Ice kachang (ABC ice)

It is not easy to find a good Malaysian shop selling good authentic Malaysia/Singapore food here in Sydney. While you can get many Hogkong cafe/restaurants trying to mimic or recreate our national dishes, they just turns out not the same. (Some can be really aweful that you wonder if they had ever tried the real thing in the first place)

Our recent favourite place for Malaysia cravings fix is at PappaRich! Thank God there is a shop here at Chatswood. There are always a long queue outside the restaurant at peak times, however, the turnover rate is fast (Malaysian efficiency). We also love the fact that they do not allow hoarding up of table if not more than 3/4 of the people for the table had arrived. In hk culture, they love sending 1-2 'representatives' to hoard tables in restaurants, while the rest of the people take their time to arrive (which may sometimes takes hours). 

Eric and I loved their Char Kuey Tiao, while other dishes of Nasi Lemak, Nasi Briyani, Chicken rice.... Are more of my favourite as Eric did not grow up eating them. (Understandable) 

We ordered ice kachang as our dessert one night, and I was very surprised to find my ice kachang to look like this:

Well, looks can be deceiving, it may still taste great, right? 

But as I look closely, I saw peanuts n Rasins?!!

Oh my, that was the first time I had that combinations in my ice kachang. As I dig deeper to find my treasure (they are normally hidden below the tower of shaved ice), I realised that what was missing was the must have adap chee. >_< WHY?!!

It is very disappointing, but I guess the only consolation is the richly covered syrup that drowns the shaved ice. Sad... No adap chee.

What is your favourite topping on the ice kachang?

Kcan

Where did that come from!!

We went to church for a supporters night. It ended at 8.30pm, therefore we decided to go down to the Ben & Jerry shop for the 'free ice cream cone' day. It was to run from 1-9pm.

To our shocking surprise, the line was sooooooooooooo long. I think it will take more than 30 mins in the queue. And to think that it is a Tuesday night.... Where did these ppl come from?!

Did we queue up? 

Nope. Eric reckon it will be more worth it buying the ice cream cone that is currently at half price in Coles, than standing in that long line. And so we did, drove to the Coles near our home, n bought a pack of eight ice cream blocks for $3.07!

And incase you are wondering what I am referring to on my title...

Can you see it?

No?

How about now....

Want to see how big it is?

It's THIS big!

Thank God I was in the car when I noticed it. It's sooooooooo huge! My dear Eric came to my rescue and crushed it. Weird... Where did it come from?

N it is already making a big web on the side mirror area... Scary. 

Maybe next time better not park under the bush at night.

Kcan

Who wants a tongue tongue?

My MIL bought a special ingredient home last week. It's huge n meaty... It's a....

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Ox tongue!

I had no idea of how to prepare this piece of meat. First time preparing it, though my mum had cook pork tongue back in Singapore days.

So I had to boil it in hot water for a good 30 mins, so that I can peel the outer layer of the tongue off first. Then I put it in the trusty pressure cooker, chop onions, carrots, tomato, celery, spices n water. Wait for 60 mins.

I found this good place online, where this lady offers many different dishes, cooked using the pressure cooker! 

Red wine braised beef tongue

http://peggyunderpressure.com/2013/04/red-wine-braised-beef-tongue/

The final product is:

Yummy ox tongue stew!

The dish is is big that we had two meals with it.

It's not my fav meat, but won't mind cooking it again if MIl buys it.

Enjoy!

Kcan

Letter box

Eric made a letterbox back in year 10 (sec 4) during wood work class. Since then, it had been serving as the mailbox at the house we are staying at. 

And finally, it was declared retired, and it was replaced by a more efficient letterbox. 

Why did we take it down?

The width of the mailbox is too short. The door is not able to shut fully. It is held shut by the Velcro tape! So many a times, letters will get stuffed in at one end n it pushed the back door open n fall out from the other end. The letters ended up on the ground, get wet in the rain or get bulldozed by the hungry snails, leaving stains or holes on the letters. 

One last shot of the humble letterbox, designed n made by Eric.

It even has moss growing on the top!

The new replacement! Big, spacious and it even have a lock at the back! No more wet n 'holy' mails. =D

The bar was too short, so Eric had to use cable ties to secure it on the fence. It looks like our new mailbox is floating...

Kcan

Eric the walnut cracker.

With the week long rain that we had, the fresh walnuts were about to turn mouldy!!!

Eric panicked and started de-shelling them to help save the walnuts. Then we wash n mild roast them, and cook them down before putting them in sealed containers. When the sun comes up tomorrow, we will dry them outside too. Oh what a walnut life....

It's 11.30pm now, and we are almost 3/4 done. Keep it up darling!

Kcan

Fog on the river

Last night was not partially cold, but we work up to this view on our early drive to church today.

The bridge over the river is covered with thick layer of fog!

This is us approaching the fog area. 

The fog should lift when the sun comes up. Oh how this reminds me of the days in Canberra!

We will be heading to Canberra again this Easter long weekend for a day trip to attend a church friend's wedding. Eric n I are both looking forward to it! Can't wait to try out the food we missed. ( it sounds strange I know)

Kcan

2nd anniversary.

Time flies, and it is our 2nd Anniversary!!!

The past year had been a difficult one for both Eric and I. There were much disappointments, adjustment, tears, joy, sadness, hope, frustration and reconciliation.

I praise and thank God for his blessing despite the chaos and frustration. May we continue to rest in his word and the assurance that can only come from our Lord Jesus.

To mark our 2nd anniversary, we took a day off from our busy schedule and head off for some much needed adventure!

It's been a while since we set off on a long trip. This time, we set off to the fruit farms in the mountains.

Our first stop, chestnut and walnut farm!

The day started as a wet gloomy day, there was a storm going through sydney. We left home about 9am, and was stuck in the morning traffic which was delayed by the storm. All along the way, the rain only became heavier. We prayed along the way, hoping that the rain will ease when we get there. And it did! 

3 hrs later, we arrived at Mt Irvine, Kookootonga farm.

I checked their website a week before. They had just started their chestnut and walnuts season! The trees all are laden with fruits and the grounds filled with chestnuts and walnuts to be picked. 

Why picked? 

Well, this  is how you harvest chestnut and walnut. Pick them up from the ground!

Chestnuts have spiky shell surrounding it's nut. (To stop squirrel from eating it before it is ripe.) so we he have to wear thick leather gloves to pick them up. We use our shoes to step on the shells so that those that are still stuck in the shell can come out.

The weather was clearing into small drizzle when we are out there picking.  

The farm is huge!! It has a mix of chestnut n walnuts trees.

Under the chestnut trees, you can see the nuts all around on the ground. 

Our harvest is 2 buckets full!

With a mix of chestnuts n walnuts.

A close up look of how the chestnut looks like with their spiky shell.

Unriped Chestnut on the tree.

They will explode like a rubber fruit to disperse their seeds  around.

Two full buckets!

We went back for another half bucket of walnuts after filling that two buckets. Total weight collected, 12kg worth of chestnuts n walnuts!

Drying them out at home.

The little shed where the harvest were weigh and packed.

We were starving by then. Stopped by the famous pies shop for lunch at 3pm.

My beef and mushroom pie.

It has huge chunky meat, however, the gravy was very starchy. >_<

Later we hear Chinese ppl working in their kitchen.... So that's why it's full of starch. Not impressed. 

 We also went to a veggie farm. On the far right are bok choi growing hydroponically.

Along the way, we also stop by shops to get bags of apples that had ripen from the trees!

Oh they are so sweet n crunchy!

Do you know that apples that had ripen on trees don't go brown as easily? 

Our harvest of a bucket of red delicious apples. The small ones are so cute!

Before heading back, we stopped by the egg farm to get real fresh eggs. 

We also bought pumpkins! So it's now the season for pumpkin soup!

Thank you dear Eric for the adventure. 

Kcan

Hot pot!

This is a back dated post.

We were invited for a hot pot lunch at our bible study friend's place earlier this month. However, we only received the message at 2.30pm! And at that time, we had just finished our lunch n was watching online documentary. Therefore we replied to say we will drop by later for catch up.

We arrived at 4.30pm, which by that time, they had just finished their hot pot lunch and most guest had left.

We had a great time catching up as we were now all in different bible study group and congregation, which means our path don't get to cross with each other at all!

The sky turned black at 5 pm, which means we can continue to chat! N before long, it's dinner time!

As there were many food left over from their lunch session, we decided to stay for dinner. And here's our group shot! 

As the stove, which belong to another of the guest, was taken home, we had to cook the ingredients in the pot on the stove. 

It's nice having a close group of fellow brother n sister in Christ at church, where we can fellowship, encourage and grow together. 

Ps: apparently, the whatsapp msg for lunch hotpot was sent out at 11am, but donoe why, we only received it 3hrs later. Haha.

Kcan

Harvest: long bean

What a joy it is to know of the existence of the long bean plant for just 2days and I can harvest it today!

It's now safely in the fridge keeping fresh as I want to wait for a few more days for more harvest. 

Oh my, so exciting!

Kcan

It's a long bean!!

I had a surprise today when I went around my vege pots.
Long beans!!!

I had always wondered what plant that was in the same pot as my corn plants. It was bulldozed when the possums attacked it many months ago. So it took a while for it to regrow it's leaves, and started spreading.

Spreading??

Yes, it was spreading everywhere! I had a hunch that it was a 'capsicum plant' because I had been pouring water with capsicum seeds in there to the various pots when watering plants. And there were a few others in my 3 tier plant pots that is now fruiting capsicum. So therefore, I thought I had another lot of capsicum plant in my corn pot.

But what mystify me was that, a capsicum plant, like the chilli plant, is a 'tree' structure. BUT this 'mystery plant' creeps n spreads Everywhere! I thought it must have regained more 'energy' from it's bulldozed incident, that it wanted to grow n spread more. haha.

Anyhow, I noticed it was flowering, so I went to peep at the flowers when I realised there are many 'strings' hanging down from the stems!!!

Will update with the photos later in the day. =D

kcan

Flat bread recipe

This is the recipe for the flat bread, taken from the recent summer series of Coles magazine.

I made this in the grill, and am amazed with the balloon-ing of the dough as it cooked. 

Must keep an eye on it, so as it will not get burnt. A food timer is useful to remind you of the baking time. 

As a personal preference, I prefer not to roll the dough too thin, so as to have a more 'Bready' soft bread. If you like the thin crispy like flat bread, roll out the dough thinly. Keep the cooked bread in a foil lid to keep warm n also to allow the moisture to softens the bread. I find very thin bread can be hard n chewy if you are just eating it plain. 

This bread goes well with curry or saucy dish.

Enjoy! And let me know how it went!

Kcan

Day of baking

It's a warm day today, a good relief from the many days of rain and clouds. Needed the sunshine to dry the accumulating laundry from last week.

With this warmth, why not do some dough proofing!

I recently found out that bread dough can be frozen in freezer, for future baking needs. Which means I can pre-made the flat bread dough, let it rise once, separate it into the portions, and then individually wrapped in glad wrap and freeze in the freezer. When I want to use it I took the amount I need a few hrs ahead and defrost on room temperature ( or overnight in fridge), let it rise and tada! I can bake a fresh bread again in no time! And I loves this flat bread recipe as I can quickly bake it on the grill for 45 seconds on each side and it's done! Wow! Even quicker than preheating the oven!

And while I was at it, I make some quick scones, so that I can use up the fresh cream I bought last week. 

Now, all ready for baking.

Scones with fig jam and cream. 

Yum.

Hope you have a gd day!

Kcan

Flat bread

I recalled seeing a recipe on making flat bread on the Coles magazine recently and wanted to make it.

Here it is! I was so amazed that it will puff up like a balloon itself!

Yummy! Just nice to have it with the left over curry.

Kcan

Commercially bought vs home grown

In addition to yesterday's harvest, I noticed something interesting.

As pictures speaks more than words, I'll let you see it for yourself. 

So happens that I have both lime n tomato from shops to compare. Those I've grown are so much smaller!

Kcan

Tomato harvest

My little tomato harvest from the garden.

After many months of watering, fertilizing, chasing away the possums, and jet spray away the white fly, here's the fruit of the labour. 

Have you had fresh tomatoes? They smells so good! Full of flavour, unlike the ones you get from the shops. 

A good tip, never store your tomato in the fridge. It will loose all it's wonderful flavor.

Kcan