ZacMeat 2013 XMas Warehouse sale

Dear all,
mark your calendar for ZacMeat 2013 X Mas Warehouse sale starting from 22nd December 2013.

Visit Zac Meat website here http://www.zacmeat.com.sg/

Simple steam fish...

(Updated... realised, I missed out the recipe)

I'm well enough to cook simple steam fish for dinner tonight.

It's fast, it's healthy and it's protein.


This dish is a very simple dish using few ingredients and of course missing the sour plum, tofu, salted vegetables and other trimmings... but still yummy nonetheless. 

recipe as below..

Ingredients for simple steam fish

1. Fish of your choice. I used frozen Sutchi fish fillet thawed and rub with a bit of salt
2. Oyster sauce 1 spoon (You can use soy sauce if you want.. but I'm currently staying away from soy products so I avoided soy sauce.) More if you like
3. Lime juice (I used 3 small lime) 
4. Add a dash of sesame oil if you want. I didn't add cos recently seems like I broke out rashes after consuming, nuts, soy, sesame... 
5. salt / pepper / sugar if you like but I didn't add
6. Mix the oyster and lime juice and seasoned to taste
7. Sliced chilli (I used 2 birds eye chilli)
8. 3 sliced ginger
9. 2 cloves garlic smashed

Arrange sliced Ginger and garlic on a plate. 

Place fish slice on the ginger and garlic

Top with chilli

Pour the sauce on the fish

If you are adding optional items, scatter ard the fish

Steam it for 5 to 10 mins

Garnish

Spring Onion or Coriander leaves

Pan Fried Salmon with butter garlic sauce

Yours truly had an incident yesterday. Fortunately, hubby was working late too else I'm very sure I'll get all panicky and brawling my eyes out calling for him... 

My colleagues called for an ambulance and they were there within 10 minutes. Given the choice, I would definitely opt to go KTPH but KTPH is quite a distance from office. The nearest hospital is Tan Tock Seng Hospital or Changi General Hospital so Tan Tock Seng we went. 

There, I was given a series of injections and being put on drip. I'm then being put on observation. In the morning, I can breathe comfortably and the doctor asked if I'd like to stay overnight or go home. Naturally I opted to be discharged. Nothing cures me as well as my stinky pillow and blanket.

Thinking back, It's so embarrassing. To be in that situation where most of the people that witnessed the scene are my colleagues is really something. I don't know where to put my face when I start work on Monday... and I can't believe I actually laid down on the dirty carpet where people walk in day in day out from the loo and such...EEEeeekkk. 

That besides, I'm awfully touched by all the well wishes. To all my friends, I'm all rested and recovering well. Thank you so much for your concern. 

Anway, no pictures of hospital stay as I look awful then. Instead, here's something I cooked a couple of weeks back. Enjoy !

Pan Fried Salmon with butter garlic sauce. 

Ingredients
Salmon steak
Salt / Pepper

For the sauce 
(I didn't measured actually. Just dumped in. You are the chef so you decide how much you want to add.)
2 tablespoon butter - I'm pretty sure I added more than 2 tablespoon :-)
2 cloves garlic
Milk
Flour for thickening
Juice from 1/4 or 1/2 lemon - Up to you. 
Spring onions or dill or chives

1) Season the salmon steak with salt and pepper. Pan fry the fish
2) Once done, use the same pan, melt butter in. Careful don't burn the butter
3) Saute the garlic
4) Add milk and stir in a bit of flour for thickening
5) Season with salt and pepper... you may also add some stock if you like
6) Add lemon juice. 
7) Taste it. Add more lemon juice or seasoning if you like
8) Turn off heat and add chopped spring onions or if you have, fresh dill or chives. 

red velvet cupcake

I'm not a fan of too sweet treats. I do indulge myself once a while but I often cannot finish the whole slice.

My idea of good cake is just plain old warm butter cake without frosting. Red velvet among others like carrot cake falls into too sweet category for me. So it's no surpise that I don't enjoy it.

My first taste of carrot cake was at Magnolia bakery in New York.  The colour frightened me and it's cloyingly sweet. It's only years later that I had another bite and this time at Coffee Bean. It's not that bad but I still don't like it.

Then I saw friends posted on facebook their red velvet cuppies and I just had to try. I figured, if I do it myself, I can tweek the recipe to suit me... particularly, reduce the amount of sugat in the frosting. In addition I can bring the cuppies to office to share.

I got the following recipe from all recipes.
http://www.recipe.com/mccormick-red-velvet-cupcakes/

I reduced the amount of icing sugar for the frosting but the frosting was runny so I ended adding the rest of the icing 😄

Not something I'd bake again. The amount of colouring added is frightening. Next time, I'd try without colouring and frosting.

Cod fish oyster sauce

After grilling, deglaze the pan with a bit of water or stock if you like.

Add sliced ginger and crushed garlic.

Add a bit of oyster sauce and seasoning.

Simmer till thicken.

Before turning off heat, I removed garlic n ginger and added sliced spring onions n chilli.

And because I love sesame oil, I added that do.

It's pretty much easily customised to suit your taste.

I changed phone.. this was taken from my facebook.. 

Macaron workshop

When : 2nd November 2013..
Where : Zan's Treats 
Address: 14D Jalan Masjid #01-02, Kingston Terrace, Singapore 418935

Not a fan of Macaron and Whoopie pie but reading how difficult it is to bake, I just want to for once attempt Macaron. My friend told me about this place and signed us up.... :-) 

So here you go... a very short and .. lazy entry.. 

I recommend this place. Hop on this Zan's web page and sign yourself up for the next upcoming class. It's worth it. 

5 mins to the oven...Oh lalalalalala look at those feet. *jumping with joy*

We stopped for lunch break. Lunch was provided which was great. We had fried rice



Our loot...

2nd Recipe... Whoopie pie.

Pan Fried Cod with Sambal

I've been cutting down carb intake and up my protein. 

Getting enough protein is a big challenge.  I was told that an adult need an average if 62g of protein daily.  I don't think I even meet half of the daily intake.

Egg is great source of protein.. unfortunately I seems to get itchy after eating eggs so I'll limit my intake as of now. Soy is also a great source... but after a week or so, I got rashes after drinking soy milk so I limit my intake as well.

My other options are fish, chicken, meat. I don't enjoy red meat hence my main protein source is Chicken. Curry chicken, KFC chicken, Mac Spicy, Chicken nuggets.. you name it. That is until recently when hubby bought a packet full of frozen fish from Fassler.. 

I've been a great fan since. Reasons being, 

1) It's fast to thaw 

2) Fast to cook - Took me minutes in oven grill.. equally fast pan fried

3) Healthier... - No fatty chicken skin that I can sneak into my mouth

4) It's yummy without the need for sauce etc... just simple salt and pepper. 

5) Load's of simple recipes you can create just by digging your fridge and pantry... My only problem is.. I cannot recall what I added previously and can't re-create lol 

This is fast food my way to the next level. It's even faster than calling Mac Donald. 

Today is Frozen Cod fish pan fried with sambal. 

Pan fried with a big of olive oil, when it's half cooked, I added a table spoon of sambal on the fish, add sliced onions and cover a while to steam. 

Remove cover and continue pan fried till sauce dry up and serve. 

I added Lemon slice and fried onions and chopped parsley and carrot.. because I happened to have it in the fridge. 

This is very easy because most Malay can't leave without sambal so I'm sure you can find left over sambal in your fridge. There's so many other yummy combinations you can try. Try Sambal kicap. Or if you want to, try store bought Thai Chili Paste. A bit sweet but will do for emergency fix. 

Sneak peak... Macaron Workshop

Sneak peak... I went to a Macaron Workshop... will post on this soon

 

Every last Sat of the month - Zac Meat, Melvados, Fassler - Part 3

Continuation from here  and here

From Zac Meat and Melvados, we walk along the same road to a number of unit down to Fassler...

So what are they selling there??

That's right !!! Frozen seafood... 

To shop, 
1) Grab a basket
2) Walk into their giant freezer 
3) Select what you want
4) Go outside and pay. 

That's it.

But let me warn you. It's so cold in there. I can hardly stand more than 5 mins. I wanted to see more but because i have already started wheezing, I came out. 

It is that cold. 

Anyway, please note this.
- they only accept cash. 
- bring cooler box or bag. You can also buy styrofoam box at $5 from there. 

The Entrance

Walking to the giant freezer

Part of the freezer . I bought the Japanese pregnant fish or Shishamo from her previously but I don't see it. Maybe not in season.

Some of the items on sale... they also have frozen clam chowder and lobster bisque. It's not halal though as they added brandy inside... so we only bought frozen fish here.

What I bought. For my protein need. Enough to last us a month. 

Hubby then went another round inside to get more salmon. 

What he purchased .. Now that I'm seeing this here, I don't think it's that cheap.. right? 

 Our damage for that day... 

My well stocked freezer.

psst : You know, the smoked salmon frozen gravy from Ikea's food section is also by Fassler... But it's not halal... and it's not sold there. 

There... that's the end of part 3 of "Last Sat of the month" market trip.. If you find this informative, do let me know. It feels good to know that someone actually read my post lol... 

You can find the link to part 1 and 2 up there.. 

Every last Sat of the month - Zac Meat, Melvados, Fassler - Part 2

Continuation from here !

From Zac Meat, we walked along the same road 5 units away to Melvados / FoodEdge. 

https://maps.google.com.sg/maps?q=zac+meat&ie=UTF-8&ei=dsNvUrGRDsejrQfQwICgCA&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg 


FoodEdge is a food factory and they are certified Halal by Muis. Like Zac, they also have monthly warehouse sale also on last Saturday of the month.

Address: 54 Woodlands Terrace, Singapore 738463
Phone:6339 4953
Webpage : http://www.melvados.com/

It's hard to miss this place... Here's the outside view.. 

They also have tasting corner where you can taste yummy Cheese cake..

brownies.....

sample the pita breads, pizza crusts...

as well as cooked food such as macaroni, lasagne, smoked duck..

soup.... pasta sauce... 

Check out what's on offer that day... 

After sampling, the food, free ice cream tasting too...  try the salted caramel... it's delish.

The price list..... 

After making payment, you proceed to the collection counter... 

here's what we got from Melvados...
2 packet of smoked duck. Each packet has 3 servings of smoked duck and each servings is for 2.

My impulse purchase... (be sure to bring styrofoam box or cooler box for this trip) 

Our damage at Melvados.... 

Next stop... Fassler... to be cont... 

Every last Sat of the month - Zac Meat, Melvados, Fassler - Part 1

I first posted something on this here... 

On every last Saturday of the month, when time permit, we'd like to make a trip down to Zac Warehouse sale... 

For those new to SG, Zac Meat is a halal butcher hence all products sold are Certified Halal by Muis.

It is also on one of those trips that we discovered Melvados as well as Fassler...  So it's a shopping trip to 3 warehouse sale :-) More to that in my next post. 

Zac Meat Super Value Warehouse sale is on every last Saturday of the month... which means the next one will be on 30th Nov 2013.  Mark your calendar... 

(Picture taken from Zac webpage )

How to get there: 
Take bus 964 from Woodlands interchange and stop at the Old Chang Kee Building. 

Address :  

Zac Meat & Poultry Pte Ltd

16 Woodlands Terrace

Woodlands East Industrial Estate

Singapore 738441

So yesterday, the still feverish me and hubby went down...  (last min decision as me still sick but I got craving for their macaroni plus I wanted to buy mom the smoked duck from Melvados)

As usual, the queue is long but because there were many staffs on hand, the line is moving fast. If you'd like to avoid the crowd, come around 11am... but by then, the tasting counter will be empty and some of the popular stuffs will be out of stock... 

Because, I already know what I wanted to buy, the first thing we'll do is to pick up the order form and join the line... 

This is the price list and order form for that day. 

I bought their Cooked Lungs and Tripe before.... The quantity is ok for that price. Don't buy the garlic spread if you don't intend to share... it's too much for 2 people to finish. 

The price is definitely much cheaper than the one sold at supermarket as the quantity is much more then at retail. (I missed out the weight of the item when I took the picture. )

But it's a sale for a reason.... the expiry date is a month later... so if there's just 2 in your family and you don't intend to stuff your face with sausages every day, better not buy a lot. 

If you don't know what's nice or what to buy, there's also a tasting corner for cold cuts. Because the weather is also so hot, they don't want people to faint or choke on the food, they also provide cold drinks... 

Here's Mr Hubby having breakfast heheh 

What's available for sampling. 

Close view... 

The fridge section... 

I was attended by lady boss herself... this is what we bought on that day.

1) Nacho cheese for sister, Lasagne and Pita bread for ourselves

2)  Beef sausage, Chicken Ham, Salami and Beef Shepherd's Pie for ourselves and Cheesy Frank for Sis. Remember I mentioned it's cheap because it's hitting expiry date soon? See below. Take note of the expiry date. 

3) French rack for us... Yea... Gonna bring this to mom's place and enjoy with the rest.

4) Mint sauce for the lamb, Jalapeno pickle for my pita bread and Balsamic vinegar

5) And this is the real reason why we go Zac in the first place :-)

6) Our damage at Zac for that day... 

Off to our next stop... which is Melvados.... 

psst ... if you are interested to go... the next warehouse sale will be last Sat of Nov which is on 30 November 2013. They are also going to have their annual xMAS sale on 22 - 24 Dec 13 10:30am to 3:30pm. Mark your calendar !! 

To be continued.... I'm going out to buy ingredients for Macaron. This will be my first attempt in making Macaron. Wish me luck.