Goodbye Halifax, Goodbye Garden

Last year, we applied for a plot at Peninsular Urban Garden. This year, we got a nice little plot. Sadly we have to leave our plot a little early and won’t be able to take care of the many plants we grew. I took the liberty of taking some shots of the seedlings and hope they grow and turn out right when we come back. For now, we have 2 types of lettuce, bok choy, dill & parsley, oregano, zucchini, swiss chard, spinach, carrot, ginger, marigold, and green peas.

The plot itself

replanted oregano from others to our plot

here’s a budding hero – our marigold sprouting…

this shy zucchini just starting to breath some air. Was afraid they didn’t show up.  

funny how all seedlings either look like a lettuce or a spinach. This one is lettuce though.

ooo… yummy spinach would sure be a great meal for dinner plate.

and a little bit of dill and parsley to season fish or spice our dishes.

1 Year Coming…

Our bags are pack,

We’re ready to go,

Off to our home for a week or two.

Just thinking of it makes us smile inside,

Its been such a long time,

Away from home and being apart from loved-ones.

So very long it has been that we’ve forgotten

the taste of our local flairs -

of the likes of Char Kueh Teow, Chee Chong Fun, and Roti Canai.

…So long, we don’t remember the hot scorching sun of 32 degrees Celsius.

as we’re constantly worry about how cold it’ll get over here.

Less clothes but more gifts we squeeze anywhere in btw our bags,

chocolates, fridge magnets, etc – tokens for friends and family

So – here we come. Home sweet home…

A journey that’s just moments away.

Back From Boston

We just got back from Boston about 1 week ago. And I know I’ve not exactly been updating this blog for ages -  I thought I’d probably post some nice pics we took when were in Boston. Boston is just south of Nova Scotia and was about 1 and 1/2 hours flight from where we are. Its the capital of Massachusetts which is state within the New England cultural region of America.

This is a shot of Cambridge. Somewhere near Harvard.

Downtown Boston skyline… Amazing

Beacon Hill…

Some impressive architecture in MIT

Here’s another one from MIT as well…

Incidentally there was a marine show going on in Boston Public Gardens.

A must do shadow shot…

Haymarket… Fresh and cheap veges from all around New England.

Quincy Market

Other interesting architecture one would find in downtown area.

Lobster salt and pepper Chinese style.

Just love this shot of the shadow of the ol’ building against the modern all glass building.

China town vs. Skyscraper.

Oh Sushi

Going to make sushi tonight. Ye ha….

Here’s how we do it…

http://www.cbc.ca/bestrecipes/2010/03/smoked-salmon-maki-rolls.html

And the video is here

Best Recipe Ever: Episode 48 - Japanese Take-Out

1 Full Year

Yes its been 1 full year since we arrived…

March Update

I know I’ve not been updating this much. I guess its a cycle. You have your ups and your downs with blogging I suppose. But in order to avoid having a long gap, just a brief update and recap of the events that took place since the last posting.

Of course, winter has officially passed us. DST (Daylight Savings Time) adjustment just took place. We’re now 11 hours behind Malaysia compared to 12 hours previously. Winter this year as everyone who’s been here longer before us is milder and warmer compared to the other years. So I guess we’re lucky. Furthermore, there haven’t been much snow.

We’ve enjoyed 2 weeks of Winter Olympics. Although it wasn’t here we were able to watch it online live. Our favourite game was Ice Hockey of course (gee, we’re becoming more Canadian).

Our research has progressed well. We’re in the midst of forming solid ideas to move on. We’re hoping to be able to go back home mid of the year and are planning it out as we speak.

We’ve been to a few places – mainly in Halifax. Of course we went for a short ski trip outside of Halifax but found out skiing ain’t our thing.

So I guess, I’ll be coming around again to update the blog with hopefully more pics when the mood is there. Of course we’ve been baking and cooking but nothing too special to be announced out loud.

Till then…

Yee Sang Special

Not long ago, we had a CNY lunch with together with our friends from the same apartment complex. We prepared our very own Malaysian style, Yee Sang.

To make it stand out, wifey did lots of research and used the following vegetables for the combination. Color and arrangement was also a prime importance. The list of vegetables and fruits were: Pamelo (translucent), Capsicum (Red), Cilantro (Green), Mango (Yellow), Ginger (Pinkish red), Spring Onion (light Green), Daikon (White) and Carrot at the center (Orange). For the sauce topping, a special combination that included Lee Kum Kee’s Plum sauce. And roasted sesame seed was added to it when ready to serve.

Of course a Yee Sang isn’t complete without the crispy crackers. But instead of buying ready made ones, we decided to take the risk of making our own the night before. After a near failure, we successfully were able to recreate the crackers with almost similar likeliness with the ones you find back home in our Chinese Malaysian restaurants serving this infamous CNY dish. And of course last but not the least!! The most important ingredient of them all – the fish itself. Being in Atlantic Canada has its advantage – fresh salmon is reasonably cheaper. But instead of buying off the shelf smoked salmon for the dish, we decided to cure the salmon on our own. To do that, the fish was about about 3-4 days earlier for the sole purpose of curing it to give that smoked flavour. The end product? An amazing Yee Sang dish that simple irresistible and definitely brings back memories of home.

Bon Appétit!