Kicking Off 2025: Challenges, Blessings, and Gratitude

Happy New Year, everyone! How have the first four days of 2025 been for you? I hope they’ve been smooth sailing so far. As for me, it’s been a mix of highs and lows—manageable for now, but the start of the year has already brought its fair share of challenges.

Unfortunately, my mother-in-law fell ill on the penultimate day of 2024 and is still battling Influenza A. Her symptoms are significantly worse than when she had Covid two years ago. To make matters worse, Cass started showing similar symptoms yesterday, though thankfully, hers are much milder and her appetite is still good. She's been stuffing herself with lots of fruits and veggies and gulping down bottles of plain water to help her body counter the virus.

For now, I’ve been spared from this dreaded infection, which allows me to take care of the sick ones at home. Despite Cass sleeping in my room since her grandma got sick, I’m holding on to hope that my body can fight off the virus. Sharing an air-conditioned room for four nights likely increased my exposure, but I’m staying optimistic.

While caring for the family, life for the rest of us has carried on. Sherilyn has jumped back into her demanding architecture course, which, as always, involves meticulous model construction. For the past two days, she’s been camped at our dining table, working tirelessly on her project with Josh Johnson’s videos playing in the background. Meanwhile, Alycia has been busy with her assignment since New Year’s Eve, creating a book from scratch. From writing and photography to printing, she’s been fully immersed in the process.

Cass, on the other hand, is gearing up for her final year of high school—a crucial year as she prepares for the SPM exam. It’s a milestone year for her, and I’m both excited and nervous for what lies ahead.

Adding to the busyness is our household help situation. Maria, our part-time helper, returned briefly but fell ill after just three days of work. She hasn’t come for two weeks now and, with her upcoming trip to Indonesia to deliver her baby, she won’t be available for the next eight months. By the time she returns to work, it will already be August. While this adds to my workload, I’ve come to embrace the chaos. Being busy is a blessing in disguise.

Lately, I’ve seen friends battling serious illnesses, some even succumbing to cancer. These sobering moments have made me appreciate my ability to stay active and busy. I’d much rather have my hands full than be bedridden or spend my days in a hospital. Life is unpredictable, and being able to run around and do so much is something I no longer take for granted.

As we step into 2025, I wish all of you a year filled with health, happiness, and smooth sailing days. Let’s tackle whatever challenges come our way with gratitude and resilience. Here’s to a fresh start and a wonderful year ahead!

Today I cooked pumpkin + sweet potato + pork porridge for everyone. I also microwaved an Ipoh salt-baked chicken to go with the porridge.

Meals For Cass

 Meals for my health freak youngest daughter:

Air-fried wholemeal bread with hard-boiled eggs, avocado, salad with sides of homemade hummus, air-fried ribeye steak, cucumbers, and Nacho chips (made with only 4 ingredients). 

Cass made the hummus herself, using canned chickpeas (Garbanzo beans).  Kimball and La Diva (product of Italy) canned chickpeas taste great with a soft texture, and not too salty.

La Diva canned Garbanzo and kidney beans are available at 99 Speedmart and online. I bought the Kimball chickpeas from Shopee Supermarket and the La Diva kidney beans and Garbanzo beans from 99 Speedmart. 

Air-fried ribeye steak, roast chicken breast, steamed pumpkin, blanched broccoli & cauliflower, La Diva canned kidney beans (product of Italy) and salad. 

Air-fried ribeye steak, stir-fried lean pork with ginger, air-fried shimeji mushrooms, canned kidney beans, and stir-fried assorted veggies (from Daddy's kitchen), topped with half an avocado.

Our simple dinner today as today has been a busy day. We had boiled dumplings (minced pork with chives and cabbage made by a Taiwanese housewife), blanched broccoli, and steamed pumpkin. Cass also had leftover air-fried marinated Beacon chicken tenders.

I was with Alycia at SJMC today.  The hand and microsurgery doctor removed the splint from her injured finger today -- finally, after 6 weeks of having her badly injured finger in a splint and wrapped with a huge bandage!

Grilling and Air Frying: The Ultimate Kitchen Duo

One of the main reasons I love grilling and air frying is that the taste is on par with pan or wok-fried dishes, minus the hassle of dealing with excess oil and oil splatters. The convenience factor cannot be overstated - my trusty oven and air fryer have become my kitchen companions, saving me time and effort while still producing mouth-watering meals.

Lately, I've been contemplating upgrading to a bigger capacity air fryer or even a dual-drawer air fryer to make my cooking process quicker and more efficient. However, I also realize the importance of utilizing all my kitchen equipment, including my under-used Philips pressure cooker.  As Sherilyn dug out the pressure cooker to cook porridge last week and it’s now sitting conveniently on the kitchen counter, today I used it to cook Mediterranean chicken stew.

Speaking of under-utilized gems in my kitchen, the Thermomix has been patiently waiting for its time to shine. Despite its reputation as a versatile kitchen helper, I confess that I have yet to fully grasp its potential. Perhaps one day I will learn to master its functions and explore the culinary possibilities it offers.

As I dream of future additions to my kitchen arsenal, an induction cooker stands out as something nice to have. The allure of safer, healthier, faster, and more efficient cooking compared to traditional gas or electric stoves is undeniable. Here's hoping that my wish for an induction cooker will soon become a reality.

License to grill - my one-tray grill for the girls.  Each tray is composed of chicken chop, shimeji mushroom, bell pepper, and lots of chopped onion and garlic.

No meat grill for Cass and me.

Oven-grilled garlic and herbs butterflied prawns.

One-tray grill of chicken chop and veggies for everyone.

I finally used the pressure cooker again today after a long hiatus to cook Mediterranean chicken stew.
Ingredients used - boneless chicken thighs, pumpkin, sweet potato, tomatoes, shimeji mushroom, large onions, garlic, herbs and spices, black pepper, and tomato puree.

Monday, 19 February 2024 ~ Haru's Annual Vaccination and Homemade Siew Yoke

Sherilyn doesn't have to go to college today, so I jumped at the opportunity to get her to accompany me to bring Haru to the vet's clinic.  Haru's due for her annual vaccination and bi-yearly deworming pill. As I'm the one driving, I need someone to carry Haru in the car.

Inside her usual tote bag, snugged under Sherilyn's armpit.

Haru behaved really well, wasn't trembling as bad as the previous time, and only hissed briefly at the vet. She didn't cry when jabbed on her thigh.

Back home, Sherilyn spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen, whipping up a big pot of Korean pork and kimchi stew and making Siew Yoke (roast pork) for the first time.

Super delish Siew Yoke with crackling crispy skin.  

I'd give Sherilyn a 100% rating for her Siew Yoke. Excellent job for someone making it for the first time. She randomly googled for a recipe and tweaked the recipe with whatever spices she could find in the larder.

Sherilyn's Meals

Sherilyn who's recovering from Covid at home air-fried this cheese and egg sandwich for breakfast today.  She didn't have much appetite yesterday as she vomited once and felt nauseous the whole day.  Today the nauseous feeling is gone and her appetite came back. 

Thankfully she can still taste her food, unlike me who lost my olfaction partially.  Since yesterday everything that I eat has been tasteless and I can't smell anything too, except for essential oils.

Sherilyn made KongGukSu (콩국수) - Korean Cold Noodles with Tofu after the rubber on her braces were changed recently.  Whenever she has an appointment with the dentist for her braces maintenance, she'd ask me to get her tofu from the supermarket as she prefers to eat soft food after new and tight elastics are replaced, which would cause her discomfort for several days.

Refreshing but not my kind of meal.  Tofu and soybean milk are blended together to prep the broth and served cold.

Grilled Shishamo Fish In Parchment Paper On Pan

Our neighborhood supermarket is having a promotion for shishamo at RM10.90 for a pack, so I've been stocking up quite a bit of them. I love shishamo. It's the only fish that I can wallop the entire fish, including the head, tail, and bones, and have zero waste.

One easy way to cook shishamo is by grilling them on parchment paper on a frying pan.  Sherilyn cooked shishamo using this method twice.  It's not 100% oil splatter-free but just not as bad.   She uses a splatter screen to block the oil from splattering out.

The shishamo can be lightly seasoned with a pinch of salt but Sherilyn made her own teriyaki sauce for the fish and squeezed in some lemon juice. 

So delish! Not exactly crispy but it's good enough. I can chomp down the entire plate all by myself but of course, I didn't do it. 
I used to stuff myself with grilled shishamo during our weekly Japanese lunch buffets yonks ago at PJ Hilton and Sheraton Subang.  How I miss those days but I have a much smaller appetite and tummy now than I was 20 years ago.  I wouldn't want to splurge RM200 on a buffet lunch that I can't get a bang out of my buck, would you? 😁

Homemade Ramen and Stuffed Brinjal

Over the weekend, our in-house teenage chef spent most of her time in the kitchen to whip up some of her favorite dishes.  To 'celebrate' more time at home after 5 days of face-to-face classes in school this week (back to school after more than half a year of remote learning), she tried several new dishes.  Sherilyn loves spending time in the kitchen to try out new recipes to destress.

We had dry ramen with minced pork, Onsen tamago amd ramen eggs.  The ramen noodles were made from scratch and ramen eggs marinated yesterday.  Even the Japanese tare sauce for the noodles was made from scratch.

The ramen noodles were perfect and silky-smooth. And the secret?

Knead them with your FEET 😜  That's what the Japanese do.  

Chef Sherilyn placed the dough in a Ziplock bag, put on clean socks and danced on top of the bagged dough😆

We had these for dinner on Saturday and again for lunch on Sunday.  In fact, we didn't mind having it again for lunch the next day as the dry ramen tasted as good as the ones from Japanese restaurants!

Noodles churned out from the Kenwood mixer.

Fried stuffed brinjal with minced pork and torch ginger flower. 
This dish was born as S was clearing the fridge and found a long brinjal and some torch ginger flower that had been sitting inside for weeks.

Homemade satay sauce, made with love by S. Love this peanut sauce with loads of aromatic spices and sambal from Catermate.  She made the sauce to go with pan-fried salmon the other day. We used the leftover sauce to go with the fried stuffed brinjal.

Second Day of CNY 2021 ~ 13 February 2021

Hubs had a last minute order for delivery today and since none of his staff are at work, he had to do all the work.  And he roped in Sherilyn and me to help as well. Thankfully hubs knows cooking (he studied hotel management and catering and later did a bakery course) and Sherilyn and I could help with some simple kitchen work. But it was a mad rush having to get the food ready to be sent out by 11:30 a.m.  to the customer. 

We were home on time for our Hoi Nin Fan (first meal of the Lunar New Year) with hubby's aunt who lives on our block joining us.  The mil did most of the cooking.

It's been a super hot day today, typical weather of CNY every year.

Chef Sherilyn insisted on donning her cloth face mask, cap and disposable gloves in her dad's stuffy kitchen.  I told her that since it's so stuffy she needn't have to wear a mask when chopping veggies but she insisted on wearing it throughout the 2 hours in the kitchen.

Sherilyn to me - do you know what hygiene is?? 

She even wore the mask when she was frying otak-otak but when she got home, she said she felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen 😁

Ready to be Grab-ed to the customer ~ rendang chicken drumsticks, mutton rendang, fried otak-otak, sauteed mixed vegetables and loh sang with jelly fish. 

In the evening, Sherilyn made Tiramisu which was a winner!  The Tiramisu was so delish that even the two super critical foodies in the house gave their stingy compliments.

I think the Tiramisu is good enough to be sold.

Roast duck from hubby's aunt.

Braised pork ribs

Braised stuffed oysters with fish paste and abalone.

I'd like to wish all my readers "Koong Hei Fatt Choy" and may the year of the Ox be a prosperous, happy and healthy year for everyone!

My heart melts whenever Haru gives me this pitiful look, begging to be let out of the box to roam freely and scratch her nails on my slippers (which is now her scratching pad).

MCO Dinner ~ 3 February 2021 (Pork Wellington and Beef Lasagna)

Sherilyn whipped up yet another labor-intensive dish ~ Pork Wellington served with red wine shallot sauce, French potato puree, caramelized onions with Italian Balsamic vinegar and seared zucchini.

This girl is truly a sucker for challenges and competitions since young!  She hardly settles for cooking simple and easy dishes but likes to try out new recipes.

Pork Wellington is such a labor intensive dish with a slew of ingredients and Sherilyn made everything from scratch, inside out -- from the puff pastry to the crêpe, red wine shallot sauce, French potato puree and the pâté (with minced mushrooms). The French potato puree and mushroom puree were done by the TMX6.

As long as the MCO doesn't end, we're going to be chef Sherilyn' guinea pigs, trying out new dishes almost daily 😁

Another skill that Sherilyn learned as part of producing this dish is opening a bottle of red wine with her dad's wine opener! 😁 The red wine shallot sauce is truly amazing and gives the Pork Wellington a moreish flavor.

So much hard work, time and passion goes into this Pork Wellington.  

The first time she baked it, the pork inside the puff pastry was still slightly pinkish and uncooked. It's a thick chunk of meat.  As it was already 8-ish p.m. (yeah, we all waited till this late for this dish!), the girls ended up eating instant noodles, while I drank organic almond milk with oats for dinner.

And the Pork Wellington was kept in the fridge for lunch and dinner for the following two days 😂

The chunk of seared pork is wrapped in several layers ~ pâté, crepe and finally the puff pastry. Every layer is handmade by Sherilyn.

I just love the caramelized onions with Italian balsamic vinegar and seared zucchini.

Beef lasagna from hubby's shop, Catermate.

And I end this post with Haru saying meow meow hello!  Ain't she adorable?