Doesn't this sound so familiar?

I have been watching Netflix's Jessica Jones. It is good. But I am more curious about the theme song. It sounds so very familiar. I think it kind of resembles some old spy or some dark hero cartoon. I don't know. I even thought of Pink Panther's theme which it does have some resemblance.   I don't know. Let me know if you have any idea.

pearlie

Such a busy day

I was out at church today at 9:30am till 6:30pm when I finished a sectional practice for The Messiah in another church. And it's going to be like this for the next few Sundays. 

pearlie

Dessert in just 10 minutes

I am happy that my cooking project is indeed coming along very well. I am no great cook and I only make really simple food for two or three. But so far I am happy and so is my husband and son.

I have not really ventured into that many recipes yet. And I was once told that any regular home cook, not the Master Chef kind, would only cook around ten of the same dishes. Maybe more now I don't know.

After having dinner which I made, I wanted some dessert. The tub of ice cream I picked up from the store was gone. My son must have got to it. I then remembered I have seen some microwave mug cake recipes. Ok, I am a bit slow to the scene but I thought that was a brilliant idea. 

I found this recipe in Ricardo Cuisine for a Moist Chocolate Cake in a Cup. I must say it's nothing like a real piece of cake hot from the oven but with just 5 minutes of preparation, 45 seconds of cooking and 5 minutes of standing time, it is an excellent dessert, spongy and chocolaty. I only wished I had some whipped cream to go with it.  I am certainly adding it into my groceries list for my get next trip to the store. 

pearlie

P/S 28 Mar 2016: I tried this other recipe and it's way better: The Moistest Chocolate Mug Cake. This is definitely a keeper. I did not have chocolate spread and used bits of a milk chocolate bar. Yummmmy...

Lord, teach us to love

CG was cancelled today but I have prepared for bible study on love in 1 Cor 13. I have looked up the Chinese character for love and saw that it can actually be a summary of 1 Cor 13! 

Love in Mandarin in traditional Chinese is 愛 (ài). The parts of "爫" and "夂" both mean actions. "心 (xīn)" means heart. Isn't it clear then that all our actions mean nothing if it is not from the heart, which sits right in the center of it all.  

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love." 

(1 Cor 13:1-7, The Message)

Our Father in heaven, you have said that of faith, hope and love, the greatest of these is love. Faith will become sight and hope will see realization when we finally meet you. Only love will last forever and forever. Help us grow and mature in love in the way you have taught us.

"Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

(1 Cor 13:4-13, The Message)

Amen

pearlie

Food processor or Chopper

I am getting along with my project to get back to cooking. I wanted to upgrade on my kitchen appliances and get a kitchen processor. Or should I just get a chopper instead. 

I did some research both in Google and by asking my friends. The feedback I got was that the kitchen processor is usually only used for the first few times and then avoided like a plague because cleaning and washing it is an absolute hassle. It then dawned on me that it was exactly what happened with my unit when I first got it many years ago. It just wasn't worth the effort if I just want to chop some garlic or onions, which is what I usually need to do. 

With that, I decided to just get a chopper. I redeemed  this Lebensstil unit using my credit card points and I used it for the first time this evening. It was easy to use, to wash and clean. I knew made the right choice. 

The next item to get is a mandolin slicer. I believe it will be much easier to use and more effective than a kitchen processor. But they are hard to find. The unit I found near my office sold by a culinary university appliance store cost more than RM1000! I will be hunting around for a much, much cheaper unit. 

pearlie

The still small voice

It has been awhile since I've settled down to read a book. There is just too many things happening at the moment that I could not find the time and when I do, I am just too exhausted.

I am still reading Dallas Willard's Hearing God but I have begun to love and appreciate Proverbs 20:27, and what Willard wrote about the still small voice, being one of the ways how God speaks to us. He said,

The final means through which God addresses us is our own spirits—our own thoughts and feelings toward ourselves as well as toward events and people around us. This, I believe, is the primary subjective way that God addresses us. Of all the ways in which a message comes from within the experience of the person addressed (such as dreams and visions or other mental states), the form of one’s own thoughts and attendant feelings is the most common path for hearing God for those who are living in harmony with God. Of all the possible subjective routes, this mode is best suited to the redemptive purposes of God because, once again, it most engages the faculties of free, intelligent beings involved in the work of God as his colaborers and friends.

Thus the familiar King James Version of Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” This is possibly better put in the Jerusalem Bible: “Man’s spirit is the lamp of Yahweh, searching his deepest self.”

In a passage of great importance to our exploration here, the apostle Paul makes a comparison between humans and God regarding self-knowledge: “For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:11). Paul then points out that we have received the Spirit of God and concludes that we can therefore search out and know the very mind of God by means of his Spirit—in contrast to the proverb quoted earlier, which emphasizes the Lord’s use of our spirit. After quoting the question from Isaiah 40:13, “Who has directed the spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him?” the apostle replies, “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16).

So God uses our self-knowledge or self-awareness, which is heightened and given a special quality by his presence and direction, to search us out and reveal to us the truth about ourselves and our world. And we are able to use his knowledge of himself—made available to us in Christ and the Scriptures—to understand in some measure his thoughts and intentions toward us and to help us see his workings in our world.

pearlie
Source: Dallas Willard, Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, IVP, 2012.

Mobile Phone Nostalgia

Do you remember the first ever mobile phone you owned?

I was using Nokia phones starting with the big bright yellow one until I had my then favourite Sony Ericsson W850i. I'm now a die-hard Apple fan. But looking at the pictures made me miss my W850i. I really liked that phone. 

I once blogged about my PDA/Device Nostalgia, and here's my Mobile Phone Nostalgia.

Nokia 5110 (1998)

Nokia 8310 (2001)

Nokia 6680 (2005)

Sony Ericsson W850i (2007)

iPhone 3G (2009)

Blackberry Bold 9700 (2009)

iPhone 4 (2011)

iPhone 4S (2012)

iPhone 5S (2013)

iPhone 6S (2016)

pearlie

I finally have an island in my kitchen

I have a small kitchen but I have been wishing for a kitchen island for the longest time all the while thinking I need a contractor to build one. My husband was watching a cooking documentary on Netflix yesterday afternoon when it suddenly dawned on me that I could get a simple small one from Ikea. 

I like to do things the moment I think about them if possible and so off I went to Ikea right there and then. 

IKEA Olofstorp Storage Island with Expandable Top

I am very happy to have found the Olofstorp Storage Island. It was not listed in the IKEA app. I only found it when I got there, which was good because unlike the other models, this is just the right size for my kitchen. With the expandable top, it is narrow and long - perfect for my smallish kitchen. And it looks rustic too, just my type. 

I spent three hours assembling it yesterday evening, all on my own, until I needed help to tighten 28 screws that was too tight for my already red and sore hands. I then passed it on to my husband. The island is still standing in the lounge where I was assembling it. He has yet to complete it. I hope to go home today with it in the kitchen. 

pearlie

God Tests, God Provides

God Tests, God Provides ~ Genesis 22:1-14

by Rev DS Ling Shiang Ming

I returned to my family church for service today. We have not been here as a family for almost 9 years! It was good to be back.

This is my second attempt at Sermon Sketchnotes. I'm again quite pleased with it. Other than enabling me to view the sermon as a whole in its main points, the best thing for me is that it really helped me listen so much more attentively than before, even better when I was just taking notes. 

pearlie

You are always my baby

It is someone special's birthday today but he would not allow me to post pictures of him anymore. What I can do though is to put up some of the older pictures I've posted before. Happy birthday dear.

He did this during one Mother's Day. 

This was what I made in helping him with his school project many years ago - a papermache cave. The school did not return it to us but used it as a showpiece. It might still be there even now!

This was what he drew when he was being creative...

...and this was what he drew when he was being cheeky - a picture of me. 

pearlie

Prayer for the lesser, forgotten, overlooked and misjudged

We studied 1 Cor 12 during bible study in CG today and discussed about the lesser of the body being more honored and adorned. With that I found this lovely prayer from www.lords-prayer-words.com. I am sure everyone of us would at one time or another became the least, was forgotten, was overlooked and misjudged. And we know there are those who are even more so. Let's pray and seek God for his grace and mercy.

Lord God,
You came to give honour to the least, those forgotten, overlooked and misjudged.
You came to give first place to the last, those left behind, misunderstood and undervalued.
You came to give a warm welcome to the lost, those who are orphaned, abandoned and destitute. 

Help us to be your ears to listen to their cries.
Help us to be your voice speaking out love and acceptance.
Help us to be your feet walking beside those in need.
Help us to be your hands to clothe, feed and shelter them.
You came for the least, the lost and last of this world.
Lord, hear our prayer.

Amen.

pearlie

Why I Stopped Saying "I'll Pray For You"

I noticed an email from Faithgateway Today with the subject Why I Stopped Saying "I'll Pray For You". I was drawn to it because that was exactly what I've done over the past year. I've stopped saying that too. 

Why?

Because I will forget to do it and ended up feeling guilty about it. So what I do instead is to say that I'm praying and immediately pray for the person. And with the prayer requests these days that are usually in text message form, I will sometimes even text a prayer over. 

If all the prayers that were promised were actually prayed, this would be a different world by now. — John Eldredge from Moving Mountains

Check it out here for more. 

pearlie 

Building Lifts Bell and The Messiah

I have been taking time to listen to the choruses to get prepared for The Messiah presentation on 18 & 19 March. We are running short of time. So I listen to them as much as I can, particularly during my commute to work.

Anyway something amusing happened this morning. I parked my car and walked to the lift. When the lift bell sounded, I started singing, "And with His stripes we are healed". It has exactly the same two notes to the start of the song, a mi and a re. I kept singing the first line in every floor it stopped. 

Probably now I'll be singing that song everyday as I use the building lifts. It's alright. It's a good song, with good words. 


pearlie

A Simple and Clean New Look

I can't remember when I last changed the look of my blog. I thought maybe 5 years ago, and I was right. I last changed it on 3 Feb 2010, which is quite a long time ago. I was looking for something clean and simple, minimalist, and found this template I thought quite attractive, though I had to fix it a bit here and there. 

I am very happy with the new look, though it still needs some tweaking.

pearlie

Recipe Managers

Things have certainly changed since I was last active in the kitchen. Anyway, it's not that I've stopped cooking. I've just stopped experimenting and being creative, and as a result I cook only when I have to. But I've definitely stopped baking. 

Now that I'm getting myself back into the kitchen. I'm beginning to update myself both in kitchen gadgets and technological tools as well. 

Back then, I was in love with this app called the PDACookbook Plus. Looking at this screenshot certainly bring back many good memories. I was collecting recipes then by printing them out and filing them. But I soon moved onto a digital manager with this app in my Palm devices and found it really useful. Well, I've moved on from my PDAs a long time ago and this app is no longer being supported. I found out though that they have a new app called the PDACookbook LIVE, but with a high price tag of $11.99. 

I have gotten this app instead, the Paprika Recipe Manager, for $4.99. I have been filling it with recipes in the last couple of hours and here's a screenshot of it. I have not used it in the kitchen yet. I was using the free ChefTap but I was having problems when I want to clip recipes from the web. I must say though that when it works, it actually works better than Paprika. But I'm liking it a lot, what more with the plethora of recipes now available online. It's like having a cookbook with the most gorgeous looking food. 

Looking again at my TNT (tried-and-true) recipes, I am certainly feeling motivated again to make them. I'm off to the kitchen now to roast some chicken wings. 

pearlie 

Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Wings

I made these again yesterday. The first time I made them, I only happen to have these ingredients on hand and used them for the marinade. I did not even marinate them for long. I simply doused them in sauce with a bit of brown sugar and put them in the air fryer. 

Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Wings
Cook 12 min ∙ Makes 2 servings

INGREDIENTS
4 - 6 chicken wings
1 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 tbsp brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
1. Marinate chicken in oyster sauce, soya sauce and brown sugar. (You could marinate it for a longer time or even over night. I only did it for about 20 minutes.)
2. Air fry it at 200 degrees C for 12 minutes. If you use a double rack, remove wings from the top rack and air fry the wings on the bottom for another 2 minutes or until they brown nicely.
3. Serve hot. I had them with Nando's Garlic Peri Peri Sauce. Yummy!

I used the like the BBQ wings from these stalls but I soon found them too sweet and I think it is the thick black sauce and honey that give it its distinct taste. 

I eventually gave up liking wings because I can't find good ones. Now I have this. Now I need to stock them in the freezer and pop them in the air fryer whenever I feel like having some. 

pearlie 

My current favourite grocer

I am getting along in my Project #1 Back to the Kitchen.  I've been going to Jaya Grocer in Empire Shopping Gallery and it has become my favourite place. I can get almost anything I need there.

pearlie

7 years in Facebook but...

I'm not a social butterfly and so social media didn't really appeal much to me. I got into Facebook in year 2007 but I was not active. I have even considered deleting my account recently but decided against it because it still remains as the only line of connection to my friends whom I've reconnected through Facebook.

But I have recently connected my blog to it. I know I have to move on with the times. Blogging has already lost its momentum but I still like to write. Therefore, I thought I had better linked them both up so to at least bring some life to my blog. And so far it has been good. Thanks to y'all who have been visiting me here at my blog. 

The more interesting thing is this: I have suddenly become quite active in Facebook. And I can see how it can really be so addictive. I like the variety of stuff and information that gets posted. I like that I can keep abreast with my friends. 

Of course I know all this before. It's just that I didn't want to spend my time to get stuck in it. But now that my daily blog posts get automatically posted in Facebook, I got sucked in as a result. 

I won't say it's a bad thing though. But I do need to be doing it only in moderation. 

pearlie 

Lunch at Sek Yuen, Jalan Pudu

My colleagues and I decided to drive out for lunch today and we went to Sek Yuen in Jalan Pudu. This is a very interesting place. They started business in 1948 and they are still using their original building. It's really old and rustic.

The place was really busy for lunch today, being the 4th day of CNY. I am not sure if it is just as busy on regular days

This is my 6th time having yee sang this CNY, and it is really good. The one I have yesterday was so bad that I am very happy with this. The good thing about Sek Yuen's yee sang is that it consist mostly of freshly julienne vegetables.

Steamed Chicken

Beancurd with Soy Sauce and Spring Onions

Oh, this is the yummiest roast duck I have ever tasted. It was hot straight out of the oven, crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. They made a mistake and served this really late, after we have finished all the other dishes. But it makes a very, very satisfying close to the meal. You should have seen the contented looks on our faces.

And here's where the ducks are hung to dry before going into the oven. Well, the kitchen, food preparation area and surroundings are not pleasing to the eye. So what you need to do is to just walk past without looking!

pearlie

Philosophy and Film

I thought I have enough of online courses after taking so many at the end of last year, but I found this I couldn't pass up: Philosophy and Film.

Since I love watching movies and I'm currently interested in the subject of philosophy, I quickly signed up.

It will be a 6-week course that examines several philosophical issues through the medium of film. It does not view film as merely entertainment but culture that is distilled into artistic works created to reflect both who we are and what we want to be. It will look into exploring thinkers such as Aristotle, Marx, and Kant; issues such as “Who am I?”, “What is the good life?” and “What is the role of government?”

There are 6 films to watch with its corresponding theme:

Inception (2010)
Nozick, Strawson, and Nagel: The Experience Machine and Free Will

The Birds (1963)
Sigmund Freud: Psychology and Desire

Match Point (2005)
David Hume: Ethical Subjectivism and Moral Luck

District 9 (2009)
Immanuel Kant: People aren't Objects - The Categorical Imperative

The Hunger Games (2012)
Karl Marx: Exploitation and Alienation

Groundhog Day (1993)
Aristotle: Happiness

I have not watched The Birds, District 9 and Groundhog Day. This is going to be fun.

pearlie

I survived on just 20 sen a day back in my primary school days

I was out lunch with my parents this afternoon and we spent RM177 on what I thought was just a very simple meal. Yes, we did have yee sang and even if I deduct it from the bill, it will still come up to a steep RM120 for a plate of spinach, pork roll with cold jellyfish and glutinous rice with cured meat.

Food prices has gone up so much. We used to just pay RM2.50 for a bowl of noodle soup. Now you can't get anything good for less than RM7. 

And I still remember the time when my mom just gave me 20 sen each day for school. I would spend 10 sen for a small plate of plain assam laksa, 5 sen for a glass of cordial and the remaining 5 sen for a snack.

Now you could easily spend up to RM20 on a meal.

pearlie 

Netflix? So disappointing

Netflix was just recently made available to us here in Malaysia and since I have already signed up for iflix free for a year, I thought I'd register Netflix's free one-month during the CNY break, which I just did. 

Verdict? It's disappointing. 

I was surprisingly quite impressed with iflix given that I was being told that it doesn't offer much - mostly older movies and not the latest seasons of TV shows. And so my expectations on Netflix was high. It was disappointing however because its selection was really, really limited. Even iflix has Mr. Robot, Criminal Minds, Scandal, The Good Wife and The Big Bang Theory. Netflix does not. 

And I really thought I could watch anything in Netflix.

pearlie

My First Attempt at Live Sermon SketchNotes

Christianity and Culture: compatible or incongruent? (Colossians 2:6-23)
~ Pastor Phillips Koh

This is my first attempt in sketching sermon notes. It's not great but I really had fun. And contrary to what I thought, it actually helped me keep better attention on the sermon. I did not drift (mentioning it means I usually do!) It also helped me understand and remember it better.

I'll count this as a one up for my Project #3 Take Sketch Notes Though I'm Definitely No Artist.

pearlie

My CNY Song: 上帝的兒女何等有福

在壓力中仍能平靜， 

zai ya li zhong reng neng ping jing 

(in times of stress still be at peace) 

在忙碌中仍能悠閑， 

zai mang lu zhong reng neng you xian 

(in busyness of life there is release) 

在失敗中仍能歡笑， 

zai shi bai zhong reng neng huan xiao 

(in times of failure there is still joy) 

在逼迫中仍能屹立， 

zai bi po zhong reng neng yi li 

(in persecution we still stand strong) 

上帝的兒女何等有福， 

shang di de er nu he deng you fu 

(Children of God, how blessed you are) 

有福，有福， 

you fu, you fu 

(how blessed, how blessed) 

上帝的兒女何等有福， 

shang di de er nu he deng you fu 

(Children of God, how blessed you are) 

有福，有福， 

you fu, you fu 

(how blessed, how blessed) 

上帝的兒女何等有福， 

shang di de er nu he deng you fu 

(Children of God, how blessed you are) 

 

在絕望中仍有盼望， 

zai jue wang zhong reng you pan wang 

(in deperate times hope still sustains) 

在冷漠中仍有關懷， 

zai leng mo zhong reng you guan huai 

(in loneliness His love remains) 

在困境中仍有出路， 

zai kun jing zhong reng you chu lu 

(in times of struggle we find a door) 

在死亡中仍有生命， 

zai si wang zhong reng you sheng 

ming 

(in times of death there is life) 

上帝的兒女何等有福， 

shang di de er nu he deng you fu 

(Children of God, how blessed you are) 

有福，有福， 

you fu, you fu 

(how blessed, how blessed) 

上帝的兒女何等有福， 

shang di de er nu he deng you fu 

(Children of God, how blessed you are) 

有福，有福， 

you fu, you fu 

(how blessed, how blessed) 

上帝的兒女何等有福， 

shang di de er nu he deng you fu 

(Children of God, how blessed you are) 

 

pearlie

Yee Sang at Di Wei Chinese Restaurant

My mom wanted to have yee sang today (even though it's not Chinese New Year yet, restaurants are already serving it). My son and I wanted to go to Jaya Grocer at Empire Shopping Gallery. And so we decided to have dinner here, in Di Wei Chinese Restaurant.  

The yee sang and food here was so good that my mom decided to have our pre-CNY eve dinner here tomorrow. Why "pre", it's a long story. Suffice to say that I'm glad we are having Chinese for our CNY tuen yuen fan rather than Japanese as per my brother's plan. 

pearlie

The Profundity of Sadness

I don't feel too well lately, both physically and emotionally. Nothing to it though, just the periodic ailment I get once in awhile. I found these quotations quite profound nonetheless. 

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness. 

~ Jonathan Safran Foer

The longer and more carefully we look at a funny story, the sadder it becomes.

~ Nikolai Gogol

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

~ Oscar Wilde

There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.

~ Nicholas Sparks

I do not believe anyone can be perfectly well, who has a brain and a heart

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

pearlie

A Thousand Words #183

pearlie

Roast Chicken with Two Lemons

This is my all-time favorite roast chicken recipe - Marcella Hazan's Roast Chicken with Two Lemons. 

When I was researching the air fryer before buying it, I found that it can actually roast a chicken. And so I have been looking forward to trying out this recipe in my air fryer. The trick though is that the air fryer I bought isn't too big and so I could only fit in a small chicken and one lemon. The results was spectacular. The skin was delightfully crispy, meat succulent and drippings flavorful. 

And it's the simplest roast chicken recipe ever. All I did was to rub the entire chicken inside and out with lots of salt and black pepper. Then press the lemon on the table and roll it firmly to release its juice within. Poke the lemon with many holes with a toothpick and pop it into the chicken cavity. Seal the chicken with a toothpick and put it into the air fryer. Cook it for 45 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Turn the chicken over and cook it for another 15 minutes. Serve hot.

My husband loved it. He even said it was better than Nando's, our favorite roast chicken! I'm so pleased. 

Here's the recipe for the conventional oven. 

Marcella Hazan’s Roast Chicken With Lemons
Cook 2 hr ∙ Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
3 to 4-pound chicken
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 rather small lemons

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out. Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose. Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it. Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels.
3. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.
4. Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel. Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand. Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.
5. Place both lemons in the bird's cavity. Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string. Close it well, but don't make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst. Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends. Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight. If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.
6. Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down. Do not add cooking fat of any kind. This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan. Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up. When turning it, try not to puncture the skin. If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later. Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.
7. Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 400 degrees, and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound. There is no need to turn the chicken again.
8. Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened. The juices that run out are perfectly delicious. Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices. The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.

NUTRITIONAL INFO
859 calories; 59 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 24 grams monounsaturated fat; 12 grams polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 74 grams protein; 297 milligrams cholesterol; 859 milligrams sodium

pearlie

Trying out being crafty to being booksy

I said yesterday that I'm getting behind in my reading. That is true but I have been thinking about getting into crafts this year and that means I will have to cut down on my reading. I won't have time for both. 

I've posted two days ago that I need to get back to cooking and that will be my Project #1 Back to the Kitchen. 

My second will be Project #2 Start to Knit Again. I came across an article several weeks ago that people who knit are happier people.  I've knitted once a really long time ago. And I remember it was quite therapeutic for me. It will also be a memorial for my late grandmother who taught me that first time. I have been missing her lately. I just went to a knitting supply store nearby and found out that this is going to be one expensive hobby. A ball of yarn actually cost as much as RM40. To make a scarf of a decent size would require 10 balls of yarn and that will cost me up to RM400. It's crazy! So I bought a much, much cheaper range just to try it out. And if I like it, I will then invest in the more expensive kind. 

I found this photo in Kar Yong's Facebook, and I thought what an amazing piece of work by Claire Khoo. It's a live sketch and I thought it an excellent way for retention and for taking notes. I want to try it out and so this will be my Project #3 Take Sketch Notes Though I'm Definitely No Artist. 

Okay, having three new projects is definitely being too ambitious but let's see how it goes in the next couple of months, shall we?

pearlie