Lisa's Lemony Kitchen

Late last year, Miss E brought back from school... the list of 'electives' subjects, for students to choose for the following year. Since she is in the Music Programme... she was limited to two electives. She decided to do Home Economics and Photography, as her elective subjects. Was I surprise? No... I 'kind of' expected that she would picked up these two subjects...the little girl who wants to grow up and be "like you MOM"...so she said They would cook or bake something... and everytime, she'd bring home some for us to taste ... but sometimes when she made something nice like these Chocolate Chip Cookies .... "Mom... the cookies were so good that I finished them all...sorry..." with her Cheshire cat smile . " but I'll bake some during the school holidays...OK?" and here she is... baking her cookies for us...  She did everything ... I only helped her with the oven and of course cleaning up afterwa...

Indian cuisine has lots of flavour with every bite... with wonderful aromatic spices like cumin, black pepper,coriander, cardamon as well as the use of fresh tumeric, ginger, coriander and mint. Among those wonderful spices...my favourite spices are coriander seeds and cumin, and I have them in big bottles...stock up in my pantry. what's your favourite spice/s...? Going down memory lane... when I was in my teens and my sisters left home to either work or start their family, and I was the only 'girl' left in the house to help my mom in her kitchen... boys were spared and barred from the kitchen... dont ask me why!! I haven't a clue till today mom would asked me to prepare spices for her...either cumin or coriander. I had to pound the spices... using mortar and pestle, I kept crushing and pounding until my hand ached but the  aroma from the spices permeated my senses that makes everything worthwhile... my love for cumi...

When it comes to cheeses.. I am the most boring person ..as I have very little knowledge about them ... my all time favourite would be English Cheddar... the only cheese I would consumed during my years in the UK... for a simple reason~ I wasn't the adventurous type...

Easy peasy Sausage and vegetable quiche to kick off the weekend

All of us are familiar with the expression of "Don't judge a book by its Cover" or "Looks can be deceiving " ... I would apply both 'saying' to this dish. Ayam Sioh is a Nyonya Dish. One look at the dish ~ one would tend to think... "hmm.. nothing exciting about this dish ...its plain... not colourful...dark brown in colour.."  and eventually, we would skip to the next page or dish... and forget all about it. I was one of many that would judge a dish by how it is presented and colour... afterall the concept of "We eat with our Eyes first' do play a major part in our daily life...  agree with me? When Mr H suggested Ayam Sioh few years back... I was the 'reluctant cook' because of the 'what I mentioned above'... but the minute I pan-roasted the coriander seeds, then grind them... The beautiful aroma of coriander is amazing!!!. Ayam Sioh had me at 'Hello'... like love at first whiff... Wh...

Saturday was a gorgeous day... sun shining, blue sky and fresh cold Southerly wind blowing...   I was planning to sit down and finish up this post ... but I just couldn't stay indoor for long... I kept on typing... hit the delete button... then typed and delete again...  After struggling for few more minutes... finally, I decided to go out and do some gardening...  looking for some inspiration If only my composing... typing would be as fuss-free as this dessert... Only 3 main ingredients are required to whipped up this wonderful dessert :  wonton skins, frozen raspberries and lemon curd either homemade or store-bought...  Since I have all the above plus some lemons in the fridge.... so I went on an extra mile to make my own lemon curd...  Whipped up lemon curd, if you are in a hurry ... refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.. Note : Add more sugar to the lemon curd if...

Holidaying in one of the South Pacific Islands has always been one of my many 'dream' places to visit... imagine... . waking up to the sound of waves rushing to shore... . swimming in the crystal clear water under the bluest sky...  . indulging in exotic food... fresh seafood abundance...   *sigh*... I can only dream for the time being... as I don't foresee that happening soon... The idea of holidaying to one of the islands was put forward every year, and every year the answer would be  ..."NO"... but I will not give up... Recently an online book company had a Mega Sale... I ordered Me' a Kai ~ The Food and Flavours of South Pacific ... since I can't experience the first two ~ the wave and the swim!! .... I could still have a taste of South Pacific... may be that will make him change his mind !!!! Palumalau Sosi Pe'epe'e that's what it is called in Samo...

Scallops ~ my first taste... when I was in KL, during one of the company dinners ~ 8 course dinner in a posh Chinese Restaurant. I remembered looking at the disc-like morsels thinking... 'Is this really scallops? it doesn't look exciting...'   Took a bite... I didn't like the taste of dried scallops...  and   canned Abalone too ... It had a tiny hint of Oyster Sauce straight from the bottle  with slight taste of metal... It has been years... since... Few weeks ago, I noticed scallops ~ fresh scallops at Leedeville, on sale for AUD$2 per shell... I was keen to grab a few shells for my props .. always thinking of props ... but decided against it... too many props... I have to find a proper home for them... until last week, again I saw them on display in Woollies, going for AUD$ 1.15 per piece... cheaper, so I grabbed some and tried cooking scallops for the first time......