Rose Syrup Icing

So I was suppose to make a batch of bandung cupcakes for a friend to show my appreciation of him and his housemates for taking care of me while I was locked out of my house (I forgot my keys :\ ).

Due to carelessness, I botched up the measurements and the entire batter. Really really badly. My cupcakes were more of vanilla than bandung. Because I promised him a batch of bandung, I decided that I might as well make the best of it and try making a good rose icing to complement the cupcake as well as give the good rose flavour you would get from eating a good bandung cupcake.

So after trying for a while... I managed to get the flavour that I really like. The only problem was texture. It just wasn't thick enough. That was a major problem since the icing would just seep all over. I couldn't thicken it more due to the lack of icing sugar. So I just had to make do. But I think it went well :)

Since I have left over icing, I think the next thing I'm going to do is basically make mini vanilla cupcakes and frost them. Or get more sugar to thicken up the icing before I try again.

Pizza

Anyone up for a nice pizza? I was casually asking my friend how much he eats and he compared it to eating a whole pizza. It sparked inspiration for me to actually make pizza since I haven't had it in ages, plus I never got the chance to make pizza from scratch when I was in Secondary School.

Because I've been so busy at work, this is a super simple recipe. It's not quick because it does take some time for the dough to rise.
This recipe would be great with children as well! Because they get to choose their toppings and place them on the pizza, so it's like a personal yay!

So ingredients are all up to your imagination. I used olives, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, cheddar cheese, white button mushrooms and tomato paste. I love to buy Leggo's tomato paste. You don't have to worry about how you're going to use leftover paste because you can always dilute it with milk or thicken cream to make pasta sauce.

So this post will basically be how to make the dough and the toppings are all up to your creativity!

Ingredients:

Plain Flour (200g)

Yeast (slightly less than 1 tsp)

Lukewarm water (125ml)

Salt and sugar (pinch) 

• Step 1, preheat oven to 180-200 degrees celcius.
• Step 2, combine the water, sugar and yeast together in a small bowl. 
• Step 3, combine flour and salt in a larger bowl and make a well
• Step 4, after 5 minutes when the small bowl mixture is foamy, add it into the well of the bigger bowl
• Step 5, mix well and knead the dough on a lightly floured surface till smooth and elastic
• Step 6, place it back in the bowl and place a damp cloth to cover the bowl. Leave it to double in size ( in warm room temperature)
• Step 7, when the dough has doubled, roll it out into a circle trying to make the surface even 
• Step 8, place them on a baking tray/aluminium (ensure surface has been oiled so the dough doesn't stick). 
• Step 9, into the oven they go!! For around 10-15 minutes

My family used to let my brother and I pretend to make pizzas using bread slices. I really wish they knew how to make pizza dough then. Bread slices just doesn't really hit the spot. 

I hope you have fun making pizzas :D 

Hugs for everyone! Pizza anyone?

Buttermilk Pancakes!

I'm pretty sure that there's no need for a photograph because everyone knows what pancakes look like. Plus the reason why I don't have a photo is also because I rushed out of the house with them and forgot to take a photograph. So you'd have to use your imagination :p

My sister likes to make these into small mini pancakes that you can snack on because we fin that they taste awesome without butter and syrup already.

Ingredients:

Self-rising flour (1 cup)

Milk (3/4 cup)

White Vinegar (2 tbs)

Baking Soda (1/2 tsp)

Sugar (1 tbs)

Egg (1)

Butter (melted... 2 tbs + if you're using them instead of cooking oil)

Salt 

• Step 1, in a small bowl, mix the milk and vinegar together and leave it for around 5 minutes 
• Step 2, in a bigger bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar together. 
• Step 3, smell the small bowl for a sour smell and if present, add in the butter and egg into the small bowl.
• Step 4, make a well/hole in the middle of the bigger bowl.
• Step 5, pour the wet ingredients (small bowl) into the well/hole
• Step 6, mix well
• Step 7, in a saucepan, heat up cooking oil/butter
• Step 8, using a ladle (well I like to use a ladle instead of a spoon), pour out a little bit of the batter
• Step 9, when bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake, wait for a while and then use a spatula to flip them over.
• Step 10, when both sides are nice and brown, place on a plate and serve :)

The use of a ladle will allow you to pour out somewhat equal amounts of batter so your pancakes are of similar size. Plus it also prevents you from dripping batter everywhere. If you don't have vinegar to make buttermilk, you could use vanilla essence instead. The flavour is different but it still tastes awesome ^^

Hugs for everyone!! Nom nom nom~

Small little tips

The recipes in this posts are simple and mainly everyone can do them. So instead of making posts about the steps, I decided to just talk about little tips that I do.

MASH POTATOES

So the first tip is about mash potatoes. Whenever I make them, I like to mix in carrots. Why? Simply because I like that there are little spots of orange :p But it's also because I want to make myself feel less guilty that all I'm eating are carbs. The best way I love my mash is with a little milk. It just gives that little hint of creaminess in it. I know that many recipes also ask for butter, but I like to go healthier and just avoid the butter. To me, it tastes great with or without butter. 

BATTER

I learnt this from my mother. I believe that every cook should have a simple batter recipe that is versatile enough to go with almost anything. I use this batter for a number of different things.

All this requires, is self rising flour, water and oil. For those who bake, the batter would probably remind you of something similar to a more watery cupcake batter. Just ensure that it's still liquidy and you can draw patterns that stay when you lift the spoon. Just a small amount of oil is used to give the end product a nice shine.

The biggest trick to make sure that your batter stays crispy and doesn't start to turn soggy after a while is... temperature. Ensure that your batter is as cold as possible by leaving in the fridge in a while. My mother does this with ice cubes, but since I don't really want to risk watering down my batter, I use a metal bowl and leave it in the fridge for around 5 minutes. Your batter should be far away from your fire. You want the batter to remain cold throughout. I usually throw in the ingredients in the batter, leave them in the fridge and only bring them out when I am frying them. So my fridge door opens and shuts quite often when I do this. 

STEAK

When marinating steaks, be it beef or salmon or any kind of meat, the best way to make sure that you have spread the salt evenly is through the use of your hands. Pour the salt on the palm of one hand, rub both hands together and just gently grab and 'apply' the salt on the meat ensuring that you have rubbed every part of the steak. Do the same if you want pepper. 

I'm not a fan of steak sauce. The best way to enjoy a steak is just with a little salt (and .... to many others, pepper. Yep, I'm still not a pepper fan)

And of course the most obvious thing to look out for is the amount of heat and the time. It's always hard to grasp the time so keep your eyes on the steak. If it's undercook you can always cook it longer, but if it's overcooked, you're stuck with dry and tough meat. 

So here are three tips when you're making mash, a flour batter or steak :) Hope you found these helpful! Oh yes, if you're in Sydney and you're an absolute fan of good meat. One of the best places I always go to get roasts and steaks is at Meat Emporium (Establishment 218). You get to choose a big piece of meat and they will help cut it up if you want to. I usually only get the big ones if I have gatherings or if I'm sharing the piece with someone else. They have a good variety of lamb, chicken, pork, beef and I love their sausages. I rarely go to this place because it's a little further off and since it's meat, I only go when someone's available to drive me over. If you want beef bones, smoked beef bones, or even double smoked, they have them there.  So if you're a meat lover, check out their website and see if you find it to your liking :) 

Hugs for everyone~ Share handy tips if you have any!

Stirfried nappa cabbage with carrots and mushrooms

My friend had been over for dinner recently and we've been having a really great time just cooking, chilling and drinking wine.

That's probably one of the greatest reasons why I haven't been posting up recipes. We've had a seafood feast, a chinese cuisine and also a western dinner. I'll be posting little recipes here and there from the dinners.

My friend loves this dish. He likes how simplistic it is.


Ingredients:
Garlic (~2 cloves)

Nappa cabbage

Carrots

Shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dried - allow the mushrooms to have soaked and soften)

Soy Sauce

Cooking Oil

• Step 1, wash the cabbage and carrots
• Step 2, cut the cabbage, garlic and the carrots (peel them if you wish)
• Step 3, Heat up the cooking oil in a pan
• Step 4, place the garlic in the pan 
• Step 5, when you can smell the fragrance of the garlic, throw in the cabbage and carrots into the pan
• Step 6, allow the cabbage and carrots to fry till they have soften. 
• Step 7, add in the mushrooms and soy sauce. Mix well.
• Step 8, serve.

Simple enough? Haha. It's a quick and easy dish to make so if you're on a time crunch, you could give this a try :) 

Hugs for everyone~ Have fun cooking!!

Smooth and silky steam egg

From young I always wondered how people made steam egg that was nice and smooth with rarely any bubbles. I used to ask the lady at the stall I used to buy steam egg from. She used to joke with me saying that only pretty women could make steam egg because they had smooth skin. It was hilarious. Now that I'm older, I've learnt the trick and I've made my own recipe for it too :)

The most important tool is... a sieve. But that's not the only important tool in this recipe... we also need egg shells. So make sure you try to break your eggs well and keep half a shell.

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
Dried Mushrooms (depending on how much they expand, I used around 3)
Chicken Broth
Hot water

• Step 1, place the mushrooms in a bowl, add in the hot water and cover. Allow the mushrooms to have time to expand and soften.
• Step 2, in the steamer, add in water and allow the water the boil.
• Step 3, while you wait for the mushrooms and the water, start to crack the eggs into a bowl. Don't forget to keep half of the egg shell.
• Step 4, using the shell as a scoop, take 6 scoops of chicken broth and pour them into the bowl.
• Step 5, using the water the mushrooms are soaked in, take 2 scoops and pour them into the bowl
• Step 6, mix the egg mixture till even and sieve the mixture into another bowl. 
• Step 7, cut the softened mushrooms and gently drop them into the egg mixture.
• Step 8, place the bowl in the steamer for around 10-15 minutes.

So one egg is to two scoops of liquid. If you are unsure if the steam egg is done, give it a little shake, if it shakes a lot, it's probably not ready. If you really want to make sure, give it a poke! heehee :p 
Be careful not to overcook the egg as well as it will become slightly tough and dry. 

Hugs for everyone~ Have an eggcellent day!

Stirfried eggplant spaghetti

I bought a huge eggplant. So I'd probably have more eggplant recipes coming up.

Here's a nice simple recipe, only flaw is that it may be overly oily so just be careful with your control with the oil.

Ingredients:

Garlic (2-3 cloves)
Onion (~half)
Eggplant
Spaghetti noodles
Olive Oil

• Step 1, boil water in a pot over the stove.
• Step 2, cut up the onion, garlic and eggplant
• Step 3, when the water has boiled, add the spaghetti in the pot
• Step 4, heat up some olive oil in a sauce pan
• Step 5, when the oil is heated, add in the garlic and onion
• Step 6, when the fragrance of garlic and onion is in the air, add in the eggplant
• Step 7, check on your spaghetti noodles. If they are al dente, drain the pasta and set them aside.
• Step 8, when the eggplants are cooked, add in the spaghetti noodles and a little olive oil.

It is important to note that throughout the process of frying the eggplants, if there is not enough oil, add in probably half a tablespoon at a time so that it doesn't turn out overly oily.

Hugs for everyone :) Eat away!!

Honey Soy Chicken

This is a great recipe if you really want that sweet and savoury taste in your mouth where both flavours really compliment each other.

This is not a difficult recipe but it may take a while. I would give it probably around 40 minutes prep plus cooking time before you can eat this dish. So if you don't mind the wait, give this a go.

The honey used in this dish really depends on the type of honey you use. You'll have to taste test the sauce before pouring it over the chicken.

Ingredients:

Garlic (2-3 cloves)
Ginger 
Chicken (500g~)
Light Soy Sauce (~1/2 cup)
Honey (~1/4-1/3 cup)

• Step 1, preheat your oven at forced fan settings at 180 degrees Celsius   
• Step 2,cut up the ginger, garlic and chicken
• Step 3, place the cut up ingredients into an ovenproof dish
• Step 4, in a bowl, pour in the soy sauce and honey and mix well. Ensure that all the honey has dissolved.
• Step 5, pour the liquid mixture over the chicken in the dish. 

I like to make sure that my chicken is flat on the dish and is all almost fully covered with the soy sauce.

• Step 6, cover the dish either with a lid (if you have one) or wrapped with aluminium foil. There is no need to poke holes in the foil.
• Step 7, place the covered dish in the oven for around 30-40 minutes or until the chicken has cooked
• Step 8, remove the foil and flip the chicken pieces over.
• Step 9, allow the uncovered dish to stay in the oven for around another 5 minutes and remove.
• Step 10, Serve. 

There is no need to drain out the soy sauce marinade. What I like to do is use it as a sauce and drizzle it over my rice when I eat the dish. Plus, if there is leftover chicken, it will not go dry as you can store it together with the marinade.


If you have leftover chicken and leftover rice... and you want to eat some thing different. Change it up into fried rice :)

Ingredients:

Leftover honey soy chicken (plus marinade)
Leftover rice 
Egg (1 or 2)
Frozen/fresh corn kernels
Cooking oil

• Step 1, heat up some cooking oil in a sauce pan
• Step 2, when the oil heats up, add in the corn kernels
• Step 3, add in the rice 

If required, add in a little bit of water to soften up the rice. Then cover with a lid (if you want).

• Step 4, add in the chicken and drizzle the rice with the marinade (till there is enough flavour)
• Step 5, crack the egg into a bowl/cup and mix.
• Step 6, pour the egg over the rice and allow the rice to be completely coated with egg.
• Step 7, mix the rice around as the egg is cooking to ensure that the 
• Step 5, Serve :)

Do not add in the chicken before the rice even if the rice does not require water. The chicken may overcook and you will end up with super tough chicken. As much as it's leftovers, you still want your chicken to be as juicy and moist as possible.

 

I love to do something different with leftovers. No one likes to eat the same thing for every meal just because there are leftovers. There's usually a way to change it up and turn it into something that tastes like a new dish altogether :) 

Hugs for everyone :) Enjoy the meal!

Stirfried eggplant with chicken

Usually I use mince meat for this recipe but since I'm all out of mince, this was the best I could substitute it for. It still tastes awesome and the steps are still the same.

Ingredients:

Garlic (1-2 cloves)
Chicken (200g~)
Eggplant
Shao XingWine (~1/2 to 1 tbs)
Sesame Oil (1-2tsp)
Light Soy Sauce
Cooking Oil
Ginger

• Step 1, cut up the ginger, garlic, chicken and eggplant
• Step 2, in a small bowl, add in and mix the chopped up chicken, shao xing wine, sesame oil and a little soy sauce. Set aside.

If you don't have sesame oil, that's fine. Just don't add it in.

• Step 3, heat up cooking oil in a sauce pan.
• Step 4, when the oil is hot, add in the garlic and ginger.
• Step 5, when the fragrance is in the air, add in the eggplants
• Step 6, when the eggplant turns slightly translucent, add in the chicken
• Step 7, mix well and ensure that all chicken bits are cooked. (OPTIONAL) Add in more soy sauce for flavour.
• Step 8, Serve :)

A nice simple dish to make when pressed for time and when you're lazy. I absolutely love eggplants. I realised that I absolutely love a lot of things.. but then again, there are so many things to love! heehee. Eggplants can get really oily if you aren't use to cooking them as they tend to soak up quite a bit of oil and if you're not careful, you'd add in too much oil and your dish will get really oily. 

Hugs for everyone :) Enjoy your meal!

Seafood Tomato Sauce

Yesterday I headed off in the evening to get rice milk to make cupcakes. I could have bought normal cow's milk from a nearby store but since my friends are lactose intolerant, I decided to just go slightly out of my way to get rice milk.

I absolutely love rice milk. It just has a very nice mildly sweet flavour to it. Anyways, back to today's recipe :) Because I headed out to get rice milk, I decided to buy fresh ingredients for dinner.



I went to Pacific Square to get the milk and I realised that the Seafood store was still open. They're part of a shop that sells seafood meals so they open quite late. So I decided to just head over and get myself fresh prawns and calamari rings. I haven't had calamari rings for over a year now so I decided why not. Since the special for prawns were only for those that were cooked, I decided to just get those and save some time on cooking. Things to note for prawns...

1. VISUAL. Uncooked prawns- ensure that there are no black spots on the heads and tails of the prawn. Cooked prawns - ensure a nice even opaque colour of the prawns.
2. SMELL. Obviously this is after you've bought the prawns and perhaps have stored them for a while and wish to know if they are still fresh. The longer you store any kind of seafood, the stronger the 'fishy' smell is.
3. TEXTURE. There is a difference in texture between prawns that are fresh and those that aren't. Usually those that are older are much softer and perhaps have a sort of slimier feel. The fresh ones have a nice firm texture and are not as slimy as the softer ones.

Ingredients:

Garlic (1-2 cloves)
Onion (half)
Cooked Prawns (100-200g)
Calamari Rings (100g)
Tomato Paste (~4 tbs)
Water
White Wine (I used sauvignon blanc) (~1/2 to 1 tbs)
Lemon
Cooking Oil

• Step 1, boil some water in a pot

• Step 2, while the water is boiling, cut up the garlic, onion, prawns(or just simple peel the shell off) and calamari rings
• Step 3, when the water has boiled, place the prawns and calamari pieces in the pot for around half a minute, drain the water and set the pieces aside.
• Step 4, in a saucepan, heat up some oil
• Step 5, when the oil has heated, throw in the garlic and onions.
• Step 6, when the onions have soften add in the tomato paste with a little wine and lemon juice and mix.
• Step 7, if the sauce is still too thick for your liking, add in a little water and taste to check the flavour
• Step 8. when the sauce is finally to your liking, add in the prawn and calamari pieces. 
• Step 9, give them a good mix and serve.

To give myself more variety I also added in thyme egg that I made in an older post. Instead of rice, this recipe would also go well with pasta :) 

Hugs for everyone~ Have a great day!

Capsicum Tomato Pasta

A few days ago I decided to purchase some really nice red and ripe tomatoes. They looked so fresh and juicy that I couldn't resist. I haven't made tomato sauce from scratch so I decided that I might as well buy tomatoes and make some :) I had a nice green capsicum (bell pepper) lying around my fridge so I decided that with the nice blend of flavours would make a nice dinner meal.






Ingredients:
Capsicum (I used green)
Spaghetti 
Tomatoes (~4)
Garlic
Cooking Oil
Herbs (I used cumin, thyme and rosemary) 
Cheddar Cheese

• Step 1, boil some water in a pot. 

• Step 2, while the water is taking it time to boil, cut up the garlic and capsicum.
• Step 3, when the water boils, place the (whole) tomatoes in.
• Step 4, when the tomatoes soften and you notice the skin peeling off, drain the water and transfer them to a big bowl.
• Step 5, fill the pot with more water and heat to boil
• Step 6, while waiting for the water to boil, mash the tomatoes (I usually do so with a potato masher, but be careful that the juice might squirt out)

At this point, your tomato mixture should be very watery. Do not worry about the skin pieces and lumps of tomatoes. The skin will soften with further cooking and the sauce will be chunky instead of just a smooth texture.

• Step 7, add in the herbs into the tomato mixture.
• Step 8, when the spaghetti almost reaches al dente, heat up the oil in a saucepan.

• Step 9, when the oil heats up, throw the cut up garlic into the pan.
• Step 10, when the garlic fragrance is in the air throw in the capsicum.
• Step 11, by now the spaghetti should be done so drain the spaghetti and , leave it one side first.
• Step 12, when the capsicum seems to have soften slightly, add in the tomato mixture.
• Step 13, as the sauce is very watery, allow the sauce to boil for a (rather long) while but ensure that it does not burn at the bottom of the pan by mixing it every few minutes (or seconds)
• Step 14, when the sauce thickens, add in the spaghetti and mix.
• Step 15, if you like a cheesy texture along with the pasta, add the cheese and mix. Or you could just sprinkle them on top and serve :D

Most people think that making tomato sauce is hard because of blanching (where you take tomatoes from boiling water into ice cold water to peel off the outer skin). I usually just wash my tomatoes, boil them and mash them. I know that there are some who are worried about tomatoes having a layer of wax or pesticides, but since I'm not super uptight about that sort of thing, this is my way to make quick tomato sauce. 

As to why I chose green capsicum, it was firstly because I love colour contrast in foods and well I was suppose to make turkish meatballs with them but since I ended up using my mince for something else, my capsicum looked really lonely. Haha. 

Oh yes, a potato masher. It is one of my must-have in the kitchen. I believe anyone who has ever made mash potato, tomato, carrot, banana (anything mash for that matter) would understand how unbelievably hard and tedious it is to use the back of a fork and slowly try to cut up the chunks to the best of our abilities. With a masher it makes things so much faster and easier. Plus the food is mashed much more evenly with little big chunks. This little kitchen tool has made my life so much easier and It is always important to check the quality of the masher you buy. The things to take note of when buying a masher is...

1. STRUCTURE. Get mashers that have the bottom plate supported on both sides. Some mashers are well supported with both ends of the mashing plate connected to the handle while for some, only one side is connected. If the metal is easily bent, this will cause a problem if force is directed more at the end that is not supported. The plate will start to bend towards the handle and you'd have trouble trying to mash anything with it. 
2. MATERIAL. This one is obvious. Generally we would stick to getting a metal or silicon masher with a insulated handle. Why not plastic? Well there's always a chance that it might melt or it is not strong enough.
3. MASHER PLATE. There are many designs when it comes to the plates. It can be circles or squares or even oddly shaped. When mashing, most people wouldn't think too much about the design of the plate as long as it can mash up the ingredients. I prefer to get small circles or squares as they tend to do the job faster and because if I were to make things such as tomatoes, my tomato chucks would tend to be of similar size instead of a mixture of big and small pieces.

Well, these are generally the things I take note of when I buy mashers. If you have any other tips to look out for when buying mashers, feel free to share :) Thank You! 

Hugs for everyone~ Mash away!!

Simple fast dishes

   

So the other day I managed to get a hold of some nice and fresh baby pea shoots. I absolutely love this vegetable because even though they are stir fried, they remain that fresh crisp when you bite down into them. The other dish is simple stirfried asparagus and chicken.

When choosing asparagus, to me, there are two most important things to look at. Firstly, the colour and second, look at the bottom stem of the asparagus. If it's discoloured and dry, those are generally the parts you cut off because when you fry them, they don't become crunchy and yet soft, but instead they become tough and you're chewing on tough stems. So look at the bottom and the drier it is, the more you probably have to cut away.

Also, when cutting asparagus, they are usually cut in the slanted manner for faster cooking.
Both of these dishes are quick and easy especially if you're hungry but want to eat something healthy.


Chicken and Asparagus 
Ingredients:
Asparagus (I used three bunches)
Chicken (around ~250g)
Garlic
Soy Sauce
Cooking Oil

• Step 1, wash the asparagus
• Step 2, cut the asparagus, garlic and the chicken
• Step 3, Heat up the cooking oil in a pan
• Step 4, place the garlic in the pan 
• Step 5, when you can smell the fragrance of the garlic, throw in the asparagus and add soy sauce
• Step 6, cover the pan with a lid and allow the vegetable to be steamed
• Step 7, when the asparagus turn slightly pale in colour, add in the chicken
• Step 8, mix the ingredients and you can choose to cover the pan with the lid or just stir and allow the chicken to fry
• Step 9, Serve

Baby pea shoots
Ingredients:
Baby pea shoots
Salt/Soy Sauce
Garlic
Cooking Oil

• Step 1, Wash the baby pea shoots
• Step 2, Cut up the garlic

• Step 3, Heat up the cooking oil in a pan
• Step 4, place the garlic in the pan 
• Step 5, when you can smell the fragrance of the garlic, throw in the baby pea shoots
• Step 6, mix it around and add in the salt or soy sauce
• Step 7, cover the pan with a lid and allow the vegetables to be steamed

I know this step may seem a little weird, but I prefer to cover my vegetables and allow them to steam as I find it faster and I don't really have to watch the pan so I can do other things as the vegetables are being steamed.

• Step 8, when the shoots turn a lush green, mix them around and taste to check it's flavour
• Step 9, add more salt/soy sauce if required 
• Step 10, serve

These are the two dishes I had for lunch. 

Creamy Miso Pasta

I've been thinking of lots of different things to try and cook since I have so much free time during the winter break. I was thinking on the lines of fusion and I haven't eaten pasta in a while and this is what I came up with.

The best part about this recipe was the extra seaweed. Gave an additional texture of crunch to the dish :3





Seaweed has officially taken over as the best snack to eat if I have cravings for something crunchy and crispy. Instead of chips, it's a healthier and cheaper alternative :)

Ingredients:

Garlic (1-2 cloves)
Chicken (100-150g)
Spaghetti (around 1 serving) 
Thicken Cream (100-200ml) 
Cooking Oil
Seaweed
Miso Paste (~1tbs)

• Step 1, boil some water in a pot. 

• Step 2, while the water is taking it time to boil, cut up the garlic, chicken (and seaweed).
• Step 3, when the water boils, place the spaghetti in.
• Step 4, heat up the oil in a saucepan.

Make sure that there's not too much oil or the dish will turn out really oily due to the thicken cream and excess oil.

• Step 5, when the oil heats up, throw the cut up garlic into the pan.
• Step 6, when the garlic fragrance is in the air, add the chicken into the pan 

 Not when the garlic browns as it usually means that your garlic is going to be burnt soon.

• Step 7, don't forget to check on your pasta! If it's done, drain it and place it one side.
• Step 8, after one/both sides of the chicken is slightly cooked, pour the thicken cream, miso into the pan and mix well.
• Step 9,  After the miso paste has dissolved, test the flavour and if necessary, add more paste.
• Step 10, Add in the pasta and mix well. 
• Step 11, if the sauce is still very liquid like, continue to heat to allow the sauce to thicken
• Step 12, add the seaweed. Depending on your own preference, mix it into the dish, or just sprinkle some on top.
• ENJOY!

I had fun making this recipe. Every time I try something new and spontaneous is makes me all excited and jumpy. I just can't wait to find out how a recipe will turn out! I hope you have fun making and eating this dish like I did!

Hugs for everyone~ Have fun!

Thyme egg

There's no picture for this recipe, sorry, but you're not missing out on much visually. It looks like a normal egg omelette. This is a short recipe. Really short. This isn't the recipes that you see online that are scrabbled eggs with cheese, thyme, rosemary, etc. This is a simple recipe of just egg and thyme... and a bit of salt and pepper :p

Ingredients:
Egg
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Oil

I wasn't joking when I said that's all you need. If you want a short version of the instructions, it's essentially, mix everything together and fry. 

But here goes the long version of the instructions...

• Step 1, crack the eggs into a small bowl or cup 

• Step 2, mix the thyme, salt and pepper into the egg and stir 
• Step 3, heat up the pan with cooking oil
• Step 4, under low heat, pour the egg mixture into the pan
• Step 5, wait for the egg to be cooked (look for little ait pockets/ bubbles in your egg)
• Step 6, flip the egg over 
• Step 7, serve.

You could always change it up with other herbs. I've tried it with basil and rosemary. Egg has a generally neutral flavour that isn't strong on the taste buds. So with some herbs it add flavour and dimension of flavours. I love what you can do with eggs. Fry, steam, poach, hard boil, half boil, scrambled... Hmm... I should probably do a post about all the simple different ways to cook an egg. Well, I have a lot of time since it's winter break right now so there's a lot more recipes coming!

Hugs for everyone~ Have an eggceptional day!