Pasta Carbonara with Leeks & Mushroom

After a long bento hiatus, Buu finally requested a bento for Monday. ;p

We shopped for some ingredients on Sunday and decided to experiment making pasta carbonara with 蟹味菇.

Brown Clamshell Mushroom, also known as Hon- or Buna-Shimeji, is termed as 蟹味菇 in Mandarin because of its distinctive mild shellfish flavor. To think I was cracking my head trying to figure what was 蟹味菇 in English when it was those dainty shimeji all along. Baka.

The ingredients are fairly simple:

• 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
  
• Mushrooms (I used buna-shimeji)
  
• 1 stalk of leek (sliced diagonally)
  
• Prego mushroom carbonara sauce (1 can)
  
• Ground/ Crushed black pepper
  
• Parmesan cheese powder
  
• Cooking oil
• Pasta of choice (I used my Simpson's pasta. Try fettucinne or penne)

Heat up some oil in a pan. Once done, saute garlic, leeks and the mushrooms.

In another pot, boil some water and cook pasta according to its package til al dente.

After 5-8 minutes, empty carbonara sauce from can to the sauteed mixture and give it a good stir around.

When it starts bubbling, take it off the hob.

Serve hot by ladling the carbonara sauce over your desired pasta.

Top with some crushed black pepper, parsley and parmesan cheese.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Wednesday's dinner as per requested by Cuzzy - Spaghetti Bolognese

The sinful carbs

Bolognese sauce scattered with garden basil

The not-so-nekkid spaghetti adorned with roasted cherry tomatoes

Cuzzy had two helpings and there are still leftovers. As you can see, that big pan of meat sauce is obviously too much for 2. We've already seen it coming. Happens that we've gotta cook the entire bottle of sauce since our fridge is in comatose state still. But no waste though. I'll bring and keep it in the pantry fridge as joubisai.

Sigh. Dirty dishes piling up in the wash basin once again. Where's magic when you need it. Or Santa's magical elf. *drums fingers*

Anyways, one more day to Furridedayy.. Happy Thursday, people!

5th Annual AYA Dream Malaysia Awards

Quoting the AYA Awards site:

"... the AYA Dream Malaysia Awards is about our future - and the people who are farsighted enough to invest in it. Since 2005, this Awards has served as an encouragement to emerging individuals and responsible institutions to persevere in their dreams of improving the quality of life for themselves and for those around them in spite of the difficulties and obstacles they encounter."

Among the list of nominees...


Webster Ku has been nominated for this year's award!

Three cheers for the boy who's been immensely inspiring to all of us who know him, no matter what the outcome is because...

You're already a winner in our eyes!



... the loyal friend, patient mentor, caring listener, insanely creative individual, super positive thinker... and every other adjective that anyone else would like to add.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the boy gets shortlisted, shall we? :)

The Simpsons and Scooby Doo Pasta

Happiness comes in small packages :)

I went to work feeling awfully frumpy. Bad hair day paired with universal unrivaled retarded sense of clothing. It was one of those days when I felt horizontally challenged and physical beauty challenged. meh... Still, there were great people who made me count my blessings again by the end of the day. Blessed is me...

Buu was very sweet to bring me for Ice Age 3 tonight. It wasn't as sight-splitting funny as I'd expected. Perhaps I stacked my expectations up too high. Personally, I felt that kids may have problems grasping the jokes. I hear the adults laughing at them more than the children considering there were quite some kids in our hall. The saving grace for the movie was Buck Wild, the Weasel, with its piratey swashbuckling actions. I think inside everyone of us, there's a Buck Wild waiting to be unleashed. Of course, these are purely my personal opinions. Watch it yourselves for your 2 cents worth.

Nevertheless, i had an enjoyable time. The company was what made all the difference. Thank you, pumpkin for treating me to the movie! It definitely defused my tensed nerves.

Before the movie started, we went to Cold Storage. I stumbled upon these cute pastas and couldn't resist adding them to my pasta collection.

Priced at RM 8.99 each packet, these are certainly not cheap by normal standards. But a little novelty doesn't hurt sometimes, won't you agree? :)

Especially when your loved one's eyes sparkle when he/she peers into the bento......

Graffiti? You decide.

Neon.

Some colouring aid from Des-chan. I like the innocence.

watak dapat dicam. phew.

doll-ish. tease. dun like d font

most unsatisfied. messy. meaningless

Haven't doodled for yonks. This is fun. I should do this more often. Sketch book, i meesh youuu :)

Cabbage Rice and Nori Omelette

I love grocery shopping. But having plenty of groceries at home only means that food will go to waste if I do not utilise them. Sensibility told me to put my stocks to good use. My cabbage will be wilting soon if I do not finish them up. Uhm, cabbage is normally a hardy veg but because fridge is still in ICU.. my veges have to be finished fast.

Since I'm partially vegetarian now, I decided to fix something meatless for tomorrow's bento. At the same time also, kau-tim my dinner. With whatever I had at home, a simple and healthy vegetarian cabbage rice came into mind.

I also had plenty of eggs left which I did not wish to waste. Therefore I attempted to make Nori Omelette, whose recipe happened to be conjured purely out of my imagination. haha. I was expecting the worse but hey, the omelette managed to turn out fine. I like the whiff of seaweed smell that comes with it. If you're adventurous, do give it a go :)

Cabbage Rice

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 slices of ginger
• Dried mushroom (soaked)
• Cabbage
• Rice
• Oil
• Sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• Dark soy sauce
• Dash of pepper

1. Heat up minimum oil in wok. Add a dash of sesame oil.
2. Saute garlic and ginger till fragrant, then add in mushroom and stir fry for a while.
3. Add stir fries into rice cooker which is filled with the uncooked rice.
4. Add in the liquid reserved from soaking the mushrooms into the rice. Top up with sufficient water to cook rice.
5. Season with dark soy sauce for colour, dash of pepper and soy sauce for taste. Add more sesame oil if you like. Stir well.
6. Arrange cabbage on top of rice and proceed to cook rice as per norm.
7. For non-vegetarians, you may add some waxed sausages into rice to cook once the liquid appears dry.
8. Once cooked, serve with some fried shallots and garnish with spring onions.
   

Nori Omelette

• 2 eggs
• Fish sauce and white pepper to taste
• A slice of nori

1. Break 2 eggs into a bowl and season with some fish sauce and white pepper.
2. Tear up some nori into desired size. I tored mine up into a child's palm-sized pieces.
3. Fire up your wok.
4. Pour in half of the egg mixture.
5. Scatter nori on top.
6. Cover with the remaining egg mixture.
7. Brown well and flip the omelette.
8. Serve hot.

Note: Delicious with some Lingam's chilli for dip.

This is what I call killing 2 meals with 1 rice-cooker. Dinner settled. Tomorrow's lunch also settled :)

Hope everyone had a nice dinner.

Zorb Ball - Stroke of Spontaneity

Interested to see the picture which I was so engrossed in taking till I slipped and sprained my foot previously?

*drum rolls*

Right after snapping, I slipped off some tiny tangga.

*crash*

*ouch*

*keep straight face*

Ladies and gents, presenting to you....

ZORB BALL!

Still continue to take picture although foot was hurting badly. Malu la. Don't know who else saw me slipped. Can't decide I was paining from my swollen foot or bruised ego more. hurhur. If you notice from the angle of the pic, I was actually sitting on my sore bums then.

_ _

This is what plucky kids do nowadays on a Saturday noon after work. Drive through Taman Tasik Titiwangsa area after missing a turning to get to Setapak. Only to chance upon giant inflatable balls in the park. *eyes widen*

And what BIG BALLS zey are too.

Tell me, which girl can resist em? *evil glint*

Call us kukubirds spontaneity personified. We gaily hopped off the car and went for the kill.

"You want it dry or wet?"

Of course, we want it......

WET!

All strapped and ready to go!

The witch hobbled with an awkward limp like an old lady till Buu decided to piggyback her all the way across the lawn. See that green patch behind me? The Zorb Ball will be pushed across the slope-ish lawn, with us inside. Woohoo!

When the facilitators told us it was a roll of 30 meters across the lawn, we were rather skeptical. Woud the short span be enough to even excite or entertain us?

Boy were we wrong! So wrong!!

Imagine being stuck inside a washing mashine. And you spin... and spin... and spin... 30 meters now feels like 30 eternities. And water sloshes into your face each time you gasp for breath or try to stifle a shout. Awesome, ain't it? This is certainly our idea of fun. Yea...we are sick kids like that. Hop aboard if ya one of us!

The survivor

Lookie! We got in and out thru that puny hole, which was hell for my swollen foot. You literally need to jump to get in and push with your feet. I don't need to elaborate how comical I look when I got stuck halfway. drats! That was freaking embarassing. Apart from the embarassments, I thoroughly enjoyed myself! If anyone's going, gimme a holler. I wanna play again!

The dedicated team emptying water from the ball. Hard work under the scorching sun. Shouts to the boys. :)

If you're looking for a weekend of roly-poly fun, you know where to hit!



Charges:

Dry - RM 15
Wet - RM 20

Click here for more info on Zorb Ball activities.