Updates on Yoyo, My Attitude Fish

It's been 3 months now since I wrote a blog about my Yoyo.  Well, he is doing great - same old same old!  He remains at around 5 inches long and didn't grow any bigger in size, I guess he has reached his max length.  He has accustomed to me so whenever he sees me, he (sort of) follows me around and sometimes react with excitement!  That's a good sign!!  =)  He knows sometimes that I'm yapping at other naughty fish and out of curiosity, he will wander in front of me just to get my attention...

 Yoyo, I've been keeping him for over half a year now.  I once nearly put him up for adoption on a public site when I first got him not long ago.

 I used to be able to read the word 'Yoyoyo' from his black & white pattern on his body, but not anymore since he has grown to a full size...

 Yet, you can still try to play a 'maze game' through these patterns here!  LOL!!

 He looks into my camera wherever it moves...eyes always focus on it!

 ...and he gives me different posts for my shots...

 PS, look at his mouth!!  I'm telling you, he purposely posted this several times 'til I took the shot!!  Seriously!!  衰精!!  =)

 This male Amano shrimp was trying to get my attention by crawling right in front of me (they don't do that often).  OKay fine...here is his shot.

 Yoyo doesn't like it...he wants all my attention....

 Sometimes when little things trigger him, he hides inside the 'bushes'.  I told him to come forward, which he did...looking at me and seeing what I'm up to!

 OKay...here is the same Amano shrimp that's been walking back and forth!

 You know what I like about this fish?  That letter 'S' on his forehead!  LOL!!!  My first name starts with 'S' too!!  =D

 Lucky day!  These tetras were so still and I was able to take a shot of them today.

 See...I was taking a picture of my shrimp and Yoyo doesn't like it...he pushes his way out through the bush, hoping to interrupt my shot...

 Here is my flying fox, which has reached its max length as well.  I started out with 6 and only 1 survive...

This log has become his favorite rest place, he always rest on it and look at me.

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies 燕麥葡萄餅

I've requested my mom to make this chewy oatmeal raisin cookies 燕麥葡萄餅 for me, because I'm not good at making anything that involves flour...  Mom got this recipe from American test kitchen which she said it's the best of the best oatmeal raisin recipe..  She made a massive cookie dough (which yields over 36 jumbo counts) at her home and took it over to my place to bake it.  Well, those that were done by Mom from start to finished came out good but any cookies that's gone through my hand... Shuh....forget it!!


 Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies 燕麥葡萄餅

2        sticks unsalted butter (1/2 pound), softened but still firm
1        cup light brown sugar
1        cup granulated sugar
2        eggs
1 1/2   cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2     teaspoon table salt
1/2     teaspoon baking powder
1/4     teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
3        cups rolled oats
1 1/2   cups raisins (optional)

Methods

1.   Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

2.   Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together, then stir them into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and optional raisins.

3.   Form dough into sixteen to twenty 2-inch balls, placing each dough round onto one of two parchment paper–covered, large cookie sheets. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies on parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

 Mom has doubled her serving here (36 counts).  First, mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter (in room temperature) in a large bowl.

 Mix them well in a mixer.

 Add only one egg to the mixture each time, let it incorporated first before adding another.  Don't add all eggs together.

Here is what it looks like after mixing well with eggs.

 In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together.  Set aside.

 Pour in the raisin and mix well with the flour so that the flour is coating each raisin.  Mom has modified this recipe by adding 1/2 cup of dried cranberry to the mix.

 Pour the flour/raisin mix into the mixer.  Mix well.

 Done.

 Now measure the oatmeal.  PS, DO NOT use instant oatmeal as this will screw up the texture!!

 Pour the oatmeal into the mix and mix well.

 Done!

 Divide the cookie dough into portions and place them on a cookie pan.  PS, you should have a hard dough and if the dough is getting soft, that means the butter is melting, which is not a good sign.  Just put the dough in the fridge for 30-40 minutes, harden it first before using it again.  Also, don't place the dough on aluminium foil...it burns easily...  I screwed up mines by using it!  Damned!

Preheat the oven to 350°F and bake the cookies for 22-25 minutes until the cookie edges turn golden brown.  Picture shown above are cookies that's half done.

Done finally.

A closer shot of the oatmeal raisin cookie.

This is only part of the cookies shown here...

十月二十七日，天寒地凍。

囧！！討厭寫resume, 我最討厭寫resume...  呀～～  誰能來救我？！面對著這個奇怪的南瓜頭，我發呆了大半天。今早去見了一個resume專家，他把我的resume批改得天花龍鳳！回家後我努力埋頭'改正'，下個星期還要再見他進行'重組第二部'。中午去某某buffet（不開名啦～）填肚，老闆跟老闆娘突然走來跟我們聊天！還問我們對buffet的食物有甚麼要改善的地方。@@ 老闆說他打算來一場大改革，需要一點意見...  有點受寵若驚！此老闆一向給我有一總嚴肅的感覺，不談不笑... 現在彷彿冰山已被劈開！呵呵~  最近在新浪開了一個微博，以成為'奇國熊貓子民'為目標！！我在說甚麼？ 嘻~~ 猜猜吧！ ^^

Mom's Potato-Egg Salad

Mom loves making and eating potato salad, she can make really good potato salad which I think she inherited the skill from grandma.  I like eating potato salad too, but I seldom make it at home 'coz my husband doesn't really like eating it.  If I make my own potato salad, I will be ended up eating all by myself...no good no good!  Making potato salad is easy, but mastering at it is hard.  Here I share with you my Mom's recipe, which I think there are rooms for improvement!  =)

 Basic ingredient:  potato and egg of course.  Mom has used 10 eggs and 5 lbs of potato here...but you can always adjust and modify the quantity.

 Diced up some red onions and celery sticks.

Diced up those eggs....

 ...and potatoes

 Mix everything in a large bowl but leave out the eggs for now.

 Massively pour in the low fat Mayo, black pepper and some old fashioned Dijon mustard. (No measurements here, just feel the texture...)

Old fashioned Dijon, with mustard seeds in it.

Last, add egg to the salad after mixing everything well.

Done.  As for myself, I will add some ham cubes or tuna to this salad just to increase its flavor.

Picture of My Day - 鍾馗

鍾馗是古代著名抓鬼大師，又稱為伏魔公、伏魔爺、或鍾馗爺。鍾馗在民間信仰中佔有重要的份量，與凡新廟建成後，在建醮酬謝天地後須請終南山鍾馗除煞去邪。 地方不淨也需請除魔大將鍾馗出來趕走四方妖魔鬼魅。  今天特別介紹他，是因為這張畫是我媽媽所畫的。我媽媽以前很喜歡寫書法，也喜歡畫國畫。她的作品我想都該超過二、三十件吧！ 媽媽往往有個習慣，就是會把喜歡的作品裱起來欣賞(像這一幅)。我自己對書法的興趣比國畫大...整套文房四寶都齊全，就是找不出時間練習...  唉～  算吧！

Stir fry udon 炒烏冬

Stir fry udon is a very easy dish to make.  Ingredients are really up to you, and all you really need is a pack of udon, frozen or fresh from any supermarket, and a bottle of dark soya sauce - these are the basic thing.  I went over to Mom's place for lunch yesterday and she randomly grabbed whatever that's in her fridge and made me this stir fry udon. 

 Cut carrot into small strips, then stir fry with garlic.

 Once the carrots are half cooked, add in sliced mushroom (marinated with soya sauce, sugar and sesame oil) and stir fry them for another 2-3 minutes.

 Once the carrots and mushrooms are done, now comes the sliced pork (marinated with salt, sugar, soya sauce, some corn starch and a little water).  Stir fry the pork 'till half cooked.

 Veggies.  Stir fry the veggies 'till half cooked as well.  No need to add sugar and salt to it.

 Once the veggies are half done, add in carrots, mushroom & pork and stir fry everything together for 30 seconds or so.

 Add udon to the mix.  You can either add the udon into the mix like the way my Mom did here, or you can mix the udon with dark soya and some sesame oil first, which this gives the udon some coloring.  Let it stand for 10-20 minutes before adding the udon into your mix.

 Mix them well together, and remember to add some dark soya sauce to it for coloring, sesame sauce also needed here for a nice smell if you haven't done so previously.  Oyster sauce can be added here as well to increase the flavor.

Last but not least, my Mom has added some green onion and sesame seeds here for garnishing.