Quay Po Cooks: couscous salad

Showing posts with label couscous salad. Show all posts

Friday, September 16, 2011

The only way to have a friend is to be one - Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you were to ask me one year ago if we can make friends through blogging, I would probably said, quite unlikely. Today, I have a totally different opinion because after just one year of blogging, I have made many friends, some I have met and some I have not. All my blogger friends and readers are very supportive. They not only leave encouraging comments often, they also share their knowledge and offer advice without expecting anything in return. Isn't that amazing? For example, when I made mistakes in my recipe, I was not criticized but instead they take time to alert me about my error in a very polite manner. Two blogger friends who take time to do that are Wendy of A Table for two or more and Elisabeth of food and thrift. I really appreciate it. Thanks again Wendy and Elisabeth. Then, I have LeQuan of love to eat, who always take time from her busy schedule to read almost all my posts and leave comments which always put a smile on my face. Diane from My life in Charante too visits my blog often and I was so happy to receive a postcard from her sometime ago. Not forgetting David of Alokoli, he is a sweetheart, always leave kind words on my post. He is an amazing writer. I love all him poems, always strike one of my nerves. Another great blogger friend is Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover. Whenever she goes on holiday, she will bring back goodies from abroad to share with us. She has given me a bottle premium fish sauce from her Vietnam trip and Shanghai noodles from her Shanghai trip. How thoughtful is that? Oh another blogger friend, Pei-Lin of Dodol Mochi who is a busy bee but it was so nice of her to spend a weekend with me, to teach me how to make macarons. Swee San of Sweetspot is a talented and generous baker. She had shared with us so many of her wonderful bakes. Last month, we had a gathering at the Chillis in Empire, I managed to catch up with Reese of Reese Kicthen and also Ann of Pigpigscorner. We had a great time together and we got to see Wendy's new born! He is such a cutie!

Just yesterday, I received a package from a blogger friend Joelyn. She posted a photo of her and her girlfriend on facebook. I noticed the beautiful scarf around her neck and I complimented her. Guess what? The next moment, she messaged me and said she is going to send me the similar scarf because she had bought two! Isn’t she sweet? Then when the packaged arrived yesterday, I was surprised with two more gifts. A box of fragrant soaps and a nice looking shopping bag!

Hey Joelyn, I love them all and I can’t wait to wear the lovely scarf. The shopping bag is so handy to go shopping with and the soaps smells good. Many thanks, I am touched by your thoughtfulness.

I love all my friends and I would love to maintain our friendships for life. I hate to loose a friend for what ever reason. Here are some guidelines I used to help me to be a better friend to my friends:-

I must always remind myself not to ever judge my friends’ choices. I should trust that their wisdom will guide them through their life not mine.

I will always respect my friends’ decision even if I think it may be wrong and let them know I will be there when they need me.

I will never do anything out of guilt for my friends. Whatever I do for them is always from my heart and if there is something I can't do for them, I will be truthful and tell them even if I have to disappoint them.

I will never trash talk about one friend to the other. I will speak my mind directly with them if I think they treated me unfairly. Good friends are those who will speak the truth even when the truth hurts sometimes.

I will always try to be there to share big moments, sad moments as well as stupid moments with my friends.

Here is to our friendships! Have a healthy, refreshing, colorful and delicious salad, just like how friendships should be!

Couscous Salad

Ingredients:

(A)

2 cups vegetable stock

2 tbs butter

2 cups instant couscous

50g rocket

¼ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp paprika

(B)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

2 tbs fresh parsley

3 tbs softened butter

¼ red capsicum, diced

¼ orange capsicum diced

¼ green capsicum diced

½ cucumber, removed seeds, diced

50g feta cheese , cubed

1 small purple onion, thinly sliced in rings

Method:

In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock and butter to a boil over medium heat. Gradually, stir in the couscous. Remove from heat, cover and set aside to steam for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Place rocket in a serving plate. Add (B) to cooked couscous and mix well. Sprinkle ground black pepper and paprika.

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.