Shrimp and Vegetables

I'm now sharing my super sumptuous secret shrimp recipe - this is a very easy to make meal as well - perfect for busy people.

Stir fry in this order:
1. Garlic
2. Onion
3. Carrots
4. Broccoli
5. Shrimps
6. Peas

You may decide the quantity based on your taste.
Add pepper at the end.

Secret sauce:
1. 4 to 5 tbsp of tomato sauce
2. 4 to 5 tbsp soy sauce
3. 2 tea spoon mustard
4. half lemon

Serve with basmati rice.


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Steak and Vegetables with Linseed Gourmet Bread

I prepared a hearty dinner tonight. Took 1 hour to make. Roasted some vegetables and tried linseed bread. I love it :-)

Tenderized Garlic Steak with Veggies

Linseed Soy Artisan Bread with Cheese and my home-made spread - roasted veggies

Roasted Mushroom, Green and Yellow Capsicum, Kumara (Sweet Potato), Onions

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How do you make a healthy dessert?

This is a bit of a stretch - I know. It's not exactly healthy. But who says I have to give up some good things in life like ice cream altogether?
Justification? :) I did a 30 minute walk around the park today. So I guess that makes me deserve some ice cream :-)

Just 1 scoop of ice cream plus all sorts of fruits. For my dessert bowl, I added:
1. Half banana
2. half nectarine
3. 3 big strawberries

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Manna Sushi, Wanganui

Manna Sushi Wanganui - Tried this take away sushi place yesterday. Got a ramen and chicken teriyaki.
The price is quite affordable, around $19 for these 2 bowls.
The taste is ok. I like spicy food. My only comment is that it's not original Japanese ramen and I was really looking forward to real Japanese ramen. I like that it's very spicy though.

If you got an ethnic taste and you're looking for affordable Japanese food, you will enjoy this little treat.

Manna Sushi is located at Victoria Ave, Wanganui New Zealand.


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Cafe in Wanganui, Big Orange

Blue cheese and online muffin with a warm mochacino while reading today's paper at Wanganui's Big Orange Cafe. I keep coming back to this cafe because it's reasonably priced. $8 for a coffee and a muffin.
Believe me ... that price is already considered "reasonable" in Wanganui. That's for 1 person.

It is also so inviting to see those orange big umbrellas outside the cafe under the hot sun and cool breeze.

Here's a list of where you can eat in Wanganui.



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Warm Lovely Soup and Salmon

They said the best dishes are made with love.

So today to keep warm, I thought of cooking a simple vegetable soup with pan-fried salmon for Andrew.

This is a very simple meal on an ordinary night... but I made it for an extraordinary person. 

1. pan fried salmon, seasoned with salt and pepper
2. tomato sauce
3. lemon

Andrew loves to eat carrots so I used 2 big carrots and used less pasta.
For the soup:
1. half capsicum green, half capsicum yellow
2. 2 large carrots
3. a bit of broccoli
4. 1 whole big onion
5. a few cloves of garlic
6. some elbow pasta (half cup
7. egg
8. chowmien mix - or curry powder + pepper
9. 3 tbsp soy sauce


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Beef Dish

Andrew had 4 servings of this meal. It's a simple meal! My ingredients:
1. thinly sliced beef, marinated in soy sauce and pepper
2. lots of different vegetables - broccoli, carrot, green and yellow capsicum, garlic, onion , green peas, jalapeno (the secret ingredient to add a bit of zing)
3. tomato/pasta sauce
4. some curry powder

I served with warm basmati rice with garlic.


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Onion Rings

Fresh onions dipped in an improvised batter - 1 egg, 2 onions, 2 tsbp flour, some salt and pepper and sesame seeds!


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Bibimbap, my version

This is my first try to improvised a Korean-inspired meal.
It took me 45 minutes to make this... from chopping the vegetables the right way and frying them one set at a time so I create a proper plate design.

The ingredients:
1. boiled rice
2. Stir fried carrot sticks, onion, green and yellow capsicum, broccoli
3. Stir fried beef strips marinated in some soy sauce and pepper
4. fried egg
5. tomato sauce
6. some pepper
7. sesame seeds

I do not have spicy red sauce that make the dish Korean.  I added misu soup to make the meal a bit of Korean and get closer to my goal - bibimbap.

Is it nice? Well my partner said "It's not the same..." But he said it's nice :-)
I think it's because it's healthy!

How can I improve next time?
1. I will pre-cut the veggies so the rest of the ingredient wouldn't be too cold while waiting for the other ingredients to cook.
2. I will make sure I put enough oil on the pan when frying the egg.
3. I'll cook the meat longer to make it more tender.

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Parnells Cafe, Wanganui, New Zealand

I had a great experience at Parnells Cafe today. Parnells is located along Wanganui's main street, Victoria Avenue, near several boutique Wanganui hotels like Aotea Motor Lodge.

I ordered a curry kumara pie at $5.50 and medium mochacino at $4.20. My partner had sultana cake at $4.00 and $4.80 mochacino.  So at around $19, we had a reasonable meal.

This cafe has wifi internet which I think is 'paid' unlike Orange cafe in the Wanganui town center which offers free internet.

The place is unique because behind the cafe is a funky garden with different art work.

The place has a cosy feel. It has several art works for sale within the premises. It offers really good food options and I guess that's part of what we have to pay for.

I think the place and food are all carefully thought of.

Would I go back? Yes sure.

To be fair with other nice cafes in town, Parnell's cafe is 15% to 20% more expensive on the average.

Orange cafe mochacino (small-medium) is $3.80 vs the $4.20 at Parnells cafe and the serving is about 5% bigger than Parnells.


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Hae Song Japanese Restaurant Makati Philippines

Tofu Salad around 300 php

Fried Veggies free

Spicy Chicken around 300 php

Bulgogi Beef around 300 php

Tempura Udon around 300 php

Seafood Udon 300 php

This is an old Japanese restaurant. The manager/owner seems Korean though and she is a nice lady.
Unfortunately, the seats have stains... and makes the place unpleasant for me.

They gave us free desert and free fresh salad for appetizer. This is not a cheap meal for middle class Filipinos but would be considered a cheap meal for foreigners.

The seafood udon is plently but I didn't like the taste. I was rooting for Ramen...

The tofu salad is a little overpriced because it's simple but I guess I had to pay premium for the sesame oil dressing and the style.

The bulgogi was nice but I think other restaurants serving bulgogi are comparable taste-wise.
I didn't taste the chicken, I heard it's good but for me it looks a little fatty.

I heard the tempura udon was nice but I am really not a fan of that udon noodles.

The toilet is clean but there's no 'hard drier'.

Would I come back? No not really... But it's not a bad experience.

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Gloria Jean's Wellington, NZ

Wellington has been named as New Zealand's "coolest" little city. I can understand why.
It looks like a miniature mix of Melbourne and Sydney with it's old Victorian style buildings converted into cafes and boutique shops.

The city is very small and I was able to walk around it within 2 hours... well at least the part that looks like a 'city'.

The city center has FREE wifi. When you try to login for some free internet connection, open your browser and you need to authenticate first by choosing a 'sponsor'. I figured out however that I can have many different sponsors so the 30 mins free wifi per sponsor could turn into 2 hours free use. Pretty convenient and I hope Wellington keeps that for the sake of tourists.

I visited Gloria Jean's cafe not because I love it. I chose Gloria Jeans strategically! It is a well-known franchise and likely the staff won't mind if I stay 2 hours in the cafe while working on important files.  Other boutique cafes which I would have preferred would be stricter.

The coffee at Gloria Jeans is $4.5 per cup - around the average price really.

Did I enjoy it? Well it is a practical choice as I said. :-)

However, next time when I am less busy, I'll try something more boutiquey :)


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Pork and Apple

Pork and apple - classic dish, though I added a bit of zest.

My recipe?
1. Pork, thinly sized, boiled for 30 mins to make it tender
2. mix of broccoli, carrots, onion, red capsicum, garlic
3. apple and nectarine

Method:
1. Stir fry garlic and onion until golden (2 minutes)
2. Add carrots and broccoli (3 minutes)
3. Add the boiled pork (boiled 30 minutes)
4. Add capsicum
5. Add apple and nectarine (cook for 3 minutes)
6. Add pepper to season

Serve with plain basmati rice.

I ate a lot!


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Fresh Spinach, Nectarine Salad

My own concoction with a wonderful roast chicken top up.

I didn't make the chicken, I bought it from a grocery in New Zealand. Countdown offers best roast chicken so far for $13.99 at size 14.

The salad is my experiment. And my ingredients are (for 2 people):
1. 1 fresh tomato
2. sprouts
3. a bit of fresh, thinly cut onions
4. small spinach leaves
5. 1 nectarine
6. a bit of thinly cut green capsicum


For dressing, I mixed up olive oil, 3 tbsp and 2 tbsp of soy sauce. Sprinkled pepper.

Delightful!

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Meals in Singapore Airport

I was dumbfounded when I got on a Jetstar plane going to Singapore. I ordered a $10 lunch meal because I thought it was very cheap considering it was an airline meal...

I decided to eat on the plane because I don't want to bother with looking for restaurants in Sgp airport when they would be the same value and type anyway. But as I said, I was dumbfounded. I passed off the authentic curries and Singaporean delicacies worth a whopping $3 for my 'regular' airline meal!

Lesson learned, when you are going to Singapore, eat there! The value is awesome despite it being a first world country.

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Fisherman's Table, Wellington

This is the only restaurant I visit in Wellington *regularly*. Why??? For so many wonderful reasons:
1. It has a $15.95 all you can eat meal.
2. For $15.95 you can get a fish meal with chips and unlimited salad in their oh-so healthy salad bar.
3. They have a wonderful view of the sea
4. They have great location
5. I love their fish meals

You can get salmon, white fish or hot pot seafood soup. You can have the fish cooked with batter or pan- fried. These are always my choices. Yes you can get beef as well.

Salad options? Potato salad, macaroni and cheese, pickled onions, olives, beans mix, couscous, beetroot, pasta salads, pumpkin seeds, various dressings, potato wedges, carrot cuts sauteed, apple salad, egg salad, basmati rice

What more can a seafood lover and healthy eater ask for? :D


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Wholly Bagels, Wellington, New Zealand

whole grain bagel with poppy and sesame seeds and garlic cream cheese & herbs

Visited Wellington's Wholly Bagels yesterday! http://www.whollybagels.co.nz/
I visited the branch on Neworld, Thorndon area, Wellington.

I got the $6 deal (special bagel + coffee).

They added a lot of cream cheese so I had to scrape some off and still have a satisfying breakfast. In fact, I wasn't able to finish the bagel. I was so full after half of it. I wasn't able to finish my mochaccino as well.

Approximately, an entire bagel with cream cheese is 450 calories :-)

Would I come back despite that scary calorie count? Yeah it could be my little treat for the day and just make sure that I don't eat too much on my other meals on that same day!

sesame bagel with raisin & almond cream cheese

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