My lst zucchini harvest 30/1/2015 - Da 3Zs

Prime land plot

I never thought I'd live to swear that veggies can taste yummy.  If only Bear knew, he must think that my world is coming to an end!!! I planted 3 zucchini seedlings since I came home from my holidays and it is at most 6 weeks only and now these plants have taken over my so-called "prime land" and is overshadowing my chillie, aubergine and red capsicum.  Before long if it keeps growing at the speed it is doing, the 3Zs will most probably swallow up the rocket that is struggling to take off!!!  Everything seems to have grown at such a fast pace except for the rocket which was supposedly my "main crop" as I am on this rocket diet that is highly recommended by my Liver Specialist and thought it would be nice to grow my own!!! 



Zucchinis gal

It must have been those few hot days we had prior to Christmas that set the 3Zs off and ever since just with daily watering, they have turned into monster plants and I harvested my lst freak Z yesterday and he was a big boy!!! 



I had him over two meals!!!  It has to be a him Z, as she Z's surely cannot be that size?!?

I had to harvest the 2nd normal looking one and put them side by side so you can see how freaky in shape and size was the lst Z.
It tasted absolutely delicious!  The flavours and texture was excellent and it was still firm and crunchy after a quick stir fry and even when I popped half of it sliced up just plain into the microwave.

Yummy in my tummy!!

I only started gardening because I had to restore the "jungle look" - overgrown unloved and neglected garden as I have been away for 3 months. 

The prime land area has a history of potatoes being grown there prior to before we moved in, so I thought why not grow something edible just for the fun of it and to fill up the pile of dirt which was an eye sore.
I cannot remember exactly, but I think the punnet of 3Zs cost under $5.00 and now I think I will be eating Zs for the next few weeks if not months to come! 
It has been enjoyable watching the 3Zs grow and now after eating it and knowing it is 101% organic, there is definitely a difference!!!  

The big boy!!!

At the nursery, I did not have a clue and did not know what I wanted to plant and picking the 3Zs turned out to be a good choice.  They are care free and hassle free plants, so you don't have to do much after planting except wait for them to grow and harvesting time!

Little & Freak

Looks like now I will have to take veggie gardening a little bit more serious.  You could say I am "hooked" as it is indeed rewarding when something comes out of nothing if you know what I mean. 
Happy gardening and remember, you rip what you sow.
For me has been a good way to past my time and gardening can be therapeutic and it is a yummy hobby!!!

Mushrooms - Portobello or Flat Browns



5 "men" down and lots more to go!!! I made a mushroom & chicken frittata tonight but Amy gave me a whole box of flat browns and there is no way I can eat it all by myself.

I gave Becky about 16 or so and am still struggling to eat the rest up as fresh as I can possibly store them.

Day 1 for breakfast, I cooked it like a mushroom steak with egg and ham and sprinkled some parsley over it and that was TDF.







5 "men" down - more to go!!!



Frittata



MMM's recipe



I cooked some MMM's way - it was simple, quick and surprisingly very tasty = fried in a generous amount of garlic, ginger, spring onions and rice wine with sea salt and cracked pepper to taste.

Friends have given me various ideas, but I have a fridge full of other food and although this is my favourite fungus, I think I am all mushroomed out for the time being at least today!!!





The garden is coming along very nicely and I can harvest my lst zucchini tomorrow and see if I can make some kind of vegetable lasagne or frittata and use it together with the mushrooms. 

Lesson learnt = next time, I think I will have to half my mushroom order and not get a whole box just because its farm fresh and cheap as Amy buys it from work!!!

Amy & Me with box of brown flats




Mushroom Steak with trimmings

Beautiful mushies from the farm

Picking Blueberries

Yesterday was a lovely day - the sun was shining and there was a stillness in the air, but yet it was cool, exactly the way I like it.

Scenery along the way

I was up earlier than my normal days, and thought to myself why not take a drive somewhere with no particular destination in mind.  Mystery drives are so much fun!!!  Somehow I found myself heading up the Mountain Highway and after winding and turning amongst the giant trees and ferns, I landed up in Olinda.

Folly's Farm - Gateway to berry haven!

Along the way, its pretty as well as scenic as wild flowers and lots of hydrangeas dotted the road for miles on end.  A short drive is a good get away to break up the mundane days - blast up the music and just drive!!!  Passing quaint tea houses like Miss Maples famous for their Devonshire teas ... scones & jam in a Tudor style thatched roof building, the shops along the streets are "English" inspired looking, several escape retreat cottages are scattered everywhere, artsy fartsy type galleries, etc and obviously a blueberry farm too. 

Screaming - Pick n Eat me!

I landed up at Folly's farm and Blueberry Guru, Belinda who is the owner was very friendly and helpful but said picking was by appointment only!!!  Well, I managed to get in and she handed me a pail and a tray and led me to the designated trees where I was to start picking. 

Eye candy - I was overwhelmed with so so so so many clusters of delicious fresh blueberries on all the trees surrounding me.  They all looked so yummy I did not know where to start picking.  I was more interested in taking pixs first and posting it on Istagram, but thought I should make a start to fill the bucket.

This private farm is on 10 acres, but only blueberries are for picking and the best time of the year is between January to February.  Remember, you have to book for an appointment if you want to pick blueberries here.



Showing off the blueberries

My pick for the day

I know the sign says NO EATING but who adheres to signs???  Most times, aren't rules made to be broken?   The first 20 minutes or so I was a law abiding citizen, but temptation got the better of me as I started to get into the hang of picking the blueberries.  It was too easy to flick the ripe berries into my tray and it was filling up fast, but suddenly I found myself popping them into my mouth instead of the bucket!!! I must have eaten close to a kilo but my "buy out weight" was just over 2kilos.  Did I have blueberry bellyache??? Nope, I guess I was getting all the antioxidants my body has been lacking!!!  Apparently, blueberries are also known to have powerful medicinal values for lowering your BP.

Little tubs are for my chia pods

The almighty small indigo coloured blueberry is berry berry good for you.  It has more disease fighting antioxidants than almost any other fruit.  I know when people think of berries, they think of strawberries but although blueberry does not rank number one in most peoples mind, it does in mine!!!

I use it a lot lately in my chia puddings, and you can freeze them up to a year and they are still "fresh" in a vacuum bag with a couple of spoons of castor sugar.  This lady that was picking blueberries next to me has been picking them for the past 20 years and this is her tip for freezing them.  She uses it in her baking and breakfast, but I don't cook my blueberries in cake or muffins.  Most of the time, I just like eating them raw or on top of my chia pods as I like to be able to taste its true flavour and goodness of the blueberries and I believe this way, I can maximise its nutritional benefits.

My Blueberry baby bush

I have a blueberry plant in the backyard, and although it is still young, it has started to fruit - I ate the first picked berry and Ann was lucky to try the 2nd fruit.  It tasted berry good but for me to harvest enough to pig out on blueberries, I might have to wait a long time.

Buying it from the supermarket is the normal thing to do, but if you do have some time, and want some fun with friends, family or even the children, go pick your own!!! So much bigger, better and firmer and I cannot say enough for the love of tree freshness.



Handpicked in foreground vs Supermarket

FYI - Blueberries in Canada are the bomb.  I have never seen sooooo much at any one time and sold from the back of a truck.  The whole truck was filled with millions if not billions of blueberries!!! My bear friend bought me a huge tub for CAD$10.00 and every time I have blueberries, I never fail to remember this bear treat and it was the most blueberries I have had in one go until yesterday when I picked my own!!!

Satay ala Sim

Cooking chicken satay

Satay!!!   Satay!!!  Satay!!!   Satay!!!
I am not exactly sure where this all time favourite originated from, but have an inkling its from Indonesia.  Satay is one of my favourite "treats" when I was growing up in Malaysia.

Satay is marinated sliced meat grilled or we bbq it till it is a bit charred and served with a spicy peanut sauce.  Most times Satay can be found eaten with compressed rice aka ketupat and fresh cucumber together with spanish onions.

Satay ala Sim

There are all kinds of satay, Thai, Indo, Malaysian etc, but if you've never had the real stuff, then you will fall in love with the succulent taste of Satay ala Sim supposedly "one of my specialities".  As much as I like to eat it, making it is quite time consuming.  After cutting up the meat ie: chicken, beef or pork (some street hawkers in Malaysia even use "spare parts" aka offal) choice is of personal preference and I guess you can just about satay anything under the sun!!!  There is the marinating process, and then to skewer them onto bamboo sticks.  Making the peanut sauce, everything is made from scratch.  I like to use raw peanuts and roast them in their skin myself before slowly husking the peanuts by tossing it up and down in my tray and blowing it in the air and watch the skin fly away and then pound or grind it down in my blender. I do not use peanut butter!!!!


Satay sauce

Ingredients

Growing up, we used to eat satay more at supper time, as the satayman will come on his motorbike right to your doorstep.  My dad loved his food (I must have got his genes) and back in the days, we eat at least 5 times a day and breakfast is just as heavy as dinner time.  Malaysians tend to have noodles, or nasi lemak (fragrant rice made from pandan leaves cooked in coconut milk) for breakfast which is 1000 times heavier than a slice of toasted bread with jam!!!

Back to the Satays ... for us da Choongs, its a great party food which can be made well in advance because its time consuming and doing it alone making big quantities is not much fun.  As the satays and the peanut sauce freezes well, so everything can be dragged out of the freezer on party day itself and makes entertaining life a breeze!!!
I do not have exact quantities as I am a "guesstimate type of cook", but here's all the ingredients I use to prepare my chicken satays.  I recommend you Google a proper recipe to get a rough idea on quantities and method and compare my ingredients with theirs and in this way, you will get the best of both worlds!!!
SATAY ala SIM MARINADE
Cumin, coriander, turmeric, pepper, stair aniseed, clove, cinnamon, fennel, lemongrass, nutmeg, sugar, soya sauce, garlic salt and full cream milk.
Mix all the spices together and marinate in enough full cream milk to cover all the meat, but ensure you don't drown the meat in it!!!
SATAY ala SIM PEANUT SAUCE
Shallots, garlic, lemongrass, dried chillies, galangal, cinnamon, coriander, fennel, blachan, tamarind pulp, coconut milk, sugar, roasted peanuts, oil,
For the peanut sauce, you blend all the ingredients together and fry it in the oil till it separates, then add in the tamarind pulp, coconut milk, sugar and salt and crushed peanuts last. 
NOTE:  Beware that the tamarind pulp might be way too sour, so add it in slowly and taste as you go.  Also, it might be best you fry the ingredients till dry first before you start adding the oil, so there is less splattering!!!

Last but not least I reckon the secret to a yummilicious stick of satay lies in the cooking technique!!!  Make sure your Satayman knows how to cook the satays.  My Satayman has well over 35 years of experience.  We started making satays back in the student days living in the UK where satays were not on the restaurant menu and when you could find it, it was either expensive or not authentic or both and that is how we started making our own satay.  Some times when we had the craving and felt "homesick" we would even make satay in the middle of winter!!!

The Satayman back in 1984!!!!

For Rebecca's "full moon" (one month old) celebrations we also had a satay party!!! 


I spy with my eyes .. satay sticks to left on table

Tip - the outside of the satay is charred but the inside of the meat is juicy and succulent --- so he must cook it on high heat quickly to seal in the juices, and then lower heat to let it cook evenly and turns the sticks 
often to ensure they do not burn and dry out and in between, he bases it with a mixture of oil and water and uses lemongrass cut at the ends as his brush for basting the satays!!!

If you have not found the ultimate satay skewers yet especially if you are living in a foreign land like us, have a crack at making your own.  Like me, living in Melbourne, you might be surprised yours might turn out tasting way better than what you can find in the local restaurants.  Satay is a food that never goes out of fashion with the old or young, and is a party favourite with all my family and friends.

30yrs on - satay is still being served!!!

Satay ala Sim seems to rock Ann's world!!!

Mornington Peninsula

Before my long haul trips, I used to like driving down to the Mornington Peninsula.  It is located south east of Melbourne.  It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, and Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south and is connected to the mainland in the north is how I would best describe its location.

You can easily sample your way around the boutique cellar doors, there is so much to do from picking strawberries at Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, Port Phillip sailing for adventure on the high seas, follow the Food & Wine Trail, and Red Hill is an epicentre for artisan food down that way.  Those that know me well, know how much I love my food (before the discovery of my liver condition!!!)

You could say, I have wine and dined at the top end restaurants down that way.... to name a few .... Ten Minutes by Tractor, Port Phillip Estate, Long Table, Montalto, Max's etc etc but last weekend and I ended up at Foxey's Hangout.

Wine Wine Wine

 

Foxey's Hangout - This little family owned winery/restaurant is the perfect destination if you are in a hurry and don't need fancy but want something quick.  The location is stunning, with a huge terrace overlooking the vineyard and cherry farm.  I scored a table outside and took in the stunning views and left my order to the Chef ... it was a selection of all their tapas $11 plates... so I called it an outdoor tapas degustation!  

Mushroom Sausage & Spiced Lamb Meatballs with yogurt dip

Food was OK and were Med-inspired plates such as zucchini fritters, roasted capsicum and white anchovies, lamb meatballs and fresh bread dipped in a house blend pistachio dukkah etc.  Best enjoyed on the terrace where the grass slopes away to reveal a valley studded with vines.

Afterwards, I dashed down to Rosebud to check out Chris & Hamish Swayn's father & son gig at the RoseGPO.  It was really nice to see all the Swayns again.  It was an excellent summer's day and so nice to see family and friends coming together to support the duo performing.  Music is definitely in their blood and young Finn definitely captured the audiences hearts - especially mine!!!

3 generations!!!

Ended the day going to visit mom down at Rye.  It has been 3 years since we lost mom, but she lives on forever in our hearts.  Its beautiful down there and I will be joining mom when my time comes!!!



Rye Pier

So head down to the Mornington Peninsula.  Explore the galleries, seaside villages, cool off with a day on the beach, Red Hill market  and ohhhhhh I forgot to mention the Hot Springs--- so rejuvenating and is my all time favourite thing to do or simply escape to the hinterland for gourmet delights at boutique wineries.  Best of all, it is only just over an hour from Melbourne. 

Stunning vineyard

Veggie Gardening

Yessssss I am sniffling, eyes are itchy and rubbing my nose non-stop, but when I see progress in growth, it is rewarding and worth a bit of "suffering".  What can I say - hayfever or not, I have been messing in the garden a lot lately as I have so much time on my hands with nothing much else to do!!! 

When I returned to OZ on 10/12 after my 70 days gallivanting in SEAsia, I put in a few seedlings - chillie, red capsicums, various herbs and zucchini.  It is close to a month now, but feels like only yesterday I was pushing the cart at the nursery picking out the plants.  The growth rate is eye-boggling.... everything seems to double in size over night with some watering especially in today's weather.... personally, it is way toooooo hot outside for my liking, but the plants love it!!!

Various veggies/herbs

Some others got fried in the sun of late as the weather in Melbourne the past week or so has been in the high 30'sC.  The curry leaves, red capsicums and the fig tree seems to be the worst affected and doubt if resurrection is at all possible?!?




Fried to da bone

However, on the bright sunny side, zucchini is flowering and I am also harvesting about a mouthful of cherry tomatoes on a daily basis and the herbs are looking so lush - whenever I see them, they are starring at me as if talking back to me and saying "USE ME"!!  As soon as I get some fresh seafood, I will make my Krabi inspired concoction that will see me balding the chinese parsley....and I will slowly move on to the others and see if I can use them in my Sunday roasts etc!!!



Zucchini flowers!!!



The "Krabi" condiment consists of fresh finely chopped up chinese parsley, chilles, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice, salt and sugar -- drooling as I type  out the ingredients as its so moorish, appetising and you will not be disappointed.  Will post pix when I get this dish done some day soon - I promise LOL?!?

Chinese Parsley to be used in my Krabi concoction

Like me, if you have plenty of time on your hands, why not turn your fingers "green".  Never thought I will ever say it, but there is nothing like home grown and as organic as you can get (unless Snowy has done her business on them without my knowledge) and they do taste a world apart from supermarket products.

Meantime, Happy Gardening and remember, what you sow is what you rip in your harvest!!!

25/1
I made the dish using rockling fillet n here is a pix as promised. It tastes better than it looks!!!


Rockling fillet with Krabi condiment

Magnets

It is 40c outside and I am just loafing around the home in the comfort of air-conditioning and suddenly I am drawn to the fridge like a magnet - word play here!!! hahaha ... to look at my magnet collection from over the years of travelling.

Looking ... looking ... but I do not have one of SIPADAN and I have been there every year for the past 4 years.  Maybe I did not see it in the shops, or could it possibly be .... at the back of my head, it must mean, then I have another excuse to go back to Sipadan again and get myself a magnet eventually???

They are easy to carry around and nearly weightless, and a great reminder of where I have been especially my memory is so bad nowadays.  I think I might have an early onset of Alzheimers!!!  Back in the earlier days before I started buying magnets, I used to buy all kinds of souvenirs - some bulky, breakables like porcelain especially from Japan, and not only do they take up too much room in your luggage bag especially if I am travelling over a long period of time and lugging them in and out of every other country it also eats into my luggage allowance!!! My mom always used to call my souvenirs "dust gatherers" and I could not agree more now in old age!!! -  So go MAGNET!!! 
On a day like this, you can just sit back, chill and travel back in time down memory lane.  Hopefully each and every magnet holds some fond memories of the countries and places visited and if you want to go the extra mile, journal or blog on each and every one of those magnets!!!  Now that's an idea!?!

2015 New Year - Prawn Noodles (Har Mee) Cooking Session

We always seem to get together over food.  Must be an Asian thing!!!  I guess food and good friends go hand in hand.  The last Sunday  in December 2014 saw us having lunch at Shoya and some of the friendship shared across the table goes back as far as 40 odd years!!!  Everyone is busy with one thing or another, and whenever we meet up, it is always over food, so I guess in many ways, sharing good food and friendship is always fun.

Sharing good food with old friends

When we were leaving after a yummilicious Japanese lunch hosted by ANg, DW mentioned he wanted to learn how to make Har Mee.  Ever since I learnt this from a very old friend who now lives in Oakland, California I never go looking for it whenever I am back in Malaysia.  It is so yummy even if I have to say so myself and for those who have eaten my har mee cooked this way always raves about it and say its 'way above normal hawker/restaurant  standards".

It has been more than 2 years since I last made a batch for a "har mee party" so this time when I was in KL I was craving it and ate it twice, and twice I was disappointed - either with the stock which is not rich enough, lacked prawn flavour, or the bowl lacked condiments.

The process to make this humble noodle dish takes a long time and whenever I cook this, is it usually over 2 days.  Make the sambal (chillie paste) on the lst day and on the 2nd day is when I prep the stock and make everything else and its the "har mee party" day.  With only ONE pair of hands, its a big job for me.

When DW suggested  he wanted to learn to cook it my way, it was a good reason to pass on this "special" recipe to the next generation.  Don't know what happened, but before you know it, the cooking lesson kind of became a small "har mee party" - was supposed to have 3 students only but we ended up with 11 of us and I guess you could call the other 8 as food critics!!!



SN - shelling prawns 1st time in her life!!! 3 Har Mee students

The har mee students rocked up at 11am on New Year's day as the night before was a big nite for them ushering in 2015.

I figured if we were going to be having har mee for dinner at 6pmish I will still have to prep some bits and pieces before the students show up.

Prepping the prawn heads - hero of this dish!!!

Everything worked out well and although there was a bit of a panic scare along the way - not enough stock, the stock will not be rich enough ... I sent GK out to buy Campbell's chicken stock and the commercially ready made har mee chillie paste as standby just in case we need to use it.

I am glad to advise we did not use them and everything we made, we made from scratch and DW now has graduated with flying colours.  I guess the most important part of this dish is the sambal or the so called dipping sauce.  We tweaked the normal process a bit this time (as the numbers were growing but we only had the original amount of ingredients - 3kg of prawns) so we bought another 2kgs of the smaller prawns but shortcut the cooking process and we still managed to end up with the same results of a yummilicous har mee stock and the completed dish scored a consistent 5* rating from the guest food critics!!!


    

DR raved this Har Mee 5*




Some desserts after Har Mee - 2015 ... Sago Pudding with Gula Melaka & Santan,
Mangoo Mousse Cake, Lychee Jelly & fresh assorted fruit platter 

What a way to kick off 2015 ... busy busy cooking and then good friends coming together to eat and share the hard work put in by the graduate students - DW, SN and CL ... so now let the HAR MEE LIVE ON!!!

Har Mee graduates came up with this bowl of yumminess

Always room for improvement and the obvious one in this case is our presentation skills.  I guess we do eat with our eyes no matter how yummy we say it is, but I shall leave this in the capable hands of DW.  By the way, DW is a silent "fine dining home-chef" and I have seen some of his "creations" which is very impressive, so I am sure he will find a way to show off har mee and make it not only taste good but also look good!!! 


DW & SN showing off their hard work in one bowl of humble noodles