Good Bye Swea'D 26/03/2010

Good bye girl...

We're sorry we weren't with you...

Thanks for the wonderful 13 years you've had us... it was the wackiest, most exasperating, funniest 13 years... and we wouldn't change one thing...

We will miss you and love you always. You've been the best friend we could ever hope for.

Love always,
The Family.

With a heavy heart I bid you farewell,
I shall always remember you my trusty friend,
When my eyes are swathed in darkness,
And my hearing grows dim,
The memory of you shall be with me until the end...

Good Bye Swea'D 26/03/2010

Friends

Those who know me would know that I'm hopeless at keeping in touch. I rarely look up old friends when I'm back home.

This time, I'm very happily surprised by two friends, one I've known since secondary school, the other during my short stint at UNIMAS. It's good to catch up with them, it makes me realise how much we have changed over the years. New job, new boyfriend / girlfriend, new house...

Same old Suen Yee? Perhaps not, but some things never change...

Friends

Lemons and Life

I've been visiting Mr. and Mrs. C quite frequently for the last few months. I've known them since I started working at Campsie. They are the nicest people - warm and unassuming, who treat me as one of the family. :)

Last week Mrs. C took me to have a look at her backyard / garden. She had a lemon tree growing at one corner, and she was eager to pick some ripe lemons for me to take home. Goodness, they were the largest lemons I've seen, so heavy that I joked I could knock someone unconscious with them.

I'm trying to look for a dessert recipe which would do justice to these lemons; otherwise, my back-up plan would be to make a cold refreshing lemonade with them. :)




Much later, I found a recipe on Gourmet Traveller, lemon and pink grapefruit syrup cake with vanilla bean ice-cream which I would adapt to be lemon and orange syrup cake, since I have oranges on hand instead of pink grapefruit. :) I'm in the process of making them now, sans the ice-cream, too much for work since I don't have an ice-cream churner. I shall post up pictures once I have them done, hopefully. :)

It's amazing what wonders employment can do to my cooking and blogging productivity... I managed to finish baking the syrup cakes, take decent-ish photos (thanks to X for taking my camera, I have to rely on my 3.2 mega-pixel Sony Ericsson W890i), and post up the adapted recipe AND photos. I feel so accomplished...



Lemon and Orange Syrup Cake

Ingredients:
140g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
150g caster sugar
Grated rinds of 1 lemon and 1 lime
3 eggs
290g self-raising flour, sieved
200mL milk

Lemon and orange syrup:
200g caster sugar
150mL lemon juice
Rinds of 1 lemon and 1/2 an orange, thinly removed using vegetable peeler

Method:

1. For the lemon and orange syrup, slice lemon and orange rinds into thin strips. Blanch rinds in boiling water, drain, then combine with other ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil and cook over high heat until rind strips are translucent (about 1-2 minutes). Cool.

2. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celcius, fan-forced. Beat butter, sugar, and lemon and lime rinds until mixture is pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition, then add milk, fold in flour gradually until well-combined. Divide among 8 1-cup capacity dariole moulds (fill up to 2/3 full). Bake until golden and centre springs back when lightly pressed (25-30 minutes). Cool for 10 minutes in moulds, then turn onto wire rack placed over a tray. Using a skewer, pierce several holes in tops of cakes. Drizzle with syrup while still warm, decorate with strips of rinds, and serve immediately with vanilla ice-cream.

The cake on its own is quite light and fluffy, not too sweet, with a hint of lemon. I would have preferred the lemon flavour to be a bit more pronounced, perhaps the problem was that most of the grated rind was stuck onto the grater... it's time to invest in a good-quality microplane, eh? :P

I haven't tried the finished cake yet, was too busy writing up this entry instead. The cakes would be our breakfast tomorrow. ;) If they're good, I might give some to Mr. and Mrs. C. We shall see...

Much much later:

I have to say that the cakes were very nice! Moist and not too sweet, with a very lemony kick from the lemon orange syrup.... mmm...

Lemons and Life

Time with CH

I mentioned my special friend CH from Vietnam in one of my earliest blog entries. I talked about fate never ceasing to amaze me; after what I've been through this year, I truly believe that she's back for the reason to guide me through this difficult year. CH, if I didn't tell you this before, I will say it here (for here is where my deepest thoughts live): cám ơn bạn rất nhiều; for everything that you've done for, given to, and shown me.

I've been sleeping over at CH's place quite often. Every time I stay over, she'd cook me yummy Vietnamese dishes. She told me that she wanted to gain weight, and I told her that I wanted to lose weight. Well, she's been maintaining her weight (even losing some), and I think that I'm likely to gain weight from all the good food that she's been feeding me.

Yesterday night, I experimented with a recipe I noted from Jamie Oliver's show - Jamie at Home: the best Caesar Salad in the world. It turned out really well, if I may say so myself. It took me a while to roast the chicken drumsticks and crisp the bacon in the oven, but it was well worth it. Here is the recipe for those who would like to try it out. Credit goes to Jamie Oliver!

Ingredients:
Cos lettuce (one bunch can serve approximately three people)
Chicken drumsticks (6 for three people)
Fresh rosemary
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Bread
Smoked ham / pancetta (I used bacon just because I didn't have pancetta)
Grated parmesan

For the dressing:
Anchovies (1 can of 45 g) - save the extra virgin olive oil
Garlic (1/4 - 1/2 clove)
Juice from half a lemon (one part)
Three equal parts of extra virgin olive oil
Crème fraîche (I used pure cream just because I didn't know where to get crème fraîche!!!)


Method:

1. Set the oven at 180 degrees Celcius.
2. Marinade the drumsticks with bruised rosemary, salt, and pepper. I added a little honey to the marinade, too. Set aside for about 30 minutes.
3. Tear up bread into big pieces.
4. Wash and drain cos lettuce. Cut / tear up into pieces.
   
5. Grease a baking tray with olive oil. Put the drumsticks on the tray; put the bread pieces onto the tray.
   
6. Put the tray into the oven. At the pre-set temperature, roast for about 30 minutes.
7. Layer the smoked ham / pancetta / bacon onto the chicken. Roast until crispy. When bacon is nearly done, baste bacon and chicken with honey.
   
8. Tear chicken meat into pieces. Cut bacon into small pieces. Cut up croutons into small pieces.

To make dressing:

1. Open up a can of anchovies into a mortar (include the oil).
2. Mash the anchovies in oil into a smooth paste.
3. Add to it 1/4 - 1/2 clove of garlic for flavour. Mash to a smooth paste.
4. Add an equal part of crème fraîche. Mix to a smooth paste.
5. Add the juice of half a lemon and 3 equal parts of extra virgin olive oil.
   
6. Mix until smooth.

Mix lettuce, chicken pieces, bacon, croutons together in a large bowl. Add dressing; top with grated parmesan. Serve. :) (Add salt and black pepper to taste; if desired).

It is so unbelievably simple and yummy. CH thought so, too... I had trouble timing the roast; but with practice... I think I will be ok. ;)

Time with CH