I give you wings and sky is your limit!

I believe that we do not let anyone tell us what we can’t do but do what we believe we can.  That is exactly what my son does. When he wanted to take a course in performing arts, many thought that it is not a good course to do because this is not a professional course and being an artists in our country means being financially unstable.  Many Asian parents are reluctant to support their kids to pursue the course and in their mind, it is a way to protect them from leading a hard life. I have to confess I was a bit worried too but my Quaylo said, we should support him.  He thinks that one can only excel and be happy doing what one is passionate about.  He said money is necessary but it is not everything. I agree with my Quaylo. We always tell Nick we do not wish for him to be rich or famous, our only wish is to see him happy and earn an honest living doing what he loves.  Unlike, his college mates,  Nick did not pursue his degree in performing arts overseas after he graduated from college.  He decided to make a name for himself in the music scene here in his own country. He started out as a Singer Songwriter and an actor. He acted in AIR CON, A Cameronian Award winning play written by Shannon Shah and directed y Jo Kukathas. He was selected for the lead role in a local controversial movie called "GADOH".  The soundtrack that he composed for a play called "THREE" was nominated for the Cameronian Award. He was also the youngest Music Director for the play "KAKI BLUE". Nick used to perform alone with his guitar and later collaborated with a violonist, Savy Ho and formed an acoustic band called The Snow Symphony.  

Together they performed at various places like The Apartment, Laundry Bar, Groove Junction, Cloth and Clef and many other places. By combining this two individuals, you get sounds of hard guitar strumming melancholic violin lines.  Here is an example of what it is.  If you are interested to listen to more of their songs, just click on the photo above. After Nick became the vocalist for Rosevelt, The Snow Symphony is at a halt.  I miss The Snow Symphony.

ROSEVELT was formed in June 2009. Although they are quite new to the local music scene, I think they have accomplished a lot.  Recently, they got 3^rd place in the National competition of Global of the Band.  They have performed in various locations locally and just came home from performing at The Esplanade Singapore.  With the support of family, friends and all their loyal fans, they are where they are today.  To those of you who have been on the journey with them and voted for them, you all will be happy to know that their song ‘MADICINE” is No.1 on local radio station, Hitz.fm MET10 (Malaysian English Songs Chart Top 10) for 2 weeks now.  Thanks a MILLION!  If you want to keep them there for a while do head over to www.hitz.fm or click on the photo below to continue to vote for them.

To celebrate this occassion, I have selected one of the dishes I made in the past to dedicate to them.  Yes, it is “Char siu chicken wings”. Why do I choose this one over all the others?  Well I thought I give them the wings so that they can fly and the sky is their limit! LOL!  Also, I served the wings in a glass to toast to their success and wish them many more to come!  I LOVE ROSEVELT!! CHEERS!


Oh if you want the recipe, just click on the photo.

Char siu chicken wings

In memory of 911 a simple but favorite family recipe

Char Siu Chicken Wings

Yesterday my page visits totaled 911 and it made me think of those who lost their lives on the 11th of September, 2001. I still find myself deeply affected by that horrible day. Not to trivialize but I would like to suggest this recipe as a tribute to the victims and those they left behind. Let’s always keep them in our hearts and let them live there forever, and let us never forget. So many family's lives were disrupted by the events on that day. As we have often noted, enjoying food is most special when it is a family affair. We should relish every moment that we have with our families, and we should support and pay our respects to families who survive the disruption of events such as 911.

The recipe that follows is a family favorite. I would probably not serve this as a main dish in a Western setting, but rather as an appetizer, or one of several dishes for a festive meal. For the Chinese setting, it would be a meat dish, likely in addition to others. For non vegetarian Chinese families, the epitome of prosperity, generosity, and celebration are to have several meat dishes at one meal. Meat is often used in our vegetable dishes as well. Modern consumption practice is likely to result in attenuating serving sizes rather than to cut back the number of dishes containing meat or fish.

The barbecued chicken wing recipe here is a very simple dish to make. Just make sure you marinate the chicken wing for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.

There are so many variations of char siu sauce and it is, of course, key to the taste. Here is ours, but some of you may want to experiment with other choices of ingredients. I've listed some ideas below. Char Siu literally translates from the Cantonese as fork cooked referring to way the meat is skewered and hunk over coals or in an oven. It's origins are distinctly Southeastern Chinese and it accompanied the diaspora to the Asia Pacific of all of the Cantonese speaking people who came here. More often found as a pork dish, it's adaptation to chicken wings is seamless and delicious.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
• 4 tbs soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons rice wine
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 rounded teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice mixed powder
• red chili powder to taste (optional)

This should yield more than enough for the recipe below, which can be kept refrigerated several days, or served as an extra dipping sauce when your serve the wings. Some possible substitutions could be to replace the rice wine with Japanese Mirin, add ginger chili sauce for some punch (commercially available), add a tbs or 2 of tomato sauce for a redder color and a more tomato taste, I suspect the list is endless.

Ingredients:
8 pcs of chicken upper wings

4 tb char siu sauce

oil to fry chicken wings

2 tb corn flour

Method:
Add char siu sauce to chicken wings and let it marinate for 3 hours. Mix chicken wings with corn flour. Heat oil in wok and when it is hot, add in chicken wings and fry till they are cooked. Transfer to serving plate.