Satay Again!

Singapore Airlines has been serving satay as starter in the business and first classes for a while already. We had them again yesterday. I had no problem with them because I was starving and they were quite good. The satay was served with cucumber, sliced onion and peanut gravy.

Getting Ready!

We have started packing for our far-away trip again. It will be to somewhere cool and exciting.... We have been there before. It's a place with lots ups and downs, up north there! One of my favorite places to visit. I am excited now. Guess where!

More White!

I like it that I hove more white flowers in the garden. My white periwinkle plant is doing great and there are more and more of its flowers blooming.

Ayam Penyet

Occasionally I love to buy food from some food court and this tasty Indonesian smashed chicken or called Ayam Penyet, served with rice and spicy chili sauce, is one of my favorites. It's delicious for only $5.50-$6 only. It's such good value for the money.

The Practice Has Begun

It seems like they have started practicing for the National Day Celebration again. This evening, we saw the jets carrying the Flag for the third Saturday in a row. We also saw fireworks again every weekend now. Yay. One year went by so fast!

The Tall Turmeric Plant

I don't use much of turmeric in my cooking, but by now, I have many turmeric plants in a few places in the garden and in a couple containers. The one in the picture above, the plant with the big leaves, grows in the back terrace of our place. It gets plenty of of morning sun and it's quite shady at times. I guess the balance of everything so good for its growth. The plants is tall at more than 60cm, a lot taller than other turmeric plants that I have around.

Apple Crumble Pie

Apple deserts are one of my favorite things. I have some green apple in the fridge and made an apple crumble pie. Of course, with the large amount of cakes left from the birthday, and only two people practically eating desserts, we are very slow at finishing this up. We'll get there, eventually.

Dinner At Graze

The birthday girl's pick for our dinner last night was so right on. Graze recently opened a branch nearby our place and we finally got to have a taste. We all agreed that the food was good. If I were to say something that I dislike, it was the fact that it's a candle-lit dinner and without my reading glasses, this old woman had a little tough time reading the menu and looking at the food.

Starter that we shared: Seared calamari & chipolata, rocket, balsamic, lemon.

The best dish DH has ever picked, finally: Pan-roasted barramundi, orange & beets salad, green chili almond mayo.

My entree: Pear & frisee salad, gorgonzola, candied walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette. Not enough dressing!

Miss K's choice, of course: Pappardelle, organic tomato sauce, aged parmesan.

Another Birthday...

It's another milestone for our youngest daughter, turning 15 today. She was only two yesterday. I don't know what happened in between and suddenly, she is a teenager. Happy birthday Miss K! May you have all the best things the world can offer. God bless. XOXO.

Not So Green, But....

It's another unplanned lunch, we were nearby Ichiban Tei and decided to have lunch over there. It's the place by the river where we normally eat ramen, but not this time. I had my eyes on the salad on the menu. I picked Green Salad with Sesame dressing because I love green salad and sesame dressing is delicious. Despite its name, the salad that came was not so green, which was fine for me, but I was not too happy with the lack of the dressing. It's yummy, but I wish they had put more. It's a good thing that Salad was not the only dish we ordered, we had others that filled us up too. Those that were not as healthy, but made us happy.

Instant Udon!

It rained in the early Thursday morning, the wind blew hard and made so much noise. After all that, we had a very cool morning and I though having some noodle soup would be so lovely. Miss P brought back this packaged instant Udon in December when she came home for Christmas. Only one, but nobody seemed to have interest in eating them, until that day. I thought she got it from Japan, as stopped by in Tokyo, but apparently she got it from Dulles. Interesting. The lesson here, never jump into conclusion without knowing all the facts! Hmmm.....

Miss P is about to come back again and I felt compelled to consume what she brought back earlier or facing the consequence of her complaining (! - rolled eyes!). The weather was also perfect for that. To my surprise, it was a good one. The soup tasted near authentic and the noodle size was perfect for my liking, they are not as big as the fresh ones that I have seen around. If you happen to look for one, the brand is Myojo and it's made in Japan. Wherever they are made could make the difference in the taste! This is yummy and fast.

O-My-Burger!

Our target restaurant was fully booked today and we were too hungry to wait for lunch late, so we decided to go to the best available alternative. It's Marmalade Pantry again. We still had to wait for our table, the 10 minutes waiting time promised, extended to some 15 minutes. Beggars can't be choosy.

We got our table and we knew what we wanted. I had the hamburger. With the recommendation from the waiter, I made that a deluxe hamburger with Porcini Mushroom. I was full and satisfied. Good lunch!

Colorful!

Right now in the garden, we flowers blooming all around. In one of the containers that we have, a few different colors of Four O'Clock are showing off. With lots of sunshine and plenty of rain, they seem to be growing very healthily.

Still Green....

Our chili plants are having plenty of little white flowers and many of them have produced chilies. Most of them are still green, but they will become red eventually. I love having chilies at home, I normally need 2-4 pieces at a time and that's not daily. Buying from supermarket would normally make me throw them away as they get rotten after certain period of time. We don't eat that many chilies.

Ixora

Most of the Ixora plants that we have in the garden have been there since before we moved in. The developer planted them and some other plants as well. We bought more to replace the died plants and after a while, some continue to do well, some died. We have them in two colors here in our garden, those in the picture are blooming nicely at present.

Mini Warbler!

Cute overload!

Stacked Up!

We went to school for a graduation ceremony last month and last Thursday, we went back for an award ceremony for Miss K. The venue where it was held, were having arts exhibition, done by the students. I enjoy looking at and taking picture of them. There were many different items and I love to have some at home. I don't think they were for sale though.

Kaempferia Galanga

This is commonly known around here, or around me, as Kencur and used in many dishes in Indonesian cooking. I know probably just two. But, well. I have the plants and they have been giving me flowers nearly everyday.

Blue Again!

We had so much rain towards to end of last week to Sunday. It's wet and some places were flooded, unexpectedly. Until yesterday. The sun was out, the sky was blue. A nice change for a bit! We all need that sometimes.

Caramel Popcorn

Nothing much to say about this. Caramel popcorn is my favorite type of popcorn to eat and to make. It's one of my several comfort foods. I made them quite often lately. It's nice to have them on the coffee table near the TV. I know, it's bad-bad-bad!!! But I still do it anyway.

Cochinillo Rolls

Nadal will be playing against Federer this evening in the French Open Final, it's just a good reason to grab a bite in a Spanish restaurant. I had been eying Bilbao since months ago and was glad to finally have the day when DH said, "I will follow you wherever you eat!". Spanish it was then.

We had a couple tapas and shared a main entree. The above is of one the tapas, Cochinillo (suckling pig) Rolls, which were quite nicely prepared but didn't quite win my heart in terms of presentation. They were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. I could use more seasoning and sauce. I love best their service, my glass was always filled up, unlike in many other restaurants they we have been where services given were rather poor.

On The Step...

On one sunny day a few months ago, I found these dry leaves on one of the steps leading to the swimming pool. With the camera in hand, I decided to take a couple of pictures of them. Here's one of them.

Just Begun....

My Kalanchoe plant has started blooming, only a few so far. It's a start!