Pan Fried Striploin

After his first attempt at preparing steak, hubby was so encouraged that he decided to try again, this time using striploin, which is cheaper than tenderloin.

A huge piece of tender and juicy striploin

This time round I decided to contribute some side dish, as I happened to have sweet potatoes and carrots at home, I just roasted them in salt and pepper with a drizzle of olive oil.

 

Look at the cross section! This was suppose to be medium rare and I think hubby did a very good job on this. The meat was juicy and succulent, not hard at all!

Guess I can look forward to many great steak meals in future!

Simple Dinner at Home

A simple dinner which I prepared, with whatever things I can put together.

 

Stir-fry lettuce with mushroom and carrots

 Baked Salmon with Garlic Pepper and Thyme

Ginko Barley with Beancurd

Hubby love this dessert very much (probably because he loves ginko to bits) and after procrastinating for a long time (am simply too lazy to crack ginko nuts and do not want to use the canned ones), I finally attempted to make this

The taste is good, though hubby commented its not as "thick" as those sold outside. Am guessing maybe I didn't cooked the barley long enough. Shall try again next time and hopefully will get a better appraisal from hubby =)

Blueberry Crumble Muffin

These were made so long ago I have forgotten which recipe I have followed. Will update if I remember.

Tendeloin Steak

Hubby did something very special this year on his birthday - he cooked for the very first time since the 10 years I've know him! And given that its his first attempt, I have to say he did very well, even though the steaks were overcooked, I love every bit of it!

Showing you pictures of his maiden master pieces

Breakfast @ Restoran Hua Mui, JB

Chicken Chop - This is what the restoran is famous for, the chicken chop is fried to perfection, crispy and not oily, definitely worth a try!

 

Beef Noodles - this is really a disappointment, the noodles was virtually tasteless and there was only a miserly few pieces of beef.

We didn't get to try out the other dishes, shall post again after trying more.

Lunch @ Victor's Kitchen

Hubby was raving about this dim sum place where he had lunch and promised to bring me there. Finally had a chance to visit the place and the small food outlet was swarmed with customers when we were there, and its not even lunch time!

As there were only 2 of us, we only ordered a few dishes to try, these were what we had:

H.K Style Summer Ice Tea ($2.50)- Smooth and silky, and was served in a bowl of ice, helps to keep the drink cold.

H.K Style Pan Fried Cheong Fun ($4) - Not a common dim sum dish, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Scallop Sausage Carrot Cake with XO Sauce ($4) - This was really good, soft and smooth and the XO sauce goes very well with the carrot cake.

Siew Mai ($3.50) - Taste good, but not extraordinary

Golden Egg York Lava Bun ($3.50) - Supposedly the most talked about dish in Victor's Kitchen, if you think it looks ordinary, continue on to the photo below ....... once you bite into the bun, its literally bursting with flavours! 

Lunch @ Cafe Cartel

Had always like Cafe Cartel (for their unlimited supply of freah bread =p) and the fact that we can always take a long, slow lunch and chat away happily with friends.

Tried their weekday set lunch couple of months ago with my friend. They offers simple but very value for money lunch sets which would not set a big hole in your pocket.

Photos of the set lunch which we tried:

Free flow bread - goes best with butter or dipped into soup!

Soup of the day - think this was Cream of Chicken

Main Course - You can choose from 2 main course offered, I took the chicken with mashed potato that day.

Coffee / Iced Peach Tea with Dessert of the Day

All the above for S$9.50net!

Eggless Tiramisu

 

Tiramisu birthday cake for my dearest hubby

 

Before the final touch up

 

Yummy!!

I wanted to make something different for my hubby's birthday and finally decided on making Tiramisu - something which I have never done before as I have always thought that Tiramisu is really difficult to make.

I googled for "easy Tiramisu recipe" and after reading through a few sites, ultimately decided on the following recipe, which is essentially my simplified version (I'm lazy, remember?) of a mixture of various recipes. I choose an eggless recipe as I'm not comfortable consuming raw eggs.

The preparation was easy enough, except for the soaking of the sponge fingers. The first 2 sponge fingers I soaked almost disintegrated in the bowl of coffee syrup as I had soaked them abit too long (like about 4s). I got so nervous after that that I just dip my sponge fingers in and took them out in lighting speed (I think dipping for 2s yield the best result).

The resultant Tiramisu is tasty with a nice coffee aroma and not too heavy nor creamy. The most wonderful thing is that Hubby actually said "very nice" after taking just one bit. I will increase the cheese proportion the next time as I find it not cheesy enough. Other than this, I'm very happy that I managed to hit the right recipe on my maiden attempt on Tiramisu making.

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Ingredients

Coffee Syrup
3tbsp coffee powder
1 cup boiling water

Cream Filing
250g mascarpone cheese
300ml thickened cream
3tbsp icing sugar
4-5tbsp Kahlua


20-25 sponge fingers
Cocoa powder

Method

1. Dissolve coffee powder in water, set aside for later use.
2. In a bowl, whisk the mascarpone cheese with icing sugar till the mixture is smooth and creamy.
3. In another bowl, whisk the thickened cream until soft peak. Fold the thickened cream into the mascarpone mixture till well combined.
4. Line the bottom and sides of a 6" square loose bottom pan with parchment paper.
5. Dip each sponge finger into the coffee syrup and line the bottom of the pan with the sponge fingers. Spread a layer of the mascarpone cream mixture over the sponge finger and sprinkle cocoa powder over the top of the mascarpone cream mixture. Repeat the layering (sponge finger - mascarpone cream - cocoa powder) and top it off with a thick layer (personal preference, you can sprinkle a thin layer if you do not like too much cocoa powder) of cocoa powder on top.
6. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, best overnight, before serving.

Mee Sua with Egg

I made this for my hubby on his birthday. A typical birthday dish which symbolise good luck and longevity.