Recipe: Baked Tuna Pasta

Baked Tuna Pasta

One packet of penne, fusilli or macaroni
2 tins of tuna in oil or water, drained and flaked
1 small tin of button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp of dried Italian herbs
1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
1 large bottle of Prego spaghetti sauce (I use mushroom)
1 - 2 packets of grated mozzarella cheese


1. Boil the pasta with some olive oil until 3/4 cooked or almost al dente.

2. Mix the dried herbs, pepper and tuna and set aside.

3. In a deep baking dish, smear a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom. Add half the pasta, followed by half the mushrooms and tuna. Smear more spaghetti sauce on top making sure to cover the tuna fully and add some cheese. Repeat and form another layer with the balance ingredients - pasta, mushroom, tuna, sauce and cheese in that order.

4. Pop the dish into the oven at 200 degrees celcius for about 15-25 minutes, until the cheese browns.

Serves 8-10

The party continues

Nick's birthday celebrations continued yesterday and today.

He bought us (me, Ma, Swana, Arlyn and the 2 babies) dinner at a cze char place called Irvin's in River Valley. We'd seen their banners promising $18 Sri Lankan crabs for some time now and he decided to give it a go. But we knew there had to be a catch somewhere and we were right, the crabs were not Sri Lankan-sized in my opinion, they were just normal mud crabs.

The food was so-so, for five adults, the bill came up to $140. Some of their dish portions were generous and the crabs were alright I suppose. We had 2 chilli crabs for $36 and a larger salted egg yolk one for $28. The chilli crab tasted like it had some tamarind in it, while the salted egg yolk crab was not bad. But given a choice, I probably won't eat there anytime soon...give me Mellben butter crab any day!

I cooked dinner for the in-laws today, made pan-fried pork loin with butternut squash mash and a baby spinach and citrus salad. I didn't really follow any recipes, just 'hantam' so these instructions will have to do if you are thinking of making for yourself:


Pan-fried pork loin
1) Marinade for about 4 slices of loin: 1 tbsp of marmalade, dash of light soya sauce, 2 tbsp of olive oil, dash of sesame oil, large pinch of ground black pepper, 2 pinches of salt. Mix well with meat and refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours.
2) Cooking method: Melt a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan, and cook the pork loin on one side for about 3 mins or till meat is half cooked on the bottom half, before flipping over for another 3-5 minutes. Make sure meat is fully cooked before removing from heat.
3) To make a sauce: Pour the remaining marinade into the pan and stir on medium heat till sauce caramelizes/darkens before turning off the stove.



Baby spinach and citrus salad
1) Dressing: I used my Oriental concoction comprising juice from half a lime, juice from half an orange, 1-2 tbsp of honey, generous dashes of sesame oil, 4-6 tbsp of olive oil, dashes of light soya sauce, a sprinkling of sugar. Just whisk everything in a bowl and adjust according to your taste.
2) Salad: 1 grapefruit and 1 orange, skin totally removed, break wedges into half; 1 packet of baby spinach leaves - washed and patted dry; a handful cherry tomatoes, halved.
3) Method: Put the salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Grind some fresh black pepper over if you like.


Butternut squash mash
1) Remove the skin and chop the butternut into large chunks. Bring water to a boil in a large pot, add a pinch of salt and boil the squash for 20 mins or till tender. Drain the water, add a tbsp of butter, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper and mash with a fork. 1 medium squash serves about 12. A great alternative to mashed potato!

Happy birthday Nickypoo!

Today was Nickypoo's birthday but it being Good Friday, he had to fast so there was no feasting. We woke up real early and headed to Vivo for breakfast. There weren't much options at 9.45 am so we settled on Long John Silver's.



I had a big fish set, which comprised thick toast layered with fish fillet, cheese and omelette. It was not bad, but I think I still prefer the KFC breakfasts, which we've been having the last 2 weeks. In my opinion it tastes better than McDonalds. Toasted twister...mmmm.

In keeping with the agreement not to exchange gifts this year, I got him nothing! Except a card. However, he did receive 3 items from Old Navy, courtesy of Nat. How she managed to shop online beats me! :-)


Had an impromptu mini-party over dinner, Nick was in fish mode so me and Swana whipped up a baked tuna pasta that we used to do when we were teenagers. We'd been talking about making this again one day so we used Nick's breaking of fast as an excuse. Swana brought cake too, and Pops and Aunty Sarda came by.



Ben and Wendy managed to reach in time too before we cut the cake, they had been running errands in town and I persuaded them to come over at the last minute, Nick was surprised to see them.

I'm glad his birthday didn't turn out to be a total non-event, hope he had fun!

She walks!

I spoke too soon about Nat still not walking on her own yet because today she did so! As in not holding on to furniture and not half-running to reach somebody or someone to hold on to. She took slow, measured steps unaided while at Mildred's house this evening so she officially walks!

The distance wasn't far because I was still afraid of her falling, but she is at least more confident to try on her own. Just 2 days ago she would refuse to let go of my fingers whenever I prompted her to by herself and today she was clearly relishing her newfound independence!

Sigh, so fast they grow...

Nat at 14 months

Did a spot of marketing this morning, I love shopping at the Tiong Bahru one, things are soooo much cheaper compared to the supermarket. I bought a whole bunch of vegetables for 12 bucks (corn, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, kangkung, spinach, caixin, spring onion, coriander, rosemary, cucumber and butternut squash!).


Nat still hasn't mastered walking. Or rather, she's chicken to try on her own unless the distance is two feet or less. Instead, she'll hold up her hand and prompt you to escort her, and lead you all over the house. Well, I am in no hurry but she's getting a tad heavy to carry.


She loves spotting butterflies in her storybooks and will point at them and say, 'bababa'. Sometimes she'll even flap her arms and pretend to fly. Nick has been flipping a book on aeroplanes with her at night and she makes a screeching sound when you ask her to imitate a plane.


Everytime she walks past the wooden letters spelling her name on her door, she'll say 'ai'... and point at the 'I'. She can't be bothered with her shape-sorter toys but loves any adult-type gadget.

I notice she's starting to want me to carry her more often now, as in specifically me and not other people. When I get home from work, she'll reach for me and when I lie in bed, she'll snuggle up sometimes and plant a big wet kiss on my face. That makes my day...

She's been pretty fussy with food, refusing to eat at times but after a few days she's back to normal. She has 8 teeth now, so fast they erupted. She still puts all sorts of things in her mouth, picking up every little crumb and piece of dirt on the floor, caught her eating tissue a couple of times and even found - get this - a long strand of Arlyn's hair in her poop! Horror!

Nat appears to be a little sensitive at times, yesterday she cried when Kavitah called her 'clever girl,' I think she thought she was being scolded. She also cried once when I pretended to cry after she hit me, and another time when she thought a few of us were laughing at her. Uh-oh, need to toughen her up a little.

Other than that, she's a pretty happy-go-lucky child who for the life of me cannot sit still! Her hair is getting wispy and curly, I still think she looks like me. Need to really start with the disciplining to keep the tantrums to a minimum, she likes to throw toys all over the floor but we make her pick them up now.


I daresay she'll be walking by the 15th month, we should really babyproof more of the house...nothing is safe from her grubby hands!

Gigi has been really smiley of late, she recognises me and readily smiles for her Aunty Mita. If I'm lucky, she have a giggling fit when I hit her with a bolster. She has a dimple on her left cheek and can sit up unsupported already. She loves to roll over on her tummy and relishes her cereal meals. She's starting to open and close her fingers when you sing "Twinkle twinkle little star', and constantly has her fingers in her mouth.


She gets startled very easily and whenever she has a crying fit now, Mummy seems to be the only person who can calm her down. We call her 'The Pigeon' because she loves to roll her tongue and coo these days. Her other nickname is 'bubba' because that's what Nat calls her.

Moving on out

Had lunch with the ex-SingTel folks who work in Shenton earlier, Jeannie is moving out of the area so we had one final lunch with her at 8 Shenton Way.


Michael swung by to pass us his wedding invites, I was so tickled when I saw his church insert, there was a photo from his photoshoot of him and Gen holding hands, under a giant tree and looking up at the sky. Hong Wei told Michael they looked like they were waiting for durians to drop!


It had been a while since we had a high attendance rate for one of these gatherings, the only person missing was Desmond but we'll all see each other next at Mike's wedding, maybe head for drinks after...I need to decide what to wear!


Earlier this evening we heard the sickening sound of screeching tyres on the highway again, followed by a crash. When we looked out the window, we saw a car slumped on the kerb below the slope leading to the ECP, it was facing the wrong direction so perhaps the driver skidded and u-turned. He seemed to be alright but an ambulance was called before the car was eventually towed.

We are going on a springy holiday...

Ooh, 14 years after we first broached the subject of a trip together, it looks like I am finally going on holiday with Jane, Germaine and Rena.

Went online today and saw incredibly low prices for Perth on JetStar and having just explored options at Saturday's high-tea, Perth was second on our list and so it was a no-brainer when the ticket worked out to something like $222 nett! Half what it would have cost for Taipei, which was our first choice.

Already they're talking about renting a service apartment and car to drive around...I am so excited, even though I have been to Perth twice. Missed Fremantle the last time round, plus I think we can afford to go Margaret River and I must make time for Harbourtown and Garden City Mall! And we can go to the casino!

Woo-hoo!

Oh, I am such a twit. I've had my current digital camera for almost 1.5 years and I only attempted to read the manual yesterday because I wanted to take proper night shots. See my horrible attempt to take a lunar eclipse last night? The moon was reddish and low, in the top right corner.


I've been using 'Auto' mode most of the time but I didn't know I had so many scene settings, for the beach, fireworks... if only I had bothered to explore all the icons on the dial properly! This is the view from the balcony after I played around a bit.



From now on, I will experiment with the aperture and shutter speeds more and get a small tripod...all in anticipation of capturing the much-talked about sunsets in Santorini!