Vietnamese Style Beef Noodle

Condiments

Soup  and meehoon

Today my mother made a vietnamese style beef noodle. So we bought some vegetables for the condiments. We bought mint, cilantro, bean sprouts ,lime and fried onions.   Some fried onions are tasty and I could eat a bunch of them  to my mother's horror . All  the vegetables are eaten  raw  My mother had cooked the beef soup in the pressure cooker . This dish is  tasty and refreshing.  The beef soup was cooked as usual but the the condiments add a different taste to the noodle . We used meehoon or vermicelli instead of the rice noodle.

Last week I had bought some yoghurt to make some fruit parfait. I loved the one I saw in the Traditional  Home magazine. I also love parfait glasses. So off I went to buy some Quaker  granola bars. I need smaller glasses . The granola bars vanished in one day. My husband prefered ithe yoghurt and fruits all in a bowl. I bought the large sized yoghurt  from Sunglo which is 1.5 kg. My parents seems to like it too . This week we bought some banana, pineapple and papaya. This combination is a good combination. Mangoes, blueberry kiwi , dragon fruit and strawberry would add  a riot of colours. You can  buy  frozen berries at the  Cold Storage.

I have not bought any muffin tray. I have not tried making Spanakopita. I am supposed to be on diet. I am way off my ideal weight.

February Birthdays - Al Rawsha

 

Jingga in a resting mood

Last Wednesday I ordered take away from Al Rawsha restaurant at Jalan Damai. They can deliver for orders above  RM 100. Actually one of the riders had  sent  food to our house by mistake a  few weeks back . Since then I have been planning to call them.  Incidentally it is my sisters Yati , Sadd and Nas birthday and Taqi my brother's birthday in February  . Since Sadd and Nas are coming back , it would be nice to have a party. 

I ordered Lamb Magdud  and Hummus . The delivery came exactly  at 6 pm.  I also made Shrimp Louie salad. There is a recipe which I literally took from the You Tube. I wanted to buy avocados but  I have no budget left .The sauce was very nice. I think it is true that  the Worcestershire Sauce, Lea & Perrins makes  a difference. 

So , the lamb was well received although everybody came back late and said they will eat tomorrow. By the next day  there was only one piece  of lamb left. The shrimp salad was delicious. The next day  , my mother made another salad without any shrimp . My sister Sadd treated us to lunch at the Theobrama  Chocolate loungue at the LCCT air port  . She came back  to  send her work for her PHD.   The loungue looks upmarket  and it is. The food is nice , cost RM 12 - RM 20.90. The small chocolate cake is RM 9.90.

Last night we saw  a malay movie called "Pisau Cukur " or Gold Digger . My niece Maryam  loves the movie  We watched  " Julie and Julia" half way as everyone dozed off except   me. My mother made asam pedas yesterday. It is a malay dish where you put , pounded red chili , onion into water . With some shrimp paste and bruised lemon grass. Add also Asam keping or Garcinia Atroviridis it's scientific name. You have to add the fish of choice. And voila   !! you have asam pedas. It is a simple dish and  a favourite of many in the family. My father has bought parboiled rice in order to lessen  his sugar intake.
These are some of the links for a nice shrimp louie salad for those who are interested :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWMAB5qn6oo  
and  a very nice one from http://brokeassgourmet.com/articles/shrimp-louie-with-spicy-dressing

Poire Belle Helene or Poached Pears with chocolate sauce

I saw this recipe when I was browsing a the  MPH bookstore the other day  . It looks good .  This recipe is called Beautiful Helen. It was created by Auguste Escoffier around 1870's after the operetta La Belle Helene by Jaques Offenbach. The recipe is about a hundred years old. I learn cooking from the internet . Desserts are nice to make.

This is another very sweet and lovely  dessert.  Maybe it is for the sweet tooth.  I bought the normal cooking chocolate .Nothing fancy.  I added the chocolate into the heated cream. It melted. I used  a Peckham pear.  The pear is not so sweet . It is the syrup , the chocolate and the vanilla ice-cream. This is one for keeps. Perhaps I should poach the pears longer until it absorbed all the sugar or I should let it be. My father said it is very sweet. My brother Mal gobbled it up . He he . The chocolate sauce is nearly finished. I think I will  ask someone to buy some chocolate.

I also went to Jaya Grocer at Tropicana and HPA today. I bought a vanilla ice cream and some traditional cosmetics from HPA.  I am back to the embroidery I left. This is seasonal.  I am now searching for delicious ,easy dishes to make. After this maybe some savoury dishes like stuffed tomatos. With crabs or shrimps. My mother like that idea. She used to make them , she said when she was a teenager. Hhmm.  I wonder if I am able to cook for an afternoon party. 

Jingga lost and found and Bio Valley products

Jingga refused to come back last afternoon. I thought he will be back in the evening. It was raining heavily.

I went to Ikea to buy a cat cushion. We have the cane one at home. At first I wanted to buy the cat bed 

but it was smaller , so I bought the one for the dog. I searched for him at night and I feared to find his body like I did with Cleopatra Chomel.  I woke up earlier, my husband and brother said that he had followed a female cat. My husband said that I will find him afterwards. So , at about 11.30 , I went outside. Sure enough I saw him under a neighbour's car looking shrivelled . When I put food , he refused , so I put him on his pet bed.Now he is resting contentedly. Alhamdulillah.

I have used Bio Valley products since last year when I first saw the products at Giant Pusat Damansara. Then I spotted the product at Jaya Jusco One Utama and Cold Storage and Tesco Mutiara Damansara . I bought  the shower creme at first , the one with  Coconut  . It has no SLS, or Paraben. Sometimes I could get hold of the shampoo. Only last month I  was  able to get hold of the  hair conditioner. Sometimes I could not get it at One Utama which is difficult. The body wash  with Rosemary and geranium smells nice  what with no SLS  and Paraben. It is cheaper than most organic products available  . It is locally made. By Asli Kiara if I am not mistaken.  Yesterday I saw the products sold at Guardian Pharmacy near my house. Now I can buy the stuff easily.

Ile Flottante or Floating Island

Cooked in Corelle Cups

I made the floating island  or Ile Flottante at last . There are 6 eggs at home  but I used four. I have only one good Corning ramekin so I used three Corelle cups instead. It was quite hard to make the Creme Anglaise.  My mother was worried the cups would crack but  nothing happened . The eggs got cooked, the meringue was not so hard to do  .  Perhaps it is because I used powdered milk and it was very hot as opposed to scalding hot.

The meringues are very sweet , both my parents said so. My brother Mal who came back said the sauce taste of eggs. Well , next time I will use less sugar. The meringues look neat . It took about 40 minutes to cook. The ones cooked in ramekin look nicer . Here are some of the recipes I found which were useful. I dream to make

the floating island with 18 egg whites. http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Dessert/Eggs-Dairy/recipe.html?dishID=8299 and http://kimmallari.multiply.com/tag/ile%20flottante .

I have been busy making some dish. Creme Caramel on Sunday and Beef Lasagne on Monday. Cooking does alleviate some stress. He he he

Spots on the skin

My sister Yati had gone back to Dubai. When the sisters are around , we made some dalca daging,  fried chicken , acar which is a kind of salad of  cucumber and carrot  and the lamb in tomato. My sister Nas went back on Sunday.  I have some discoloration spot on my left cheek. This must be because I did not use any sun screen while I was out to hang the clothes. Ouch !!!

I have been surfing for some cosmetics and remedies for the problem. Some of the  natural remedies I found were  putting honey and lemon juice , honey and cinnamon. I chose the  one where you put one tsp each of honey, lemon and cinnamon.  Apply on dark skin and  leave overnight. I have been doing so for two days. It is said that  it will diminish the  black spots and the discoloration in one month time. I do hope so.

Some cosmetics I found were from AG 2000 ,  a local Bumiputra  company which uses sea cucumber or gamat. One of the product is Pigment Repel   Complex which cost RM 220 , there is a smaller size for RM 138, another product is the Miraclear set which cost RM 398. 00. Here is the one of the websites selling the AG 2000 product or Healin products . They have anti dust spray too.http://www.majoriz.com/treat_en.php

My mother suggested that I use BerryGen from Tupperware. She believes in treating skin problems  from the inside. It cost RM 199 since I am a member I get a discount too. My sisters are into Stevico wild tomato . It looks good .The price is RM 230 .Here is the local website for Stevico :http://www.stevicodirect.com/products/index.htm

I also found that Eucerin has some product for pigmentation.  I bumped into a product called Mukti which can be purchased from a website. The products can be purchased at Body bar skin care at Tropicana City Mall or at Sunway pyramid. They have one product called the Mukti Sebogel for pigmentation which cost RM 48. Here is the information :http://www.bodybarskincare.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&

products_id=20. There are others which have products for pigmentation like Garnier .

ReNeu a local skin care company ,do have their own line for pigmentation , I like their whitening essence and the black soap . I wonder if I should just buy some soaps and some whitening essence. However   I like the idea of taking the beauty drinks. There is another drink  , a whitening  and   collagen beauty  drink from Atika Beauty. http://www.atikabeauty.com/dalaman/whitening_collagen.html#produk . I am still taking the Cocoa Collagen The product is good. I must say .

I also have been toying with the idea of buying soaps . I like soaps . Some soaps in my list  are D'bee's Tiamore soap which cost RM 100, Eumora soap which is about RM 90 to RM 95 depending on the seller and De'Wajah anti aging soap which cost RM 45. Cost , cost . He he he . You can purchase Tiamore soap here http://www.putrimall.com/products/Tiamore-Soap.html , and Eumora soap here , there are many agents who sell Eumora , Ayubeauty is one of them http://www.ayubeauty.com/eumora.html.  As for De'Wajah , they have their own cosmetics as most of the local skin care houses have now . Their website is :ttp://www.dewajah.net/produk_muka_tambahan.html

I also found out some local companies which sell mineral makeup. One of the companies is Ronasutra , which sells foundation plus powder. It looks good , the cost is RM 48.  The other company is Loving Minerals which have extensive  collection for the lips , eyes etc. You can check the it both companies at : http://www.ronasutra.com/webshaper/store/viewCat.asp?catID=1 and http://lovingminerals.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/21.

Farewell and Surprise !!!

We have sent  Zahid and his family to the airport on the 6th January. He is back to Seychelles after one month vacation. The next day I am pleasantly  surprised to see my sister Yati at home. She has brought back  some baklava and I have been eating the lovely morsels ever since.

Yesterday my husband and I went to Al Rawsha again. We had a nice time . Mal and my mother is in Kuantan. Mal is into surfing at the Cherating beach  and he is now quite dark. GG is busy searching  stuff for his wedding. His big day is in February !!!

I saw some nice linen shirts  in all shades of colour  at Sogo shopping centre  yesterday.       The price is from RM 109 to RM 139. Anne Kelly shirts cost RM 189 and during sales they have 20% less. They  do have some  nice green coloured shirts the last time I  went to visit.Sometimes during  the sales you can buy the  shirt for RM 99 . There is a nice shop at Bangsar Village which sold fine  linen. It cost RM 250 that was in 2008 , I have not been there for some time , it might be more expensive.   Tomorrow Nas and her children will come back home too. So there will be a nice gathering .  I wonder what we will cook.