Gong Xi Fatt Chai 恭喜发财
| Thursday, January 19, 2012 | Posted by Swee San under Festive |
Hi all!
Well, I didn’t mean to not post anything new between the last post and Chinese New Year. But I’ve been busy much. I’ve a few drafted posts but they are not finished and I don’t have the time to finish it.
So, well, blogging will resume soon and here’s to
wishing everyone a happy and
prosperous Chinese New Year.
May the year of dragon be filled with
good luck, good health and happiness.
(and good food too!)

The Kitchen
| Thursday, January 12, 2012 | Posted by Swee San under Misc, Utensils / equipments |
Well I did say I was going to do a post about my kitchen after a few teasers. It wasn’t too much of planning on the kitchen as I knew exactly what I wanted, what material would be used for the types of cabinets. The only part that wasn’t expected was a pillar (which is on the right side of the picture) that couldn’t be removed due to building structure. Hence, there’re 2 pillar stuck in between the dry kitchen and the dining area. Initially we wanted to make a bar with one of the pillar, but now with 2, it would make the bar too big and distract traffic flow. So we kinda skipped the bar idea. Well maybe a couple of years time, and if we need an additional bar we’ll build it then.
Here. we. go!
This is the dry kitchen. Material of use for the wall and tall cabinets are high gloss PU spray paint in white. Spray paints are more expensive compared to laminates or melamin but because I use this oven very often, I didn’t want any material to expand / come off / change colour / melt etc. Hence spray paint is one of the safe choice after glass (I don’t like glass so technically it’s not a choice for me) The base cabinets are in brown wood grain laminate. All are handleless, with a 45 degree cut inwards, as handle. The top, is a aluminium rack for… stuffs. The gap between the top and bottom cabinet, the one called backsplash (in marble effect) is actually a laminate to make it look like marble slabs. Since white and brown is kinda plain toned, I decided to make it more ‘flowery’.Plus, it makes it more designer-ish compared to using glasskote / glass cladding or tiles. Glass cladding are more expensive and partially reflective. Tiles are ….. common, so I chose laminate. Best part is if after 5 years and you want to change it, you can just remove it and order a new piece and attach it back on to a plywood or something. Of course with the help of a carpenter if you need to remove it. You defintely can’t do it easily with tiles.
The pic you see now (above) is with a warm light. I have two types of lights installed above the plaster ceiling, warm and white flourescent, so there can be both white (when I make cakes) and warm when we’re not really doing anything there. For a brighter shade, we just turn on both warm and white. But most of the time we just have it on white cause the rest of the house are all warm lights.
Far right is the entrance to the wet kitchen.
The oven here is a 60cm Teka which I bought at a very very very slashed price (about 70% off) as it was a displayed but never installed unit. I am fine with display but not used appliances. It was only about RM 1500, from the original price of 5k +. It comes with a meat prob, digital display and timer, a pizza function and 3 inner trays. I don’t like 4 layers cause there’s no ‘middle’ tray… u know what I mean.. YA I’m fussy like that.
When choosing oven, I … well actually I didn’t exactly choose. There were only 3-4 ovens on clearance sales at that time and I chose the most expensive one, since it’s at 70% off, might as well take the most expensive one! If you ask me what brand or what type of ovens to look for, honestly I cannot give you much advice. I have at most used 3 different brands of oven in my home, a Zanussi in my old house. A teka and a tuscani from a range cooker. Oh wait, I’ve used other commercial big big ovens, and a Eka stand alone oven before. I would say that as long as you know how to control the temperature and time, it’s almost all the same for the same price range. All ovens would eventually come to a problem of uneven heat distribution or inaccurate temperature. If you KNOW your oven well, it’s the best.
This is from the other side. The top surface is a white solid surface. and em.. fridge at the other end. The island is about 3 ft x 9 ft. Initially it was suppose to be 4″ width but because of the 2nd obstructed pillar, the island had to be cut off abit. This pic is taken with white fluorescent light. On the other end of the kitchen island, are some electrical plugs and a LAN cable outlet for interneting. Also because our house is a 3 storey house and the main hub is located on the 3rd floor, it makes it hard for any wifi to reach the ground floor. Usually for wifi, 2 storeys are covered, the 3rd is usually very poor. So we had a wifi hub installed on the ground floor so everyone can use it.
The fridge you see here ( pic above) is a LG Top and bottom door fridge. Just don’t buy LG for fridges. We bought it about say… 8 years ago and it’s already been in the factory a couple too many times. We were ALL SO WORRIED that after the move, it may go KO, but SURPRISINGLY (touchwood) it worked ok. But still keeping fingers crossed on this one.
Roasted Pumpkin and Spinach Salad
| Tuesday, January 10, 2012 | Posted by Swee San under Pumpkin, Roast, Salad |
I made this a few weeks before the Christmas Pot luck. It consists of pumpkin, fennel, pomegranate seeds, spinach, parmesan and a lemon vinaigrette. Much more ingredients tho. As for during the pot luck, I still remained the same dressing but just used pumpkin, spinach, mixed salad leaves and homemade croutons. Kinda forgot about the parmesan, but really no one complained about it.
Roasted pumpkin is probably my only favourite way of cooking / eating pumpkin. I usually leave the skin on and slice them thinly so the flesh is soft and the skin is crispy. Plus, the cooking time is shorter!!

I remember one of my very first pumpkin salad (Yes I’ve made ALOT of pumpkin salads in my cooking life) I roasted pumpkin and orange sweet potato, then added sliced beetroot (those from the can, cause its crunchy and yet tender to eat) with some spinach and scattered some ricotta cheese on top. There are alot of ways you can make your salad interesting. I mean, salad doesn’t have to be just greens and leaves. Even just by adding a vibrant colour to it, it makes it more appetizing already. I’m not a salad person. Or rather I should say, I’m not a salad leaves / lettuce person. I need different textures and colours in a salad, otherwise I won’t be interested in it at all.
For the pot luck, I didn’t had to buy any herbs from the supermarket at all. All sage, rosemary and thyme were cut from my garden. It was a moment of self satisfaction, a proud moment, especially when everything I tried to plant in my old house all died before I could even use it. So for the pumpkin salad, I used rosemary and thyme as an aromatic.
Roasted Pumpkin and Spinach Salad
(serves 6)
1/2 of a Japanese or local Pumpkin
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
a couple sprigs of fresh thyme
salt, black pepper, olive oilA bag of baby spinach leaves. (you can use any other lettuce / salad leaves)
1 fennel
seeds from 1/2 a pomegranate
1/2 cup parmesan shavings1 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 a lemon,zested
juice from 1/2 a pomegranate
salt and black pepper to taste
Method.1. Clean the skin of the pumpkin, remove the seeds (or you can leave them) and slice thinly.
2. Arrange on a tray and scatter rosemary and thyme over it. Drizzle some olive oil to coat and some salt and pepper. Toss around to coat.
3. Roast in a 180 C oven for 15-20 minutes or until soft. This depends on how thick or thin you cut them.
4. To make the salad, remove the green parts of the fennel. thinly shave the white part of the fennel. In a big salad serving bowl, add in salad leaves, in my case spinach, then add shaved fennel on top.
5. Top with roasted pumpkin, herbs and some shaved parmesan cheese. For the pomegranate, squeeze it over a strainer / sieve. Toss in the seeds and save the juice to make the vinaigrette.
6. Combine all ingredients to make the vinaigrette. Season well.
7. Pour the vinaigrette on top only when serving. You don’t want a soggy salad!








