Hair chat and Weekend Menu #57: Salted mustard & ginseng chicken soup

How was your weekend? I went to salon to do digital perm on Saturday. Sat there for 4 hours and yet I still think this was not what I want. I wanted a big wave curls but ended up not the curls that I want. Or maybe the stylist put too much spray and my curls look stiff and volumising my hair further. I look like that legendary Alleycat singer! Maybe after a good wash, my hair will look more natural. Can't wait to wash it tomorrow as the stylist reminded me to wash on 3rd day! But what done is done. I know, cny was over but that not the reason to style my hair. It has been more than 5 years since I curled my hair. I have decided to highlight my hair in few months time to enhance the curls.

I know I look like the pitiful exhibit plugged to a machine. Can feel my hair been toasted! All for the name of beauty! 

The result.....

My boy did not like my new hair style. Probably he never seen me with curls before so he kept complaining that it is not nice and looks messy. Lol.

Going to let my hair longer and try that half lenght perming like the Korea perm. That may have to wait end of the year at least.

Did not do much on Sunday as hubby was not around and I have to hold the fort with my 3 precious "treasure". Taught the kids on school works while Jamie took most of my time entertaining him. 

Cooked a simple chicken soup yesterday.  Long time didnt take ginseng and since I have some salted mustard in the fridge, I decided to cook salted mustard ginseng chicken soup.  Simply love the fragrant and taste of this soup, as the salty and ginseng taste like is appetizing. 

Learnt this soup recipe from my mum.  It is very simple and the ingredients are chicken, salted mustard and ginseng roots.  Nothing else.  Can add a bit of salt to the soup if you want it to be more salty but it can be omitted since the kiam chai is already salty.

Just soak and rinse the mustard, and then slice into smaller pieces. Wash and rinse the ginseng root.  Scald the chicken for few minutes to get rid of the scum.

I used slow cooker for this soup.  Just throw everything into the cooker, let it cooks for 2 to 3 hours.  Add salt to taste and 2 tbsp light soy sauce (optional) at the end of the cooking.

Result?  A flavourish soup to go with any meals.

Love it at first taste

We don't eat out that often. Hubby always work till around 8 or 9 something at night and most Saturdays, he will goes to office. So I usually cook dinners. But when hubby is travelling, my SIL will treat us to dinners. I haven't had much chance to eat and try new food and eating places in Sibu.

Hubby is travelling again yesterday so SIL and I brought the kids to Italian cuisine treat last night. When think of Italian cuisine, one would think of its pasta, cheese and thin crust pizza. 

After confirm the location of this cafe from Arthur, we found the place without trouble. Bistecca & Bistro like every other Western cafe, has nice and cozy ambience and true enough, the menu is very impressive and extensive. Too many dishes we wanted to try but for the 1st time, we opted for something simple.

My drink for the night is Summer Sunset. Nice colour. Very passionfruit taste.

We ordered its salmon salad, spaghetti carbonara and pizza Italia to share since only 2 adults with 2 kids that have small appetite. We are in love with its pizza, and the kids enjoyed it very much with their coke. Rich of cheese (3 types of cheese - mascarpone, parmesan and mozarella) and the savoury hams.

Nice white pizza (RM29)

The carbonara is creamy but I think it is rather tasteless or maybe the chef forgot to add some salt. In the end, we ordered some salt to add to the carbonara.

I also enjoyed its salmon salad as the smoked salad is fresh and they are generous with the lettuces and toasted bread cubes.

A very nice 1st experience in this cafe. I will definitely come back here to try other dishes on the menu. 

New Note 3??

I have been using Samsung mobile phone for 2 years now.  Hubby bought for me the Samsung Galaxy SII on my birthday 2 years ago.  I like its chic design as well as practicality and user friendly.  Of course from one mobile phone to another it took some times for me to get used to its setting and apps but after that, everything comes easy.  Now I am too used to touch screen mobile phone that I have some problem with the other phone brands.

I could not live without my mobile phone.  It is a must-thing to bring even ever I go out.  And I rely on my mobile phone GPS to show me directions in Sibu.  Really help a lot and save my times.

Now I am aiming at the latest Samsung Galaxy Note 3.  Hubby is currently using Note 2 and he is planning to buy the new Note 3. He wanted to pass his Note 2 to me while he uses the Note 3.  Of course I am trying to make him buy one for me as well since this mobile phone is on offer. I love that rose gold black casing.

Oh yeah, if you are looking for special offer and great bargains on mobile phone, camera, laptop or tablet, do check out iPMart Malaysia and here is the discount code for you to use when you purchase online at iPMart.

*RM15 discount for minimum purchase of RM100
*Unlimited usage
*Offer valid until 31 March 2014

Lost

I have to drive all the way to Ulu Lanang to go to the Pos Malaysia to retrieve a mail on Tuesday.  A gift for being top commentor in Sherry blog for January.  Thank you Sherry for the lovely gift.

There were few mails that lost or rather I did not received at all.  Never had such problems in Kuching.  So far I knew I did not received blog giveaway prizes from Libby and Kelly Siew.  :(

This was my first time driving that far to Ulu Lanang.  I wonder why they have to build the post office this far, but at least I get to see all those industrial shops and learn new place and new roads by myself.  If not for the still under-constructed road, I am sure the traffic would be smoother.  It took me about 20 minutes to reach my destination, and if not for my GPS, I was rather unsure of where to go initially. Some more I have to rant over here on certain drivers.   Right lane is for speeding.  For those drivers to cut and not for you to drive slowly.  Some more they are heavy vehicles and they drive slowly on the right lane.  Damn!  And I also hate those drivers who never bother to signal before they turn.  Hubby used to complain about those inconsiderate drivers, but till I encountered them myself, I understand how he feels.  *wink* 

After collecting my mail, I went for breakfast with hubby in Jalan Kampung Dato.  Never try this laksa in this coffee shop.  I forgot to note the name of the coffee shop but it is the corner shop facing the garden.  Same row with the coffee shop selling bak kut teh. 

Rather spicy, hardly can taste the fragrant laksa paste.  RM4.00 per bowl.  The portion was alright but not the best laksa I had in Sibu.  But at least I have tried and can do some comparison here.  *wink*

Sick boys and their remedies

A tiring weekend as I was busy taking care of my 2 boys. Jamie was having shingles and I brought him see a Chinese sinseh to kill the snake rash. The red rashes was on and off since then especially on his face. Hope he recovers soon. Actually I never knew babies as young as Jamie could develop shingles. Must be the weather or some viruses spreading around. And another concern I have is the dengue outbreak as I just heard from my SIL of the high numbers of cases of dengue in the area where I stay. Sigh!

My 4-year old boy was also not feeling well. Had vomitted twice on Friday morning and he slept most of the afternoon as well as Saturday morning. Must be the weather as he has been following around under the sun few days before that. 

Luckily after a good rest he was fine yesterday and back to his cheeky self again. I was a bit concerned as he has stomach infection last year when ever he has flu. But luckily this is not the case this round otherwise it would be worse.

I cooked him some chicken porridge on Friday evening. He ate a bit citing stomachache. He worried he will vomit if eat too much. Lol.

It is a simple porridge. Learnt this from my MIL. Just throw some chicken wings (cut at joints) together with washed rice in slow cooker. Add water and some tung chai. Let it cook for about 3-4 hours and when ready, add salt to taste. I also add few tbsp sesame oil too.

Chap Goh Mei - steamed abalone

Eating abalone is considered a luxury among Chinese. But this delicacy is easily avalable now either in fresh form, dried form or packed in cans.

Last week I put my cooking skill to test. My very first attempt in steaming abalone. Knew that abalone is tough in texture so I steamed it for about 15 minutes. Outcome?? Not that tough although I still need to cut with some effort. At least it is edible. Lol.

Only 1 1/2 abalone in the can. I used up the 1/2 for my shark fin soup. I never enjoyed abalone so hubby was lucky to have the big share of it.

Just throw some sliced gingers on top of the abalone. Add one tbsp cooking wine to the abalone and let it steams for 15 minutes. While it steams, in a pan, heat up few tbsp cooking oil. Once the oil is smoky, add to the abalone. Drizzle 1 tbsp light soy sauce. Turn off the heat and garnish with spring onion.

Chap Goh Mei - shark's fin soup

Prepared these dishes for Chap Goh Mei. First time cooked shark fin soup and steamed abalone but luckily they turned out fine. Got the shark fin and canned abalone from the unwrapped CNY hamper so I put them to use on Chap Goh Mei.

clock-wise from top: french beans with dried shrimps, fried anchovies omelette, shark's fin soup, fried ngoh hiang and steamed abalone

I will share the Shark fin soup recipe in this post. Sorry to those against eating shark fin. I do not strongly recommend or oppose eating shark fin but since I have it at hand and no one to give out and do not want to just throw it away. Could not find canned or frozen crab meat so I omit it. I used a bit of abalone meat and chicken meat here.

 

100g shark fin, soak in water for 10 minutes (at least)
sliced ginger(thumb size)
shredded chicken meat
sliced abalone
A handful of bean sprout, head and tail discard
1/2 cube chicken stock
Shao xing wine
2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp light soy sauce

1. Rinse the shark fin and boil in water for about half an hour. Add ginger and wine to get rid of the fishy smell.
2. Discard the water and rinse the shark fin.
3. In a pot, toss in chicken stock in boiled water with the shark fin for 30 minutes.
4. Add light soy sauce, chicken, bean sprout and abalone. When ready to serve, add cornflour to thicken the soup.
5. Serve with black vinegar