FurryMaisy

Wishing everyone a prosperous Lunar New Year and may the Dragon year brings good health and fortune

Had a humongous screw lodged on my car tyre the other day.

The husband heard an audible ‘dub dub dub’ sound while driving slowly with the windows wound down (it’s true, he has supersonic hearing abilities). When we reached home, we checked the tyres and found a screw in one of the tyres.

The next day, we went to a workshop to get it taken out and patched. Total damage?

RM 5.

The offending screw

Later in the day, sis in law informed that she got a flat tyre too. How coincidental is that?!

Yam rice was my grandma’s staple dish on days she didn’t feel like whipping up a table-ful of dishes for lunch. It is up there with chicken rice as her favourite all-in-one-rice cooker meals.

Alas it wasn’t as easy to make as I thought it was. What’s so hard about throwing all the raw ingredients into the rice cooker and let it do everything? So I tried to make some the other day, and boy, it still took me over an hour to get the whole thing done! (My hubby has always said I’m a slow cooker, hehe)

My list of ingredients in very unscientific measurements (I was cooking for 4):

– 2.5 cups rice
– 1/2 a yam, cut into 1cm cubes
– a handful of dried shrimp
– 7-8 pieces shiitake mushroom
– scallion (for garnishing)
– 4-5 shallots, finely sliced (for garnishing)
– 300g pork or chicken
– light soy sauce
– dark soy sauce
– sesame oil
– 5 spice powder
– cornflour
– pepper
– cooking rice wine

Steps:

1) Marinate pork/chicken in sesame oil, half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of sugar, a teaspoon of light soya sauce, a teaspoon of dark soya sauce, some cooking rice wine (optional), a teaspoon of cornflour, and a few dash of pepper.

Marinated sliced pork

2) Soak shiitake mushrooms, remove the stems and cut each piece into quarters.

Shiitake mushrooms soaked in water

3) Soak dried shrimp for about 15 mins, drain and set aside.

Dried shrimps

4) Peel the yam and cut into 1cm cubes. Heat up enough oil in a wok to fry the yam for 8-10 mins, until it is cooked. I tested a piece, a little crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Scoop out yam into a bowl.

Frying the yam cubes

5) Fry the sliced shallots in the same oil until nice and crispy. Set this aside as garnishing.

Fried shallots

6) Fry the dried shrimp until fragrant.

7) With the bit of oil left, throw in the washed rice and fry with some light soy sauce for 1-2 minutes.

8 ) Transfer rice into rice cooker, add the mushroom, 3.5 cups water and cook. You can use chicken stock in place of water if you want more flavour in the rice.

9) When the water is boiling, add pork/chicken, yam, dried shrimp and let the rice continue to cook.

Yam rice is cooked!

10) Once rice cooker has finished the cooking, scoop out yam rice into big serving bowl and garnish with fried shallots and finely-sliced scallions.

Voila, fragrant yam rice is served!

Fragrant yam rice

Recipe was taken from the book Asian Retro Food by Betty Saw. I have a tendency of not following the recipes exactly, for example, she did  not specify shiitake mushroom, but I liked mushrooms and so added it.

The hubby liked it a lot, so this was a success in my book.

… they forgot to renew their domain name enets.sg

This news came out on Straits Times here:  http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_751638.html

Seeing that eNets payment is used to pay many Singapore government-related services, quite sure that many people were affected.

———————————————————————-
SGNIC WHOIS Server
———————————————————————-

The following data is provided for information purposes only.

Registrar: IP MIRROR PTE LTD
Registrant: NETWORK FOR ELECTRONIC TRANSFERS (SINGAPORE) PTE LTD

Domain Name: ENETS.SG
Creation Date: 03-Jan-2005 12:00:00
Expiration Date: 03-Jan-2013 00:00:00
Domain Status: OK

Notice also that they renewed for one year. Is it possible to renew your domain name for multiple years instead of one? If yes, why create potential trouble for yourself next year?

Or should I pounce on the possibility of this happening again come 03-Jan-2013 and grab the domain name before they can renew it. Any anti-cybersquatting laws in Singapore?

2012 is the end of the world, so live each day like it’s your last, don’t put things off to tomorrow.

Call your loved ones when you want to, don’t leave it to tomorrow.

Say I love you to the special one in your life, don’t leave it to tomorrow.

Chase your dreams, you won’t know till you’ve tried it.

Happy New Year to all readers of FurryMaisy. 

Christmas is usually a time for turkey, but since we’re not celebrating this year, we didn’t order any. Instead, I decided to roast a small chicken in my oven. My oven is a cheap little contraption, but has so far done a stellar job baking cakes, macaroni and cheese, and garlic bread. A chicken should pose no problem.

First step is to rub the chicken with salt and pepper, then let it sit for a while.
Cut potatoes into big chunks. Bring a pot of water to boil, parboil potatoes for about 12 minutes with a whole lemon and a whole bulb of garlic.

Chicken rubbed with salt and pepper

Drain water from the pot, and toss the potatoes a bit in the now-dry pot. Jamie says it gives the potatoes a crispier outer layer.

Parboiling potatoes with lemon

Stab the lemon thoroughly, and stuff into the chicken cavity. Break the cloves of garlic and stuff into chicken with some fresh thyme. Place chicken into a tray. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil on the chicken. I was quite generous with the olive oil. Put into pre-heated oven at 190 degrees Celcius, and cook for 40 mins. At this point, I ‘kecoh’ a bit and added some rosemary leaves on top the chicken.

Chicken ready for roasting

After 40 mins, take the tray out, remove the chicken. Add the potatoes and some rosemary leaves onto the baking tray, and toss it with the lovely chicken fat that should have cooked out from the chicken. Wrap the tips of the chicken wings and drumstick with some foil to prevent overcooking. Place chicken back into the tray, and cook for another 40 mins, or until the chicken is cooked.

In goes the potatoes

Once cooked, remove lemon and garlic from chicken. Mash the garlic and smear over the chicken. It is now ready to serve!

The final result

I have to say, we tore at the chicken like savages. And I am glad, I have roasted my first ever chicken!

A very merry Christmas to all readers, may this blessed day be enjoyed with loved ones far and near.

I braved the Orchard Road Christmas period evening rush the other day, in a car nonetheless! Was raining cats and dogs too. I drove, with hubby beside me giving instructions and gripping the seat at the same time.

Purpose: To buy a new pair of Birkenstocks.

Parked at the HDB parking behind Wheelock Place and walked through puddles in the rain to Wheelock, soaking my shoes in the process. The Birkenstock boutique was quite quiet, so had a good look at all the shoes on display. As luck would have it, the ones I had my eye on were all out of my size. Darn it.

We got hungry, and went to Shashlik restaurant for dinner for an early Christmas celebration. The Shashlik lamb that night was exceptionally nice. After stuffing ourselves with food we left the place full and happy.

Today, I wore the same pair of shoes again as it had dried out. When I had reached my office, felt the breeze on the sides of my foot, which was suppose to be covered by my shoes. Looked down, and saw that the glue sealing the sides of the shoe had come off after the good soaking the other day! I have now glued it back with some contact adhesive, but don’t think it can last very long.

shoe patched with contact adhesive

Help! I need new shoes!

… in a funeral parlour.

Happened to me earlier this month. Lost my sandals in a funeral parlour. I had it for less than 4 months, it was very comfy, and it wasn’t cheap.

Looked something like the picture above.

I was at a proclaimed 5-star memorial center, where the funeral wake for my relative was held. As a participant, I had to take off my sandals to wear socks during the ceremony, and my sandals were placed in a plastic bag along with other relatives’ shoes. The plastic bag of shoes would then be transported in a bus which we travelled in to the crematorium. That was the last time I saw my sandals.

There, when the ceremony ended, our shoes were placed in a corner for us to wear again, except mine were missing. I looked at my husband, and told him my sandals were not there. He alerted other relatives, and we proceeded to query the person-in-charge there about my sandals. He, of course, looked surprised, and searched the bus for it. Next, he called the memorial center to ask the staff there to hunt for it. Each time he asked if I had really put my shoes into the plastic bag, or did I leave it in the funeral parlour. I firmly answered that yes, I placed it in the designated plastic bag, and no, I did not leave it in the funeral parlour. Of course it was nowhere to be found.

Wanted to go back to the memorial center to make some noises, but what can they do? It was most probably the work of their general staff, in charge of carrying moving things from point A to B. I just put a silent curse on the person wearing my lovely sandals now, to grow fungus and have itchy feet.

Now I’m wearing my old sandals, which I nearly threw away a couple of weeks before this incident. Lucky me.

Anyone knows where I can find cheap Birkenstocks online?

The latest buzz in Johor is the opening of Johor Premium Outlets (JPO). The thought of an outlet center right in our backyard has sent shoppers hearts palpitating and chills in the bones of husbands and boyfriends.

JPO opened its doors on Dec 2nd 2011 for a soft launch, and is officially opened by the PM on Dec 11th.

It is host to over 80 international and regional brands. And as a JV between Simon Property Group, the owner of the Chelsea Premium Outlets brand in the US with Genting, its look and layout looks familiar if you have ever visited premium Outlets in the US.

We decided to check out the place this weekend, and went early, a little after its opening hours of 10am to 10pm. Even at 10am, the place is already buzzing with visitors. The whole complex is an collection of shops, where each brand has its own store. Entrances to shops are from an open boulevard, which gives a feeling of high street shopping.

We made a beeline to the Coach factory store as our first stop, because we hear that the store gets a queue formed outside its doors very quickly. Most items are from past seasons, marked down 20% to 50%.

The interiors of each store look exactly as I remembered of the Chelsea Premium Outlets in Las Vegas.

Everywhere people were milling about, some serious shoppers, others just to check out the place, like us. There are only a few benches on the walkways to rest your tired feet, I guess the aim is to get you in the shops and not sit outside in the hot weather. There are only a few F&B outlets, all of them had queues at the front door. They definitely need to increase F&B outlets. Drinks vending machines are scattered around to quench your thirst.

The brands I spent most time in was in Burberry’s where I could try on Burberry trenchcoats without sales staff hovering over me. So fun! Holding the RM600 Burberry umbrella (after 50% discount!!) is also quite shiok.

Some stores are not open yet: Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Braun Buffel, and a couple more. I’m sure if I they are open I will spend more time there.

Overall, the place has potential to attract visitors from all over. And it being smack in the middle of an oil palm plantation, there is room for expansion. Already, phase 2 has been announced to add another 60 shops to the place. I really hope they add more European brands, and maybe fast food outlets. I’m sure visitors to JPO want to fuel up quickly and get back to shopping as fast as possible.