My Thanksgiving Menu - 2008

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is a holiday celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. In the United States, the Americans celebrated it on the fourth Thursday of November annually. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.

Being a Christian, there is a reason to celebrate the "Thanksgiving". It's a time for us acknowledge the goodness of God and His blessings to us, throughout the year. This is my third year celebrated it here. I just cook simple and the basic thanksgiving menu only as there were only three of us in the family. Below are my menus :

Main Dish : Turkey

John was trying to help, putting the stuffing inside the turkey..but unfortunately he gave up, so I have to finish the job.

Here the turkey is ready to be cook in the oven, after stuffed it with the stuffing, and securely seal the opening. Before putting it inside the oven, need to rub the turkey with the herbs.

Finally, it is cooked after 3½ hrs. Need to be patient.. haha

Side Dish :
1) Green Beans Casseroles


I bought the frozen green beans. Boil it for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and mix with the mushroom cream soup and fried onions. Then baked for 10 mins.


2) Stuffing :



3) Baked Sweet Potatoes :

Cubed the sweet potatoes and add some butter, maple syrup, a bit of ginger powder and cinnamon.

4) Cranberry Sauce :


Making cranberry sauce is very easy. Just add a little water to a pound of cranberries and add sugar. Then boil till the cranberries burst. Meanwhile stir till all burst.

This cranberry sauce is to be eaten with the turkey.

Desert : Pumpkin Pie

Putting the crust securely on the pie pan.

Putting the pumpkin mixture on the crust and ready to be baked.

It's cooked but there's a slight crack in the middle.

Dinner Time :

Proudly showing my menu for the day. Unfortunately, my stuffing didn't turn out that nice. Sorry, my table setting not perfect or grand. It's just a simple one.. for my family. No wine! We don't drink wine at dinner time.

Below, my husband cuffed the turkey meat.

Here is my share

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless!!!

Pork Chops with coca-cola and Tomato Ketchup

4 pork chops, 3/4 inch thick
2 tsps vegetables oil
1 can of coca-cola
2 cups of tomatoe ketchup

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chops.

Brown the meat on both sides.

Reduce heat to low and add the coco-cola to it.

Pour Tomato Ketchup over pork chops. Then mix well.

Cover pan and simmer. Cook pork chops 10 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

To serve, spoon glaze or each chop. Serve with baked beans, vegetables and mashed potatoes.

Kacang Ma

Kacang ma is very famous in Sarawak. Kacang ma is a type of herb which is also called Chinese motherwort (botanical name is Leonurus Sibiricus). It is thought to have originated from China and brought to Sarawak by the Hakka. It's a common dish among the Hakka people, but today it is consumed by other races too. It's one of my favourite dish now. My sister sent me some packages from Sarawak.

It has unique flavour and aroma, is known for its special medical properties. It is effective in improving blood circulation, cardiovascular system, inducing diuresis. It is usually cook with chicken but you can substitute pork for chicken.  Actually, it's especially good for women on confinement or best taking after menses.

Depends on how much you put kacang ma herbs and Chinese wine put, it would taste bitter for first timers. Normally I put salt because I didn't like the bitter taste of it. The longer you cook it, the tender and tastier your chicken would be.

To cook kacang ma, it is recommended to dry fry the kacang ma herbs first before add in other ingredients i.e chicken, ginger, Chinese white wine. This is to extract out the fragrance of the herbs and expedite the cooking process. Please see below the steps how to cook kacang ma.


Fry the kacang ma on the skillet without oil till lightly brown (as seen above picture).  Then, crush it in the pedestal till it is fine (as seen below). You can use strand to take out the bigger. Normally I don't.

Grind ginger and squeeze the liquid out.

Cut chickens to your liking and wash.

White cooking wine, which I bought from Hong Kong Mall.

First, heat the skillet or pan with 2 tablespoon of oil, add in the onions and garlic. Thereafter add the chicken.

Add the Kacang Ma

Stir till properly mix.. 

.Add the white wine.

Add the ginger. Some people either add ginger first then add the wine.

Cook till simmer. The longer you cook it, the tender it is and the better it taste.  However, don't over cook it.  I add a little bit of water because I like to eat more soup.

Walaaah... look yummy.  Happy Eating!!!!

Picking Mushroom

Picking mushroom, is enjoyable and fun, when it's season to do it. My friend Dorothy Schroder, who is married to a swedish man. They live in Sweden. Every year, they will go to pick wild mushrooms from the woods. However, one need to be aware what type of mushrooms you can pick, as not all mushrooms can be eaten. Some are poisonous and be deadly to us.  Dorothy is expert in doing this, as she has done this for few years already and she use the mushroom picking guide book. Look at the pictures below, how much they picked. She and another friend from Malaysia went to pick.

What a bountiful of mushroom you got there.. my dear. I wish I can also have some.. hehe.

Wow.. alot of mushroom. They are concentrating on what they got there... sorting out, may be.

Dorothy is showing off what she got there.

She is still sorting it. Very concentrate on her job.. hehe

A closer look at the mushrooms.

Mushroom already packed nicely in the plastic bags.

Car bonet full of plastic of mushrooms. Ready to go home. To cook and savour them.

How nice.

At home sorting out mushroom and cleaning them.

Slice mushroom to dry it for future use.

This is their second trip picking mushroom. Look like it's different type of mushroom they got there..

A little smaller than the previous one.

Her friend concentrating picking mushroom

Back at home sorting it again

Dorothy, you look so cool, sorting your mushrooms there again.. hehe

Are they dried already?

Please send some to me here.

Some Delicacies and Jungle Produce from Sarawak (Borneo), Malaysia

Now is fruit seasons in Sarawak and how I wish that I could eat all of these. I got these pictures from a close friend Dorothy Schroeder, she and her husband went for a holiday in Malaysia for the month of October 2008. So I decided to put them on my blog here.

When I was little girl I used to follow my parents or some folks at the village to collect the jungle fruits. How I missed all those. Below are some of the local fruits and foods that are available in my beloved land "The Land of the Hornbill" - Sarawak.

Wild Jack Fruit (Buah Nangka).

These are taste better than the Jack fruit. I think I like it better than Jack fruit. When I was little I used to follow my parents to go collect this wild fruit from the jungle. The fruit is smaller than Jack fruit. The seeds can be boiled and eat it. Very nice.

some more fruits.. hehehe.


Buah Tarap.

This is another kind of fruit that I like very much. It taste sweeter. Now my mouth drool...hehehe thinking about it.

Tarap is a tall tropical tree which is native to Southeastern Asia. It has large lobed leaves, and edible fruits which can weight up to a few pounds. The fruit of tarap is edible, oblong, about 12 in (20 cm) long, and can weight a few pounds. Its skin is covered with soft spines, and has an appearance to the jackfruit. Generally, the pulp can be eaten fresh and has a good aroma. Its seeds can also be eaten when roasted. It is reported that young fruits are sometimes eaten as a dish.

Durian (Stinky fruit).
Duri in Malay means thorn. So the durian derives from the word "duri".

It has unpleasant stench, however it's famous among the local in Malaysia. I think it's delicacies of the South East Asian countries. Foreigners from Europe, Australia and America doesn't like the smell. When we were kids at the village, we used to go wait for the durian to fall from the tree and we will race to get the fruit. So whoever fastest will get it... hehehe. but we divide it after that. Be aware that never stay under the durian tree when waiting for the fruit or else it will drop on you.. that's dangerous.

Wild Mangoes. (Buah Bambangan)

We called it buah alim in our native dialect of Kenyah. The inside is exactly the same as Mangoe's fruit. The skin is thicker than real mango and always has the same colour as above. Unlike real mango it will turn yellow when it's ripe.

Buah Kepayang

A kind of nut grown in Sarawak. I like this. The fruit is big and oval and has light brown skin as pictured below. Each fruit have about 20-30 nut shells inside it. When the fruit riped from the trees, we let the fruit rotten and we only collect the nuts. The nuts need to be boil and open to extract the nuts from it. As the nuts are poisonous, it needs to be soaked in water for few days and the water need to be changed every day under running water. The old method in the village, our parents used to put the nuts in a kind of basket and tie it safely and hang it at the end of boat in the river. After few days i.e. 2 days they will get it. Then it's safe to eat. We pound the nuts and wrap in a leave and bake it on the top of fire... hehehe.. (it's complicated to tell here). You can slice it thinly and fry it with some pork meat or anchovies.. and chillies... em... yummy.

Another Nuts..... which one of my favourite. Below is how the fruit look like.

The Kenyah people called this "Mali". When it's ripe it turned pink (as seen above). When it's not ripe, don't ever try it coz it will coz your lips get itchy and you might get sore lips.

Coconut water... to cool you down on a Hot day.

Rambutan (red) and Langsat (yellow)

Some ferns, bananas, Lemon grasses

Jungle produce (local veges of the natives of Sarawak (Daun Sabung, Ferns etc.)

More jungle produce : Water spinach, Cassava leaves and some ferns. All organic, no fertilizer

Native Market (Tamu) in Miri.

Some local foods sold at the market.

Tamu at Pujut. Varieties of fruits, vegetables sold.

Buah Rambutan and limes.

More local produce sold at native market.

Oranges

Special (ABC)

Chendol

Rojak

Variety of Donuts

"Lemang".
Glutinous Rice cooked in the Bamboo (see below). The rice first of all soaked few hours and then drain. Thereafter you add some salt and coconut milk together. Cook above hot burning fire or charcoal.

Satay

Some delicious foods served in the Restaurant.. hehehe... during my friend's husband birthday.

Look so yummy