Paella - step by step

We had some home-cooked seafood paella last Sunday. That's hubby and I all-time favourite food. Well, this is going to be only-photo post because pictures speak a thousand words.

1. All the ingredients

Add water with saffron. Saffron is used just for colouring.

2. Step by step

That's half-cooked medium grain rice.

Add more water to cook the rice and season with salt and pepper.

Put the lid on and wait abt 10-15 minutes for the rice to cook.

3. End result

Ta-dah !!

Yummy !!! Plates licking good with a whole bottle of Pinot Grigio.

Do you love icecream?

I love icecream. Thats the best thing about summer.



Any flavour you want, just name it. I had mango and watermelon flavour. Was it nice? It was nice and refreshing but I still prefer the classic, old boring chocolate and vanilla flavour.

Just great

We were back to Penang. It felt so great. His family arranged a grand dinner to welcome us. We had dinner at the top floor of the most expensive restaurant in Penang. With more than 100 guests including my ex-classmates, it was a great night as his father introduced me to everyone. His family love me, of course I am their eldest daughter-in-law. His father is the owner of the biggest telecommunication company in Malaysia and with so many high profile relatives, I will not have problem getting a decent job. His uncle greeted me and asked me to go to the company for an 'interview'. So, I went and as I was in the building, everyone was looking at me and whispered to each other. Of course, there was nothing wrong with me. I was married to the eldest son of their boss. I felt so proud of myself. As I walked in, I felt like I was doing a catwalk as there were so many eyes around me. And then I heard L's voice. It is 8.30 in the morning and L is getting ready to go to work. I am still in bed. It was a great dream. Of course I didnt tell L about the dream. Why? Because the 'he' in the dream is not him. And who is 'he'? He was my friend from college. He is a good looking guy. Although his father doesnt own the biggest company in Malaysia, he owns a small factory in Bayan Lepas. Still, is anak taukeh la. I had a crush on him but that was ages ago. I wonder...what makes him go into my dream? Hmmm....After L've gone to work, I tried to go back to sleep, to continue my dream. But no it never happened.

Lazy Sunday

Usually, L and I will go out for dinner on Sunday, especially when the weather is so nice now. But last Sunday, it was raining. Heavy rain somemore. And being a lazy couple on a lazy Sunday, we ordered some takeaways. Pizza and roast chicken....yum yum.

Why ?

I remember last time like many years back, Australia has got a strong swimming team. I am not sure about now though. I cant remember if it was Olympics or Commonwealth Games. Maybe Commonwealth Games. So, I asked L. Why Australia's swimming team was strong?

My answer : Because Australia has got a warmer weather compared to European countries and so they swim more often.

L's answer : Because there are sharks everywhere surrounding Australia. So, the people there need to be a good swimmer.

Agree??

Fish & Chips

Like my home style fish and chips?

Hidden treasure

I love watermelon. Especially now is the season, I see watermelon in every stalls wherever I go. I couldnt help but to buy every now and then. I finish work early today. So, on my way home I bought one.



So nice this one, not much seed. But but.....

After sembelih, there are seeds everywhere hidden inside. Ceh !! Hidden Treasure !!

In less than an hour

Ill get to watch Olympics Opening Ceremony. It will be live on TV at 1pm. While most people is working now, I get to watch as I am starting at 6pm today. Yayyy...I get to se my favourite Jay Jay.

My back garden

One thing I love abt UK is to experience different season every few months. But still, I love summer the best. Unlike Malaysia, it is not too hot and not humid here. It is always breezy which is lovely. It is almost the end of summer now. I took this photo of my back garden yesterday.

Summer look

The photo is senget. I took the photo from my room upstairs. I actually had to put my hands over the window to take a nice, straight photos but my hands are too short so end up the photo is abit cacat. You can see a small part of the window frame in the photo as well.

Two more photos below were taken by L during spring and winter. Nice isnt it? In less than a year, my back garden has got 3 different looks. Just wait 2 more months, I can snap my garden's botak look (autumn).

Spring look

Winter look

Why black pepper?

I prepared some western style lunch again yesterday. This time, I coated some flour on chicken legs and fried them with chips as well. After, I served them with black pepper sauce.



And why black pepper sauce again? Because I love them ! Of course no. Because that's the only sauce i had in my fridge at the moment. I wanted to make some sweet and sour sauce but I didnt even have tomato ketchup in my fridge. Duh !!

My new skill

I miss my family in Penang all the time, especially during Chinese New Year. Every year, all family members will gather and one of the most important event is to play poker. I joined them as well, eventhough most of the times I was confuse with the rules of playing. I am an idiot when it comes to poker. Maybe I should sign up with this website and learn Poker Professor Strategy. By the time I am back to Penang in few years time, I bet my family is going to be so shock with my new found skill.

My new job

Ive changed job again. I went to a new work place more than a month ago. Well, this new place is not as posh as my last job. There are cheap customers everywhere. Cheap customers that asked for tap water, left no tips, complained and asked for free food. Cheap cheap cheap !! I dont get to see celebrity anymore. No footballers, no royals, no celebrities. But still, I get better pay and everything is much more organised here than my previous job. But of course, no matter where you go, you still get those 1 or 2 rude, arrogant collegues. Over here, it is Kelly who is hated by everyone. I hate her !! Oh how I wish she gets a better job somewhere else and get the hell out of here !!

5 hours in a casino

A friend of hubby goes to casino regularly. Just weeks ago, hubby and I went to a casino with him. For the first time, I spent so many hours in a casino and for a while, I felt so bored. We were there for more than 5 hours. Oh, how I missed my bed, my pillow, I missed my laptop, I missed cooking nice meals and I missed the fresh air from my back garden. I should have introduced him to www.888.com. He can easily play his favourite casino games at the comfort of his own home. It has got all his favourites, from Blackjack and Roulette to Poker and Millionare Genie.

Nightmare

That was a nightmare. It felt so real. It was scary. It was something I hate. Something not in 100 years i want it to happen. I was crying so hard in the dream and then I woke up. When I woke up, it took me few minutes to realise that it was just a dream. I kept thinking about it for awhile to make sure it was not a reality. Then I decided to wake L and tell him about it because my mom once told me that a dream will not become true if I tell someone about it.

I am so 'buta jalan'

One day last week, I saw that L looked so tired, so exhausted and so 'chan', so i asked him. Apparently, he had been doing 'something' the night before when i was asleep. He spent more than two hours to do this.




To draw a map for me !!

A day before, I was telling him that I want to go to chinatown during my shift break. Well, we do go to chinatown every weekend but i m always lost without L. I just cant recognise the roads and all the directions. I can never go on my own. So, L drew me a map. He said he woke up at 5am and suddenly remember a street he missed out and spent another hour to re-draw the map. Oh, so sweet. It makes me love L even more !!

I am an idiot when it comes to directions. I cant remember roads and ways eventhough I use it so often. Just few weeks before, I was late to work because I used the tube instead of bus. Usually I take the bus. But on that day, there was a massive traffic jam so I had to use the tube. When I came out from the underground, I was totally lost and cant find my way to work. My workplace is just 5 minutes away but end up, I had to ring L for help. Later that night, kena lecture by him - everyday go to work still can sesat, duh !!!

My first property

Before I came back to UK in 2007, my mom and I bought a flat in Penang (mom shared with me because I couldnt afford to pay everything). We bought it at a bargain price of RM 106k because the owner was in the rush to migrate to Singapore. A neighbour bought one for RM 140k! Mom and I paid half each and the rental received every month was shared. This morning, I've sent some money back to her. I've saved enough money to buy the other half from my mom. I will pay RM70k to my mom and in 4 days time, when mom receives the money, I will be the only owner of the flat. I feel so proud of myself. I am sure friends my age are strugling to save for the deposit and paying for the mortgage every month, but I have no installments or loans to pay off. I only have rents to collect every month and I am loving it !!

Food......anyone?

Let's see what kind of dishes I tried to prepare for the past 2 months.

1) Sushi rolls.



I had a variety of sushi rolls, from prawn tempura rolls, cucumber rolls, salmon teriyaki rolls to my own creation, new-style egg mayo rolls, hot-dog rolls and chicken tempura rolls.

2) Grilled teriyaki squid

One of my favourite seafood is squid. Especially with lemon.

And being a typical chinese, I have to eat everything with rice.

3) Rump steak

That's for hubby because I dont like red meat. Rump steak with black pepper sauce. Looks nice, eh? Maybe when I get back to Malaysia, I can open a western food stall, no?

4) More sushi rolls

and more....but without pictures.

5) Last but not least, my all-time favourite seafood paella.

It didnt turn out to be good as u can see in the picture. Tastewise was OK. Boleh pass la. My only mistake was to put too much water. Thats why it looked like 'a piece of shit'. Maybe next time, when Ive mastered the way to cook a good paella, I'll do another post.

Such a lazy bum

Ive been so lazy to blog lately. My last post was like 2 months ago ! When i first started to blog, I think i had like 3-4 posts a week...and what happened now? I am so hangat-hangat tahi ayam...

Life is so unfair to L

L has 2 brothers - one younger one elder, and a father who are in Penang. Both brothers are happily married with their own life and father stays alone with his unmarried elder sister. Now, the father is facing some financial problem. The father needs at least RM70k. L and both brothers are responsible for this and to be fair, 3 of them has to share this equally. Am I right?? Yes ?? But the thing is, both brothers have to pay mortgage for their houses and cars every month, with not much saving and nothing left. The only person who can help is L because he works in London and after rate conversion, he earns much more than the 2 brothers. But, L was just renting a hse in London, using public transportation, works long hours, and save very hard for a better future. Meanwhile, both brothers who has no saving are living in a luxury condo, drive to work and enjoying their life in Penang. I am not saying both brothers are bad son. Well, both love their father every bit. They did the normal things as well. Buying a hse and car is what everyone does. And with price increasing everyday, I understand their situation. It is understandable that they dont have enough savings to help. But, I am upset that L has to pay 100% just because he can afford it. And why he can afford it? Because he was saving every single penny for it ! While the 2 brothers who were trying to help but cant because they are broke, live in a luxury condo. Elder brother and wife has 1 flat and 1 RM300k condo !!! "£$%^&**%. They could have at least sell one of the flat. Cant they? It just shows they are taking advantage on L. Am I right or not?

Not the latest movie

Few weeks ago, as L and I was doing our weekly grocery shopping in Sainsbury, we saw this DvD, Lush Caution. Of course, without hestitate we bought it immediately althought it was abit expensive at £14.

As usual, we paid at the check out counter and went home. First thing I wanna do was to watch the movie. But, the DVD casing was alpha protected (whatever it is!).

The check-out staff who was supposed to take off the casing for us didnt do so. Maybe he forgot, or in the rush to finish work or maybe he is new, I dun care. But cilakak him. End up, L had to take out his tools and started to...

And finally, the Dvd was released....

My verdict : To watch an out-dated, less than 20-minutes scene of Tony Leung and 'who's-that-girl's name' having sex does not worth £14 and that much hassles.

Cherries.....anyone?

I got a pleasant suprise from L last week. Well, he knows I love cherries and nowadays the cherries are so expensive. £3 - £5 per pound which is a small packet of cherries. Being a very stingy me, I always walk past the fruit stalls without buying any eventhough L insisted. Last Monday, L went out for lunch with a friend who came all the way from Kent to visit him. There is this place in Soho they went, where there were lots of fruit stalls selling cheap and fresh fruits. Of course, L bought 'some' cherries for me. Let see how much he bought.

Not enough???

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

:

Is this enough for 2 of us??

In fact, before I took this photo, I've already eaten a handful of them. Do I love my hubby ?? Of course !

What's that ?

Ewwww....what is that?


It is......


A crocodile's penis !