Coming from two very different cultures, there are days when one struggles to put together a meal which satisfies both myself and the Boss. Some examples of our contrasting tastebuds: yogurt versus tofu, dijon mustard versus pickled mustards (咸菜).

I was in a dilemma today: the Boss wanted to have fish, as simple as it can be. Salmon doesn't do it for him. But I like salmon. In fact, I love salmon, especially when it is pan-fried in teriyaki sauce, topped with golden brown garlic bits. That explained the scrunched up face this morning, darling.

Anyway, it turned out to be a good problem after all. Almost parallel to that of couples who have grown much older, wishing for nothing more than just "companionship" so to speak. What do they do? They sleep together, but in separate beds. Only in our context, "beds" are two large portions of parchment paper folded in halves.

East Meets West En Papillote
Serves 2 as a meal

Ingredients
0.8lb haddock fillet, rinsed and pat dry
0.8lb salmon fillet, rinsed and pat dry
Knob of ginger (thumb-size), peeled and julienned
2 large Shitake mushrooms, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, sliced
2 stalks scallions, cut to 2-inch lengths, julienned
Bunch of cilantro, cut to 1-inch lengths
6 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoon sesame oil

As promised, this is a follow-up from an earlier entry on the little bundles of joy, which also happened to be my lunch half an hour ago. Fun, isn't it? - Out from the freezer onto the pan, into the tummy then up on the web! If only "pan" rhymes with "web".

Here they are - potstickers, also known as 锅贴, which literally means potstickers! Oh man, pardon my being cheesy, I think it's a result of too much coffee too soon. It's truly a simple meal that satisfies just enough. 

Assuming you already have a batch of these in the freezer, all you have to do is:

One of the most memorable parties we attended in Singapore was "Dumplings Night" at G and J's beautiful home. Guests arrived as a buffet spread of mostly homecooked food was laid out. The plan was for us to have dinner then catch the World Cup 'live' on ESPN. I have no idea now which two countries played that night. But I keep a vivid picture of what took place in the kitchen: the huge pot of broth coming to a rolling boil, under the watchful eyes of G's helper. One batch after another, dumplings were dropped into the broth and we waited for them to come afloat. 

In my bowl, little bundles of joy sat bathing in ladles of broth, topped with a crack of pepper and sprinkling of chopped scallions. "Why haven't I thought of this? Ever?" This -  along with the pudgy frog that found its way into the living room, its nose touching the glass separating Fat Kermit and the elevated pool - brings about fond memories of friendships that grew out of shared office space.

These days, I make enough dumplings to feed a party of six. The only difference is in its shape: I find the potsticker-styled ones more versatile in terms of storage and cooking methods. Because they can sit upright independently, these can be steamed, pan-fried or boiled with ease. I'd usually make them while watching TV, arrange them on a wax-paper lined baking tray, leave in the freezer for about an hour and finally pack them in a few ziplock bags. After all, this is comfort food for me.

At the supermarkets, one finds skins in different combinations: white or yellow, square or round. My personal choice is the white and round type. The yellow ones tend to have this yeasty-factory taste or perhaps it's just me.

Don't spend too much time pondering over the names. Briefly, you want to use "dumpling skins" instead of "wanton skins". The latter is thinner and not as ideal for pan-frying. We are making these babies to boil, steam or pan-fry.

This is a complete disaster! I stared at the large lump of dough that's clearly too wet. There is no way I could knead it into a ball, let alone roll it out before cutting them into squares and then half them diagonally. Why am I so stubborn?!

For the past few days, I've been contemplating making scones. Not just any scones, but Ina Garten's cranberry orange scones. From Tuesdays till Fridays, Barefoot Contessa is on air back-to-back starting 1pm. Ina's scones were just so inviting they literally had me at "4 cups of flour."

There are several obstacles for me though:
1. There is no stand mixer in the kitchen.
2. There is no heavy cream in the fridge, only some half & half. (When did I last use it? Hmm...)
3. There are exactly 4 eggs, meaning there won't be any for the egg wash.
4. There is no orange for the zest. This one's fine since I can use the zest from the husband's grapefruit.

So how now brown cow? To proceed or not? Do I have the guts to face possible failure? Worst case scenario: into the bin. Do I have the heart to throw a mixture of butter, flour, half & half and cranberries into the bin?

When it comes to renewal of Malaysian passports, it's no big deal if you do it in the country itself. But being in Singapore or any other country for the matter, oh ho ho... the plot can turn a dramatic twist! There are many blogs where Malaysians write about their visits to the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore for this purpose. I have found them very helpful but the good people at Jervois Road had decided to change their procedures again. My heart goes out to those who brave the morning rush hour on the MRT, bus, and on foot just to arrive at the guardhouse before 8am.

Here's my own story on 21 April 2010. As of 15 March 2010, the "rules" had changed to as follows.

Submission of passport renewal / application form
Mondays to Thursdays, 8:30am to 12pm, 2pm to 4pm. Only 220 numbers are issued each day.

Collection of new passport
Fridays only. Your specific timing will be advised by the high commission.

Ever since I started this website, the husband has been reminding me to transfer useful information from a previous half-hearted blog over here. This entry contains some of the most valuable stuff we learned the hard way back in 2009 -- getting married with French and Malaysian passports. For me, it was a tonne of paperwork and I remember feeling tired even before anything.

He proposed. You said yes. Congratulations! You've found yourselves right at the tip of the Big Day iceberg. So many things to look forward to in every aspect of your life and yet, one wonders *pun intended* "Where do I begin?..."

For us, we tried not to get sucked into the materialistic bits of wedding planning. So the boss did his homework back at the town hall in France; while I ran my own errands between several Malaysian ministries/departments. So for the benefit of Malaysians who intend to sign up for the same "package" as ours, here's what you have to do:

I have no qualms about cooking large portions of meat stew. In fact I love the leftovers because you'll never know what comes out of them. Here's an example:

The Leftover Sandwich - using beef that's been cooked under pressure so long, it slides apart at the press of a fork.

There is a quaint little cafe called Darwin's five minutes from our apartment. The place is divided into three parts: coffee counter with pastries on the right, sandwich counter on the left, and a tiny grocery department (where the husband gets his supply of beer from) in between.

The folks at Darwin's use freshly delivered breads for their sandwich counter each day, and would sell any unused loaves the next day at about 25% off the retail price. I'd drop by now and then for these since I was going to keep them in the fridge anyway, so freshness doesn't matter that much. Among the selection, my favourite is the sourdough which can be used as breakfast toasts, sandwiches or croutons for soup.

So, very simply, the Leftover Sandwich is really that - made of leftovers! It only required two slices of lightly toasted bread (check out the grill marks from my pan!), spread with butter on one side and dijon mustard on the other, topped with shreds of beef that's been microwaved, one slice of large red onion, two sticks of celery heart. Nothing cast in stone - just use what you have in the fridge and hopefully the ingredients complement each other.

Lastly, to make it even more pleasing to the eyes, hold the sandwich firmly, sliced it at an angle, and stack them up.

If I didn't tell you, would you have guessed this was made of solely leftovers?

When it comes to staples in the fridge, there is always skimmed milk, yogurt, orange juice, ham and cheese. And since we order groceries online, we usually get our stuff in bulk - like 3 one-quart tubs of vanilla yogurt. It's fine during term time as the husband takes yogurt along with milk and cereal for breakfast. But a few weeks ago (due to the winter holidays) we had to beat the expiry dates for the yogurt.

Hello! Yogurt cake!

This recipe by Smitten Kitchen was so easy that I've made the same cake thrice, only with little changes in the choice of citrus and topping sauce. I used whichever fruit that's available in the kitchen: lemon, clementine, grapefruit. As for the sauce, it's blackberries or raspberries. 

This is really a treat since it is made with non-fat yogurt, no butter, and moderate use of sugar. The end-result is a fluffy all-day delight. No longer afraid of wasted yogurt.