quickie zippy brekkie

PANCAKES for breakfast this morning :)

every school morning, i basically have 30 minutes to whip up breakfast for all. 

no, nora does her stuff like mopping the floor and dusting the furniture while i get the first meal of the day.

and i enjoy the challenge of coming up with something different every morning. that requires some planning the night before as i do not have that much time. 

this morning was pancakes.

i do not use pre-mixes as i want to cut down on preservatives and artificial flavouring. wherever possible, i try to minimise all these unnecessary additives. 

besides, i found this recipe on the internet a couple of years ago and have  found it to be idiot-proof. 

batter consists of 150g self-raising flour with a  pinch of salt.  two eggs are whisked in.

add enough milk to get the correct consistency.( should drip off back of ladle)

threw in sliced bananas for fibre :)

in between flipping pancakes, i also used the soy milk machine to make soy bean milk. definitely fresh and no preservatives cos it's only soaked soy beans and water.

30 mins later, banana pancakes with butter and maple syrup, and fresh soy bean milk.

*a wholesome breakfast cooked with love*

driving companion

meet this thingamajig-with-no-name.

it's another of xru's creations and it now sits next to me in my car.

we have tried naming it, xru and i  but we couldn't agree.

xru says peace cos it looks peaceful. i say punch cos it looks as pleased as punch.

so it's just it.

isn't it the cutest thing?

relaxing as we cruise along

in repose

and standing tall ^0^

it's when you have niggling fears about certain issues that you look to small meaningful things to focus on.

maybe i shall name it ohmmm...........

in the name of cancer research....

woke up early this morning for a good cause.

it's run for hope 2008, formerly known as the terry fox run.

all donations will be channelled to cancer research. the family has been doing this since 2006. and will continue to support it for as long as we can.

xru skipped it this year becos of her exams prep so mom came along.

like-minded people who sacrificed a sunday sleep-in for a warm-up leading up to the start of either the 10km or 4km run.

we opted for the 4km.

met C there, as well as a few other familiar faces.

it was a little humid but a lovely morning, nonetheless.

after it was over, we went for a prata breakfast. with teh halia, it can't get any better ^0^

knowing that i might not have enough time or energy to cook lunch today, i prepared a beef stew yesterday. stuck it in the fridge and warmed it up today.

served with spaghetti noodles.

fave restaurant

last night, we went back to the family's fave restaurant.

it's called sangkokushi at riverside walk, robertson quay. it's a small corner shop, specialising in taiwanese-japanese food. the food is cooked after orders are placed so you could say it's a zhi-char place, except that you can't find the ubiquitious sweet and sour pork or steamed fish, teochew style.

it's the taiwanese-japanese twist that gives it the unique and winning taste.

this is boiled pork with garlic sauce. its  name literally translated: cloud white pork. 

the cloud reference could be the colour of the pork slivers or the melt-in-your mouth quality.

whatever.

we all just love it.

stir fried liver with bean sprouts and chives. 

liver is sliced just right and never too well done. comfort food at its best.

its name means three cups chicken in chinese (san bei ji).

have looked up recipe: 3 cups refer to 1 cup sesame oil, 1 cup rice wine and 1 cup soya sauce.

here, they cook it really well, never too oily and the fresh basil lends this lovely flavour. they are also generous with succulent morsels of garlic, so powdery yet nutty, we swear they have got to be japanese garlic.

you know those garlic you see in meidi-ya? expensive like anything. 

egg plant in mapo sauce. right balance of spiciness and oil. and the egg plant never too mushy.

a common dish in chinese restaurants: stir fried french beans with minced pork. 

the veg is first very quickly deep fried, hence the crunch and stir fried in pork. 

very delish.

tried this for the first time - seasoned sliced gizzard with julienne leeks.

not bad.

must say something about the rice they serve here. it's short grain japanese rice, a little sticky, whole perfect grains and very yummy. goes very well with what we have ordered.

ahh, ice-cold taiwanese beer to wash all that down.

bliss.

gifts

this was the view from the treadmill in the gym this morning. that's sentosa island on the left.

beautiful day :)

walked 5.4 km to the music of pet shop boys. i have always liked the english duo, from way back in the early nineties. i found them different from the cookie cutter bands. for one, they have this really sexy english accent and second, they have intelligent lyrics. and their electronic dance music does not give me a headache unlike those techno mind numbing ones.

then it hit me that i have had this CD, a complete singles collection for more than 17 years and it was ming who gave it to me!

we had visited ming and angela end 1991. they were living in oklahoma city then. i remember mentioning to him that i liked pet shop boys and the next thing i knew, i was given this CD just before we left. 

i wonder if he remembers after all these years?

however, i am sure angela will remember the three craft books i kinda 'pilfered' from her last march. "-)

seeing how i was ga-ga-ing over the contents and how i thought they were so easy, she very generously gave those books to me. she said she could always order them from amazon.com. again.

well, sorry, i haven't made good use of them so far  but xru has.

she must have been very stressed out over her exams these few weeks so she took some time off to sew.

and did a pretty good job, too.

that's crafted out of an old tee. 

while this shocking pink fella is made of felt.

btw, the male manny is back to his pink underwear again. wei needed her skirt for school, haha....

thursday morning walks

another lovely thursday morning at the east coast park.

i look forward to thursday mornings cos that's when we get to walk and catch up at the same time. with gal pal C and sometimes, gal pal L.

and enjoy the breeze, the sea and the sun (though i am never without my cap and sun block  ^o^ ).

after a 4 km walk, we then breakfast out on one of the benches. they have McD but i usually bring along my own food.

companionship, camaraderie, laughter, sharing......every thursday.

life is good.

baking buns

dunno what oz told R but the latter called in the morning and asked if he could place an order for 20 buns.

20?

one batch of dough yields only 12, i said.

so ok, 12 then.

as usual, i used the bread machine to knead the dough for 30 mins and then take over from there. saves me a lot of muscle work. 

after proving the dough for abt an hour, i shaped it into a ball. rested it for another 15 mins before cutting them into 50g portions. 

shaping the 50g portions into balls. very fun, like messing with play dough. 

these balls of dough need to prove for another hour or so.

tah dah! the golden brown beauties, after being baked for 10 mins at 180 degrees C.

soft and fluffy.

best eaten lightly toasted (snip open) with butter and fave spread.