Where are you chook?

I had a tiny craving for "Ayam Garam Kunyit" aka fried chicken with tumeric and salt.  I still can taste the deep fried chicken at the Nasi Campur stalls, or even better at the Indian curry house where food are served on banana leaf in Malaysia.

I read that tumeric is natural detoxifier for liver and prevent cancer.  I also vaguely remembered my ex-flatmate in the college used tumeric powder on her skin as it is said to smooth her skin.  So, needless to say, after the alcohol intake over Christmas and New Year, any detoxifier seems to be a good idea.

Thank you to a dear aunt who shared this recipe by going bla bla bla, add this add that... and here is the final product....

Strangely enough, it was amazingly easy to prepare.  The tedious part is frying the chookie chook.  I could have done this on bbq or the oven....but unhealthy deep fried stuff is usually sinfully good! We had a wee technical problem here, my pots are only around 20cm wide, and my wok wont fit the side burner.  But when there is a will, there is a way...do them in small batches and hey presto!  They turned out ok dont they?


I  mixed 3 teaspoons of tumeric powder with 1.5teaspoon of salt with 3 tablespoon of water, plus 1 shallot and 2 cloves of garlic crushed together.  Add this to one chicken (approx 2kg) that has been skinned and boned and cut into serving sizes.  Marinate overnight for best result.  Then deep fry them.  How much easier can this get?  Give it a try and let me know what you think? 

I also did another batch by adding 1 teaspoon of curry powder to half the the portion above.  It has different texture, and the colour was slightly brighter.  I am looking forward to lunch when we go back to work next week

I was on cooking duty the other day. Eeny, meeny, miny, mo...what shall I cook today? Beef / Pork? Chicken?

To market to market off I went to the market. Fish sounds good, what fish can I get today? arghhh...this one is good - it's called Alfonsino. Look at the size of its eyes.... the flesh is supersoft but this fish is so underrated!!!

Steam fish sounds like a good idea - ginger, shitake mushroom and some coriander and watercress as garnishing on top - any takers? and dont forget the pickled plum too...mammamia!!! It's so easy and no fuss!!

It's even better when the watercress came from my garden - less than 5 minutes old!!! hooray!!!

I spy with my eyes, something starts with T

I have been busy

I plan

I plant

I prune

I pick

Guess what did I spy today??

A "conjoint twin" among the tomatoes

I also found these egg-plant looking tomatoes....hmmm I wonder what do they taste like? I hope the weather doesn't turn cold too soon.

and these super red ones are yummilicious !!!

Food, glorious food!!!

What did I do in Europe? How did I manage to get up at 2am on Saturday mornings, caught a bus to the regional airport, flew to Europe, and got home at 2am on Monday mornings, in time for work at 9am?? what kept me going??

Food!!!

glorious food...

Gotta try these ...they give you natural highs!! and make you natural huge!!

Mouth watering Gelatos in Italy on a hot day. I had berries and granny smith gelatos, see those apple skin on the gelatos...yummy!!!

This was what we had for dinner when we were in Venice in Winter. Venice was so quite in winter, and if you dont feel like Pizza and Pasta, there aren't many other choices, apart from what we had!!!

Breakfast for 2 little piggies in Nice. 5 servings for 2 person? the waitress couldn't believe when we ordered the third item and she was ready to ring the till then...but....sorry madame another duex items please.

Fried baby squid in Dubrovnik. Mussels cooked in wine, and seafood Risotto. They are so cheap and the view was to kill for!!! cant complain!!! the risotto just soak up all the nice sauce...

and I only managed to stare at these desserts at Stockholm as it was too beautiful to be eaten !!!

Spring, roll-on spring!!!

Spring....officially started on 1 Sept in NZ, and this is what we are supposed to get...

But...

The rain doesn't want to go away, what can we do???

Spring...is the sign of new beginning...I love spring in London, I could spend all day walking around Hyde Park and Regents Park...oo la la...it is just sooo nice....look at the willow trees, the daffodils...

Bath First!!! no no..it's the place, not the action!!!

Bath was my first destination after arriving in London. The 90-minute train journey was beautiful. A small historical town, good for a day trip.

Bath is easy enough to walk-about, afterall, it is a world heritage site.

Pulteney Bridge is just beautiful. I reckon the best view is from the city Garden.

The Circus has lots of history to it, in addition to its architecture. I also went to the Royal Crescent, which has about 30 house over looking a huge park. I might just get there one day!! Maybe...(dream is free!!!)

The famous Sally Lunn Bun came from Bath, in fact, Sally Lunn lived in the oldest house in Bath, built in 1482 (wow, some 525 years, I wonder what was I doing at that time??)

Another place not to be missed is the Roman Bath, by the Abbey Church yard. They will even offer you a glass of thermal water at the end of the visit...try it, and let me know if you like the taste.