Both of us are crazy over tiramisu. The best tiramisu we’ve ever eaten was in a fine Italian restaurant in London several years ago. It’s a shame that we can’t remember the name and location of the restaurant.

Got this recipe from a friend here. To my amazement, the recipe is super simple and takes only 20 minutes to prepare with an electric whisk. I do not have an electric one but I have a human whisk called Eng hehe. Not too sure how authentic the recipe is, otherwise my Italian boss will be in tears if he ever sees this. Here are the ingredients and instructions:-

Sponge fingers, 250g mascarpone cheese, 125g double cream (optional), 100g sugar, 4 egg yolks, 1 egg white, 300ml Espresso or 3 packets of strong black coffee, coffee liquor (kahlua/rum/marsala).

I did not add any liquor for health reasons and due to the fact that I’m still breastfeeding. I even exclude the double cream as it is too rich. Firstly, whisk the cheese, cream, sugar, eggs and coffee until thickens. Dip sponge fingers into coffee and lay a layer on a dish. Pour the cream mixture over the sponge fingers. Sprinkle some cocoa powder over it. I love lots of cocoa powder as you can see by the thick layer in the pix. Chill tiramisu in the fridge overnight. That’s it!

It’s a bank holiday today and we had guests over for dinner during the weekend. We prepared lots of  good food but didn’t have the time to snap all the pix. Only managed to capture these 2 in the cooking process (Eng was the chef) - Braised Pork Shank with Black Beans and Chinese Mushrooms & Spare Ribs in Black Vinegar Sauce. Sinful! And we tried to counter the oil intake with plenty of tea, fruits and vegetables. I also made tiramisu for the first time but the presentation wasn’t that good although the taste was alright. I will attempt to make it again soon and will post some pix if it’s successful.

Refrained from consuming pork liver for the past 9 months, I finally get to ‘buka puasa’. Liver has high content of vitamin A and toxic and it is not advisable for preggies to intake too much as it might cause birth defect. Otherwise, try out this recipe:-

Firstly, marinate sliced pork and pork liver seperately with soy sauce to taste, dark soy sauce for colour, sesame oil, dash of black pepper and 1 teaspoon of corn flour. Then, sautee some garlic and sliced ginger with sesame oil. Add pork and stir fry until it’s half cooked. Finally, add liver. Easy eh?

This was what I had for lunch yesterday - Spaghetti with Hakka Char Yoke (Pork) n Sunny Side Up. Weird combination or you can call it fusion. The pork was leftover from Thursday’s dinner. Have been improving on the pork recipe as well as replace nam yee with Xaoshing wine and the result is just as good. The plus point is the preparation takes less than 15 minutes. Here’s the recipe:-

Firstly, slice pork into thick cubes. Then, marinate the pork with 1/2 tablespoon of corn flour, 1 tablespoon of Xaoshing wine or 2 cubes of nam yee, dark soy sauce for colour, light soy sauce to taste, dash of pepper, 3/4 teaspoon of 5 spice powder and 1 egg. After that, stir fry the pork with garlic until the pork turns golden brown. Later, add soaked black ear wood fungus and some water. Finally, leave it to simmer for an hour or until pork softens.

From fruits to cakes to main dishes…these are our never ending indulgence…Enjoy!

This is the Avocado season…Taste so good with sugar….Good source of vitamin E for the skin.

Banana Loaf Cake…get adventurous with custard cream topping…

Chicken with Cream of Mushroom ala Casserole…Using my own homemade cream of mushroom…

Braised Pork Shank and its aftermath….To instill the CNY mood…Lady would love that piece of bone.

Pasta Pesto with turkey breast, prawns, mushrooms and rockets…So satisfying with a cup of piping hot tea…

Comfort food - Porridge…Eng the Porridge King is so good with cooking it, be it pork ribs porridge, chicken porridge, salmon porridge, black bean porridge, pork porridge….

We prepared tumeric rice and chicken curry for Cameron’s full moon party last night and there were some left overs. So, I stir fried the chicken curry without the gravy with the rice. The tumeric gave the dish a dash of interesting flavour. Know it sounds "rojak" but it tastes good! Btw, Cameron behaved well last night although he was being passed around like a musical chair for cuddles - mel.

It’s the end of my confinement but the good food still keeps coming. The sparerib is fabulous. Eng did a great job!

The dad being very enthusiastic about his precious little one’s full moon made red eggs to be distributed to his colleagues. It is advisable to be prudent in terms of food colouring usage in this country. Therefore, beet root is being used to dye the eggs likewise during Easter. Looks good too huh?

With the following selection of scrumptious meals, I’m not complaining about confinement at all. Look what Eng has been pampering me with…

       This is my personal favourite….Braised Lamb with Lemon Grass.

Simple, healthy and tasty recipe recommended for all chicken lovers. Firstly, stir some low fat yogurt (I used Greek yogurt) until its creamy smooth. Then, add some lemon juice and stir again. Add some garlic powder (I used garlic and herbs seasoning), salt and breadcrumbs and stir. Dip each chicken breast into the mixture before lining them on an oiled tray to be baked for an hour. Lastly, grill to perfection. Served with homemade Spaghetti Ala Oglio, Sage and Onion stuffings (not leftover from Christmas) and broccolis. Let me know how it turns out - mel.

When I was working in KL, I used to visit this Chinese vegetarian hawker stall in Damansara Heights. It has great food at very reasonable prices. I love the "mutton" curry, salted "fish", oatmeal "chicken" and vege curry. Haven’t eaten it for ages, I decided to cook a dish called "Tzai Choy" - vegetarian vege…hmmm if that makes sense. Lots of ingredients involved - 1 cube "foo yee/nam yee", chinese mushrooms, button mushrooms, dried lily flower, chinese cabbage, vermicelli, broccoli, carrots, "fu chok" and wood ear fungus. It will be nice to add in some fried bean curd (tau fu pok) but I didn’t manage to buy it here. It’s just stir frying but add the vermicelli at the very last minute as it will absorb all the gravy from the vege. - mel

We are really fussy when it comes to Kaya. So far, none of the brands on the market could satisfy us. Finally, I decided to make my own. Never thought the ingredients are that few - eggs, sugar and coconut milk. However, the constant stirring is the test of patience as you need to wait for it to turn to a darker shade and gooey, usually within an hour. However, the end result was not bad and best of all, no preservatives and fresh! Seems like I’ve been cooking a lot eh? It doesn’t really take that much of my time, just preparing meal a day and the occasional trials of various recipes and most importantly, it’s fun and fulfilling - mel.

Hubby loves Assam Fish so much. Ooopss I shouldn’t be eating too much assam though but once a week in moderate amount should be fine. I’ve been making this dish for lunch for a couple of weekends now. Once you have all the proper ingredients, curry is one of the simplest dish to prepare. For this, I used Salmon trimmings, tomato, assam juice, lady’s fingers, homemade sambal belacan, curry powder, curry leaves, salt and sugar. Best dish up with hot rice and a serving of fresh rockets (winter vege, third pix).

My ex-classmate Rachel’s email reminded me that I have this packet of cous cous sitting in my cabinet for ages. So, I tossed it with some roasted vege for dinner yesterday (Got the idea from IKEA). You can taste the natural goodness of the ingredients and it’s healthy too! Just roast some cubed carrots, aubergine, broccoli, button mushrooms, green peppers and onions (important coz onion gives it the aroma and sweetness of the whole dish) for 30 minutes. Remember to wrap the tray tightly with an aluminum foil to preserve the moist. Then, remove the foil and toss the vege with some cous cous, olive oil, black pepper and salt in the oven for another 5 minutes. Accompanied by Roast Sage & Honey Chicken Breast and Roast Potatoes.

This is one of my favourite dish (Pork in "Nam Yee" sauce), yes again…and one of the delectable variety that my late grandma used to cook. However, I was a bit disappointed that the colour didn’t look right. Not too sure if it’s because I used “foo yee” instead of “nam yee”. Both are fermented bean curds but I do not know what are the differences. I guess “Nam Yee” should be red in colour. Any ideas? Besides, we couldn’t find it from the superstore. Surprisingly, Eng enjoyed the dish very much. But I’m still determined to get “nam yee”, perhaps during my impending trip back to KL. Btw, this is the failure recipe.

1. Prepare "nam yee" red sauce by sauteing some chopped garlic, shallots and ginger until fragrant. Add in 2 cubes of "nam yee", stir and bring to boil until the sauce thickens.

2. Marinate thickly sliced pork in "nam yee" red sauce, dash of pepper, corn flour and an egg for 2 hours.

3. Deep fry (best but me being the health conscious one prefers to braise or shallow fry) or braise pork until golden brown.

4. Stew all ingredients and wood ear fungus (which has been soaked) in water and bring to boil.

5. Simmer in low fire for 45 minutes or until pork is tender.

Don’t forget to let me know the results by substituting with "nam yee".