Home Sweet Home

There hasn't been much changes in this half year since I left home. Malaysia is hot & humid as usual and traffic jam & lack of parking space is still a common problem in Penang. I have been having headache since the day I arrive until now, probably due to the heat. Haven't vastly inform my friends so I have plenty of time to spend with my family :)

In conjuction with new year holiday, I went for a round of quick shopping with my cousin. 4 hours of shopping yielded: 2 belts, a dress (I really like it), a cute key chain, a pair of shoes & a wallet, less than RM300. I can never get that price for these items n Denmark.

Tasted my favourite honey grill cod fish with my parents the first evening after arrival, tasty as before. My favourite green tea cold soba with tempura at Tsuruya is of its usual high quality. Also ate some hawker food like laksa, nasi lemak & prawn noodle. The slight regret of not being able to have steamboat in Copenhagen is fully recovered by a nice tomyam steamboat.


I am so glad that now I'm once again in food heaven, with 24hours eateries open almost everywhere & not to forget my mom's home cook meals. Will finally get to drink my mom's cantonese soup with black bean tonight, anticipating.

I took pictures of food that I ate / made in Denmark to show my Malaysian friends & families when I was in Copenhagen, now that I'm back, I have to take pictures of my home town food to show my Danish friends. Isn't it funny?

A Series of Misfortunate Events

I was traveling to Penang (also my home) for business purpose, so excited! 2 days of packing after Christmas & I'm off Copenhagen, on my way to Penang. Trip itinerary was from Copenhagen -> Frankfurt -> Singapore -> Penang. Unfortunately, my trip didn't follow the itinerary exactly.

During the stop-over in Frankfurt, there were some problems with the loading machine, so luggage loading has to be performed manually, which takes about 2 hours to complete. Just when the loading was done & we can finally take off, it was discovered that there are some fuel leakage from the plane's left wing. Took the ground engineers 3.5hrs to resolve while the poor passengers stuck in the plane :(

Due to the 5.5hrs delay, we have to stop over at Bangkok to change the cabin crew (so they don't work over their supposed working hours) & to re-fuel the plane before flying to Singapore (I don't understand why they can fuel up in Frankfurt, airport rules?). Needless to say, my connecting flight is no longer 'connected' after the delays. All passengers are not allowed to leave the airport in Bangkok, no transits or disembarkment allowed, so there goes my chance to fly from Bangkok to Penang.

When we're in Bangkok, we were requested to leave the aircraft and check in again with all our personal belongings so they can performe secutiry check. During the process, someone decided to get a little shopping spree to release the tension & didn't board the plane. It took the land crew 4 times head-counting to determine who's missing. When they were identified, the captain decided to unload their baggage.

Just when their belongings were unloaded, they appear again. If eye sights can kill a person, I'm sure they are dead. So after the hustle, yet another engine failure is reported. At that point, I was thinking: oh my, I'm never going to leave this plane :( I was having headache, frustrated, exhausted & my legs are aching after so many hours in the economy cockpit. Well at least this time, it took only 20minutes to resolve. So Bangkok stop took 2hrs+ for 'JUST a fuel up' stop.

I was helping a lady with 4months old infant who's traveling to Penang as well along the way and was accidentally treated as her family. So I got the earliest confirmed connecting flight out of Singapore which is about 2hrs later. No surprise for the flight between Singapore & Penang. When I arrived, I get to checked out with her at the express lane and also obtained help on our luggages ;)

Just as if my delayed flight is not bad enough, the car rental company's agent has went back. Luckily I received help to call in the agent and she agreed to come in about half an hour time to hand me the car. Else I would have taken a taxi instead. I was greatful for she has the right to refuse to come in. Penang people is always nice & friendly (like me) :)

So my 16hrs flight home becomes 28hrs flight. Great value for money from air ticket perspective?? I don't think so. Long distance flight next time (even to home)? I'll think twice.

Christmas Celebration

I was invited to Christmas dinner with my manager's family. This year, they spend it at his parent's place, so I am lucky to experience a traditional Christmas eve celebration with a Danish family.

The whole house is nicely decorated with christmas decoratives & a medium size christmas tree with tonnes of presents filled a side room. The kids are so excited to see the amount of presents, lol... Their embarrasing invited guest (a.k.a. me) was busy snapping picture like I've just visit a tourist attraction :$

We arrived early so I have a chance to sneak into the kitchen to see how a typical traditional Danish christmas dinner meal is prepared (and did help a little in the process). Typically, roast duck & caramelised potatoes will serve as main course with stew red cabbage as side dish. We also had some roast pork steaks (flæskesteg).

If you noticed, the food pictures are taken when the food is being prepared / just ready. I have no chance to take pictures at the dining table when dinner is served. The roast duck was so good that I have to eat 3 pieces. Think I took at least 6 of the caramelised potatoes. With some nice wine, the dinner ends when the lucky person found a hidden full almond inside the dessert (risalamande).

After washing up (basically just throwing everything into dish washer), we are geared for Danish christmas song singing. I was given a booklet with lyric, lol... We hold each other hand in hand & dance around the Christmas tree. It was so fun even though I can only sing certain part of the songs. Finally the leading kid (of our hand-in-hand ring) brought everyone to sing & dance around the whole a full round, then the 'ceremony' completes.

What comes next? Of course gift unwrapping. Danish kids are luckier, they don't have to wait until next day morning to oepn their presents. The house was filled with fun laughters, cheers, appreciation hugs & kisses. It was so harmony & warm when even an 'outsider' like me can feel the love in the air. Guess that what Christmas is about -- family :)

Pic: the girls with their new 'musical instruments'

Penne & Cheese

I intended to cook macaroni & cheese but it was so difficult to find macaroni in Copenhage (I wonder why), so ended up with penne. The recipe was merely ok, perhaps due to my cheese selection. Anyway, here's a simple penne & cheese recipe (for 4 servings), sorry for the unit of measurement, I'm too lazy to convert it again & don't have my well converted printed recipe with me now:-

1 lb penne
4 cups milk
6 tblsp. flour
4 tblsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
8 oz. white cheddar cheese
breadcrumbs (forget to do the measurement :p)

1. Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook at a rolling boil until just tender. Drain. Rinse. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (180 degree Celcius).

3. Bring the milk to just a boil in a heavy saucepan. Set aside.

4. Melt the butter in another pan. Add the flour and whisk over low heat for about 5 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from the heat.

5. Add the butter mixture to the milk and whisk well to get rid of lumps. Season with salt and pepper. Return to heat.

6. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until it's smooth and it thickens. Add in 2/3 of the cheese & cook until it melts.

7. Add mixture to the pasta and coat. Spread the remaining grated cheese over the top of the pasta.

8. Sprinkle the top with some bread crumbs. Bake for 25 minutes. Then, place dish under the broiler (about 4 inches away from heat) and cook for another few minutes until slightly golden.

Adapted from http://achowlife.blogspot.com/2008/11/surrender-to-mac-n-cheese.html

Christmas is in the Air

Jingle bell, jingle bell, Christmas is in the air, in fact, everywhere since late October. Shopping bags are printed with Christmas motives; packagings of chocolates, candies, cakes & cookies change to 'Christmas-ish'; Chrstimas decoratives on sale; streets light up with Christmas deco; busy people buying Christmas gifts...it's hard not to notice such lively celebrated festive season.

In Copenhagen city center, Kongens Nytorv, an artificial ice-skate ring is created http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongens_Nytorv. One can bring their own skates or rent them to experience some skating fun in city center. I can't skate & don't plan to embarrasse myself, so...hehe

Pic: Kongens Nytorv skating ring

Just a few hundred steps away, lies the famous canal & harbour - Nyhavn, which is also 'transformed' into 26 stalls Christmas market. The market was a little dissapointing, relatively small scale & nothing superly excited (I have seen the bigger ones in Berlin), except...I found toilet rolls with Christmas motives printed, keeps me wonder :s

Pic: (top) Nyhavn Christmas market; (bot) Christmas toilet rolls

Gløgg is a special Christmas sweet warm wine with fruits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulled_wine. Despite the risk of getting drunk in public (my alcohol tolerance level is nearly zero), I decided this is something that I must try, don't want to wait another year for that so I got one from the Christmas market stall. Basically one can get it anywhere, even the Chinese takeaway shop sells it :s

I didn't like it at first sip but it turns out fine & can really keep me warm at the windy cold harbour. The one I had has raisin & almond in it (typical). I won't mind trying it again given the chance :)
Continue the walk to the main shopping street Strøget and you'll be reminded more of Christmas. Not just because of the street decorations but the increase of shoppers determined to get some gifts will certainly tells you Christmas is just around the corner.

This year, I'll be spending a traditional Danish Christmas evening with my boss & his families. Something absolutely new to me. Presents? Bought :). Will share on the evening...soon, hopefully.

Kimchi Pork & Stir Fried French Beans

Ever since I dined out in a Korean restaurant recently, my kimchi mood bar has raised to the max. Instead of making my own kimchi (which will take long time), I bought a canned kimchi. I used it to stir fried some pork slices. Ate that back in Penang before & I really like it, was thinking of reproducing it here in Copenhagen.

Unfortunately the kimchi is not exactly the nicest one can get, so the result was so-so. Anyway, because of kimchi's slight sour spicy nature, it's still not that bad. Just that I don't think I'll spend DKK35 on that canned kimchi anymore. Perhaps next time, I should really make my own kimchi instead? We'll see :)

Pic: Kimchi Pork

Again, I seldom eat rice with only 1 single dish, so this round I stir fried some french beans with garlic. Just minced a clove of garlic, brown it with 1 tablespoon of oil, add in the french beans (cut into 1-2 inch length) and stir fried. Salt to taste, done.

Pic: Stir fried french bean

Christmas Gift

My company has a tradition of giving all employee a Christmas gift and I was thrilled with the idea that I'll be receiving Christmas gift from company (never happen to me in Malaysia).

This year, we get to pick among a trendy gift, practical gift, healthy gift or a traditional gift. Nobody knows the content but a hint of what the gift will be was shared in a riddle mode. I wanted to get the trendy gift because it looked like it might be a Apple Nano alike product initially and then I become skeptical and choose the traditional gift (actually also because the trendy gift was 'sold out').

So here's what I got as traditional gift:- 2 bottles of red wine, a pack of mixed nuts, sugar coated almond, spicy peanut, candies, rubber gums, chocolate nougats, traditional marzipan, a bar of nougat and a box of nice chocolate. Not bad at all :D

Pic: 'Breakdown' of my company Christmas gift

If I were to choose trendy gift, I'll get an electronic picture frame. Practical gift was a handy drill set with some small tools; and healthy set was a blender with some individual fruit cutters plus a healthy drink recipe. I'm glad with what I've chosen (except for the marzipan).

Miso Glazed Salmon (again & success)

After my initial 'not so successful' miso glazed salmon attempt, I'm set for second attempt.

This time, the salmon turns out perfect, really perfect. Instead of following the complicated recipe, I just mixed 1 teaspoon of miso paste with 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar and rubbed them on the surface of the salmon. Baked the salmon skin side down (I think skin is an important part to prevent the salmon from becoming too dry) on an oiled baking sheet for 13minutes at 180 degree Celcius (or 350 degree Farenheit). Yummy, yummy...

As for the sushi, they were bought from supermarket, for convenient sake. My appetite has grown so much that a piece of salmon is no longer enough for my stomach anymore :p. The sushi looked nice but doesn't taste nice, it was merely okay...
Self-made handroll was bought as well, thought more is needed for the stomach but apparently not yet. So it was saved for the next day lunch instead :). Very convenient, just follow the instruction, roll the handroll yourself (you can even claim that you made it, because literally, you do) and a small soy sauce is included. The only down side is the seaweed is too dry & they don't sustain so long. So after rolling, just cover it with damp cloth for 10+seconds & it'll be much easier to cut ;)

Sour Plum Sauce Chicken + Onion Fried Egg

I brought a bottle of sour plum sauce with me from Malaysia when I traveled to Copenhagen & have never used it in cooking. Actually I forgot about it because it was 'hidden' in my kitchen cabinet. So one of the days when I finally clean up the cabinet, I discover the sauce & decided it's time to use it.

I sliced chicken breast into bite size strips and marinate them with ½ teaspoon of oyster sauce, some salt & pepper for about 10 minutes, then stir fried for about a minute. Add 2 tablespoon of sour plum sauce + a tablespoon of water, stir fried for about 2 minutes and add in the spring onions (cut into 1-2 inch length). Voila :)

Pic: Sour plum sauce chicken

Onion fried egg comes into picture because I have too many eggs & they're about to expire. So I cut a small onion into think slices, stir fried them until soften. Then beat 2 eggs with some salt & pepper to taste and add the eggs into the pan. Just continue pan frying until the egg is cooked, so easy...and 2 eggs down ;)

Pic: Onion Fried Egg

Christmas Lunch

My company has the tradition of treating all its employees to a nice Christmas lunch / dinner (it used to start at 2-3pm with drinks & continued until midnight, so maybe more towards dinner?).

This year is the first year I get to join such event & this year, the Christmas lunch was combined with other companies in a big event centre with buffet Danish food + shows performed by famous Danish artists throughout the night until 1am. Free beer & wine until 9pm for everyone.

I was told that this is the best place to get to know my 'real' colleagues, especially how they act after they are drunk so I was really looking forward to it. Managed to fly back from Berlin & catch the dinner in time. Food was good & songs were nice (except they're in Danish mostly) as well. I was a little surprised to see how 'hot' some of my co-workers (from different department) dances get. Some practically 'sticks' to each other. Alchocol effect? Maybe or maybe not :p

Throughout the night, I was safely protected by my manager, so I don't have any unwanted 'disturbance' from some drunk colleagues / strangers. My only 2 dances was limitedly reserved to two of the oldest guy in my department (I can't dance, so I thought better save myself from embarrassment, lol...)

I left at about 11pm, before my colleagues get really drunk (or embarrassing?), sober. Don't have any special funny stories to share, so hopefully next year ;)

Berlin (again, in 3 months)

I was traveling to Berlin on a business trip last week (that's part of the reason behind my blog delinquence). I never thought I'd be there again in less than 3 months time. Happily informed my friends & they are so kind to picked me up from the airport (again, but different airport). In fact, I've even made reservation for dinner at a famous Chinese restaurant in Berlin before my departure :p

Dinner with them in a relatively authentic SzeChuan Chinese restaurant was nice but things turn down hill when I go to work the next day. It was a really hard day at work, really tough day. On my way back to hotel that day, I accidentally left my handphone in taxi, luckily the taxt driver delivers it back. Then just when things can't go any further down, my luggage won't open up even though I'm 200% sure that the code combination was correct (it in fact is, I manage to forced it open after 2 days attempt).

Good thing is, almost all that can go wrong went wrong on day 1, subsequent 3 days work were difficult but no big surprise anymore. Before I travel, I thought I'd have time to go to my favourite spot in Berlin & snap a Brandenburger Tor in winter picture but I was working late a lot of times and the gate's location is a bit far off from where I stayed.

Manage to sneak out one of the nights, walked through the Christmas market near my hotel. Berlin street (especially the main street Ku'damm) was so beautifully lighted up.

Pic: Berlin street view in Chrsistmas season

Pic: Christmas market sneak peek

Malaysia shopping malls will normally decorate nicely for Christmas but nothing as nice as what they did in Kadawe Berlin. The shopping centre is practically transformed into a winter woods. The window decorations are nicely segregated into different types of colours & products, really nice, don't have these in Copenhagen either, not as nice (Danes, pls don't kill me)...

Pic: Kadewe & its Christmas deco

Finally have a nice meal with my friend in a Thai restaurant called Good Time. Open kitchen, beautiful & handsome waitresses/waitors, nice food, authentic environment, good company and on company's bill...I'm glad. Even the serviettes are folded nicely in lotus pattern, charming :)

Pic: Good time meals. From left, lotus serviette, stir fried glass noodle & deep fried pork with mixed vege.

When I reached Copenhagen after 4 days in Berlin, I said 'danke' (thanks in German) instead of 'tak' (thanks in Danish) to the taxi driver and I forgot my bank card pincode, luckily I have sufficient cash to pay the taxi driver, it was embarrassing. I blame these all to the pressure at work in Berlin.

Holiday in Berlin, yes yes yes...but on business trip again? maybe not.

Ginger Spring Onion Stir Fried Pork

Usually I try not to buy spring onion (or so called scallion) because I'll usually use only a little & ended up throwing the rest away when they dried out. However, after seeing n-th time of spring onion related dishes, I decided I must 'burn the forest for one tree' & ginger spring onion stir fried pork it will be.

Cook this based on recipe in my brain database. Ingredient:-

250g pork, sliced into thin bite size
1 scallion, cut into 1.5 - 2 inch length
3-4 slices of thinly cut ginger
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 small onion, cut into long stripes
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste

1. Season pork with oyster sauce, salt & pepper for about 10 minutes.
2. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a non-stick frying pan & fry ginger until fragrant can be smelled.
3. Add in garlic & onion until onions turn soft & garlics turn golden.
4. Add in pork, stir fried for 2-3 minutes until porks almost cooked.
5. Add in a tablespoon of water & spring onion and continue to cook until pork is well done. Ready to serve.

Pic: Ginger spring onion stir fried pork

However, merely stir fried pork is not enough for a balance dietry so I stir fried some beansprouts and utilize some of the remaining scallion as garnish. Hence, served with jasmine rice, a healthy & balance (well, not really) dinner is 'produced' :)

Pic: Stir fried beansprout

Crème Brûlée

I love Crème Brûlée!

Back home, I'd just go out to eat but since I haven't explore much about crème brûlée in Copenhagen & considering the cost, I decided to make it myself. Lucky for me, I stumble upon a seems to be easy recipe to make crème brûlée. Oh...well, I have to tried twice to get the right crème brûlée so I can't comment that it's 'easy' :)http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/32/Creme-Brulee-Cregraveme-Brucircleacutee

The recipe owner has shallow remkins & I have the ordinary ones. If I only bake it for 1hr, I end up with half cooked egg mixture in the middle & some crème brûlée near the edge of the remkin. Experiment #2, after 1 hr of baking, take it out, cool for 10minutes, put back & bake for another 10minutes (repeat the same process again) and the crème brûlée is ready.

A crème brûlée burner is rather costly & considering I won't be baking daily / frequently, I borrowed the burner from my boss. Little to know that it was actually an industrial use burner which is typically use for welding :s The best part is: it has to be ignited with external 'flames' so I resolved to the biggest match stick available in the supermarket. I dare not use lighter, worry that I might burn my hand :(

Pic: Huge burner & extra long match stick with comparison to a DKK 1 coin

So here's how the complete process (in pictures) is like:-

Try it out, it's so easy & really doesn't cost much unless a burner is needed; but then again, there are other methods to caramelized the sugar without burner (read it as reader's review from the recipe website) so give it a try if you're in the mood, took about 1hr40minutes for me :)

Indian Dinner

Found tandoori chicken recipe online http://winepairings.blogspot.com/2008/08/tandoori-chicken.html and tried it out. The result turns out to be far different from the tandoori chicken that I'm used to. To me, tandoori chicken should be reddish but this one...hmm...I was pretty sceptical when I read the ingredient list but was thinking to just give it a try.

The chicken has been marinated for 24hrs but the funny thing is: the taste doesn't go into the chicken. The skin taste of something but not the meat. Weird symptom for something that has been marinated a day. Don't think I'll try this recipe again. Too much effort & too little 'return', lol...

However, since I've worked hard to prepare it, I must publish the photo that I took ;)

Pic: Tandoori chicken

Pic: Butter Masala (instant :p)

Pic: Complete dinner

Tomatoes

What's new about tomato in Denmark that a lot of people might not know? well, apparently, the name of the farmer who plant & cultivate the tomato will be displayed on the package. Bought a pack tomato which is planted by Maria Isabel Gomez :s So, what do I with tomatoes that was planted by Maria? 2 solutions:-

1. Remkin Egg
Ingredient (serves 2):-
grated cheese (I use mozzarella)
1 tomato, diced
2oz ham
2 eggs
pepper & salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 (175c). Sautee tomatoes for one more minute then add the ham. Heat everything for an additional minute now. Put the mix in remkin, sprinkle grated cheese on top and crack an egg over them. Add salt & pepper to taste. Pop the remkins in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes. If after 15 minutes the egg white doesn’t look completely firm give it a few more minutes. Simple & easy.

Delicious or not? It's ok...but still feel like something is missing in the taste. Maybe next time I'll add some tomato puree / tomato paste ;)

Pic: Remkin egg

2. Tomato Fried Egg 番茄炒蛋

Ingredients:-
2 eggs
1 tomato, diced
salt & pepper to taste

Beat 2 eggs with salt & pepper. Diced tomato & sautee them with a teaspoon of oil. When the tomatoes turn soft, add in eggs. Heat until eggs are cooked. Ready to be served. Simpler & easier than remkin egg, hehe...

Pic: Tomato fried egg

Miso Salmon

Been longing to try miso glazed salmon but never manage to find miso until I 'discover' them in the Asian shop some time ago.

So, miso paste - checked. I found a 'look to be promising' recipe online which claims to be as nice as cheesecake factory's miso glazed salmon (I've never been there but the webpage owner makes it sound super yummy) so I decided to give it a try.

Serving with white rice, the result...

I'm not sure how the picture the picture looks to you but the taste was just so-so & it calls for too many ingredient, I think. That's why I'm not sharing the recipe here. Wait till I'm successful with the real nice miso salmon. Till then, I'll keep 'experimenting' :)

Square Cheese Cake

Graham Cracker Crust:
2 cups (200 grams) graham wafer crumbs or crushed digestive cookies
2 tablespoons (30 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake Filling:
400 grams cream cheese, softened at room temperature so it won't 'bubble' when baked
*I used Philadelphia cream cheese, more solid texture
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice / lime juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Have ready a 9 x 13 x 2 inch square baking pan that has been lined with aluminum foil across the bottom and up two opposite sides of the pan. Set aside.

Graham Cracker Crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

**Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). I forget about this line, so I baked an extra 10minutes at 160 degrees C, turns out just fine, phew...

Cheesecake Filling: With electric mixer, or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, as needed. Pour the cheesecake filling over the graham cracker base and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheesecake batter is just set.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Place in the refrigerator for a few hours to make the squares easier to cut (I placed it overnight & cut the next day morning). With a sharp knife, cut into 2 inch squares. Have a damp cloth on hand to wipe the knife between cuts.

Recipe adapted from http://www.joyofbaking.com/printpages/CheesecakeSquaresprint.html

Pic (top): Cheese cake fresh from oven; (bot): after over night chilling

The recipe calls for 24 square pieces but considering I need to 'serve' a lot of people, I have to cut it into 36 pieces. Brought the cakes to work & also to my Danish class. Well, my colleagues & classmates loves it. One of my colleague even complained that such a small piece is not enough...well, too bad for him :p

I like cheese cake and the whole baking process takes just about an hour to bake, so easy. I'll definitely bake it again, perhaps with some variation in taste (maybe with chocolate?), but this time, I will eat a lot myself instead of just distributing it ;)

Pic: Square cheese cake side view, yum yum...

Cooking Failuresss

Well, I understand that cooking is not all about success but having 3 failures in a row within one dinner preparation is devastating.

I started with ambicious plan to have home baked bread with almost instant (well, it's instant but I have to heat it up) tomato soup and grill pork (had some really nice fresh pork slices).

First of all, bread baking. Everything goes well until the moment when the baking time is up but the bread is not 'expanding'. I noticed something wrong when the bread dough doesn't 'expand' but thought it might be okay after I subject it to oven heat. I was wrong. The 'bread' (if I can still call it bread) are so solid that I can use it as self defense weapon. Outer part is crunchy but it's absolutely 'raw' on the inside. Root cause: the yeast is expired!

While I was baking the bread, I grill the pork together as well, thought that I'm capable of multi-tasking, which is not (at all). I pre-marinated the pork with some crushed black peppers, salt & paprika and put it into the oven half way through bread baking time, planning to grill it for 10minutes so it can be ready the same time as the bread.

Unfortunately, I didn't consider of the fact that the bread could be 'problematic' so I added another 10minute to try to bake the bread further when it's not expanding much, forgetting all about the pork. So I end up with 'raw' bread & over-cooked, ultra dry pork.

So what can go wrong with instant tomato soup? Well, simple as: choosing the wrong brand of instant soup!!! It turns out to be on the salty side. At the end of the day, my dinner was crunchy bread 'skin' with salty tomato soup & ultra dry grilled pork. After battling with the super dry pork with my fork & knife, then chew endless time in my mouth but still find it difficult to swallow, I have to give up.

The 'food' (if I can still clasified them as food) were so bad that I'm so glad I didn't take any pictures because I won't have the courage to publish them. Conclusion: I shall never multitask, especially trying to integrate baking + grilling at a single time and never buy that particular brand of tomato soup again!

Security.Police

A friend read some local Danish news complaining about police and brought it up for discussion. The 'triggering' news goes like this: a cook caught a thief red-handed and held him retained while he contacted the police to pick up the thief. Unfortunately, he called twice and nobody from the police force come so he had no choice but to let the thief go.

The worst part is: during his phone call, he was told by the operator that he might be issued a fine ticket because the yelling of the theif in the background was heard and the cook is suspected to be mistreating the thief. I almost fainted when I hear this.

I mean, come on...if I'm the thief & I'm being captured, I would probably been screaming & cursing the cook. What's wrong with the operator? Since when the world change? Instead of protecting citizens & catching thieves, police nowadays refuse to carry out their duties and even worse, fining good citizen for capturing thief? I cannot figure out the logic, not even a single bit!

I was told that the situation wasn't this bad a couple of years back. Due to recent reduce in police station (in the effort to centralize & consolidate police stations) & resources issue, policeman coverage is not as good as before and they're not as responsive as well. But come on, just how big can a place be to be out of coverage? I find it absolutely ridiculous.

If it's only one single complaint, then it is an isolated case but if newspaper can publish at least 10 of these ridiculous police stories at one single time, I think it is seriously problematic.

Here's another one: a guy was sleeping in his car outdoor and was broken into & attacked by thieves. He filed a police report but ended up receiving a police fine ticket because he's not suppose to sleep in the car overnight. OMG, I'm absolutely speechless! I feel like the world has been turn upside down!

All these while, I feel safe walking on streets of Denmark and I've never heard of really severe / disturbing bad social news (compare to back home where female raped, tortured & killed cases are not rare). After hearing this, I seriously feel insecure. What if something happens to me and police is not coming to my rescue when I needed them the most? What am I going to do?

So this friend of mine who used to attend tai-chi class suggested me to learn tai-chi. Tai-chi? With the slow movement of tai-chi, the thief / bad guy probably already knocked me down & achieve his/her/their objective(s). I think I need to learn Taekwando or Karate instead.

Snow

It snowed, it snowed...in Denmark, November. A little out of season snow but I was thrilled with my first snow in Denmark. Started at about 10.50am, it was just hail and I was already happily hopping around in office (I don't care, to me, anything that looks like snow is snow :p). Here's a quick 6 second 'snowing' video from outside of my cubical (yes, I have train station view).

The day continued with real snow, on & off. I walked home in snow...was nice to see roads & roof tops turn white, snows falling & walking in the snow if only it was not so cold & not so slippery :p

I have full glass windows in my living room & bedroom so I can actually sit comfortably in warm living room / lying in bedroom, sipping hot coffee & enjoy the snow scene (even though the 'scene' is just a carpark).

Looking forward to my first snow fight / snow angel / snow anything in Denmark but I'm not sure when it'll snow again. Until then, please bear with the 6 second video clip. I'll definitely snap more when it REALLY snows :)

Adapted Bird of Paradise

Stumbled upon a very nice looking recipe (that is actually relatively easy to prepare) with fancy name - Bird of Paradise http://www.supermarketserenade.com/2008/10/bird-of-paradise.html

I follow the recipe to the fullest, served it with home made mash potato & here's the end result:



To be honest, I don't think the chicken is as nice as the originator descripe. I don't mind eating it again (if) but I won't purposedly cook it. Perhaps I expected too much? Perhaps something went wrong in my cooking process? Anyway, if anyone of you decided to try it out, please let me know what you think :)

Strawberry Sponge Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

Was invited to a friend's birthday dinner and was told it will be a small and cosy one. Can't figure out what present to bring so I decided to bake a birthday cake.

Since I've baked white butter cream cake last time but I still insist on baking a white cake (to me, birthday cake has to be white, it feels more 'birthday', somehow). After rounds of searching, decided to bake a 2 layer sponge cake with strawberry filling, frost with whipped cream and garnish with fresh strawberries.

Adapt the sponge cake recipe from Boston cream pie: http://www.joyofbaking.com/BostonCreamPie.html

When assemble the cake, apply a layer of strawberry jam on top of the bottom layer. Upon complete, add a layer of whipped cream frosting. Try to be more generous, it tastes good :) For a 2 layer cake, I'd recommend to go for 2 portions of whipped cream frosting. I did my cake with 1 portion & I have to be very careful on the frosting for it to merely cover the cake.

Whipped cream frosting recipe:
http://joyofbaking.com/WhippedCreamFrosting.html

I garnish my cake with fresh strawberries (looks a bit dull but I don't have other fruits & shops are not open on Sunday) and finally zest some chocolate flakes on top of the cake.

And so...that's a story of a birthday cake =)

Wonton Soup

Chilly late autumn days, what is better than a bowl of hot soup to keep me warm? I'm in the mood of dumpling (wonton), so a trip to the asian shop to get the wonton wrapper & bak choy, and I'm all set.

Following the recipe here: http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2008/08/04/wonton-noodle-soup/, using 250g pork, I made 20 'various shapes' of wontons (I cannot seem to produce a uniform shape, unfortunately). The recipe works fine but I'd recommend using 2 teaspoon of cornstarch to smoothen the texture of the meat. The trick on adding in wonton when the water is warm but not boiling is really great. The wonton stay together & didn't open up.


Add in some egg noodles & boiled bak choy, my home made wonton soup is done. Mine looks much less interesting than the recipe website & I skipped scallion (I don't want to use a little & end up with a lot of scallion left overs) but personally I think it taste just fine. If I cook again next time, I'll probably add some pork into the soup & boil it to taste more than just chicken broth :)

Peanut Turmeric Chicken

I am suppose to make satay chicken but apparently it will take so much effort to cook the sauce & I don't have all the ingredients required for a proper satay meal. Being in lazy mode, I decided to modify the recipe based on what I have & came up with peanut turmeric chicken.

Ingredient (for the chicken):-
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast (cut into 3 stripes each)
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1½ tablespoons peanut butter (unsweetened)
1 teaspoons honey (optional)
2 teaspoon turmeric
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon peanut oil

Instructions:-
1. Combine soy sauce, honey, turmeric, garlic and oil in a bowl. Add chicken stripes. Turn to coat well. Cover. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. I marinated it overnight.

2. Bring chicken out and allow it to come to room temperature. Heat up 1 tablespoon of oil in a non-stick skillet & slowly pan fried chicken stripes until cooked. Serve with jasmin rice.

Simple isn't it? Except one has to be careful when pan frying the chicken. The oil 'splashes' everywhere (I stay furthest possible from the pan) & with turmeric as one of the ingredient, my kitchen wall is 'painted' with yellow oil marks which required much cleaning afterwards.

Next time, I'll try to grill it at 200degree Celcius for about 6 minutes or until chicken is cooked. I think it should work. We'll see ;)

Sweet Chili Prawn

I like seafood...actually I love them back home (still do).

Unfortunately, even though Denmark is literally surrounded by sea (which translate to lots of seafood to me) but the seafood available here are not what I'm used to. Fishes are different, not much (to be exact, none) squid/crabs spotted so far, not to mentioned they are usually frozen. One really need to sniff their way around to local fish stall to find limited selection of fresh seafood & please don't expect it to be cheap when it's fresh :)

So, lowering my expectation (again) when I crave for something other than meat & poultry, I go for frozen tiger prawns. How to prepare it?? Did the coated with breadcrumb thing before, don't want to repeat. Hmm...got me cracking my head for quite some time until I get inspired by my mom's chili paste (again).

Minced a clove of garlic, stir fried it with a tablespoon of oil & add in a tablespoon of CH's mom's chili paste. Fried until chili fragrant can be smelled, trust me, it's innegligible ;) & add in the prawns. When prawns are almost cooked (slightly orangy/reddish), add in 1 tablespoon of sweet thai chili sauce (the type with garlic) & 1 tablespoon of water. Continue stir fried until prawn cooked & serve with white rice. I'm telling you, it's finger licking good!


I like onion so I usually add in ½ small onion to the recipe. Just sliced the onion & stir fried it together with the garlic. When it turn slightly soft, add in chili paste. Don't want to mention it above because the prawn will still taste nice without the onion. It's an optional but recommended (why? because I like it) :p

Ok...I think I've mentioned more than a couple of times about my mom's chili paste. I will ask her the recipe (when I go home) and publish them for 'public sharing'...how nice of me to share my mom's love :p

For the time being, I hope you can at least enjoy the picture ;)

Depressed

I am depressed...very depressed...extremely depressed!!!

One of my colleague brought his 11-year old son to work. Strange enough, even though he speaks only little English & my Danish is nowhere near 'OK', we 'click' (maybe because I have a child in me? :p)

He was following me up & down at work and we bump into a female colleague from another department. Here's the problem: she asked me if the boy is my son. I almost fainted on the spot. NO WAY! Do I look like I'm old enough to have an 11-year old son??

I sprint back to my colleague (the boy's father) & complained. Unfortunately my complaining voice volume went a little high (because I was extremely 'hurt'), the whole row of colleagues heard that & was laughing at me. They said they'll help to call ethics line for such 'insult' that happens on me :s

I wonder & wonder & wonder what's wrong with my look. After rounds of confirmation with my colleagues that I don't look like a mom for 11-year old boy, I draw the conclusion that the female colleague needs a pair of new spectacle! That must be the reason.

Raspberry Pancake

Ingredients (serves 4)
95g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
150ml cups milk
½ egg (if the egg is big, else, no concern to use full egg)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions:-
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Recipe adapt from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Good-Old-Fashioned-Pancakes/Detail.aspx

The pancake size that I'm used to is small & I prefer it slightly thick (my Danish friends call it 'American size'). I served the pancake to them & they were shocked to see my small thick pancakes. The 'normal' Danish ones are thin & of pan size, really big.

I like to eat my pancake with honey / maple syrup, apparently it's also nice to sprinkle some granulated sugar on the pancake, roll it up & eat it; the Danish way. The extra pancakes can be kept in fridge & just reheat at microwave oven & ta-da...'fresh' warm pancake ready again :)

Pic: my pancake breakfast

Ginger Garlic Chicken & Broccoli 'Flower'

Cooking time...

Broccoli 'flowers' with carrot. This is so easy. Boil the broccoli & carrot and arrange them in a 'floral' manner. Mince a clove of garlic. Heat up a ½ tablespoon of oil and stir fried the garlic. Then add in a mixture of half a teaspoon of oyster sauce, ½tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 tablespoon of water, some sugar to taste (if you like). Bring to boil (actually nothing much to boil, just make sure it's hot) and pour it over the broccoli 'flowers'. Finally drizzle some drops of sesame oil on top & voila :)


The ginger garlic recipe was adapted from http://onceuponaplate.blogspot.com/2008/10/crispy-garlic-ginger-chicken-asian.html. I do not know what I did wrong but the result is absolutely different from the originator's picture. Mine become the 'dried' version of ginger garlic chicken but it still taste good :s

Anyway, here's my single dinner :)

Funny side note is, because the ginger that I'm using was moldy (I recall mom's saying to just cut off the moldy part & the good portion is ok to be used), I was having stomach ache the next day. Poor me.... When I spoke to my mom over Skype, she scolded me saying that if a ginger went moldy, shouldn't consume it :(