My favourite stir fy recipe of all time - black pepper beef!

 The reason why I am starting on this first post, it's just so it's easier reference point for me to refer to a recipe I enjoy using! 😄

So here it goes..

First attempt of stir fried black pepper beef.

I first tried cooking this dish in April, when Circuit Breaker started and there was practically no restaurants open for dine in. This had always been my go-to dish at Ichiban Sushi (an affordable causal-dining Japanese restaurant) - sizzling black pepper beef. 

So I looked up the recipe and tried my hands at it, the first one was a little too salty, so was the second. So along the way, I tweaked the ratios and the recent one just yesterday (or was it the day before) was really good! 😁

So to ease my search every single time I cook this, I’m putting it here for sharing, and also my own reference. 😆

Serves: 3 (or 2 very hungry people)

Time: 15 mins for prep (excluding marinating time), 15 mins to cook

Ingredients:

1. 200g to 250g of sliced beef (I cheated and bought the one ready for stir fry at NTUC (our local supermarket))

2. 1 small yellow pepper

3. 1 small green pepper (why not red coz whoever I cooked for does not fancy the reds 🤣)

4. 1 small round cabbage

Misc en place:

1. Marinate the beef with some corn starch (to make it smooth when cooking), some light soya sauce, sesame oil and hua diao jiu (Chinese Shaoxing wine used for cooking). I say some coz I never measure them, it’s always been by gut-feel, a very Chinese thing. 🤣

2. Sit the beef for at least 10 mins, but of course if you can sit it for a couple of hours, even better. 

3. Julienne or dice the peppers. For dicing, dice them into slightly larger cuts. Set aside.

4. Use about 5 to 6 leaves of the cabbage, rinse and slice them thinly, think Japanese Tonkatsu cabbage style. 

5. Blanch the cabbage for about 2 mins in a pot of boiling water with some salt. Set aside and cool. 

Sauce/Gravy:

1. 31/2 tablespoons of light soya sauce

2. 1 teaspoon sugar

3. 1 teaspoon corn starch

4. 5 tablespoons of water

5. A dash of Hua Diao Jiu (about a capful)

6. 11/2 tablespoons of grounded black pepper

Misc en place:

1. Mix items 1 to 5 in a bowl for prep. 

2. You can add in some grounded black pepper to the mix, but I recommend not to as it tends to stick to the bowl, rather than into the wok later. 

Cook:

1. Heat up a wok with some oil. 

2. Pour in the marinated beef and do a quick stir fry till the beef is about 70% to 80% cooked.

3. Remove the cooked beef from the wok. 

4. Using the remaing oil (if any), add in a little more, and pour in the cut peppers. 

5. Stir fry under low heat till peppers have a slight sheen to them and the skins are a little darkened/browned. 

6. Without removing the peppers from the wok, pour in the beef and do a quick fry for about 30 seconds.

7. Add in the pre-mixed sauce/gravy TABLESPOON BY TABLESPOON to prevent it from thickening too quickly. 

8. When it reaches the consistency you want, add in the grounded black pepper. (I enjoy a little more gravy with my beef, so I will add in another 2 tablespoons of water with the black pepper.)

9. Let it simmer for about 1 min.

10. Line a clean plate/bowl with the cabbage (you can pour it into the wok and do a quick stir too). 

11. Remove the cooked items from the wok and pour it over the cabbage.  

And ta-da! Dinner (or lunch) is ready!

When I can’t travel..

It’s been a crazy 2020.. Initially I wanted to use the year to document the travels from previous trips and the coming trips. Who knew that Covid-19 had other plans? 🤷🏻‍♀️

So instead of the #moleonthetoe.. It was pretty much a cooped at home working (which I have been doing since March!) and with the initial lockdown in Singapore, it was just heading out on weekends for groceries and cooking for the rest of the weekdays and the cycle continues. 

I’ve known how to cook all these years, just that I prefer eating over cooking. Such a pig eh! 😂 

Back in school, it was Food and Nutrition in the secondary school years (or high school as some know it as), and I took up the course of Hospitality in polytechnic (tiertiary) and so cooking was part of the modules I had to go through. So with the lockdown, never fear, Yix to the rescue! 

A little late in the year to start documenting down my cooking adventures, but as the saying goes, better late than never! Inspired by many homecooks, I shamelessly learnt from their recipes and tried to make them better. 🙈 

I’m definitely more active on Facebook and Instagram and I share my recipes with the photos, but it’s getting difficult to search back those, and that’s when it struck me - Foodie goes Travelling. I can’t travel this year (and probably even the next), but hey! A foodie can also be someone who cooks right? 😆 So here we go on a new adventure of cooking and good food around Singapore! ❤️

It’s been a while!

It has been a long while. 31/2 years since my last post here. 

I went for my sabbatical 3 years ago.. Visited many other places (both old and new). 

Came back from my first ever Melbourne trip a couple of days back and still wanna stay offline for a bit. 😁 The joke about Melbourne was that even before I flew out, I bought a ticket to Melbourne for 2020. 😂

You know how sometimes you just know? That gut feel and all? I went Melbourne and I love it! It’s been a while since I had such feels about a place. 

And in 2018 and 2019 I left footprints in many places. And looking back, nothing of regrets. Here’s to a great 2020 (with me surviving work).. 🤪 

Counting down to April for my first trip, May/June for my diving one, August for a quick getaway, September/October for Melbourne again, and to round up the year, December to where my love for diving started. ❤️

Let’s go!

Sabbatical homework continues...

Back in 2015. In Saint Petersburg. Russia.

Here I am again. Been close to a month and finally over the past 2 weeks I had more progress in booking my accommodations and planning my itinerary. Hahaha.

Let's see what have I gotten so far after Netherlands and Paris:

Saint Petersburg - S$35 (4 nights)

Petrozavodsk - S$25 (2 nights)

Murmansk - S$31 (3 nights)

Moscow - S$60.15 (2 nights)

My main motivation to Russia. Saint Basil's Catheral in Moscow.

And the reason why Moscow is so expensive was coz the silly me didn't look carefully at the dates before confirming my booking. If not. The price for 2 nights' stay would have been S$39 only. :( Super upset with myself for my carelessness!

Petrozavodsk is just a quick stop as I want to head to Kizhi to see the 1714 Transfiguration Church!

Anyways. I've decided to do a day trip to Luxembourg from Belgium and save on accommodation. Reason? The accommodation for a 2 star hotel is at S$92 per night. Way out of my budget! And the best part? There are 2 Michelin restaurants there that I am debating of trying.. But cost and reservations are a concern. Ah well. I'll see how it goes!

And coz I'm not staying in Luxembourg. I want to make full use of my Eurail pass. So. I think I will splurge a little more in France (since I'm quite certain it's going to be a time visit and a strike off my list). I'm going to stay on a vineyard! :D Yes. It's gonna cost my way more than my usual stays. But I guess it's a once in a lifetime thing. Hahaha!

So this's just a quick update while I continue scourging for cheap domestic flights in Russia and places to stay in the province of Champagne! :D

Surprise in my mailbox! :)

My Eurail surprise!

I didn't really have time to sit down and plan. So I did the next best thing - planning my trip on the go.

I have long bus rides to work (about an hour per way daily) and I started making use of whatever little time I could. Expedia. Agoda. Airbnb. Skyscanner. TripAdvisor and Google became my companions.

I signed up for Expedia many years ago when I was in school coz of a project we had to research on. And it came in handy when I had members' deal and I booked my accommodation for Netherlands through it. So in Netherlands I'm gonna stay in a hostel that costs S$18.24 per night.

Wanted to stay at an Airbnb in Paris and contacted a host but it was too far ahead and he was not able to confirm. :( So I saw an insider deal in Agoda and booked a hostel stay instead! (And this set me back S$35.63 per night.) 2 accommodations down!

There was also a summer offer for Eurail on the Benulax-France journey - 4 + 1 free travel day (S$416.03) So I bought it too! And it was delivered in my mailbox yesterday night! So exciting!

Now waiting for Luxembourg accommodations' offer. While making plans if I should visit Saint Petersburg first or Murmansk. Before heading to Moscow..

Ah.. But before that I think it's time for a little nap on the bus and hope inspiration strikes! :)

Whiling away the afternoon..

A cuppa.. And my Lonely Planet. 

As I spent this afternoon holed up in a cafe called Alley No. 5 in Malacca. Malaysia. Random thoughts just flashed past my mind. 

Malacca is a city that I used to be so familiar with that I'll do a yearly 'pilgrimage' up from Singapore. And I always used to stick to the same old Jonker Street and after a while.. Without thinking. I could tell you how to walk and where are some of the places worth stopping by for food. 

But my notion of Malacca being an easy place to walk around vanished 2 years ago when I met Gus. My Airbnb host. He has been based in Malacca since 2010 and there are places where only locals go but he'll show us around too. 

I got to know Malacca better. From a local stand point. And since then.. Malacca has changed. I see how the locals are proud of their culture. Their roots. Of how their daily lives are and their jobs and roles in this little tourist-drawing city. 

This year.. This trip marks my 3rd. My first alone.

The places I went with Gus today were places I never knew.. Never been. Lest the weekly market behind his Airbnb and this cafe I was at this afternoon. 

I enjoy how friendly I've become with the locals. How we became friends and keep track of each other's lives via social media. :) 

Like at Alley No. 5. Oren. The owner/barista. He saw me fishing out a book from my bag and he went like 'Doing your 'homework' for Russia ah?' Or when his older brother Yalu walked past and asked me 'You're back? Alone?' And proceeded to talk to me about Gus other Airbnb like we've known each other for ages (which we ain't.. I only got to know him better this year.) 

And when another of their friend came over for a drink. We were chatting across the different tables and just whiling the afternoon away. 

It's a simple lifestyle. A simple trip up Malacca. But what made it all so special are the friends I've made here that makes me come back so much more often. 

Travelling to familiar places never cease to amaze me each time I go back. And that's probably the magic of travelling. <3

It's been a while..

My Trans-Siberian book I bought this year.. With the Russia travel guide a friend gave me. 

It's been a long while since I'm here blogging. I think stopped somewhere after closing down that page I had. Hmmmz. 

So what made me come back? Coz as I was researching on my Trans-Siberian trip next year. I realized there's not a lot of information on the trip and the planning. I'm not talking about the typical tour group trips. But rather. The DIY kind trip. I've only found a good webpage (read more here: http://www.railway-train-travel.com.au) by a couple who shared from their planning to during the trip and details. Had a friend who linked me up with her friend who also captured some of her accounts on the Trans-Siberian too (you can read more here: http://burtontravels.blogspot.sg/). 

So I decided to blog about the planning and the happenings during the trip (when that happens) and post-trip (if there is any) as I guess in a way. Besides wanting to share my experiences and how I got about doing it. To serve as a memory to myself that I can do all of this alone. 

And the story begins...

Ever since I went Russia (Saint Petersburg. Novgorod and Moscow) last year with Contiki (no.. I stopped blogging by then. So sorry.. No stories to share. ;P). I started dreaming about doing Trans-Siberian. It felt like a daunting journey.. But little did I know how close to the truth I was. 

I have a sabbatical next year that I am taking. So I decided to do the Trans-Siberian during that period. 

What exactly is Trans-Siberian? In simple terms. It's a train journey across Russia and Siberia. Starting in Moscow and usually ending in Vladivostok. Spanning 7 different time zones. It is also the longest railway in the world (at a length of 9289 km and still expanding). There are a total of 18 stops on the Trans-Siberian journey and it also branches out in the Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Manchurian. If you were to take the train journey straight from one end to the other. It will take you 10 days on the train non-stop. You can read more on the background and history brief here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Railway. 

Daunted yet? :) 

I have already started researching on where to go. What to do. Where to stay. And studying Cyrillic (or at least trying to recognize the words) since the beginning of this year. Along the way plans changed. And new additions were added. :) 

So why Trans-Siberian? Coz I'm hooked on to the history. The culture. The architecture. And the beauty of the nature of the country. And that it was something that I guess I want to do while I'm still young and in good health. 

What popped up as I was planning? That the thought of visiting Keukenhof Gardens in Netherlands came up. And when I realized how close Netherlands is to Belgium (I have cousins living there). And a friend asked why not do a day trip to Paris from Belgium as I am unlikely to fly and just visit France on its own. Then there is a Eurail pass that covers Netherlands. France. Belgium and Luxembourg for S$400. And thinking of going down to Ho Chi Minh on my way back from Vladivostok before coming home.

Hence. From a simple Trans-Siberian. Suddenly I have an overwhelming list of places to cover together. :P

As of now. I have only bought my tickets to Amsterdam. And from Belgium to Saint Petersburg. My flight ticket from Singapore to Amsterdam is on Garuda Indonesia (direct 13 hours flight) for S$535 and from Belgium (on Brussels Airlines - 4 hours) for S$119. Will need to buy the Benulux-France rail pass by the end of this month so that I can get the 1 free travel day on top of the 4 travel days.

So yeah. It's time to find back my mojo for writing. Regardless who may be reading this blog. :) 

Safe travels to all. Wherever you may be heading!