Making Bak Chang in Melbourne

A week ago Maggie suggested that we make some bak chang. A week later we did it! It was surprisingly not as difficult as we, or at least I, thought it would be. The fact that she has learned the wrapping steps from her mom helped a lot but anyhow, it was our first time and we didn't have any experienced bak chang maker with us so we definitely deserve that pat on our backs for what we accomplished at the end of the day :)

I know the rice isn't dark or looking appetising enough but it tasted ok. We could have stirred in more dark soy sauce.

Guys being the typical guys... lol

Ok lah, they did help out. We needed loads of chopped garlic and shallots and let me tell you, on top of cleaning up after cooking, I absolutely hate chopping garlic/shallots/onions. It's messy, it's boring and it's not fun at all. So, no prize for guessing who ended up with the job :P

From this experience, I can say it isn't exactly difficult to make these savoury dumplings but it is very time consuming to prepare both the ingredients and the dumplings. You need to soak the ingredients a few hours and days before cooking and also, it's not easy to estimate how much we're able to produce at the end because it all depends on how you assemble the filling and how big are your bamboo leaves. 

Since a friend asked me for the recipe, I'm going to share it here. This is how we did it and I don't claim this to be MY recipe. We grabbed ideas from recipes online as well as the recipes from everyone's mothers and grandmothers, and some basic cooking instincts. This isn't baking so there is no need to be extremely precise with the measurements.

I'll divide it into 4 parts: Leaves, pork, extra filling and rice.

LDR once more

I spoke to my mom on Skype earlier and I feel so relieved now. 

To cut the long story short, I have her blessing to do whatever I'm going to do and we talked like never before. I told her things I would not have told her if I was still living with her in M'sia, and vice versa. It's somewhat awkward and weird but it felt really good. I think I've mentioned before but you know how some people at some point in their lives they just stop communicating with their parents in the house, I'm one of them. I notice the situation changes once we're far away from each other; we start missing each other and we start communicating.

I've ended LDR with Wk, but I've started LDR with my family hahah! Bet you didn't get what the title of this post meant at first.

Also spoke to Esther on Skype and Wk was tossing and turning on the bed trying to sleep while we both were talking and laughing at silly things lol. 

Aaah. Feels really nice to be able to talk to some of your favourite people.

This is just my blog, not my mind.

Oh. My. God.

First, I was shocked to see an unusual high amount of hits in my blog for yesterday. Then I checked on the referals and found this link to this forum thingie. It all started with this:

And then someone replied:

If you're curious, it's this post he's talking about.

Seriously, when I saw the word "break up with her instead" I went "WTF?" straight.

But everyone is entitled to their own opinion so of course I will STFU.

This dude, or maybe girl, talked as if he/she knows me when clearly he/she doesn't. 

It is definitely true, I miss home. Come on, who will not?? Do I enjoy missing home? Of course not. But do I enjoy being here? Well when I don't face shits like financial issues or uncertainties, of course I do! Isn't that the same for everyone? 

All our years spent apart, Wk and I, we were looking forward to this day. We were planning and planning and planning. We have been together for almost 9 years now, we were in LDR for about 4 years before I came here. LDR is difficult but it's not impossible and it's not a complete pain in the butt if you and your partner stay strong. LDR to me wasn't a trouble, but a challenge. Trust me, when you can pull it through, it is the most rewarding feeling ever.

I don't think anybody knows what exactly I am going through, how exactly I feel, but myself. And of course, Wk. If there's one thing I need to say, it'd be I am happy to be here and yes, sometimes I do question myself if coming here was the right choice. If I'm happy, I'd say yes, it is the right choice. Not to say I wasn't happy being in M'sia but in life, you need to have some kind of objective, some kind of goals you want to achieve. I don't know what's my goal in the future yet but just 1 or 2 years ago, it's to end LDR and not live life like a routine. Today, I'm glad I've achieved it.

Seriously I'm amused, or rather amazed how people can just come up with their own conclusion or judgement about another person by only reading their blog. Do you really think I share/talk about every single bit of my life here in my blog? I wish people can understand the fact that they can read my blog, but they can't read my mind.

I know that dude didn't mean anything by linking my blog post and thinking that way about me but I still feel the need to clear things up. Coming here wasn't a rushed decision, it was planned for years. We knew it's going to happen this year. I didn't want to mention it in my blog because everytime I break a news about a future plan I'm excited about, it always never happen. It sounds crazy and ridiculous but I do believe it'll jinx it so I kept quiet.

alla Carbonara

19/5/11 - Bacon and Cheese Pasta

I would love to call this Carbonara but really, an authentic Italian Carbonara sauce isn't made this way. If you do not already know, I LOVE my plate of Carbonara. Everywhere I go, if I see a Carbonara in the menu I would give it a go. So far, the one served in Delicious has been my favourite. That being said, it probably isn't the authentic Italian Carbonara cos it tastes uber creamy/milky and there're oyster mushrooms in it. 

After researching for the best Carbonara recipe for the past few weeks, I've learned that the authentic Italian Carbonara doesn't have mushrooms or cream AT ALL in its pasta. Its basically just eggs and guanciale, which is something like bacon but isn't smoked like bacon. Wanna know which part of a pig a guanciale is made of? The cheeks, I'm serious. But apparently it tastes really good. So anyway, the Carbonara that most people know including you and I, is basically an Americanized version with the addition of mushrooms and cream be it pure cream, heavy cream, thickened cream, cream cheese or mascarpone cheese. Some even have milk.

So for the authentic Italian Carbonara sauce, the sauce is basically only made of uncooked beaten eggs (more often, just the yolks) mixed with pecorino romano (no, this is not parmesan although it could look and smell like one) and black pepper. You basically cook your pasta and meat first, then mix both together and while it's still hot, you pour in the eggs and cheese mixture and quickly stir to prevent the eggs from curdling. The heat will cook up the eggs so it is edible.

For years I've been eating one of my favourite plate of pasta without knowing how ridiculously easy and it is to make it. I've made Carbonara 3 times now and I will still continue making to find out the best combination of cheese and cream. I've never tried making the authentic version of the Italian Carbonara cos I don't think I will like it. I love my Carbonara super creamy, cheesey and you might as well say fattening. Its all those things which conquer my appetite.

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No news from the immigration yet regarding my application. I hope I can get an answer latest by next week. I'm starting school in less than 3 weeks together with local Australians. Nervous? Hell yeah. I hate starting again. Whatmore, this time there won't be Malaysians or even Asians around. And I'm doing something I have absolutely no clue about.

Future school

 18/4/11 - Baked fish and vege with potato salad

There was this cafe my family used to really love going, Danny and Partners. Its a very small cafe serving good old Malaysian-ised western food like Fish n' Chips and Chicken Chops which tasted quite good at a reasonably cheap price. When my parents discovered it we would go there almost every weekend and I remember I loved their potato salad the most. I'm not sure but I think it was during one of the school holidays, one of my classmates back in secondary school worked there as a kitchen helper and that was how I got the recipe to their potato salad which I've been holding on to and making all these while. 

Shameful as it may sound but honestly, lots of people love it :) I'll share the recipe if anyone's interested, or to make things more interesting I may just make a video tutorial of it one day! Haha, we'll see. 

Of course, all the credits go to the guys in Danny and Partners who invented this delightful salad, and my former classmate Ian Kirk who shared this recipe with me. Well technically if I remember correctly I was quite persistent and it would have been really awkward to refuse me hahah. Unfortunately, I don't think Danny and Partners still exist. The last time I went there, the food wasn't as good (even the potato salad, yes, sadly) for the price. The last I heard, they were gone already.

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Now cooking aside, I've been busy with applications. I'm enrolled in a school and I'm in the process of applying for my student visa. I don't feel like spilling more info so this would be it.

I'm not studying anything related to music. Not yet. This is just a transition period which I need to go through. I still love music but now is not the time and I don't want to push it because I don't think it'll turn out right if I push it.

As for what I'm going to study, it'll remain unknown for now because I know some people are going to judge. Everybody judges, I judge, you judge, admit it. I know people will tell me don't care about what others think but in my opinion that's complete bullshit. There certainly is a part of me which does mind what people think and I don't need those negativity right now. Those who know, I told them because I know they won't judge me.

This definitely isn't something I've expected or planned to do so I'm definitely scared.

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I've been watching Supernatural and omg Dean is so hawt. And Masterchef is DA BOMB. And Glee... is still annoying as ever.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

When I was in Form 4, I was introduced to English Literature where I learned one of my first few poems.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;
 
Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,
 
And both that morning equally lay
in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
 
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference


The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Right now, there's nothing else I can relate to better than this poem.

Hoku hoku

Curling my hair with a straightener is fun! Aaand, it saves money cos I can curl and straighten with it, no need to buy a curling iron.

Hello! Anyone still reading? Haha.

Did anyone watch The Royal Wedding yesterday? I must say it was quite an entertainment. I didn't give a damn about it and found all the hoo haa quite ridiculous at first. I mean, it's just a wedding why all the excitement? In the TV there were like swarms of people (like ants, when viewed from the top) around the church, it looked almost like a celebration. Well, it is a celebration cos to them it is THE wedding, not a wedding. And I was joking and telling Wk wow if any terrorist wanted to attack the country, this would be the time to do it lol. Just saying.

Honestly, it was beautiful. Not just Princess William's (Kate Middleton) dress, the whole ceremony was, albeit very overwhelming. If it was me I would be so damn stressed and nervous to know that billions of people are watching me and my wedding. 

Something funny to share - someone in my twitter mentioned that while everyone's singing God Save The Queen, it was cute that the Queen just stood there while everyone's singing about her. It would have been funny if the Queen sang "God save me" LOL!

24 April 2011 - Japanese Night!

Easter was last weekend and Maggie and Kai Mun came over. We joined forces and cooked up a storm! Haha. We decided to call it "Japanese Night" and cooked Japanese dishes. Everyone had a role, or I should assigned to a dish to prepare!

Me - Hoku hoku croquette. Croquette is a type of deep friend ball rolled in breadcrumbs, and the ball is made of mashed potato and minced meat. Very interesting! My recipe is from this really funny Youtube cooking video, there he also explains the meaning of Hoku Hoku which is hillarious, I cannot stop laughing everytime I watch it! We also found the Bulldog Sauce in an asian grocery store! It's posing in the picture as well, can you spot it? :D

Maggie - Tempura and curry chicken. The tempura powder we both love is by Nissin. It's the only tempura powder I'll use! So good. The curry mix is actually a Japanese instant curry paste, so easy to make and tastes good too!

Kai Mun - Garlic fried rice. Very easy to make as well. Just fry it with lots of garlic, add some egg and spring onion and seasoning, kao tim.

Wei Kiat - Grilled beef-rolled enoki. This one tastes really good but very tricky to prepare, not forgetting it's also very costly. The marinade and sauce is premade but the rolling step is difficult cos the raw beef is really thin and fragile. Also, you need to have a really sharp knife to cut the cooked rolled beef into bite size  because it is almost impossible to bite the enoki off... if anyone gets what I mean. Go to Sushi Zanmai and order one and try it.

Wei Guan - He's the kitchen helper of the day!

It was quite a fun day. Esther I wish you were there :(

As for life, as usual, it sucks. Like I've mentioned, things aren't as simple as I thought they would be. I will strive, of course. Just like how I'm striving to play well on the violin. Wk and I created this little 'game', where I will have to achieve 24 hours of practice in a week to earn $50, if I don't I'll be fined $50. It's a little motivation to make me practice. So far, I've lost $50. And I've yet to earn back or earn additional $50 cos... I have my ways to not pay haha. But I know that's definitely not the whole point of this game. 24 hours honestly is not a lot considering I am free all the time. Gotta work harder!

Oh one more thing. Thank you to everyone who has been supporting and cheering me up whenever I feel like crap :) You guys are amazing!