Travelogue - Perth, Western Australia February 2013 (5)

I'm not dead yet! This is shit, I am still at my previous Perth travelogues when I am already heading there again this Thursday night! Bah.

And yes! I am back with my Chilli Mussels recipe! My virgin taste of Chilli Mussels was at Ciao Italia in Perth and every time I go to Perth, I would insist on Tex bringing me to satisfy my craving! This time round, I thought I have tasted enough to attempt to cook it on my own.

Ingredients:

• Fresh mussels (Singapore, if I am not wrong, only sell packaged mussels and they are normally small in size)
• Two whole onions (big ones)
• Garlic (Lotsa!)
• Chilli AND Chilli Padi
• Diced tomatoes (I used canned ones, again)
• Chicken stock
• Salsa chilli (if you'd like the stew to turn out a little sour)
• Red wine (Any sort, I tend to buy the cheapest, which is about AUD$4 a bottle in Perth, haha!)
• Dash of white vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. De-beard the mussels. Refer to this post on getting who to do the dirty job. Throw away any mussel that is opened at this moment.
2. Dice the onions and chop the garlic finely.
3. Slice the chilli and chilli padi. I only used two small chilli padis for the entire pot for three. You can reduce if you want, I just like my soup strong-flavoured. I don't like my soups to taste limp.
4. And we're ready to cook.

Cooking:

1. Oil the pan with olive oil generously over medium fire.
2. When oil is hot, throw in the diced onions.
3. Stir fry till it is brown and add chopped garlic, sliced chilli and salsa chilli. Be careful not to tear when frying the chilli!
4. Add in the diced tomatoes, chicken stock, red wine (just a little to taste ang-moh enough) and white vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil.
5. When the concoction is boiling, throw in the mussels and cover lid tightly for 10 minutes.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Check that all mussels are opened, if not, throw away any that is not after simmering it for another 3 minutes!
7. Garnish with celery leaves or coriander leaves. (Again, the garnish was from my $1 celery bunch, hurhur.)
8. Ready to serve!!!

Made some salad to go with the main course, which isn't filling like a main course.

Later that week, we went to move some stuff into Tex's new room in his college! Quite a big room, I would say. Say yay to ensuites!

That night, we 飙菜! He likes his salmon poached while I like mine pan-seared. So we decided to cook our own type. Hehehehe.

Mine.

His.

Okay, I still like mine, while he maintains that his was nicer. Whatever.

Tagged along Tex to go to his uni to settle some admin stuff. His campus is only a short five minutes' walk away from his college. However, five minutes under 40 degrees weather can mean a lot of difference..

Then on one of the weekday nights, we went over to Ciao Italia.



Prices have gone up. :(

I just did a comparison with their old menu I found online - most of the dishes have their prices marked up by more than $6 to $10! That's crazy.

Very hearty tomato salad!

TADAH.

This was where I had my first bowl of Chilli Mussels ever.

Tortellini Buongastaia

Now that was too filling for my liking. We couldn't finish both and doggy-bagged them!

Trays and trays of goodness.

Their tiramisu is to die for..

Boss on photo

Boss in real life

Thank you Tex for such a wonderful meal, as always! I seriously think we need to go new places already. Hahaha.

Yummm

I'll try to speed up my posts and I hope I will have more time to blog in Perth when Tex goes to work and school during the day!

Take care all! :)

Re-united

Unapologetic for the lack of updates because Tex is back and spending time with him is paramount to me.

Everything else can wait.

Precisely because of this 'notion', my regular life in Singapore has been thrown off the rocks. I'm not complaining. Alright, I am.

Splurging on cab fares because our schedules are tight - we wanna go to every place together and spend as much time as we can, eat as much food as we can, before we part again. Sleeping late because we end up holding hands under the blanket and talk about anything before either of us not answer 'cos one of us fell asleep and the other one then decided to close his/her eyes. Sudden influx of people to meet, activities to do, appointments to attend. Not exercising because food is more important. Period.

He is leaving in three days. T.T As busy as I was, I have been sooooo happy for the past week. :)

I Do Wish

... that in this life, I was made of stronger materials.

My Husband Is A Loving Fool

I logged in and I saw a sudden spike in my readership, kinda like a really sharp cone looking back at me. What have I done?

Nothing. But he did. Hahaha.

Thanks Nix, I'm more than just a lovely wife. I am also a distraught wife who misses her husband really badly BUT, I'm hanging in there. Five more days to go before I get to smell him.

Normally, I am normal. That's referring to the 98% of the time that I am in. The other 2% refers to what happened two nights ago, which now embarrasses me just a little bit to disclose it. Still am going to do it anyway.

These few months, I have been serene. When you do not have a husband who squeezes the toothpaste from the middle or leave his clothes around, I take it that you get a lot more peace. Tex doesn't do anything that is mentioned above. In fact, I can't recall any of his bad habits. Does nagging me to save counts?

So, it looks like I've got a new job scope and stress has been creeping under me knowingly unknowlingly knowingly unknowlingy (Sorry, can't decide). I know it but I thought I was controlling it well. I was also battling with my health - my migraines with auras are back to visit me every other day. This has caused a real real disturbance to my life. As much as I try to trivialise the effects auras have on me, I have developed a phobia for them. I avoid bright lights, I do not stare at the sun anymore because it reminds me of auras, I hate it when people put on high beams on their cars and I abhor LED lights. I can never look at Excel sheets in the same way again - the fear of spotting zig-zag lines are too daunting to handle.

Let me talk about my migraine history a little bit. It was when I was 12 that I started having headaches. My head would ache and I would feel nauseous. Unfortunately, I eventually learnt how to induce vomiting because that made me feel so much better. My parents attributed the cause of my headaches to the TOP THREE REASONS we hear every other day:

1. Not enough sleep
2. Never drink enough water
3. Body too heaty

These three reasons rotated every single time my headaches acted up. Initially, my mother would bring me to the doctor. I obtained so much paracetamol pills, I could self-medicate. From 12 to 16, they happened about two to three times a year. When I was in poly, it became once every three months. Finally I was in Uni, I had to skip lectures or leave halfway because I needed to rest up and vomit, and we are talking about once a month. Gradually, from when I was 16 onwards, I noticed that everytime before I had a headache, I couldn't 'see'. What do I mean by 'couldn't see'? Then, I termed it 'partial blindness', where bright scintillating lights would obstruct my vision and stay there for 20 minutes. It's like having rainbows dancing in front of your eyes but they are not there. Sounds pretty, doesn't it? Hell no.

Watch this.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/migraine-aura/MM00659

This is, by far, the most accurate of an animated vision of an aura. Mine's more colourful than that. Hehehe. And we all know how migraines work, so I'll skip that.

By the time, I started working, the frequency increased to many times in a year but the nausea stopped. There would be weeks where I had attacks every other day. With the company taking care of my medical bills, in 2010 I decided to milk the resources approach the company GP to refer me to a polyclinic for a check-up. I got it and went for the appointment, who then referred me to National Neuroscience Institute for another check-up. This was about 2 months after I spoke to my company GP about my predicament. My doctor at NNI, Prof Tsjia, recommended me to go for a CT scan, the very first day we met. I thought, "Oh lucky. At least she didn't recommend MRI."

The CT scan cleared me - there was nothing alarming found in my brain. As of then. She prescribed me very small daily doses of Propranalol and Amitriptyline, which I later learnt were some forms of anti-depressants and muscle relaxants. She must have assumed that mine were stress headaches.

I then concluded that my lifestyle had to change. I had to do all the healthy things a person does, sleep early, drink more water, avoid food triggers like caffeine, chocolates, nuts, stare at greens after every half an hour's of computer usage, exercise everyday, stay happy. C'mon, we all know it's attainable, but HOW sustainable can this be?

This went for another three years and here I am, still taking medicine, still suffering from migraines and auras, but my take on it is different from when I was in 2010. I have learnt to accept in a hard way, that my migraines will never, ever go away.

I learnt to accept it as part of my life. When the auras come to visit, I say 'hello', in a dull kind of way. I wait for the aura to lapse (about 30 minutes) and I continue to do my work, focussing on the Excel sheets again. I take naps during lunchtime when I get them, I spam myself with water and I stopped taking paracetemol altogether. Why did I stop? They helped momentarily, but I soon figured that I could deal with the pain. The most excruciating part was not the physical pain - it was knowing that the migraines would come again as fast as they went away. This is the most torturing fact for me, but also the most challenging barrier I have to tell myself to get over it.

Now, I visit the National Neuroscience Institute on a 6-month regular basis. I'm consoled by the fact that my company takes care of the medical bill and I only have to co-pay $15 for each visit. I don't take these things for granted. Every appointment I came out of, I'm glad I'm still okay. I still struggle with lifestyle changes - I force myself to sleep early, mostly unsuccessful and my disgruntlement and resentment flows to poor Tex, which brings me to my final point - two nights ago.

My work is currently facing a changing landscape and while I am enjoying it, there is no doubt higher levels of stress and more work came with it. Tex was also facing changes on many levels at his end and me being me, I take a longer time to warm up and start disclosing information. Therefore, on many accounts, our chats revolved around his needs and his lifestyle. So when I finally warmed up to share, it normally gets too late for my bedtime or we're too tired to continue talking. For the record, credit goes to him for continually asking if I have anything to share - I do, I just haven't warmed up yet, no fault of his.

So two nights ago, when I couldn't get him way before my bedtime, I was faced with a serious dilemma. I 'needed' to sleep early, (an aura that day had warned me) and I had so much to share yet I couldn't contact this bugger on his phone. On other days, I would have just left a message and gone to bed. But that day, I exploded into this full-fledged bitch and spammed him with messages and I care to say, non-abusive. It was civil and polite but firm. But not me.

He texted me half an hour later (I was too distraught to fall asleep) and did his magic. Talking calmly, asking questions, explaining his non-actions but I still wasn't taking it in. I was so caught up in my own stress about my health that I broke down and sobbed quietly on the phone. I knew it wasn't his fault but I didn't know what else to do. I needed to talk to him about matters which I had the decisions in mind but I just simply needed someone to go through it with me. He was the first one that came to my mind but also the very same one that I blew up on. Sigh, the ironies of life.

Tex remained calm and loving despite me being hurtful. This man could see that I was going under a little. Perks of having a counsellor for a husband! Even till the next day when I overslept for work, I still had residual anger with him in me and out of resentment, I texted him "Fucking overslept."

Which I totally didn't have to do it. He couldn't have helped anyway. However, he continued to put himself in my radar and allowed himself to get shot by my anger by replying "Rested?" and "How are you doing today?" and me counter-replying "Not at all." What a weird, weird loving fool. Later that night, I managed to calm myself down and apologised for my actions. He accepted it like a man.

And then, life goes on.

There is no moral of the story here. It is an account of a couple who deal with the real stress in a relationship with slightly deviating lifestyles. I don't write about only happy incidents - that's easy, pardon me - but incidents like this heighten my awareness that not-so-happy moments help strengthen one's self and relationships. And that I owe it to myself to portray an accurate online personality of myself because that should mirror me in real life. This should further reiterate the point that I don't only blog about happy moments in my life, but also the nasty ones.

I'm in a very stressful but hopefully manageable stage right now. I will do what I need to, to be better. :)

Travelogue - Perth, Western Australia February 2013 (4)

Yoohoo! Back with another instalment of my 3-week long Perth trip!

Occasionally, we would wake up in the morning and go for morning walks/runs. That's when the sun is the least harsh on my skin..

Sometimes we would run errands, bringing Rosie out for spins!

That day, I tried cooking my first Bolognese Pasta! It's mad easy, I tell you.

Ingredients:

• Pasta of any sort (I personally prefer Fusilli more than anything else. I think they can pick up heavier sauces than Spaghetti or Linguine can.)
• Minced beef or pork
• Diced tomatoes (I used two canned ones)
• Panchetta (I used leftover bacon or ham; so long they are salty it's fine too; MAKE DO)
• Whole onions (white or brown is fine)
• Garlic
• Oregano
• Red wine (1/4 cup?)
• Dash of vinegar
• Butter
• Fine sugar (1/2 teaspoon)
• Salt and pepper
• Chicken Stock (if you'd like, liquid or cubes are fine)

Preparation:

1. Cook pasta in boiling water with the chicken stock. If you are using cubes, cook it with the pasta. If not, use chicken stock as the medium to cook the pasta. For duration, follow the packaging as different pasta shapes require different timings. I use agaration, so don't follow me.
2. After the pasta is cooked, drain the stock into a large bowl and set aside. We will need it later.
3. Drip dry the pasta for remaining liquid and slice a portion of butter and mix it into the pasta. I used about 1.5cm thick of 125g block for two persons' share. Mix well and set aside to cool.
4. Slice the pancetta or left over bacon into small pieces.
5. Dice the whole onions and garlic. Set aside both.
6. And we're ready for cooking.

Cooking:

1. Add olive oil over medium fire.
2. Add the diced onions and panchetta. Stir fry until the onions are soft.
3. Throw in the garlic and add a dash of oregano. Stir fry until you can smell the oregano.
4. Add the minced beef or pork into the pan and stir fry for three minutes.
5. Once you see most of the minced meat are turning white, add in the diced tomatoes. At the same time, pour in the chicken stock that you have set aside earlier and then add the red wine, vinegar and sugar. Chicken stock volume as preferred, but remember, you would need to boil it over a period of time hence more is better at this moment.
6. Stir and simmer. Reduce if you think you'd like a heavier texture. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve up a bowl of pasta and pour the sauce over it.
8. TADAH!!!

Melvina Koh's Beef Bolognese

After endless nagging, Tex finally drove me to Supre outlet. It was.. meh.

And we ta-bao-ed lunch again and went for a picnic by Lake Monger.

Before we left, this black goose (? swan?) decided to follow us.

I was terrified and ran as far as I could. Tex just walked on serenely and decided to take on him (it).

Drove away and saw this car plate!

Alright, that sums up more than half of my trip in Perth I hope. I will be sharing the Chilli Mussels' Recipe in the next post! :D

Travelogue - Perth, Western Australia February 2013 (3)

That day, we went to Swan Valley with my MIL! Swan Valley is about half an hour's drive from Perth, depending on where you begin your drive from.Went for a picnic at Sandalford Vineyard.

And again, I packed lunch for everybody! Okay, for three.

Summer Salad - Seared Potatoes with Baby Spinach Leaves and Hard Boiled Eggs tossed in just olive oil, salt and pepper!



And a Bacon Muffin for everyone



This is how you roll



It looks dark in the photos but I swear it was damn sunny when we arrived.

Left the vineyard and we drove past some show-villages! Show-villages are like showflats, except, you know, they show an entire village. Meaning several houses. We were sooooo awed by the price and space one can have.. Definitely anybody's dream house!

Tex drove us to Yahava Coffee where I bought their chocolate-coated coffee beans (meant as a snack)!

Love all the quirky cups they sell.

 

One quote resonated with me SUPER WELL - "I hate to waste sick days actually being sick."

Say hello to Rosie!

Ain't she a beauty.

Had ice-cream before we stopped by a mobile seafood truck! At least that's what I like to call them. Very fresh products and I like to think, slightly less expensive than what the supermarkets are selling.

Bought trouts, mussels, prawns, salt and pepper squid and salmon fillets.

A reminder of fuel price that day.

When we got home it was time to prepare dinner. Opened the fridge and I got very excited looking at all the seafood we just bought! Decided to cook Fisherman's Seafood Stew.

Ingredients (off the top of my head):

• Fish pieces (cut from fillets)
• Prawns (with shells on. Why? I'll explain this later.)
• Mussels (de-bearded and washed)
• Potatoes (preferably white; they are softer and easier to cook)
• Diced tomatoes (I used canned ones)
• White onion (I presume brown onions work as well. They are just.. onions.)
• Garlic
• Oregano
• Chilli / Chilli Padi (Optional; I like my stew strong-flavoured)
• Salt & pepper
• Celery leaves as garnish

*I do not have units for following. All the amounts I used for all cooking are according to agaration. It works for me. I do simple math like, four mussels for one person, so I am cooking for three, I made sure I put in at least twelve mussels. Most of the time, I cook what I have in the fridge hence I use a lot of substitution when I do not have the necessary ingredients to cook a certain type of dish. MAKE DO.

Preparation steps:

1. Debeard mussels. This is one step I hate the most, so I.. delegate. Tex had the honour to do it. Also a good way to make sure your man doesn't slouch on the couch while you do the hard work. Debearding the mussels can utilise up to twenty minutes of your time. Make sure you check his work! :P Oh, at this point, discard any mussel that is open.
2. Cut fish into pieces from the fillets. I use fillets because I don't know how to debone a fish. This is the easiest alternative for me.
3. Wash the prawns under running water and dehead the prawns. While you are at it, de-vein them as well. I cut away their legs and picked out their veins. No idea why this step is necessary, my Mum just taught me to do and I normally don't question why. DO NOT shell the prawns totally. Just the heads and legs. Keep the rest of the shells on if not, you will have a very prawn-dominated smelling stew. Which is something Tex don't like.
4. Dice the potatoes and onions. Cut the chilli / chilli padi into small slices. Chop cloves of garlic finely. I like my food with lots of garlic, so I spammed them. Set aside all.
5. And we're ready for cooking.

Cooking steps (Please use a pan that has a certain depth, you need to simmer stew):

1. Oil the pan generously. If you are using olive oil, pour half a bottle. Just kidding.
2. Throw in onions and stir-fry until they are soft (not brown).
3. Throw in garlic and oregano; stir-fry until garlic is slightly brown and you should smell the oregano at the point.
4. Pour in the can of diced tomatoes and chilli. Fry them slightly for about one minute and add water to satisfied level (means enough stew for everybody la, don't just give one cup can?!)
5. Bring the soup to a boil, then add in the diced potatoes. Simmer for 20 minutes at least for potatoes to soften. While waiting, this is the perfect time to check if your man de-bearded the mussels thoroughly. If not, make noise aka kpkb.
6. Poke any potato piece with a chopstick. If they are soft, add in the mussels, fish and prawns and cover the pot tightly.
7. After 5 minutes, check if the mussels are opened. Discard any mussels that has not dilated opened. Need at least 1cm opening. (Double LOL.)
8. Stir the stew, add in water if you must. You should panic if there is not enough soup for everybody. If too much, no worries, reduce the volume by simmering it for another 10 minutes. You'd want a thicker texture than water, but thinner texture than bisque.
9. Taste test. Stew should taste sweet, bursting with seafood taste (unless U NO USE FRESH SEAFOOD). While simmering, add in salt and pepper to taste.
10. Tadah! Last step, serve in a smaller bowl individually and garnish your stew by doing a very Gordon Ramsay antic - dropping the celery leaves in circular motion, rubbing your fingertips together to 'dispense' them. Best if you can do it in front of your family members. They will be impressed.

TADAH!!!!!

Melvina Koh's Fisher(wo)man Seafood Stew

While we had one successful dish, the salt and pepper squids turned out to be disappointing. Never ever try to bake food that is meant to be deep-fried. Hai. Act healthy only.

Very fail.

Grill some potatoes as fillers and wanted to drizzle them with cheddar. Was busy with the stew and completely missed the melting of cheddar process. Double fail.

Grilled Potatoes with Rosemary and (Un)melted Cheddar

When all else fails, have a pig husband that will finish everything. :)

This is his "Do Not Disturb Me" face.

Till the next! :)