Bottles trade in @ Mummys Market

Is it worth the 1.5 hour queue at the cashier to purchase / trade in used bottles for new bottles at Mummys Market?

Used bottles x 7

This is my second time driving all the way to Expo to trade in for new bottles. This time round the model of the bottle with trade in is different from the one I used to buy. The only model available for trade in are the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Anti-Colic+ bottles (150ml & 260ml).

So I grab 7 of it! Here’s the trade in price:

150ml – S$4.90 (retail S$16.90)

260ml – S$6.90 (retail S$23.90)

Total cost – S$44.30 (retail $153.30)

That’s 71% discount!

I’ll say, do collect your used bottles and go trade in your used bottles. Easy on the pockets and do our part for the environment.

4 YEARS LATER…

Life passes by so fast, before you know it 4 years have passed. That’s 1,460 days!! SO much have happened over the past 4 years. Change house, change car, change career, change of roles, but no change in my love for homemade easy meals for family to enjoy.

Came across this documentary movie titled 20,000 Days on Earth. Even though I have yet to watch it, I’m intrigued by the title.

How many days have you been on earth? How many days are left for you to be on earth? These questions just popped into my restless mind. If I was to live till 80 of age, that’s 16,060 days left for me in this world. ONLY 16,060 days, 385,440 hours, 23,126,400 minutes left! And it’s counting down!

Love this quote from the movie:
“Memories are what we are. Your very soul and very reason to be alive is tied up in memories. Those moment when the gears of the heart really change.”

A little reminder to myself to MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT!

A little progress each day adds up to big results.

Make life simple.

Prawns and pork ribs noodles

One of my favorite to have in hawker center. The broth is full of sweetness and umami from the prawns, perfect combination with noodles. An awesome meal all by itself!

I have collected and stored a good amount of prawn heads and shells in the freezer and now it’s time for it to shine!

Tips: Wash your prawns before un-shelling and do not rinse the prawns heads and shell again. We want the goodness from the prawns heads that give the broth all it’s awesome flavors.

Cooking time: About 1 hr 15 mins
Serve: 2-3 person
Ingredients

Broth
Heads and shells of about 500g of prawns
4-6 unshelled prawns
300g of prime pork ribs
50g of dried anchovies (ikan bilis)
50g of dried prawns (hei bee)
3 cloves of chopped garlic
1 star anise
4 dried cloves
8 black peppercorns
1 tbs of dark soy sauce
2 tsp of brown sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of ground white pepper
3 tsp of cooking oil
2 liter of water

Ready to serve
200g of yellow noodles
Handful of kang kong or water spinach
Some sliced fish cakes

1) Blanch the pork ribs in hot boiling water for about 2 mins, then rinse in running tap water and set aside.

2) In a deep frying pan, heat the cooking oil over medium heat, stir fry the dried anchovies and dried prawns for 2-3 mins, then add in the chopped garlic and stir fry for another 3 mins.

3) Add in the prawn heads and shells, stir fry for about 10 mins until fragrant and brown bits can be seen on the shells.

4) Transfer the stir fry to a soup pot (optional – my frying pan is not deep enough to hold all the water). Use some water to deglaze the frying pan and add to the soup pot.

5) Pour in the remaining water and bring it to a boil. Once boiled, add in all the other ingredients (Star anise, cloves, peppercorns, sugar, salt, white pepper, black soy sauce and pork ribs). Mix well and boiled for 1 min.

5) Then simmer on low heat for 1 hour until the pork ribs is tender. Stir and press down with a spatula once in a while, to maximize extraction of flavors.

6) When the broth is ready, remove the pork ribs and save it for later. Prepare another pot with a sieve over it, pour in the broth and catch the residue that has done its job. Place it over low heat and cooked the prawns in the broth. Now is a good time to add more sugar or salt to taste / to your liking.

7) Blanch the yellow noodles and kang kong. Place it in a bowl together with the pork ribs, prawns and fish cakes. Ladle the broth into the bowl.

So worth the effort to make it your own!

Condiments that goes well
Fresh cut chilies in light soy sauce
Thai shrimp chili paste

Bought the Thai shrimp chilies paste from Bangkok. Anyone going to Bangkok, definitely add this to your must buy list! But be warn, it’s spicy!

Using a food processor to finely chopped into powder. A perfect combination!

Simply delicious!

Pineapple fried rice

Ingredient: leftover jasmine rice, diced carrots, green peas, diced ripe pineapple, eggs, onions and garlic.

In a frying pan, heat 1 tbs of oil and sauté the garlic and onions. Add in carrots and peas, then a splash of water, cover with a lid to steam the carrots until soft. Push the vegetable to the side, put another 1 tsp of oil and scramble the eggs.
Finally, in goes the rice, pineapple , 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1tbs of fish sauce and 1 tsp of turmeric powder. Stir fried until evenly coated.

Time to serve!

Simply delicious!

Soy sauce chicken noodle 酱油鸡面

The soy sauce chicken goes awesome with egg noodles.

It’s sooooo good!

Simply delicious!

Soy sauce chicken 酱油鸡

Soy sauce chicken made easy with store bought soy sauce marinade.

I used the whole bottle for 5 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs. I added 1 bowl of water to the pot, together with the chicken thighs, 2 cloves of garlic, 5 slices of ginger and 8 dried mushrooms.

Bring it to a boil then simmer on low for half an hour. The sauce is on a sweeter side so I added 1tbs of soy sauce and 1 tsp of salt to balance the sweetness. Add in frozen tofu and hard boiled eggs and simmer for another 15-20 mins.

Skim off the chicken fat on the surface and it’s ready to serve! The savory sauce is great with egg noodles too.

Bento box dinner

Simply delicious!

Papaya milk

An inspiration from my recent trip to Taipei. A definite must try at any of their night market. All you need, papaya and milk.

Blend chucks of papaya and milk until smooth.

Simply delicious!

Homemade glutinous rice wine (bottling)

The wait is finally over! I left it to ferment for 23 days and all the rice have settled to the bottom of the jar, a good sign that it’s ready for bottling!
Look at the beautiful colour!

Using a strainer to separate the wine and glutinous rice pulp (酒槽).

Bring the rice wine to a boil, let it completely cool and bottled it up.

This batch is slightly better then my previous batches. I brought a bottle to my dad for evaluation, and the result……….. PASSED……but (always room for improvements) the alcohol content taste low, so daddy suggest to increase the amount of yeast next time. Still, pretty happy how it turns out. Practice makes perfect! Hopefully one day I’ll be able to make traditional wine that taste just like my granny’s.

Simply traditionally delicious!

Homemade glutinous rice wine (Brewing)

I’m on the mission to perfect my brew. This is my fifth trial. My previous batches was sour so I’m going to use less of the yeast and ferment for a shorter period of time.

Soak 1 kg of glutinous rice overnight and cook in the rice cooker (just like cooking jasmine rice).

Spread it out on a oven tray to cool completely.

Grind 3 wine biscuits (酒饼） into fine powder and mix in 5 tbs of red yeast rice (紅麴).

Dad emphasis that the glass jar must be very clean to prevent any contamination or else, mold will grow. So I pour boiling water into the glass jar to sanitize it.

Prepare about a liter of boiled cooled water. Layer the glutinous rice, yeast mixture and water in the glass jar. Optional: Thoroughly mixed everything together with clean hands.

Cover the jar with some cloth and lightly close the lid. Keeping an eye on it and hopefully it turns out right this time!

Simply traditional delicious!

Healthy banana bread

Testing out a healthier version of banana bread. No sugar and no flour recipe.

Dry ingredients: 1 cup organic rolled oat and some walnuts, into a grinder to be finely grinded. Then add in 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Wet ingredient: 2 mashed bananas, 1 egg and 3 tbsp of olive oil. Mixed well.

Mixed the dry and wet ingredient until combined. Pour into a small baking tin and into a preheated 170 degree celsius for 40-45 mins.

Very moist on the inside, packed with nutrient for a healthy breakfast.

Drizzled some maple syrupy on the bread for some sweetness.

Simple delicious!