Chili Con Carne

It's been a busy week for me. What a way to start the New Year. I haven't been getting enough sleep and I'm pretty tired most of the time. And what more this weekend I have a packed schedule. Guess I won't be able to catch up with my sleep. Hopefully I don't become a grumpy cutie. That will definitely not be cute. *lol*



Anyway, during that Christmas night, besides fajitas, I also made Chili Con Carne. It's a spicy stew dish made with beef, garlic, onions, cumin and chili peppers. I had never try it before and I heard about this dish. So being a little adventorous, I just gotta try preparing it.



I find that preparing this dish is actually kinda easy to prepare. Basically you just throw everything into the pot and slowly stew it for about 30 minutes and it's ready to serve. Top it with tons of cheese while it's still hot so that the cheese will melt. And then scoop a big dollop of sour cream to be served with it. Yummy!!!



It's a flavourful dish and you can serve it with rice, tortilla, bread or even with chachos chips. I personally love to snack on this dish with chachos while sitting comfortably on my couch watching my favourite telly. What an excellent way to enjoy life?





Anyway, I guess it's time for me to go sleep and catch some rest. Take care to all my dear readers and have a lovely weekend. I know I definitely will as I have something to look forward for. =)

Happy New Year 2010!!!

Year 2009 is ending soon and the new year will be arriving. Every year I will look forward towards the new year but somehow this year I don't. So much has happened and I think this is the most exciting year of my life. I'm going to miss it very much.


My mini 3 year-old Xmas tree

Anyway Christmas past by quickly. Well, gotta wait for another year before Christmas will be here again. I think Christmas is the best time to show all your loved ones how much you care for them. If you don't tell them that you love them, when can you isn't it.


Home-made Tortilla

I celebrated Christmas Eve at home with Doink preparing some great Mexican Food. It's a wonderful evening as this is the first time where we celebrated Christmas at our own home. I made fajitas and I remembered the first time I prepared this was also during Christmas 4 years ago. Wow, that's quite a long time ago...


Chicken Fajitas

I love making my own fajitas because I can be generous with the cheese, salsa and sourcream. *yummy* And I'm usually very greedy coz I will putting loads of stuffing and make myself a big fat fajitas...


Time to feast

I haven't really got the chance to discover the spices in the meat mixture so I ended up buying a packet of fajitas spices. Totally simple to prepare and of course Doink and I totally love it. To be honest, I'm just lazy to figure it out. But then I made my own tortillas.. So I guess I can be forgiven for being lazy... *cheeky smily*


See how lovely my tiny xmas tree is...

Well, I have more food to share with you next. But anyway, it's nearly time to say goodbye to year 2009 and welcome 2010. Happy New Year to all my readers and I hope it would be a better year, bringing joy, wealth and good health to all of us. As for me, hopefully I will get to achieve the goals & targets that I have set for year 2010.

Meatballs

How can one not love meatballs? I personally love it a lot and of course it's Doink's favourite since he is a meat lover. I had tried beef, pork and chicken meatballs. So this time, i decided to try lamb instead. And I absolutely love the taste.

It's pretty simple to prepare these delicious meatballs. Just mix the minced lamb, breadcrumbs/semolina, egg, chopped onions salt and a little pepper. Then shape the mixture into balls and pan fry it on the pan. These meatballs can be eaten on its own.

However, I decided to make it into lamb pasta with cream sauce. It's quite a simple dish to prepare and it's really a satisfying dinner. Doink simply enjoyed it while I'm a happy person discovering another great recipe.

Well, another 2 days before Christmas arrives. Usually every year I'm kinda excited to go to different malls to look at the Christmas decorations and to take some pictures. However, I think I'm kinda lazy this year coz I had not taken any pictures so far. So here is one picture I stole online.

Anyway, Cutie, teddies and Colonel Sanders would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas!!! Hopefully everyone will be getting tons of beautiful gifts and share all the joy and happiness with their loved ones.

Melaka Trip - April 2009

This is a delayed post. I was supposed to blog about it months ago. I specially need to thank my good friend Jason Mumbles for providing me a free hotel stay in Melaka. I actually forgot which hotel is it... hehe... Well, an excuse to go take a break for a day and of course food hunting. *lol*

This is Jason. A very nice guy but he is taken already...

I didn't do much over there. I met up with Jason of course. How could I possibly go to Melaka not seeing my good friend. He brought me to this mamak place where they serve really good naan. I think it was triple cheese naan. Ooh, that's sinful but I have gotta say it's the best naan I ever had. The tandoori chicken is good as well. Where is it? *scratching head* I don't know, gotta ask Jason.

Of course he brought me to savour the mille crepe as well but then I somehow find that it's not as good as the first time I ever had it. I'm not sure whether I had shared this story about how I know Jason. I think it's good to write it down here so that 10 years down the road if I forgot about it, I have something to refresh my memory again.




In 2007, I just started blogging not long ago and I came across someone's else blog talking about mille crepe (I was interested in it then and wanted to try it so badly) and mentioning that Jason do deliver Mille Crepe all the way from Melaka to KL. Of course I quickly searched for him and started asking him whether he still do deliver these mille crepe. And he delivered the mille crepe to me and that's how I know him. It was also him who introduced me to Nuffnang and got me to be more active in blogging. Ever since then we became good buddies. I remembered he was really touched that there was a time I packed readily some fried rice, muffins and cookies for him to bring back to Melaka... Yeah, that's because he asked for it at my blog. *lol*. But nowadays I don't get a chance to make any good food for him. I think the last round I made some pandan muffins for him but unfortunately I think it was not meant for him. Coz we were trying to meet up before he goes back to Melaka but for some reason he couldn't contact me. Also he wanted to pass to me Salted Chicken the other day and he complained that he couldn't contact me. I think we have been unlucky in meeting up recently.

So where was I? Ya, Melaka trip. Got carried away talking about Jason. Of course going there, I just gotta eat the Chicken Rice Ball and their Cendol. Well, let the picture do the talking. Nothing much though but just wanted to write a little about it to thank my dear friend. Appreciate it a lot... So when do I get the next free hotel stay again... *cheeky smile*

Getting ready to eat while waiting for Doink to take picture. I'm starving...

Definitely an enjoyable trip. Simple and nice without much stress. Wait, I did stress up coz we got lost in Melaka town. *lol* Jason, when are we meeting up again? Don't forget me after having a girlfriend k. =)

Gingerbread Man

I think I owe an apology to all my blog readers. I have disappeared myself for quite a while. Yeah, and I guess I'm trying to get back into blogging again. I hope I won't be missing in action again. Hehe...

Anyway, this time of the month is my favourite. This is because Christmas is just around the corner. It's my favourite event of the year. I specially love the decorations, lightings, christmas trees, santa, reindeer, anything and everything about Christmas. It would be even better celebrating white xmas with my other half though I never got the chance.



I have been cooking and baking but nothing extraordinary. Anyway, I have finally made my gingerbread man for the first time. I think I have been telling myself to make this for years but somehow didn't manage to and finally this year I managed to do so. The first time I ever had it was when I was working in Greggs in UK. We used to sell this throughout the year. Of course when Xmas is around the corner, we will be selling other shapes like Xmas tree and reindeer. I fell in love with the taste. Even today, I still miss the food in Greggs.

It's in fact pretty simple to make and these gingy are so adroable. No wonder kids just love it. Don't they look just so adorable? *Feeling like a big kid* I still remember Gingy in the movie Shrek. That gingerbread man is definitely one of the cutest of all I had ever seen. I still love that movie a lot.

Gingy from The Shrek


My own version of Gingy

Guess I'm satisfied with my cravings for these gingy at the moment. What's next? Hmm.. not too sure as well... Will let you know when I figure out. Have a great weekend.

Back in Action...

Cutie is finally back to blogging. Oh, I miss blogging so much. I also miss reading blogs. I have been so busy for the past 2 months and never realise how time flies. I miss out so much things. Most people will probably think I had 2 months of holiday but in fact it's not true. For the past 2 months I was busy to the extent that I did not have the chance to cook that often. But anyway, now I have plenty of time to do so. *cheering*

So you must be wondering what I have been busy with. Oh well, I was busy preparing my big day. But I will be blogging about it the next round. Hehe... This round I wanna share a nice vegetable dish which is Roast Vegetable. I find this is a very interesting way of preparing vegetables and it's very tasty as well.

You can use any type of vegetable, peppers, onions, tomatoes, zucchinies, carrots, mushrooms etc. Than you chop the vegetables up and place them in a casserole. Add 3 cloves of garlic unpeeled, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil, salt and black pepper to taste. Than roast the vegetables in the oven for about 40 minutes and you will get this tasty dish. Simple isn't it.

Anyway, hope that everyone has a beautiful weekend. I will be busy cooking this weekend. It's time to hang around in the kitchen, the place I miss most. Hehe...

Time For A Break

Cutie will be taking a break for the next few months. I will resume blogging in August.

Anyway, this is also the time for me to say a big thank you to all of you who has been supporting me all this while. It's really sad that I wouldn't be able to be part of the blog sphere for the next few months but then I promise that once I come back in August, I will be sharing with all of you all the good food that I have been preparing. I will also be visiting all your blogs to keep myself updated.

To the rest who still want to have certain recipes from my blog, you can always email me or drop me a comment to request for any recipes.

So don't forget cutie and do come back to visit me in August.... Cutie will be missing all of you. Hugz!!!

Bready Pudding

It'struly funny how people at times say that if you are unable to finish your loaf of bread you can use the leftover to make bread and butter pudding. But most of the time you need quite a number of slices of bread to prepare this dessert. So probably you will end up having to buy another loaf of bread. *lol*

Anyway, it's been a while since I last prepared this lovely dessert. I love it so much as it's easy to make and one of the better dessert to end your perfect meal.





Bread and butter pudding is actually one of England's most loved and traditional desserts. I had tasted this dessert before I went to UK but it's in UK where I truly fell in love with this lovely dessert. It's rich, warming and filling and it's one of the perfect desserts to have during the winter then.

This dish is made by layering slices of buttered stale bread scattered with raisins. Then pour in the eggs, sugar and milk mixture seasoned with cinnamon or nutmeg. It is then baked in the oven. The smell is heavenly good. You will love your kitchen so much when your bread and butter pudding is nearly ready.

I tried several methods in serving this dessert. I tried it with cream which the taste wasn't that amazing. I also had it with custard which I kinda like it very much. But don't think I can have too much of that otherwise my cholestrol level will probably get worse. Hehe... But I have to say my favourite way of serving this dish has got to be warm bread and butter pudding serve with vanila ice cream topped with toffee sauce. *drool*

Anyway, very often the pudding is moist enough to be without sauce. So you can actually eat it on its own. I definitely will be preparing this when I have guests over at my place. You can actually prepare this dish 2 days in advance.

Oh well, I hope I have more time in preparing more food. My schedule is kinda tight. Busy packing and moving house right now as well. Yeap, I finally will be moving to my own house. I'm all excited about it but lazy at the same time. *lol* Will try my best to update my blog as often as possible although I know I'm getting slower as time goes by. So please bear with me okie... =) I'm getting slower as time goes by. So please bear with me okie... =)

Some Random Stuff...

I truly admire chefs who spends hours reading, experimenting and discovering methods in preparing a better dish. Imagine that a chef probably spend an hour or two in preparing the dish but we probably take about 5-10 minutes to finish the meal and before we knew it we are kinda unsure what we just had.

But no matter what is it, I still enjoy cooking especially to people who knows how to appreciate the food that I prepare. I enjoy being the mini little chef in my own kitchen. *giggle* And what I love most is coming up with new dishes.



Let's just say cooking is sort of my main hobby. Whenever I'm depress or happy, I resort to cooking. Reading cookbooks is also something I truly enjoys. Although I don't often purchase cookbooks, but I do get a few good ones whenever there is an offer. Otherwise I probably will read recipes from the websites and compile them.



So is it easy to figure out what to cook since I have tons of cookbooks? The answer is No. That's because I have so many choices to choose from. And most of the time I would like to prepare all the dishes at the same time. *greedy me* So one of the methods I told Doink to do is to put post it on the recipe books to let me know what he would like to savour. And this is what happens when you give him the freedom of deciding.



Nearly every single page was stucked with a post it. Isn't it better if I told him to do the opposite instead. *lol*

This post is just to take a break from my usual food post. Wanted to ramble a little since Doink snap some photos of my messy room with all the cookbooks laying on the floor. Yes, I can be very messy at times which makes me not cute anymore. Enough of rambling and I better get some rest. Will be posting some interesting food next.

Warm Pancakes for Brekkie

Cutie has been a little sad lately. Even McD couldn't bring a smile to my face. Just hope that I will be able to recover from this soon. Life is just so complicated. At times I wish life is just like a recipe book whereby it tells me what I shall do.

Anyway, for the past few weeks I have been preparing a typical fried breakfast that made me feel bored of it. So decided to have something different instead - Pancakes!!!

Pancakes are actually thin, flat cake prepared from a batter and cooked on a frying pan. The main ingrediants for the batter are eggs, flour and milk. These pancakes can be eaten anytime of the day and it can be served in different ways. Since it's for breakfast, I served it with loads of butter and honey.



Actually I would love to serve my pancakes with ice cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce. *drool* But I guess that's just not suitable for breakfast isn't it. Hehe...

These pancakes are easy to prepare and if you have kids at home, it's one of the best activities you can do with your kids during the weekend.

Now I'm thinking how nice it would be if life is just as simple as preparing pancakes. I guess I will need to bake or cook something to cheer myself up. Hopefully things will turn out ok and I will be able to be that smiley cutie again.