Cornflakes Cookies

For the 2010 Chinese New Year, I thought of trying my hands at baking some CNY cookies. I wanted a really, really simple-no-way-anything-could-go-wrong kind of recipe. Cornflakes cookies popped out in quite a number of blogs...I basically mixed and match the 2 recipes I got from Peng's Kitchen and bakebakebake. Followed the ingredients list which was easiest for me to get and the instructions easiest to follow!

Before putting into the oven

Voila! It's done

See, I don't have any weighing machines for baking. So I found the ingredient list from Peng's kitchen easier to follow in regards to portioning; cos the butter I bought is 250grms, so I divided that visually  by 5 and then further by another 5...so I got my 60grms. Of course, I could have saved myself the trouble and just chuck the whole butter in...but when I experiment, I like to do it in small portion so I don't waste too much. :-P

Ingredients [modified from Peng's Kitchen]:

• 60gm Butter
• 50ml Honey [measured this amount also by visually dividing my bottle of honey ^_^]
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• Cornflakes[I just chucked in how much I felt like...hehe]
• Color flakes

 Method [followed mostly bakebakebake]:

1. Preheat oven to 150°c
2. Melt butter, sugar, salt and honey in a large wok
3. When everything is melted, turn off heat. Mix in the cornflakes...crush them a bit
4. Coat the cornflakes well with the melted mixture
5. Spoon them into cookie cups; arranged on an oven tray
6. Sprinkle color flakes on top of them
7. Put them into the oven for 5 - 10 minutes*
8. Let cool before eating them or storing

* When I first used 10 minutes, my cookies almost got burned. According to my friend; Sie Ong, you have to check the color occasionally to see if it's done.He also recommended not to use cookie cups....it would be cheaper.
** Made a box each for my landlord's family and also the Adalbertinum Chinese Restaurant aunt's family ^_^

Very happy with my first attempt at baking cookies. :-) Since my first time, I have baked these twice already. 

Sport Café

Everyone in HK [that's Hradec Králové, not Hong Kong, mind you!] knows about Sport Café. Some say it serves the best pizza in town. I am not a big fan of pizza, so I can't say much about that. :-P

Actually, until recently, I don't really like to go to this place. Their menu is not that fascinating. And my major reason is that it's so SMOKY! Go there after a shower and it won't make a difference. I, for one, can't enjoy my food properly in a smoky environment. You know, the whole thing about needing you sense of smell to complement your sense of taste. 

Unfortunately in Czech Republic, smoking is allowed in restaurants. :-(

Anyway, they have extended their menu since....I don't know when. In my previous visit within the same month, I have tried their Spaghetti Carbonara....pretty good, I must say. 

This time, together with Jay, Noel and Daniella, I decided to try something different.

Gnocchi con Salmone [100grms] - 129 CZK
[potato gnocchi with fresh salmon and cream]

I have been eyeing this on the menu for quite some time now...I am big fan of salmon, and quite alright with gnocchi. Thought turns to push and finally I leap at this. And I really like it!. Quite a number of salmon pieces. Portion was just nice; the amount of gnocchi in it is enough to satisfy your hunger, but not till it makes you sick of eating it.Actually, I needed just a bit more to be full. :-P The texture of the gnocchi is nice as well, not too chewy till it becomes a mouth workout!

Penne Sport Café [300grms] - 109CZK

[penne, chicken pieces, tomatoes, ketchup, tomatoes puree]

This is Jay's order, but I tried a bit..hehe...and it's good! Very flavorful and portion is definitely bigger than my gnocchi.

Chicken Steak with Baby Spinach [200grms] - 129CZK

[chicken steak with baby spinach]

Boiled Potatoes - 20CZK

Noel and Daniella shared this. :-) Seems alright, I think. The baby spinach didn't look so baby-sized...haha

Sport Café

Velké náměstí 151/10, Hradec Králové, 500 02 

http://www.sport-cafe.cz

Fried Chicken Wings, Eggplant Curry & Sara's Random Mix

One of my housemate; Sara was feeling particularly productive today unlike me; who was going back and forth the room; on and off-ing at intervals, my fan and heater. It's good that her productiveness manifested in the form of cooking. Lucky me!

She promised me 2 or 3 days ago, to make me her finger-lickin' good chicken wings. The last time she made them was probably back in 1st Year itself! She haven't made it for so long that I've almost forgotten about it. These wings are reallyyyyy good. I remember texting her during summer break of 1st Year, telling her that her chicken wings were better than what I was eating at that time.

She spend almost half a day in the kitchen whipping up 2 other dishes as well; Eggplant Curry and something that is so mixed we don't know what to call it! :-D

Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

• 12 Chicken Wings
• Chilli Powder; poured randomly from the packet [:ROFL:]
• Curry Powder; also poured randomly from the packet but less than the chilli powder
• Turmeric Powder; 3/4 teaspoon
• Ginger; pureed
• Garlic; pureed
• Salt; added as you like <--the all-important ingredient in Sara's cooking! 

Method:

1. Blend the ginger and garlic
2. Marinate the chicken with the ginger and garlic puree, salt, turmeric powder, curry powder and chilli powder for at least 1 hour
3. Fry them till chicken is cooked and browned!

Eggplant Curry

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggplants; cut lengthwise
• A sprig of Curry Leaves
• A pack of Delichef Fish Curry Paste
• Garlic; grated
• Onions; grated
• Asam Keping [dried slices of tamarind fruit]
• Salt
• Water

Method:

1. Fry the cumin and mustard seeds till aromatic
2. Fry the grated garlic, onions,and curry leaves
3. Fry the eggplant till cooked
4. Add in the fish curry paste and mix with some water
5. Stir it constantly until oil separates
6. Add salt to taste.

Sara's Random Mix 

Ingredients:

• 1 Box of  Mori-Nu Silken Firm Tofu; diced
• Chicken; diced
• Baby Prawns
• Tom Yam Paste
• Chilli Powder
• Oyster Sauce; poured randomly from the bottle
• Fish Sauce; 1 teaspoon
• Sesame oil; poured randomly from the bottle
• Kaffir Lime Leaf
• Egg
• Salt

 Method:

1. Fry the kaffir lime leaf till aromatic
2. Fry the chicken till cooked
3. Fry the tofu til browned
4. Add in the prawns and fry for a bit
5. Break egg and mix in a bowl. Add to pan and fry it while breaking it up. 
6. Add in the tom yam paste
7. Add oyster sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and chilli powder
8. Add salt; according to taste

** She really, really thought this up on her own; that's why it's named after her!**

 Verdicts:
I swore I don't feel that sick right after eating the chicken wings. I chomp down 5 at my first go after she finished frying them. The wings are miracle....fine, I might be guilty of exaggerating a little! :-P
The eggplant curry is so good with rice. The eggplant is so soft, just the way I like it.
Hmmm....the mix...it's an interesting mix; strongly flavoured with tom yam. Can really taste it very well even after drenching my rice with the curry and chomping on more wings!


I will be dreaming of chicken wings tonight *Paradise* That's how it feels like when there's someone to cook for you when you are sick. :-D Thank you, Sara...and Mom, I appreciate you more again!

When I am sick....Dakjuk is it!

 It seems like my body has its own weather sensor. With the change of weather, it's really easy for me to get sick. :-( But at least, this means Spring is here, finally!

Whenever anyone is sick back home, my mom will be cooking porridge and everyone has to join in. It's no wonder that I am used to associating eating porridge to being sick. When I am here and I am sick, I especially appreciate my mom! Here, I have to cook porridge myself. Previously, I cook porridge using my trusty rice cooker; like how my mom does it. Then a week or two ago, I saw this recipe on Maangchi's website and it seems so easy even without using a rice cooker! I have tried this recipe twice already...both times when I was actually not sick.

A word about Maangchi: I have been reading her website for about a year now...she's like my teacher of Korean food. Plus, she just comes off as such a positive, cheerful people person who loves sharing and encouraging her fans' cooking. I have so far tried her recipe for dakjuk, yachaejeon, and kimchi. Her instructions are clear and really easy to understand. Whenever I feel a craving for Korean food, I'll head over to her site and look for inspiration. :-)


Some modifications I made:
Instead of using a whole chicken, I used chicken pieces.
Didn't bother with soaking the rice for 1 hour...cut the time by maybe half.:-P
Didn't buy spring onion, so I skipped that.
I especially enjoy eating this with my homemade chilli sauce.

Ingredients:  modified from Wokking Mum's Hainanese Chicken Rice Chilli Sauce

• 3 Chillies [didn't bother removing the seeds :-P]
• 1 slice of Ginger
• 4 clove  of Garlic, skin removed
• 1 clove of Shallot
• A few squeeze of Lemon Juice [comes in a bottle]
• A cup of Chicken Broth [added to the consistency I want my chilli sauce to be]

Method: Put everything in a blender and blend away! *Be careful when taking a whiff of the newly made chilli sauce. I took too big of a whiff the first time and I think some of my olfactory cells died!

Results: AMAZING! ^_^ I was initially quite doubtful of all the garlic I put in...but by the end of cooking, it has all melted in the pot! The taste of the chicken is so comforting as well. And the chilli sauce accentuate the chicken taste of the porridge. Because my chicken were frozen, its blood kinda ooze out...scooped most of it out from the pot

Actually this dish reminds me of the porridge and steamed white chicken that I loved in a small town off Rawang....I think it's Sg. Buloh. It's a small stall by the roadside. The chicken is just so smooth and succulent! *dreaming*

It's a beginning in the middle

FOOD.

A word; which like love also has 4 letters. ;-)

To me, a hunger for good food seems to bind me to the people I love in my life. Memories of my growing up are filled with weekends of my family driving about 4 hours to get to a good food spot, enjoy our food, and then drive back home. Along the journey, we would talk about various things...at that time, I am the type who can't sit still and took it as my duty to provide noise in the car. I love, LOVE those times.

Perhaps that is the thing I have always associated with food. Food fills me up, give me energy. Food makes me appreciate my sense of smell, taste, sight, touch and perhaps hearing as well.

A whiff of  'butter prawns' arriving on the neighboring table gets my gastric juice production working.
A delicately arranged plate of sashimi is a visual delight.
An aftertaste of KFC remaining in the mouth makes me hungry again.
A contented feeling from biting the crunchy roast pork skin and then reaching the melting fatty and muscular layers....yum!
And a conversation discussing food itself makes for a pleasant meal.

Most of all, food has never given me a bad memory....even diarrheas don't seem that bad.:-P

My time in Czech Republic has almost been 3 years. Before you know it, I'll be graduating, working, hitting old age, and get dementia!  So I want to immortalize some of the best times in my life by typing them down here and sharing them so that you too can delight in my food memories. :-)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Happy Birthday to one of the most important person in my life; my sister, Ng Mei Theng! *BEAR HUG*