Cooking Tips: 03/20/11

Sunday, March 20, 2011

love yourself more.

we're human. we're being tested. some people is very proud to be himself/herself. and some just don't. i wanna talk about someone who hate to be herself. someone who could only see the good in others, and the ugliness of herself. someone who should know better, how to be thankful.

'i hate myself for everything i am'

i hate that i'm stupid. i used to be wiser than this, but i'm now worse.

i hate to see those who were no as smart as i used to be, is moving forward, than what i am now.

i hate it the fact that my english is sucksss. i really am very useless.

i hate it that i can't speak english fluently and it makes me feel as i am such a loser.

i hate that i'm fat, but i still can't resist all those wonderful foods, i just love them.

i hate myself everytime i look at the mirror. i hate when people said 'you're beautiful',

cuz i am not. i am just not, and will never be. never never never.

i hate myself when i look at all those beautiful blogger, fashionista, and know, i will never be like one.

i hate myself that i often to be rude, and moody towards everyone who loves me.

in fact, there are the one who always push me up, to stand on my own. see, jerk i am.

i hate that i'm sorry for myself, for my family, for my loves one, for my friends, for everyone who believes in me. i hate that the fact i am not that good, as they were saying out loud, about me.

i hate myself for hating myself. i hate it that i'm a person with very low self esteem.

i hate that i'm no good. zero knowledge, zero beauty, zero attitude.

*******************

"you have to believe that rezeki tu ada kat mana2. sebab tu la budak2 lebih rendah dari you dekat sekolah dulu pun boleh buat degree. I cuma boleh advice you utk sabar. Kalau niat you baik nak tuntut ilmu Allah, nak senangkan mama abah, insya Allah tuhan akan tolong. percaya pada tuhan, jgn pernah sangsi atau teragak dengan janji Dia. Kesusahan setiap org tu lain-lain. Orang lain mungkin senang dpt belajar jauh2 la konon tp satu apa x dapat, menghabiskan duit rakyat. Ada orang susah-susah nak belajar berlari sana sini cari itu ini. Bila kerja duduk dalam air cond, naik merc. Both situation for those both people adalah ujian. In fact semua ujian. Kadang2 dalam susah2 tu tuhan bagi ilham. Kalau tak boleh ikut jalan ni, apa kata ikut jalan lagi satu. Jalan menuju nikmat Allah tu banyak. Semua baik tapi kadang-kadang ada yang lebih baik untuk kita."

"tak ada sesiapa yang tahu kehendak kita selain Allah. Kadang kita sendiri pon tak tahu apa kita nak, apatah lagi apa yang terbaik untuk kita. Be strong! Jangan sedih-sedih. Hidup ni memang penat tapi ini tanggungjawab. Tugas kita besar dekat bumi Allah ni. Memang kena telan je semua."

"Pasal speaking tu, it comes with practice and confident. Sebab kalau nak ikutkan, english you power dari I - vocab, grammar semua. just kena more practice & confident"

"I am sorry if my words upset you. My intention was good. I want you to more appreciate yourself & sangat setuju cakap mama dekat status FB -berhenti mengagumi & memuja kelebihan org lain, belajar terima & perbaiki diri sendiri. pandang yang indah & baik pada org lain. yang buruk akan keluar sendiri dek perbuatan mereka sendiri, nanti. I really love you and I want you to love yourself. Kadang-kadang I pon failed jugak untuk faham kenapa lah banyak sangat kurang diri ini tapi lama-lama kita akan belajar untuk terima kekurangan diri sendiri."

"I sangat-sangat kagum dengan you, boleh je terima kekurangan orang lain. Tapi macam mama you selalu advice, you need to love yourself ahead before aothers. Take time & love yourself. Jangan simpan apa-apa dalam hati. let it out, kalau tak jadi macam gunung berapi"

*****************

if others could be proud of who you are,

learn to appreciate yourself more.

Sustainable Sea Bass a la Meuniere with Crispy Potato Discs

Very briefly, before I proceed with today's recipe, I would firstly like to acknowledge the fact that this particular post is a bit of a special landmark...

Happy Birthday, "What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight!" It was on March 20th, 2009, that I created and first posted to this blog. The idea came about when I was pondering the question myself one night and I had little idea how it would develop...

Two years and more than two hundred posts down the line, I have loved every minute of working on this blog. I can scarcely believe myself the number of new friends it has directly helped me make around the world and how it has actually served as a learning process for me in so many ways. I very much look forward to many more years and posts to come in this wonderful, combination world of blogging and food.

I wanted to come up with something today that was a little bit special, appealing to a wide range of people, representative of one of my own favourite dishes and yet fairly simple to prepare. I gave it a little thought and decided to do this very different combination of fish and potatoes, so popular in the form of fish and chips. I also wanted to ensure that I took account of fish sustainability in the dish and decided to use fresh, sustainable sea bass fillets. I am using silver, European bass fillets but a sustainable equivalent will be available in most countries around the world.

Cooking fish a la Meuniere requires firstly that it be coated in flour and secondly that it be served with a sauce comprising browned butter, lemon juice and parsley. So many recipes of this type are overly complicated beyond belief and - in my eyes, at least - spoiled. I have therefore stuck to the literal principles while making the dish as simple as possible, to ensure it retains the delicious, natural flavours of the sea bass.

Ingredients per Person

2 small sea bass fillets
2 tbsp flour
Salt and black pepper
1 large potato
2 to 3oz of butter
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Juice of half a lemon
Accompanying vegetable of choice

Method

The potato discs should be started first. The potato should be peeled and sliced to a thickness of 1/4". The slices should be placed in a wire basket in a pot of cold water and on to the heat. When the water begins to boil, the heat should be reduced and the potatoes simmered for five minutes. They should be drained, cooled and refrigerated in a Tupperware dish for half an hour. After this time, they should be carefully dried in a clean tea towel and deep fried in sunflower oil for five minutes. Drain them on kitchen paper, cool and again refrigerate for half an hour.

One ounce of the butter should be melted in a large, non-stick frying pan. Please note that it is imperative that real butter be used here. Low fat, vegetable based substitutes are - however sadly - by no means suitable and will entirely spoil the finished dish.

The flour should be spread on a plate and seasoned. The bass fillets should be patted on the skin side only in the flour and laid in the frying pan, skin side down. The butter should be spooned occasionally over the flesh side and the fillets cooked for four to five minutes until done.

While the fillets are cooking, the potato slices should be fried again in the sunflower oil until crisp and golden. Any accompanying vegetable of choice will also require to be prepared.

The fillets of fish should be transferred to a heated plate and covered with tinfoil to stay warm. The remainder of the butter should be added to the pan and cooked on a fairly high heat. The lemon juice and parsley should be added for but a minute or two.

Drain the potatoes on fresh kitchen towel and plate with the vegetable. Drizzle the sauce over the fish and garnish the dish with more fresh parsley and a lemon segment if required.

Please remember, if you truly do care about fish sustainability and want to make a difference, there a great many ways in which you can help. Click on the link below for details, as well as lots more sustainable fish recipes.

Sustainable Fish and Seafood

Things That Make Me Smile

Here is an explanation of this series of posts.

Newcastle United soccer.
My daughter is on a club soccer team. Last year, as homework, she was asked to watch at least two World Cup games each week. We got hooked. We now subscribe to Foxsoccer.tv where we can see every English Premier League (EPL) game. They store the games and make them available for two weeks, so you can watch your favorite team play when it's convenient for you. I got to following Newcastle after consulting with an online friend of mine who is a big EPL fan. We decided on Newcastle because their colors are black and white, just like our Maximum Leader's.

Really, who else could we have chosen?

Recipe of the Week Blog Hop - Oat Waffles

Time to share your recipes for the week! I made a new blog hop button, so be sure to grab it and add it to your post. Please only link posts that are recipes, all other links will be deleted from the blog hop. It will be open until Tuesday night at 11:59pm!

The recipe I am sharing today is a homemade waffle recipe. I don't actually own a waffle maker, David's parents brought theirs over a couple of weeks ago for a Sunday brunch. I froze the left overs and we heated them up this morning for breakfast, still very good!

Oat Waffles

Recipe Source: All Recipes.com

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup oat flour*
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups fat-free milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Combine the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until combined. Pour batter by 1/2 cupfuls into a preheated waffle iron; bake according to manufacturer's directions until golden brown.

* 1-1/4 cups quick-cooking oats, processed in a blender or food processor until finely ground, may be substituted for the oat flour.

Enjoy!

This post is linked to:

What's Cooking Wednesday

Dr's Laura Tasty Tuesday
Delectable Tuesday

Classic French Potatoes au Gratin

S. Kenney- Classic French Potatoes Au Gratin

Isn't everyone always trying to make the perfect potatoes au gratin dish? Not too watery, not too dry, and crisped just right on top always seem to be 3 elements that make a great au gratin.

I tried this recipe to go along with my barbequed leg of lamb. Because what goes better with lamb than potatoes?! While the dish was delicious, what I really enjoyed was the new mandolin (sp?) that I purchased at the Williams Sonoma store in order to slice the potatoes. I'm sure those of you that follow my articles and know that I am taking cooking lessons at W&S are chuckling at the success factor of the store in supplying me with new cooking devices. I just seem to NEED many of their tools to perfect my craft (wink).

The new mandolin has now become essential to any future au gratin that I make. The perfectly cut 1/8" thick potato rounds were soft and creamy in the dish. I am always afraid to oversalt a dish but I would definitely add more salt to this dish. I would also throw in some chopped up bacon and add thyme to this au gratin as well. However, as a classic, the simplicity pairs nicely with something as aromatic as lamb.

This is the very simple potatos au gratin dish that was served to us at our friend's house in France on a recent trip. Often, the best cream, potatoes, and cheese make the simplest dishes the most delicious.

Classic French Potatoes Au Gratin:

2 lb. Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, peeled

3 cups whipping or heavy cream (I used half and half)

1 tsp. kosher salt (mine needed much more salt)

1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

3/4 cup finely shredded Gruyère, Emmental, or Comté

Heat the oven to 400°F. Using a very sharp knife or a mandoline, carefully cut the potatoes into 1/8-inch slices (no thicker).

(Again, I would add chopped bacon and perhaps some thyme to give this dish some more flavor but the simplicity without these additions is delicious)

Put the potatoes in a large heavy-based saucepan and add the cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat until the cream is boiling, stirring occasionally (very gently with a rubber spatula so you don't break up the slices).

When the cream boils, pour the mixture into a 2-1/2- or 3-qt. baking dish. If you don't want a tender but garlicky surprise mouthful, remove and discard the garlic cloves. Shake the dish a bit to let the slices settle and then sprinkle the surface with the cheese.

Bake in the hot oven until the top is deep golden brown, the cream has thickened, and the potatoes are extremely tender when pierced with a knife, about 40 minutes. Don't worry if the dish looks too liquidy at this point; it will set up as it cools a bit. Before serving, let the potatoes cool until they're very warm but not hot (at least 15 minutes) or serve them at room temperature. (Note: I made mine a day ahead of time. The next day, I actually microwaved the dish, then finished it off under the broiler because of the timing of all of my other dishes. If you do this, I would add a bit extra cream before warming the dish in the microwave.)

Well, They Were Just Going To Be Blown Up Anyway

With French jets raining death and destruction down on Gadhafi's tanks, it looks like he's making the wise choice and using them before they're all gone.

BENGHAZI, Libya—Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces Saturday penetrated deep into Benghazi and heavily shelled the rebel capital's residential neighborhoods, threatening to snuff out the month-old Libyan revolution...

Col. Gadhafi's forces, deployed some 100 miles south of Benghazi on Friday afternoon, launched a rapid two-pronged armor assault from the south and the west overnight, outflanking rebel defenses. By Saturday morning, regime tanks, some of which witnesses said were later disabled or captured by the rebels, reached a key bridge less than two miles from the rebel headquarters in a courthouse on Benghazi's Mediterranean corniche.

It seems to me that the no-fly zone puts the evolution of the situation into slow motion. Gadhafi would be best served to ruin as much of Benghazi as possible before the thing takes effect and all of his armor is destroyed. If he was really smart, he would wreck the power, sewage and water systems first. After that, the no-fly zone would work like a siege.

Here's another one for you. With both sides employing armed pickup trucks and the jets having no reliable spotters on the ground, how will they know who is who in the streets of Benghazi?

And another: who runs Benghazi? I mean, who provides essential services? Were the dudes in the water department Gadhafi loyalists who have been taken out and shot? Did they switch to the rebel side? Are there people left who know how to make things work or is the place devolving into pre-industrial conditions?

Without Allied ground forces to put a stop to the mutual slaughter, how is this going to end with anything other than a nasty and prolonged infantry war?