Plastic business cards. Have you seen it? I came across one of this unique plastic card from a freelance designer. I think it is quite a good idea to have your business card printed in a plastic format. First of all, I won’t crumpled up like in paper. Secondly, it is water proof. I wonder will the plastic card printer supplier quote a high price for printing in the form of material?

A friend SMS me last night and informed the now is the best time to for gold investment. I always wanted to invest in gold but every time when I wanted to do it, something is holding me back. This morning I got another information from another friend, he advised to go for silver morgan dollar investiment. Oh gosh, I only have this much of money and where should I invest then?

I am out of idea don’t know what to cook for dinner. Furthermore, I am clearing all the food in my fridge. All have to make way for the CNY food which I am going to get it from the wet market this coming week. Looking back at the calendar, another 10 more days to CNY. Kids are getting pretty excited and my parents will be back from Hanoi this coming Sunday followed up by Sis and family next Friday. I just couldn’t wait for them to come back and have the reunion dinner at home this year.

I found 2 chicken drumsticks in the freezer and almost forgotten I have a pack of white button mushroom in the fridge and it is waiting to be rot! So better cook it rather than into the rubbish bin. A simple recipe and kids love it because the sauce simply compliment with a plate of white rice.

Ingredients :
2 chicken thighs, cut into pieces
Some chopped garlic
Few slices of young ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 box of white button mushroom, sliced
1 cup water
Salt, sugar and pepper to taste

Method :
1. Heat some oil and sesame oil in a wok. Sautee garlic and ginger till fragrant.
2. Add in chicken and stir fried for few minutes.
3. Add in the rest of the ingredient : oyster sauce, soya sauce, dark soya sauce, white button mushroom, water and let it simmer till chicken is thoroughly cook.
4. Season with salt, sugar and pepper. You can also add in some cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
5. Dish up and garnish with spring onions.

The little girl at home has been asking me to get her a ring for CNY. She has been playing with all my accessories at home. Well, hubby said she has grown up a lot and wanted to put up all this accessories to look pretty. LOL. Last night she came to me and asked me, “Mommy can I wear your ring for CNY?”. LOL. I told my ring will be too big for her and it couldn’t fit into her finger. Perhaps I will get her a stainless steel rings when I go to the shopping mall for lunch later.

CNY is round the corner and the weather is extremely, extremely hot here in KL. Every afternoon you can see blue crispy skies with no clouds and no winds blowing.With such humid and hot weather, kids tend to get sick easily. I boiled Chrysanthemum tea last Saturday for the family.

Chrysanthemum tea is one for China’s most popular Herbal teas and it is well know for its cooling properties that help to decrease the body heat. For those who are down with fever or sore-throat, it is recommended for them to drink this to cool down the body heat.Chrysanthemum tea is indeed easy to prepare. You can get the ready packed dried chrysanthemum flowers from the medical hall. Some even mixed it with ginseng roots, wolfberries and chinese licorice slices ( kam choe in Cantonese ).

To prepare the tea… boiled 1 litre of water in a pot. Pour in the packet of dried chrysanthemum flowers into the boiling pot of water and let it boil for about 20 minutes. If you prefer it to be sweet, you can add some sugar in it. I enjoyed my chrysanthemum tea chilled. What about you?

Korean Seafood Pancake…. is one of the simple snacks to prepare for the kids at home. I love savory pancakes like this compared to the sweet pancakes. It is really a great afternoon snacks or appetizer. This pancake is not much different from the Chinese chives pancakes that my Ah Mah used to cook for us. For this Korean style pancake, you only need to add in seafood, i.e: mussels, squids, clams, crabsticks, prawns  or any of your favourite choice into it. You can either make your own pancake or use the ready Korean Pancake Premix to prepare. Both tasted as good as it is.

Ingredients :
150g flour
300ml water
1 egg
2 squids, cut into small pieces ( blanched in hot water and put aside )
50g prawns, shelled and cut into small pieces ( blanched in hot water and put aside )
1 piece fish cake, cut into thin stripes
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 spring onions, cut into thin strips
salt and pepper to taste

Dipping sauce ingredients :
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Korean chili flakes
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tsp chopped spring onion
1 red chili, finely chopped

Method:
1. In a large bowl, mix flour, water and egg to a smooth batter. If necessary, add a little more flour or water to get the consistency of a thin pancake batter.
2. Add in squids, prawns, fish cake, minced garlic and spring onion. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Heat a non stick pan over medium heat and pour a little oil on it.
4. Spoon enough batter into the pan to make a thin pancake and allow the pancake to cook until lightly browned and crisp.
5. Flip the pancake over and pressing down with a spatula to make sure it is evenly browned/
6. When both sides done, remove to a plate lined with a paper towel to soak up excess oil. Cut evenly and serve with dipping sauce.

To prepare dipping sauce:
1. Mix all ingredients together, combining well.

Its Friday and I was day dreaming again after lunch. Office is pretty quiet and left 3 of us on the top floor. Looking through the website and try to search for some recipes ideas and I came across a website selling sapphire jewellery. I love sapphire stones and really do adore those shinning blue stones. Hmmm… should have tell Dearie Suki 10 years back to get me the sapphire engagement rings for me! LOL

Accidents could happen at anytime, every minute and anywhere. Last week, I was on holiday with my kids at the hot springs in Sungai Klah. It is quite a nice place for relaxing and enjoying the nature of the environment and it is quite out of place from the town center. My kids was enjoying their swim at the public pool and I was there watching them playing. Out of sudden, the life guard rush to the water slide and I saw a teenage boy bleeding heavily from his mouth. He must be bang his mouth against the side of the water slide. Could you ever imagine, if you are in jungle out of no where, a medical air evacuation is really needed to send the boy to the hospital. Poor boy!

I am absolutely in love with the green salad with sesame dressing. I love sesame and it has never came across my mind to make my own sesame dressing because I just couldn’t figure out what is the ingredient in it and never thought it is actually sesame seeds in it. I’ve bought the sesame dressing before from the 100 Yen shop but I find it is too dilute and sour. I found the recipe from About.com - Japanese food but I tried to fine tune it with my own version.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp Kewpie Mayonaise
1 tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted till brown

Method :
1. Toast the sesame seed in the oven till brown. Ground the sesame seeds till smooth. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix rice vinegar, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and Kewpie mayonnaise. Stir with a whisk till smooth.
3. Add grounded sesames seed and mix well.

Enjoy it with your favourite garden salad. Easy peasy!

Brought the kids to the bank last Monday to open another fixed deposit accounts for both of them. Each have a RM6K FD from me on the last month of the year. Aren’t they lucky? While I was at the bank counter, I was looking through the screen and the interest rate for fixed deposit is only 3.15%. The bank officer advised me to go for gold investment. I wonder how it works? Looking at the gold rate now, it is pretty high. Hmmm…. my aim next year is to invest in gold! Perhaps I must start to study and analyze the everyday gold rates now or to look into Golden Eagle buy gold online first?