Lazy Weekend

Today is a lazy Saturday. I did not have a good sleep last night, so we decided to laze at home instead of going out and joining the crowds.

The weather was erratic, a moment very hot and humid, yet the next moment, torrential rain fell. It left us feeling uncomfortably hot and sticky and restless, so we hid in the room with the aircon switched on. Ironically, when it rained, we felt cold in the aircon, so we switched it off. But the moment we did that, the sun was up and out again, just like playing hide and seek.

With the whole day at hand, there was time to bake some bread so that I can have them for breakfast for the next few days.

For our dinner, we went to the supermarket this morning and bought 2 crabs. Ever since I attended the cooking class to learn how to cook crab, I have not had the chance to put what I learnt to use. Theoretically, I knew how, but when it comes to putting it in action, I am not sure if I remember all the steps correctly.

Anyway, I turned 'murderer' just now. We had some difficulty, and both dear and me were struggling with the crabs, one of which was a fierce fighter. I used my silicon tongs to grip it, but its claws gripped even harder and pierced a small hole in the silicon!

When we finally 'silenced' the crabs, we were sweating! I looked at the poor crab and wondered whether they will still be my favourite food in future.

My plans was only a simple and lazy one. To boil the crabs, and then use the stock to cook instant noodles, and then add the crab in again. I used spicy flavour instant noodles and it turned out really nice! Each of us had one crab, and the crabs only costs us $10. If we had something similar outside, we would have to spend at least $25 for 1 crab. Hmm...yummy! When we finished dinner, I was certain that crab is still my favourite food haha.

Next time, I will try cooking with vermicelli and XO, just like the ones being sold.

Baked Miso Fish

For dinner the other day, I made Baked Miso Fish. I first tasted this dish in a chinese restaurant many years ago and has liked the taste ever since.

I like to eat fish, especially oily fish like cod and salmon, so this is wonderful. It was simple and fast, yet it tasted very good.

I got the recipe from a cookbook I have, but I adjusted the quantities of the miso paste and sugar.

The pictures could have been better though....when I took them out of the oven, I just snapped 2 pictures and couldn't wait to tuck in.

(afternote: I made the dish again and retook the pictures. They look nicer, but the fish skin was not crispy :( ...)
(afternote 2: I recooked this dish..again! Retook the pictures, it's less hideous than the one below. Revisit this dish here)

For the full recipe, go here.

Seafood Trio

This has nothing to do with baking. But still, let me put it on "record" here..

For a change, I went for cooking class. Held by a local forum owner, who is a self-taught chef, at her home. Was supposed to be held in a kitchen studio, but there were no other participants other than me and another lady (people these days prefer to bake than cook).

This class is much anticipated because it's all my favourite dishes! Chili crabs, sambal mussels and black pepper prawns. Yes, I love spicy food and these are local favourites for many people. More importantly, we were taught how to "silence"the crabs. This is important if I want to cook crabs isn't it? No fishmonger will kill a crab for you. You have to kill it just before you cook it.

I've seen the killing being done before, so I know what to expect. It may sound cruel or feel cruel as you hack your cleaver through it...at least it's not bloody..so it's not that scary. The trainer recalled how in an earlier class, one participant was so afraid she waited in the dining room and refused to go into the kitchen while the rest were killing the crabs there....hmm...why had she joined the class? Maybe she just wanted the recipes, but I wanted to know all...haha!

Here are some pictures of what we did.

Seafood Trio...mussels, crabs and prawns

Fried rice with no salt added..because there is bacon!
The trainer even cooked fried rice for us as dinner! So thoughtful. She knew we would be there from work and probably had no time for dinner. We packed almost all that she taught us to cook, and even the remaining fried rice!

We started at about 7 plus in the evening and I reached home at 10 plus. Ate the crabs as they could not be kept. Wonderful. Crabs are my favourite...so much so that my hubby calls me "crabby face" whenever my eyes light up at the mention of crabs.

The green mussels were good too. Unfortunately some of the mussels were bad, and we had to discard all of them as we do not want to go to bed with an upset stomach. I shall keep the prawns for tomorrow.

The fried rice was good as well. The other participant asked how she managed to coat each grain of rice with the egg. Hmm...I am not self-bragging, but this is how my fried rice is as well. My mum used to cook fried rice, somehow one day I took over the job, tried to do it my own style, and voila, it's all coated nicely with egg....a little smart eh? There was another time I did the same with another dish....but oops...enough of self-bragging....