will one day present this to my prince. A little cliche but I wanted AR to know that God has a reason for bringing us together and I prayed hard for him!


Irene, my dear aunt, made a very pretty dress for our flower girl (Sophia, her daugther). I simply love this innocent but so pretty shot!

The lethal wasabi and chili padi cupcake. Courtesy of Irene again. See how doting my aunt is? She made sure that AR worked EXTRA hard to enter the door to marry me. Ps- the boys had to go through a series of tasks before they are allowed into my home to fetch the bride. This was just one of the tasks! They had to knock on neighbour’s door for well wishes, decode a bible verse, eat and drink items that represent sweet, sour, bitter and spicy and AR had to learn how to shout a love declaration in Cantonese!



Our mothers! They are born in the same year, similar size, both have hobbies in the singing/dancing arena..speaks cantonese.. People kept mistaking them as sisters!

My grandmother. This lady changed my life. She took cared of me since I was 3 days old and has not stopped since. She is MY rock and the person who I adore. A very giving grandmother with lots of guts and great sense of humour!

Ah.. I had to “reward” Isaac at the rehearsal night. Each time he does the “walk stop walk stop” down the aisle, he had a lolly.. Lucky I bought a packet of aeroplane shaped gummy sweets that night. I was his new found best friend. His mum, Irene said he has never had that many lollies before!
What makes me laugh is that even after the wedding, he continues to practise the walk by saying “walk stop walk stop…AND GET MARRIED!” Things kiddies learn.
They did SOOOO well on the actual day though. VERY VERY proud of Isaac and Sophia!



MY dearest and most giving Dad. Just having him walk me down the aisle..and feeling his support and emotions…. He was soo proud and I was so proud to have him as my father.
I ADORE this shot of us heading back as husband and wife.. and my mum just look so happy and excited for us.

My most gorgeous bridesmaids. Cupcakes that Irene made- THEY WERE DELICIOUS! I am blessed with the BEST aunt in the world who dwelled in our excitement, sew dresses, sew our ring pillow, baked cupcakes, helped with the tea ceremony AND was the MC! I don’t know what else she cannot do…




I have to comment on this moment because I recall feeling like an ABSOLUTE princess during our dinner march in. With the bubbles on and our guests showering us with petals of blessing, my heart swelled with alot of joy. The dear husband kept whispering, slow down…take it in..AND took it in we did.


My best friends decided to sing a song for us..and not only that.. did a video slideshow of our best times as kids growing up. I bawled my eyes out that time.
This was taken when I was thanking Irene . and even looking at these two photos brought me back to the night when I made the speech. Nothing in the world can express my gratitude and how I treasure our relationship. We may be “aunt and niece” but we grew up together thinking we were cousins..and our relationship resemble more of sisters. She is one of the strongest woman I met- having faced through several trials in her life but always always have an optimistic and cheerful attitude.

Zinna is my pastor’s wife. I love her to bits. She is like a mentor to me and always advises me on relationships and life in general. She was also the one who constantly asked us to pray for our future partner when I was a teenager.
My uncle danry who flew from HK to be with us just for that day! He was the man who drove mum and me home when I was 3 days old… and granny said I didnt even dare to close my eyes as a little baby because of his driving! He was also the man who “encouraged” me to walk by allowing me to hold his little finger and then letting it go… mum and dad have a photo of me walking with my hand/fist in the air thinking that I still had uncle danry for support! SNEAKY!


And then us. At the end of the night, still buzzing.. The party did not end till 2am that day. Our guests stayed till late.. A funny story was that we were asked to line up outside to greet our guests as they exit,…and after waiting for 5 minutes, we realized guests were NOT exiting! They were still inside sitting, chatting, eating and having a BLAST of a time. Some guests even stayed and went to the bar for a few drinks.. We loved it all. We love that guests did not want to go..we did not want the party to end either.

It was a true celebration of our love for each other and we are very proud and excited to be surrounded by such wonderful people!

So here we go. Our wedding celebrations. Every date was memorable and the way we want it to be. To be married is one of the best feeling in the world.

Red Curry Seafood Pasta


Yikes! Time is slipping through our fingers quickly. I can’t believe it has been more than a week since I left my footprint (thumbprint?) on this blog. I still have heaps of meals to show but yet not enough time to blog!

We have a special guest with us this week- all the way from Brisbane. A friend of a friend, she is residing with us and we are having heaps of exciting fun with her. Not only that, she is vegetarian! Despite having a few vegetarian friendly recipes up my sleeves, I still felt a little “oh no, what are we going to have!?!?” She taught me a few things so I hope to be able to re-create them in the near future as well.

For today though, I want to share with you a Red Curry Seafood Pasta dish that we had for dinner some time ago. Our favorite seafood marinara (or seafood medley) is being used again. Some baby corn and peas-and it almost resemble a Thai red curry dish isn’t it? Some lemongrass would have done the trick!
Red Curry Seafood Pasta (Serves 4)
2-3 tsp of red curry paste (I used thai red curry)
1tsp of garlic
1 tsp of grated ginger
200 grams of seafood marinara
100 grams of baby corn
2 cups of peas
handful of torn fresh basil leaves
250 grams of pasta

Cook pasta to your package’s instructions. Drain and set aside. Saute garlic and ginger in the red curry paste till it smells oh so wonderful. Then include in seafood. Cook for around 4 minutes adding vegetables along the way. Toss pasta though with basil leaves.

ps-more wedding photos to follow in the next post!

Sharing my pasta love with friends at Presto Pasta founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week, it is hosted by Joanne from Eats Well with Others.

Shortcut Crumbed Fish Wrap


During my uni days, a close mate introduced me to a brand of frozen fish fillets. Now, for an uni student, discovering yummy frozen food was quite a huge thing. Those last minute assignments required instant nutrition.

Now, I rarely buy those boxes of fish fillets anymore. Occasionally though, when I’m in the mood, I still put a box in the trolley just to taste back memories…

Herb Crumbed Fish Wrap
4 frozen crumbled fish fillets
corn wraps
salad leaves
mayo!

Bake fish per instructions. Wrap in corn wrap, salad leaves and mayo and toast it for a few minutes

Cheesy Baked Smoked Salmon Ravioli

and so silly me entered a rice dish in a pasta event! DOH DOH DOH! So here comes my real entry for Presto pasta!

As you are probably aware, I am a HUGE fan of smoked salmon! I think it adds flavour to everything… entree? Lunch? tea break? dinner? supper-we can probably have come up with lots of ideas with smoked salmon. It’s our little luxury.

A quick yummy and easy to put together dish.


Cheesy Baked Smoked Salmon Ravioli
200 grams of smoked salmon
1 packaged ravioli (we had spinach and cheese)
2 cups of chopped buttom mushrooms
1 cup of baby spinach leaves (add more of these!)
2-3 cups of cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese

White sauce
50 grams of low fat spread
2 tablespoons of flour
1 cup of milk

To make white sauce- melt spread. Add flour and stir till golden brown. Add milk and whisk till smooth and slightly thick. Season to taste.

Cook ravioli per package instructions. In a big bowl, mix cooked ravioli, spinach, mushrooms, smoked salmon and white sauce. Spoon onto baking dish and sprinkle cheeses on it. Bake in 200C preheated oven for 25 mins

Sharing this with the good friends at Presto Pasta founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week, Presto pasta is hosted by Katerina from Daily Unadventures.

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