KookyCulinary

I love Vietnamese sandwiches. They are delicious and very cheap. I can usually get them for only $2 for a pork sandwich. But there are some days when I crave the fancier version, that’s when I head to Baguette Box.

DH had the Crispy Drunken Chicken Baguette. Pieces of crispy battered chicken topped with a sweet sauce, caramelized onion and cilantro all stuffed in a crispy baguette. So good!

I had the Grilled Lemongrass Steak Baguette. The steak was still a little pink inside so it was not dry at all. It was topped with pickled daikon, carrots and cilantro. Could use a little more steak but it was really good.

And their famous Truffle Fries. Lil’ C ate most of this before I could even get to it. She just loved it.

Before summer began, I thought that this summer would be a summer of lounging around and doing nothing. Boy, was I wrong!! This is turning out to be the busiest summer that we’ve ever had so far. We’ve been camping almost every weekend since Memorial day. Every week, before I can even finish unpacking from one camping trip and doing the laundry (tons of smoke-filled clothes!), I have to pack up for the next camping trip. Squeeze in a couple of playdates in between and it has just been crazy. Even though it has been so busy, I think Lil’ C is having the time of her life and that’s the most important thing.

The busy schedule also means that I have not been cooking much. But I still have some unpublished photos that I took just as summer was starting. Here’s one of those bento.

Since I bought a Panini Pressrecently, Lil’ C has been asking for Panini all the time. Her favorite is Egg Panini with cheese and that’s what is in this bento. Ham rolls, Oreo cookies and cantaloupe makes up the rest of the bento.

Today’s bento contains heart-shaped peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I use a smaller heart cookie cutter to cut out a little heart just for fun. It makes it prettier, doesn’t it? Other food includes cheese sticks, honey cornflakes cup and checkered apple.

During our last trip back to Malaysia, Lil’ C discovered ice-kacang (shaved ice). She calls it colorful ice because the first one she ate was really colorful with at least 5 different colors of syrup. Since then, she has been asking for her colorful ice. They do serve this at the local Malaysian restaurant but the stingy me cringes at the thought of paying US$5 for a bowl of ice-kacang! So I finally caved and bought an ice-shaver this summer. And so begins the obsession with ice-kacang.

I didn’t have time to buy all he ingredients for the ice-kacang, so I made do with whatever I had in my pantry.

A little bit of grass jelly, attap chee, corn, peanuts + shaved ice + gula melaka (palm sugar) syrup + condensed milk = a very delicious ice-kacang!! Just perfect for summer days.

I love my new ice-shaver. I am using the Hamilton Beach Snowman Ice Shaver. At first I was a little worried that the ice will not be smooth but it turned out pretty smooth. Of course it’s not totally smooth like the commercial ice shaver but it’s way better than the snowcone ice.

I love my kitchen but if I have an opportunity, I would love to change my kitchen sink. Since I use the wok a lot, it is always a hassle during dishwashing because my sink is too small for my wok. I have been checking out those huge single bowl stainless steel kitchen sinks and I would love to have one of those in my kitchen. That way I won’t get water spills everytime I wash my wok. I am definitely adding these sinks to my wishlist.

I remember when I lived in Kuala Lumpur and probably once a month, we would make a trip to my in-laws. Every trip we would always make a slight detour into Seremban town to pick up a box of Seremban Siew Pau. They were so good!! Well, that was many years ago and I haven’t had that taste of the Siew Pau for a while now. So last week I decided to try making some. For the pastry skin, I used this recipe. For the filling, I didn’t have any char siew, so I used a simple stirfry of chicken and peas instead.

The recipe was pretty easy but I did run into some trouble pleating the top. see how it split open at the top?

But I was so glad to see all the flaky layers in the pastry. This recipe is definitely a keeper. The Siew Pau was really delicious! I will just need to brush up my pleating skills and make sure that it doesn’t open up during baking.

All packed up and given to Lil’ C’s chinese school teachers. Not as pretty as I wanted but I am sure that they didn’t mind as long as it taste good.

If I have to pick out two of my favorite activities, they would be travelling and eating. It will be even better if I combine them together. Exploring new food and enjoying local food during vacation makes me very happy. That is why I was very excited when I heard that VacationRentals.com is giving away a vacation getaway in a Southern California vacation rental home. You get to pick your rental home location from their long list of vacation homes available. Besides paying for your rental, the prize will also include your airfare. And the best part of this deal is that the winner and 3 friends will get to enjoy a gourmet dinner in their rental home personally prepared by Chef Bonnie who was the runner-up of the 2008 Hell’s Kitchen. Wow, I’ve never had a personal celebrity chef make a meal for me before. That would be so much fun and an experience of a lifetime!

This sweepstakes end August 4, 2009, so I am off to enter this sweepstakes right now before it’s too late. If you would like to have the experience of having a celebrity chef cook a meal for you, why don’t you join me and enter this Chef Bonnie Weekend Getaway too. Hopefully I will win but just in case I don’t and you do, don’t forget to come back and tell me all about the fun!

These mice have stars in their eyes. Maybe they just met Mickey Mouse and were starstruck?? Anyway, these are the whole wheat chicken nuggets from Costco. Just a couple of seaweed cutouts does make it different, doesn’t it? Other food in the bento consists of orange, cheese sticks and Princess cookies.

When I first became a mom, I had thought that I would exclusively breastfeed her. Unfortunately it did not go my way as circumstances came up and I had to give up my breastfeeding plan. So it was very important for me to choose the best formula for my baby. I remember reading all the labels of the different formulas and even doing research on them just to make sure that I was getting the right formula. I don’t have to do that anymore since my baby is a big girl now but if I had, I will definitely be checking out Comforts Baby Formula.

Comforts Baby Formula is fortified with iron, lactose and choline, a nutrient found naturally in mother’s milk that is associated with infant development. It also contains all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients required for a growing healthy baby and helps in the development of the immune system. Comforts Baby Formula also contains the lipids DHA and ARA, which are associated with infant mental and visual development.

Currently Comforts for Baby is running a contest where you get to name the cute Comforts Firefly Mascot. My girl has decided to name her Arabelle!! What do you think? I have no idea where she got the name but it has something to do with princesses! I am going to enter the contest with that name because if it gets picked, I will win a $10,000 scholarship for my girl. That will make a great running start in her college fund. What about you? If you want to win $10,000 for your little one, then think of a name and enter the contest today.

When all else fails, Nutella always comes to the rescue. Lil’ C will eat anything with Nutella and frankly, so will I!! ,This bento contains Nutella sandwich roll, strawberries, mini marshmallow and scrambled eggs.