Breakfast

Breakfast is an essential food of the day.  Mums say to have a good breakfast to keep you healthy and enjoy your day.

Breakfast Food
Instant breakfast food is readily available, such as in fruits, bread and cereals. Cooking the food from scratch to have a hot breakfast is the best way to go, but unfortunately, not everyone has no time.
There are quick cooking ways for breakfast, such as poached eggs, omelette, porridge, pancakes and all these can be served followed by fresh fruits.  Other fancy foods for breakfast are kedgeree, congee, French toast and of course nasi goreng, to name a few.

Having a proper preparation is useful to minimise a hectic morning, have the menu ready, it does not need to be written. The advantages of preparing and cooking our own breakfast are that we could control the intake of salt, sugar and fat,  also not adding any preservatives.   It is healthy living.
Porridge is the family breakfast, we have almost the same breakfast food daily, but of course when all family are at home, often they have cooked hot breakfast to which everyone helps themselves.

I have recipes to share for hot breakfast, you could look up in the older post ( 14 Dec 2011) Kedgeree is delicious hot breakfast and very quick to prepare, and also mini pancakes, you would have fresh fruits for the topping and garnished with yoghurt.

Kedgeree with Salmon

Kedgeree is delicious food, it is a treat to have it in the morning for a good start of the day, and yet it does not need a long time to prepare.  It is simple cooking.

Hot mini pancakes
with fresh fruits and blueberries

Cooking mini pancakes for a hot breakfast is easy too.  Topping with fresh fruits that you fancy and add some yoghurt.

Fresh Fruits

Berries are the best to have, but any fresh fruits are always right.







Another delicious hot breakfast is nasi goreng.  It is the traditional Javanese cooking, by using up the leftover rice from the previous day.  It does not have any meat, only vegetables and shredded omelette.

Nasi Goreng

However you could add with crispy bacon for extra flavour, and keeping your traditional breakfast alive, instead of having toast, bacon and egg, you would have nasi goreng with bacon.

Nasi Goreng Garnished with Crispy Bacon

Nasi Goreng- Susy's Recipe
Serve for Two



Ingredients
2 cups cooked rice (plain white or yellow)
1 clove garlic, 1 red chilli and 1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salty soy and 1 teaspoon sweet soy sauce

1 egg for the omelette-shredded
2 lean bacon, fry crisply
Vegetables/Spices
- red capsicum, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, peeled and chopped
- garlic chives, chopped or spring onions
2 tablespoons oil to cook
Salt to taste

Method
Using a wok or saucepan, cook the omelette with a little oil. Take it out and keep aside.  Then cook the bacon with the rest of the oil over medium heat until crisp.  Take them out and keep aside.
Using the same utensil, add in the chilli,  garlic, shallot and cook for one minute until fragrant, add in the vegetables and cook for a few seconds.  Stir in the rice, salt, and both the soy sauces, mix them together gently, keep on preparing to get the rice hot, and all spices go through.  Add in the shredded omelette to finished off.
Transfer onto a serving platter and garnished with fresh coriander.

Freshly Cooked Nasi Goreng

Give a recipe a go, a taste of Java in your kitchen.  Happy cooking!



Thanks For Stopping By
Until Next Post
Susy

Gardening

In The Backyard
As it is Spring time now,  everything is growing, in every patch of the garden beds, the wild weeds are multiplying. It is time to tidy up.  Thanks to the rains, the wet ground helps to let them pull out more quickly.  That is what I have been doing for the past weeks also. Weeding then followed by fertilising and finished up by mulching.  It was a big job, now the rose bed looks great and clean; hopefully the mulch will compress the weeds not to grow and spread. The mulch keeps the soil moist and is suitable for the plants, and also saves water.

The Rose Bed

Gardening is so therapeutic, it is not a chore particularly when the weather is right, I could enjoy the fresh air, the smell of earthy soil, and looking after all the plants and of course harvesting. Now it is so right, as the children have grown up, and they have their own places.  I must say I could not do these freely when they were little.
The benefits of gardening are so priceless, it is not only having a beautiful garden, lovely flowers which I pick for the house, and the fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits for cooking. Gardening is one of the indulgences that I could afford, particularly harvesting and sharing.

The forecast from the weatherman is that soon the strong wind will come and also it will be raining.  I am disappointed, as my crab apple trees are blossoming, and I noticed this afternoon that a lot of flowers had dropped.  I was looking forward to seeing them in full bloom, and they can be very spectacular.  I took snapshots just in case!!!

The Crab Apple Trees

The view of the backyard from the kitchen

I mentioned earlier this year that the vegetable patch needs a new irrigation system, well we have not done it yet.  But I am so lucky the patch is full of self sewn lamb lettuce, and all the herbs come back and grow green and lush.  I did plant some coriander, carrots and new lettuce (it is darkish red with magnificent leaves).  

The vegetable patch is looking so green and lush.

Fresh leafy salad is prepared daily, and maybe I could do (Trancam) fresh vegetable salad Javanese Style.

Potted Fig

Potted Clivia

Planting Irises was a new experience, they grew well from the start.  After they were resting from the Winter, now they are back and looking good. Last year not one single plant stood right up, they all were dropping or resting on the ground, see what happens this time.
Having potted garden is good too, you could control their needs by moving the pots around.  Potted Fig has new leaves, and potted clivia is almost in flowers.

Other easy plants to grow are succulents, they are beautiful, and don't need a lot of care.  I put the potted one inside the house to fill up an empty corner, and they do look lovely.  However, they don't like to be in forever, but it is good to have a change.

Succulent-Black Rose

Harvest To Table
A fresh and healthy salad, based on Javanese salad 'gudangan mentah'-Trancam (Fresh Vegetable Salad)

Sharing a recipe of a fresh salad.

Trancam:  

Javanese Salad-Fresh greens and sprouts dressed with coconut dressing.

Trancam-Javanese Salad
Mixed Fresh Vegetables with Coconut Dressing

The Recipe

Trancam
Fresh Vegetables
- lamb lettuce, or baby spinach
- young carrots
- Endive
- cucumber
- lettuces
- bean sprouts
Herbs

Savoury Coconut Dressing

basil, coriander, and kaffir lime leaves
(any fresh vegetables as you like)

The Dressing
Savoury Coconut Dressing

Ingredients:
1 cup desiccated coconuts
1 cup of water

Ingredients of the Dressing

2 tablespoons grated palm sugar/coconut sugar
1 shallot and 1 garlic
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 small sliced galangal
1 kaffir lime leaf
Salt to taste
1 cup of water extra
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 juice of a half lemon


Method
Place the peeled shallot, garlic, coriander seeds in a grinder, grind them to make a rough paste
In a saucepan, place the coconut, water, sugar, galangal, kaffir lime leaf and cook to soften.
Add in the rough paste, extra water and lemon juice, keep on cooking until all liquid is absorbed.
(about 11 minutes and cook it in low heat)
Transfer to a bowl, add the oil and mix them together.  The dressing is ready, and it keeps well refrigerated.

Give the recipe a go, a new flavour salad for you, and YOU MIGHT LIKE IT.

Other Cooking from Java

Using the Fresh Herbs and Greens from the Vegetable Garden

SAYUR   LODEH (braised vegetables in coconut milk)

Today it is raining, but not too bad, I must plant my sweet basil and rainbow Swiss chard seedlings, the fresh rain is right for them.
Never get lost in the garden what I have is only to gain something right, and better.  The family enjoy all these: the citrus harvest is for cakes, salad dressing,  preserving, and so forth. Fresh herbs and vegetables from the patch are for daily salads, what a luxury we could have.


Happy Gardening To You All.



Until Next Post
Thank You For Visiting
Susy

Pasta

Pasta is the most popular food that Italian people contribute to the world.  My family loves pasta, and very often, I prepare homemade pasta such as lasagna, ravioli, tortellini, fettuccine and even spaghetti.   Making pasta by hand is fun, but it is easier and faster using a pasta machine.

Pasta needs dressing to serve with, meat sauce,  tomato sauce, pesto or even just good olive oil and cheese.  Tomato sauce or sugo, maybe is the most common sauce to serve it with, it is easy to prepare, tastes great. The colour is so vibrant red, and it looks very appetising.

To relive my experience eating pasta in Provence,  I am making pesto to go with my spaghetti.  I enjoyed the pasta with pesto over there, the colour of the pasta so beautifully green and very flavoursome, the taste of herbs, nuts and the cheese that binds together was so intense but perfect.

And this is my interpretation of the 'pasta with pesto', I prepared mixed herbs pesto and served with bought dry spaghetti, but I think it worked very well and delicious.

The colour was not as intense green, it may be because it did not have enough herbs.  Next time I must add more greens, flat parsley/basil.



Susy Herbs Pesto

1 cupful mixed herbs-mints, coriander, fennel fronds, sorrel.



1 cupful chopped spinach and flat parsley (to make extra green)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon almond meal
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Using a food processor or blender.
Blend the mixed herbs and spinach with salt, and oil, to make a smooth paste
Add in the almond meal and the cheese, mix to blend
Transfer onto a bowl, refrigerate until serving time

Pasta with Pesto
Boil and cook 350g spaghetti until al dente
Drain the spaghetti
Place it on a serving bowl, add the prepared pesto (all of it)
Toss them together, and serve at once.
Add more Parmesan cheese on top.

Pasta and Pesto

Well, I was happy to have the pasta and pesto, or green pasta, it's substantial enough for lunch, without adding more cheeses.

Another delicious pasta, excellent and easy quick to prepare is pasta with white ragu.

Chicken Ragu-White Ragu

Ingredients:
500 g mince chicken
75g lean bacon, chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped or (use another herb: sage or tarragon)
2 tablespoons sour cream

Method
Saute the onion until soft, add in the mince and cook about 5 minutes (put in the bacon)
Add in the salt and milk, stir and bring to boil, continue cooking over low heat for 22 minutes
Now the meat is soft and succulent with tiny juice, add in the white pepper and chives
Stir them together, the chive should look bright green but cooked.
Add the sour cream, at the last minute, mix thoroughly.
The chicken ragu is cooked, transfer into a bowl.

To serve
Serve ragu with any pasta, garnished with chopped flat parsley or mixed fresh herbs.

It is my version of cooking Ragu, delicious creamy white meat sauce.

*****

What is Ragu:
In Italian cuisine, a ragu is a meat-based sauce, which is commonly served with pasta (Wiki)

Because the braising is using tomato, the colour of Italian ragu is always reddish.

Pasta with Chicken Ragu

Pasta with White Chicken Ragu and Parmesan Cheese

Dinner is served

Fettuccine is good with the sauce, add some avocado if you have, the green adds lovely colour and flavour.

Pasta dishes are very friendly, what I mean is that it can be served to any age group and also they are easy to eat.  Things to remember to serve pasta dishes are served hot, with cheese or without but use the best olive oil for extra dressing. We prefer to have pasta with a simple sauce or light dressing.




Until Next Post
Thanks For Stopping By
Susy

Is It ??? - NO IT IS NOT !!!

Cymbidium Orchids
One of my favourite orchids is the cascading cymbidium, they are so pretty, it makes a beautiful display inside the house.  White cascading Sarah Jane is gorgeous, unfortunately, mine is not doing very well, there are two spikes though (if it is), I do hope it is the Sarah Jane.

Other cascading cymbidium (is it?) with ten spikes, now the stems are growing longer, they may be reaching up to 60 cm also, just wait and see.

The Picture of Cymbidium Orchids with Spikes

Snapshots from different angles.

It is not Cascading Cymbidium with 10 Stems of Orchids.

 Pictures are taken Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Today is mid-September, and this cymbidium has shown the real flowers. Indeed It Is Not the cascading Orchid.  

Small Flower
Lime Green

It is an upright orchid, green colour.  So I have been wrong all along.  That is the trouble of not having proper labels for the plants.

Lime Green Upright Orchid

NO, IT IS NOT !!!


No, It Is Not  A Cascading Orchid.

********

Bulbarrow  Cascading Cymbidium

Two Spikes

Photos Taken Tuesday 3 September 2013

It Is A Cascading Orchid

*******

Cascading Cymbidium Miss Muffet
(Photos are taken, 3 September 2013)
Pictures from different angles.

It is beautiful, a gorgeous cascading red to a brownish orchid is budding.  There are four spikes, and soon they will be growing to longer stems which are cascading showing off their beauty.

The flowers have established now, and they are cascading beautifully.

Little Miss Muffet Cascading Orchid

IT IS!
Yes, it is a cascading Orchid.

I have been playing guessing games with the orchids, soon the spikes appear,  I get excited, mainly I am not sure what type of orchids they are.  So far it is fun though, I am sure next year I don't need to do these, as from now all the orchids are labelled, I don't need to guess any more: IS IT???

In The Kitchen

Freshly Picked Leafy Greens
and Edible Flowers

The mixed green leafy salad was prepared, and the dressing was a very light dressing.

Salt and fat are reduced, I have decided to lead a healthy living. For the particular salad, the dressing is only lemon juice, fresh herbs and a dash of olive oil, eventually omitting the oil may be the best way.

My salad dressings are so predictable, the vinaigrette always has mustard, salt, white vinegar and oil, the citrus dressing still has lime or lemon juice, salt and oil.  I intend to reduce salt, so all my dressings have no salt; instead, I use fresh herbs for extra flavour.  No mayonnaise instead I use yoghurt.

Today Salad is a leafy salad with mustard, and oil dressing.  

IT IS: The new mustard dressing for the salad

Tasty Leafy Salad 

No, not in the kitchen, I never play guessing games, most of the time I know what I am doing.
NO  QUESTIONS!




Have a good weekend!
Until Next Post
Susy