~~卤肉,豆干,豆朴,香菇和鸡蛋~~

Been craving for 卤肉 for the longest time ever especially when my neighbours upstairs or downstairs I really do not know cooks it..the aroma really can fly to my house and set me drooling *slurps* so I decided to make a big pot of 卤肉 today :)

~~ My big pot of 卤肉,豆干,豆朴,香菇和鸡蛋 ~~

~~ The final presentation ~~

~~ Evangeline's dinner - porridge with the gravy, 卤肉,豆朴和鸡蛋 ~~

~~ Elyssa's dinner - Porridge with gravy, 卤肉,豆朴,香菇和鸡蛋 ~~

~~ Issac's dinner - Porridge with gravy和鸡蛋 ~~

~~Christmas Day Dinner 2008~~

~~ Stir-fried french bean with dried mushroom, silverfish and ikan bilis in oyster sauce ~~

~~ Sardines ~~

~~ Store bought black pepper beef ~~

~~ Store bought salted fish fried rice ~~

~~ Failure potato pie..oozing with lots and lots of juice..sigh..taste nice but looks so ugly ~~

~~Our Christmas Feasting 2008~~

These were what we had for our Christmas Eve Dinner :)

~~ Yummy food ~~

~~ Log cake from NTUC ~~

~~ Honey baked ham from Shop N Save ~~

~~ Teriyaki & honey baked chicken from NTUC ~~

~~ Potato salad given by my neighbour, Christina ~~

~~ Princesses had bits of roast chicken, potato salad, ham with their porridge ~~

~~ It was log cake cutting ceremony after bathtime .. they simply can't wait for Daddy to cut the cake ~~

~~ Evangeline eating the log cake ~~

~~ Elyssa eating the log cake ~~


~~ Happy Issac after tasting the log cake ~~

~~Merry Christmas~~

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year :)

~~Fuss Free Dinner #2~~

~~ Stir-fried sotong in kuah asam pedas ~~

~~ Stir-fried french bean with fish ball and oyster sauce ~~

~~ Black bean, lotus root & lean pork soup ~~

~~Stir-fried French Bean with Fishball and Oyster Sauce (Step By Step Guide)~~

~~ Heat oil in wok and fry minced garlic til fragrant ~~

~~ Add in diced french bean and stir-fried til slight change in colour..add in halved fish balls and mix well ~~

~~ Add in abit of water and oyster sauce..stir well til french bean are cooked ~~

~~ Final presentaion with oven toasted silverfish ~~

~~Stir-fried Sotong In Kuah Asam Pedas (Step By Step Guide)~~

~~ This pack of sauce has been lying inside my fridge for months..decided to use it before it expires ~~

~~ Heat oil in wok, add in sliced onion and stir fried til onion change colour and is fragrant ~~

~~ Add in sotong and stir well ~~

~~ Add in the sauce mix and do a quick stir ~~

~~ Once sotong has curled, scooped up and serve with sliced spring onion as garnish ~~

~~Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至)~~

Today is Winter Solstice Festival / 冬至..

Below is an extra from Wikipedia

Dongzhi Festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dōngzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; Pinyin: dōng zhì; "The Extreme of Winter") is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians during the Dongzhi solar term on or around December 22 when sunshine is weakest and daylight shortest; i.e., on the first day of the Dongzhi solar term

The origins of this festival can be traced back to the Yin and Yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, there will be days with longer daylight hours and therefore an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fù (復, "Returning").

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of Tangyuan (湯圓, Cantonese jyutping: tong1 jyun2; Mandarin Pinyin: Tāng Yuán) or balls of glutinuous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinuous rice flour and sometimes brightly coloured. Each family member receives at least one large Tang Yuan in addition to several small ones. The flour balls may be plain or stuffed. They are cooked in a sweet soup or savoury broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. It is said to have originated from Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. On one cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm, to keep their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qǜ hán jiāo ěr tāng" or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.

Winter solstice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observer's hemisphere.[clarification needed] Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice occurs some time between December 20 and December 23 each year in the northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and June 23 in the southern hemisphere, during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year, which is not to be confused with the darkest day or night, or[clarification needed] the day with the earliest sunset or latest sunrise.

The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days. How cultures interpret this is varied, since it is sometimes said to astronomically mark either the beginning or middle of a hemisphere's winter. Winter is a subjective term, so there is no scientifically established beginning or middle of winter but the winter solstice itself is clearly calculated to within a second. Though the winter solstice lasts an instant, the term is also colloquially used to refer to the full 24-hour period of the day on which it occurs.

Actually had the intention to make the 汤圆 from scratch but in the end, I was too tired and lazy ;p

So I resorted to using frozen 汤圆 in red bean soup instead of the usual gingery syrup :)

~~ Frozen 汤圆 in red bean soup ~~

~~ Evangeline tasting the 汤圆 ~~

~~ Elyssa tasting her 汤圆 ~~

~~ Elyssa giving me the thumbs up :) ~~

~~Rojak Noodles Soup~~

~~ I made this for dinner tonight with ingredients that I found in my fridge..Princesses love this dish :) ~~

~~Fuss Free Dinner #1~~

Did not have time to take step by step guide for the dishes below today as I only started cooking at 6.30pm and was in a rush to finish cooking..

Lucily the soup, I prepared way in advance :)

Ingredients for the soup include:

1) Fresh shitake mushroom

2) Carrot

3) Corn

4) BB Corn

5) Home made meat balls (marianted with dash of light soya sauce, sesame oil and white pepper and mix well with minced water chestnuts, before shaping into balls, it's recommended to take the minced pork mixture and 'slam' it for a few times to enhance the 'bite' of the meatball)

6) Onion

7) Potato

8) Home - roasted ikan bilis

~~ Stir-fried bb kailan with sliced bb corn, minced pork, fresh shitake mushroom and sliced button mushroom in oyster sauce ~~

~~ Fried salmon (seasoned with black pepper, salt and italian herbs mix) with teriyaki sauce with sliced button mushroom ~~

Note:

Evangeline simply loves salmon, button mushroom, carrot and the soup..she finish most of her dinner by herself tonight

Elyssa kept asking for bb corn and shitake mushroom..drank one big bowl of soup, ate abit of the salmon and finished most of her dinner by herself too

~~Broccoli & MInced Pork Porridge~~

~~ Fuss-free and easy to cook..the kids love this too :) ~~

~~How Much Food Does It Takes To Keep 2 Adults and 3 Toddlers Happy?~~

~~ Guess what lies inside this 5 year old fridge of mine..~~

~~ Freezer section - fully packed with ice cream, instant and frozen food stuff, blended veggies puree etc ~~

~~ Freezer section - door section with more frozen and instant food stuff ~~

~~ Chiller section - with noodles, fish ball, fish cakes, fish dumplings, ham and cheese ~~

~~ The main fridge section with my TCM herbs collection, vitagen, honey, minced garlic, mushrooms, drinks, fruits etc ~~

~~ Veggies section - fully packed with fresh veggies ~~

~~ Main fridge section - door section with all the drinks, sauces, soup stocks, medicines and egg ~~

~~ One of my kitchen cabinet fully packed with canned food, noodles and other dried food stuff ~~

~~ My beverages cum cooking sauces cabinet ~~

~~ The kids tibits and biscuits cabinet ~~