Stress Duck

I am getting a little stressed because I am travelling tomorrow on my own to KL to attend my cousin Carol's wedding to Gooi (who graciously took us around in Hong Kong).

Stress 1: The trip is pretty last minute but I managed to book cheap MAS tickets (RM385 return) very early on. But then I realised that my classes do not finish until Friday and I have a teaching assignment early Sun morning. So there were a lot of 'to go or not to go' going on and when I finally decided, I had to forgo my return ticket and buy another one from Air Asia that costs RM213 to return on Saturday evening instead. So this whole week revolved around getting things arranged so that I get my Friday off.

Stress 2: I rarely travel alone without Greg. I think this must be the 2nd or 3rd time since we got married. I dont like to have to catch taxis alone in KL and having to watch out for potential snatchers or thieves everywhere I go. So normally, when I'm alone, Greg will make sure that I get Foong Sin, my good uni mate to drive me around and that I am staying with someone like my cousins or my friends.

Stress 3: I get stressed about what Greg will be eating during my stay away. I know it's just for 2Days/1 Night but I am seriously worried because my hubby lives on junk like cookies, cakes & takeaways if food is not on the table. Like when I got up late last Sat morning, he ended up eating the leftover bits cut from the side of a napolean cake. He just walloped a whole plateful of buttercream laden bits when there were homemade curry puffs in the fridge. See, even when there is food is in the fridge, he seems to ignore it. So I am seriously thinking of labelling everyone of his meal before my trip. I cooked a little more tonite to last him for the next two days.

One of the dish is the 8 Jewel Duck. I am seriously proud of myself for this. Under the supervision of Aunty Yeo, I managed to debone the whole duck. Yeap, all the bones are gone and the duck is still in one piece, & is still looking like a .... duck. It was an absolute perfect destress-er - all the wringing, poking, slicing, chopping and when the carcass came out one piece without any meat attached to it, the satisfaction is indescribeable. And next time if Greg ever upsets me, I will debone a duck in front of him to show him what I am capable off with a little carving knife.

Darling, looook...ONLYYYY skin and meat left. No bonesssss....

Crispy Nam Yue Pork

A few months ago I remember making this dish with Pork Ribs after reading Terri's. Maybe I didn't do it properly or it could be because I used ribs instead. Greg didn't seem to be that keen on it even though he acknowledged that it was a good dish. I decided to persevere as I don't like him not liking my cooking without any solid good reasons. For those of you who envy him for having a wife who cooks, please remember he gets whipped for not being able to give proper food reviews after eating. It's a bit like giving a book report.

And the reward that he gets is that he ends up eating dishes that are cooked to his liking. This version of crispy nam yue pork is definitely his favourite dish for now. I cooked this last week and my sweet hubby thinks that it is good enough to open a fast food chain restaurant. So there you go. This is seriously good.

Serve 3-4

500-600gm of belly pork meat

2 pieces of nam yue beancurd

1 tbsp of nam yue beancurd sauce

1 1/2 tbsp of sugar

1 tbsp of sesame oil

1/2 tsp of pepper

1/2 tsp of V tsin/ ajinomoto

sweet potato flour

oil for frying

1) Slice the belly pork into 6cm strips. Slice through to discard the skin of each strip. Please retain the fats. Poke the meat with a fork randomly.

2) Mash the nam yue beancurd. Stir with sauce, sugar, sesame oil and the seasoning. Mix well. Season the pork strips with mixture and leave overnight or at least 2 hours. The wonderful thing is that I can do a double recipe and freeze them at this stage. It really helps when I need an extra dish for those lazy or busy days.

3) Coat with sweet potato flour. Please allow me to say this. Sweet potato (sometimes known as snow flour), not potato flour, is really good. It not only lasts after frying but it creates a breadcrumb like texture for the meat and hence the bite and crunchiness.

4) Fry with fresh oil till golden brown.

Meatballs and Spaghetti

I realised that I had not been blogging recipes for a while. Well, for some reasons, I just wanted to lounge around reading rather than writing. Maybe there's just too many exciting things going on ~ US housing and credit problems, superpowers round the world dishing out billions to save their arses, stock markets round the world crashing, petrol and commodities prices going down to don't know where, Malaysian to Australian dollars going strong (yippee), more food found with melamine and now the ammonium bicarbonate thingy. So who wants to be bothered with Greg and Nee right?! Translation into plain english : Lazy, but still eating!

Last week, Greg and I had cravings for meatballs. For him, Meatballs conjured IKEA Swedish Meatballs. So I sweat a little cause that is pretty good standard for meatballs. Luckily he likes my version. Otherwise there'd be No More Meatballs for the next five years for him.

Serve 3-4

Meatballs:
350 gm of beef mince
150 gm of pork mince
1 tbsp of finely chopped garlic
1 large egg
35 gm of bread crumb
40 gm of parmesan cheese powder
1/2 tbsp of dried oregano
2 tbsp of flour
1 teasp of salt and pepper to taste

1) Mix the minces with salt, pepper and oregano. Season for a little while before adding egg and garlic. Stir till even. Add parmesan cheese, bread crumb and flour. Stir till well mixed. Slap the mixture against a hard surface or in a bowl till the texture feels a little springy. Shape into balls. Recipe should make about 15-18 balls depending on the size.

2) In a pan with some oil, pan fry the balls till brown evenly on each side.

Spaghetti and Sauce
500gm of cooked spaghetti (oiled with olive oil) from about 180gm of dried ones, set aside
1 large onion, diced
4-6 pieces of rashers bacon, cut into small strips
3 tbsp of olive oil with 1 tbsp of butter
1 can of 400gm whole peel tomatos, mashed
some water
dash of brandy (optional)
salt and pepper to taste.

1) Heat up pan with olive oil and butter. Add onion and saute till soft and fragrant. Add bacon and continue sauteing till bacon shrinks and the mixture is fragrant.

2) Add the can of whole peel tomatos, mashing the tomatos up. Let mixture simmer a little before adding the browned meat balls. Add some more water if you like your spaghetti more saucy, followed by salt and pepper to taste. Let the mixture simmer in low fire till meat balls are cooked through and well coated with the sauce.

3) Add spaghetti to mixture and simmer a little before dishing out to serve. Sprinkle with parsley and finely grated mozarella (optional).