The Greek mythology said Aphrodite the goddess of love sprang forth from the sea on the back of an oyster and gave birth to Eros, thus born the word “aphrodisiac”. The handsome lover is said used to start his meal eating 12 dozen of oysters! Like the Chinese who assumed that the sexual strength comes from eating foods resembling a sex organ, it might be just something based on the psychological aspect. :-)

Nonetheless, modern scientific analysis did find oysters contain high level of zinc, which is the main mineral that keep the testosterone at its peak performance. That may explain the belief that oysters are natural aphrodisiac libido increasing food has stood the test of time!!

Well, before you run off to swallow 12 dozens of raw oysters, you may want to be aware of the Vibrio Vulnificus disease that can be caused by contaminated Gulf oysters, which are harvested from the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently, when at-risk individuals consume raw oysters that are contaminated with this bacteria, it can cause serious illness and can even result in death. SO, if you like to eat oysters raw, check out http://beoysteraware.com, find out whether you belong to the at risk group of people.

Are you one of those people who live to eat? You may want to check out www.foodconnect.com! It’s a new social networking site for where you may share and network with other food enthusiasts. You can find generous inside information, recipes for dishes that you could possibly cook and taste in a solid 3 months of 3-meal-a-day eating.:-)

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All of this and much more and best of all its all free. Get to foodconnecct.com to get started today.

Saw these fish (shi2 ban1 ? ? ? ) at the farmer’s market on Wednesday and bought four of them. But didn’t know what to do with them.

Of course I searched the web for more information and found out this type of fish are usually for steaming(? ?). What do people do under this situation prior internet search engines? :-)

Here it goes, my “steam fish of the week”, I have four of them, remember?

So, here is my version of chicken stew.

The chicken stew that my mom cooked called for potatoes and dried mushrooms. But I only have fresh mushrooms and some corns on the cobs that were intended for chicken soup. I dumped all into the stew and ended up having a big pot of chicken stew for 3-4 person, which I planned to share with my parents when I go to their place in the evening.

2 chicken breasts and 2 drumsticks (cut into bite size)
2 carrots (skinned and cut into about 1/2″ length)
2 corns (cut into 3-4 parts)
1 package of fresh mushroom (500g) (cut into two)
2 onions (sliced)
3 shallots (sliced)
1 teaspoon of bean paste (optional)

1) Heat up the wok, fry the shallots until a little brownish

2) Add in the bean paste, keep stirring until fragrance.

3) Add in the chicken, stir fry a little bit.

4) Add in the rest of of the ingredients, stir until the juice start boiling.

5) Lower the temperature and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

6) Add salt to taste. (I don’t add salt coz I used the bean paste)

This is an easy no brainer recipes that tastes good and make you feel comforting especially on a cold day.:-)

If you like chocolate but concern about the sugar content, are you aware that there is such a thing as sugar free chocolates? At Fannie May they carry no sugar added chocolates. You can also find assortment of chocolates at Fannie May, they literally makes me drool! Check out the chocolates at fanniemay.com and remember them the next time you think of a gift for your loved ones or friends.

Since I have been craving for something hot and spicy, I ordered this Teppanyaki pomfret.

The fish came with rice and some pappadums (lentils chips - the spicy Indian crackers). Everything tasted alright. But I wished the guy who grilled the fish had turned it around, as it’s burned on one side.

As a result of that, quite a big chunk of the fish was burned and stuck on the Aluminum foil.

All my siblings were home yesterday for the Tong Zi Festival (Winter Solstice). Mom cooked some customary Tang Yuan (glutinous rice balls). They are easy to make, but most of the adults in my family do not fancy this sweet balls cook in syrup, they were for my niece and nephew who like sweet stuffs.

However, we were looking forward to eat the vegetable glutinous rice dumplings that mom also make on the same day. Mom cooked the vegetable dumplings in chicken soup, very yummy, especially on cold days, one of the comfort foods that we miss very much.

Fish slice in with ginger and fermented bean paste.

Ridged gourd (Petola in Malay) with egg.

Bitter gourd soup

(photos will be uploaded in a minute)

If I cook soup for lunch, I would usually cook a little extra and use it as the base for noodle soup during dinner. One of my laziest way to have vegetables and enough fiber is to fried egg with a mix of different vegetables. It is an easy dish that can be whipped up in a minute, also good to finish up left over in the refrigerator. :-)

Can you figure out the ingredients?

(celery, carrots, tomatoes, bitter gourd, fresh mushrooms, onions, eggs)

I like Japanese plum wine, it is my favorite alcoholic beverages around. It’s sweet with an almost syrupy consistency. It’s also very flavorful. All these characteristics make it easy to appreciate and fun to drink. The best thing about this wine is, it comes in an easy to open bottle, no need corkscrews.

The bottle that my sister bought as actual plums in it. Actually, depends on the brand, the wine may use white wine or sake as a base. The alcohol content is quite high for non drinkers like us, I think it’s 14-15 %. You can get drunk drinking this.:-)

My mother gave me a packet of the Chinese Herbal Jelly, or commonly called Guilinggao.

There are 10 small packets inside. This is the instant powder type, no need to boil for hours like the traditional way.

The way to prepare the jelly is easy.

Step 1: Dissolve the powder in about 200 ml of warm water, keep in a pot.

Step 2: Pour in hot boiling water into the pot and as you keep stirring the mixture.

Step 3: Add in sugar or honey.

Step 4: Pour into small container and let it cool down. It will solidify and turn into black jelly.
                

Step 5: Keep in the refrigerator if you like it cold.

You can buy the packet from Chinese medicine shop. The preparation is quite idiot proof, isn’t it? I like this jelly and often buy it in a bowl cooked. My mother thinks you will get 10 times more value for your money if you prepare it yourself. :-)

I haven’t been to this place for more than 9 months. I used to go there for our weekly dinner treat once a week because DH liked the food there. We got quite familiar with the food and people there. The Hainanese uncle would greet us, regardless whether we ordered food from him or not. He looked about 70. He used to work as cook for the British during colonial time and learned to cook all the western food. I think the Hainanese cooks started “fusion” food much much earlier than the fusion craze.:-)