Welcome to Yan's Kitchen. If Yan can cook, so can You! :D

Menu for Tonight 

Appetizer: French Onion Soup with Parmesan Bread Sticks

Entree: Pan-seared Soy Marinated Salmon on a bed of Smashed Potatoes & Crab Salad, served with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

I had to do some prep work last night -- was out dying my hair the entire afternoon. So I marinated by salmon fillets according to this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/grilled-salmon-i/Detail.aspx

 

Also chopped up some spring onion & cilantro, and boiled the crab flesh for the potato and crab salad.

When I got home, everything had to proceed at full speed. I was cutting up and seasoning cherry tomatoes (with olive oil, thyme, basil & garlic powder), boiling potatoes and sauteeing onions all at the same time. Did I mention that my tear glands are horribly vulnerable to onion-gas attack? Well, that's the only thing I tasked my maid with -- slicing onions. 

By the time the onions caramelize, the kitchen's smelling delicious.  

Pour some stock in, bring it to a boil and leave it to simmer at a very low heat. I chose to season my soup with some salt, pepper, dried thyme and basil. Bay leaves would be good but I didn't have any. After an hour or more, have a little taste and you should be able to taste the sweetness of the onions, not just the saltiness of the stock itself.

 

Finally, top with some grated parmesan and toasted crumbs of the parmesan bread sticks (bought from Swissbake, no time to make). Didn't overload it with french loaf and cheese because my family isn't crazy about cheese (besides 1 aunt). There you have it! French onion soup with parmesan bread sticks.

As for the potato and crab salad, I peeled and smashed the boiled potatoes in a heated saucepan of olive oil. I chose to add 2-3 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Let the potatoes absorb the olive oil & butter before you throw in chopped spring onions, crab meat and cilantro. Season to taste with salt, pepper, basil and lemon juice! (Was too busy to take wip photos)

Presenting...the Entree!

Glad my family liked the meal. All the plates were licked clean! I think the french onion soup was a tad too salty due to the final addition of parmesan, but the sweetness of the caramelized onions made up for it. Roasted tomatoes and the potato crab salad was all right. Enjoyed the tanginess of the tomatoes and the lemony dressing for the salad. Surprisingly, the salmon was perfectly seasoned. Mum was also surprised that I managed to cook the thick fillets through to achieve a flaky texture and pinkish tone. I expected the salmon to have a stronger taste, having been marinated overnight, yet it was light and tasty, just right for my family's palette :)  Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Without remnants of colour.

Step 1: Peel

it off. Tada!

Ok this has to be the most random and odd entry I've ever posted. I was just too amazed in my lack of sleep that my nail polish peeled off easily like that.

On a sidenote, HELLO MISS CORAL.

Finally got new wedges to replace my worn out ones. Check out the soles...they have teeth!

This scrapbook has been sitting on my table all these while. It was made by Ayumi, my roomie in vancouver, who stayed up late night after night just to make it while I sleep. I haven't gotten down to posting some pictures of this scrapbook. So here they are. Just a few coz the rest got gobbled up by my stupid laptop, and are now lost in cyberspace.

By the way, I measured. This scrapbook is 2.6 inches thick -- every single page is filled with pictures, stickers and messages :)

The cover lights up when you press the button!

It's really sad that I wouldn't get to see my Japanese girls this June when I return to vancouver. And a few other friends too, like Kamie :( I miss you guys so much! As for the rest, looking forward to 17 June! :)

Heard this story from my mum a few days ago. It makes one think about love and how it really measures up to the material wants that blind people sometimes. This story is about a father and his 4 year-old daughter.

It was one of the best days of his life. John proudly drove his brand new mercedes up his front walk, under the envious eyes of his suburban neighbours. He decided to leave it outside the garage. The gleam of his car's silver sheen told him that saving up for a year was worth it.

Next morning, he sprung out of bed, smiling to himself as he grabbed a can of spray wax, picturing the approving nod from his boss as he drove his new, polished car to work. Whistling his way to his sweet ride, he jaw dropped when he saw his 4 year-old daughter standing beside his car, holding a pen-knife in her little hand.

Not noticing her father's fury, she giggled and pointed to her "work of art" -- a mass of scratches. John took no effort to contain his outrage, which immediately got the better of him. He yanked her violently away from his car, and whacked the pen-knife out of her hand with the metal spraycan.

But he didn't stop there. All he could think of was the money spent, the overtime work and other luxuries he had to give up just to save up for this glorious moment. Rage overwhelmed him. He couldn't even hear his daughter screaming and pleading for him to stop.

Then there was silence. John's four year-old blacked out from the excrutiating pain. He had blood on his hands, blood from her limp, tiny hand. He panicked, called the ambulance and rushed her to the hospital.

But it was too late. The bones in her hand were crushed, just like her father. In order to save her, the doctor had to amputate her thumb and all four fingers.

When the little girl woke up, she looked at him doe-eyed and asked:

"Daddy, when I grow up, will my fingers grow again?"

John didn't know what to say but to smile and nod weakly, before watching her fall asleep. He knew that he could never hold her delicate little hand again.

That night, he went home to pack some clothes for her. He walked up to his car, feeling the scratches with his fingers, sobbing hard and asking himself how could he? How could he destroy his daughter's life just because of a car? And then he saw. It wasn't just a mass of scratches. In his daughter's characteristically child-like handwriting, it read:

"Daddy I love u!"

John broke down completely. He couldn't handle it. The guilt, the self-reproach, and the look in his daughter's eyes when she asked him about her lost fingers.

He picked up the pen-knife he whacked out of her hand that morning and slit his wrists. "I'm sorry, baby...I'm really sorry..." And so, he ended his life.

But he never realised, that he could still hold her other hand, take her for walks in the park and tell her daddy loves her more than anything in the world. That was all she really wanted.

Interview at Ogilvy today for an AE position. Hope I've made a lasting impression. Hopefully they'll be all right with my starting date. Hope hope hope.

Post-interview shopping at The Face Shop, Raffles City. I think I've got a few shades closer to robin egg! It's not as saturated but it's definitely closer than the previous turquoise. What's more applaudable, is that it only costs $2.90. Oh yea.

Inspired by my bright pastel salmon nails, I got a lipstick that's of a similar shade. Slightly disappointing because it turned out less orangey that I expected. Perhaps I should've gotten the semi-matte stick that's of a paler salmon shade. Oh well, still satisfied! And by the way, all photos were taken at Starbucks, where I had my killer heels off, chilling with my standard order of beef pot pie and green tea latte. The little things.

Colours like that make me happy.

Inspired by The Lacquer Log that Justin showed me some time ago:
http://thelacquerlog.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/orly-gumdrop/

Never tried such a bold colour before! Though it looked monstrous at first, it's growing on me now. Pretty refreshing.

Unfortunately it's a few shades away from my intended robin egg blue! But I guess it's a start to bolder nail colours. If I don't get lazy, that is.

Coral's next.

 

It seems like 2011 has been a year of secrets so far. Or perhaps, a year of secrets revealed. Secrets big and small.

I've come to know some things that I wasn't expected to know or never should have known, as well as other things that were make known to me because people though it was time I knew.

They say knowledge is power. I'm not 100% agreeable to that but I'd say knowledge definitely changes things. It may not change the way you act, yet you can't deny that it affects how and what you think.

Now I'm pretty certain I should trust my guts more. I should be more confident of my suspicions, and not to avoid thinking about them just because I didn't think they mattered, or didn't like the sound of truth.

It also made me wonder how well do I really know the people around me and how well do friends actually know one another? Is there a universal standard which states that the average level of understanding amongst peers only reaches a certain percentage? Perhaps there's an optimal level of understanding as digging deeper or knowing too much would only make one feel uneasy?

Secrets can be such scary weapons.

Tested and proven. I couldn't get my hands off coral-coloured tops/dresses/bags/shoes once i lay eyes on them. The taiwanese night markets have tons of them.

2nd day in Kaohsiung just ended. In desperate need for a foot massage NOW. But it's not going to happen. So anyway, here are some of the highlights of today:

1) my hands inch toward coral & nude-pink items.

2) cycled around Ci Jin island, on the back of a 2-man bicycle. With Vicki. Nice exercise.

3) vicki & i realised that the amount of excesssive laughing is inversely proportional to cycling efficiency.

4) ate cheap & fresh seafood for lunch. <$5 per dish, including cod fish. loved those little prawns.

5) the number of little pooches may be catching up with kaohsiung's population. people carry them on the street all the time.

6) ate our way through the night markets -- 2 nights in a row.

7) we all love fried mushrooms.

8) hopefully vicki & jiching don't upload my unglam shots. which are in abundance.

9) we lack chemistry when it comes to jumpshots. but that's what makes it so memorable.

10) vicki couldn't get over the fact that we failed to fully utilize our 1-day MRT pass and hence wasted approximately S$2 each.

Sun Moon Lake tomorrow!

 

In the digital age...antiquated art forms are taking on new importance. The power of a handwritten letter is greater than ever. It's personal and deliberate and means more than an e-mail or text ever will. It has a unique scent. It requires deciphering. But, most important, it's flawed. There are errors in handwriting, punctuation, grammar, and spelling that show our vulnerability. And vulnerability is the essence of romance. It's the art of being uncalculated, the willingness to look foolish, the courage to say,

This is me, and I'm interested in you enough to show you my flaws with the hope that you may embrace me for all that I am but, more important, all that I am not.

- Ashton Kutcher

Singapore snowed hard. i was scared. it was impossible. I still remember tell Justin that if it snowed here, it would mean the end of the world.

What made it worse, was that the coastline was retreated till just outside my building, which meant it wasn't going to be stable anymore, prob within the next few hours. the waves were crashing angrily, the coastline receding fast. the distance btw my building and the sea cliff is less than 1 foot. you can see people standing around downstairs still contemplating if they should move immediately. I was panicking. Parents weren't home. Called my mum to tell her that we should pack immediately and leave.

Closed my eyes and opened but i'm still in the same dream (this usually gets me out of dreams, but didn't work this time) I was so scared, worried but at the same time I had to stay calm and decide our next steps. The world was coming to an end again.

The possibility of a tsunami ran through my mind. And i wondered if it would really be a fast death if my building was engulfed.