Its time for the big bird again

Our Norbest star of the dinner table for Thanksgiving

It is interesting to me how people mark time as the years go by. For me, its marking the year with Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys. Like thinking back and remembering that last year, we had Christmas Turkey while sailing Eleanor at Sebana. The year before, we had a Christmas party at Sebana with quite afew cruisers, under the marina building… but we didnt bake our own turkey that time. We had the thanksgiving turkey then, but it was a good Norbest.

Rubbing on margerine, thyme, pepper.. and hmm what else? sage?

see… so you get the idea..

For last Christmas, we could only get a small Butterball, cos Norbest was sold out! It turn out ok, but still I will choose a Norbest over a Butterball anytime. Norbest wins, hands down!

Festive fruity fried rice!

I thought that a fruity fried rice will go very nicely with the festive theme and the bird. This year, we have guest on board, so we need more food. .. My recipe: Chopped cubes of water chestnuts, pear, cashew nuts, raisins and sultanas. Heat sunflower seed oil in pan, add raw cashew nuts, fry until slightly brown. Add water chestnuts and 2 cup rice, stir fry and add seseme oil. Keep stirring until everything looks well distributed and hot, add pears, raisins and sultanas. Keep stirring and when the new additions are properly mixed in, its done. This is a crunchy and mildly sweet fried rice. My 1st time trying this style and it turn out ok. Wish I added some red bell pepper chips. It would add color to the pot and look more festive!

Our star emerges from the oven! Nicely tanned and juicy I am sure!

This years Thanksgiving will be quite memorable. We are having a party! We never did have a bird sharing party before, but we here at Keppel and our friends are nearby to join us. Very unfortunate, but I didnt get pictures of the group and the great stuff that they brought! 2 champaigns, juices, fabulous corns. All went very well with the festive spirit. … ooohh!! wish I had more pictures!!!

Reconstructing Ah Ma’s Sweet Pepper pork recipe

This is one of my favorite Ah Ma’s cooking, and is one that I never learned from her… sometimes I wonder.. do I miss Ah Ma or her cooking…?

1/4" slices of fresh pork. Look at that pink!

Its my 4th attempt at trying to make this Ah Ma’s special Sweet Pepper Pork… and yet again I failed. Pretty frustrated! Why I never learn how to cook this when Ah Ma was around…?

Making the marinate.

… but now, it has become a personal goal, for me to discover thru trial and errors, how Ah Ma did it. I think the process will make me learn the ways of Ah Ma.. those that I didnt learn the 1st time around.

The most important part of this cooking process, is making the marinate. How do you make it to taste just right and get the right smooth gravy like texture spread evenly over the meat?

Early in the cooking stage.

Let me see, my mistakes, starting from the beginning… 1st try, not enough sugar, not enough flour. 2nd attempt, sugar was about right, too much soy, and not enough flour. 3rd try, too much flour, killed everything. 4th try, okay I got the taste right…

Done cooking, gravy texture not quite right.

Here is what I got so far for 300g block of lean pork.

1) Slice lean pork into 1/4″ slices.

2) Make marinate with 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp flour, dissolve in 1/2 cup slightly warm water. Add 1/2 tbsp seseme oil, lots of pepper to the mixing bowl. Stir well, add pork. Spread evenly and leave for a few minutes.

3) Mince 2 cloves garlic.

A complete Chinese meal with rice, stir fry veggies and sweet pepper pork

4) Medium heat, 2 tbsp spoon oil in pan, add garlic to brown. Lay out pork slices onto pan, scoop remaining liquid marinate onto the pork. After 1 min, flip over to cook the other side. 1 min on the other side and it should be done cooking.

See! That should be so simple… isnt it? … but why my gravy texture is not right? Kinda lumpy… hmm… too much flour? No, I think flour is just right.. … I dunno… but I will probably get it right on the 5th try… I hope…

My yellow rice….

I remember my 1st taste of that bright colorful orange and yellow rice. I was 7 yrs old and we were at our grandparents’ neighbours’ kids birthday party. They were educated and modern Indians. Very friendly, have 2 girls around my age. We played together almost every weekend, when we visit Ah Gong and Ah Po.

Curry marinated chicken

Yes, back to the rice. It was a mix of bright orange rice kernels and yellow rice kernels and some less colored(whitish ones). I dont remember when I became a rice fan, must be those days when I havent develop any memory… Anyway, I was so fascinated by that colorful rice and I always wondered how they made it. I got a big serving of the rice, and some curry and soury pickled vegetable, sat down in a corner, went about separating and re-grouped the rice kernels by their color. I had a pile of orange, yellow and pale rice… wondering if they taste any different… It is funny how one gets these sort of flashback.

Serving yellow rice, on a colorful plate

That was the only time in my childhood that I had seen that colorful rice. Later on, many many years later, I learned about Indian food. It was kinda different. More spice, stronger taste, mostly dullish yellow, rarely with speckles of orange. Okay, that reminded me, that I had a burning desire to learn how to make the rice so vibrantly colored.

Storing dry spices in tupperwares, onboard Calliste.

After some internet research, trial and errors… I finally got it down… my simplified version that I wont even dare call it Nasi Briyani! But its close, and its easy, and its probably much healthier by not adding ghee or any animal fat to it. The color part is probably the most important aspect… as far as I am concerned.. .. so I wont bother with the technicallity of tradition or not, authentic or not. (hey I am not even Indian to begin with) . … I dont have the real basmati rice that for this briyani, subsituted with Thai fragrant rice that I stock for everyday cooking. But I do stock the many spices needed for making my rice yellow and spicy.

Spice and Rice locker

Most cooking that I do is on the weekends, and weekends are mostly on Calliste now. .. The natural place to be storing my many spices is therefore the rice and spice locker onboard Calliste. .. And the wayof storing them properly is using small square tupperwares, labelled and stacked in the locker just behind the sink.

I never realize that so many spices are neccessary for my  cooking. Check out our stash! Gee… some are low. We really are not prepared to go on a long trip with our spices. .. yet, but we will definately fill every container before we head to the pacific.

Christmas day sail!

Waking to the sounds of Doug preparing for a Turkey bake on Calliste, ending the day with a nice little sail on Eleanor, enjoying a Turkey wing while sailing around the estuary… surely a most memorable one for me.

Our 1st Buttonball Turks

We always like a Norbest Turkey whenever we get one.. but this year, we were late and the only remaining ones on 23rd were Butterballs. Well, time to try a different brand or else its no Turks right.. It cost a little more and is bigger than our usual.. we hope it turn out well.

Beautiful weather for working out in the cockpit.

Thats me doing my usual contribution to a Turks bake of preparing water chestnuts and chopping onions, I am off for a day of games…

Haha.. back on my FB games.. hooray for wifi.. when it works.

Well… I was also the carols “DJay”, searching and finding Celtic Woman Christmas songs thru U-tube.. I always like classical/musical stage and costumes… Think I am going to buy that DVD..

Doug had to build a tent because the old top wouldnt totally enclose Turks.

1100hrs, Turks was ready for the oven. Seems to be much bigger than we thought, only inches between the oven top and Turks. .. oh wow! Think about how much meat we’ll have… YUM!

Is that a gluttony look!?

Seems to me, I can always get a funny pic of Doug when hes handling Turks… recall the T-giving one? 

Turks taking up all the room in the oven..

Then, all we could do is wait 4hrs… hungry hungry hungry… snack snack snack.. In the meantime, I got Eleanor rigged and ready to go.

Santas' on board! Lucky me, I got a wing..

1600hrs, Eleanor loaded with our special Christmas meal and drinks, caught a puff and off we go.

Ahh... sailing and feasting..

Those bungalow dwellers watched us sail by and waving with drums and wings in our fingers… what must they think of us…! Damned those Decadent sailors…? Hee hee hee..

Thanksgiving 2009

This is 1 long day in my life, and probably 1 that I would remember at future thanksgiving. I thank God that 2009 had been better than 2008.. cos we didnt get turkey last year.. For us, and like many other people, 2009 has been a year of slow recovery from our financial diaster of 2008. This year, we find ourselves in the right mood and have a little extra to celebrate with a turkey.

Weighing in at 9.5lbs, our very own little turks

What do I know about turkey cooking? Its not in my culinary skills set. So its all up to Doug.. and he makes the best turkey meals that I ever had.. After 5 years, .. u would think that I learn a thing or 2 .. nope.. …

Stuffing with real fresh water chestnuts. They were great!

Some people find it amazing that we can cook decent meals onboard a small boat like Calliste, a 28ft BCC. Its incredible that we even have a good old marine oven and stove that would fit a small turkey.

A fun picture of Doug and turks

Doug had fun with the turkey preparation. We are all in pretty good spirits today.. 1 day later than the actual thanksgiving. A day off from work for Hari Raya Haji that we conveniently renamed Thanksgiving..

Turks stuffed and sealed with pins.

Turks stuffed and sealed, ready for baking. ..

Golden brown turks! The skin was sooo gooooD!

.. After 3hrs of baking… yes it took all that time.. surprised? We were!

BTW, we are firm Norbest fan. Never a Buttonball for us! The red popup button indicator for fully cooked turkey is a must! And it works! All the time.

Chinese style stir-fry Shrimp in tomato sauce

My last good Shrimp in tomato sauce was too many years ago.. when Ah Ma was still around and doing a fair bit of cooking. This was 1 of Ah Ma’s signature dish.. IMHO. Simple, quick, easy and goes well with rice or noodle. ..

This was a simple dish that I somehow never attempted… until now. Why now? Guess I must be missing Ah Ma again.

Starting with the ingredients preparation. 300g medium shrimp, shelled and deveined. 300g squids, cut into rings, tentacles may be used if you like. 1 medium red onion, chopped in half, then quarters. 2 garlic, minced. 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped into 1″ size.

Seafood in tomato sauce.. Yummy!

Next, make the sauce. Mix 2 tablespoon ketchup, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon light soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional), 1 tablespoon cornflour into 2 cups water. Stir well.

Ok, now ready to start cooking. Heat oil, fry onions until soft and slightly brown. Add garlic and stir-fry until garlic is slightly brown too.  Add tomatoes, low heat, simmer for 2 minutes. Add seafood, stir-fry around. Add mixture, stir well. When all seafood is cooked, turn off heat and ready to serve.

Egg noodles. Really quite tasty.

See, its that simple. Ah Ma never use squids for this dish… and I wonder if she uses salt? My kitchen was salt-less for many years and my mum and sisters never like my cooking. Ah Ma never complain about it though.. ..

Egg noodles in Seafood in tomato sauce.

This is my 1st attempt at this.. and it dont quite have the same flavour as I remember.. … I will use more ketchup and a little more sugar next time.. maybe a touch of pepper, and some fresh chili flakes.. 

And the noodles, for 2 serving. We bought this package of dried egg noodle. Me thinks its for 3 serving, but we only use 1/2 the package for the 2 of us. It was enough for a light lunch. To cook the noodles, boil 2cups water, add noodles, stir regularly. Turn off heat when noodles are soft. Drain and serve onto plate. Pour Seafood and gravy over the noodles. Tata!

Making “Low My Guy” onboard S/V Calliste

This weekend, we thought we should have a little fun time doing some real cooking.. you know.. not the Restaurant City kind.. .. how about making our own “Low My Guys”.. yummy, says Doug.

Lang working in the galley onboard S/V Calliste

For those of you who wonder what its like cooking in a galley.. you may find this post rather enlightening.. This is me using my cute little cleaver slicing mushrooms on the board laid across the sink. That is the cooking workspace. To do washing, I slide the board up over the locker to expose the sink. The tap is operated by a footpump.. thats why no knobs.

Sliced up ingredients

I got a recipe off the internet, made afew modifications .. I am not going to use lard in my cooking! The ingredients are simple and easy to prepare.

1. Mince garlic and sliced onions
2. Sliced Chinese mushrooms
3. Sliced Chinese sausages
4. Sliced chicken meat, marinate with light soy, dark soy, seseme oil, 5 spice powder and pepper power. Add a little rice wine. Stir well.
5. Soaked Chinese dried shrimps, 10 minutes
6. Glutinous rice soaked 4hrs

While I worked on the ingredients preparation, Doug cut open these cans. .. we are using these cans instead of stainless bowls or aluminium foil. A recycling idea huh?

Open top beercans..

Cooking instructions, adapted to cooking in a galley with no lard:

• Fry onions and garlic in 3 tablespoon oil. When garlic and onions are starting to brown, scoop them out leaving the hot fragrant oil.
• Add in chicken, shrimps, sausage and mushroom. Stir fry until chicken is cooked throughly. Add a cup of water and add soaked rice.
• Stir fry, making sure rice and all ingredients are well mixed. Turn off heat when the mixture is moist (not wet).

Stir fried mixture of low my guy

This stir fried rice is now ready for steaming. Spoon in the mixture into the open beercans. Then put the cans into a steampot with water. Add 2 tablespoons of water in each can ( this was what we did in our 2nd attempt and the result was much better)

6 beercans would fit in our big steampot..

I think that water should be about 1/3 height of the beer cans for effective cooking. Set pressure cooker steamer to boil on low heat. Set for 30minutes of steaming to soften the rice.

steamed "Low My Guy"s.

In our 1st attempt, we only steamed for 15mins. The rice was not soft enough.. taste right, edible, .. needs improvement.

Serving .. without the cans..

If we used stainless bowls and lots of lard, then it would been easy to just overturn the bowl of rice onto a serving plate. I had to dig the stuff out and served it rather in-elegantly as you see.. .. And I used the fried garlic and onions that I removed from the oil, as garnishing. Not a healthy meal at all… but we enjoyed making it .. and eating ..