Laksa

Love Laksa, no worries. It's easy now with store bought paste and you don't have to sweat over that seafood stock any more. I use Asian Gourmet's Singapore Laksa Paste - funny enough, it's made in Thailand.

Just follow the instruction on the packet - you can use either white rice noodles or egg noodles. If you use egg noodles, instant noodles are easy and quick. If you use rice noodles, you need to soak them in warm water for an hour or so. Then cook them in boiling water until soft and cooked through. The direction on the packet tells you to fry the paste with oil - you can add a couple tablespoons of coconut milk  (the fatty bit from the top of the can) as well. Add some vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, bok choy or curly kale, green capsicum - don't stick to just beansprouts. Make sure you carrot and broccoli are cooked through unless you like them crunchy. You can also add some mushrooms but I think mushrooms are too watery and do not enhance the taste of this dish. Don't go overboard with coconut milk either - remember this is a soup not curry, so you have to dilute it to be drinkable or slurpable.

I also use chicken meat as well as prawns in my Laksa - prawns add some seafood-ness to it. Don't forget some boil eggs and chopped spring onion and coriander, Try making it and enjoy.

Baby Shower and Carrot Cake

 My very good friend, Debbie, is going to be a grandmother and pretty soon - she's due on 27 December. But it can be any day now, really, depending on how soon or how late Baby Maude decides to see the world.

Last Saturday we had a Baby Shower get together at her place. About 20 of us, girls of different age and two little boys; Debbie's friends (who know Charlotte pretty well), Charlotte's friends, Charlotte's friend's mom and Charlotte's friends' kids (2 boys, 1 girl). I know Charlotte since she was a school girl - then she went on to be a journalist. TV presenter and travelled the world over. Now she comes home to stay and raise the kid. Wow...I feel ancient:) 

We had a lot of yummy finger food and drinks and that Sangria. Lovely, lovely Sangria!Someone made this beautiful carrot cake - decorated with a few stems of lavender and it looked and smelled gorgeous. Late on Debbie just add these tiny ducklings on the cake - perfect for the occasion. However, these ducklingss were not edible and many of us has to spit it out on to our serviettes! We had a laugh and the hostess just had to collect her ducklings and hand wash them.

Crushed Avocado

Just a simple idea yet very delicious and nutritious - I don't know why people are up in arms about Nigella's Avocado on toast . She just throw several ideas together for breakfast dish and I don't see anything wrong with it. Some people you cannot please - I'd say. Long time ago when she introduced a dish from leftover - and that leftover was peking duck - some people complained that it was too posh. Now it's too simple with avocado!

I am not Nigella Lawson's avid fan but I have time for her. I still make my Rocky Road  using her recipe. My favourite food at my favourite local cafe is Crushed Avocado on Toast> Simplicity yet effective - I can't see anything wrong with it. If you don't like avocado, try tomato salsa instead, If you also don't like tomatoes - well, maybe you shouldn't read food blogs after all:)

Note: Sorry for blogging sporadically - it's getting silly around here.

Teeny Tweeny Cat

Hobie: Where's my breakfast? It should have been here before I got up. You've ruined my life!
Mom: Hobie, breakfast is here, darling.
Hobie: I will eat whenever I feel like it. Don't ruin my life.

Hobie: Where are those laser points?
Dad: It's not dark yet, sweetie.
Hobie: I wanna play nowwwwwwwwww.........you're ruining my life!

Dad: We are running out of cat treats. I've gotta go out and get some (otherwise we'll be in trouble)..

...Half an hour later....

Hobie: Where are my treats?
Dad: Here they are, sweetie.

 ..Gobble, gobble, gobble.....

Dad: You like them, then.
Hobie: Whatever, I'm going to have my beauty nap now. Don't even think about ruining my life!

Pizza Sauce:Pasata

You can freeze this homemade Pasata sauce for months (if you haven't eaten it all!) so it's worthwhile to make the whole portion. This recipe is enough for 3 medium pizzas (30 cm).

You'll need:
1 can of chopped Italian tomatoes in juice (400 gr)
1 clove of Garlic
1 tablespoon Sri Racha Chili sauce
1 tablespoon Thai Sweet Chili sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place all the ingredients in food processor and blitz until almost smooth. Lumpy bits here and there is OK - pour the content into a thick saucepan. Bring to the boil on medium high heat briefly and reduce the heat. Let it bubble gently for 8-10 minutes. The sauce will thicken up a bit. Remove from heat. Let it cool down before transferring to plastic tubs.

Rescued Cat

Hobie has been with us 5 months, about half of her whole life. I cannot help say something rather cliche about adopting a pet - that you cannot change the world but you can change a life - actually we might have changed Hobie's world. I don't know where Hobie was rescued from but by the sound of it - that Melanie could only estimate when Hobie was born, it's quite likely that she came from under someone's house or even in the bush somewhere around here. Melanie, as kind as she is, but with limited space, she has to put her rescued babies in shared crates. Now Hobie has her own home where she only has to share with us and Bonnie.

Butter and Cream Cheese Cake: Summer Variation

I know it's cheating but I can't help it. The weather has been quite warm and we see a lot of strawberries in the green grocers now. I bought 2 punnets a few days ago along with a bag of dried ones. My favourite butter cake is the one with cream cheese instead of milk and I think it will taste quite nice with some strawberries. It looks pretty too with a bit of food colouring and fresh strawberries and cream.

Just use the recipe for basic butter and cream cheese cake here and add 2-3 tablespoons of chopped dried strawberries (add a teaspoon of flour to chopped strawberries to coat so the pieces will not lump together). Drop a few drops of pink or red food colour to give the mixture a pink glow. Serve with whipped cream and fresh strawberries for the afternoon tea.