Lunch Box, Lantern Festival

Hi 2016

It has been a while I haven't upload my blog. 2015 has been a fantastic and busy year. Although I have met different kinds of problems, I still have come over and start my own path. I have graduated in 2015 and in the beginning of 2016, I started a new chapter with Danny. Recently I also got a ideal job. Everything seems become better in 2016.

In Jan I went back to China for Chinese new year. I have been eating amazing Chinese food everyday and suddenly want to have a change of diet. I miss the feeling of being vegetarian after a month. It is not only a challenge but also it has changed my body a lot. Need to back to gym as well, otherwise I will look like this guy in summer.

I made a beef veggie pasta with tomato sauce for tomorrow's lunch. Sometimes I will steal my own lunch box and eat then directly after cooking XD it is a big challenge also a nice expectation for tomorrow's work when you have a nice lunch box.

It is very quick and easy to make this lunch box.

Materials(serve 2 people):
Beef mince 100g
Courgette x 1
carrot x 2
sunflower seed x 5-10g
tomato sause 4 tbsp
salt 2g
pepper 2g
pasta 250g
Chinese rice wine 5g

Steps：
1. Warm up the pan and put beef mince inside until you can see the oil comes from the beef mince. Use Chinese rice wine after the beef is nearly done.
2. boil a pan of water, cut carrots into little cubs and boil them with pasta
3. In the mean time cut the courgette and cook with beef
4. filt pasta and carrot and mix them with beef and courgette.
5. use 4 tbsp tomato sauce, 2g petter and 2g salt and mix all things together
6. When the juice has less juice the pasta is done. you can put 5-10g sunflower seeds to decorate it

This is a very handy lunch box you can make daily. Also, today is a special day: Lantern Festival. Usually in this day you can see fireworks and lanterns everywhere. There are so many romantic stories happened in lantern festival in ancient times. In Lantern Festival we will eat Tangyuan, as you can see from the picture below, it means reunion.

I put some sweet-scented osmanthus inside of water and it smells extremely good. Tangyuan is made from glutinous rice flour mix with water. This Tangyuan has sesame and sugar inside. Happy lantern Festival and I wish I will update blog very often in this year:)

Night~

Homesick -- Chinese Yam

It has been a while for updating my blog. Time flies when I was busy on studying and working. I have successfully handed my dissertation on 1st September 2015. It means my 20+ years as a student is finished.

I went to kindergarten when I was 2 years old. I cannot walk properly. When all the students go for spring trips with kindergarten in some beautiful places in the city, my teacher have to put me in a baby carriage or hold me with her arms. I was in the same class with my cousin who is 2 years older than me. I forgot what I've learnt from kindergarten, but I had a great 3 years time. Because of my cousin, a lot of boys they do not dare to play tricks on me :) I had 2 years pre-primary school course since I was too young to join primary school. Then 5 years primary school. In the primary school, I start to learn computers and English, this is the question I have been asked very often: when did u start learning English. When I was 12, I started my junior high school and started to live in the school. I washed my cloth, cleaned my room, fed myself and back home once a week. It was same in high school when I was 16-19. Then from 19, I felt bored to live in the south, so I chose a University in the north which is more than 1000KM away from my hometown(London-Manchester is 217KM). In the last semester in my undergraduate, I had no class, so I applied to work in Sri Lanka for half a year and doing my dissertations in the mean time. Directly after graduation, I came to the UK for master degree. It is 12,000KM away from my hometown, a distance for half of the earth.

It is my 1 year and 3 month in the United Kingdom, I've met some difficulties because the policies are different from my home country. But there are always some people willing to help me. Sometimes I miss my parents as well. But the missing do not kill me, however, it helps me to become a better Melody. I'm away from my country is not because I do not like China. I love China deeply and I think it is a great country. I like traveling and experiencing different cultural, it makes me become more patient and understandable for things.

The way I cure my homesick is cooking :). There is a vegetable called Shan Yao, some people call it Chinese Yam, is very popular in my hometown. You can get it from Chinese supermarket. I quote some explanation about Chinese Yam here:

"Chinese yam (dioscorea opposita) is an ornamental vine that is native to Asia. It also grows in North America, but it is not related to the sweet potatoes called yams that are a popular food in North America. Another name for Chinese yam is cinnamon vine. It is also called shan yao.

The roots of Chinese yam contain diosgenin. This chemical is used to produce steroids such as estrogen and progesterone in a laboratory. In its original form, Chinese yam does not contain hormones.
Chinese yam is used in Chinese herbal medicine. It is traditionally used to treat disorders related to the stomach, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.
While the tuber and bulbs of Chinese yam are edible, generally only the tuber is consumed as food."

Today's Dish: King Prawn with Chinese Yam

Materials:
1. 100g King Prawn
2. 200g Chinese Yam(cut into slice)
3. 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
4. 1 tsp salt
5. some spring onions(cut into slice)
6. 1 tbsp olive oil

Steps:
1. Warm up the pan, pull 1tbsp olive oil and wait for 2 mins
2. Put King Prawn inside and stir them for 2 mins
3. Put 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine into the pan
4. Stir and put sliced Chinese Yam inside and wait for 10 mins. Keep stirring (once per 30 seconds)
5. Put sliced spring onions and 1 tsp salt and stirring for 2 mins
6. FINISH~~~~~

Recently we've watched a movie called "Before I go to bed" and a TV Serious called "Orphan Black". Recommend：）

Mummy's Sushi

Sushi is one of my favourite food and I have a lot of good memories about sushi.

It was last few years in high school. Every day I got up at 5:50 am and rush for the first bus to go to high school to join morning exercise and morning reading. (My dad tried to get up to send me to school but only after 2 days he gave up)

After morning exercise and morning reading, 7:30 am is the breakfast time. My mum has already prepared breakfast when I get up so I take it with me. My breakfast box is very "luxury".  It has sandwich in side. It has strawberry sandwich and ham sandwich. Also, my mum will make 6-8 sushi for me. The box has 500ml fresh soya milk inside and a box of nuts. My friends always staring at my breakfast box and using their eyes to tell me "I want a piece of sushi". Because of my breakfast box, I have a lot of friends.

My mum's sushi is very unique which I cannot copy. It always very delicious

I like sushi because it taste very fresh. It is a respect of nature. People use the fresh materials and maximise the value of food. Sushi also represent a concept of lifestyle. I like making sushi because it make me feel even life is so busy, my stomach is so hungry, it need to be elegant to feed yourself and enjoy instead of eating and eating.

TODAY'S DISH: MUMY'S SUSHI

Material:

1. Cucumber x 1

2. Carrot x 1

3. Egg x1 

4. Rice x 200g

5. Salmon

6. 2 sheets of Nori Seaweed 

7. salt

8. Vinegar

9. sugar

10. Wasabi 

11. Soya sauce

STEPS:

1. Put the rice in a pan with 400 ml water. Cook for 10-15mins until the water is absorbed. Put  1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp vinegar and 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and cool

2. Mix one egg in a bow. Use a pen to fry a egg.

3. Skin, tone and slice the cucumber, carrot and fried egg.

4. Divide the rice between the nori sheets and spread it out evenly, leaving a 1cm border at the top and bottom. Lay the salmon over the rice, followed by the chives and finally position the cucumber, carrot, fried egg and pieces of salmon across the centre.

5Fold the bottom edge of the seaweed over the filling, then roll it up firmly. Dampen the top border with a little water to help it seal the roll. Repeat to make 2 rolls. At this stage, the rolls can be wrapped individually in cling film and chilled until ready to serve.

5. Using a serrated knife, cut each roll into 8 rounds. Serve with soya sauce and wasabi

Life is too short, enjoy your pasta

I always have a feeling, life is too short.

It becomes a sentence to convince myself thousands of times when I want to give up. I didn't like climbing because I felt it is a tiring thing."Life is too short" support me to climbed an active volcano named Morapi in Yogyakarta for 9hs. I still remember the sky in 3am, the most beautiful sky I have ever seen. I've seen some meteors as well. Seeing thousands of stars shining in the sky and muslims pray in 3 am in fasting month. It convince me to jump into the sea from 5m hight and made my ass painful for a week. Well, I will stop talking about my funny story for this moment.

Few days ago, Danny and I watched some videos about when I was 12, I joint an English talent competition on the TV(I'm surprise I still can find the video), I had a mushroom haircut(believe me, it was HORRIBLE, I do no wanna back to school after that haircut). I still feel a bit uncomfortable to see my haircut, but life is too short, why not to have a mushroom haircut.

About food and dishes, I also like to try different things and try to make it. One late evening, I watched Eat Pray Love again in the mid-night. This movie was talking about a women named Elizabeth(Julia Roberts) was unhappy in her marriage. After finalising her difficult divorce, she spent the next year traveling the world. She spent four month in Italy, eating and enjoying life(Eat). She spent three months in India, finding her spirituality(Pray). Lastly she finished her year in Bali, Indonesia, looking for 'balance' of the two and fell in love with a Brazilian businessman(Love).

I watched Italy part in 12am, Julia Roberts started eating her pasta. The whole screen is her pasta with soft cheese on the top. In that moment, I decide to learn how to make a tasty pasta.

I found some potato in my kitchen. Also I have onion, cucumber and lamb left.

So today's dish is: Life is too short pasta

Material:
1. Potato x 3
2. Onion x 1
3. Lamb 300g
4. Cucumber x half
5. Cumin
6. Whipping cream (You can use any cream, double cream will be better. I think I bought wrong cream)
7. Cinnamon

Steps:

1. Warm the oven to 180C
2. put lamb pieces into a bow with a Tea spoon salt,  a table spoon white wine and some cumin for 10-15 mins
3.  put lamb in step 2 into oven for 20 mins.
-------------
4. In the mean time, cut potatoes into cubes. chop up a onion, cut cucumber into cubes
5. Warm up a pan, put 1 table spoon olive oil, put onions first, wait for 2 mins and then put few pieces of lamb cook until they turn brown
6. put potato cubes inside, fill half a pint water, put 2 teaspoon cinnamon(I'm trying to reduce use soya sauce in every dishes)
7. put the pan cover on the pan, wait for potatoes become soft
8. Turn off the heat, pull some cream inside and stir until it become creamy.
9. Add some salt inside.(Salt better comes in the end)
-------------
10.Don't forget things in the oven:) Get them out and use a bamboo stick to connect lamb and cucumbers.

Life is too short, let's enjoy a pasta!


This is also for celebrating my bf Danny achieved an significant improvement in his work and life. I'm so proud of him.

Magic Potato

When people mention the UK to Chinese, what do they think about? POTATO! Exactly. In Chinese's eyes, potato is one of the symbols to represent the UK. Fish and Chips has been nominated as national food of the UK in most people's eyes.  Moreover, in most foreigners' mind, potatoes=chip is a unchangeable mind set.

Mind set is very common. Although I always tell myself, never define sth before you really understand, I also experienced a mind set. In last September, I did my first couchsurfing in Edinburgh. My host is very kind to pick us up in the midnight. However, the first sign I saw them, I almost chickened out. My host and her flatmate are huges fan of punk. They worn a very strong punk make up which remind me of Edward Scissorhands. Also I've my host has few scars on her arm and I thought she probably has been hurting herself for a long time.

I calmed myself down and keep talking to them to try to know more about my host. I found they are actually very very warm-hearted and easy going. They told us where to visit in the city, some places worth to have a meal inside. I stayed with them two days and this experience becomes one of my good memories.

Never judge sth, like potato, before you tried them. I found potato is so magic since I start to follow Terry's Recipe to make a Lancashire hotpot, I changed my mind.

On the top of the hotpot, the potato is half dried, they tastes like crisps. The potato in the bottom are so creamy(I didn't put any cream at all). It is completely amazing. I don't really like carrots in the past as well but the Lancashire hot pot make the carrots melted in between with onions and lamb. I can't say more about this hotpot. I have been stealing my hotpot yesterday when it is done and finished a quarter before I went to bed. YumYumYum!!!

TODAY'S DISH: Lancashire Hotpot

Preparation:
1. 100g salted butter
2. 900g lamb mince(easy to go~plus I did not put kidney because I don't like eating organ)
3. 4 pretty and cute carrots. Sliced.
4. 25g plain flour
5. 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce(suppose to have this but I don't have it. So I use honey, soya sauce and vinegar to  replace it)
6. 500ml chicken stock(I bought a chicken soup powder to make it easy, otherwise it might takes 2h to make a stock)
7. 900g potato, peeled and sliced(nacked potato xxx)
8. 2 bay leaves
9. 1 tbsp dried thyme
10. 1 tbsp dried rosemary
11. 1 onion, cut in small pieces

Steps:
1. Melt the salted butter in the pan and cook lamb mince until it turns brown. move it in a plate
2. use the rest of oil to fry the onion pieces for 2-3 mins.
3. Put 25g plain flower into the plan and mix them with onions.
4.turn off the heat and put 1 tbsp dried thyme, 1tbsp dried rosemary and 2 bayleaves. Mix them together. Add tiny salt and pepper(depends on if you want it be salty or less salty)
5. Put the slice potato in the bottom first, them cover the potato with lamb mince. Above the lamb mince, we removed the onions and ingredients on the top. Cover the onions with sliced carrots. Put sliced potato on the top.
6. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
7. Bake the Lancashire Hotpot for 1h15min, get it out and brush the top with melted butter.
8. Put back to the oven and bake for 30 mins until the potato topping is golden-brown.

Enjoyyyyy!

Feed Yourself with Love

(The Miracles of the Namiya General store)

Yesterday I finished a book called The Miracles of the Namiya General store.  It is not only a general store for selling normal goods, but also a place to answer people's confusion from their life. Some people posts them letter to ask shall she continue training for Olymics or take care of her boy friend who got cancer. Some one writes letter to ask shall he continue his dream to become a musician or help family business to sell fish. There are five chapters in the book with five stories. You will find these people in different chapters have some magic connection even they have their own independent stories.

(Midnight Diner)

The Miracles of the Namiya General store reminds me of a Japanese TV Series called Shinya Shokudō. Some people call it Midnight Diner.  This Diner only open from 12 a.m.-7a.m. In each episode, The Midnight Diner will tell a story happened in one of the customers and introduce a tailor-made dish. With the warm food, these customer gradually start to tell their own stories. These stories can be sweet, salty, sour or bitter, exactly like the dishes.

Yesterday I came back from a busy weekends and feel lack of power. It was nearly 10 p.m. I feel struggling to eat food in this time but I still made one noodle soup. Warm food always remind me of good time:)

L.O.V.E Noodle Soup

You need prepare: 

Noodle(depends on how much u want to eat)

Dried Chilli 

Pea

Sausage

egg

Steps:

1. boil the water and put noodles inside

2. When the water boil again, knock a egg inside of the pan

3. In the mean time, prepare another pen, put a teaspoon olive oil inside. 

4. Wait for olive oil becomes warm, put dried chilli inside and fry for 15 seconds

5. Put sausage inside and wait the sausage oil comes out

6. Put pea inside of the pan, stir them and put a teaspoon salt, a teaspoon soya sauce

7. Get the noodle out of the pan into a bowl and put the topping on the noodle.

Enjoy your noodle!

Bon appetit !

This is an idea exists in my mind for a long time.


It started few years ago when I watched a movie called Julie & Julia. The movie talks about in 2002, a young writer Julie Powell has an unpleasant job in call centre to listen complains from victims of Sep for rebuilding the world trade centre. To do something she enjoys, she decides to kook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. She starts to write a blog to motivate herself and document her progress.11 attacks. During writing blogs, Julie's life changes a lot and she finally find the most positive way to face her life. Eventually, Julie's blog is featured in a story published in the New York Time.






There is a part in the movie I love the most. She and her husband just newly moved, life is unstable. One day she went back home and saw a lot of boxes at home with their stuff inside. She started cooking and saying


"I cooked artichokes with hollandaise sauce which is melted butter that's been whipped into a frenzy with egg yolks until it's died and gone to heaven, and let me say this: is there anything better than butter? Think it over: every time you taste something that's delicious beyond imagining and you say, "What is in this?", the answer is always going to be, Butter. The day there's a meteorite heading toward the earth and we have thirty days to live, I am going to spend it eating butter. Here's my final words on the subject, you can never have too much, butter."


I got idea from this movie and started my blog few years ago in Chinese. My bf Danny motivated me to start writing blog again by finishing everything I made and giving me a big smile. He is a super muscle man with a cute belly.(well, I spelt as mussel just now. Always confused about these word. ex: desert & dessert) Danny can eat 5 bowls cereals in one day and keep going.Cooking starts to become one of my hobbies because I have such an amazing bf to finish dishes I made and never let me down.




TODAY'S DISH: SMILING PAK CHOI RICE

My hometown is in the south east of China, rice is the main food there. I just found out this vegetable is called Pak Choi, I guess the pronunciation is from Cantonese. In mandarin it is called 白菜（bai cai). This is a very simple dish takes around 10 -15mins to finish.


Here is the picture of process:





Steps:


1. Prepare Chinese sausage(or any meat you can find in your fridge) x 1
                 Mushroom x 2
                 Cashew Nuts x (Whatever you want)
                 Pak Choi x 1
                 Wash them and cute the Pak Choi & Mushroom(I will recommend separate Pak Choi's stem and leaves )


2. Warm the pan first. Then pull a TEA SPOON olive oil. wait for the oil becomes warm.
Put sausage into the pan and wait until the sausage is sweating(haha~not fat anymore)
Put Cashew nuts into the cook for around 30 seconds
Put mushrooms and Pak Choi steam. Pull a tiny water (around 10 ml)
Stir things in the pan wait untiling water comes out from Pak Choi stem.
Put Pak Choi leaves and put a TEA SPOON soya sauce and a TEA SPOON salt.


3. Wait until the leaves become soft and it's done!






Thank you for reading. Bon appetit!