Pork Chop with Mushroom Sauce

I always wanted to try preparing pork chop with mushroom sauce. But everytime when I wanted to prepare it, there is something else in mind which I rather try out first. Anyway, finally the other day when I had extra mushrooms in the fridge, I decided to try preparing this recipe.




The recipe is pretty similar to preparing mushroom soup and in fact I find it much easier to prepare compared to the soup. All you need to do is pan fry the pork chop first. You can use chicken or fish as an alternative instead.



To prepare for the sauce, all you need are slice mushrooms, cream, milk, onions, salt, pepper and parsley. Cook till the sauce thickens. Than it's ready to be served.

I wanted to prepare roast potato to go with this dish but as I came home a little bit late that day, and so happen I didn't have any potatoes at home, I had to opt for alternative instead. So I served this dish with rice.



I believe this dish goes better with roast potatoes. Now I'm craving for more mushrooms. *lol* Actually I'm craving for mushroom pizza... Yummy!!! Ok, I'm already starving just thinking of it. Should stop talking about mushrooms. Anyway, hope you guys have a great week and do try preparing this dish if you are a mushroom lover. =)

I Feel So Mushroomy

Mushroom soup is always a favourite to most people when it comes to starter. However, I'm quite a fussy person when it comes to mushroom soup and I never got the chance to savour delicious mushroom soup outside. Most of the time it's either too diluted, or there are practically no mushroom taste in it.

So I figured out that I have to try making my own version to satisfy my tastebuds as I'm always craving for this. It's actually very simple to prepare this soup and there are plenty of different recipes available in preparing this soup.



This soup is best served with crutons and garlic bread. It taste really good and Doink totally enjoyed it and I figured out that this is one of the things which he will probably be pestering me to make it often for him. =)



I now feel like preparing French Onion Soup next. But then again I'm not sure whether it will taste good. Hehe.... Maybe I will try and let you know then. *lol* Or maybe you can give me suggestion what type of soup to prepare as I'm not good in preparing one.

Potato Apple Salad

I seldom prepare salad as it's not one of the things Doink truly enjoys. He prefers to have his meat, fried food, eggs, etc. So to come up with some kind of salad for him to savour, I will need to choose some ingrediants that he loves. So that's why I chose potato apple salad as Doink loves his potatoes. What more this dish has some bacon on it which is absolutely his favourite. I think everyone loves bacon.

This dish is easy to prepare and the good thing about it is that you can prepare this in advance.

Firstly, place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Later reduce heat, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain. Peel the warm potatoes and slice them into bite size.

Pan fry some bacons and later cut them into small pieces. Also chop some onions. Of course you will also need to dice some apples.

Then later combine yogurt, mayonaise, a little salt. If you prefer a little kick in your salad, then add a little bit of mustard sauce.

Once you got all your ingrediants ready, place the potatoes, onions, apples into a large bowl. Pour the sauce over it and mix them. Once you are done with mixing, topped it with bacon and raisins. Cover and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

There you go, you now have your healthy salad. You can prepare this ahead for your lunch the next day. However, this will never be enough for Doink. He will need to eat more than this to fill him up. *lol*

Another New Adventure In The Kitchen

I'm getting more stressed lately. I have got so many things to do in the next few months - work, exams and also planning for my big event. But no matter what happens, all these are not going to stop me from cooking. I rather sleep less hours than to forego my favourite hobby.

Anyway, I'm very proud with what I had made the other day. Can you guess what I had made by looking at this picture?



I'm sure you can. Hehe... It's Tacos. It's a traditional Mexican dish where the hard taco shell is filled with any meat, fish, vegetable, cheese or anything that comes to your mind. Seriously there are no hard and fast rules. You can even try making Taco dessert. *lol* Well, maybe I can experiment on that one day.

I did not want to buy the taco kit set as I find it pretty expensive and moreover there isn't many taco shells in one box. So decided to try making my own taco shells. As you already know, I don't really like to fry anything, so decided to bake my taco shells. Will teach you how to make in my next post.



All you need is flour, cornmeal, water and egg. Here I did not put any cornmeal as I couldn't find any at all after visiting 2 baking shops, 5 supermarkets to search for it. So decided to give up and omit out this ingrediant. I did not want to cancel my plan to prepare this meal for Doink as promised just because of this one particular ingrediant.

The taco shells tasted ok but of course without the cornmeal it will somehow taste different. But still acceptable. =)



Here is my taco filling. It's minced chicken with mushrooms with my homemade sauce. I think the sauce is pretty similar to my pizza sauce but very much thicker and a little spicy to give a little kick in the taste.

And these are a must to have when you are having tacos: shredded cheese, tomatoes and sour cream. *yummy*

Bought a packet of my favourite cheese chachos to go with it. How? Look below.



Tadah!!! This is really delicious. In fact I enjoy eating it this way. I guess that's because I love my chachos chip very very much... Mmmm... now I feel like getting another few packets of chachos and stock up in my cupboard... *greedy me*

Ok, let me show you the end result.



Place lettuce at the bottom of the shell, fill it up with the meat fillings, then garnish with some tomatoes over it. Spoon sour cream over and generously top with mozarella cheese. Oooohhh, yummy!!!

Now all you need to do is be ready to get messy coz we don't eat tacos with the aid of utensils. You know at times I find food taste so much more delicious when it's eaten by hand.

I'm so happy with the end results as I never had tacos before in my life yet managed to make it to somehow similar to what it should be. *ahem*

Now I feel like having it again. I guess I wouldn't mind preparing it again. Afterall Doink and I enjoyed it so much. But promise my dearie Doink to be making pizza next. I guess I have been savouring all types of cuisines from Spanish to Mexican to Italian. *lol* What's next I wonder?

Delicious Banana Smoothie

Celebrating my birthday at Chilis the other day, I had this delicious drink which made me wanna have it again. So therefore I blended this delicious smoothie and amended the ingrediants just a little bit.

It's truly easy to make and it's something I will definitely make it over and over again. Just freeze your fresh bananas. That's because I would like my drink to be thick and extrmely cold. Also ensure that you have some chilled pineapple juice.

Blend those frozen bananas with the pineapple juice. Than add a big scoop of delicious ice cream together with it and blend.

Pour into a cup and your delicious smoothie is ready to be bottoms up. *lol* I decided not to add in coconut milk as I didn't like the taste of it. Oh ya, at Chilis, the drink that I had was added with cooconut milk. But of course if you like it, you can always add some coconut milk.

Instead of adding whip cream, I added a bit of nata de coco so that there is something to chew on when you are having your drink.

Now I'm in love with bananas. Oh, feel like having another cup of it now. =)

Spanish Cuisine

This is the 2nd time I visited La Bodega. It's a Spanish restaurant which serves pretty good Spanish food. The first time when I visited this place, I only managed to taste limited tapas and I couldn't remember much about it except that I knew it was expensive and the portion was pretty tiny as well.

We started off our dinner with some tapas. Here is the Deepfried Sheep’s Milk cheese with Honey. I had never expected honey goes so well with the cheese. Now I guess I learned something new. Hehe...

Next up is the Calameres which is the deep fried squid. For some reason, this dish can never go wrong. It's a favourite for all of us.

We also had the Eggplant with Olive Oil, Chili and Herbs Tapas. Not something I really fancy but the sauce is pretty good when you dip your bread on it.

I can never find a reason to say no when it comes to mushrooms. They just tasted so good. I wonder who came up with this brilliant idea that we can be consuming fungus. *lol* Anyway, this Button Mushrooms Sauteed in Olive Oil and Garlic is a must try if you ever visit this restaurant.

Next up is the Lamb. I really can't remember what's it but I knew it tasted kinda ok. It was served with mayonaise/yogurt (not quite sure) with diced peaches. The taste is kinda unique and I wouldn't mind trying it again.

Of course when you visit La Bodega, it's a must to order thePaella Valenciana Mixta or Spanish rice cooked with prawns, chicken, mussels and clams in a paella with saffron, peppers and peas. I think after having this, I finally settled my cravings for Paella. The last round I ever had this dish was many years back and was craving for it ever since then. But I have to say that this Paella is not really up to my expectation. The one I had in UK was way much better than this.

So this is what I had for the night celebrating Doink's birthday with his families. Tons of yummy food and I think I'm done with Spanish food for now. =)

Caramelised Banana Serves with Vanilla Ice Cream

Feeling a little low for the past 2 days. I notice that whenever I feel sad, everything somehow turns upside down. I kept on making mistakes at work and just unable to focus at whatever I'm doing. The worse thing is that the people around me is affected someway or another. Doink wasn't really affected as he did not see me for the past 2 days. So I didn't manage to pour it out to him. But yes, I'm trying to push myself to be happy again. Tomorrow I must put everything aside. Even when people complain or scold me, I should just smile. I bet people might think I have some mentality problem. *lol*

Anyway, shouldn't be bringing all my sadness to my readers. Let me introduce you to a simple dessert which I had prepared for Doink. It's caramelised banana serve with ice cream. It is a very simple dish to prepare and it taste amazingly beautiful.

Firstly you cook the banana with sugar and butter. If you want it a bit sinful, add cream on it. I didn't do so and added some milk instead which of course doesn't taste as good as if it was cream. If you wish, you can also add a teaspoon of nutmeg for a better flavour.

For me, it was a little bit too dry as I should have put more butter and milk. Oh well, hopefully to improve it better the second time when I make this again.

After about 5 minutes, you can remove the bananas from the pan and place it on the plate. Then scoop your favourite vanila ice cream to serve them with these warm bananas. It's just the perfect dessert to end your meal. Keep It Simple & Sweet. (KISS)

Tomorrow is Friday and I should be happy. I promise myself to be happy tomorrow. No more frowning face.

Doink's Birthday Dinner

February 26th, a few days after my big day is my dearie's birthday. February is a month of endless celebration. From Chinese New Year to Valentines Day to my birthday and also Doink's birthday. Now we have another day to be celebrated in the month of February which is my Registration of Marriage (ROM). *lol* So usually Doink and I will choose one of the days in the month of February to celebrate all these occasions. In a way it save a lot of money. Hehe....

Of course I will also prepare a nice meal for him since it's his big day. Pork chop is what he has been requesting. So bought the ingrediants and came up with my self invented recipe. hehe... Yes, I'm kinda funny lately the way I'm mixing and matching all my ingrediants.



Firstly I marinated the pork chop with salt, pepper and mixed herbs. Then pan fry them. While pan frying I prepare the sauce to go with it. It's mustard honey sauce. Cook the mustard, honey and butter for like about 1-2 minutes. This is a very tasty flavour and I absolutely love this sauce.



To go with this dish, of course you need to serve it with some golden roasted potato which will always go well with any dish. *yummy*.



Then I boiled the carrots with garlic, orange and herbs. Once it's soften, drained them and take the carrots, garlic and chopped up the oranges and put inside a tray to roast in the oven for about 10minutes. It's quite an interesting flavour but next time I think I will omit the orange out. I think this flavour is not suitable for my tastebud. But who knows, maybe you will like it.

Once everything is ready, assemble them and serve.



I was a happy girl that night coz I get to serve my Doink what he wants to eat. =) To me, as long as I get to cook, I'm already a very happy person. See how easy it is to please me. Hehe... Oh and not forgetting my McD too. *lol*

Cutie's Birthday Dinner

February 17th... It's cutie's big day which also means I'm another year older. Gosh, can't believe how time flies. Anyway, Doink brought me for my favourite food at Chilis. Hehe.. I remembered 2 years ago I went to the same place ordering sort of the same food there to celebrate my birthday. *lol*



I ordered fajitas. It's one of my favourite dish over there in Chilis. For some reason, it's also one of the things I crave a lot. I guess that's because I don't get it very often. I just absolutely love the mushrooms. *yummy*

And after having this yummy fajitas, I decided to make my own Tacos. This will be my first attempt to try making this dish including the Tacos shell. Hopefully the taste is gonna turn out ok. I totally have no idea how to make this dish but nevertheless I'm going to try. I want to be able to make something that Doink and I love so that we can savour it at the comfort of our own home.



And of course Doink will definitely get his triple play as he just love this starter. But I think I do get a bit bored of it already since this is a dish that Doink will usually order.



We also had this banana drink which I totally forgot what it's called. *me dory* But I do remember what is in it. It's mix with banana, vanilla ice cream, coconut milk, pineapple juice and topped with whipped cream. It's really good but absolutely sinful. Guess what, I'm planning to make my own version. Will share it with you if it's a success... *lol*



And here is a mini birthday cake for me. I absolutely love my birthday dinner. Simple and nice.

By the way, I will be collecting my prizes for winning the Best Valentines Smile today, Friday. So excited as I will get some vouchers and also cash. Woohoo!!! Guess it's definitely a good start of the year for winning this prize.

Spanish Potatoes

Cutie and Doink would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes. Right now I'm still feeling like whatever that has just happened last Tuesday was a dream. If it's really a dream, I will never want to wake up from it. This is the beginning of my beautiful journey with the man I truly love and I will want to treasure and remember every single moment I have with him.

Flowers for my ROM

Anyway, on Valentines Day I tried preparing a new dish. It's called Spanish Potatoes. This dish is wonderfully bright, thanks to the tomatoes and it's very flavourful. I find it's a very healthy dish and it's good to go with rice or probably on its own or as a side dish or maybe you can serve it with toasted baguette.

It's extremely simple to prepare this dish. All you need is potatoes, onion, bell peppers (optional), tomatoes, vegetable stock, chili powder, mustard and parsley for garnishing. All you need is put everything in a pot and let it simmer will the potatoes are tender. Of course you must always not forget to season it.

Once it's done, sprinkle the chopped parsley over the top and serve immediately. Anyway, I'm very lazy to type out the recipe right now. So if you are interested in the recipe, just let me know and I will share it with you.

We just had a simple meal that beautiful valentine's day and after the dinner we watch The Notebook. It's a truly touching movie and I couldn't hold my tears and cried. Love that movie a lot. I think I should start writing my own Notebook of my whole journey with Doink. But I think I'm too lazy to do it. *lol* Oh well, it should be in my memory and hopefully I will never forget it forever.