Escape from Alcatraz

You can learn a lot from looking at one's laundry. Sorry I cannot help it as I get this view everytime when I am at the sink. Of cause with different clothes on the clothesline. On this particular day I just had to bring out my camera. This person seems to love stripes, black and white in particular. There are four altogether on that day. One little stripey tshirt (probably the daughter's), one grey/white stripey T (looks like hubby's) and two stripey women's tshirts. She really must love zebras.

Five hours without pampy

A friend mentioned on her fbk status that her 32-month old daughter is diapers-free. That was one of my headache with Annabel right now. The other one being weaning her off the pacifier. But that is another story altogether.

Ok back to potty training. That little status update had me more determined to get her off the diapers. I did try previously but I guess I was not persistent enough. She knows what the poo-poo pot is for but simply refuses to do it there. She'll use it instead as a car for mickey and minnie! She will inform me when she has peed, and when she's gonna poo. That's a start I guess.

So armed with determination and confidence, I told her (after her bath at about 11am) that she's a big girl now and no need for pampy, and that she was to tell me if she needs to go. I kept reminding and asking her and all was well. Then she peed at about 2pm and was a bit panicky. We reassured her and she was happy when she got to play with water while washing her up. Then the peeing started after her milk. She peed for about 3-4 times within one hour! I think she kinda enjoyed it as she gets to play with water after that. So now I'm wondering if she didn't tell me on purpose. Hmmm.. nvm I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. After all that drama I got fed up and gave her her bath at 4pm and put her in her pajamas, yes diapers included.

I will definitely try again but first I need to get some more panties for the little girl.

Chilli prawns with whole spices

Recipe from "Fresh & Tasty Wok Cooking".

It was supposed to be like this..

... instead it turned out this way!

Hmmph.. the perils of following recipes, especially asian recipes by non-asians (I'm quite allergic to this actually).

The recipe calls for cinnamon stick, cardamon pods, cloves, turmeric powder (oopss I'd forgotten the turmeric powder when cooking this yst!), bay leaves and chillies (just chillies but what was in the book looked like cili padi). These are familiar ingredients in curry. Bay leaves are quite common in malay cooking. I think they are used in rendang, among others. And the marinade consists of garlic, ginger, chillies and lemon juice (which I substituted with calamansi juice). A closer look at the marinade sauce (after I blended the ingredients) made me realise that these are the same things used for mom's chic rice chilli. Which I did not think (and still do not think) will go hand in hand with the above said spices. And if you minus the ginger and throw in some candlenuts you'll get sambal cili garam!

In the end the prawns didn't turn out that bad. Will I cook it again? Most probably not. Do not want to waste my cholesterol quota on this one. But if I do plan to cook it again, I'll do so using bird's eye chillies. Oh and this time I must remember add in the turmeric powder!

Sayur lodeh

I love lontong and suddenly had this urge for it. So began my online search for sayur lodeh and finally settled for one from myresipi.com. (Yes, ever since being away from home, I have to actually cook things that I want to eat unlike previously where I would just go and buy!) Sayur lodeh is usually eaten with nasi impit and the whole dish is called lontong. I was sceptical on how it will turn out with this being my first actual dish using santan (nasi lemak not counted), but as the dish was cooking and I got a whiff of this aromatic smell (think nyonya laksa), I knew that it will turn out right. *smiley* And after all this cooking, I now feel like trying some nyonya laksa and lemak udang nenas.

Here's the recipe for my version. It serves 5-6.

Finely blended: 8 dried chillies, ~6 medium sized shallots, 2 cloves garlic, 1 thumb-sized turmeric, 1" ginger, 1Tbsp dried prawns, 1Tbsp anchovies, a small square of belacan (shrimp paste), 1tsp grounded fennel seeds (not sure of the role of fennel seeds here. could it be for that extra sweet tinge?).

1 stalk lemongrass, half thumb-sized galangal
Prawns
Dried beancurd, cabbage, carrots, glass noodles, red chillies
200ml santan (coconut milk)
Water, salt, oil

1. Heat oil and stir-fry the blended paste together with the stalk of lemongrass till fragrant.
2. Add in the prawns and continue to stir-fry. Pour in the santan (plus another 200ml of water), galangal and cook till it boils.
3. Put in the vegetables starting with the hard ones and add in enough water.
4. Add in salt, and cook till it boils and the vegetables soften.
5. Ready to serve.

Map of the Invisible World

The Harmony Silk Factory was so good that I just had to get hold of his second novel. And I was not disappointed at all for it was as brilliant as Tash Aw's first work. MotIW mainly takes place in post-colonial Indonesia, and it centred on a young orphan called Adam. He was abandoned by his mother, then separated from his brother. And when his adopted father was captured by soldiers, so began his search. Again, I just can't help but marvel at the rich knowledge that the author has. Another gem of a book.