I think Japanese shrooms tend to get overlooked here in Singapore since it’s readily available all year, you can find it anywhere, and a packet is just under a dollar (if you know where to look). Most people tend to go for the meatier, more expensive field or portobello variety which I’m also obsessed with and I’m lucky to be living in Australia where these shrooms cost half the price they get sold for in Singapore. The bad? The ‘specialty’ Japanese shrooms are expensive and should be avoided when you’ve spent half your allowance on things best left hidden away from the mothership LOL. Every time I fly home I make sure I eat my fill of Japanese shrooms until I can’t stand the sight of them anymore.
I like the idea of having Japanese food for New Year’s because it makes me feel like I’m one with my people HAHAHAHA RIGHT! The Japanese have this ritual of eating certain foods during New Year’s and while I’m not entirely sure whether they actually eat soba then but what the heck let’s pretend they do! I hope you guys like this recipe, it’s simple and clean eating – what the Japanese do best.
Tsuyu is essentially the dipping sauce that comes with your soba noodles and you can get it at any supermarket with a Japanese food aisle. Muslims might have some trouble finding a bottle without mirin or sake in it so here’s a recipe I always follow. Just replace the mirin with a little white grape or apple juice and add less sugar since juice is inherently packed with fructose ;p And because we’re already eating the soba noodles with the exact same tsuyu we’ve made/bought, I’ve added a couple of twists for the tsuyu simmering sauce so everything doesn’t end up tasting the same 
Tsuyu Simmered Shimeji Mushrooms with Cha Soba
Ingredients
Chilled tsuyu
Cha soba (or normal soba if you prefer)
1 packet shimeji mushrooms (enoki works great too!)
A squeeze of lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Shredded seaweed1. Cook the soba according to the instructions on the packet. Drain the pot when done and if you like your soba chilled, plunge the soba in ice cold water. Drain again and put it in the fridge until ready to eat.
2. Pour some tsuyu into a pot and throw in some shredded seaweed, lime juice and soy sauce.
3. When the tsuyu reaches a light boil, it’s time to dump in your shrooms!
4. Let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes or until all the shrooms are cooked.
5. Drain the mushrooms but don’t throw away the simmering sauce! You can pour it in a bottle, chill it and voila – dipping sauce for your next soba meal!
6. Get your soba out of the fridge, pile your shrooms on the noodles, garnish with more seaweed and roasted sesame seeds! Pour the rest of your chilled tsuyu in a small bowl and you’re all set! ME GUSTAAAAAAA
Happy 2012, everyone! Thank you for reading this tiny speck of space on the web, it means so much to me! 
I was thinking of changing my layout but I remembered how torturous it was for me to recreate all my graphics last year so I’m scrapping that idea LOL. I did, however, change the typefaces for my entry titles and headings so everything looks more streamlined now – that counts right? 8D I also just renewed my web hosting for another 3 years so I guess tea noir’s not going anywhere. Here’s to a beautiful and fulfilling year for everyone!
Uni started this week and my mind still hasn’t adjusted itself to the escalation of thinking required when attending classes. The first week after spring break is customarily filled with “how was your holiday?”-type questions and I’m always happy to oblige. Against a background of my friends recollecting their adventures in Sydney/Queensland/Monaco (k the Monaco tale did make me a lil green), I was one of the few who would say unashamedly, “I did absolutely nothing and it was beautiful.”
Okay, that was a semi-lie. I spent the last two weeks getting my body back on track: I threw away all the junk food I had in my house, even my roommate’s emergency bags of crisps when she wasn’t looking. Just kidding. It took all of my powers of persuasion (“It’s not food wastage if it isn’t real food to begin with!”) and she finally relented in the end. I also ate more complex carbs and at some point, the only form of protein I was consuming was tofu so in some ways, I became a pseudo-vegetarian LOL.
This was unintentional to be honest, I couldn’t be arsed to go to the market to get fish and meat ;p But the two week meat purge did me some good: I’ve lost 3 kilos so far WHOO /o/ Anyway, my fridge is now fully-stocked again so I guess that’s the end of my stint as a vegetarian haha! It feels great to be eating healthy again though and I can’t remember why I went down the dark path of evil processed food – Oh right – school, the elitist institution responsible for nurturing, not bright minds, but weight gain.
The irony in this entry is that I’m about to share a seafood chowder recipe which isn’t exactly on top of the healthy food list since it’s loaded with one of God’s greatest gifts to female thighs: cream. But one can always make healthy adjustments to the recipe by using lite cream and skim milk, yes? I take no credit for the recipe, it’s actually my roommate’s which is why I’ve named it after her ;D Thanks Nini! <3
Nini’s Seafood Chowder
Ingredients
1 teaspoon butter
1 onion
2 gloves garlic
1 potato, boiled and grated
1 cup fresh milk
1/2 cup cream (YEAAAAHHHHH)
1.5 cups of seafood marinara mix
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped finely
A pinch of salt and black pepper
Instructions
1. Melt the butter in a heated pot and throw in the garlic and onion until fragrant.2. Add in the grated potato and stir.
3. Pour the fresh milk into the pot and let it heat up for a bit.
4. Add the marinara and cream into the mixture and make sure you stir well!
5. Season according to taste with the salt, black pepper and parsley.
6. Serve with bread or with pasta!
I actually like it enough on its own ;D Bon appétit!
And because I’ve been a proud Apple advocate since 2005:
The man whose computers and applications I have to thank for allowing me to create beautiful things like tea noir and the many other design projects I was involved in during my days as a design student and subsequently, as a working designer. Thank you Steve, and goodbye.
Image credit: Time.com
P.S about the Apple logo: It wasn’t designed by Steve Jobs or anyone under Apple for that matter. It was designed by a man named Rob Janoff who says the story of Adam and Eve had nothing to do with the bite in the famous apple. Here’s my favourite quote from an interview he did:
I’m probably the least religious person, so Adam and Eve didn’t have anything to do with it. The bite of knowledge sounds fabulous, but that’s not it. And, there is a whole lot of other lure about it.
Turing, the famous supposed father of computer science who committed suicide in the early 50’s, was British and was accused of being homosexual, which he was. He was facing a jail sentence so he committed suicide to avoid all that. So, I heard one of the legends being that the colored logo was an homage to him. People think I did the colored stripes because of the gay flag. And, that was something really thought for a long time. The other really cool part was that apparently he killed himself with a cyanide laced apple. And, then I found out Alan Turing’s favorite childhood story was Snow White where she falls asleep forever for eating a poisoned apple to be woken up by the handsome prince.
Anyway, when I explain the real reason why I did the bite it’s kind of a let down. But I’ll tell you. I designed it with a bite for scale, so people get that it was an apple not a cherry. Also it was kind of iconic about taking a bite out of an apple. Something that everyone can experience. It goes across cultures. If anybody ever had an apple he probably bitten into it and that’s what you get.
It was after I designed it, that my creative director told me: “Well you know, there is a computer term called byte”. And I was like: “You’re kidding!”
It’s strange. It’s never occurred to me to try my hand at making sushi despite it being a staple food I buy when I don’t have time to cook. I have made onigiri before to great success but never its more elegant sister, the maki roll. It’s a combination of factors that draw me away from making the maki: 1) I don’t have a bamboo mat. 2) Rolling sushi seems to be an art form that should be left to the professionals. 3) What if I screw up somewhere?
But one becomes brave enough to take a whack at making sushi when one spends too much on ASOS. If like me, you’ve fallen on hard times but aren’t willing to give up on your weekly Japanese dinners – I bring you THE NON-DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO MAKING SUSHI /o/
You should only use medium or short-grain rice to make sushi. Long-grain or the ever popular Singaporean favourites, jasmine and basmati rice, should not be used at all! They aren’t starchy enough to hold up the shape of the sushi.
Sushi vinegar
The recommended ratio for sushi vinegar is 5 parts rice vinegar: 2 parts sugar: 1 part salt (I used a tad more sugar tho)
Whisk the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a bowl until everything has dissolved. I made a huge batch and stored in the fridge for future FOREVER ALONE sushi parties. I can’t say how much sushi vinegar you should put in your cooked rice because it depends entirely on your concoction and the amount of rice you’ve got. I eyeballed my measurements as per usual which on most days works pretty well but the universe decided my overconfidence towards cooking needed a shake-up so I ended up adding a little too much vinegar to my rice. Bleh ._.
Thankfully I discovered this was easily remedied by adding a few tablespoons of water to the rice. Of course as I type this, I can already imagine the many Japanese sushi chefs sharpening their knives, ready to make sashimi out of me for smearing their craft. The big deal? Well, you’re not supposed to add too much liquid to the sushi rice or it’ll get too sticky, making it hard to work with. But whatever man, as explicitly stated in my title this is totally not the real way to make sushi ;p Plus: sticky rice >>>> sour rice. Yep, I am clearly not striving for perfection LOL.
Rolling without a bamboo mat.
Honestly, after coming up with my method of rolling makis without the prerequisite bamboo mat – I don’t think I’ll ever invest in one haha! It’s just so easy to do it this way, this might actually be the start of a new way of making maki rolls 8D All you have to do is leave a gap at both ends of the seaweed square as seen in the first photo (when making rolls with a bamboo mat, one only leaves a gap at one end) and you can start rolling! Just tuck in the clean edge of the seaweed in and rollllll bb. Ah, I desperately wanted to make a lame joke about a particular Adele song but I shall refrain from doing so.
Cut your roll!
Take a very sharp knife, wet it to ensure the rice doesn’t stick to the steel and trim off the edges. Then simply cut your roll into pretty maki circles!
VOILA! My spicy salmon, avocado and furikake maki roll!
Best served with some awesome raspberry lemonade, of course. Get some rice, rice vinegar, seaweed squares, your filling of choice and start making your own maki rolls! It’s really not that hard as long as you don’t try to sell them 8D
I haven’t been here in more than a month, omg. I just got a little caught up with my mid-terms, such a killer D: I have missed this blog terribly though, hopefully no one’s thought I’ve abandoned it. But I’m sure you guys are used to my disappearing acts, non? ;p They’re not pleasant but it’s something I have to do when school morphs into a clingy, possessive boyfriend. Anyway, I’m not feeling well so I’m going to cut this entry short. Good night and stay safe, everyone! x
P.S In other news, my bff got invited to the exclusive Louis Vuitton opening preview party at their new Maison store at the Marina Bay Sands, SO JEALOUS OMFG WHAT IS THIS. Read about it on his blog here! Admittedly, I am not a die-hard LV fan like he is but that’s a place I’d love to check out when I fly back in December!
My move to Melbourne has not helped my sometimes frivolous fixation with bread. Well okay, my blog is an obvious testament as to how much passion I have for food but mmm bread, I just go crazy for bread. I could be heading to one of my dream locations in the world: the Louvre or the Blue Mosque in Turkey, but if by some half-baked chance (baha a pun!), I see a bakery just short of entering the Louvre – sorry Titian, Caravaggio and Da Vinci, you guys gotta wait 15 more minutes before I get my art appreciation skillz on.
It gives me the kicks to pick a loaf of bread from the local bakery I’ve never tried before. I guess I’m still not used to the exceptional range of breads we get here. It’s a nice change from the mass manufactured sliced white bread I get back home. Singapore definitely needs more artisan bakeries that don’t extort money for a simple loaf of rustic sourdough. It’s just one of life’s essentials, you know? Pick a beautiful loaf of bread and already, the thought of waking up early for breakfast becomes quite appealing.
Cut two slices off your pane di casa, melt some tasty cheese sprinkled with italian herbs (cheap and quickest way to making your own herbed cheese!), bulk it up with some baby spinach + rocket leaves and top it off with slices of smoked salmon. I was introduced to sliced beetroot here and while I would normally shirk at the idea of stuffing a vegetable I’m unfamiliar with in a sandwich, dayumm it tastes fine. My Singaporean readers, you should try it some time ;p I always find it hard to limit myself to one slice of smoked salmon per sandwich but when money is tight, you gotta do what you gotta do girl.
Still, I must confess: even when I’m down to my last few dollars, I will fork out everything I’ve got for a small bottle of Japanese matcha powder. Once you’ve figured out the right ratio of matcha, sugar and milk – you can say goodbye to Starbucks forever. A cup of warm green tea latte and a sandwich made with my bread du jour. This is my ideal breakfast, what’s yours?
A recipe post, as promised! I know, I know – I can hear your “pasta, A-GAIN??” groans from my bedroom. Listen up mmkay, pasta is a staple in any student’s pantry because they’re cheap, they don’t go bad, add in some olive oil and they make a far better couple than Blair Waldorf and Dan Humphrey are being made out to be.
I really ought to stop watching that show since it’s evident from the degrading quality of the past seasons that the writers have been at each other’s throats, trying to think of more ridiculous situations that would never happen to even the most filthy rich of New Yorkers. BUT IT’S SUCH A GUILTY PLEASURE GUYS D8 I like watching each episode, scoffing at the unrealistic tribulations that plague Ms Waldorf (obvsly the only character worth watching) and asking my friends, “Did you see that episode? What were they thinking?!”
If I could distill the entire Gossip Girl narrative into a pie chart:
It’s a little sad to laugh at your own jokes but HAHAHA SO TRUE NE!
Thankfully, I have other shows to distract me from the fall of Gossip Girl:
Not so serious: The Big Bang Theory (love Sheldon!!), Community (Jeff is SO hot!), Doctor Who
Serious-serious: FRINGE, Burn Notice, The Mentalist
I was so upset when Ugly Betty and Pushing Daisies got cancelled some time ago, they were such good shows! A lot of my friends enjoy watching Grey’s Anatomy and I’ve tried getting into it but I have this unfortunate thing against medical dramas. My mother works in the medical industry so I find hospitals utterly repulsive. This doesn’t apply to my brother though, he’s been watching Grey’s since he was 14? IKR, SO INAPPROPRIATE LOL. I asked him how he got introduced to it when I first caught him watching the show and he said, “Dad downloaded it for me.” I don’t even know where to begin.
Anyway, back to the main point of this post:
My friend, Amy, takes up kickboxing and the people she meets at her gym have rather colourful personalities that’s all I’m gonna say ;p She’s close to this girl, Ching, who has been a secondary savior in my life. I say secondary because we don’t know each other personally but this girl has changed my life forever! She taught Amy how to cook this pasta dish, which is both easy and tastes absolutely divine, delicious, amazing etc. It doesn’t really have a name so I’m calling it Ching’s Pasta and you gotta admit, it has a nice ring to it.
Ching’s Pasta
Ingredients – No real measurements, sorry!
Pasta of your choice (I used linguine!)
A few tbs of olive oil
Garlic (I used a LOT)
Italian Herb Mix – you can get this at any supermarket
About 1/2 cup Chicken Stock (or vegetable, if you’re vegan/vegetarian)
Mushrooms, as many as you prefer
Basil*
Freshly grated Parmesan*
Chili flakes
*I didn’t have basil on hand so I used coriander/cilantro leaves instead. I happen to be a huge coriander fan so all the better!
*Also, Parmesan cheese wasn’t included in the original recipe but you can’t make pasta without the cheese, that’s my philosophy. Can I insist that you buy REAL Parmesan cheese (like the actual wedge!) and not the pre-grated ones? It does make a difference, trust me.
1. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente.
2. Slice the garlic evenly, DON’T dice as you normally would (Ching’s special instructions k take note!)
3. Heat the pan with the olive oil and add in the sliced garlic
4. Once the garlic’s been cooked, add in about 3 heaped tablespoons of the Italian Herb mix (again, depending on the intensity of your herb mix – adjust accordingly)
5. Add the chicken stock and the mushrooms, stir!
6. Dump in the cooked pasta and add the chili flakes, coriander and possibly 2/3 cup of grated Parmesan.
So fricking good. Thank you for the recipe, Amy and Ching! It is now immortalized on tea noir and ready to be passed down to my children.
A shout-out to Amy who has been inflicted by self-confidence issues as of late: Girl, stop over thinking things – you are a beautiful person and I refuse to let you believe otherwise COS BABY YOU WERE BORN THIS WAY AND GOD MAKES NO MISTAKES (What, you trying to defy HIM now?)
School is killing me, guys. I have so many essays and a presentation due in the next two weeks, someone please volunteer yourself and write them for me ;__; BUT! I’m so excited for school tomorrow. They’re screening Star Wars (The Empire Strikes Back, I think?) for my Hollywood lecture and we’re sorta having an impromptu snack party in the lecture theatre as well. I don’t think food is allowed in there but whatever, you can’t watch Star Wars without popcorn and crisps! Hope everyone’s had a brilliant week so far! <3
AND BEFORE I FORGET: Check out Cat's BLOGSALE FOR JAPAN! She has some really great cosmetics up for sale and it’s for a good cause!
Marshmallow Pie
Ingredients
16 graham crackers, crushed
1/3 cup butter
30 large marshmallows
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup hot milk
1/2 (1 ounce) square semisweet chocolate, grated
1. Mix crushed graham crackers with butter or margarine. Reserve 2 tablespoons of this mixture for the top of the pie. Press remaining mixture in pie pan.
2. Cook milk and marshmallows in a double boiler until marshmallows are melted.
3. Cool marshmallow mixture. Fold in whipped cream, and add grated chocolate.
4. Pour chocolate marshmallow mixture into graham cracker pie shell, and put reserved crumbs on top. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.
Recipe taken from here.
You can be sure it’s mostly guilt that drives me to post food recipes on this blog. It’s my way of saying “Hey guys, sorry for disappearing but I’m still here, werqing what my momma gave me.” You guys are probably used to my disappearing acts anyway, try 12 weeks of intense essay-writing and you’d probably want to do as I do on my free weekends: lie in bed and pretend you have a life outside school.
The story behind this lurid pink marshmallow pie is quite simple: I was watching Nigella’s new show, Kitchen, and in one of the episodes, she makes a “grasshopper” pie out of marshmallows and some green-tinged Crème De Menthe. I was transfixed the whole time, fascinated by the almost tacky inclusion of marshmallows. Marshmallow…pie? DUH! My childhood fantasies and cotton candy dreams in a pie; easily the best thing ever. Plus, there’s no baking involved which means no mess! I must confess that I didn’t follow the recipe too strictly: the marshmallows we get here are small and come in pink & white which sheds some light on why my pie is pink lol (too lazy to separate the whites from the pinks!)
Classes are done for the year, I just submitted a couple of essays (7,500 words in total what the flying f-) today and I have an exam in about 3 weeks. But really, why delay the celebrations? I’M FREEEEEEEEE. Now I just need to get my life back but first, some pie for the road.
I haven’t blogged in…7 weeks.
And my friends have been dropping ~subtle~ hints.
It’s a bit unethical of me to keep bribing for your love and forgiveness with snapshots of food but I do it so well I don’t think I’ll ever stop for as long as school continues to pervade every second of my life lol.
I was lucky enough to be invited over for a dinner party at a friend’s place a month ago and impressed with his cooking, we made a covert deal: he was to email me his favourite recipes and I was to reveal the address of my secret brunch hangout. This pasta recipe is so easy to make; it’s actually deceiving and I say this because yes, it’s a cinch to make but it tastes like you’ve actually made an effort lol. Whiffs of this would make your dinner guests think you’ve spent hours at the stove stirring while the sauce simmers away, a seemingly complex coral-red with bits of herb green strewn in.
Capellini with Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. Peeled shrimp
3 large garlic cloves, mashed.
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup sweet red vermouth*
1 can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup heavy cream (aka double cream)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1/2 lb angel hair pasta*I don’t drink alcohol so I substituted this with 1/2 cup of apple juice and a generous squeeze of lemon
1. Heat oil in skillet. Add shrimp, garlic with oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Turn until golden.
2. Stir in vermouth, tomatoes. Stir until tomatoes are soft.
3. Add cream and briskly simmer until sauce has thickened slightly.
4. Add lemon juice. Let it simmer for a while more.
5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Serve immediately.
In place of the powdered stuff, I actually used fresh oregano. I’d like to think that it does make a difference and plus, I love pulling the slightly woolly leaves off their stems and releasing them just centimetres above the pot so they can infuse perfectly with the pasta sauce by way of gravity. I like sprinkling more atop my pasta because god, I love its peppery sweetness that goes so well with anything tomato-based.
Also, I need to admit what you see in these photos aren’t shrimp; they’re grey prawns fresh off the market. Shrimp usually comes frozen here and I hate waiting around for anything to defrost (I’m lazy!) so I settled for the cheaper, faster option ;D Obviously, this recipe isn’t figure friendly (double cream omg) but does it even matter?
This is going into my instant salvation in 20 mins or less recipe folder for days when I need something more than what a few mediocre rolls of sushi can offer me. Thank you for the recipe, Felix!
Magazine picks of the month and I finally got Nigella Express – it was going for $12.95 at a bookfair in school, I’m extremely excited about this so it gets a spot in this entry >D
RUSSH is a bi-monthly Australian fashion magazine, I would consider it better than Vogue Australia actually. Alessandra’s on the cover of the current issue and urgh, could she be any perfect?
STUNNING.
Catherine McNeil is on the cover of Vogue Australia but sadly, the editorials in the magazine are so lacklustre. This is a pretty picture no less and I like the dramatic eyeliner in this one whoo.
And finally, we return to the familiar food porn from the domestic goddess, the anti-chef I watch obsessively on the Discovery Home & Living channel back home. Nigella Express is a beautiful, well-written collection of fast recipes for the overworked and busy.
What would this entry be without the salacious promise of new make-up mmm? This is MAC’s Mineralize Skinfinish in By Candlelight, quite the poetic name for a beautiful peachy highlighter from the In The Groove collection. To be honest, I bought Petticoat first but I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. It’s a pretty raspberry but it wasn’t very exciting so I exchanged it for By Candlelight which I much prefer.
Here’s a swatch! You can barely see it on my skin – which is the point, really. You want highlighters to look like the glow on your skin is from within you, not on you (greasyyyy!) lol.
I must get back to my readings now sigh. I’m taking Anthropology this semester which exposes one to ‘unconventional’ culture practices e.g. eating the body of a dead relative and it is quickly becoming the subject I enjoy going to for lectures because my lecturer is this kooky English guy with the most remarkable and terribly explicit sense of humour. I’m sorry I haven’t had time to read all your entries but mid-semester break is coming and I’ll be doing some massive catch-up readings then. Meanwhile, you can follow me on Twitter or ask me a question on formspring. Take care and my muslim readers, sorry I’m a wee bit late but Happy Ramadhan & Eid!
A couple of days ago, I decided to brave the morning sunlight and make another batch of gyoza(s) with the leftover filling I had from my previous gyoza batch. It’s taken a month but I’ve managed to stay in my apartment for days at a time without getting into a boredom induced fit. It’s not that hard because once you’ve blown your money on 4 pairs of shoes in a span of 6 days, you don’t really have much of a choice, do you now?
The point is I’ve been cooped up in my room for most of the week, staying in bed as I befriend the stark, reclusive darkness of my room while watching movies on my macbook sans the greasy buttered popcorn. My cinematic adventures came to a standstill when my external HDD (hard disk drive, for you non-tech folk) choked on a deluxe movie hotdog (I think it was all the sauerkraut) and died. I think I must have died too because my life was in that external HDD- every single image I’d taken for tea noir was stored in there (and in HQ no less), my web design work, my portfolio, other bits of random shit – all equally precious to me.
It’s the perfect murder actually – the best way to kill someone is to commit tech murder. Get rid of a person’s computer and all forms of back-up he/she may possibly have and watch in glee as they quietly drown in their own desolate pool of tears. And maybe I shouldn’t have typed this slightly morbid paragraph, I don’t want the possibility of fueling a tech murder rage lol.
Disclaimer: I won’t be held responsible for any tech murders happening from this moment on kthxbai.
Afraid your computer would crash? It used to be so simple: Get an external HDD, back up everything and sleep comfortably at night knowing your files are safe from any impending virus attack. Of course, if you had a Mac in the first place, the possibility of getting hit by a virus is close to a zero so why not just save yourself a 2-3 years of misery with an unattractive Windows comp and get something snazzy off Apple.com? 8D Sadly we now live in an age where we need to get a BACK-UP FOR OUR BACK-UP; getting one external HDD just doesn’t cut it anymore, you gotta have at least two ._.
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Steve Jobs and Apple Inc- yeahhhh dassright dassright bb, I’m just one of those regular Mac snobs Windows lovers are accustomed to hate. Don’t worry tho, even if you are a Windows user, I don’t choose my friends based on their preferred operating systems lol (look at Nadz, she’s a Windows fan and she’s still alive lol) so I’d love you just the same – pinky promise! ;D
OKAY BACK TO THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS ENTRY: Yes! Gyoza! They look difficult to make but don’t be deceived by their fancy crimped edges: if a klutz like Nadz can make them – you can too! (LOL I’m sorry cousin, I know I’m name-dropping you excessively in this entry but know that I love you bbcakes <3) They're extremely versatile too, you can fill them up with almost everything you want (provided the combo tastes good, don't be daft and start thinking of chocolate, prawn and beetroot gyozas please) I've been making gyoza for two years now and they make such a good + cheap meal if you make a lot and freeze them all.
I’ve got a little prawn, minced chicken and cabbage thing going on thar.
This recipe makes about 60+ gyozas
Ingredients
250g minced chicken meat
300g prawns, chopped into pieces
5-6 cabbage leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons of minced garlic and ginger (I use a pre-bottled minced garlic and ginger mix I found at the Asian supermarket)
Soy sauce (don’t have any real measurements, I guess most of the time lol..maybe 5 tablespoons?)
Sesame oil (again, no real measurements. Use about 1 tablespoon? If you love sesame oil like me, use more!)
2 packets Gyoza skins
1. Make the gyoza filling! In a large bowl, combine minced meat, cabbage, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Mix them together with your hands.
That’s right, get in touch with nature – USE YOUR HANDS. Mix them until the ingredients seem to stick with each other and won’t fall apart.
2. Spoon about a teaspoon of filling in the middle of your gyoza skin and moisten the edges of the gyoza skin with some water.
3. Start crimping, honey. Now this is the stumbling block for a lot of people because it’s pretty much the hardest part about making gyoza but it gets really easy once you get the hang of it.
I’m not going to go into the minute details pertaining to crimping the gyoza because there’s an excellent step by step picture tutorial here that’s guaranteed to make you a GYOZA CRIMPIN’ MASTER in no time.
I’m not a purist so I cheat and use any round, white chinese dumpling skin I can get my hands on – They’re the same thing. I like making gyozas on my chopping board, it’s the only flat surface I have available. The white atomic clouds you see aren’t a rare form of mould – it’s plain flour. I like freezing my gyoza after I’m done making them and the flour prevents them from sticking to the board once they’re frozen.
Remember less is more. Be a scrooge, you have to be economical with the filling of each gyoza or crimping is going to be a bitch.
My little gyoza minions ready to be frozen/cooked!
In the pan! You sorta fry the bottoms first til they’re crisp and then you dump about 1/3 cup of water in to steam the tops. More details on the cooking technique here.
What do you do when they’re all cooked? Make some dipping sauce, of course!
Fancy Gyoza Dipping Sauce!
50ml soy sauce or enough to fill a small dipping bowl (ooh real measurements now)
1 teaspoon rice vinegar or white vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
some chopped spring onionsMix well and happy dipping!
Enjoy! If you have any questions, ask away in the comments!
Back to my external HDD, in a fit of moral panic I texted my dad and he said it might just be a problem with the casing/enclosure of the HDD so I went to get a new one for my still breathing HDD and it’s fixed now YAY! Sorry you had to read such a long rant (this could possibly be my longest entry yet lol) Have a good weekend, everyone! <3
I’m really not much of a baking person, I’m not one to fret over precise measurements of different types of flour, yeasts etc and I’m completely not bothered with the large-scale clean up that comes after the cake has been served. I love cooking because you’re allowed a sense of control when it comes to recipes, you can play around with the ingredients because there really is no need for accuracy (which is why most of my recipes don’t really have accurate measurements)
I like my food cooked fast and my desserts fuss-free. If I wanted anything fancier, I’d just eat out at a restaurant you know? My green tea tiramisu is something I’m very proud of- it’s a no-bake dessert, has everything i’ve ever dreamed (the only thing it lacks is a hot date to share it with but I guess my BFF Dejiki would suffice for now XD)
The only thing hard about it is probably the 5 hours you need to wait for it to chill. Aah that’s another reason why I’m not such fan of baking; I’m severely lacking in the patience department (something I have in common with 70% of the male population) I just can’t sit and fiddle in front of the oven waiting for the damn cake to rise.. I honestly admire and applaud you homebakers, how do you guys do it??
Mascarpone cheese has this perfect thick, whipped consistency right out of the container – don’t you think it looks heavenly already?
Purists would probably scoff at the idea of having a non-espresso, kahlua based tiramisu but I love my green tea and I don’t care for opinions made by old men who drink coffee in their sweats and catch flies all day (that’s how I’d imagine tiramisu purists to look like) Green tea tiramisu isn’t something new and the basic essentials of making a tiramisu still remain; I’m using lady fingers like all tiramisu recipes – italian sugar-coated sponge biscuits with a slight hint of vanilla.
You need to steep the lady fingers in a cup of matcha green tea and arrange them to make a base for your tiramisu. Try not to go overboard with the steeping like I did lol or the tiramisu would be overly moist…which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Smooth over the first layer of mascarpone..remember we are not aiming for perfection here people. If I was aiming for perfection, I would have opened a patisserie a long time ago selling slices of tiramisu at an inflated price of $9.99 ;D
Green Tea Tiramisu
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup white sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
300g mascarpone cheese
1 packet lady finger biscuits
the best matcha powder you can buy
200ml hot water
1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and the vanilla essence until it turns a light yellow.
2. Fold in the mascarpone cheese and mix till smooth (it’s best to leave it out of the fridge for a bit so you don’t have to beat the heck out of a solid chunk of cheese.)
3. Make your green tea with the hot water and lightly soak the lady fingers in the tea.
4. Arrange the biscuits in the dish to make a base for the tiramisu.
5. Cover the biscuits with half of the mascarpone mixture and dust some matcha powder on it.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 until you get a duo layer tiramisu!
7. Cover with cling wrap and chill it in the fridge for 5 hours at least (no cheating guys, I’m watching you.)
The BFF LOVES this tiramisu and only eats it when I make it – he also happens to be the pickiest eater I know so it makes me feel almost godly whenever I give him a slice LOL. If you have any questions pertaining to the recipe, ask me in the comments!
Work’s finally overrrr!! I really should start packing for my move but unfortunately, my mind seems to be more interested in making lunch/dinner dates with my friends haha! I haven’t got the slightest clue on how I’m going to pack all my make-up and shoes x_x I thinking of wrapping everything (make-up, I mean) in bubble wrap and packing them in a box to be checked in as “Fragile”. Anyone have any better ideas?
It suddenly dawned on me a couple of days ago that the salmon onigiri I buy all the time with its mysteriously salty “ah I would never be able to do this at home” flakey salmon centre was nothing more than easy-peasy pan-fried flaked salted salmon furikake wrapped in sushi rice and a sheet of seaweed. It was a hoax cleverly orchestrated by my local sushi counter and I can’t believe I fell for it hook, line and sinker- damn those bitchez.
I will spare you guys any further theatrics but first, I must give credit where credit is due. This furikake recipe is based on two recipes I found on Just Bento: Salted Salmon Shiozake and Salmon Furikake. I’ve adjusted the recipe mainly because I don’t consume alcohol so I’ve replaced the sake with rice vinegar and totally left out the mirin. You can totally follow the recipes on Just Bento but I’d thought I’d list out what I used for my muslim readers.
Get a nice salmon fillet, no funny frozen ones please. We want it fu-resh! And no, I know it’s awfully tempting to get that discounted salmon fillet on clearance but don’t! You have to consume any discounted fish on the same day of purchase and unfortunately this recipe requires that you marinate the fish overnight so erm if you still refuse to pay that 4-5 odd dollars for fresh salmon, don’t blame me if you get a 5 ft tapeworm living in your intestines the next couple of months mmkay? ^_^
SEA SALT! Don’t let the whole “organic” thing on the package fool ya, I only bought this pack of organic rock salt/sea salt because it was surprisingly cheaper than normal sea salt lol. I won’t recommend using normal table salt because 1) noone makes salted salmon with table salt, trust me I googled 2) sea salt just sounds waaay cooler.
Wipe the fillet to get rid of excess moisture and here comes the fun part: grab a handful of salt, start pouring it all over the salmon while gently pressing the salt into the firm salmon flesh. Make sure both sides are covered and you are well on your way to cheap salted salmon flakes.
Now’s the hard part: You have to leave it in the fridge overnight. I know, I know – waiting sucks but be patient, it will be worth the wait. Wrap the salmon up in a few layers of kitchen towel, place it in a sieve with a plate underneath to catch any drips and leave it in the fridge.
The next day, unwrap your little salmon pickle and pan-fry/grill it with a little oil and a few tablespoons of rice vinegar til cooked. Use a fork or your bare hands to flake the cooked fillet, removing any bones you may find. Wipe the pan and dump the flakes back in with a splash of soy sauce and rice vinegar.
Stir the flakes around to quicken the drying process; Just Bento suggests “you can leave the flakes fairly moist, or continue stirring until they are quite dry and finely flaked. The more you dry it out, the longer it will keep. Just do not let it burn or color too much.”
So there you have it! Simple and delicious salmon furikake~ Honestly it’s supposed to be a lighter orange color but I kinda OD’ed on the soy sauce LOL You can use this to top your rice or use it as a filling for your onigiri. I didn’t have the time to make pretty lil onigiri so I made some sushi rice, placed it in my bento box and sprinkled some of the salmon furikake + some strips of seaweed! Makes a really good, frugal lunch XD
This entry is dedicated to my homeboi Aaron who sent me some of his rough figure sketches he did for school, you make me so proud bb! Straight A’s at design school this semester, werk it!
LOVE THE SHOES IN THIS ONE!
Mmm what a hottie.
I’ve got more to show actually but I like these two best ;D (and this entry is getting seriously long) so I’m going to stop yakking, apologise in advance if this entry is filled with grammar mistakes (it’s almost midnight, forgive me!) and bid you all good night! If you’ve got any questions regarding the recipe, ask me in the comments ;D
