A crave for lemon-y chicken

Yeay!  Can you hear me screaming over here??  Scream of excitement because Friday is almost end and weekend is here!!  I am back to my cooking cap today as I have not done much in my kitchen lately except light cooking, washing and boiling hot water.  *wink*

 

Hubby bought a lots of fresh lemons from the market over the weekend.  He is on lemon juice diet; once a week boiled fresh lemon using the claypot and drink it warm.  I am not so into warm lemon juice but hubby told me that it is good to fight flu so I obliged to take few sips when he made the juice on Monday morning. 

 

I have always wanted to cook this dish for a long time.  But since I were sick early this week, I am only up to the task to cook this dish today.  Turned out great and it tasted exactly what I want after few days of eating rather dull food.  Lol!

 

 

 

Chinese Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

20 stripes of boneless chicken breast (about 0.5")

Marinade:
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp salt

Batter:
1 big sized egg
1/4 cup cornflour
1 tsp white pepper

Sauce:
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup chicken stock (1/2 cube mixed with warm water)
1/2 lemon (squeeze out the juice)
1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp cooking oil


Methods:

1. Marinate the chicken breasts with marinade for 30 minutes.  Keep aside in the fridge.

2. For batter, crack 1 egg into a bowl and mix with cornflour and white pepper.  If you prefer a crispier chicken pieces, then you can first dig the chicken into the mixture of egg and white pepper, then dig into the mixture of cornflour before deep frying.

3. Deep fry the chicken breast till golden brown.  Drain and set aside.

4. For sauce, mix everything into a bowl.

5. Heat up a 2 tbsp cooking oil in a wok.  Once heated up, add in the sauce.  Keep stirring and when the sauce change colour, toss in the chicken breast into wok.  Stir for a while and then dish out and serve.

Remark:  If you prefer more lemony taste, you can used up 1 lemon but since my kids do not enjoy too sour-ish dish I half the portion of lemon.  What I do with the other half lemon??  I have a choice of either a cup of iced lemonade juice or keep in the fridge as a natural deodorizer.  In the end I decided to use it as fridge deodorizer since there are some lemons in the fridge waiting to be used!!

Relocation plan postponed

Guys, as I mentioned in end of April that we would be moving to Sibu for a year or so as hubby is offered a new post there.  However due to some delay with his transfer letter and some internal problem, his relocation may postponed to July.  So we would not be moving over in June as planned early.

 

I have not yet asked for transfer letter from my girl's primary school since no confirmed date was given by hubby's office.  So once everything confirmed from hubby side, then I can do the necessary.  If it is delayed, the kids and I may be going by early August during the school holiday but hubby requested us to go by end of June.  I don't know, I have not yet decide when to move with the kids because I don't think it is logical to move in midst of school term so I guess we have to go later while hubby settles down first if he is to start in July.  But hubby is concerned that if we are to fly by August, I would be over 30 weeks pregnant. I wonder I could be able to get a doctor's letter of consent to allow me to fly or not??  I guess should not be a problem since it is just 35 minutes flight.  Sigh!

We see how thing goes.  Hopefully everything will be smooth from here....

Load of washing



I am still recovering from my cough and flu but much better now after a good rest on Monday.  If I were not bored at home, I knew my girl was bored!  Until I caught her looking through my recipe book yesterday afternoon.

 

 

This was actually my first recipe book!  Bought it when I dated my hubby back in 2002.  You know, want to win the heart of a man is through the stomach so been a "kiasu", I learnt some recipes from this book because my hubby is a great egg lover! 

 

It is kind of funny looking at my girl glancing through the book.  She was supposed to study for her exams but instead she was so relaxed and just taking her time doing revision.  Sigh!  Probably I worry too much.  

 

We have been blessed with hot sun since Monday and I could not stop myself from taking out baby clothing for washing.  Better get them done now than later.  Never knew I still keep so many baby clothing till I dig them out from the boxes yesterday.  I did give away some to few people but still, I have a lot.  Maybe I just could not part with some of them.  *wink*  Already cleaned some of the clothes and today will be some more baby clothings.

 



Those are the cleaned one. 

 I also dig out a set of baby bedding, i.e. pillow, bolster and blanket.  Just nice for a baby boy!  *wink*  But need to clean them up first. 

And dig out many other stuff like this piece.  I used it for my girl but did not used it on Baby Jay.  It is like those older time when the women wear them on their body. These pieces are tailored by hubby's aunty for our first born.  Wrap around the body to protect baby from cold and wind.  Do you have these pieces for your babies??



Weekend Menu #49: My baked cheesy potato & onion dish

Long time I did not bake (but it is not like I do bake a lot.  *wink*).  However once a while I will used my oven to bake meat and potatoes.  One of my signature dishes (ahem!) is this cheesy potato & onion dish.  Actually the first time I baked it was back in December last year when my friends from Australia came back for Christmas.  I was thinking of what to cook then and suddenly this baked potatoes dish came into my mind.  So then I try used the cheese sauce to go with my potatoes.  Glad that my friends enjoyed the dish and it inspired me to improve the recipe.  I baked thrice since then when we had guests to the house and on all occasions, my guests commented that it was nice and filling!  *Happy*
 

Hubby commented how come the top part looks burnt, but it tasted just nice.  No burn taste at all!  Because of the cheese.  If you do not want to have those black-ish look on top, you can spread the cheese on top during middle of the baking, i.e. after 20 minutes into baking.  But I am lazy so "hentam" everything one shot and throw into the oven. 

 

So last Saturday, I baked this dish again and this round, I added big onion into the recipe.  The result?  You try it out and be the judge!!!  *wink*

 

I prefer to used shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese as they go well with this dish but since I could not find Parmesan, I used shredded Cheddar cheese instead for this round.  And you could used full cream milk if you like, but I prefer skim milk.

 

Baked Cheesy Potato and Onion

Ingredients:

6 medium sized potatoes, peeled, sliced, washed, boiled and drained
1 big onion, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups skim milk
2 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp Mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp Cheddar cheese (if used Parmesan, then 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese)
Salt and pepper to taste (I add 1 tsp of each)

The 2 cheese that I have in store!

Method:

1. Prepare the potatoes first and set it aside. 

2. Heat up a pan with olive oil.  Then add in the big onion.  Lightly stir fry for 1 minute and dish it up.  Set aside.

3. To prepare cheese sauce, heat up a sauce pot in medium flame.  Add butter into the pot.  Once butter has melted, add in the flour.  Continue stirring to mix and then off the flame.  Slowly add in the skim milk. 

4. Return to low heat and continue to stir the milk.  Once the milk has boiled, add in Mozzarella cheese, Cheddar cheese (or Parmesan), salt and pepper.  Continue to stir till the cheese has melt and the mixture has reduced and become more sticky.

5.  Off the flame.
6. Grease a baking tray with butter.  Arrange the sliced potatoes as first base. Scatter some fried onion on top of the potatoes.  Then pour some cheese sauce on top of the potatoes and onion.

 

7.  Continue the process till you finish up the potatoes, onion and sauce.  I make 3 levels of sliced potatoes.

8. Scatter some Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese on top before you bake.  Bake the potato in a preheat oven for 30 to 40 minutes or till the dish is firmer.  Test by pricking with fork.

How it looks like after 20 minutes into baking!!  Another 20 minutes it is done!!

Beautiful Mama Blog Award

 

Happy Mom's Day! 

Happy Mom's Day to all the mothers and mothers-to-be out there!  Time for celebration, appreciation and family togetherness.  And a day of relaxation and not doing anything but let the hubby and children do all the housework and pamper you on this day (which is pretty hard I know).  Anyway, hope you guys have a great day today.

 

And what a great way to start off this beautiful day with a special blog award from me???  This Beautiful Mama Blog Award is created and started by Valerie of AtlantaMomOfThree which I happened to come across early this week.  What a great blog she has and I have been following her blog since then. 

 

 

Valerie has requested to list down 3 things that we love about motherhood, so here is my list:

 

1. My children -   The joy and fruit of pregnancy and motherhood. They are simply the best.  Children make you cry, laugh, angry and worry but such emotions are worth fighting for.  The best part?  When they suddenly hug, kiss and say "I love you, mommy".  Melt my heart away. 

 

2. Bring out the best in me - From a working mom to a stay-at-home mom for 5 months now, I have been through nothing short of crazy stuff everyday. I feel like I am a supermom; juggling among many jobs from maid, cook, teacher, loud hailer to note keeper.  Nevertheless being a mother has opened my eyes to a wonderful journey of bringing up my children.  A trying journey indeed.

 

3. Meeting some wonderful mamas from different places around the world - Motherhood is one of the reasons I started this blog back in 2007.  A place where I can meet more people, share my experience and journey as a mom and learn more from other mama bloggers. 

 

 

It is hard for me to choose who mama bloggers to receive this award as there are many wonderful and awesome mama bloggers out there.  But in the end I am choosing 5 of my favourite mama blogs to receive and pass on this award to other deserving mamas:

 

Mama Kucing

Yan

Cynthia

Hayley

Yvonne



To accept this award, you just need to:

• Click the above award image, save it and use it in your acceptance post
• List 3 things you love about motherhood
• Nominate other deserving mamas; you may choose as many as you like (And let them know of the nomination!)

Feel loved!

This is how I feel right now.......I am blessed.  And thankful that weekend is finally here!  :)

 

 

Happy Weekend!!!

Chat with another preggie

I have a chat with a friend who is also pregnant and has the same EDD with me.  Both her girls were natural birth while I opted for C-Section for my 2 kids.  Both of her kids were born earlier than the EDD and the 2nd one was premature by a month.  It was a tough delivery for the 2nd one but now the little girl is 2 years old. 

 

The other day we were discussing about maternity and confinement issue.  I were asking her whether she would be doing her confinement in Sibu like the previous two but she is planning to stay in Kuching this time and get someone to do for her instead of getting her mum to help.  When asking her why staying back in Kuching this round, she said she would not like to trouble her mum with the confinement period.  She will get someone to do the cooking, while she can take care of the kids herself.  So not a strict confinement for her.  And she can have more freedom when no elderly around.  She can do whatever she wants to. I was shocked when she said that she can bathe and wash her hair whenever she likes without her mum around.  Oh dear!

 

I advised my friend to follow some of those confinement "pantang" as they are for her own good, but sound like she has already decided not to follow.  Well, guess I could not do anything but tell her not to.  I don't think confinement period is such a dreaded period.  It may be suffering especially the no-washing hair part.  I also don't like the idea of sleeping with my oily hair every night for 30 nights, but I survived both confinement without much damages to my hair.  And I only got to take bath once a day after the first week.  At least get to clean ourselves although the black herb water is hot.  Come to think of it, it is pretty relaxing without much worrying on food and kids as they are been taken care of. 

 

Wonder whether my in-laws have managed to find confinement lady for me or not??  It is not easy to find a good one.  I enjoyed my 1st confinement lady although she was strict, but she does cooked great confinement food and I always look forward to her cooking.  My MIL called her up few weeks ago but apparently she has retired.  Over 60 plus now, so it is time for her to retire.  Just hope that I am able to get a good one in Sibu.  Heard that the fee is now reaching around RM3000 for full shift (stay-in)!  Expensive!  But it is not an easy job taking care of small baby at night and during the day, still need to take care of the new mother and do other houseworks.