Cooking ~ Meat Floss French Toast

Vanessa gave me a big packet of pork floss she took home from her recent trip back to Taiwan.  It is very delicious.  The seaweed in the floss gave it a special taste too.  Almost similar to those I used to buy from Wing Heong.

Meat floss is one of the very versatile food one can have at home. Roll it up in sushi & egg rolls, mix it with rice, fried rice with it and of course, the most convenient way to eat it is to enjoy it with porridge.   But my favourite way to have it is on a toast.

This is what I had for breakfast today.  I had some extra time to make something other than just bread & jam today because Isabelle slept in late.

Ingredients:

1.  1 egg - beaten

2.  2 slices of bread

3.  1 pc of cheese

4.  Meat floss

5.  Oil or butter for frying.

Method:

1.  Heat up butter or oil.

2.  Arrange the cheese on the bread and topped with meat floss.

3.  Slightly pinch the edges of the bread to seal it.

4.  Dip bread into beaten egg.

5.  Panfry in the butter/oil till it turn golden and crispy on both sides.

Sleeping Positions

Picture sourced from google search

Poor Daddy, ends up sleeping on the couch. 

For our case, Daddy sleeps on the single bed pull-out while me and Isabelle comfortably hoards the real bed. 

Daddies, thou art so great and generous! :)  Thank you!

So, which of the above best describe your family's sleeping positions?

So Nice

Someone to hold me tight

That would be very nice

Someone to love me right

That would be very nice

Someone to understand

Each little dream in me

Someone to take my hand

And be a team with me

So nice, life would be so nice

If one day I'd find

Someone who would take my hand

And samba through life with me

Someone to cling to me

Stay with me right or wrong

Someone to sing to me

Some little samba song

Someone to take my heart

And give his heart to me

Someone who's ready to

Give love a start with me

Oh yes, that would be so nice,

Shouldn't we, you and me?

I could see it would be nice

Cooking ~ Pineapple Prawn Curry

Nyonya dishes are known for its bursting flavour, rich and most of all, appetising! And this is definitely one of it.

I had the choice of grabbing the ready-made spice from the supermarket shelf.  But I wanted to challenge myself and made the paste from scratch.

Ingredients A (To blend into paste)

1.  6 pips of garlic

2.  10 shallots

3.  3 cm length of fresh tumeric

4.  2 cm length of galangal  (blue ginger in English according to wikipedia)

5.  5 red chillies

6.  6 dried red chillies

7.  3 stalks of lemon grass (use only the white pale portion)

8.  4 candlenuts 

9.  3 tbsp belacan (shrimp paste)

*Blend with some water or 1 tsp of oil 

Ingredients B

1.  1/2 cup of water (adjust to preferred consistency)

2.  1/4 cup of coconut milk

3.  1/4 cup of evaporated milk

(alternatively, just use 1/2 cup of coconut milk if desired)

Ingredients C

1.  10-12 prawns (cleaned, deveined with only the head and tails intact)

2.  Approximately half of a ripe pineapple, cubed.  I used Sarawak pineapple as it is very aromatic and heavenly sweet!

Seasonings

1.  2 tbsp fish sauce or 1/2 tsp salt

2.  Sugar-  if the pineapples are not sweet enough.  

Method:

1.  Heat oil and stirfry Ingredients A till fragrant.  This should take approximately 5-8 minutes

2.  Add in pineapple cubes and water.  Simmer for about 5-8 minutes or until the pineapple sweetness flavours the gravy.  If gravy is too thick, add more water.

3.  Add seasonings and stir.  Adjust to taste.

4.  Add in coconut milk and make sure fire is low.  

5.  Lastly, add in prawns and simmer till prawns are cooked (not overcooked) - This should take merely 5 mins.

Result

Me ~  I think I pass!  Only thing, perhaps I should blend the spices a little longer to achieve smoother paste. But I am confi dent to make this dish for my guests and family in future.

DH ~ "Did you cook more rice today? Got extra gravy? Can we have this tomorrow?"  

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I Wish You Love ~ Que Reste T il Nos Amours

Jazzy & bossa nova-ish songs never fail to melt yet warm my heart. 

 This is one of my favourite song arranged in this genre. 

Stacey Kent's French version though, makes me want to learn French!

Have a beautiful weekend and I wish you love.....

"I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss
But more than this
I wish you love

And in July a lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I wish you health
And more than wealth
I wish you love

My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
So with my best, my very best
I set you free

I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all
When snowflakes fall
I wish you love

I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all
When snowflakes fall
I wish you love"

Stacey Kent - Que reste t il nos amours (French)

Lisa Ono - I wish you love (English)

Hotel Amenities - What Do You Do With Them

Am I the only one who collects and keeps hotel amenities to use at home?

What do you with them, if you are a 'collector' like me?

Shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, lotions etc

Toothbrush, toothpaste, shoe shine, razors, sewing kits, shower caps etc

Shower Gels & Shampoos

I use them to clean the floor in the washroom when I run out of floor cleaners. Makes my washroom smells great.

Toothbrush and Toothpaste

I keep this to clean the fridge and washing basins. They come in handy too when I have overnight visitors who did not bring their own supplies.

Lotions

I keep those that comes in tubes (those of good quality, that don't leak and don't smell lousy) in my travelling bags.

Conditioners

This one.. I really don't know what to with them.  Maybe I should just discard them.  What do you do with them?

Razors & Shaving cream

These are for my hubby's toiletries bag.

Sewing Kit & Shower Caps

They are my favourite. Travelling's best friends!

Slippers

Rarely use this but I keep them anyway.  Had the chance to use one pair during our recent hospital stay.  

Isabelle checking out Mummy's collection

Encountering Roseola

Yaay!  We are home from our 3N/4D hospital stay.  It is so good to be home!

Isabelle's high fever subsided to 37.3 degrees on day 1 (after a dose of suppository) she was admitted to hospital and it lingered around that temperature till day 2.  Temperature stayed below 37 degrees and didn't return.  On the evening of day 2, we noticed some red flat spots appearing on her stomach, neck and chin. 

When her doctor checked, it was roseola. 

Here is what roseola is all about:

Symptoms:

• 

  

  Roseola - red spots
  Picture sourced from google search

  Starts with fever (2-5 days)
• Swollen lymph nodes (gland) on the neck or commonly known as throat infection
• Rashes emerges when the fever breaks which is why doctors are only able to diagnosed roseola after your child's fever subsided 
• Rashes usually starts from the trunk, spreads to face, arms and legs.
• Rashes lasts from few hours up to few days depending on individual

To read more about roseola, go here.

Isabelle's rashes is starting to dissappear slowly but surely.  We are just so thankful that she is well again and is back to her active, happy and jolly self!

Apart from this, I am also very grateful my parents were around during this period of time and made sure our home was in order during my absence.  Not forgetting, DH for coming to the hospital to give me a few hours break every evening so that I can go home to get some proper rest.  Particularly yesterday when a severe headache attacked me.  It was so bad that it made me vomitted few times in the afternoon. Would not have done it without you! Thank you!

Some pictures of our activities during our stay at the hospital.

This is what we did when we are not sleeping, eating, struggling feeding medicine, enjoying the company of our visitors or going for a stroll outside the room. 

Thoughtful and cute gift from my niece Jeanette
Isabelle loves the biscuit.  Am going to need to replenish this for her soon.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.        

~ Philippians 4:6