Recipe: Summer Fruit Cocktail

The only thing I contributed to last night's dinner was dessert. Saw lots of lovely fruits in the market and decided to make a fruit cocktail. Of course, I ate quite a bit of the fruits as I was chopping them up...esp the watermelon and mango...

Summer Fruit Cocktail

6 sugar plums, seeds removed and diced into cubes
1 mango, diced into cubes
2 kiwis, diced into triangles
¼ a watermelon, diced into cubes
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of ½ a lime
1½ tsp of honey
1 tsp of sugar
Approximately 150 ml of Ceres’ Whispers of Summer blended juice
6 ice cubes

1. Place the cut fruits in a large bowl.
2. Mix the orange juice, lime juice, honey and sugar in a glass before pouring over the fruits.
3. Top up the liquid in the bowl with the Whispers of Summer fruit juice, till ½ of the fruits are covered, then add the ice cubes.
4. Gently toss/stir the fruits till they are all mixed.
5. Chill the mixture for 1 hour before serving.
   
   Serves 10.
   
   

Recipe: Chicken Soup

This is one of my favourites, perfect for when one is sick and looking for comfort food...

Chicken Soup

¾ a chicken, cut into 12 – 16 small pieces and marinated with a dash of pepper
1 small can of button mushrooms
½ a carrot, sliced into rounds
1 large potato, cubed
1 sprig of Chinese celery leaf, cut into 6 cm strips
1 sprig of spring onion, cut into 6 cm strips
1 large onion, sliced
1 – 1.5 litre of water
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch knob of ginger, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cube of chicken stock

Garnish: spring onion, fried onions and Chinese parsley, chopped finely

1. Boil the water in a large pot and add the garlic, ginger, mushrooms, onions, celery and spring onion and let it simmer for a few minutes.
2. Add the potatoes, and after 5 mins, add the carrots.
3. When the potatoes are half-cooked, add the chicken pieces and simmer for about 10 mins.
4. Taste the soup, and add salt and pepper according to your taste and a cube of chicken stock for extra flavour. Turn off stove after cube has dissolved, garnish before serving.
   
   Serves 8.
   

Recipe: Tapyu Bak (or Pork with Dark Soya Sauce)

Well, it's been a couple of years since I drew up a list of dishes to learn from Ma and I've finally started on lessons. The in-laws came over for dinner yesterday and I wanted the food to be home-cooked, but not ang moh-fied...so mummy came to the rescue and in the process I picked up her recipes for Tapyu Bak and Chicken Soup. Am gonna start posting what I learn from now on, so here is the first of the lot - Tapyu Bak, which is pork in dark soya sauce.

Tapyu Bak (or Pork with Dark Soya Sauce)

800 gm – 1kg of lean pork meat, cut into 4-5 cm squares
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ a cinnamon stick
2 star anise
100 – 150 ml of dark soya sauce
250 – 300 ml of water
6 pcs of taupok, cut into half
Pepper to taste
2 – 3 tbsp of sugar
4 hard boiled eggs (optional)

1. In a small pot, bring water to a boil, then add cinnamon stick, star anise, garlic and pork. Simmer for about 10 mins, then add a dash of pepper.
2. Next add the dark soya sauce. Actual amount depends on water level and how opaque you want the stock to be. Simmer for an additional hour before adding sugar, and more garlic if desired.
3. Taste and add more water/soya sauce and/or sugar if necessary, the stock should be salty but not overly so.
4. Finally, add the taupok pieces and/or hard boiled eggs and simmer for another 5 mins before taking off the stove.
   
   Serves 6.
   

So far, so good

Let's see, it's been a while since I announced the pregnancy on this blog and there've been plenty of developments since.

Am now around 18 weeks, reaching the halfway mark. We still don't know if it's a boy or girl yet, the little bugger was shy at the last scan a couple of weeks ago. The pregnancy has been mostly uneventful - no morning sickness, no unreasonable cravings in the middle of the night, no pain, no emotional outbursts etc. Must say Junior has been behaving very well. Yup, that's the nickname for now - Junior. Am convinced it's gonna be a boy, it's just a hunch.

I'm steadily gaining weight, the bump is obvious now. I eat like there's no tomorrow, in fact I get hungry every couple of hours or so and always keep a snack handy.

The family are thrilled about the upcoming addition, especially the mum-in-law who has been waiting ages for this to happen. We moved house from Ang Mo Kio to Spottiswoode on 4 Aug 07, and shortly thereafter, we broke the news to immediate family. Kevin actually found out by accident on 5 Aug when he stumbled onto an ultrasound image that fell out from a book I was reading, his eyes nearly popped out when he realised what he was looking at. 10 seconds after that, I confessed to Swana and she was stunned! In the days that followed, we told the mums and the pops, and the aunts and the cousins. Everyone was pleased suffice it to say.

I was actually bumming that whole week after moving house as I was in between jobs. After 5 months, I left the Sports Council and accepted an offer from a UK banking software and made a career switch to become a PA... I think it suits me.

Anyways, the past few months have personally been quite eventful - new house, new job and baby on the way. Life is good at the moment, so good, that sometimes I feel like pinching myself. I think that Junior brought me luck, cos' the tide's changed ever since conceiving...if that's the case, I think I should go buy some 4D!!