HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We will be entering into 2012 tomorrow, I would like to take a moment to thank my family and friends, my blogger friends and my readers. Quay Po Cooks would not have survived one and half years in the blogging world without your comments, support and encouragement. If I have overlooked a comment or have not replied to any comments you have left on my posts, I apologize. I will try to do better.  There were times when I wished to visit your blogs as often as I would like to but could not,  please know that I would if I could. I am not good at making a speech to show you my appreciation so I have invited Shakespeare to do it on my behalf. 

2011 was good for me because I have derived tremendous joy from blogging, sharing recipes, food photos and the happenings in my life with you. I know 2012 will be even better with your continuous love and support. 
Here is one last recipe for the year 2011.

MANGO-BANANA PIE

Ingredient:

1 baked pie shell 

Please click on this pic to get the recipe for the pie shell

2 cups mango puree

1 tsp Cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

honey (amount depends on the sweetness of the mango)

1 tbs caramel

t tbs Cornstarch, dissolved in ½ tbs water

5 bananas, sliced (depends on the size of banana)

Whipped cream

Method:

Prepare the pie shell. Make sure your fruit is very ripe. The mangoes should be sweet and orange. Bring mango puree to boil. Add a touch of cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel and honey. Mix well. Add cornstarch mixture to thicken. Remove from heat and cool. Pour mixture into baked pie shell and decorate with sliced bananas. Chill and serve topped with whipped cream. 

May 2012 brings you a beautiful dawn to your life each 

and every day. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a funfilled New Year!!

With Much Love from:

Quay Po and Family

Family is the main ingredient in our life, without it,

we will be under nourished - Quay Po

Our OLD bones fell apart but it is all worth it!

On Christmas morning, my Quay Lo was still busy cooking but when our son, Nick and his girlfriend, Lehbin arrived, we took a break and opened the Christmas gifts.

Guess what was the top prize Christmas gifts from my Quay Lo this year? Both Nick and I got an iPad2!!!! YAY!!

The grand gift  from me to my Quay Lo this year was a SEINNHEISER PC151 binaural headset with noise cancelling and volume control.  It was worth all the searching and driving 2 hours in the jam down town to get this headset for my Quay Lo because he said this is the best headset he had ever owned and he loves it! Good job Quay Po!

Another big surprise for Nick this year was this gift. It is the microphone that he tweeted to "Santa" a few months ago and sure enough, Santa received his tweet and made his dream came true! This is a “SHURE” Super55 Deluxe Special Edition microphone with Red padding, one that the lead singer of the famous Rock band, INCUBUS used for his performance here recently. Elvis Presley was also using this microphone for his performances and recording. This microphone is SUPER COOL!

My Mum got her wish come true too. Just a few days before Christmas, she said that her watch was misbehaving and  POOOFFF!!, she got a new watch from her grandson. I did not tip Nick but how did he know grandma needed a new watch? I think he has a sixth sense!!

Oh, this is the first year, Nick’s girlfriend, Lehbin spent her Christmas with us and her birthday is on Boxing day (today) so Nick killed two birds with one stone and gave her a Christmas cum Birthday gift. It was the biggest card I have ever seen and the gift inside the card, is a trip to a beach resort. He also bought her a bottle of perfume with a very nice scent.

I found this useful book during my last trip back to the USA and I misplaced it. I found it again after 2 years and I gave this to my Quay Lo as one of his Christmas gifts. A very educational book and I think all men should have one. LOL!

We both got a lovely Christmas card each a bottle of perfume for me and cologne for Quay Lo from Nick.

I found this cool gift for my Quay Lo for his Christmas socks. He always wanted a flexible measuring tape. When you pull on Rudolph's nose it pulls out the tape.

 ....and a joke gift for Nick. 

After we opened all the gifts, we had our brunch and then back to the mill. My Quay Lo did not stopped cooking and only had a moment to rest after all the guests arrived and food was served. We were so busy taking care of our guests so we did not have time to take good pictures of the food. The Menu was planned by my Quay Lo and he cooked most of the food himself. All the guests give their two thumbs up and said the every dish was AWESOME! Darling, thanks for all the hard work and making this Christmas so Magical for all of us.

Christmas Dinner

Roast Turkey / Bouef Bourguignon / Braised Pork Tenderloin

Roasted winter vegetables

Brown Gravy

Chorizo Sausage stuffing

Steamed Brussels sprouts

White and green asparagus with roasted pepper salad

Mashed potatoes

Rhubarb and strawberry cobbler

Pandoro cake with chocolate frosting

Rum balls

All of a sudden the lights were turned off and Nick brought out a birthday cake for Lehbin and we all sang her the birthday song. She did not expect this and it was a big surprise to her.

Then came the time for our guests to open the gifts we bought for them. It gave us so much joy to see them enjoy the food, the good company, and the gifts.

This was such a happy times so how can the ladies not hog the camera for a shot? One for the road!

The party was over at 1.40am and after all the guests left, both of us just flopped in our chairs and fell asleep. Every OLD bone in our bodies were aching and we felt as though we had run a marathon. But it was a happy ache, and well worth it to see friends and family and enjoy their company in our home on Christmas.  Our Christmases have always been about  bonding with family and friends, eating good food and spending happy times together. This year was no different, except that Quay Lo proved that he can bake a much better turkey than the caterers who did it for us last year.

Thank you all who came to share Christmas with us and also the many thoughtful gifts. I also want to thank my step-daughter, Erin and her hubby, John for the Ang Pau she asked her Dad to give me, my mum and Nick on their behalf. Erin, you have become very "Chinese" in style! I wish you and John were here with us. Love you both Lots.


I also want to thank my blogger friend Pei-Lin of Dodol Mochi for joining us in the celebration and she baked us one of the most delicious Peanut Cream Cake (did I get the name of the cake right Pei-lin?). Sorry I forgot to take a photo of that lovely cake. 

We are constantly being reminded how blessed we are, even more so at Christmas time.

Lastly, I want to say a BIG Thank you to my blogger friends and readers for all the kind comments you left on my posts throughout the year and hope to visit with all of you often for many more years to come. Hope you all are having a LOVELY holiday too! HUGZZZ!!

Laughing all the way to Christmas

I am doing this too often. I replied to emails and SMSs' thinking that they were sent but they stayed in my outbox for days. I don't even realize it. I only notice that I'm confused when I do a house cleaning on emails and text messages. I would love to blame it on my computer and my handphone like a bad carpenter miight blame his tools.  But, the other day when my sister in law came to visit me, it is confirmed that there are no tools to be blamed. I was being “Lucy” again!!

My Conversation with my Sister in law (SIL)

SIL: Hey, why you never reply my sms ar?

Lucy: Yes I did. I always reply messages.

SIL: No lah, there is no reply from you.  (She said this after spending a few minutes checking through her handphone)

Lucy: Aiyah, your handphone something wrong lah, time to change. (I said this while checking through the records on my handphone.)

SIL: Got record in your phone that you sent the sms to me ar?

Lucy: Wait, wait, checking…. OH S@*T!!!

SIL: hahaha, you cannot find the record right? Some more, you blame my phone “lou ya” (old phone).

Lucy: I found the record but it is in my outbox, not send wor? Why ar?

SIL: hahaha you typed the reply and forgot to send lor.

Lucy: Ya lor. While talking with her, "Lucy"  hurriedly pressed the send button) DUH!!!!

(My SIL’s handphone beeped!, she finally received the sms from me)

SIL: You just sent that sms to me???  Aiyoh, you crazy ar?

Lucy:  Yor lor, why did I do that?? SO STUPID right?? Not only stupid but I just wasted 30 sen!!

SIL: “Say ler” (Die ) you are growing old and stupid! hahahaha

We both laughed so hard that we teared.  Have any of you have done something as ridiculous as Lucy? Share  your stories with us lah, so that we can all laugh our way to Christmas and also you can help to make Lucy feel not so alone. LOL!

After both my SIL and I managed to stop laughing we went into the kitchen and finally settled down, had a cup of freshly brewed coffee and a healthy dessert, baked apples. YUM!

Baked Apples Recipe

Adapted from simply recipe with modification

Ingredients:

4 large good baking apples, such as Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, or Jonagold 

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp ground ginger

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup currants or chopped raisins

1 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup boiling water

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Wash apples. Remove cores to 1/2 inch of the bottom of the apples. It helps if you have an apple corer, but if not, you can use a paring knife to cut out first the stem area, and then the core. Use a spoon to dig out the seeds. Make the holes about 3/4-inch to an inch wide. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, currants/raisins, and pecans. Place apples in a 8-inch-by-8-inch square baking pan. Stuff each apple with this mixture. Top with a dot of butter (1/4 of the Tbps). Add boiling water to the baking pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until tender, but not mushy. Remove from the oven and baste the apples several times with the pan juices. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.

Note: I used 8 mini apples because I could not resist buying them. They are just too pretty and cute. The red and green color is SO Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrates Christmas 
and 
Happy Holidays to those who don't.

May your dreams come true and may you all have lots of peace and happiness.

Lots of love 

From:

Quay Po a.k.a. Lucy and Quay Lo.

Sincere friendship is the best gift

To me, there is one precious gift that friends can give to their friends, their sincere friendships. (I hope I did not confuse you with this sentence. LOL!) Today I want to share with you the true story of how two strangers had become friends. I stumbled upon this blog, "Still crazy all these years" just a few months ago and enjoyed his space. From reading all his posts, I knew he is a sincere, humorous and down to earth person. Not only that, I like that he takes time to reply his readers' comment and his reply often times are wittingly hilarious. His posts always put a smile on my face and his reply to my comments never fail to give me chuckles!

We visited each other’s blog often the past few months. We are not just leaving comments on each other's posts, we actually communicate and enjoyed our interaction. Recently, we were connected through facebook as well. As you can see, we have progress from from blogger friends to facebook friends. When I learned that he and his family are coming to Kuala Lumpur, I told him I would like to meet them and I wanted to cook a meal for them but being considerate, he did not want to trouble me. He suggested that we meet at his hotel for coffee. An appointment was made and we finally met last Sunday. I cannot believe it when he gave me two bags of the special rice from his hometown and a bottle of special cooking wine because they are heavy stuff to bring. I really appreciate his thoughtfulness. I can’t wait to taste the rice and find a dish to cook with the wine. Thank you again, Arthur for the gift and for your friendship.

I was thinking hard what bakes or food I could prepare for Arthur and his family to try. I finally decided to let them try my macarons with butter chestnut filling and a new Christmas cookies. When I was baking the macarons, I not only have my fingers and toes crossed, I had every single blood capillaries in my body crossed. If you are my regular readers, you should know that my macs don't always come out right. Thank God! that they came out perfect that time. I cannot be more happy. It is an early Christmas gift for myself!

We had a wonderful dim sum brunch and I was glad he and his family enjoyed the food. All of us were full, satisfied and happy, can you tell from the photos?

From left: my mum, Arthur's daughter and wife

From left: Me, my mum, Arthur's daughter and wife and himself

I got feedback from Arthur that they love my macarons. It means a lot to me when the it came from a foodie like Arthur that my macs were delicious. YAY!! I am looking forward to his comment on my Christmas cookies. These chewy cookies have an old spicy flavor. Isn’t Christmas all about flavors? I believe eating these cookies will trigger one’s nostalgia. Want to try making some? Here is the recipe. I hope it is not too late for those of you who wanted to try making this for Christmas.

Molasses Sugar Cookies

Adapted from allrecipie.com with modification

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup molasses

2 eggs

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon salt

Method:

Melt the shortening in a large pan on the stove, and cool.

Add sugar, eggs, and molasses, beat well.

In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together and add to the pan. Mix well and chill 3 hours or overnight.

Form into walnut-size balls. Place on greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 8.5 minutes.  Store in an airtight container.

Note: 
Every oven behave differently so you might have to find out whether 8.5 minutes works for you or not.  


If the cookies do lose their softness, an easy way to restore it is to place one slice of fresh bread in the container with the cookies for a couple of hours or overnight and they will be soft again!

It is Christmas time, do something nice

It is Christmas time, how about doing something nice?  Make someone happy and make yourself feel great at the same time. When you do something nice for someone (can be your love ones, a stranger or yourself) may be an insignificant small thing to you but it can be a humongous thing to the receiver. I am not exaggerating, sometimes it can even change someone's life! You do not need to do big things, it is the small little things that count the most.


My Quay Lo does not wait for Christmas time to do something nice. He does it throughout the year. For example, out of the blue, he will serve me a special morning "teh tarik" (pull tea). For no apparent reason, he will put a plate of nicely decorated afternoon snacks on my office desk. When he returned from a business trip, he would bring back some little surprise gifts for my mum, usually tid-bits that she likes. When he knew my brother is coming to visit, he would buy a bunch of movies to watch with him. When the ladies were chatting in the kitchen, he would make us a cocktail drink and pour us a glass of wine. His actions had made me aware of how doing something nice plays a direct role in the bigger picture of our existence. Can you think of what nice things you have done recently? Would you share with us so that we all can learn from it? 
I am going to share with you my Quay Lo's chocolate mousse recipe. Do you consider this doing something nice? 


It was a surprise dessert and a bigger surprise when he served it like those being served in a fine dining restaurant to me one evening. It was the best chocolate mousse I've ever had. It was creamy and probably extremely fattening but we are allowed to treat ourselves with a rich dessert once in a while don’t we? I am not a big fan of chocolate dessert but then I will eat this anytime. 


The following photos of the chocolate mousse did not allow its deliciousness to shine through (I hope you are not too disappointed with them). They were taken in a hurry because I did not want to make my Quay Lo wait too long although I know he is used to the whole drill when food is served. That is a problem for having a wife who is a food blogger. Anyway, just forget about the pictures and trust my words would you? This is a great choice of dessert to make if you want to impress your guests. Not only it looks pretty, its rich chocolate flavor with light and airy velvety smooth creamy texture will definitely "WOW" them. Furthermore, you can make this dessert one day ahead of time so you have one less item to worry about and have more time to make yourself look pretty before your guests arrive. That means you are doing something nice for yourself, why not?

Chocolate Mousse
Recipe from my Quay Lo

Ingredients:

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

7 egg yolks, beaten

2 tablespoons sugar

1 pinch salt

7 egg whites

1 1/4 cups heavy cream plus ¼ cup additional

1 tablespoon Cointreau (optional) 

Method:

1. Place chocolate in a metal bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Stir

occasionally until mostly melted, then remove from heat, and stir until

smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream to medium stiff peaks, but do not

allow it to become grainy. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites with the pinch salt until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the sugar, and continue whipping until medium stiff peaks form. Fold in egg yolks and the optional liquor.

4. Fold in the melted chocolate until completely incorporated, then fold in

whipped cream until evenly blended. Spoon into dessert cups, and chill

until firm, about 1 hour.

To serve:

Put the extra ¼ cup heavy cream, a tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar,  and a teaspoon of vanilla extract into a cold metal bowl. Whip until stiff peaks form. Serve on top of the chocolate mousse, sprinkle with a little instant coffee or shaved chocolate.

I am not a Foodie, I am a Food Blogger

Have you seen penne casserole with sambal belacan tomato sauce and served with chilli padi?  That is the beauty of fusion food. My Quay Lo made this penne casserole with my sambal belacan tomato sauce and served it with chilli padi for me!  Even when we dine out at restaurants that serve Western cuisine, I am not shy to ask for chilli padi or even sambal belacan. I have received a blank look on some of the waiters or waitresses’ face but I don’t care what they think about me, I still want my chilli padi or sambal belacan! When I am lucky, some waiters or waitresses were kind enough to get the chilli padi or sambal belachan from the cafe or Chinese Restaurant in the hotel for me.  In that sense, Quay Po can never said to be a real foodie. To me, real foodies have brains in their taste buds. Normally, when they eat, they don’t add something like sauces that changes the taste of a dish. They are also very objective and won't let their judgement of food served to be influenced by how many Michelin stars a restaurant has, or how famous the celebrity chef is in the kitchen. From an article I have read, the author (forgot his name) said:

"Real foodies:
 don't indulge in pretentious smiles and nod bullshit based on how much something costs versus how it tastes.

Even when they are eating at a high end restaurant, they are objective about what is good versus what is mediocre rather than letting social halo effects override their biological response.

Don't eat at a restaurant primarily for the purpose of posting gastro vanity pictures just to show that they have been there.

Experiment with a lot of different places and foods from different cultures and geographies to develop a well calibrated sense of taste.

Pay very little attention to the service, decor or food presentation at a restaurant and emphasize food quality above everything else. They can appreciate good food at even a hole in the wall restaurant.

Don't eat at a restaurant out of obsessive compulsive completionism to be able to write an online review.

While I am not a foodie per se,  I do know if fusion food is done well.  Fusion cuisine truly can be excellent and innovative. Good fusion cuisine combines ingredients and cooking techniques from several cultures and creates a new fresh dish, even if the dish is simple like the one below that Quay Lo and I made together. All cultures have their own culinary traditions, and combining these cooking traditions can result in breath taking dishes. Fusion in the new modern cities of Asia is almost in a class of its own. Some of these creations, by bold and adventurous chefs, can be quite complex.  Still, somehow, I feel like Quay Lo and I are "down in the trenches" of this movement and doing so with simple dishes.

Fusion Penne Casserole

This recipe was featured on The Asian Food Channel (Official) 

Facebook page on 6 December 2012

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups uncooked penne pasta

½ cup Quay Po fusion tomato sauce

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

Method:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta; toss with Quay Po fusion tomato sauce. Spoon the mixture into a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with cheeses. Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until heated through. 

Quay Po fusion tomato sauce 

(click on the pic to get the recipe)

A Family Christmas tradition

Before I met my Quay Lo, Christmas to me was party time. Every Christmas eve was spent in our favorite Country Western Pub. We would party till the wee hours and dance, and laugh the night away. After I met my Quay Lo, Christmas became all about spending time at home with the family. When our son, Nicholas was a little boy, on Christmas Eve we would have a light dinner and usually watch a Christmas movie together. Before we sent him to bed early, he and Stitch (my Quay Lo) would put cookies and a glass of milk on the coffee table in the living hall. My Quay Lo would read the "Night Before Christmas" to him, from a beautiful illustrated copy that he had bought especially for Nick. Then off to bed, warning him to never try to peek or come downstairs early, or he might scare Santa away.

Then Stitch (my Quay Lo) would put on some nice Christmas music and we would fill Nick's Christmas stocking and put all his Christmas gifts under the tree. My Quay Lo would take a bite from a cookie so that when Nicholas awoke on Christmas day, he would believe that Santa had visited our home. This was practised till the time when Nicholas was old enough to know that the Big Santa was actually his Dad which he remembers was not until Nick was age 10. He once told me that in the U.S. kids lose their faith in a Santa at a very early age. He thought that they did so because of of too much sharing of information about such things as children's fables and that kids there were too eager to show that they were grown up. We both agreed that was a loss for them. The excitement in Nick just grew and grew as Christmas approached. Stich said that when he was younger the common belief in Santa was held longer and to see Nick get so excited was a pleasure. 

The Davis's family had a Christmas tradition. According to my Quay Lo, my late father-in-law loved chocolate covered cherries. 

My late father-in-law with my Quay Lo having at an arm wrestle

Stitch remembered that during Christmas's as a boy, his father, who was a busy executive in the construction and  architectural woodwork trade, often came home with gifts he received from associates. He specifically remembered bottles of whiskey, a hamper of huge red apples, and a smoked ham. One year his father brought home a fancy box of chocolates. I am going to ask my Quay Lo to tell the story.

"My Dad would put those chocolates on a high shelf over the fridge and tell us to never eat them unless he gave them to us. I thought they must be very special. Now and then, after dinner, he would take down the box and let us each pick the one we wanted. It seemed like such a special treat. They were of course. But these treats were also a mystery, because we never knew what we would get when we picked one. We would excitedly share with each other what we picked, and thus determine who the winner of the "chocolate lottery" was. All of us kids loved the vanilla filling. Nuts were ok, but inferior to soft fillings. Candied orange peel was like a punishment, often sending one of us back to Dad to whine and ask for another pick. During the selection process I noticed that sometimes one of us would point to one, and my Dad would say no,  explaining that one was his. I remember wondering what was inside.  Eventually I asked him, and told me that it was filled with a cherry."

So, when my Quay Lo was 11 years old and he was earning some money delivering newspapers, he saved up enough money to buy Christmas gifts. The prospect of doing so excited him. So I'll let him tell the rest of the story:

"One day I was at Woolworth's and they had a candy counter. On a corner was a big stack of "Brach's chocolate covered cherries". I thought they would be way too expensive but got up the nerve to ask anyway. I was surprised that they only cost $3.00 per box. I quickly paid for them and ran home to wrap them up. I was very excited to present the chocolates to my Dad on Christmas Day. I kept the tradition of giving him chocolate covered cherries as long as he was with us. As the years advanced I switched from "Brach's" brand as I became more aware that they were an inferior chocolate. But I never missed a year. It was only later that my mother told me that the reason my Dad kept the cherry centered candies for himself was because they were filled with cherries and kirsch, the cherry flavored licqour."

When my Quay Lo was still living in the U.S., his daughter Erin would buy him a box of chocolate covered cherries every Christmas, continuing the tradition. There was one year in the past, during Christmas time, she sent her Dad a box of chocolate covered cherries from US and when it arrived at our home, they were almost all melted from our tropical heat.  We laughed as we scooped out the muddle of cherries and chocolate, and searched for the few that remained whole. I think Stitch later suggested to Erin not to send them again because they would not survive. Unfortunately to get good chocolate covered cherries in Kuala Lumpur is like looking for a needle in the sea. We had them a couple of times when we found them in Singapore. So this year, I thought I would carry on the tradition by making them at home. This is especially made for my Quay Lo with lots of love.


What I like about this recipe is that the cherries were first filled with vanilla sugar before dipping into the dark chocolate to be covered. Can you imagine how divine it is to have the sweetness of the sugar and the flavor of vanilla infused into the cherries (as if cherries were not good enough,) then covered in dark semi sweet chocolate too? YUMMY!! When I tasted one, I now understand why the Quay Los like to say when they eat something very delicious, "I think I died and went to heaven already!"

Chocolate covered Cherries

Adapted from Barry with modification

Yield 18 cherries 

Ingredients:

¼ cup white sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

18 cherries with stems

Method:

Pour the sugar into a shallow dish. Drop two drops of vanilla at a time into the dish in 16 separate places to form lumps of vanilla sugar. Set aside to allow the lumps to harden. Pit the cherries carefully from the bottom. I use a long thick needle. Make sure the stem stays intact. When the lumps of sugar have hardened, insert them into the cherries where the pits were; set aside. Melt chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Hold cherries by the stem and dip into the chocolate. Set on waxed paper to dry. Refrigerate overnight to allow the sugar lumps to dissolve inside the cherries and for the chocolate to harden.

I am submitting this to the Christmas Giveaway in The Sweet Spot