tempur bargain

one day i got home, and was surprised to find a mail package waiting for me...
inside there was an intro letter, catalogue, DVD and a vacuum-packed sample...

then i remembered it requested a sample pack from the tempur website after looking around for posturepedic pillows...

the little sample is a square of viscoealstic tempur material... very handy as my new wrist support!

it even has its own removable "pillow case" - and can be removed for washing!

check out the viscoelasticity...

ooo... BARGAIN!

this freebie pack came into being as i have been searching for a better pillow... actaully come to think of it this freebie pack is not actually free as i did ventured out and purchased a tempur pillow (and then this freebie pack arrived afterwards as an after thought, a good after purchase surprise)...

my old pillow wasn't bad to start off with... i had a generic viscoelastic one...

then i heard about the tempur millennium pillow with rave reviews...

at nearly $200 a pop it wasn't exactly a bargain... but so far it has been giving me great neck/ head support - no more neck / head pains... priceless

and here it is dressed up with my cat... and my other VE pillow has become my leg rest pillow! no waste!

to get a tempur freebie pack, go to www.tempur.com.au

pao de queijo - brazilian cheese balls

after a lovely lovely homecooked all brazillian meal... i was inspired! to recreate my own...


we had this delish meal at f&a's place... an authentic feijoada - a slow cook smoked meat stew with black beans, served with pan-fried chinese broccoli, slices of oranges, fried cassava, sprinkled with cassava flour...
fatty but yummo...
there were also preserved hearts of palm...

and apparently cassava root is quite toxic - it contains cyanide compounds and if not boiled first, could kill instead of fill someone's stomach... and cassava root is the ingredient for tapioca flour!

and also the main ingredient for these lovely pao de queijo - brazillian cheese balls...

to recreate these nice snacks, i got myself:

500g tapioca flour

1/2 cup olive oil

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1 tsp salt

180-200g parmesan cheese

2-3 eggs

put the oil, water, milk, salt in a pan and stir until boiling

switch off heat, then add tapioca flour by stirring it in into dough

when dough cools down, add the 3 eggs (may need more flour then), and knead into smooth dough

add the grated parmesan and knead & make into small balls

these can be frozen and baked at 180-200 degrees celcius, until golden brown

the dough is quite elastic and hard to knead... it tends to stick everywhere...

bite size cheese balls...

rising in the oven...

yummo...

crunchy on the outside...

chewy on the inside

more holiday bargains: glad wrap replacement

i've tried other glad wrap replacements before... they are all pretty hopeless and expensive... they are all made of entirely rubber and impossible to put on when the food is not stone cold...
then, i saw this wonderful invention on www.pro-logic.com.hk
and our fridge now is once again nice and tidy... and we can reduce plastic waste further...

left overs can now be stacked neatly on top of each other...

i bought them in my hk trip at japan home... they come in "flat" or "caved" style lids and in different diametres... they are abit pricey hk standatd - around HKD$30+ (about AUD$5) each... but totally worth every cent!!!

i wished there were more sizes to choose from!

just pop it on top and flip over the rubber sides...

it's leak proof... and can be microwaved once the rubber is flipped back...

just need a distributor in oz! will definitely sell!!!

lovely pressure cooker cake

with my recent acquisition of this electric pressure cooker - primada - my cooking life has been transformed... not only am i able to devise more warming and nourishing dishes and soups with less time - not to mention without constantly guarding the naked flame... i am also able to whip up a cake under 10 min...

this gem was lugged all the way from hk by mum (thanks mum) after a high recommendation by a workmate...

back to the cake... easy peesy primada cake recipe:
5 large eggs or 6 small ones
100g melted butter (could be salted)
100g castor sugar
100g self raising flour
tsp or 2 vanilla extract
beat egg whites until peaks, then in separate bowl mix yolks, butter and sugar, add vanilla extract
fold in egg whites, then fold in flour
grease inner primada cooker with melted butter, pour batter in, shake to even
press "cook rice / cake" button
(approx 10 min later) ease sides of cake, invert cake, let cool, dust with icing sugar & decorate and EAT! YUM!

the cake is moist but millard reaction still happening around the rim... so it tastes like it is baked with a bain marie

the bottom of the cake may be hard to dislodge from the primada pan, so use a spatula to ease it first... any scruffy bits could be dusted over with icing sugar...

and beautified with a fanned strawberry... lovely! just like a bought cake...

tasted like (a bought cake, not any cheap old one, but a $20+ worth one) one too! YUM! what a bargain!

holiday full of bargains

after the pain there were also the gains...

"shanghai street" in yau mai tei is a must see for every homecook visiting hk... the street is filled with kitchen gadget shops - ranging from products for amatures like me and products for big restaurants...

i brought my second traditional chinese wok... (forget about the ultra expensive titanium teflon coatings, scanpan, circulatrons et al - they are useless! i've tried them and dumped them)

the traditional cast iron or stainless steel wok (below) have their natural petina - which builds up the more you cook and it's a natural non stick coating... the best thing is they don't need detergent to be kept clean - just some boiling water and may be some salt and elbow grease!

so far, i've found my cast iron wok is good for a slight "charrd" taste or smoky flavour in my stirfry and the st st producing a quicker stir fry and easier to wash afterwards...

the lovely wok i bought is from chan chi kee in shanghai street (http://www.chanchikee.com/)... they assured me that this is a solely hand hammered wok (i don't really think it is), but the st st is really thick - much thicker than the ones one can normally find... at HKD$55 (AUD$7) - what a bargain!!! the one i got is the more curvaceous peking style wok with handle, much easier to manouvour than the shallower cantonese double ear kind... chan chi kee is famous for their choppers, so naturally how could i have left the shop without owing one?

i chose the small veg chopper, slightly more slender than the usual chopper... they have newspapers on the counter to demonstrate the sharpness by shredding paper on the spot... lovely... that was a bargain (but not as much a bargain as the wok) at HKD $130 (AUD$19)... but definitely a bargain when lying next to a global or shun...


it has the company and address stamped onto the chopper...

and chopper sharpening is HKD$30... here is oz is AUD$5 at the farmers' market


chan chi kee... stainless steel... (but i reckoned that it is st st outside with a sliver of carbon steel as its core for the sharpness)

apart from the lovely choppers co... there were other gems... like this stone grinder! only HKD $50! that's less than $8 auzzie!

it is much smaller that my grandma's one (which has been sadly lost)... i am awaiting for a longer holiday so i can venture into almond soup or sesame soup making...

it's not just kitchen stuff the bargains of the holiday...

there were also these silk underware /PJs - the fabric is smooth as silk (because it is silk)... very light and very warm under heavy doona... cool when there's a breeze - good for winter and summer - all seasons... one can find then at yue hwa department store, undies section... about HKD $250-300 per piece (30-40 bucks oz), not dirt cheap but much cheaper than buying it here...

and a must stop shop in hk is GOD goods of desire - clothing, household goods and furniture...

quirky bags and clothing with a vintage hk feel... like this "double happiness" handbag...

slashed from HKD $750 to $350... yest 1/2 price!

and i can't begin to tell you how cheap and what a bargain "u-right" is... it is not the most trendy place to buy good... yes, one would have to dig things out of bargain bins with hoards of other housewives and bunbun looking for bargains... but it was worth it for me... just look at this "down jacket with fake fur trim" - HKD$100 (that's an amazing AUD$13.50!) - i know it is not made of true "down feathers", but instead, synthetic down like fibres - which looks exactly the same should you pull one little fibre out from the inner of the jacket... no wonder it is so warm... natural or synthetic - still warm, so who cares! bargain!

is pumpkin really 9c/kg?

my workmate stunned me today by telling me that pumpkin was reduced to 9c/kg at aldi! then i had a peek at macrowhole foods after work and the organic version was also at a bargain price of $1.49/kg (that was what normally non organic pumpkins would cost)...

has there been a bumper pumpkin harvest this year unbeknown to me? and why is that my veg patch only yielded 5 pumpkins this season (from out of 1/2 dozen pumpkin plants?!)

no matter what, i remain proud of my organically home grown pumpkins...

they are not big, but looks lovely in their individual asymmetry...

they were cooked into cubes...

added in soups (apparently good for the health of mucous membranes if prepared in the form of a warmingly nourishing chinese soup containing black eye peas, dried red dates, pumpkin, lean pork meat)

they were also mashed and housed into ravioli - yum, but too rich for mcduck

holiday full of pain

it was supposed to be 2 weeks of relaxation and absence of pressure... it ended up being a period of pain- severe physical pain (similar to that of child birth) as a result of...
1) fierce dog bite resulting in swollen hand and oozing pus and subsequent multiple injections
2) multiple bruises after heavy massage theraphy and cupping
3) a really painful big juicy ulcer with a diametre of 1cm with accompanying (also really painful) enlarged lymph node under the chin
many of the days were spent convalescing and hiding away at home, far from the queer eyes of passer-bys...

aubergine in colour, no joke!

pushing cup resulting in surface redness (not unlike the result of "scraping sand")... pushing cup was extremely painful - like giving birth!

these are not just bruises, they are raised bruises!

the previous plans of swimming laps and loosing some bulk at the love handles were abandoned... in the mist of crowds (at CWB) and the high humidity, the suspicious looking bruises were hidden under pieces of clothing wrapped around the arm and long loose hair...

was the pain all worth it though (yes, cupping, massagign tendons and pushing cup)? yes and no... the whole body appear to be more flexible now, but the troubling shoulder areas are still very stiff and quite uncomfortable...

i was told the extreme colour of the bruises corresponded to the severity of the condition... the question is whether i have enough of me left to face the pain of further treatment, accupuncture perhaps?