Sunday, August 11, 2013

Kitchen Story (Tomyam Chicken Stir-fry & Spinach)

Staying alone in the house is something unusual to me, yet I'd stayed here for nearly a couple of weeks. Instead of dying of boredom, I'd decided to treat myself good by entering the kitchen. I'm not good in cooking as I often get the dishes over-cooked. Well, the meals here are for myself and who cares? I should have cooked myself rather than eating out, which is not budget-friendly and otherwise, not delicious yet unhealthy. Okay, cooking alone and eating alone sound so pitiful. Why not I spend some moments to jot them down here?

To kick-start my kitchen story, and to lower the risk of failure :P, I opened my refrigerator and got mummy's homemade tomyam paste. To be more accurate, mummy actually cooked it by blending in a variety of spices into the store-bought tomyam paste. The flavor is totally different from the base tomyam paste as mummy's special recipe made it a right twist! Usually, I would just add in the cooked paste to fry noodles, rice, or cook a soup-based delicacy. 

I usually stored spinach in my refrigerator. I first came across this kind of vegetable from Popeye. I wanted to be as cool as popeye from small. Popeye's spinach is always in a can. My parents, however, do not know that spinach means for in English. Until I was grown up and shopped for groceries, I noticed the packaged vegetable with the "spinach" tag and I was overwhelmed that I actually eat it quite frequently. The two points that I love spinach so much other than from Popeye are, spinach is rich in fibers and more importantly, it is easy to prepare!

Running out of ideas, I decided to prepare myself tomyam chicken stir-fry. I took out chicken breast and left-over spinach, then turned my kitchen alive.

Spinach with Egg


Ingredients
Spinach
1 egg
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1/4 onion (minced)
1/2 tbsp sambal shrimp
2 tbsp cooking oil
salts and pepper


Method

First, the thick stems of the spinach were cut off and discarded. The spinach was then washed and drained.
One egg was mixed with pinches of herbs, salts and pepper. 
1 tbsp of vegetable oil was heated in a skillet on medium high heat. The mixed egg was fried first.
The fried egg was collected. Upon adding another tbsp of oil, garlic, onion and sambal shrimp were added accordingly and cooked until they turned brown.
Spinach was added and cooked for 30 seconds. The fried egg was then added and cooked for another 1 minute.
Tadaaa! The dish was ready to be served.

**I used sambal shrimp to add an extra umami as I did not have fresh shrimps in hand. Surprisingly, the sambal belacan promoted the taste just right. 


Tomyam Chicken Stir-fry


Ingredients

1/2 chicken breast
2 tbsp homemade tomyam paste
1/2 yellow onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic
1 Red chilies (sliced)
1 tbsp honey
1/4 lemon or lime
2 tbsp cooking oil
Salts and pepper

Method

The chicken was firstly chopped into smaller pieces and marinated with tomyam paste and desirable amount of salt and pepper for two hours (would be better if marinated overnight for a rich flavor).


After heating up 2 tbsp of oil in the skillet, garlic, chilies, and onion were added accordingly. 

 While the ingredients were turning brown, marinated chicken pieces were added and cooked until tender.
Pinches of salts and pepper were sprinkled and the dish was ready. 

I had the two dishes with white rice, they were about 650 kcal. Yum~ It feels so good and satisfying! =D

Okay...this is my only entertainment right now. Shoo shoo boredom and darkness! =]

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Biotech Night 2013-The Night of Elegance

Used to be late at class and sleeping at lecture, I seldom interact with my coursemates in the past two years. (Oops!)  It was the night we actually enjoyed and knew more about each other. 

Course's Annual Dinner

I was one of the person-in-charge for the annual dinner. I did attended most of the meetings yet feeling quite sorry as I did not really contribute. The event was held in Hotel Shangri-la Bandaran Kota Kinabalu. Disappointingly, the meal was below average and costly. The sound system was just a basic one with a simple monitoring hardware. Overall, it was quite deviated from our theme, "Elegance".  Though, our class-representative Mr. Dexter and other event crew did a great job and the event was fun and smooth!


On our way to the venue for preparation

While waiting for "dress-room"


I was doubtful to attend the dinner at first. Monica offered her dress to solve my urgent need at last minute! As a beginner in make-up, it took me a hard time to dress up within an hour. Luckily, Florisa offered another helpful hand to make it possible. Oh ya, the heels I wore were borrowed as well. =P It was definitely a grateful night! :)

The owner of the dress

My make-up artist. Thanks!

It was a memorable one! I grabbed some photos from friends and here they go...

One and only portrait of mine - PA part-timer of the night


Part-time again! 
Lazy bug. Well you helped a little for my hair-do

My sister was so smart! :p

The Technical Team Leader. Sorry that I was not helpful. 

Fun and sporting boy

I like to bully you 'cause you're cute!

Rock star of the night!
Girls~

With lecturers.

Girls, camera, girls, camera

The gang who always take the seats at the back of our lecture room

Catcha!... 

Juniors? No, I think we're of same age :p

No worry, I'll be helping you to put on eyeliner next time

Charming emcee. Someone said we are sisters, do we look alike? :o

"Juniors" again!

Tee hee~

Spot the face expression of Mr Dexter! :p

Almost same style huh

The flower lady~ So lovely

One of the best mate! Pretty as always

Glad to meet you girls here

:P

Most of my coursemates are here!

The bar counter loves us

Monday, March 4, 2013

搭上方舟,我的第一个五月天

亲自到五月天演唱会,是我一直以来的梦想。有人说这哪算梦想,可是我觉得只要是自己想坚持完成的,都可以称为梦想。梦想可大可小,却让人有着一种动力朝它前进。就是那一股力量,在过程里追梦者真切地感受着自己的心跳。每一分每一秒,都是活着的证据。

五月天在马来西亚的第一场演唱会,我错过了。那时候,或许还没有那份热忱吧!之后,我只能期许自己存够钱,飞到台湾去,就为了看一场梦寐以求的演唱会。

弃神山,搭方舟!

如果按照去年为自己拟定的计划来看,三月二号其实是登Mount Kota Kinabalu 的日子。登神山是自己的目标之一,一直找不到朋友一同去。好不容易有机会了,全额也缴清了,一个月前突然宣布的演唱会让我毫不犹豫地放弃登山。朋友都说我傻了。

从沙巴飞到吉隆玻,不为别的,就只是想要实现自己小小的梦想。所幸一路有人陪同,让这段旅程一点都不孤单。琪也让我们暂住她的宿舍,为旅费减轻不少。