29th Family Day ( August 21 )

It has been a while since the last time we went out to enjoy a lovely day. If my memory serves me right, we stopped the location shoot sometime between March and April, when the weather started getting wintery. From then on we've been stuck spending the afternoon indoor.

To break the monotony, we decided to go out to see some sights that we haven't been able to see.

First Location: Cull Park, Miramar

The whole town of Albany is generously surrounded by parks and gardens that are accessible anytime of the day. This one at Miramar is relatively small compared to the others. The man-made bridge and small pond set facing the road is an added attraction.

Second Location: Emu Point

I've never been over to the site before and was just so delighted to be there for the first time. It reminded me of Hillarys Boat Harbour where we went to the Aquarium of Western Australia and Breakwater two years ago. It was getting darker by the minute so we wasted no single moment to explore the place. 

Click link for photos:  

Project: Bible Cake

A religious person deserves a religious cake.  For a priest's/friend's birthday, I couldn't think of any other design that would symbolize his noble vocation than a bible or a cross design.  As I browsed for images, I've seen samples of bible cakes that looked easy to make and thought to myself, "I can make one myself".  

And this was what I came up with.

my version of bible cake

Bottom cake: Moist chocolate cake

Bible cake: Chocolate marble cake 

I decided not to make another cake for the bible since only a small piece of it would be needed.  Instead, I just bought a slab of chocolate marble cake from Coles; trimmed off the sides to create the perfect dimension of the book then covered it with fondant.  Voila!  My bible cake was all set to go. 

Inay Juling visits places around Albany

Date: August 19, 2011
Location: Middleton Beach and Eyre Gardens

Second "Gala Day" with Inay Juling, this time around Kumare Jeraldine was with us.

Immediately after work, I met with them at the car park. Didn't even get a chance to get changed so I ended up wearing my work clothes in the photos, which I don't normally do. Anyway, it didn't make the experience any less exciting. Our concern was mainly for Inay Juling to enjoy and explore beautiful sights that Albany has to offer.

Click link for photos: 

Asawa Ko's Birthday Dinner (August 7)

We've had three birthday celebrations within that span of one week. First was my birthday exactly seven days back, second was Doc's the following day after mine and then Hubby's.

Once again, the 7th fell perfectly on a Sunday. Just like our usual Sunday affair, each family group shared a plate of their offering. It was amazing how instantly the dining table looked so festive, with all the delectable foods. Hubby was very much overwhelmed. He didn't get as much exposure as he could though because of his eyes still infected with conjunctivitis. I could tell how he wanted so much to cherish that moment.

The guys were taking their time, one song after another over the karaoke, while for us ladies, only one thing could make us gather in one spot - the camera. Apparently, it was like our event, with the celebrant behind the lens to take photos of us. That only proved how much we ladies have become very passionate about the art.

Click link for photos: 

Inay Juling visits places Part I

This album is dedicated to Inay Juling's first visit to Albany. We are so delighted to share in her excitement and new experience as she goes to see some of the most favored tourist attractions of the town.

Date: August 12, 2011
Location: Mt. Melville Lookout and Albany Wind Farm

Click  link for photos:  

28th Family Day (August 14)

The first two consecutive Sundays since coming back in Albany had been intended for birthdays, which meant that we are officially back to continue what we had started. And that is our "Every-Sunday-is-Family Day-affair".

If I am not mistaken, the last Family Day that we had before leaving for holiday was the 25th. We missed out five Sundays of pure bonding and laughter with the gang. But the fun continues now that we're all back again and ready for more memorable experiences.

Click link for photos: 

Pasta with prawns and chicken

Once again we've got left-over prawns and roasted chicken from yesterday. Instead of putting them into the bin like what we normally do with our day-old food, I used my imagination to come up with a dish where they can be used.

Thanks to Google for providing the procedure though I had to substitute some of the ingredients.  The taste was so good.  Who would even say that it's been recycled from a previously cooked dish?  Sometimes we have to be innovative and creative when it comes to food preparation.  That way we get the right nutrients the body needs, at the same time, we get value for our money.

Wanton noodle soup

29th Family Day.

A soup to complement the tofu sticks that we made (previous post), at the same time, to make us feel warm.  

wanton noodle soup

Every time the week comes to a Saturday, Hubby and I have made it a part of our routine to do food shopping.  That's the only time we get to buy bottled water, other food stuff to feed us for the week ahead as well as the ingredients we will need for our Family Day dish.  Most of the time, what's keeping us long is deciding what to cook.  I know we should have thought about it prior coming to the supermarket, but we always end up in the same scenario every single time.  Anyway, we're working on it gradually.



For last Sunday, we picked an easy dish to make.  We wanted to create a wanton noodle soup with various add-ons to choose from - dumplings, hard-boiled eggs, flaked chicken.  It was pretty interesting doing it for the first time.  In no more than an hour, we were able to finish making two meals simultaneously.  The soup looked so inviting while it was still hot and steaming. 

The photo above shows that I forgot to put some chicken and eggs, out of so much excitement to capture the oozing vapor coming from the soup.

We really didn't expect it would taste so good when we tasted it.  The vegetable dumplings we used were also a hit and they couldn't believe it only cost us $1.84 for a box of 12.  Instead of making our own siomai/dumpling, this would make a perfect substitute.

Breaded Fried Tofu Sticks

29th Family Day.

I've tried this at Goto King on our recent holiday in the Philippines. Like most soya-based foods I know of, it didn't taste very impressive when eaten on its own. There has to be some sort of dip, either sweet chilli sauce or barbecue sauce, whatever your preference is, to enhance its flavor. But when it comes to nutritional and health benefits, it is known that, "Tofu has a low calorie count, relatively large amounts of protein, and little fat. It is high in iron and, depending on the coagulant used in manufacturing, may also be high in calcium and/or magnesium" - from Wikipedia.

Goto Kong's fried tofu

On the left is a photo of Goto King's fried tofu. While having a bite of each stick, I was carefully analyzing in my mind how would I manage to make them in our own kitchen. I supposed it won't be too complicated.

Last Sunday's family day, I tried my luck if I could create my own version.

The ingredients I used:

• Tofu
• Beaten eggs
• Oil
• Breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper, ginisa mix

Cooking instruction:

• Cut the block of tofu into sticks then fry them until they turn light brown in color.
• Drench in seasoned beaten eggs then roll in breadcrumbs.
• Put back in the fryer until light brown color is achieved. (Once taken out of the pan, place tofu sticks on paper towels to get rid of excess oil)

Here's my version of fried tofu.

Breaded fried tofu

Do they look the same or mine is better? Haha

Crispy fish rolls

We have some left-over salmon fish from last night that I made into an entirely different dish.

Fish lumpia shanghai

There still about 5 remaining wrappers in the fridge from the packet I bought last week to wrap "sprout lumpiang shanghai".  It would be enough to roll a few pieces.   

I've never done before this.  I'm not sure if this is how it's supposed to be done.  I did try to look for recipes and I noticed that one recipe is always different from the other.  So, might as well modify my own by taking into consideration what ingredients have I got on-hand.

...Fish, wrapper, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, flour, eggs

Perfect.  I've got all the essential stuff needed.

Preparation: (Here's a simple step-by-step procedure for better guide)

*Shred the fish meat into small flakes.

*Mix in finely chopped carrots, potatoes, onion and garlic.

*Season with salt and pepper.

*To enhance flavor, add MSG and/or magic sarap.

*Add one egg and a spoon of flour to bind mixture together

*Mix together by hand 

*Roll into desired size 

It's so easy to make.  Too bad there was too little mixture.  I was able to make four rolls, though.  Best when served with tartare sauce or catsup.