pinky's ...

Eating and Cooking

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

DH and I have been a little indulgent of late.... we've been to our fav pasta joint Ciao Italia .... scrumptious food as always... Matilda's in Victoria Park ... yummmy ... Manhattan also in Victoria Park... deliciouis Lamb Chops and last but not least... the best place we have eaten for a while.... Sushi Station Fuji, also in Victoria Park.

Sushi Station Fuji is a discovery for us...especially when we have had some opportunities to have reallllllly good Japanese food in Singapore.... we are always on a lookout for good Japanese food in Perth, whilst there are many so call Japanaese restaurants around... not many are authentic. We had Sashimi to start (they had a assortment of Salmon, Tuna and Kingfish... we didnt like Octupus and requested it not to be served...i think we got an extra piece of fish for that :P). I had noodles in spicy seafood broth (comes with pieces of scallops, chicken, 1 large prawn, lots of veggie and 2 huge pieces of tofu) .., absolutely delicious and would be perfect in winter....i felt a bit hot after eating but nonetheless, no regrets there. DH had the bento box with a bit of everything .... a piece of fish katsu dropped out from another bento box and fell on our table as the waitress was bring around the food... i thought i was quite funny to see a piece of fish hanging out from one of the bento boxes and pointed out to her... she was actually quite shocked and kept apologizing... we had to assure her there wasnt any problem... later she came back and gave us an extra piece of fish katsu.... how nice... thats Good service... Sushi Station Fuji is a must to try for all Japanese food lovers... and i love its cozy little restaurant environment... can just imagine we are in Tokyo :) We were so stuffed with food i actually left the restaurant without my bag... opps! Luckily we were not very far... and when I went back...it was still there.... phew! that'll teach me to be greedy next time

Still talking about food.... DH and I have been baking and of course....eating (again!!) I bought this annual dessert magazine a couple of weeks ago and there were sooo many recipes I wanted to try out... Our aim is to try out at least 5o% of the recipes in the mag. In the end, DH and I decided that the chocolate cupcake with pistachio ice cream and hot chocolate fudge sauce featured on the cover page had to be the first .... turned out very well...though it was not exactly like the picture on the magazine (cos we were lazy to pipe additional icing around the icecream....) took us almost 45mins including preparation to make it... and less than a min to devour it all... we must looked like piggies then :PAnother success...moist carrot cake with cream cheese filling.... also from the same magazine....Daniel and I did it last Sat..... It was suppose to be 5 layers... we were too scared to cut and break the cake... so it stayed at three layers... :P Next time, I think i will split the batter and bake them in portions so i dont need to cut them at all...just assemble... shall see what happens....
We have appointed one of our pastor at church Pastor Cara (adoringly called Aunty Soks by us) as our "food taster" .... very important job.... actually we didnt ask her...we just kept bring her food.... hahahaha..... dont think she minds :p thanks Aunty Soks :)

SP10

Thursday, February 15, 2007

I so enjoyed SP9... i Have gone back for a second helping of this secret pal business.... :0)

Questionnair Answers for SP10:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I much prefer natural fibres....no acrylic please... :0)

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
They are all over the place... in pencil cases and zip lock bags. Its working for now...

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Its been a while since i learnt knitting.... but only picked up my needles again recently.... i would say I am still a experienced beginner... maybe crossing into intermediate...hahaha...maybe i overrate myself :P

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
theres are too many books i want... nonetheless.. here is my wishlist...

5. What's your favorite scent?
Cannot go wrong with Larvender or something Citrus ... definitely not Ylang Ylang or Jasmine!

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
OOOO.....who can refuse good quality dark chocolate... not those sugary stuff found in supermarkets... i am a bit of a snob when it comes to food... I blame my DH.... he's fussy

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I like papercraft (eg making cards, journal books). Spinning is something I intend to take up, as soon as i find some time.... and I LOVE spending time in the kitchen... :)

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Any music is ok... cept heavy metal... sure .... my computer can play MP3s and DH bought me the iPod video to... have been downloading some knitting related podcasts ...

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
Red is my fav... erm... i don't have any colors i just cannot stand, but i do tend to stay away from blue .... I mentioned in SP9 I am not sure about certain greens (except lime green) ....but these days... i find myself going towards lime green, pastel greens, olive greens... still not sure about the dark leafy greens...

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
1x DH... , 1x precious precious little jack russell terrier cross and 1x chow chow cross ....

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Most definitely scarves...

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Can i say socks? I have just finished my first left toe-up sock... finally....I can knit socks! its addictive...

13. What are you knitting right now?
Got a few projects line up.... check out my progress bar on the right panel of the blog

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Ooooo.... most definitely yes!!!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Bamboo circular....

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nup...would love to have one though :P

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
toooo old to remember ..... (embarrassed laugh..)

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Easter.... chocolates galore... and nice weather over here ...

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I collect cow figurines or stuff with cow print motifs

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
What do I not want? lol
I currently subscribe to Interweave Knits.... I love the mag

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Lace knitting next? .... after i get familiar with socks

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes... i can proudly say i am now a sock knitter. I think my foot is a US 7.5 (Australian size 6)

23. When is your birthday?
25 March... soon..soon........ yipeeeee

Happy V-Day

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

To everyone out there.... HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY :)

Happy Birthday to Dan .... :)

Thank you everyone who gave me tips on my baking woes... i will try again and hope my cupcakes will be improved ... will keep you all posted

DH sent me flowers again.... am grateful for them... they are so colorful and most definitely brighten up my room at the office

Also.... introducing Mozzarella ... leader of the Moofia and my latest cow figurine :)
she's cool huh? ... cannot wait to get my hands on the rest of her gang....

Baking woes....

Monday, February 12, 2007

Need help from the experts out there.... i am sure something is wrong although the finished product was ok

After creaming the butter and sugar (as per the recipe), i was suppose to add in the egg.... but once the egg was added.... the batter kinda seperated... it doesnt look like it would bind no matter how much i beat it....

Is there something wrong? I dont remember the batter looking like this after adding eggs.... is it the butter? too much/not enough creaming? order of ingredient addition wrong? overbeating?

heeeeelp!!!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Not that I can say I fully understand the meaning of the word... to me... it describles something out of this world, an extremely wonderful thing/feeling etc... and thats what i have to say about my SP9 pal....

Thank you... for being such a wonderful and thoughtful pal...all of your gifts are lovely and I absulutely LOVE them all.... :)))

Thank you so much Tonni....you've made SP9 special for me and I hope we will continue to stay in touch after SP9

Food....Glorious food...

Not having a computer at home is such a pain... its being upgraded at the moment... waiting on some parts... fingerscrossed it will be home soon... In this day and age... one certainly can be crippled without our machines ...

Anyway... I did cook up some food after buying all those cookbooks... i had to justify to DH that they were a good investment... i think i have convinced him.... :P

Creamy Tomato Garlic Prawn SpegattiniMango Pudding - DH ate the pudding before i could take picture... opps... but here's what was usedSome more cup cakes - from the Woman's Weekly cup cake book:

Am pleased with my efforts so far... and my DH's colleagues have been very willing guinea piggies.... hahahaha.... :) only one very small problem.... no feed back on how to improve... hmmm... nonetheless .... i am grateful in their faith in my cooking... hahahahahahahaha

Books .... Glorious Books....

Friday, February 02, 2007

I am supposed to be saving... but i cannot help it ....there was a storewide 15% discount at Target and their range of books are already cheaper than Dymocks....

ok...i confess... i have fetish for cook books ... there are sooooo many more i want i cannot borther with a wishlist... would just be the whole cookbook section .... hahahahaha..... what shall we have for dinner this weekend... japanese? moroccon? perhaps... Italian :)

My Biggest Knitting Achievement

Thursday, February 01, 2007

I am most pleased with myself.... and shall not say I was running around like a silly idiot at home ... with one very very warm foot .... hahahahaha .... let me present my left sock :)


There are many many things that can be improved on.... which i hope to be able to do in the processing of knitting my right sock .... i hope i cast off the right way... at first... i just cast off as per normal... it was hard to put on the sock as the opening isnt stretchy.... after talking to Michelle... i realized i should have done the rib cast off....duh!! so i re-did the cast off... its still tight... it barely got past my heel when i try to wear... any suggestions as to what to do?