VVIPs in Closed Door Dinner...

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VVIP *Very Very Important Person* according to me are not those with names known in the entertainment circle neither do they hold any posts in the political arena or has any power that can squash your life into smithereens. VVIP in my life are those who matter to me and I like having them around. So, I had a closed door dinner as in I don't simply have anyone in my kitchen for dinner. I do welcome anyone and everyone to my kitchen but sometimes I just want a private time with my family and friends. Who are your friends? That's a mighty broad subject that will require a 6-page essay writing so let's not talk about that. Over here, we talk about food.

McJu session....

Today I served McJu. Another different one from the earlier ones. Good eh~! *burp* These are my VVIPs and missing one laughing doctor who will only come tomorrow for McJu and dinner. Only a bottomless pit can succeed in having McJu and other dishes for dinner. So these people can have a meal anytime if I'm not lazy to cook. They have access to any closed door events in Yen's Kitchen. And that's my precious who has full access to the whole house and she can cook or bake whatever she wants as long as she doesn't burn down the whole house when I'm not around.

McJu....

The burger bun is not perfectly glazed as tired me just simply dab those egg wash. I like this messy McJu. It's a beautiful and delicious mess. I like~!

The float...

After having a good burping dinner, we had ice-cream soda float. Hehehhee.... Good fellowship around the rectangle transformer table. The table can be extended to accommodate 10 people at most. Good dinner tonite... thank you for coming over~!

The Three Magnificent Dishes...

Meat Floss Prawns...

... that's how hubby called them. Today, a very free me got to cook with the hubby. At first I was quite lazy to cook. I didn't do anything much today but surprisingly now it's already 12 midnite. I only did a few things for the whole day:

1. Went to market and had breakfast with mi mama
2. Went to Tesco with mi mama and ate jackfruit on the way home
3. Had the most delicious mutton briyani sent over by mi best friend...
4. Went to collect the piano from friend's house....
5. Thinking of whether to cook or not...
6. Marinade the chicken then still considering whether to cook or not
7. Ended up cooking...
8. Eating what has been cooked....
9. Watch my movie...
10. Now blogging....

Those prawns were easy to make. Just deep fried them and dressed them like Hawaiian dancers with pork floss or chicken floss. The prawns didn't get to do any dancing, they were glued to the plate and went straight into the mouth. 

What's inside the claypot?

So, what's in the claypot? Another bowl of vermicelli soup? Nah... I don't repeat unless I sense the desperation in those who want to eat.

Northern China's dish of Chinese cabbage and black fungus...

This is a Northern China cuisine. It's simple with Chinese cabbage and Japanese tofu, Add some black fungus along but the taste will depend on the level of hotness of the dried chillies used. I have the hottest dried chillies so the soup is a bit spicy. Taste like China if you have not been there, more like a taste of Beijing as they do use a lot of Chinese cabbages in their dishes. While hubby was frying chicken thighs, I made this.

Braised chicken with Shaoxing wine...

The chicken thighs were deep-fried and then braised in Chinese wine. The mushrooms were just accompaniments. I was supposed to use canned button mushrooms but I just dislike the taste of canned ones thus, I got myself fresh button mushrooms which tasted a million times better. We don't have rice today because lazy me thought we do not need rice. Finally, I understand why my international travel buddy from China couldn't survive without a bowl of rice everyday. These Chinese dishes go along very well with rice but since there's no rice served today, we had to eat them ala carte style or more like going for Chinese wedding dinner where the dishes came up one at a time. 

The Three Magnificent Dishes....

Today, I served all three together but we ate one at a time. We didn't start with the dressed-up prawns but we started with the braised chicken, followed by the Northern China's dish of Chinese cabbage and black fungus. Save the best for the last. The juicy prawns were kept last and it was the best~! Perfecto~!!

McJu... It's Back... It Leaks~!

McJu

McJu's burger patties on the grill. I was about very sure not to this anymore because it takes too much of my time to do it. One of my girls wanted it badly. When you sense that kinda desperation, you just need to do something about it. I'm the only one in the house who can make perfect McJu, so I have to do something about it. Today I just need to work for two hours at night which means I have the whole day to myself. Let's just hope that I didn't forget any of my classes. All is safe, no one called to ask how come I didn't turn up. Usually it's the students who don't turn up for classes, but I'm only human to forget sometimes. So, I have some minced meat in the freezer so I thought after doing my gardening, I should have more than enough time to prep up the meat. Wisdom from above tells me that I need to buy more meat just in case. I was quite lazy to go out but in the end I listened to the voice from above and bought some extra minced meat.

McJu

Then, I even made my own burger buns as I have all the time in the world. The dough was a tough one as it was really springy and kept bouncing back to its initial shape when I wanted it the other way round. So, what the heck~! Let's not bother about that. I'm not selling it so why worry. But when the buns were baking in the oven, it turned out to be the perfect shape. The buns were really soft. Oh... how perfect~! That's the two-tiered burger with nothing at all except for a slice of cheese. I almost forgot about the slice of cheese. McJu is leaking. If McJu doesn't leak, then McJu has a big problem. After posting up a photo of this McJu, someone commented about the lack of lettuce and sauces. Thank you for reminding me. Actually, I've forgotten all about the sidekicks. The aroma of the patty on the pan was too overwhelming.

McJu

So, lazy me who couldn't even walk a few more extra steps to the vegetable seller in the morning market ended up having to drive to Tesco to get iceberg lettuce. Then, lazy me started dressing up the burger with mayonnaise, ketchup, chilli sauce, egg, beef tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. Of course I got the help of the one asking me to make the burger. Then, since I made a few different sizes of buns, I made different sizes of patties to fit the buns as well.

McJu

Next, we have this huge patty sitting all alone on the grill. The smell was so good the neighbour walked over later and sat in the kitchen. The smell must be a real torture so need to come to the source. That's juicy McJu getting ready to be eaten.

McJu

I wonder whether I can finish this on my own? I kinda regretted doing this today. Of all days, I'm fasting today~! Just great~!! So, I have no idea how the bun tasted. I have no idea how does the whole burger tasted like but they said it was really good. My neighbour said can't eat other burgers anymore after this experience. I have just make another family addicted to my burger. Hahahahhaa....

McJu

We sliced McJu biggie into halves and it's perfectly leaking, like how I want it to be. I'm gonna have ya' on Friday, no matter what~! My precious would be around and she has been asking for it, too. Can't deny my precious from having McJu.

McJu

So, can finish or not the burger? Nice? Mi mama smiling from ear-to-ear. Actually they said no need to eat, by the smell of it already it's superb. Thank you for being so supportive. Love you people~!!

Those Seahorses...~!

Banana fritter and orange punch...

Today I worked for two hours only in the morning. I spent some time lazing in another of my house while waiting for my precious to finish her History paper. So, I had ample of time today which I spent eating and cooking. Hubby made me my banana fritters for tea time plus his signature orange punch. Love them. I have to appreciate all this temporary luxury while I still have the pleasure in doing so. The banana fritters were quite good but still need to be improved. Hubby will have to experiment on the batter. 

Cheesy baked aubergine...

While everyone was taking their power naps, I decided to start preparing dinner so that dinner would be served when my neighbour came back from work. It's nice to share food with others. Made this cheese-baked aubergines for the fun of it. The neighbours love to eat aubergines but I tried liking it, but I just couldn't. I don't know how to love this purple stuff. Maybe will try again next time. That cheesy aubergine is really nice with all the grilled tomatoes, onions and sweet basil.

Steamed chicken with seahorses and scallops...

While the aubergines were sitting in the oven, I sent a platter of chicken into the steamer. The three musketeers seahorses went through the steaming process as well. The result was the soup was so sweet and tasty. I have never tasted such wonderful taste before. The scallops were a plus as the prawns which were supposed to accompany the chicken pieces, I sent the prawns away to turn into prawn fritters. Hubby tried chewing on the seahorse but it wasn't a pleasant sight and taste. The seahorse became soft and it's just not nice to bite on. I hope I can find other recipe that uses seahorse.

Prawn fritters~!

This was a last minute plan. I had bought yam bean earlier and I had prawns so we ended up making prawn fritters *cucur udang* Other than carrots, we added French beans and corn, too. The taste was just nice as hubby has added his own concoction of seasoning. Actually I love every single dish except for the cheesy aubergine. It's just so not me to eat that.

Winter melon with mushrooms and fish soup...

Yesterday's winter melon soup was given a facelift. I added fresh mushroom and fish slices into the soup. There's more things to fish for from the bowl of soup other than the winter melon cubes. The taste of the soup is both sweet and savoury but couldn't compare to the steam chicken soup with seahorses. That's the sweetest soup and the most delicious I've tasted.

Red dragon fruit...

Dessert was just the red dragon fruit cut into cubes. It's not the peak season for dragon fruits yet. It's just the beginning so the taste wasn't that perfect and the price was slightly higher. We had a wonderful time together as neighbours.

The Third Long Table Dinner...

Smile for the camera~!!! *ka chak*

Today we had the third long table dinner with the guests mainly being mi hubby's friends and just us. This is bonding time, time to get to know each other better and just some fellowship time together. You must be wondering what they had on the table. Thank you mi mama for helping with all the tedious work. I lurve you~!

The pan-grilled prawns on skewers....

This is my first time poking the prawns with skewers. The bamboo skewer did not poke me but the prawns poked me on almost all ten fingers. It turned out nicely, as straight as I wanted them to be. That's pan grilled prawns with hoi sin sauce and lots more. Good food must be shared with loved ones but recipes should not be shared wholly. The recipes from books were only 70% accurate, the rest you have to perfect them through experience, if you fail once, you do it again. Fail twice, go do something else to save yourself from terrible hearthache and headache. 

The dragon fruits coated pork ribs...

Surprise~! This one you might not seen before. It's pork ribs with dragon fruit. The colour is just so strikingly beautiful. I like striking colours. Just deep fry the meat and then mix with dragon fruit... simple?

The lion's head meatballs....

This dish is called the lion's head. Those strips of brown hair were obviously not a lion's fur. They were strips of bean curd sheet. The minced meat was made into round compact shape and sat in the steamer for 15 minutes. Marinade the meat well and you will not have to worry about the taste.

That spring-rolls-turned-into-dumpling platter....

These are plates of a different kind of spring rolls. Not even close to spring rolls because we used dumpling sheets to roll the tilapia and cheddar cheese. They were seen floating in a pot of boiling oil, so I scooped them up and mi mama turned them into fried cheesy fish dumpling pyramid on a plate.

The hideously delicious cake that never made an appearance...

The failed project. This just sat on the dining table and never make it to the long table outside. It was suppose to be banana custard roll. The cake was so thick that it couldn't even roll. The softness and moistness of the cake were a combination of perfection in the mouth~! I thought of slicing the thick cake into halves. I did just that, lift up the top part then tried to turn it into the other side like a professional roti canai tosser and the cake broke into pieces. I plastered some back and started putting on the custard. I think I destroyed the whole cake and I was too embarrassed to bring it out to be seen by the guests. The taste was just awesome. If it's my gang of friends then I would just sent the whole cake out without bothering how hideous the cake is. I'm going to feed my piranhas with this wonderful hideous banana swissroll that can never be rolled and turned into a slab of cake sandwich with custard.

I cook, you all eat... good arrangement~!

Good, eh~! Oooppssss, I forget to snap a photo of the soup... tomorrow maybe. I still have a whole big pot in the slow cooker to keep warm. Thanks for the guava, love it but I forget to take a photo of that. Thanks for the caramel chocolate and the kiwi fruits. It's okay to come empty-handed. Don't feel like it's a food exchange programme as it's not, okay~! I'm okay with anything and everything. Mi mama has prepared my favourite konnyaku jelly~!

Tweety bird~!!

So cute... I wonder how come the kids don't really eat. They only play with the rabbits and feed the rabbits. My rabbits ate more than them I think. I hope my rabbits can sleep well tonight after having such heavy dinner. 

Sylvester head...

Sylvester~!! The black cat... meow~! Mi mama turned it into orange meow~! Still left meow heads for my piranhas... I know who will be the happiest seeing all these~!!

Roses are red....

Jelly in roses with... with.... errmmm... 'assam boi'.... ish... It's already midnight and my head is not generating any proper words. Will change that word to English when the word pops out in the head...

The Laksa Party at Yen's Kitchen...

The sardines~!

I've prepared Penang's Assam Laksa before, so this week I planned to make Siam Laksa - a tad different from our local Penang laksa as the soup base is mainly coconut milk. On Thursday, mi mama and I went to the market. I was looking for mackerels but since it wasn't in season, I got sardine fish, instead. The recipe book printed that I only need 1.2kg but I up the figure to 1.5kg but the fishmonger asked me to take 1.9kg. I don't usually argue with people at the wet market as I like the services like removing the gills and intestines. I was thinking how many hours I need to stand at the sink to clean up the fish but the sardines were cleaned in less than 15 minutes.

The Siam Laksa....

This is the signature laksa. You can't just cook laksa to feed 3 person. So, we started calling people over to the house to help us eat up. It's not easy to get people to come as I'm a last minute person so most people already have their plans lined up. If I have a row of Chinese neighbours, I would walk from house-to-house and send them bowls of laksa but I only have one Chinese neighbour on my left hand side. The rest are Malays. Oh, two more houses with Chinese who aren't friendly at all. 

Chongqing chicken...

Chongqing chicken, very Chinese style because it's a recipe from China. I was thinking of myself when I did this and my neighbour's young daughter. I don't fancy laksa at all with the spiciness and everything and I bet my neighbour's daughter might not be able to eat that as well. Ended up there were three of us not eating laksa. I have rice in the rice cooker but only three of us touched the rice.

The cheesy yam balls....

This is another hit with everyone. The cheesy yam balls which were quite easy to make but too much work. I don't mind the 'too much work' as I enjoy doing that and I was just too free. Suddenly, I can't wait for the school year to start and I'll get busy again working. This housewife life experience is just too much. I can't handle the free time properly. Take a bite of that crunchy cheesy yam ball. You will love it to the max~!

... with the smooth mashed potatoes and savoury tuna....

The tuna gratin. This came as I thought people might not be full with only the laksa. I have mastered the skill of making perfect mashed potatoes so it wasn't a problem at all. The tuna was good except for those who dislike the taste of tuna.

The famous pulut inti....

God knows best~! While I let others savour laksa, the oldies got what they love and long for... the ultimate pulut inti prepared by my friend, Aunt Suzie~! She is a better cook than I am, with more years of experience and she can just make anything~! She taught me how to make bak chang and I perfected her recipe by a notch higher~! Need to learn more from her... thank you for contributing to the food line.

Everyone's favourite on a hot day....

Aunty Suzie brought along this jelly with biji selasih and also longan. Love it to the max. The children love it and we also love it~! I don't know what to say.... I'm so touched. The jelly is all gone now~! I can eat jelly for the whole day long :P

The cheese cake with homemade Graham crackers....

Mi mama made her bite-size cheese cakes. A trial run to increase people's waistline. 

My favourite layer cake~!

While the guests got what they love, I got what I really love~! I love layer cakes~!!!!! And it's just so wonderful. Thank you Judz~!

Us... the kitchen owners~!

Hi~! We would like to say thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for coming over. It's an honour to have all of you coming over for lunch/dinner at such short notice. This time round it's dining at the kitchen as I'm not prepared for a long dinner table session yet. We staggered the time for people to come like we just say,"Come anytime. Lunch, tea time, dinner or supper... just come." For those who couldn't make it, you missed the fun~! For those who made time, thank you again for coming. I hope all of you have been blessed tremendously through thy stomach :D

The attendees...

Please come again. For the next major cook out, I need a lot of people to help in eating. I usually don't eat when I'm hosting. I don't have the energy to eat but I have the energy to take photos. So, I don't grow sideways even with all the food. I enjoy seeing people eat. The pure joy of looking at another person eating what you prepared is indescribable. It's just like how you find it difficult to explain how delicious what I've prepared, there's lack of vocabulary to explain something so delicious, it's the same that I do not know how to explain how much joy I have in seeing people eating in my kitchen. It runs both ways. When you're happy, I'm the happiest of all~! 

The One With the Lopsided Smile...

I'm quite free this month so I've to make myself busy. Housewife lifestyle doesn't suit me. I don't know what to do except to play half a song on the piano, get bored with it and walked out of the piano room. I spent most of my time in the kitchen or the computer. The eyes got tired after a few hours looking at photos. So, I'm hosting a simple dinner and looks like all of a sudden hubby and I created a list for the next long table dinner. For today, I spent the whole morning until the afternoon doing grocery shopping at the wet markets and the hypermarkets.

Hi, Mrs. Flounder...

I was looking for ikan ayam ( direct translation: chicken fish???) for the texture of the flesh is equivalent to that of a chicken's thigh meat. Since there's none to be found in the market, I bought the flounder at Tesco. Excuse the direct stares from the fish with the lopsided smile. After getting everything that I needed, the man on duty to clean the fish was still too busy with another customer's order. I carried the fish home and clean the fish up on my own. It's not that I don't know how to clean a fish but sometimes you will prefer others to do the dirty job for you. If you haven't meet the flounder, say hi to her. It's a she. I found fish eggs in the belly.

The blind side....

The flounder is a one-sided fish. There are no eyes on the other side. The fish swims sideways. I like this fishy. And I did a good job cleaning up the fish - de-scaling, removing the gills and intestines. Then, I dressed the fish.... errrmmm.... more like I tucked the fish to sleep with a thick blanket of spicy mix.

Blanketed in spice...

Oh, yeah, by its look, it ain't happy. The fish was baked and then grilled and I'm one complicated person to cook in different ways. I should say the baked and grilled flounder was nicely done. The spice mixture was not burnt while on the grill. Something else swam in to join us for dinner.

Baked squids...

Hey, squid~! My first time cutting them this way <-- sounds really wrong, that sentence. Usually I will cut them into rings but just wanted to cut them differently today. They went into the oven for 12 minutes and came out the colour that I wanted. The main taste was hoisin sauce but I made them a little spicy and a little sour.

Steamed chicken....

I broke my own rule of not going to repeat any dishes. I repeated this coz' mi mama has not tasted them when I first made this. Mi mama was in the United Kingdom when I hosted the second long table dinner. That was the easiest dish of steam chicken with mushrooms and red dates. The taste was exquisite. I did alter the recipe. I always alter them to suit my taste. Just steam the chicken for 20 minutes and you can have it with rice.

Blanched cockles....

I was suppose to bake with all the ingredients ready. But I was attacked by some lazy bugs that I postponed my baking activity. Instead, we had blanched fresh cockles for tea time earlier before going for my evening jog. Blanch them for 5 minutes or less and that's the first time I see the shells opening on their own like some mussels. Just dig the flesh out, take a small bowl of water to wash away the mud stuck in between the crevices of the flesh and dip with Thai chilli sauce. Nice if eaten in a moderate quantity. Too much would make you feel yucky.