Taco Hunting in Oakland

Taqueria Sinaloa

Neighborhood: East Oakland
2138 International Blvd
Oakland, CA 94606
(510) 535-1206

Oyster Omelet

It has been said that the best thing about Singapore is its food, and I wish I could disagree, but I can't. A few years ago, three friends from the US visited me in Singapore. I don't think, at the time, that they had much experience with Singapore food. I picked them up at about midnight at the airport, and after dropping off their luggage, we headed to a temporary hawker center at a car park off Somerset Road. The property was about to be developed but in the meantime, they set up stalls serving well-known Singapore dishes. It was like a "Best of" of hawker stalls. If you know Singapore food, you know what a brilliant idea that was.

There was no hesitation — I ordered three dishes for us to share — sambal stingray, sambal belacan kangkong and oyster omelet. That is spicy and rich meal but my friends could not stop declaring the deliciousness of each dish in-between bites. And I think this was borne out not just from their praises, but how crowded it was despite it being 2 a.m. in the morning. Here is a picture of that night in 2004:



As lucky we are to be in the Bay Area where there is no shortage of Asian food, I have yet to see oyster omelet on the menu. Thus, S and I have been cooking it our own kitchen. Luckily, all those times spending in-line to order and buy the oyster omelet paid-off. As the dish is prepared only when ordered, we always have a front-row view of the cooking. An intense-looking cook, pouring the ingredients on the sizzling griddle, and the final dish served hot with the equally important sambal (chili sauce). I love biting into a briny oyster in a mouthful of lightly crisp fried egg with the added heat from the sambal. It makes me wonder why there is no tussle over oyster omelet between Singapore and Malaysia. Here is a list of dishes claimed by Malaysia as "Malaysian dishes". Much ado about nothing, me thinks. Why can't we all be friends and just enjoy the food?

Re-creating the dish at home gave me some room to makes changes to the recipe. Oyster omelet, in its original hawker style, is incredibly oily. While I love it as it, I didn't like the greasy aftertaste. So I reduced the oil. It is best to cook it on a flat griddle or, as we did, on a wide, flat frying pan. This will allow the flour mixture to spread out and crisp, which is important because I don't like it too gooey. Using rice flour also helps with the crisping. We prefer a 'less flour and more eggs' ratio, but feel free to add more of the flour if that is your fancy. The oysters should not be overcooked — the juices will ooze and you will be left with shrunken oysters! I like to char it just a little. Garnish with spring onions or cilantro. The resulting dish really looks more like scrambled eggs than an omelet. Hey, I didn't name the dish! A video of how oyster omelet is made just like at the hawker stalls follows the recipe below.





Oyster Omelet Recipe

4 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons tapioca flour/starch
2 tablespoons rice flour
¾ cup water
4 eggs
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoon fish sauce
8 fresh oysters
2 sprigs of cilantro (or spring onion)

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in the griddle or a flat frying pan to high heat. Mix the flours with water. Pour flour mixture into the pan. Cook for about 30 seconds to let some crust form on the underside.

2. Break four eggs over the flour mixture. Spread the eggs without breaking the flour 'pancake' underneath. Using the edge of a spatula, divide the mixture into 3 or four pieces, and turnover each piece separately. Cook until the egg is slightly crispy - about 30 seconds.

3. Make space in the center of cooking surface by pushing aside the omelet. Pour 1 tablespoon of oil, then the garlic. Add the oysters. Cook for about 20 seconds. Pour the fish sauce. Then break-up the omelet and mix with the oysters. Serve immediately with cilantro/spring onion and sambal (chili sauce)*.

*when I don't have time to make my own sambal, I use Glory's Nonya Sambal Chilli. It's not not too sweet and tastes close enough my mum's sambal.

Salt Cod Fritters

How long has it been? The dates suggest that it has been only 2 days since my last post. But it has been much longer than that, hasn't it been? Never mind, we will continue as if nothing happened. Except one thing did happen. See this picture of Dexter? He was at the vet, yes. Sedated, yes. Last Thursday, when I was preoccupied with preparing for a presentation for my evening Spanish class, Dexter was nowhere to be seen. I figured it was just one of those days — his alone time. He would be either in the closet or under the bed, just chillin'.

When I came home from class, he was still in hiding. S told me that he hadn't seen Dexter either, but he must have come out for dinner because the plate was licked cleaned. I decided that his time-out was over and found him in the closet. I picked him up and put him on my lap. It's part of my training him to be a lap cat. I would like him to be a lap cat. Him — not so much. But for the first time, he let out this growl so I released him immediately. Then S and I noticed he was limping badly when he walked away. His right hind leg was bothering him.

So first thing the next morning, we took Dexter to the vet. He was very resistant at attempts to check his leg. He had to be sedated. The effect was immediate. His jaw dropped to the table and his eyes were glazed. It made me laugh so I took out my camera to immortalize the moment. After the X-ray, the vet told us that everything looked fine - no ligament tear, no arthritis, no fracture. It was probably a soft tissue injury which means he should recover in a few days. Whew.

It's been a few days and his leg is much better. I was sad to see him try to walk. He moved slowly and took ginger steps with the foot that hurts. I'm not sure how cats react to pain, but Dexter was less meowy than usual. The vet said he should rest the limping leg as much as possible, so I tried to carry him to his food for meals and to his cat bed at night. He usually sleeps with us on our bed, but that requires jumping which he didn't quite have the strength for. I think the rest worked. There is less limping and he is now snoring next to me as I type. Life is good again. So I thought some deep frying was in order. Deep frying salt cod, specifically.



S and I had never tried salt cod before. But it seems like the perfect food for us — I like fish and he, well, likes anything salty. I bought one pound's worth. I used half of it for a salt cod tart (recipe coming) and I made these salt cod fritters with the other half.

How was it?

We enjoyed every lush morsel. It was the cliche of a perfect fritter — crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Steaming hot, it was tough not to grab a fritter and bite into the richness, even as you are dropping batter into sizzling oil. But when you do grab one, you do it with your fingers, gingerly, so you don't break its fried coat. Right after you bite into it, you must resist the urge to let its buttery, salty smoothness make a quick getaway straight to your stomach. Chew, roll it around your mouth, just enjoy. I also made a spinach aioli as a dipping sauce. I wonder, does the addition of spinach make it a vegetable side dish?



Salt Cod Fritters (Buñuelos De Bacalao)
adapted from Colman Andrews

½ lb salt cod, soaked 24 hours with 2 water changes
1 medium-sized potato, peeled and sliced thin
1 tablespoon olive oil
¾ cup milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 heaped tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper
oil for frying

For the spinach aioli
adapted from Rick Stein

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
½ tsp salt
1 egg yolk
¾ cup/3 oz olive oil
a handful of spinach

1. Put the cod in a pot of water and bring to a simmer. After 10 minutes, remove the cod. When cool, removed the skin and bones (if any).

2. Put the sliced potatoes in the pot of water and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes or until soft enough to mash.

3. In the meantime, make the aioli. Put the garlic and salt in a food processor. Grind for 5 seconds. Add egg and blend for about 10 seconds. While the food processor is still on, slowly pour in the olive oil. Then add the spinach leaves and blend until the leaves are grounded. Keep in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

3. In the pot, bring the water, milk and olive oil to a boil. Lower the heat and then whisk in the flour until dissolved. Remove the pot from the stove to cool. Heat oil (about 3 inches) in another pan to bring up to a temperature of 350F. If you don't have a thermometer, the oil should be hot enough so that it will sizzle when you drop in the batter.

4. Stir-in the egg, parsley and lemon juice into the flour mixture. Add the mashed potato, mixing well, and finally, the fish. Taste the batter and add salt and pepper as needed. When the oil reaches the right temperature, drop a heaped tablespoon of batter into the oil. Don't crowd the fritters. Fry for about 1 minute or until lightly browned. Scoop out and drain on a paper towel.

Best served warm. Makes about 24 fritters.

Dinner Tonight

Dexter, Sedated

Para Clase de Español - Pablo Neruda Poema XX

Para Clase de Español - Pablo Neruda Poema XV

Origin of CTL-ALT-DELETE

This is an old video clip, but one of my favorites. David Bradley describes his invention of CTL-ALT-DELETE (imagine the bragging rights). But when he tried to share the credit, Bill Gates was not amused.

Hike at Squaw Valley

These are pictures of cairns I took during our hike at Squaw Valley. At one section of the hike, it was mostly boulders, so there was no visible path. We relied on these small rock formations which were built by some kind soul(s) to mark the trail.

Cashew Cookie - A Malay Treat

In my head, I always want to do more than I have time for. When I was preparing for the our party, I saw the dishes my mum prepared for that special day to celebrate Hari Raya - sambal goreng pengantin, sayur lodeh, ayam masak merah, rendang and ketupat. S, ever the practical one, talks through my ideas and plans with me, and gently nudges when he sees my ambition getting ahead of me. This is a common occurrence — me, having wild ideas, and him, reining me back to reality. But sometimes, I manage to slip a couple of unplanned missions pass him.

Like two Saturdays ago.

We were preparing for our lunch party. S was doing some cleaning and clearing the house to make space for our guests. I had just finished labeling the serving plates. Five pounds of shrimps were waiting to be peeled and de-veined. I decided to mince dried shrimps and anchovies first. While my hands were busy, I was thinking that we didn't have enough sweets. One fruit cake and three kek lapis (I was testing recipes) were well and good, but I needed a cookie. I mean a cookie for the party, not for myself. Well, for myself too — just a few.

But which one? My mind mentally flipped through the ubiquitous cookies that make their appearances during Hari Raya and settled on the simplest one - the cashew cookie. Hands washed (and I mean really washed to remove the pungent scent of dried shrimps), I started scooping out the flour. I had butter, sugar, cashew and the remaining ingredients. No need to tell S, I thought. He'd just put the brakes on my batter. Our good friend L, came by with her 2½ year old daughter A, while I was measuring ingredients. So I enlisted A's help and she made her own cookies. She did very well — L just had to make sure that the cookies were about the same shape so they would bake evenly. I wish I have photos to share. I really need to step it up when it comes to photography.

Yes, making the cookies put me behind schedule and I had to stay up a little later than planned, but I am glad I did it. It was fun being able to introduce another Malay recipe to our friends. I also shared how I used to eat the cookie — I would peel the egg wash and enjoy that first because I thought it was the best part of the cookie!

When you see the pictures of the cookies I've made, you'll ask, why do they look like apples? In fact, I asked my mum that very question when she used to make them. See the picture on the left? That's the cashew fruit. The cashew nut that is jutting out of the fruit is really a seed. So the cookie is shaped to look just like the fruit! Clever, no? I've always wondered who was the first person who thought of it. With the addition of the cashew meal to the flour, it is also the perfect recipe to substitute some white whole meal flour. I used only ¾ cup substitution, but I will try more in the future. The recipe makes a lot of cookies, so feel free to halve it. The cookies are baked at a lower temperature so as not to burn the cashew nuts. They are so simple to make; I can easily see them being served during other festive occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas too.

Cashew Cookie (Kuih Gajus)

5½ oz roasted cashew
5½ oz castor sugar
11 oz all-purpose flour
3 oz white whole wheat flour
1 ts baking powder
8 0z butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 ts vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
about 70-80 roasted and unsalted cashew nuts, each split in 2 halves

1. Run the cashew pieces through the food processor with 3 tablespoons of castor sugar. Mix with the flours and baking powder.

2. Beat the butter with the remaining castor sugar until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat until fluffy. Add the flour mixture and mix well. Pre-heat oven to 300°F. Line a baking tray with silicone mat or parchment paper.

3. Beat the egg yolk in a small bowl with a fork. Shape each piece of dough, about 1.5 inches, into a ball. Take one half of a cashew and gently push into the dough. When you have made enough for one baking tray, use a small pastry brush or your index finger to brush the egg wash over each cookie. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until the egg wash turns golden.

Makes 120-140 cookies.

Haberdashery - Earthquake Readiness

This was the headline of the supplement of the San Francisco Chronicle 20 years ago today when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the Bay Area. This anniversary, and the recent spate of earthquakes in Asia and in the Bay Area, serves as a grim reminder of the need to be prepared. Since I moved to the Bay Area two and a half years ago, I have experienced two minor earthquakes. Each time, I only realized that it was an earthquake when it was over; in fact, during the second earthquake, I thought the trembling was caused my cat scratching the couch (hey, he is a hefty cat).

S and I have an earthquake emergency pack but it is about expire, so I am researching for our next pack. I am planning to put one together instead of buying the pre-packed kit. Besides water, food and medical supplies, I am also looking at these crank radio and cyalume sticks.



If you are interested in making your own kit, try this list from the San Francisco Chronicle. Or you can buy the emergency packs online.

San Francisco just had a major earthquake drill on Octover 15. The 72hours.org website by the city has useful suggestions such as designating an out-of-area contact person. Long distance phone service is often restored sooner than local service.

You can attend training sessions to learn basic emergency skills.

211 is the number you can dial during emergencies to obtain information. It is the number that has been set aside by the Federal Communications Commission for the public to easily access community information.

Don't forget about your pets! You can buy emergency kits for them too. We are, erm, just putting extra cat food in our kit for Dexter and will keep track of its expiry date.

Done!

Learning a new Spanish word

NaBloWriMo#15

Whew. I had my first Spanish test for this term, today. While studying for it, I wanted to look up a word in the sentence, 'Había salido con mi amigo que estaba con su novia y yo estaba viajando en la parte de atrás del auto.' The word I wanted to search was 'salido', and this is what I found in an online Spanish-English dictionary — see words circled in blue:

Interesting. Before you ask what kind of Spanish I am studying, the full translation of the sentence is, "I had left with my friend who was with his girlfriend and I was traveling in the back of the car." 'Salido' is the past participle of 'salir' which means to 'to leave'. Who knew it is also the Spanish word for "horny bugger'.

Fried Macaroni

When I was prepping to cook this fried macaroni, I could almost hear my mum's exclamation in the background. Not so much because this was an exciting dish (it isn't), but because it is a dish my mum would whip-up whenever we were having guests on short notice. She would exclaim in dismay that there was no time to cook a proper family-style meal. Then she would survey her pantry — if she was short of any ingredient, she would send my father, or me (when I was older) to the grocery store. Her hands moved fast, reaching out for the pot to fill it with water for the macaroni. She pulls out her knife to cut the carrot and greens, and mince the garlic and shallots. All the while muttering under her breath what dishes she have preferred to cook, that her guests would have enjoyed more.

Her guests did in fact enjoy her fried macaroni. As did we, so we urged her to prepare it for our regular meals instead of just having it as an "emergency meal". She was happy to oblige because it is such a simple, yet hearty dish. Kind of right for the beginning of fall.

Fried Macaroni (Macaroni Goreng)

2 cups whole wheat macaroni
2 tablespoons oil
3 shallots or ½ small onion, minced
2 garlic, minced
1-inch ginger, minced
2 tablespoons water
1 cup diced carrot
2 cups chinese mustard green (also known as gai choy or sayur sawi)
½ cup cooked minced beef
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon sambal oelek
½ cup fried shallots
a few sprigs of cilantro

1. Cook macaroni as directed by package.

2. Heat-up oil to medium heat in a wok or pot. Saute the onions for about 3 minutes until carameralized. Add garlic and ginger and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the carrots, chinese mustard green and water. Stir and cover to steam the vegetables for about 2-3 minutes.

3. Remove the cover. Put in the minced meat and macaroni. Pour in the oyster sauce, tomato ketchup and sambal oelek. Stir all the ingredients together and cook for about 2 minutes.

4. To serve, garnish with fried shallots and cilantro.

Rain, rain, please stay ...

Nablowrimo#13

When I heard the weather forecast for today, I was really excited. I heard that there was going to be rain, heavy rain. I miss that. I miss the tropical storm that blows through Singapore. Where you wake up in the middle of the night because the rain is beating so hard against the window pane, it bursts your dreams. Add thunder and lighting, and I'd never feel more cozy or more at home.

But in the part of the Bay Area where I am, it didn't quite get there. Sure there was continuous rain and even many falling branches. But I did not even need an umbrella. I just put on an anorak with a hoodie, and I could pretty much walk wherever I needed too. It was a let-down.

There is still one more day of rain according to the forecast. Please let it be good.

Dinner Tonight

Our Hari Raya Lunch With Friends

Left to right, top to bottom:

ketupat (rice cake), begedil (potato patties), rendang (malay beef dish)

emping belinjo (padi oat crackers), peanut sauce, sambal tumis udang & telur burung (prawn & quail egg sambal tumis)

sayur lodeh (malay vegetable curry), gado-gado (Indonesian vegetable salad)




For dessert, kek lapis (layered cake), biskut gajus (cashew cookie), kek buah (fruit cake)

I had the lofty ambition of accompanying this post with individual pictures of the food I prepared and their recipes. But when you are cooking 5 dishes for 30 people, it leaves little time to pick-up the camera. The real feat was not the cooking, but squeezing 30 people into our apartment! I plan cook the dishes again (just not all at the same time), and post pictures and recipes soon. So tired now, but happy that we fed so many people!

Empty dishes

Let's see. 50 shallots, 8 onions, 30 garlic cloves, 8 pounds beef, 5 pounds shrimps, various amounts of cabbage, water spinach, long beans, tofu, tempe, carrots, jicama, potatoes and eggs. I think these dishes will not remain empty for long. And labels are very important. Then you'll know where everything goes!

For the weekend

Something cheerful to start the weekend with (via Skippettystreet)

Onions, thy name art tears

**

I wish that onions would let me do that to them. But when I have this much onions (shallots, rather) to peel ......

I have only one solution .....





** via om-nom-nomivore

Broiled Prawn with Miso

This prawn with miso dish has straight-up become one of S's favorite dishes. I used to enjoy it in a Japanese restaurant in Singapore — Akashi — with my girlfriends. I can't find it in any Japanese restaurant here, so I decided to make my own. It looks fancy but it's simple to make, perfect for impressive dinner guests. Creamy, sweet and salty - yum. Just marinate the prawns overnight and put them under the broiler 10 minutes before you are ready to eat. I paired the prawns with a soba noodle soup - another simple dish that does not take long to prepare.

Broiled Prawn With Miso
inspired by Akashi

4 freshwater prawns
¾ cup white miso
½ cup sugar
¼ cup mirin

1. To make the miso paste: mix the miso, sugar and mirin in a small saucepan at medium high heat. Stir until the sugar completely dissolves. Bring to a boil and switch off the heat. Let the paste cool.

2. Clean the prawns. Make a deep cut in the belly of the prawn, cutting the length of the prawn being careful not to cut through. Press open the prawn. Spread the miso paste on the prawns, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Keep in the refrigerator for 2 hours (or overnight).

3. Heat the broiler to high. Put the prawns on the highest rack in the oven and broil for 5-7 minutes, depending on the size of the prawns.

Serve with soba noodle soup or a salad.

Haberdashery — My Favorite Online Series

There are many good books out there. You can't possibly read them all, can you? If you have that problem too, I recommend "Digested Reads" from the Guardian — probably the first online column I followed. John Crace condenses a book in the same style it is written. It's not so much a summary as it is a literary criticism. Creative, entertaining, funny — and usually taking a piss at literature. Love. It. Here are four to get you started: Nigella Bites, by Nigella Lawson, The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton, How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom and The Associate by John Grisham.

Slate.com had "Weeklong Electric Journals" which followed someone to his or her workplace everyday for five days (usually). A fun insight at someone else's profession. I have enjoyed many of the columns including those of Neil LaBute (writer-director), David Grinspoon (astrobiologist), Ed Levine (of seriouseats.com), Dahlia Lithwick (Supreme Court and legal correspondent) and Mark Furstenberg (baker and founder of the BreadLine).

If I could ask for any talent, it would be to draw in a way that could affect people. Just like Maira Kalman. I have her book The Principles of Uncertainty. Her Elements of Style Illustrated is on my Amazon wishlist. Now, my eyes get to feast on her Pursuit of Happiness blog in The New York Times. Her monthly post provokes and idealizes and inspires. My favorites so far — May It Please The Court, Times Wastes Too Fast and Can Do.

The Guardian, again. This time a series on Writers' Rooms. There is a picture of the room in which the writer gets his or her work done, with a short write-up on the room and the process. See the workplace of Charlotte Bronte, Heston Blumenthal and Martin Amis, to get inspired.

Egg Sambal Tumis and Fried Sardines

For me, one the surprises about living in the Bay Area is the number of Singaporeans who are here. We are lucky to have made a few good friends from Singapore who, of course, share our love of good food. I cook often and enjoy inviting our friends for a meal. Usually, having guests over for a meal require some planning. But when you can make simple home-cooked food for a fellow Singaporean, little planning is necessary. For this meal, I already had eggs in the fridge. Dried chilies are a pantry staple. Then I picked-up some kangkong from the Chinese supermarket and fresh sardines from Whole Foods to complete our menu.

I made sambal belacan kangkong with the sambal belacan from my mum. The sardines were fried and the eggs were boiled for sambal tumis. This is a sambal where dried chili paste is sauteed until it turns into a deep red and then sweetened with sugar. And I love pairing this sambal with fried fish because they go so well together. My mum would serve these dishes with nasi lemak, which is white rice cooked in coconut cream with a pandan leaf or two thrown in. But for that night, we had brown rice with our simple kampung ('village') dishes.

Egg Sambal Tumis (Sambal Tumis Telur)

6 eggs
1 oz or 20 dried chilies
10 shallots
3 garlic
1-inch shrimp paste (belacan), toasted
2-inch tamarind paste
1½ cup hot water
2 tablespoons sugar

1. Make hard boiled eggs. Cool and peel the shells.

2. De-seed the dried chilies and soak in warm water for half an hour. Pound or grind to a paste. Peel the shallots and garlic, then pound or grind with shrimp paste. Put the tamarind paste into the hot water to make tamarind juice.

3. Heat oil in wok or saucepan to medium heat. Add in the shallot, garlic and shrimp paste blend. Saute for about 2 minutes. Add the chili paste and continue frying for 2 minutes. Then add the tamarind juice. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and continue cooking until the mixture turns into a deep red, about 15-20 minutes. Add sugar and stir until it dissolves. Taste the sambal. If there is too much heat, add more tamarind juice and/or sugar.

4. Switch off the heat and add the eggs.

Fried Sardines (Ikan Tamban Goreng)

6 fresh sardines
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon salt
oil for frying

1. Gut and clean the fish (you can ask your fishmonger to do it). Dry the fish as much as possible. Then rub the sardines with turmeric powder and salt.

2. Heat about ½-inch oil in a wok or pan to high heat. Put in the sardines; in batches if necessary. Lower the heat slight. Fry until the fish turn golden brown, or about 3-4 minutes. Then turn over and fry for another 3 minutes.

3. Remove fish onto paper towel to drain the oil.

if death is kind

*ulysses' gaze theme

This morning, I heard that a friend had passed away under tragic circumstances. Time stopped for a few minutes while the news sank in. Then dread creeped through. My first thoughts were his parents - the piercing pain they must feel, outliving their child. I called my mum back in Singapore — just to hear her voice. I thought of writing about the fleetness of life, of the recent unexpected deaths of people I know. But I won't because I don't understand it and I don't know where to begin.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Deseos Imposibles

Ayer, en la clase de español, mi maestra nos pidió que la lista de las frases siguientes en orden de importancia:

Saber pilotar una avioneta
Saber mās que una enciclopedia
Ser rico
Ser "mās" guapo
Acabar con todos las guerras del munda
Saber si Dios existe
Encontrar el amor de tu vida
Ser invisible
Ser inmortal

¿Cuál es su prioridad?

Ayam Masak Merak — A Classic Malay Chicken Recipe

When I left Singapore, I left behind a gaggle of girlfriends. Oh, how I miss them. Long conversations, gossip over food, steady shoulders for a good cry. You know those sort of friends.

Moving here, I had no expectations when it came to making new friends. I was lucky because I already had one good friend, B, who lives 10 minutes away. And I grew close to one of S's friends, L. That was enough for my social life. I was busy with moving homes, settling down and studying. After my exams, we went to a Singapore network event (because we thought they would have good Singapore food) and during the reception, while we were munching on some spring rolls, another couple joined us at our table. We introduced ourselves. She's from Singapore too and just moved with her French husband. We did small talk and being Singaporeans, of course, we chatted about food.

Fast forward 18 months later, and we — D and I — are still chatting about food. In fact, we've gone beyond that - we've both set up blogs where we talk a lot about food. So to celebrate her birthday, of course, food was involved. Last night, I made dinner for her and her adoring husband, M. I decided to make one of my mum's Malay chicken dish, ayam masak merah (recipe below). Literally it means "chicken cooked red", which sounds a little strange translated. But the sauce is a blend of red dried chilies and pureed tomatoes. The only thing different I did from my mum was to roast the chickens instead of frying them. It was a nice taste of home, in the company of semi-new friends — eating, talking, laughing. So it was a celebration not just of a birthday, but of friendship, as well.

After dinner, we had dessert. I always make desserts when we have friends over. But last night, I didn't because D brought some. Why would I let the birthday girl bring her own dessert? Because she's been busy making them everyday for the last month! Yup, everyday. So let's celebrate her birthday today by looking through every single of her yummy desserts on her blog — bonvivant. Watch the drool!

Chicken in Red Sauce ("Ayam Masak Merah")

3 oz dried red chilies or ½ cup of dried chili paste
1 whole chicken
1 teaspoon tumeric
2 tablespoons oil
1 medium sized onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 inch ginger
1 inch galangal
2 lemongrass
1 cup tomato puree or diced tomato
½ cup coconut cream
1 tablespoon sugar
salt

1. De-seed and cut the each dried chili into 2-3 pieces. Soak in warm water for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 400°F. Cut the chicken into 8-10 pieces. Marinate with oil, salt and turmeric. Roast for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.

3. Peel onion, garlic, ginger and galangal, cut into smaller pieces and place into food processor. Take one of the lemongrass stalks and cut the just the white part into smaller pieces, also to be placed in the food processor. Grind until you get a smooth paste (you may need to add a couple tablespoons of water to get it started). Remove spice paste from food processor. If using diced tomato, put in food processor and puree. Remove puree into a bowl. Then place the dried chilies in the food processor and grind.

4. Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a wok. Saute the spice paste for about 3 minutes. Take the bottom 8-inches of the remaining lemongrass and bruise with the back of your knife. Add the lemongrass, chili paste, tomato puree and coconut cream. Stir until all the ingredients are well-incorporated. Bring to a boil, then let it simmer for 20 minutes. In the last minute, add salt and sugar. Taste - add more salt if necessary and diced tomatoes if it is too spice.

5. Put in the roasted chicken pieces and mix until the chicken pieces are well coated with the sauce.

Serve with rice and a side dish of vegetables.