Recipe : Bird's Nest soup (燕窝)

Hulla... Now I'm taking 2 spoons of bird's nest soup every midnight until I deliver this lil one :).

Bird's nests (燕窝)

What is bird's nest soup?

- It is a traditional (like hundred of years) pricey Chinese delicacy although they are only swallow's saliva nests. They are expensive due to the difficulty in harvesting. Bird's nest is very rich in nutrients as it contains the digested food of swallows and they are formed using their saliva.

What is the benefit?

- help to stimulate appetite and aids in digestion

- contains of several proteins and minerals that help develop the generation and growth of human cells

- rejuvenates the human skin, smooth the skin and maintain eternal beauty

- increases the immune system

- contains of the epidermal growth factor

- can alleviate tiredness, relieve spiritual pressure and recover body strength

- good for asthma and who are always catching the cold or flu

- good for smoker as well as it can help to cleanse and rid the lungs of pollutants and toxins

Benefit for pregnant lady (only drink it after 5 months until deliver)

- help to develop baby's smooth skin 

[proved by my mom, cause my mom drank a lot of bird's nest soup while she was pregnant me. Now, I have a really good and smooth skin , pinky cheeks, and fair skin (thanks to my mom hehe) - FYI, I never use any blush on and I rarely have pimples :) ]

- boost the immune system for both mom and baby

This is me without make-up :P

When and what is the right portion to eat bird nest soup?

- Bird's nest soup best consume everyday in small portion ( 2 spoons), rather than eat it in big portion once. By doing so, the body can fully utilised (absorb) the bird nest.

- Eat it in the middle of the night or early morning with empty stomach

Our small portion of bird's nest every night :)

Where to get it?

- Indonesia is the largest supplier of Bird's nests in the world. I got mine from my hubby hahaha...cause he also sell it so lucky me :)

How to cook?

• Dry yen-wo ( Soak the bird's nest in cold water about half an hour until softened. Usually I will still try to find is there any impurities such as debris and feathers inside, pluck them out using kitchen tweezers)
• Water ( you can put more water if you like to drink it)
• red dates ( pluck out the inside little seeds)
• goji
• rock sugar

1. Clean all the ingredients, drain the bird's nets
2. Mix all the ingredients and the bird nest inside a big bowl
3. Double boil it for about half an hour ( I use electric double boilers, so I only need not more than half an hour to cook it)
4. After cooked, let it cool down and keep it inside the fridge

Also read here to get the details benefit of above Chinese herbs

Sharing: Qi Xi Festival 七夕節

Hulla...today is 13.08.13 (wow I like the number lol) which also the seventh day of the 7th lunar month (Double Seventh Festival), known as the Qixi Festival. It's a Chinese Valentine's Day ♥♥♥

This love story has been told again and again when I was a child. My mom used to tell us the story...

One evening, seven daughter of Goddess who are bored, had just escaped from heaven to look for fun. 

Niulang was a poor orphan cowherd who live together with his only friend old magical cow. The magical cow told him of a way to find a beautiful wife so they went to the riverside on that evening, where the seven fairies were having bath (perverrttttt.... >.<)

He took one of the beautiful silk dresses that the fairies had left on the bank. When the fairies finished their bath, the youngest fairy ( Zhi Nu 织女) couldn't find her clothes and had to see her sisters fly back to heaven without her. Suddenly this Niulang came out with the dress and asked Zhi Nu to stay with him. (Notty Niulang...ck ck ck... Zhi Nu bo huat so need to stay with him hmm...)

As you know several years on Earth is equivalent to only few days in heaven. On Earth, Niulang ang Zhi Nu lived happily with their two children. Zhi Nu proved to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang to be a good husband. But the Goddess of Heaven ( Wang Mu Niang-niang 王母娘娘) found out Zhi Nu's absence. She was so annoyed she had Zhi Nu brought back to heaven. Seeing his beloved wife flying in the sky, Niulang was terrified. He grabbed the cowhide that hanging on the wall.( The magical cow had told him before dying of old age: "Keep the cowhide for emergency use")

Putting the cowhide on, he went after his wife along with two children. The Goddess of Heaven suddenly showed up and pulled off her hairpin to draw a line between the two. The line become the Silver River in heaven (milky way). Sadly, Zhi Nu went back to the heavenly workshop, weaving the clouds. All the clouds that she weaved seemed sad. The Goddess of Heaven, decided to let them unite once on the seventh day of the seventh month as she was touched by their love for each other.

In China, this festival is quite important especially for single women who wish for her own Prince Charming to enter her life. But in by-gone days, this festival is also known as the "Begging for Skills Festival" or "Daughter's Festival"

In the past, single women or young girl would conduct a ceremony to beg Zhi Nu for wisdom, dexterity and a satisfying marriage. They offered fruits and pastries, if spiders were seen to weave webs on sacrificial objects, it was believed Zhi Nu was offering positive feedback. 

People say that on this day it will rain, because of the crying in heaven.(surprisingly here was raining this morning and gloomy the whole day ). Others say that if you stand under grapevines on that night, you can hear the lovers talking ( are you sure?? lover's talking or "brothers' talking"as it's still a hungry ghost month...creepy...)

Check out the google game...so cute

Anyway, Happy Chinese Valentines Day ♥♥♥

~will tell this story tonight to my lil one since he can hear me now hehe :)

Recipe : Homemade Pure Chicken Essence (鸡精)

Pregnant mother are suggested to take food with warming effects during their postnatal period. They only can take food with cooling effects 3 mths before delivery.

Most Chinese mama in my hometown, used to make us homemade chicken essence. Especially for pregnant woman, it is essential to take chicken essence while your are 3 mths - 5 mths pregnant.
Personally I don't really like the one that they sell off the rack, I hate the smell lol and I think they put preservative on it as well.

What is Chicken Essence???
Chicken essence is a juice from the bones of a chicken ( I don't use any flesh on mine). Using double-boiling method in high to medium temperature about 2 hours to extract the essence. Usually the fats and skin are generally removed in order to produce a nutritional supplement that contains little or no cholesterol.

Why Chicken???
Best use black chicken (pinyin: wu ji qi) or commonly known as silky (silkie) chicken which have black skin, flesh and bones. According to the book Medicine Medicated Diet, this chicken is very sweet in taste, tender and neutral in nature ( for not being to warm or cool) and it benefits the kidney and liver.

The unique of this chicken is that they only have four toes as compared with other types of chicken.

What is the health benefit???

• can relieve fatigue, more active when you took chicken essence regularly. Said that it could enhance cortisol metabolism in blood and promote mental fatigue recovery.

• a traditional remedy for anemia

• increase metabolism

• promote healing

• support health and boost of energy

Chinese Traditional Remedy

Yes, I've got this recipe from my mama. Being told that this recipe has been passed down from one generation to another. 

Usually I will add some chinese herbs such as:

• goji/wolfberry (枸杞) - protect the liver, help eyesight, improve fertility, strengthen the legs, boost immune function, improve circulation and promote longevity

• dang shen (黨參) - known as poor's man ginseng (lol) cause it's like a weaker ginseng. help to improve body function, anti fatigue, stimulates nervous system, increases red blood cells, raises blood sugar and enhance blood coagulation
• red dates (紅棗) - preventing reaction in blood transfusion, improves strength of muscles, inhibits cell mutation and cancer cells, protects liver and calms the central nervous system 

How to prepare

• chicken's bones (no skin, no flesh, no fat) - crush smash whatever you called it lol (pls ask someone else to do it for you if you are pregnant)
• optional : chinese herbs (goji, red dates, dang shen)

1. Wash the Chinese herbs and put them inside the centre of big bowl
2. Put smaller bowl, upside down into the bigger bowl
3. Place the crushed smashed chicken over the smaller bowl
4. Cover the big bowl with a plate
5. Pour water into the pot ( at least it can cover half of the bowl, no worries you can always add water whenever it is needed)
6. Place the combined bowls into the pot
7. Cover the pot with the lid and double boil it for 2 hours
8. Let it cold a lil bit before you take the bowl out from the pot (be careful)
9. Remove the upper plate and gently remove all the chicken pieces
10. Remove the smaller bowl and viola your chicken essence is inside the big bowl with the Chinese herbs
11. Scoop everything to the serving bowl and your nutritious pure homemade chicken essence is ready to be serve (serve them hot :)

From Mrs to Mommy : Chinese Astrology Parent-Child Compatibility

Yes, we are expecting now... and We are ( esp me) superrrr excited :)

Last May I did my pregnancy test twice cause the first one super blur so I tried it one week later... The syndrome of pregnant cannot be differentiate cause it is exactly the same as having a period. 

I think all mom-to-be is more excited than dad-to-be until he saw the lil one from the ultrasound hehe(Same goes to my Mr.Ng hehe)

As a tradition Chinese family, me myself and my family ( not Mr Ng's side) still do believe in Chinese Astrology Parent-Child Compatibility. So I eagerly want to to try snake baby, and if we failed then we will wait until goat baby, no horse baby on our list. People said that Rat and Horse is totally a big NO NO in one family, so try to avoid having a horse baby if you are Rat parent and vice versa. How much truth is, no one knows but there's no harm try to avoid such unpleasant thing :)

Two most compatible signs for each animal sign:

Start from your own zodiac (as number one), count either clockwise or anti-clockwise to 5 and these will be your two compatible signs

Example : Mine is Rat, then the two compatible signs are Dragon (my lil bro who I pamper the most) n Monkey

Either competitor or compatible:

Directly opposite to each other

Example : Rat with horse

Basically, they are competitor but if the elder sign yields to the younger sign, then the relationship will be compatible (I'm not so sure what does this mean, anyone can help maybe?!?)

Possible non compatible combination:

Start from your own zodiac (as number one), count either clockwise or anti-clockwise to 4 and these will be your two non compatible signs

Example : Mine is Rat, then the two compatible signs are Rabbit and Rooster

In a family (husband and wife, parent and children, brother and sister) relationship that fall under above combination will have quite frequent disagreements ( like me and my big bro lol)

The principles of this Chinese Astrology Compatibility are not restricted to only family relationships, it is also extend to friends and businesses.

Classifying Chinese Astrological Compatibilty:
In Chinese astrology, they also divided the trios of sign which each group are believed to share a common energy. This shared energy can influence everything from temperament, to the focus on intellect over intuition, or pragmatism over the theoretical.

Group	Animal Signs	Common Theme
I.	Rat, Dragon, Monkey	Cunning, intelligent and active signs. Enterprising and ambitious.
II.	Snake, Ox, Rooster	Profound and wary of the superficial. Highly observant and diligent in their efforts.
III.	Dog, Tiger, Horse	Fiercely independent and leadership-oriented. Ego-driven and gregarious.
IV.	Rabbit, Goat (Sheep), Pig	Peace-loving, intuitive and empathetic. Nurturing and cooperative.

Again, how truth it is, no one knows... The most important is RESPECT to each other :) 

By respecting each other, for sure it will lead to having a peaceful family :) and from the non-compatibles can become compatible hehehe...

Enjoy
Source

Myday: Harvest moon project accomplished ♥

Finally I did it :) fiuhhh…..my first attempt and I just to dare to give them all for my frens haha ( all of you become my “kelinci percobaan” aka experiment hahaha..just kidding)

Hope you guys enjoy it and Happy Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节快乐)

祝你们:
日圆,月圆,团团圆圆!
官源,财源,左右逢源!
人缘,福缘,缘缘不断!
情愿,心愿,愿愿随心!

♥ the mooncake color haha… :D
~eniwei I only accept compliment not complain :P hahaha…just kidding

Recipes: Mooncake on Harvest moon

Harvest moon is coming…

I don’t like mooncake after one of my friend make them for me in Sydney and that’s the first time I tried mooncake hahaha…I was quite surprise knowing that he can bake a mooncake (what a talent :D , well he used to be a culinary student so no wonder haha… ) eniwei I still miss that mooncake, they were delicious yummy yummy…

I tried to make them yesterday (well because it’s already morning now) and I did it…I only can make a snow skin one since I don’t have any oven here (as I told before haizzz)…there’s two recipes in doing these mooncake, steaming and unsteaming. So I just make two of them and let my friend judge them.

The first jury, xiao mei, love the unsteamed one. Well, the unsteamed one looks great but I’m just afraid the flour is undercooked since I was using pan cook rather than oven bake. She said that the steamed one is just exactly like mochi, and yes she is right, it is a mochi recipes just adding some rice flour inside…As it is a mochi style so i can’t hold the mold shape strongly and easy to reform its original shape back haiz….(as can be seen on pics)  

Ingredients:

• 1cup glutinous rice flour
• 1cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup glutinous flour for dusting
• 1/2 cup icing sugar (depends)
• 200 ml olive oil / shortening
• 400 ml milk
• food coloring
• fillings: lotus paste, red bean paste etc

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 400 F and bake for 30 minutes; stir flour every 5-10 minutes. To define the flour is cooked or not, you can see how the flour changed in color, instead its original white color, it will turn to brown color. You can either cook them on pan (like what I did hehe)
• Set aside to cool flour.
• Mix all the glutinous, rice flour,  icing sugar with milk,oil and food coloring bits by bits until ingredients form paste/dough.
• You can add food essence and/or food coloring while mixing the ingredients.
• Dust your mold with cooked flour
• Make balls/rolls of the paste and the fillings, flattened the paste ball and place the filling ball in the middle, close the flattened paste ball, seam to seal, place it into the mold, press with your palm, knock slightly and turn mold over onto a serving plate.
• Serve mooncake chilled.

 

I made the choco biscuit fillings and it taste very nice haaha ~ a new taste for mooncake hehe :D Uncooked mooncake with lotus pandan as its filling

Chinese Festival : Zongzi (粽子)

Another year has passed and here we are again, it’s Zong Zi( 粽子) time. Zongzi Zong zi is made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves, then you need to boil it for hours. Usually zong zi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu).

Actually zong zi is one of many traditional Chinese foods that are intended to honor either the Gods or divine persons in history. This meant to honor Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period.

Qu Yuan was a famous poet who was also concerned about the fate of his government. Unfortunately his stature aroused the jealousy of the king, who banished him to a remote area. The poet despaired of the government and its policies. When the state's capital was captured by enemies, he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River (on May 5th according to the Chinese lunar calendar). The Chinese people felt this loss deeply, as he was a much beloved poet. Local folk searched for him in the river, meanwhile dropping dumplings of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves into the river in order to keep the fishes from attacking Qu Yuan's body.

Since that time, it has been customary on this day to enjoy Zong Zi dumplings as a memorial to the patriotic poet.

Making zong zi need some hand skill as well, because if you didn’t tie it well, the filling will drop out while you boil them. Besides that, patience is a must as well haha…because you need to boil them for at least 5 hours (that’s what we do at home). I always love to see how my mom wrap them one by one…she have that skill and she did it very well and very fast. I tried it before but failed >.<

Months before this festival, mom always buy duck eggs and soak them in damp salted charcoal to make them become salted duck egg (mom only use the egg yolk).
Mom’s zong zi recipes and wrap skill are passed down through families. That’s why the most delicious zong zi for our family are always zong zi from my grandma and my mom. (Really going to miss my grandma’s zong zi. We don’t have any chance to taste her zong zi anymore – my grandma just passed away last month T^T)

For us, glutinous rice must be lightly precooked by stir frying them with dark and light sauce first to make it tastier and mouth-watery looked.

The filling used in mom’s zong zi :

- mung beans, chinese barbeque pork, chinese sausage, salted duck eggs,dried shrimp, chinese black mushrooms and chili-padi.

Being far away from home, luckily it is very convenient to buy zong zi nowadays. However homemade zong zi by mom is the best (home sweet home). Anyway I got two zong zi from my boss’s wife and she is Chinese Indonesia and her zong zi’s taste is quite similar as my hometown’s taste. She gave all of us two zong zi for each person (she is a very good cook and kind, because she love to share her foods with us haha…btw thanks a lot:), one is traditional one (like mom’s zong zi) and the other one is nyonya zong zi (haven’t taste this one, going to eat it on 16 this Wed :P~ to merries zong zi’s festival hehehe)

Going to post the nyonya ‘s dumpling before I ate that hehe:P