Easy Baby Cardigan

Please do not jump to any conclusions when you saw the title :lol: . Firstly, sorry for the lack of post. Knitting has been a pretty slow progress and I’ve been lazy. Mum is staying with me at the moment and she’ll be here for another few more weeks. Love it when she’s around :) . Everyday I get to eat really nice and yummy food!! And I don’t have to cook too, especially after coming home from work!! :mrgreen: Mum’s the BEST!!

A few weeks ago, I finished knitting a little baby hoodie for Sophie. This is the second pattern that I’ve ever knitted for babies apart from the BSJ. Thank God it’s quite an easy pattern too, no seams, and it’s knitted from the top down. Lastly, I’m just glad it fits her well. I don’t have a photo of her modelling the cardigan. So hopefully, her parents will take a nice photo of her wearing the cardigan one day :) .

Easy Baby Cardigan

Pattern: Easy Baby Cardigan by Diane Soucy
Yarn: 1.25 skeins of Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 10 ply in Leaf
Needles: 4.5 mm

Finally I can do a few loads of laundry and hang them in the clothes line since it’s not going to rain the next few days. Yippee!!

Food Cravings

There are many things that I love. Family, husband, my furry babies, shoes, knitting and lots more. Of course, coming from an Asian country and genes from my parents, I absolutely love food. It’s been ages since I last make any muffins. There were some ripe bananas on the kitchen bench and banana muffins came to mind :).

Banana Muffins

They’re so simple to make and tastes so yummy too :mrgreen: . On my way home from work today, I was thinking what to cook for dinner tonight. Almost every single day, I have to think what to cook for dinner. However, I was craving for something sweet tonight. I was actually craving for honey chicken. Never cook them before so I wasn’t sure how it will turn out but was determined enough just to try it out.

Yummy Food

End result was a thumbs up, given by my sister :razz: . If you don’t believe me, ask her. So for dinner, we had honey chicken, stri-fry bok choy and mushroom omelette. It was a very satisfying dinner.

Lastly, here’s a photo of my sister in case you’ve forgotten how she look like.

Pink Sisters

Took this last Saturday in the city as we were walking back to the car. It was pretty cold that day but we keep each other toasty warm. There are days when we’re at each other’s throat and there are days when we’re just great sisters :mrgreen: .

Here’s the honey chicken recipe because Val asked for it :mrgreen:

Ingredients:
3 chicken thigh fillets
2 tbsp self-raising flour
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp soy sauce
1 egg, beaten
Honey
Sesame seeds
Pinch of white pepper
Vegetable oil

Method:
1. Cut the chicken thigh fillets into bite size and put them in a bowl.
2. Mix the chicken together with the self-raising flour, corn flour, pepper, and egg, making sure the chicken pieces are coated well. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
3. Heat up the oil in the wok or frying pan on high.
4. Fry the chicken pieces in batches, 7 to 8 pieces at a time, until golden brown and crispy.
5. Set aside and drain them on paper towels. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.
6. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat and toss in all the cooked chicken pieces.
7. Drizzle about 2-3 tablespoons of honey over the chicken pieces and make sure they’re all coated.
8. Sprinkle the sesame seeds all over and toss the chicken pieces.
9. Turn of the heat

As I always said, please bear in mind that I always estimate my ingredients. You can always adjust the amount of ingredients to your liking.

Home Cook Meals

Having a Mum who is a housewife (SAHM) while growing up was great. Mum loves cooking and crafting. Now you should know where I get all those traits from :) . Anyway, Mum is a great cook. She’s always trying out new things and she can practically cook about almost anything!! My friends used to organise birthday parties at my house, even if it’s for their own party, they’ll ask my Mum if they can have it at my house and would request my Mum to cook delicious food. Friends just love coming over to meals.

Now, having been living abroad for the past 7 years, the thing I miss the most are Mum’s cooking. I’m not a good cook. I can’t do a lot of the stuff my Mum could do in her kitchen. Heck I’m not even half as good as her!!! Everything I know, I learned visually from my Mum. Well, I used to help my Mum in the kitchen most of the time, like cutting vegetables, washing rice, etc. which is basically preparing all the ingredients. I suppose in technical terms, I can consider myself the kitchen hand in Mum’s kitchen :razz: .

A few days ago, I had sudden cravings for some home cook meals that Mum used to cook for us. Think it went pretty well as there weren’t much leftovers :mrgreen: When I’m in a good mood, I always try to cook three dishes.

Home Cook Meals

The Pork Belly Stew was the main highlight for dinner. Cooked it on my pressure cooker for more than an hour and the meat was so juicy and tender. Yum :razz: . Will definitely have to cook that again some day.

Pork Belly Stew

I always try to include a vegetable dish for every meal. Well, we do need a balance diet which is good for our body :roll: .

Stir-fry Broccoli & Carrot

Lastly, tofu dish again but this time, I steamed it instead :) . By the way, those spring onions are from my garden :mrgreen: .

Steamed Tofu with Prawn & Mushroom

Once again, here’s the pork belly stew recipe because Feli asked for it :mrgreen:

Ingredients:
500 g pork belly
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine
2 tbsp raw sugar (I used the raw brown sugar most of the time as I do not buy white sugar at all)
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
3 garlic cloves, chopped
Dash of white pepper
Water

Method:
1. Firstly, I cut the pork belly into 2 cm cubes
2. Put the pork in a bowl and marinade it with 1 tbsp each of the soy sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, sugar and pepper for at least 30 minutes.
3. When it’s ready, fry the garlic with some oil in a pot.
4. Put the pork in and when it’s lightly cooked, put in the remaining ingredients.
5. Add in water and make sure it’s enough to cover the pork.
6. I cooked it for about 1 hour in my pressure cooker on medium heat. If you’re using normal pot, cooked it for about 2 hours on medium heat but make sure there’s always enough liquid in the pot.

Please bear in mind that I always estimate my ingredients. The stew should taste both sweet and salty but not too sweet or too salty. You can always adjust the amount of ingredients to your liking.