Fried rice

Yay! It's been long since I cooked and ate this, so yeah. :D

'Twas yummy. :D



Ingredients (in the order they were put into the pan):
Oil
Salt
Garlic
Celery
Carrots
Rice
Multi-purpose seasoning
Pepper
Eggs
Peas
Soy Sauce

*continues savouring her meal* :D

Korean BBQ and tipping

So... The 2 Japanese restaurants that I wanted to try out at had closed down. *frustrated* T.T

Me and my siblings decided to eat at a Korean BBQ restaurant instead. Anyway, the food was good and we had a hard time finishing everything. @_@

And then came the dilemma: When I was about to pay up, a question popped up in my head. Should I tip the waiter who cooked the meat for us, and if yes, how much should I tip? The total bill was about 90 bucks and they charged 10% service charge in addition to that.

I know that at some places, the service charge actually ends up in the restaurant's owner's wallet, and not the staff's. And I really felt compelled to give something to the guy who was doing all the cooking. So again, comes back the question.

Do you usually leave a tip at Korean BBQ restaurants in Malaysia?

The Elephant Bristish Pub

Name: The Elephant British Pub
Category: Bistro
Location: 20 Vaughan Pl (Off Rundle Street, next to Nova Cinema)
Website: www.paddymaguires.com/adelaide/theelephant


Yesterday, me and my friends decided to watch Alice in Wonderland in the evening. While I was wondering what we should have for dinner before the movie starts, my housemate recommended this bistro next to the cinema. She tried the food there once and apparently it was good.

So there we went after class (and work, for her), to Rundle Street. As we entered the bistro, we were welcomed by the warm and cozy atmosphere. (Note: Warm and cozy in my opinion is not the stereotypical bright kind of place. I hate the light!)

So we went in and found ourselves a seat at the far end of the bistro, and started scanning the dinner menu (requested from the bartender). What shocked us at first was that one of the choices in the dinner menu was a Full English Breakfast. o_O;


Anyway, after taking eons in deciding what we should get, I finally settled for the Roast of the Day, while she chose the Char Grilled Chicken. While waiting for our food, I looked around the bistro to hopefully catch a glimpse of the "regular patrons" to further assess the place. There were a few middle-aged people at tables in front of us, while there were a group of mid to late 20s sitting around a coffee table in the centre of the bistro, chatting their way joyfully.

The ambiance of the place was very good in my opinion: quiet, comfy and just the right amount of lighting.


About 10 to 15 minutes later, dinner was served. It was at that point that it hit me that I've forgot to ask what was the Roast of the Day. (XD *sighs* I guess recent events had tire me out to the point where I've developed a "Hit Me!" or "Closing My Eyes and Randomly Putting My Finger on the Middle of the Menu" kind of approach when it comes to meals.) The roast turned out to be veal by the way. It was served with sides of vegetables and mash potato.

Anyway, it was time to dig in. The gravy of the roast was just too good! The meat was just so succulent and tender. At first, I was skeptical when I saw that my knife was just a regular dinner knife and not a steak knife. How was I going to cut into my meat?! But it turned out that the meat was so well done that even a dinner knife could cut it into pieces! :o

Overall, I would give the Roast of the Day a (rare) 90! The whole dish was very very good.

I've also stole a bite of my housemate's Char Grilled Chicken, and the garlic-mustard gravy was to die for! I thought to myself that I would order that the next time around, but then again, my adventurous streak would flash a red light and make me try the other dishes instead.



All in all, The Elephant is definitely a good choice to go to, not just to dine in, but also for a drink or two, to unwind one's self after a stressing day of work (or lectures).


Rei's score:
Food: 90/100
Drinks: NA (Didn't get any alcoholic drinks)
Ambiance and decor: 85/100
Overall verdict: 90/100

Katsudon @ Momiji

Name: Momiji Sushi Bar
Category: Sushi Restaurant (+ Other Food)
Location: 101 Prospect Rd, Prospect SA 5082


After months of going pass this Japanese restaurant in Prospect, I finally decided to dine in at Momiji Sushi for lunch today. When I went in, I was scanning the menu for Nasu Dengaku but alas, they don't have any. T^T *sobs*

Anyway, I finally decided to settle on カツ丼 Katsudon. Too bad I forgot to tell them I wanted カツカレー Katsu Karee, so I got the normal one instead. I shall try the curry version next time..

The katsu was very very crispy. Actually, a little bit too overfried and tough in my opinion. The sauce however, gets a 75/100. The highlight of the meal had got to be the wakame salad! 超美味い！！！ *starts rolling around*

Okay okay. Back to the review.

The bad parts about the meal?
- The katsu was overfried and tough
- They didn't use Japanese rice! *horror* *gasps* :o!!! How can we not use Japanese rice in a Japanese restaurant??? I guess maybe they are trying to cut costs..


All in all, the overall experience was fair. I'll go back there again to try their other food such as the aforementioned カツカレー katsu karee or maybe ramen or udon when the weather is a bit cooler.


Rei's score:
Food: 65/100
Drinks: NA (Didn't get any tea)
Ambiance and decor: 55/100
Overall verdict: 60/100


Signing off,
Rei

茄子田楽 Nasu dengaku

Recently the weather's been going colder. Yesh! Finally autumn is here! Couldn't take the heat any longer. @_@

Anyways, with cold weather, comes the craving for grilled food - ie, 茄子の味噌田楽 Nasu no Miso Dengaku, aka Nasu Dengaku.

I still think that the best Nasu Dengaku that I can find is at Katsumoto, but then again, I haven't tried the other restaurants' versions. So far I've only tried Katsumoto and Ichiban Ramen. What I can say is don't ever get the Nasu Dengaku from Ichiban Ramen. The eggplant is not really grilled, and the dengaku sauce is way too salty.

Meanwhile, I shall continue my journey of finding yummy Nasu Dengaku in restaurants around Adelaide and I'll keep the blog updated! \ ^.^ /

Peanut butter and choc cups

Whew.. Just finished making some peanut butter and chocolate cups. Let's just say that this thing is messy. Had some problems with mixing the peanut butter mixture, ending up in some mixture on the carpet and stuff, but it was a success in the end. :)

Here are some eye-candy for yaz~!







More chocolate and maybe some butter cookies tomorrow!!! \ >.< /

Baking CNY cookies

Arghhh... Why does CNY have to fall on the exact same day as Valentine's day. That's just making me do double the job. x_x

I like complaining. But all's well in the end because I love baking. \ ^.^ /

Anyways, have a look at all the stuff that me and my housemate, Huey Yeng, bought to make CNY cookies.





Here's the first cookies that I've decided to make - 合桃酥 Hap Tou Sou (Walnut Cookies):


Will continue with the butter cookies and the chocolate on tomorrow and Sunday...


Signing off to sleep and with lots of love <3,
Rei

Cold Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Hot & Spicy Potatoes

I have no idea why but I have been having cravings for certain types of food recently. And not to mention they're weird combinations. This morning I had toast with pickled mustard leaves spread on top of it. Weird and unhealthy but yummy :D

Anyways, here's another weird combo for lunch: Cold noodles mixed in peanut sauce, and then topped with hot and spicy potatoes. :)



Since my job of posting the pic here is done, I shall dig into my lunch now. :D

Teriyaki Stir Fry

Phew! Finally exams are over! The other day, I made this fast teriyaki stir fry. It's not too hard to make and it can be cooked very quickly.

Here's a picture of it:


- Contains rice, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, mushroom balls, garlic, ginger, oil, black pepper, mirin, sake, soy sauce and honey.


If anyone is interested (though I doubt it), here's what I did:
- First you need to cook rice (DUH!). Mine were leftovers so I just heated them in the microwave.
- For the main dish, first cut up everything (ginger, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, mushroom balls or any meat you desire).
- In a bowl, mix mirin, sake, soy sauce and honey. Marinade all the veg and meat in there.
- Heat pan or wok. Add oil and fry ginger and garlic. Then add in the marinated veg and meat. Strain the veg/meat of the marinade as much as possible or else the pan/wok is gonna sputter like mad and you'll do a heck of a cleaning after that.
- Stir fry until the veg and meat looks cooked to you. Add in the leftovers of the marinade and continue cooking till the sauce is almost gone.
- Serve up! :)

Hiyashi Chuuka!

Just made some Hiyashi Chuuka today.

While I was making the gomadare, which requires ground sesame seeds, I had a brilliant (and stupid) idea. Why not do it using a pepper mill? Let's just say it doesn't work. So after the whole mess in the kitchen with sesame seeds falling everywhere, I went back to the old school way to do it - a knife.

Maybe I should buy a mortar and pestle soon..

Anyways, here's a pic of the finished dish..




Doesn't look all that pretty but yeah..
And when I almost finished my plate, I realised that I forgot all about the ginger... >_<
Ah well, maybe next time.. :)

Tea party anyone?

Hmm.. Kinda feeling distracted from studying and stuff lately.
SWOT-Vac can be just so boring and demotivating.
Must fill head with thoughts of interesting stuff!!!

SO!! I've come up with a plan!
I think I'd like to hold a tea party at my place sometime after the exams!!
We'll have tea (duh), cupcakes, cookies and the sort..
Whatcha think?


On another note, I've just bought ingredients to make 冷やし中華 Hiyashi Chuuka. Yes I know it's not summer but the weather's so hot and I like eating it. =p~~~
Will post pics when I make them. ^.^

By the way, if you guys would like a recipe for it:
冷やし中華 Hiyashi Chuuka - Just Hungry

A brief description

This post is just a brief description of me and the sites that I linked to.
On the right hand corner of the blog, you'll be able to find my 好きなリンクス, aka my favourite links. These are the sites that I can't live without.


Part 1: 料理 Food.
I have always been a fan of food, be it cooking and baking from scratch, instant cooking as I like to call it (cooking food in the shortest amount of time), or eating.
My favourite type of food (to both make and eat) is dessert! 甘いだから！Both me and the dessert! Lolz..
Apart from dessert, I like to cook 日本料理 Japanese Cuisine.
This brings us to the first 2 links on the food column.

Just Hungry and Just Bento:
- These are the sites that I swear upon! I can't live without them! I have no idea how I lived my life before I found Maki's blogs on food.
- Maki is a Japanese expatriate, currently living in Switzerland. She currently blogs on her 2 sites, Just Hungry and Just Bento.
- Just Hungry is a site with recipes for various food, but more specifically 日本料理. Here, she teaches from the very beginning, so you can learn everything from scratch. Just Bento, on the other hand, focuses more on bento making. Here, you can find recipes that are easy and simple to make for bento purposes, as well as tips on how to make good bento, チャラ弁 Charaben making, bento supplies as well as how to manage your time to make bento lunches.
- Most of her recipes are easy to follow and are quite simple to make. There are also more challenging recipes that you can try out if you feel the need to challenge your cooking skills (eg. カステラ Casutella, Mayonnaise, and even 梅干 Umeboshi!)

All recipes:
- I use this site mainly to find recipes for desserts, such as cupcakes, muffins, dolce (cakes) and the like.
- There are many good recipes but do make sure to look out for the credibility of the recipes by reading user comments. Good recipes tend to have higher ratings and more comments on it.


Part 2: 音楽 Music
I mainly listen to pop and rock, and some Japanese songs as well. A site that offers downloads for anime music is Gendou. I usually get my Japanese songs from there, if they're anime in origin.


Part 3: アニメと漫画 Anime and Manga
The sites listed here are sites related to anime and manga. I don't think I need to explain all of them as I've already written some details after the sites, so the rest are up to you to explore. ;)


Part 4: その他の Others
I don't think I need to explain much about this part as well as they're either self-explanatory or that they're famous enough for me to explain. :p


So yeah, that's about it. I know that I've written "A brief description" as the title but it doesn't really feel brief anymore ね? :p
I'll just leave my post at here and let you guys do the exploring! :)