Showing posts from May, 2011

Black Quinoa Salad

May 31, 2011
'The Gold of the Incas' ~ Quinoa ... wonder grains from South America. I will not elaborate further on this wonder grain. These tiny grains contains so many 'properties' that are beneficial to our 'well being ' ~ it helps eases migraine headaches good for me , cardiovascular and many more. I wanted to try Quinoa ... but held back as I wasn't sure whether I would like the taste and texture of Quinoa... since it is categorised under 'Health Food' ~ the price was a lot dearer than any grains or legumes. To buy or not to buy? is always the question...  Finally... my golden opportunity came... It was nearly lunch time... and the lunch crowd was growing by the minute... no hope of us getting any seats anywhere in the Food Court ... so we decided to grab some lunch at David Jones instead.  My lucky star must be shining so bright on that day ... DJ's Salad Bar had Black Quinoa Salad...  I had to have that salad!!!  I wa


Happy Birthday ~ Our Sweetie Pie...

May 27, 2011
Chocolate Macarons for her school mates Today's post will not be about food and recipe ( save it for my next post) ... it will be about my Sweetie Pie ~ E .  You guessed it right....   the photo above... absolute   giveaway!!!... My Sweetie Pie is another year older ... Oh Gosh!!! Time flies... it sure feels like it was just yesterday... for the first time, I craddled her sweet smelling, fragile little body up next to mine... with her teeny-weeny head could just fit the palm of my hand... her foot was just about the width of my two fingers... and the labour pain that still gives me 'The Shivers' down my spine... Oh... yes... She is a definite bundle of joy, a dynamite... amazing to see her bloom...from her boyish baby look...to dresses that was because of hand-me-down clothes from D ... , from crop short hair to tresses... She is our  livewire ... a rainbow to our gloomy days,   a breath of fresh air...  grace our everyday life with her sweet, mischi


Cajun Hasselback Potatoes

May 23, 2011
Cajun hasselback potatoes are fun to make 


Autumn Fruits

May 20, 2011
We spent our last weekend... discovering quaint little town called Dwellingup . It was about 1 1/2 hours drive from our place... approximately 130km. We wouldn't have made the trip to Dwellingup , if not for D . He was to have his first 'camping expedition' in the Bibbulmun Reserve ... preparing him and 60 others for their upcoming 'World Challenge' event to Nepal in November. We drove along 2 Freeways towards Pinjarra...another small town which is famous for its 'Patisserie'...  We drove another 24 km towards Dwellingup... passing by undulating terrain as far as our eyes could see... where sheep, cows and horses soaked in the morning sun while grazing...  We reached our destination in good time and on time. Dwellingup is a small town indeed... about 200m long... and that's it. Blink and you'll miss the town... It is 'the place' for outdoor-sy people... where one could go cycling or trekking part of Bibbulmun tr


Chocolate Brownies

May 11, 2011
Hope you had a fabulous Mother's Day celebration... being pampered by loved ones... and wouldn't it be nice if every weekend is Mother's Day? My 'Mother's Day' started quite late-ish... as the person who was planning to make me breakfast in bed ... was still in her 'slumberland'. I am an early riser...   would usually be awake by 5 am ... and last Sunday, I was staring at the ceiling... blinking away...  I even managed to web browse under the duvet... as not to disturb Mr H  and to pass the time...  Alas... my eyes were strained to the  max.. squinting away at the teeny-weeny screen . .. I decided to get up and go to the study and switched on my computer, lo and behold , the minute I plonked my bum onto the chair...  she walked in. Obviously "someone" was not happy!!... but not for very long... with a promise that I would not step foot into the kitchen... and would get back into bed... the minute she started with break


Marbled Rye Bread

May 07, 2011
I can't help but to mention again and again... on how good Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (BBA)  book is... and I am sure that I have said this more than once that~ this is the best Bread book I have come across. My kids often ask for his 'pizza dough'... not my lazy way of using Lebanese Bread as pizza base!!! and Miss E has mentioned once or twice that it has been a long time since she tasted homemade baguette using Peter's recipe... soon my dear...  I am planning to make one soon ... This is another marvellous bread recipe from Peter's BBA ... Marbled Rye Bre ad ... and my second attempt. My first Marbled Rye was a disaster... I could not pin point the exact mistakes ...  but I could think of  a few factor that may contribute to my failure...   1st ~ American cup measurement is different from Australian 2nd ~ I didn't knead long enough as I was afraid  that I might overmix the rye... hence did not pass the window


Salmon Croquette with Wasabi Mayo

May 04, 2011
First and foremost... I would like to apologise to all... I made a blunder by accidently clicking the "Publish Post" button  for the non-existence post 'Sweet as Sugar'.... I was trying to create a link with another blogger friend... My sincere apologies for my technology handicap.. There aren't many shops near my suburb selling reasonably priced fresh seafood... where you could still see the glassy eyes, the gills are still bloody red and the runny egg-white like goooeey stuff . The nearest would be Progressive IGA but it is not as fresh as our favourite ~ Kailis Brothers Seafood shop in Leederville ... We could spend few good hours ... walking to and fro ... looking around ...  ended up buying whole salmon ... anyway its cheaper to buy the whole fish and get them to cut into whatever cut ... I would have one side filleted with skin on, the other side.. filleted and skin-off.  Half of skinned off will usually ended up as our lunch ~ sashimi.  O