Celebrate with me!

Yeah, I know its a little early but I know alot of people are going away for the summer or going for company retreats during this time. If you can make it, come celebrate my birthday this July with me together with the rest of the Awesome people in my Zumba Fitness class and its a potluck again!! Anyone is welcome if you can make the time to come down and celebrate with me. I'll have the drinks, cutlery, a surprise or surprises and a cake. Please see details in the above image - click to enlarge and RSVP please with your confirmation, number of people attending and food item. Thank you!

CNY Huat! Huat! Danza Class

Before the CNY break, I organised yet another themed class for my Saturday afternoon dance class. All other students from my other classes at other locations & timeslots were also invited and those who could make it, did for the Chinese New Year session. We were missing quite a number of people that day!!

Everyone was told to come in red or oriental in theme outfits and everyone was sporting to ensure they did so for the day! I've never seen SO MUCH BRIGHT RED in my class before, it was quite blinding during the class as all we could see were flashes of red from everyone there... Thank you for being so enthusiastic everyone!!

Everyone also brought a dish for the potluck that we held after class and I look forward to every potluck as each of these women, those who cooked are crazy fabulous chefs and bakers! And those who brought food always brought something that everybody loved to have. Sinful food included!

Everyone also brought a brand new pack of Ang Pow for an Ang Pow exchange and I swapped the whole lot around and redistributed them to everyone with a fortune cookie.. Huat! Huat! Huat!! Good Luck for everyone!!

The class was crazily energetic that day and everyone participated to their fullest.. I could see seriously hard hip swaying going on in there and the atmosphere was hot hot hot!!! The class culminated with Theresa Tengs "The moon represents my heart" *who doesn't know this song?!* which everyone who could speak mandarin belted out with all their hearts... and those who didn't speak mandarin, hummed along and smiled throughout the cool down, me included! It was like a major major karaoke session! Everyone was fantastic! Thank you for singing so loud and with such passion!

After all that heart pumping and hip shaking action, everyone flowed out of the studio to prepare all the dishes and desserts. There was serious excitement and mayhem going on as it took me a long time to get everyone calm and their attention to gather for the tossing of the lucky Yu Sheng. "Ladies!! May I have your attention please!?! Do not touch the Yu Sheng till we have taken our group picture... Ladies?...Helloooo Ladies!?!" ....

Aha!! and finally... everyone had calmed down and we get a group shot in before we start on all the food... *Say Danza!!*

Tossing the Yu Sheng!! Huat ah! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Da Ji Da Li! Nian Nian You Yu!! Man Di Huang Jin! Huat! Huat! Huat ah!!

Emily made and brought the Yu Sheng for the day, very thoughtful of her to have thought of bringing it for everyone!! It was great!!! Who would have thought that shredding green papaya and green mango into the dish would make such a refreshing difference to your standard Yu Sheng! Yum! Yum!

And my twin buns were a hit at the class... too bad I didn't do a kick boxing track during that class so I could do a street fighter impersonation of Chun Li! *Haaaaiiiyah!*

Taking pictures with Judy, Pek Gan and Angie... this was a gorgeously structured shot that came out of us just running together and doing a quick pose by the little plant... very nice! Can anyone see my rainbow colored toe socks?

And when all the food and festive greetings were over... and most of everyone had left.. Pek Gan, Serene and I had a roaring laugh of a time playing with my camera with all sorts of strange poses... the 3 instructors and their chinky pony tails/buns...

And this is our, "oh I'm so tired, help me" wailing damsel in distress...

"Taxi!! Taxi!!".....

No taxi? *pouts* okay then.. one last pose... HUAT AH!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

Happy Chinese New Year 2011!!

Chinese New Year has arrived! Thank you for reading me whether you have been with me for the past few years or whether you have just started reading my blog. Welcome and Thank you!

Without you, my blog would not have the readership that had enabled me to bring you some interesting products and services through the years. It was you that had made possible for me to enjoy them and for me to spread the joy where possible through prizes or giveaways.

I entered this Chinese New Year with great anticipation as it may be our last Chinese New Year celebration here in Singapore with our impending move this year.

With every year, Chinese New Year celebrations are filled with all types of treats, cookies, sweets and cakes. My mom in law's place was certainly filled to the brim with a full table full of sinful treats! The strangest thing that I noticed this year was that there was NO bak kwa on the snack tables this year... I was looking forward to sitting by and snacking on them... :(

The day before Chinese New Year Day 1 was the day for reunion dinner and it was a table filled with so much food. I fell asleep literally 1 hour from eating, completely crashed out on the living room sofa. I absolutely could not stay awake with the immense amount of food that was consumed that afternoon. For our family, we usually have it as a reunion lunch rather than dinner as my sister in law goes to her inlaws' house for dinner.

A must have at every Chinese reunion table, a leek and tofu dish for good luck & fortune.

This bitter tasting fish for luck.

Cauliflower, prawns and mushrooms for prosperity.

Cabbage, mushrooms, black fungus with dried prawns for abundance.

My mother in law makes a mean braised duck which is highly requested for during the Chinese New Year period so she made a huge one for the meal. I don't like duck but everyone else did! I loved the braised sauce with the quail eggs and tofu...

Steamed pomfret fish for more abundance...

Braised mushrooms with dried oysters and black moss for more prosperity...

Cuttlefish balls to represent gold nuggets for fortune and also popular with the kids too!

Home-made Ngoh Hiang which my mother in law made the week prior just for the dinner. It would not be the same without her home made meat rolls each year so we look forward to them alot! Dipped with Rose Brand black sweet sauce and Tiger brand chili sauce makes the best combination.

And whats a reunion dinner without the customary Yu Sheng platter which is filled with raw fish- usually salmon, radish/cucumber/carrot strips with a medley of various preserved ingredients topped with peanuts, sesame seeds, plum sauce, cinnamon & white pepper powder and packs of crispy fried crisps. Each ingredient represents a certain auspicious "saying" and each year, we amuse ourselves by attempting to remember them all while we lay out each ingredient in the serving dish.

And each table must be filled with alot of meat so we have platters of roasted pork which everyone loves.

And tender boiled chicken...

My mom in laws house was filled with gorgeous flowers too... Chinese New Year Day 1 started out at my mother in law's house where we exchanged greetings before we started the day of visiting...

The hubster CJ and his sister, Serene.... before we all started traveling about Singapore to visit relatives...

The hubster, CJ and me... still looking and feeling fresh before visitations...

My one and only sister in law and me...

And my next stop for the day, my aunt's house where all my side of the family gathered with my grandmother for the New Year celebrations.. and I got to meet up with my youngest sister, Alex.

This year was particularly fulfilling as I was pleased to note that most of my relatives took a while or at least took a second take at me before realising it was me. Compared to my 80kg size last Chinese New Year, this year entering the festivities at 67kg made a lovely difference and delightful change for the new year.

A picture with my grandmother who turns a golden 80 years old this April. I'm looking forward to celebrating her golden 8-0 in 2 months time! She has indeed lived a golden life and is well loved by many.

Group picture with my Dad, my youngest sister Alex and my grandmomma... and a review of what I wore for Chinese New Year Day 1! Black & Gold floral halter top with blue Levis jeans, gray 4 inch heels topped with twin buns on my head with mini red rose clips and red chopsticks for the occasion. HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Verlaque Splash & So!Go White Chocolate Sauce

I have had the pleasure from time to time to have generous sponsor partners that appropriately offer me products and services that suite my lifestyle and needs. In December, some packages were delivered for me and I discovered several bottles of different flavored Verlaque splashes. What are splashes? Well, they're gourmet mixtures of Olive oil with various mixes of fruits or flavour dense ingredients for cooking, marinating or eating with salad or fruits. Check out the product range here at the Verlaque website.

With the onset of my low carb regime last month, these came at a perfect time as these splashes were extremely delicious with our salad mixes at home. There were more flavors received but by the time we wacked through the various bottles, I realised that I only had these 3 flavors left to take pictures of! Hahaa! We loved it so much mixed with a sprinkle of good quality Balsamic vinegar on our salads, we literally went through 2-3 bottles in a week with much gusto and satisfaction.

You can check out the rest of these splashes over at the Verlaque website and purchase your selection at NTUC Finest at SGD$13.90 per bottle. Each Splash bottle has enough for a family of 5-6 adults eating 2 large servings of salad. Available in Gooseberry, Raspberry and Cranberry mixes.

We went through so many different types of salad mixes but for this food shot, it was one of the salads that we mixed up at home one evening last week and topped with the Gooseberry splash. As usual, it was delicious! Flavors were intense and the lemon/balsamic vinegar mixture gave a tart but mouthwatering experience.

Even the "I.Only.Eat.Meat" hubby has been requesting for Salads again and again. Very rare request! Before you splash on the mixture, you have to ensure that you shake the bottle before pouring to ensure you have all the mixture in your salad as they separate into layers within the bottle when stored and not in use. Pour just enough to cover your vegetables - possibly equivalent to around 4-5 tablespoons in volume.

In our house, we have many variations of our salad mixes. From various sliced or diced vegetables such as iceberg lettuce, carrots, green & red peppers, tomatoes, peas, broccoli, fresh red onions *sliced thinly* as seen above to adding others like snowpeas, fresh mushrooms, cucumber, celery... practically any vegetable you like would work but above are our usual mixes.

We top our salads with variations of available fruits too like pears, apples, oranges, grapes, melons, berries, cranberries and raisins. We sprinkle handfuls of cashew nuts or any available nut mixture. We usually also have some hard boiled eggs that are sliced plus a choice between having cubes/slices of cheddar cheese or a block of creamy Brie cheese. If you haven't tried Brie cheese and you love cheese. Try it.. I heart! heart! heart! Brie cheese with its delicate flavour mixed with a gooey soft inner layer. A slab of Brie cheese and a glass of wine on an evening in at home and I'm one happy happy chicka...

Finally, we always top it with a meat of sorts. Whether its grilled sausages, grilled beef slices, roasted chicken, Teriyaki Wings *as above*, pork ribs, hotdogs, crispy fried luncheon meat or canned tuna. And that completes a very satisfying meal for the day. Heavy in flavor, Big in quantity and overall very Satisfying with the best part that we eat so much and we lose weight while at it! :)

I'm a splash fan for sure, you might want to check it out if you were thinking of something great to eat this coming week. NTUC Finest!!

And another product from the same sponsor partner was this bottle called So!Go White Chocolate Sauce. Most of my dance students would have received a bottle of this in December before Christmas. Its sinfully decadent and completely delicious in any way possible. If you are currently attending my classes and haven't gotten a bottle of this, I still have 6 bottles left so if you want one - let me know this week and I'll bring it to the next class for you! While stocks last.

As quoted from their website:

"Full-bodied, rich, decadent and simply irresistible, So!Go White Chocolate Sauce is a sweet staple: pour it onto pancakes, spread it over cupcakes, drizzle it around desserts, make mousses a masterpiece … or succumb to temptation and simply spoon it out of the jar.

Because we all prefer taking the easy way, if you'd like to serve it warm just heat it in the attractive, wide-mouthed, frosted-glass jar and dip chilled seasonal fruit into it to serve as an instant and wholesome dessert."

And spoon it out of the jar was exactly what everyone in my house did. We spent many evenings in front of the tv licking spoons covered with white chocolate sauce. We drizzled it over ice-cream.. spooned it into cups of hot milo and hot tea and coffee.. and dipped fruits into it like fondue.. and my girls spread it on bread and pancakes too... sinful but oh so yummy!


One of the best things that came out of spreading the joy of chocolate sauce out to my friends and students were that a box came back to me of homemade cupcakes made with a mixture of the white chocolate sauce with cream topping! It was crazy yummy!!

So!Go White Chocolate sauce is retailing at SGD$13.20 per jar and is available at NTUC Finest, Isetan Supermarket, Meidi-ya Supermarket, Meat The Butcher and Swiss Butchery at Tanglin.

Carb Lovin' Cupcakes

My girlfriend aka SuperWoman Group X "Chili Padi" Sexy butt Sherlin Foong made me cupcakes! Its these little things that are just sincerely made from the heart that really touches me specially when they're specifically created JUST for me!! *loves!!* I call her superwoman because she can go on teaching up to 24 classes in a week and still come out alive the week after and she was the one who corrected my squats for that "oh so sexy" butt that squats give you. I'm currently at 13 classes and I'm trying hard to manage my energy levels.

Who is Sherlin? Well if you work out at Fitness First - you would definitely know who she is. :)

It doesn't help that my weight is dropping and with that goes muscle loss which I'm not actively building up. CJ has been chasing me up everyday to do my resistance band exercises but I'm just so worn and lazy to get it done. I must. I must. And I will...erm... soon. (Big smile to CJ - really lah! I will). Less muscle = Less strength = Less calories burnt optimally = Higher chance of overcompensation on my body = Higher chance of stress injury = Not good for anyone.

Even though I'm carb free right now, it didn't stop me from trotting these little yummies home to pass them to my girls but not without swiping off a thick layer of white chocolate cream off one of the cupcakes first! Verdict! Very tasty!! Thank you babe!! It was much appreciated. :)

Crispy Fish Tater Cakes...

Crispy warm on the outside, soft and tasty on the inside. Goes well with any dipping sauce as a snack or meal on its own (depending on how many you eat). A firm balance of protein from the fish and complex carbohydrates from the potatoes...not for someone trying to lose weight though... Great finger food for kids too...

We've been watching quite a number of Season 2 -Iron Chef America episodes lately and my inspired hubby, CJ decided make dinner before we re-started our weightloss program again.

Fishcakes! But I rather call them Crispy Fish Tater Cakes.. sounds nicer ya? A rather simple recipe to follow that yields 30 palm sized fried cakes.

Whats in them?
6 Russet Burbank Potatoes (Large) - Boiled, peeled and mashed with salt & black pepper.
3 Fillets of Sutchi Fish *Dory* (any alternate form of fish fillet can work too) - Boiled and mashed. - You can easily find this in the frozen section of the supermarket at only SGD$2.50-$6 (depending on promotion) per pack of 2-3 fillets.
200gms of Panko breadcrumbs.
1 cup of frying flour batter *either make your own or use store bought tempura batter*- already reconstituted with room temp. water to a creamy sauce-like consistency.

Hows it done?
When you have boiled your potatoes and fish, mash them both and season to taste with salt and pepper and form them into little golf/ping pong ball size balls. You have an option here where you could refrigerate the balls for a while, maybe 30 minutes to let them harden a little but this is not completely necessary.

Why I suggest this is because once it goes into the batter soft, it would have a tendency to start to spread and break apart if you don't work fast. Only liquid batter just seconds before you breadcrust it if not you would end up with a dishful of unformed mush.

Dip each formed ball into the liquid batter, remove and throw into the breadcrumbs and cover completely. Flatten slightly with your fingers against the wall of the breadcrumb container against the crumbs and transfer to a deep fryer or pan filled with sufficient oil to deep fry the cakes.

Each cake takes about 3-5 minutes to brown on each side if using a pan or generally around 6-8 minutes in the deep fryer. Remove when the patty turns a golden brown on both sides. Use paper towels on your serving plate to absorb excess oil.

Additional Options: While we didn't use this this time, CJ suggests certain improvements that can be done to this recipe that might work. Adding finely chopped chives, chopped corn, and/or chopped peas.

Serve warm and crispy with your favourite dipping sauce, ie ketchup or chili sauce with mayonnaise. Enjoy! :)

NoMU Food Rub *Giveaway!*

I love to cook and if something becomes available that gives me the opportunity to make amazing food with little effort, I'm all for it. I was introduced to NoMU dry spice rubs *Created in South Africa* and I was intruiged! I love working with dry spices because they always make food taste so good!

So two conconctions were sent to me for me to try and I've got to say that I'm loving them... there are 23 different types of rubs to explore! They're used for marinating meat/seafood/vegetables, for stirfry, grilling, steam cooking and even barbequeing. And a great thing about them too is that they're so pungent that 2-3 pinches are sufficient for marinating around 600gms of meat or 3 fillets of fish. A portion sufficient to feed a family of 4 with 1-2 other side dishes.

A point to note too is that their products are Halal and Parev (Kosher) certified too! Each product does not contain MSG, additives, preservatives or artificial flavors. Just simple herbs and spices that can make your food oh so tasty! Each tin retails at SGD$10.50 per rub and can be found at NTUC Finest, Cold Storage and Swiss Butchery.

Recipes and ideas for this rub can be found HERE. Go check that out for more ideas and tips on how to use the rubs wet or dry in your dishes. Various recipes that you can use the rub for can be found HERE.

I tried the NoMU seafood rub which consists of Salt, Parsley, coriander, onion, sugar, black pepper, garlic, ginger, fennel, mustard, dill and lemon oil.

We purchased some boneless fillets of Dory from the supermarket, we love these fillets - they're cheap (only $2.90-$4.40 for 3 large frozen fillets depending on sale price) and they're easy to cook in so many different ways.

This time, all we did was defrost, sprinkle and rub in some NoMU seafood rub and then we pan fried them with 2 knobs of margarine (real butter would have been a better and tastier choice but we didn't have it that evening), fried some eggs omelette, some garlic vegetables and served everything over steamed rice.

Everything was wiped out that evening for dinner as usual. It was really tasty! Even the girls asked for more. Point to note however, next time I make fish that way again, I must remember to buy some fresh lemon or orange to squeese over the fish when I dish it out of the pan.

You don't even need to really know how to cook to make this. So those who aren't very nifty in the kitchen would love how easy it is to whip something like this up for a delicious quick n' easy satisfying meal.

The next evening, we tried the NoMU beef rub. No, there is no actual beef in it - they're spices that CAN be used on beef so I suppose even those who don't eat beef can use it to marinate other types of meat too!

Recipes and ideas for this rub can be found HERE. Go check that out for more ideas and tips on how to use the rubs wet or dry in your dishes. Recipes like Beef Hotpot, Beef Tagliata and Meatballs! You can check out the other rubs for more recipes too as you can use other types of meat with this rub too.

Whats in this would be paprika, rosemary, oregano, black pepper, cumin, mustard, salt, parsley, sugar, thyme, onion, garlic, bay leaves and natural smoke flavour.

This was an easy pop into the oven Kitchen noob dish. We sprinked around 5 pinches of NoMU beef rub spice into about 600gms of pork cubes. Topped with little knobs of margarine (yeah, I forgot to buy butter again, pffft!) and threw the whole pan in the oven to bake on high heat.

Threw some rice into the rice cooker and placed 3 bundles of vegetables on top of the rice and set everything to cook. 30 minutes later with a ring a ding ding from my oven, we opened up a couple of spicy otah pieces that we bought over lunchtime. Threw it over steaming rice, topped with meat bits that were nicely browned and crispy at the edges from the oven. Picked and lay the vegetables from the top of the rice which had nicely steamed while the rice cooked. And Voila! Super duper yummy dinner. Minimal fuss, really quick to cook and overall really satisfying.

That being said... many of my dance students *if you've come to class!* this past week were presented by me in class with a tin or two of their own to bring home for some healthy food preparation and to enjoy their food as much as they enjoy working out with me on a week to week basis. I hope you enjoy the spices as much as I have...

If you haven't received your tin of NoMU rub yet and attend my dance classes, you'll probably get it this week. (while stocks last).

Honeymeow Dreaming Reality BLOG READER Special:
If you also want to try these rubs for FREE. Leave me a comment with your email addy on this blogpost from now till next week 28th November 2010. 12 lucky readers will be selected to recieve a tin of either Beef rub or Seafood rub directly from me!

As they're quite bulky and can't exactly be put into the mailbox, you would have to meet up with me to collect it somewhere at Orchard/Dhoby Ghaut or at the MRT station near my place (circle line). If you didn't leave me your email address in the comment. Please email ME with your mobile number so I can be in contact with you to arrange a time to meet. :)

Meanwhile... Eat well and Exercise hard.. :) Thanks for reading!