Cray(-cray)fish pasta

I'm going cray cray~

Hey ho hi-dy ho.

Yes I can't seem to sleep. And I'm still salivating over my crayfish pasta that I made for dinner just now.

If you guys want to try this, here's how I did it.

Ingredients:
CRAYFISH, DUH
Pasta of choice (I wanted to use linguine but NTUC ran out of it so I used spaghetti)
Garlic
Red chilli
Yellow onions
Olive oil
Lingham Chilli Sauce (if you don't know what this is, please go and buy it now. NOW. Best chilli sauce ever)
Basil
Italian herbs
Black pepper
Tomato paste (I used Hosen brand)
Tomatoes
Sugar
Lime juice
Coke (yes, Coca Colaaaaaaa)



Crayfish prep:

1. Clean and halve the crayfish lengthwise. 

2. Boil it for about 2-3 mins (when water is already boiling) to make sure the insides are cooked.

Mix the following ingredients in a bowl:

- 3 tbsp of olive oil (it might taste better if you substitute this with butter)

- Chopped garlic

- Diced yellow onions

- 2 tbsp of Lingham chilli sauce 

- Basil (mine comes in a bottle)

- Black pepper

- Tabasco sauce

**Really, make this mixture your own. You can add in whatever it is that you want. Since my pasta is tomato-based, I wanted to go for something spicy and plus, I'm a garlic lover. So yeah.

3. Remove crayfish from boiling pot, spoon the mixture on top of the crayfish meat and pop them in the oven for about 10mins at 180degrees to let the mixture seep in.

IN THE MEANTIME...

Pasta:

1. Heat olive oil in pan.

2. Saute diced yellow onions, chopped garlic and chopped red chilli.

3. Wait until the aroma comes up (or how the Malays put it - tunggu bau naik), then add one dollop (or one HUGE tablespoon) of tomato paste.

4. Add 2-3 tbsp of Lingham chilli sauce.

5. Add 1/4 cup of water.

6. Add 3 tbsp of coke.

7. Add tomatoes (that has been cut in eights). Here, let the whole thing come to a boil to reduce the tomatoes. You can squish them to make the juices come out.

8. Add 2 tbsp of lime juice.
9. Adjust the taste with sugar. No need for salt because the tomato paste is already pretty salty.

10. Spam the Italian herbs.

11. Add spaghetti (that has already been boiled in salt water beforehand), stir and serve with crayfish at the side.

VOILA.

I honestly don't know what the coke does to enhance the taste of the dish, but trust me, the pasta wouldn't taste as good without it. I've seen tons of cooking shows that included wine/beer in their dishes. So I thought I'd use the most popular carbonated drink I had at home. Maybe if the dish required the use of white wine, I could substitute it with Sprite? Why don't you give it a go and let me know. Maybe when I've tried it, I'll let you know too.

Hmm, maybe I should also include a list of non-halal ingredients with halal alternatives. Probably those that I've tried.

Stay tuned for more recipes!

Bali, 2014

Let's begin with my 2nd trip overseas with the hubby. We went to Bali about 2 weeks ago and stayed there for 4 days and 3 nights. 

So awesome! I still get wide-smiled excited each time the plane takes off. Here are some pictures of the trip.

An "ulu" alley along the streets of Kuta.

Kuta beach.

Here's my beef lasagne at one of the restaurants I forgot where. It was so good.

Pandawa Beach. Beautiful waves, beautiful beach. Not commercialized yet, so no crowd here. Perfect.

The hubby was getting a massage beside me. And I was waiting for the lady to massage my skinny feet.

Garuda Wisnu Kencana, a cultural park that tells the tale of the Hindu history of Garuda, Wisnu (commonly known as Vishnu here), Kadru and a few others I can't remember already.

It's funny how I got the image of an eagle/bird upon the mention of Garuda (I play Summoner's War) and Garuda was, indeed, a bird-looking individual! Heh.

Dreamland. Yes, that's the name of this place. Generally dominated by Chinese tourists. I can see why.

Look at this place!

Ah yes, the Kopi Luwak plantation. Here they have a variety of tea and coffee that they planted here. We bought the mangosteen peel tea because it was that good. I liked the Rosella tea, too. Not a fan of the Kopi Luwak, but Hadi wanted it, so we got it too.

Kecak dance. Dancers are only accompanied by vocals from these men. It tells the story of Hinduism's version of Romeo and Juliet. Oh, and there was some fire element to it too.

Ah, here it is. The monkey-looking guy in the middle kicks the fire with his bare feet to put them out. I'm so glad I wasn't sitting right in front.

What's a trip without some arty-farty shot? This is my feeble attempt at bokeh. HAH.

Manhattan Fish Market, by the way.

Some chicken noodle on our last day. Pretty good. And that is a plate of Bali's version of siew mai in peanut sauce.

Airport food. Yes, I had to.

I ate A LOT during this trip. Contented and very happy.

I'm so happy that my husband dragged me out to see a part of the world.

I was looking at Cambodia/Phnom Penh/Vietnam/Bangkok/Manila/Laos for the next trip.

Let's start small. :)

Looking forward to more trips with you!

Oh my goodness

For so long, I had totally forgotten about this space. It wasn't until recently when I was cooking that I told myself I'd want to document my recipes and what-not. Failures and successes.  Then I thought - why not blog about it?

Then today when I looked back at this blog, I realized there were so many things that changed since 2010.

Looking back at 4 years was....... amazing.

Empowering.
Enlightening.
Funny.

I had to say, my dreams came true.

Now I'm happily married to the man of my dreams. It's been over a year now!
I've got 6 adorable and beautiful kitties at home - Mika, Loki, Bruno, Snow, Scooby and our latest addition, Anna.
I'm on the right track of (slowly) building up my career as an educator.
We're moving to our new BTO house next year. Can't wait!

So there.
Super quick updates on 2013-2014.

I'm gonna change some pictures and layout here. Some things have gotta go.


Till next time! Real soon :)

125 days

I'm so mad. So so so so so mad. You're in Europe right now and it was supposed to be our first experience together. But now you've "tarnished" that whole Europe experience with some not-so-good ones, I don't want to go there anymore. Let's just not have a getaway anywhere anytime anywhen. HMPH.

I refuse refuse refuse refuse to go anywhere already. Unless you plan on convincing me or dragging my ass to some beautiful country and make it the best experience any girl can ever get, don't even think about going anywhere anymore.
HMPH.

And no, material things do not make me happy for long.
HMPH.


I want surprises :'(

**********

On a side note, I used to do the usual 'keeping count' of the time we'd spent together, but this time it's different. I'm actually counting down to the days that we'd officially be together.
I can't wait for all these to end; the waiting, the seeing-me-off-to-the-staircase moments, the goodbye hugs and kisses.. 

Countless of times where I've been so mad that we're not married yet cos I can't cuddle you close in my arms and smell the lingering scent of cologne on your neck. Though I'm pretty sure there's tons of things I'm gonna miss when we get married too, I seriously can't wait for our big day to come. 

Preparations are going a little slower than expected, but I'm not complaining. Things are pretty okay I guess? I do foresee July and August to be hectic cos we need to prepare for many things. Then comes the headache.

Whatever it is, I'm so glad we're doing this together.

I'm back!

Wow. Happy New Year to all! It's been about 5 months I suppose? Many things have happened so far. Okay I'm going straight in on this. Haha! Looks like I've got tons to update on.

I just made chilli crab, for one, and dare I say, it's quite good. Haha! Well Hadi ain't complaining, so why should I?

Over the past few months, it was quite a rollercoaster for me. I shan't mention the unfortunate incidents, but let's just say it's gonna be over in a few months :) Also, I've finalized on a few of the wedding stuffs! I'm super stoked and I can't wait to get more things done! Most of all, I can't wait to get married.
A brand new year, a brand new name for myself. CHEY!

I still have to keep a lookout for great deals for my honeymoon in December too. I really have no idea how to go about doing this. I mean, I've never really been out of the country. Let alone been on a flight, and I'm so nervous just thinking about it.

Anyway, on top of all these, I've yet to start on my second semester in school. I'm rather nervous to start because of the long holidays that I'm having now. I just fear for my momentum when I'm back in school. Like, how long am I gonna take to leave the holiday mood behind? I wouldn't know now, would I?

Somehow I foresee a stressful few months ahead prior to the wedding. Wait, what am I talking about? It IS gonna be a stressful time! Getting married in October is no joke. My exams would be around the corner, if I'm not mistaken.

For now, let's just enjoy the relaxed time I have on my hands and get a headstart on a few things. My list, for example. My list of things that has to be done for the wedding. Oh boy.

Here we go.
Wish me luck :)

Big plans.

Well, it's been a long while. I even forgot my blog link. Hah!


Just last night, I was in a frenzy to start researching for the wedding preparations. I've no idea why it only started last night, but thank God for that cos I realized that there's more to it than what I expected.

I am no professional planner and the plans that I made previously weren't exactly fantabulous either. Let alone a wedding to plan on my own. Just for the record, I take no full credit in this whole preparation. There are kind souls out there who are hitching a ride in the "preparation train" with me. And for that, I am most grateful.

Truth be told, nothing has been decided in proper. There are just so many things that I want for the wedding but I know I can't have them all. :(

We're still saving up for our big day. Somehow, I feel that our wedding is gonna be awesome. It's not gonna be super grand or anything like that. It's gonna be simple, and very very personal. I just have no idea how a simple wedding is gonna cater to about 1200 people. :(

You know what, I think I have to literally pen down the names of the people I'm inviting. Rest assured, my dear close friends are gonna be on top of the list. :)

Here's a few pictures that I came across last night. I'm looking at a garden-themed wedding. Beautiful colors I found here, but still undecided. O.o

Words.

A long while ago I used to make it a point to blog every now and then, forcing him to blog too. Sometimes he would, and at times, well, he's just too tired. But that's okay,I know how hard he's been working so I let the matter drop. Plus, it wasn't as if I had plenty of time to write too.

Now, whenever he does write, it comes as a pleasant surprise. Hmm, maybe he does that on purpose. Hehe. Cheeky.

I went to the library a few days ago and 2 books managed to catch my eye. In particular, a novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon titled 'Shadow of the Wind'. I finished it just last night and borrowed another one of his books, with a pretentious aim to finish reading all of his other books by the end of this year. I was almost obsessed with his books.

Ruiz made me realize that words do have an impact in the lives of others. It can be in a form of a magazine, a newspaper, a letter or even a book. Writers in the earlier days have little recognition and the impact of words in those times were, well, rather indifferent.

Now, we have the luxury of various writing platforms and the gift of education to fortify the impact of our words. We take for granted this universal language. We aren't doing enough to further enlighten ourselves in language per say. Not even myself. Well, I give myself a peace of mind by reading, to say the very least, and I'm intending to pick up another language, if I can.

I have the littlest foundation on French and I understand that there is not a remarkable difference between French and Spanish. (like Mandarin to English) There are similarities with the English language too! Hopefully, I am able to grasp the basics of Spain's beautiful language and travel without any worry about language barriers. :)

Food for thought: what other languages would you like to pick up? :)

-Leila