cold. freeze. snow

As some of you might know, I am currently in Oregon. It's cold up here comparing to Arizona which is about 23 c when I was there last week. Here the average temperature is about 9-10c. Ai Chee asked if I would like to join her and her husband with their little boy to somewhere near Mt Hood. This is the first time her son going to see snow. I took a colleague with me too.  We went to the goverment camp near Mt Hood. It required snow park permit which is pretty descent $5 for a car. So we went there and played snow, build snowman and took pictures. I didn't take much as I hope Ai Chee's husband will have nicer pictures of me using his DSLR. I am a little disappointed that I didn't bring my Columbia parka along this time to this trip. I took it with me last time but I didn't go and play snow.  The temperature is about 3c and snow chain is not needed because the snow on the road had melted. But luckily there is still snow here where we went. So tired now.. Bye.

In Chandler again

So guys, I am in Arizona. The state at the south west of United States. It's sunny since the day I arrived. The temperature is around 23 celcius in the day which is good to go without any jacket. That's the hotel I am staying in currently. See the blue sky? That's how the sky looks like here.  

Ate this for dinner yesterday after starving the night before because I forgot how to start hybrid car engine again. But I got it after many attempts of trying. The delay is also contributed by the long queue to get our cars. I treated myself with 6oz of steak with lobster tail! and 2 sides. Yummy to end the day like this.

After familiarizing with the car and road, I invited my colleague to join me to a visit to Saguaro National Park. I was so tired because I drove all the way there and back. We didn't do much things there basically just drove on the 8 miles drive path and see cactus. Really, we only see cactus and nothing else.

Small flowers survive in dessert. I hardly can find anymore plants with  bright color like this.

Another yellow on top of the cactus. And  do you know digi sucks apart from the low quality and slowness of it's data line, it has something else that made my head ache? I didn't activate my roaming system before I came oversea because I thought it's activated by default. Luckily my dear buddy Suet Yin is available in whatsapp and she helped me to contact them  regarding this.

Another species of cactus. Don't look down at the thorns. They are deadly sharp. I poked my finger when trying to remove a part of it that stuck to my shoe and left in the car. I think the cactus in Malaysia does not have sharp thorn at all.

A different flowery species of cactus

And last but not least, Saguaro cactus! This is one of the giant ones

I am drop dead tired now. I need to rest to recharge for work tomorrow.

Ginger and scallion squid

This is a common dish among the Chinese. We have"Jiang Chong ji" as ginger and scallion chicken but I cooked the squid with the exact same ingredients. Earlier I purchased some shrimps and squids for my mother in law to cook when she is coming next week. I made a better decision to have used the squids to cook this dish. It is yummy because the ginger and  scallion taste really mixed well with the seafood. Ginger will overpower the usual sea food stink smell. The only additional ingredients I added is the black fungus. The squid, scallion, ginger and black fungus are great as a team. I definitely will make this again when I am back to Malaysia.

Ingredients 1:
2 squids, cut into rings
1 stalk of scallion, cut into 2 cm long.
medium size ginger, sliced
black fungus, julienned

Ingredients 2:
Salt , 1/2 teaspoon
1 tbs corn starch diluted in 1/2 cup water
1 tbs Shaoxing wine
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tbs soy sauce
Pepper

1. Mix ingredients 2 together
2. Heat up a tbs of oil in wok
3. Saute scallion and ginger  until fragrant
4. Mix ingredients 2 and black fungus and let simmer for 10 seconds
5. Put the squids in. Do not cook to long to avoid rubbery texture. When the squids turns white, off the fire
6. Serve hot with white rice

Enjoy your meal! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Sui kow aka prawn dumpling

I woke up this morning and thought of the dumpling I ate yesterday for lunch opposite BJ mall. The difference of that with other usual dumplings that I ate before is that it used black fungus as one of the ingredients as filling. So coincident I need to go the wet market today to stock of some meat, seafood and dried kitchen ingredients for those that going to use them during my upcoming business trip. I made myself collecting the items required for today's menu.
There is no exact measurement of each of them because I don't measure, as usual.

Filling:
Black fungus (soak, cut into small short strips)
Chinese mushroom ( diced)
Spring onion (chopped)
Minced pork
Medium size prawns (cut into 2 or 3)

Steps:
Marinate the above with soy sauce, salt, pepper, tapioca flour and sesame oil. Keep in fridge for about 1 hour.
Scoop about one tablespoon of filing on a skin.
Wet along the skin edge with water to make them stick when both sides are enclosed.
Fold in along the enclosed edge of the skin to secure the closing.
Boil water in pot and put your dumplings in . Drain after few seconds. This exercise is for the purpose of removing the excess flour on the skins during packaging to avoid them from sticking to each other.
Now you can put those dumplings onto the soup.
You can keep the remaining that are not cooked in freezer. Do not stack each dumpling together to avoid them from sticking to each other.
Enjoy!

Macaroni salad

This is lazy food because it's damn easy to make. I made macaroni salad for Sunday lunch. It's a cold dish so you will have to chill them before eating. Ingredients include 

1) 1/3 can of razor clam (boiled)

2) 1 stalk of chinese celery (chopped)

3) 1 tomato (chopped)

4) elbow macaroni (grabbed a bunch :p)

5) 1 medium onion (chopped) 

Cook the macaroni in salted water until al dente. Mix all ingredients together with mayonnaise  salt and white vinegar. I don't have the measurement because I add according to my preference. Chill before serving. Easy peasy

kung pao chicken

I think I haven't been posting anything about food lately. I am cooking but nothing is interesting to talk about. However yesterday I tried to make kung pao chicken. The only difference is that I use chicken leg cut into smaller pieces rather than boneless chicken. So it took longer for them to cook. I have to cover the lid and let the chicken to simmer for a little longer and in this case more liquid is needed. The photo that I took using my cellphone somehow deleted  so I snap a photo from my hubby camera in order to post in this blog. 

I refer to recipe from here but I didn't follow the exact measurement. I merely just see what ingredients is needed and adjust accordingly. I use cashew nuts instead of peanuts as recommended in the page. Kung pao chicken is a very appetizing dish as it is very flavorful, consists of  sweetness (sugar in the sauce), spiciness (dried chilies), sourish ( black vinegar), crunchiness (cashew nuts), fragrant (spring onions). Just pair with white rice and you will never forget this special dish!  Oh and I had to stir fried peas with carrots or else my hubby will complain about no vegetables. He is a vege lover.