Birthday Dinner - Chicken Soup & Noodles

Didn't realise I forgot to post about my birthday dinner on the actual day. Mel suggested we go out for dinner but I just felt like some comfort food so I told the gang to come over and I'll cook my own dinner. Hehehe.

Ginger, Free range organic chicken drums, mushrooms and eggs are the must-have ingredients:

Frying up the ginger in sesame seed oil so they give off the most fragrant smell:

Browning the drums:

Then fill the pot up to the brim with water and throw the mushrooms in. Bring to boil and then simmer for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages:

Boil the eggs:

Get slave to peel the eggshells:

Voila... dinner is served.

Oh so good. It's not just my own inflated opinion of my cooking by the way. All the food were gobbled up by the hungry mob and I was left to do the dishes as well! How rude.

Bought myself this AH dress that I've been eyeing up in Melbourne.

Got a VIP gift bag because I am a VIP, daaaaarlings.

They've just changed their paperbags and color schemes and the design is tres adorable!

Inside the VIP bag, there was a full size MAC mascara and gift sizes of some other bits and bobs. There was also a AH heart shaped bag charm and one of their past season silk scarf.


I also asked the Sales Assistant prettily to give me a suit bag for my dress and she complied. Yay I have a suit bag for every past colour schemes they've had. Wohooo.

So Cool!

I guarantee that by the end of watching the clip, you'll think the guy is a lot more attractive than when you first started. No? Just me? Ok then.

Restaurant of the Year - The Grove

Apologies for the lack of posts in the last month or so. I've been busy eating my body weight in food that Mum was working overtime to churn out for us. My bathroom scales hate me. Anyway I have a huge backlog of entries to do so they will come in due course. First up, the meal I had at The Grove with Mel, Andrew, Teresa and Stuart back in April. I had to apologise for the freak that I am and my need to document all things food-related. Stuart was dumbfounded and asked me Why? To which, I screamed WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHY? IT'S FOOD!!! Nah I didn't. I probably said something along the lines of Why Not? You know, typical Hii girl answer.

Also, I had only just discovered the low light setting on my camera and it was after I took these photos so they aren't the best lighting wise as I didn't want to be the annoying person letting off the flash every five seconds and disturbing the general ambience of the place.

Cover of the menu:

Mel pretending that she hasn't already checked out the menu online and planned what she wanted:

Blurry pic of the bread roll but I'm including it for completeness' sake:

We had the degustation which consisted of 3 entrees, 1 main, a pre-dessert, a dessert and handmade macaroon and chocolates.

Hamachi with creme fraiche and horseradish sorbet, lemon oil. It was ok. The problem wasn't that it wasn't nice but that I've had Tetsuya's degustation so I was one tough customer to please!

Tortellini of saffron and goat's ricotta, beurre noisette, date and sorrels. From memory, I wasn't too taken by this. Me no vegetarian. Don't get me started on that beetroot tart from French Cafe.

Crispy wild boar, confit hen's egg, beetroot, apple and walnuts. This was sooo good, juicy and tender and the tiny gooey egg on top was just the cherry on top. Mel and I had this at Taste of Auckland and loved it then too.

Teresa was the only one who chose beef as main - Organic beef fillet with bone marrow, young carrots and white onion puree.

Everyone else was like Duh! we are having lobster. Butter poached crayfish, toasted farrow, sweet corn custard and smoked tomato. Can't remember the details now but it was pretty yum.

Another angle of the crayfish:

Bring on the desserts, baby!!!

Pre-dessert - some kind of fruit based yoghurt topped with a teeny tiny apple donut. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. I wanted to lick the glass.

Main dessert - Souffle (banana??? can't remember) with ice cream and cookie crumbs. This was gross. I don't like souffle as a rule and this one had such a strong alcoholic taste, it was yuck.

Macaroons to finish off!!! To be honest, their only redeeming quality was that they were sweet. They didn't have that yummy crunchy stickiness that good macaroons should have though.


Hang on a minute!! The menu mentioned macaroons AND chocolates. What!!!!!!! We've been ripped off. Shame on you, The Grove!

Double Down - Double the Taste, Double the Fat.

KFC's Double Down burger has been the most hyped-up thing in Australasia for the last 2 months so obviously I had to try it. Consisting of two pieces of Zinger chicken with 2 slices of cheese and bacon in the middle, it is definitely the ultimate nightmare for a Biggest Loser contestant. Haha.. it was ok... bit greasy as you can see from the last photo. Not something I would buy again. But it's good to give everything a try. Tick!

Happy Mother's Day

To our one and only, hope you have a good Mother's day.

Ps: Isaac looks bl00dy ugly here.... haha... lucky he is cute now.

Tales from the Kid (Crypt)

My eight year old nephew, Logan and his mum had the following conversation recently.

Logan and Monica were chatting about baths and he said that when you older, you don't have baths all the time.
Monica then said one of your Ee Ees (aunties) loves baths.
Logan then said is it Ah Zhong Ee Ee (that's what he calls me by the way)?
Monica was very surprised and asked him how did he guess?
He said because she is the weird one......... remember? She's the angriest person in the world (i'm the only one who tells him off while other Ee Ees let him wreaks havoc as he pleases) and she is different from anyone..

Is it wrong to be proud of that? Bahaha... Can't believe an 8 year old knows me better than some of my exes.. haha.. Future boyfriends, take note and beware.

Birthday Morning Tea Shout at Work

Work has an unwritten rule where if it's your birthday, you bring something in for everyone. I know, dumb rule! It's my birthday so I should be lavished with endless cupcakes and lavish trinkets... Anyhoo, I decided to make Oreo cheesecake and wow everyone with my amazing baking skills.

I feel like I've put on weight just from looking at the ingredients: The various apparatus needed for making the cheesecakes:

Luscious looking oreos before i ...

... crushed them into smithereens..

Mmmmm mixed with butter and smooshed down to make the base of the cheesecake.

4 pots of cream cheese, 1 pot of sour cream plus castor sugar equal instant happiness for my tummy...

Add in 4 eggs because misery (or fattiness in this case) loves company..

Chopped up oreos, ready to be mixed into the cream cheese mix.

Mmmmm.... imagine licking five used spoons of this. I felt ick after a while.

Sprinkle more chopped up oreos on top and they are ready for the oven.

Ta daaaaaa..... the finished product!

Add in some chips and dip and lollies and you've got yourself one heck of a morning tea...
What You Need:
1 pkg. (16.6 oz.) OREO Cookies,
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup Sour Cream
4 eggs

Make It:
Heat oven to 325ºF.
Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides.
Process 30 cookies in food processor until finely ground.
Add butter; mix well. Press onto bottom of pan.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until blended.
Chop remaining cookies; stir 1-1/2 cups into batter.
Pour over crust; top with remaining chopped cookies.
Bake for 45 min. or until center is almost set.
Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours.
Use foil handles to lift cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.

Hate yourself for eating something so decadent. Get over your self-hatred and eat some more. Repeat cycle x10000.

=P