It's all about dogs at Malaysia Dog's Day

We went to the Malaysia Dog Day. Oh my! There were so many dogs and puppies. Even when we parked our car, we could see the owners getting their dogs out of the car, and walking to the venue.

Once we were there, we proceed to register ourselves at the registration counter. Then we were busy checking out the stalls and other dogs, and snapping pictures of some cute dogs that we saw, or chatting with the owners about their dogs.

Kiko was too young to take part in any of the contests, so we just went to watch. We managed to catch the dogs' tails wagging contest, dog recalling contest, and the weaving the pole contest. It was fun to wactch how the dogs sprinted across to the finishing line, or trying to figure out their owners' wishes to weave through the poles.

Then there were dogs who barked at each other, or trying to sniff out each other asses (dog's way of getting to know each other), or even trying to bite and start a fight! We're quite lucky that Kiko was out of harm's way, staying safe in his dog bag. He didn't even bark or whimper abit. In fact, he looked kinda bored and sleepy because 11am onwards is usually his mid-day nap time.

There were some stalls selling dog accessories and some merchandise. We got Kiko 3 shirts for RM50, and we got a free soft toy for him! We didn't stay long to grab the goodies bag or the lucky draw results. We left before 1pm, but it was an eye opening day for me.

Check out my flickr page for the photos taken at the venue. Excuse for some bad shots, it is kinda hard taking photos of moving dogs! :P

Braised Chicken with Bittergourd

Today I felt like eating bittergourd. I used to hate eating bittergrourd when I was younger. I guess it is an acquired taste. Somehow I learned to like it when I grew older. And now it has come become one of my favourite vegetables (well, depending on how it is being cooked laa.. :P)

I've always just do plain stir-fry bittergourd with garlic or thin bittergourd slices egg omelette. But today N was longing for this braised chicken with bittergourd dish. Unfortunately I have not cooked this dish before and I've no inkling what to put to flavour the dish.

So again, it's MIL to the rescue! (and you thought it was my mom rite? If it was my mom, do you think I wouldn't have known how to cook after helping her in the kitchen all these years? :P) N called MIL and she helpfully described the cooking steps and recipe. Well, a fast learner like me can quickly pick up how the dish is being cooked without any visual aid ok? hahaha...

Here goes my first try...

Ingredients
Bitter gourd, cut to about 0.5 thick slices
Chicken pieces
Red chillies, cut to think strips
Garlic, chopped
Red onions, sliced
Yellow bean paste (Tau Cheong paste)
Sugar
Soya sauce
Cooking oil
Cornflour
Water


Steps
1. Heat some oil in the wok. Put in some onions and the bittergourd slices, and stir fry the ingredients for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add in the chicken pieces and chilli strips. Stir fry them with the bittergourd.
3. Add few teaspoons of bean paste (not too much, it's salty!) to the stir fry ingredients.
4. Mix some cornflour with water, and pour in to the stir fry ingredients.
5. Add more water if needed. (you need some water to braise the ingredients)
6. Add some sugar and soya sauce to taste (to counter the saltiness of the bean paste and the bitterness of the bittergourd).
7. Stir fry everything a 1-2 minutes, then put on the lid to braise the ingredients.
8. If the bittergourd's fresh green colours turns to darker green, and it it soft enough, then the dish is ready.
9. Dish out and serve.

Well, according to N, I did fairly well for a first-timer. Though he commented it was not salty enough. (aiyah...I say he has a salty tongue, he likes his food to be salty, while I prefer less salt)

My first try at cooking a simple pumpkin dish

I tried cooking my first pumpkin dish this week, with a little advice from my MIL. It wasn't that hard at all :P


Ingredients:
pumpkin, cubed
dried shrimps
red onions, jullienned
garlic, diced
pepper
salt
cooking oil
water


Steps:
1. Heat the cooking oil in the wok.
2. When the oil is hot, put in onions, garlic and dried prawns to fry until they turn a little golden brown.
3. Stir in the pumpkin cubes and stir-fry abit.
4. Add dashes of salt and pepper, and stir-fry to mix the ingredients evenly.
5. Add in some water (not too much, you can still add if not enough) and stir fry a little longer.
6. Cover the wok with the lid to let the "braise" the pumpkin, so that it will turn soft with the closed pressure and heat.
7. Let it cook for 4-5 minutes, then open lid. Try to cut the pumpkin cubes, if the texture is soft already, then it's cooked. Dish out and serve.
8. If the pumpkin texture is still hard, close the lid and let if cook longer.

Kiko's fav pic

Woof, woof,

Mummy has took more pictures of me few days ago, because I look so cute! So I picked my favourite picture with daddy to share with my beloved fans :-)

You can check out my other cute pictures in mummy's Flickr page.

Woof,
Kiko

A little tribute to Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett

As most of you have already known, my blog is not about celebrities, and eventhough I’m an avid fan of celebrities news, I don’t blog about them.

But I thought this is just a small tribute to both icons who have brought much joy to us with the entertainment skills…

I was driving to work this morning when I heard the King of Pop – Michael Jackson, has passed away due to cardiac arrest. I was shocked for a moment. I thought I had heard wrongly, or it was just a joke. And another star icon, Farrah Fawcett, of Charlie Angels’ fame, has also passed after a long time battling with cancer.

Not that I’m a huge fan of both, I don’t think I’ve even watched Farah in any of her Charlie Angels’ show. But my mom talked about her when I was younger. I also just learned that Farah’s full name is Mary Farrah Leni Fawcett. Her mother added “Farrah” to the name as it sounded good with Fawcett. I can’t name all MJ’s songs, but I used to watch his music videos on tv. I like his dancing moves, and I thought it was cool how he could do his famous “moonwalk”.

I’m not posting any pictures of them here, I’m sure you can find them on the Internet. And they would be staring at you everywhere you look in the news, papers and celebrity sites.

May they rest in peace.