Dinner at Tony Roma's

Alright since I feel like posting right now, I will continue on my spur. Yesterday I had dinner at Tony Roma's with my friends. It was my first time there.

What can I say. First, it was a Saturday night and yes it was busy. We had to wait like thirty minutes before getting a table. Wondering if it was worth the wait because it seems like a popular restaurant. It is meant to be well-known for its ribs.

As starter, we had the Roma sampler, which is a mix of potato skins, fire wings and fried onion rings.
Well, in my opinion it was not worth the price ($27.50). Taste-wise,  it was okay but to be honest it was nothing extraordinary.

For main course, my friends and I shared the chicken caprese linguine pasta and original baby back ribs

The ribs tasted beautiful and the pasta good. 

My verdict is that the dish are too overpriced for the size (at least for me). It is a place where I will go only once in a while.

Coconut sago flan

I absolutely like this dessert. I tried it several times and come to the recipe that I am most happy with.
It is like a flan with sago and coconut milk.
The one I did were with pandan flavoured sago- so the jelly turned into a nice greenish colour. I think I said somewhere that I am crazy over pandan flavour, it tastes beautiful.

Sago cooking, nearly ready

In silicon muffin cups

I run out of muffin cases, so I had to put then in this plate. Cooked much more than originally planned

Set and ready to eat

 Recipe!

Ingredients:
100 grams sago (cooked and drained)
 2 packets of agar agar
400 ml thick coconut milk
400ml milk
600 ml water
Sugar (per tasting)

Instructions:
1. Cook sago until transparent. Drain and leave aside
2. Mix agar agar and  liquid (milk and water) in a pan and bring to boil.
3. As soon as the water starts to boil (having bubbles), add sugar.
4. Add the sago to the mixture and leave to boil.
5. Pour into muffin cases or any other plate.
6. Leave to cool and then put in the fridge. (It should be set in less than one hour)

Enjoy :)

Note: If you want the flan to be less rich, feel free to reduce the milk content for water.

Zucchini squash bites

It has been a long time since I wanted to try this dish. I found the recipe on this site. It is a very simple dish and healthy (basically no oil and baked) and trust me also tastes good. They are definitely perfect for snack time or even as a side dish.

Zucchini & Squash (I found the squash at IGA- seems like a rare veggie)

More picss ;)

Mixing stage

Out of the oven

 

I topped my bites with cheddar cheese and accompany them with beef pies

Oh yes, I also put some (ready-made) pie (Mrs Mac's)  in the oven to accompany the bites. Mind me, I have not reached the stage of making pies. This is in my agenda though. I really want to make my own pies. Someday...

Flavour Enhancer

I recently saw on the news that flavour enhancer ( or on packagings E620/E621) can be harmful to your health. Among the health hazards include migraine, headaches, nausea. I mean this is on so many products. I did not have to go far to see the label on the list of ingredients of my favourite chips. Seriously, those are supposed to boost the flavour of the food item. Wow. This is an interesting article about what it is and its side effects. We can never be too careful about what we are eating.

Balance

I know I'm always talking about balance and I will always keep on emphasising on the importance of this word and most essentially the meaning behind the word. It's all about balance. I so want to eat this but it is oily, fatty etc. This is not something you should focus on but rather telling yourself, do I really need to eat this, how will I feel about eating it, consequences. Choosing healthy option is always hard most of the time because of the oh-so-many temptations out there. What I do is try adjusting according to what I eat (compensating). For instance, if I had a sweet drink I will then drink a lot of water for the next hours, days; if I had an onerous dish today, then my next meal will be a light one. See where I'm going. It's always about balance and moderation. It is definitely okay to indulge once, so long you do not do it everyday. Depriving is a no-no,  because this is what drives (I think) the most towards irrational eating habits. Think about your body and mind.

Chop Suey (Chicken)

One of my favourite dish to cook: Chop Suey. It is an asian dish. What I like about it is that it is delicious and healthy. It's all about balance. It is full of colours and look great.

It's a rather simple dish, the only hassle is about the ingredients, having everything prepared beforehand.

My recipe is simple. You need about 1 bunch of bok choy, carrots, mushroom, 1 canned baby corn, 500g breast chicken, oyster sauce and cornflour.

It is so much better to cook home rather than take away or dining in restaurants. Anyway cooking home is always a healthier option. I'm a real pro-home cooking. Make me remind that I shall expand my cooking skills over this short break. This is something I really look forward to because this is one skill that will be of use for your entire existence. So don't be afraid to cook. Another thing, the excitement of eating her/his own dish. It's an enjoyable experience.

Pasta Dish

One of the simplest thing to cook like ever should be pasta. Surely, it does not require great skills to put up a plate, edible and tasty one.
I like bolognese pasta or carbonara sauce. It's simple and filling.

The most recent one we cook is that one (see picture). This was quite a troublesome day in the kitchen. This makes me remind to say that we should always prepare before cooking; I'm obviously taking about having the right ingredients before hand! The original plan was to use the 'readily-made' bolognese sauce as they are mostly handy. However, we did not have any (and realised this only too late *sigh*). So we had to improvise and made use of what we had on hand. We therefore use a 'normal' tomato puree tin and mixed them with herbs. Added with it mushroom and avocado.
It turns out to be a hasty but edible dish hehe. A success :)

Burgers

I know I've said a lot of bad thing about fast food. It's definitely not healthy. However, I cannot but agree on the fact that it is convenient. So we had burgers. There's really something mouth-watering about those burgers and chips. Okay we had lot of burgers and chips lately.

Cannot resist anymore ><
I mean look at those. Feel hungry already.

Anyway, it's all about balance and how you feel about eating them. It's alright to eat them once in a while to satisfy any craving or on a rush. It becomes bad when you eat too much of it, like consecutively or more than for a meal.
Now, I notice recently about this 'healthy' burgers wave. Not so sure about this but I reckon they taste better. Unfortunately,they are also more expensive than the regular burgers at Mcdonald, Hungry Jacks or KFC.

Comeback (Jaffa biscuits)

Alright, so after a loooong wait, here I am. I was really amazed when I saw the last time I posted, it indeed took much longer than I hoped for. This was a pretty full on semester for me (wow). Just wow. It was filled with challenges, new discoveries, and what else but to keep me busy. So busy.

Anyway, I'm definitely making up for the time. To be honest, I haven't been cooking a lot lately, partly because of the oh-so-many changes and time constraint (I know I hate to blame time for my lack of assertiveness but yeah I definitely underestimate a few things which taught me well).

So the latest cookie I made was the chocolate chip orange cookie. Let me tell you that ever since I tasted the jaffa krusher, I fell in love with the taste. I definitely understand why people like orange flavoured cakes and the like. Then, it goes so well with chocolate. So I had a good time looking for the best jaffa recipe. hehehe. The cookie turns out to be gorgeous. See for yourself :)

Recipe for 15 cookies (approx):

Ingredients:
125g butter
3/4 cup sugar
Grated rind of an orange
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour all purpose
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven at 160 degrees. Cream butter & sugar with orange rind
2. Add egg and sifted flour and baking powder. Beat well.
3. Add chocolate chips and mix with a plastic spatula.
4. Drop teaspoon of mixture on greased oven trays
5. Bake in preheat for 12 minutes.

Enjoy :)