crabby weekend..

it was a great idea and it was absolutely worth it..

the topic/craving of eating crab was ping-ponged between me and Dino several times last month and some how Dino’s aunts had the same craving.. it was mentioned one night while eating chilli crab at his grand’s place that we should have a crab party or something..

we decided to treat the family crab (as in buy live crabs) if someone was willing to cook them.. Dino bought close to 40 medium-sized crabs for about $270 from Tekka market. And his aunt & sister cooked chilli crab, black pepper crab and buttered crab over the weekend. We also had cereal prawns, bone steak and lots of other food. It was cholesterol metropolis but food was GREAT!

Nardyne was excited to go swimming in the pool. And both times she didnt want to get out of the water but we have to keep a tab of 30 mins so that she dont catch a cold.. and coincidentally I brought the swim suit that my BIL bought for her so the three cousins were wearing the same purple Powerpuff Girls swim suits over the weekend..

should do it again some time soon..

come undone..

I succumbed to fatigue yesterday.. I couldn’t bring myself to go to work though i was almost ready to go to work.. and my allergies were beginning to act up too.. i was so tired that I went back to sleep at 8.30am and woke up to have breakfast at 11am. I slept with Nardyne for 1hr in the afternoon too.. it was good weather to sleep in, it has been raining since Wednesday and only stopped yesterday afternoon.. but now it looks like it’s going to rain again..

main contributing factor for fatigue is the intensive lecture I had last week.. 7pm to 10pm on weeknights, 1.30pm to 5.30pm on Saturday, 10am to 5pm on Sunday was no joke for my system. I don’t get enough rest and I am missing Nardyne.. I felt SO HAPPY to see her at the end of Sunday lecture, waiting with her daddi at the atrium, it was a great feeling to see her walking quickly to me.. i should have taken leave on Monday to rest but it just didnt occur to me..

I have not been coming home straight from office this week either, we went to look for a new microwave machine on Monday, i had tutorial on Tuesday, I had a team dinner on Wednesday.. which all accumulates and contributes to my fatigue.. which also explains why i was so drowsy in the afternoons for the past few days..

anyway team dinner at Villa Bali was great. Julie and I arrived first and we were so hungry that we ordered drinks and chicken satay while waiting for the rest.. then Rob and Corrine arrived and we ordered another round of drinks and more appetizers while waiting for the rest.. then the rest arrived, together with Gerard who is visiting us until Saturday, and we ordered dinner of phad thai, pineapple rice,  tom yum soup, calamari and chicken and another round of drinks.. i think i ate too much and drank too much but the company was great, the food was great, the atmosphere at Villa Bali was great that I would like to go there again some time..

tiramisu

I tried making tiramisu last month and I kind of liked it. I got the recipe from my italian and french colleagues. Tiramisu means ‘pick-me-up’ and it attributes to the effect of chocolate and coffee in it. It’s easy to make because there’s no cooking involved. Due to the hot weather here, it’s recommended to keep everything chilled, unless you have a/c in the kitchen..

Ingredients you need:
250g Mascarpone
3 eggs (separate yellow from white)
150g sugar
1 packet boudois, also called sponge biscuits or lady’s finger biscuits (apparently only available at Cold Storage)
1 bar 70% dark chocolate. If you don’t like it bitter, I think milk chocolate is okay too
few tablespoons of coffee powder or a cup of espresso
some cocoa powder

Method:
Place the egg whites in a whisking bowl and put them & the whisk in the fridge to cool.
Mix the coffee powder with a bit of hot water to dissolve it, then top up with cold water and put it in the fridge. I prefer to make it a bit strong so that you can taste the coffee after.
Break or cut the chocolate bar into tiny chunks and put it in the fridge.

Take out the whites from the fridge, add a pinch of salt and whisk until it’s very hard. Once hard, put it back in the fridge so that it doesn’t melt while waiting to be folded.

Whisk the egg yellow with sugar until creamy. Using a hand whisk, add the mascarpone to the mixture. Take out the egg white from the fridge. Fold the white into the yellow mixture.

Take out the coffee and chocolate from the fridge. Using any suitable container (you can also chill the container in the fridge), wet the biscuits one by one with the coffee and arrange them in a layer at the bottom of the container. Careful not to soak the biscuits too long or it will crumble into the coffee, just a quick dip on each sides will do.

Sprinkle a layer of chocolate on top of the biscuits. Spread half of the cream mixture on top of it. Repeat the process for another layer of biscuits, chocolate, cream. Once done, cover the top with aluminium foil and put it in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours. Before serving, dust the top with cocoa powder.

The first time I made the tiramisu, the outcome was it melted very fast. Everything was soggy and messy. The second time I made it, I doubled the mascarpone to 500g and doubled the yellow to 6 and put it in the freezer. It’s much more creamier and harder. Yum Yum!