Cult Classic Chicken Pie and the Graffiti Artists

The Penang Hill chicken pie is a cult classic, nearly everyone has heard of it, probably tasted it at some point in their life but to actually get their hands on it is a totally different story. It's not available in any shop or restauran, there's no advertisement for it and whenever you ask people for the contact, they'd say a friend of a friend of theirs pre-ordered it months in advance.

So to say that I was happy when YC, my sis-in-law, gave us some of the very elusive pies was definitely an understatement. At a glance, the pie looks deceptively humble with tiny charred bits at the edges. Once you take a bite, you'd be astounded by how scrumptious both the flaky crust and the soft, almost creamy filling inside. You can spot chunks of chicken, pea and a hard boiled egg all laced with a twist of Worcestershire sauce.

While I was lost in the moment of enjoying every mouthful of the pie, the house was suspiciously silent. My mummy instincts tingled and sensing something amiss, I went to the living room. Hubs and Bubs were lying on the floor, flat on their backs, talking in hushed voices and when I came closer, both went quiet. People, this is what happen when you leave 2 monsters alone with a box of crayons.

 

Apparently they decided that drawing under the table would be the least likely place for me to discover their graffiti. When confronted, the big monster hastily shoved the crayons into the little monster's tee and said "he did it!"

Both monsters' artwork. Not something that I'd be wiping off in a hurry, LOL.

Weekends are Meant For ...

Many years ago, a family friends once said "weekends will never be the same again once you start working full time". And it's true! There's nothing like 2 days of pure rest and sloth to recover from the hectic work week.

Weekends are the best time to experiment in the kitchen. We had this 1kg tub of Greek yoghurt in the fridge and I was intrigued by this pancake recipe. It made one of the best pancakes we've ever had - they were delightfully thick and moist, just the way I like my pancakes to be, not to mention incredibly simple to make.

Blueberry and Greek Yoghurt Pancakes (recipe from Apples Under My Bed)

Serves 2, makes 4 medium pancakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup Wholemeal Plain Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 pinches of Salt
2 heaped teaspoons Brown Sugar
1 egg
5 heaped tablespoons Greek Yoghurt, plus extra for serving (I used Black Swan No-Fat Greek Yoghurt)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1-2 tablespoons Blueberries (depending on how berry-licious you like it), plus extra for serving - fresh or defrosted
Pure Maple Syrup, for serving
A squeeze of Lemon would also be lovely when serving

Method

1. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and brown sugar in a medium bowl.
2. Whisk the egg in a small bowl and add it to the flour mixture, along with the Greek yoghurt and vanilla extract.
3. Fold the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.
4. Add the blueberries and gently fold through a final time.
5. Heat two non-stick pans over low heat - if you don't have two pans simply use one pan to cook two pancakes at a time and keep the cooked pancakes warm on a plate by covering them with foil. Grease the pan lightly with margarine or butter.
6. Test whether the pan is hot by flicking a little water on it, if the water dances, the pan is ready.
7. Use a ladle to spoon the mixture into the pan to make 4 pancakes.
8. When bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and the bottom is golden, flip them - be careful, this is a moist mixture so they won't be well formed and will be a little tricky to flip perfectly.
9. Cook until golden, and serve with a spoon of Greek yoghurt, extra blueberries and a drizzle of maple syrup.

I omitted blueberries and maple syrup because I didn't have them on hand but Bubs went crazy over them when served with a dab of honey and fresh bananas. He kept saying "more" repeatedly. That's his little baby fist shaking very determinedly at them.

Hubs preferred his sweetened with jam.

Nothing burns off a toddler's energy more than a long romp around the neighbourhood. Bubs's snazzy green slip ons vs my trusty black Birks which have seen me throughout pregnancy.

Bubs examining the road and jabbing at it with his stick.

The Banana Bag, Cadburyland and Dinner with Friends

Check out the wonder that is the Glamazon's Banane Taipei bag. When she first told us the price and how much it'd cost for her friend to courier it here, we told her that she was nuts. The Glamazon was so in love with the bag, we all received a crash course in how to authentic a Banane Taipei bag (they come with certificates of authenticity) and how the yellow one is a special edition. It does look cute and fashionistas have been asking her about it whenever she carries it out!

If you've ever tried to imagine how Willy Wonka's chocolate factory in the book would look like without watching the movie, head down to the Cadbury promo booths at Queensbay this weekend. It's easily one of the best decorated promo booths I've seen in a long while. There are trees sprouting chocolate truffles, larger than life sized chocolate bunnies and toadstools along with paving made from the iconic Cadbury chocolate squares. They are incredibly generous with samples and balloons to keep the little ones happy. I also spotted a photo booth and chocolate fountains with marshmallow skewers.

Emm invited us to her church's dinner and again, Bubs was incredibly shy whenever they were other children around, he clung to us tightly and didn't really want to mingle with the bigger kids. I did spot him shyly approaching girls that were much younger than him and tried to take their hands to shake, hehe, it was kind of cute! It went a bit pear shape when I was carrying him out from a room and his finger got caught at the door. Poor Bubs cried so hard and his squished finger was such an angry shade of red :( It took so much cajoling and ice cubes on his finger back home to get him to calm down.

Framed Memories

I grew up in a snap happy family and Mum loved nothing better than to carefully select the happiest ones, place them in a store bought frames and put them on display all around the house. We'd the usual piano top lined with our graduation photos.

I haven't used an analogue camera in years and with the thing with digital cameras is that photos are so readily easily shared on social media, I'm rather lazy to get them developed (or should I now say printed out?) and put them on display. I do have a few cherished memories that I have in frames displayed around our home that put a smile on my face whenever I see them :)

This photo was taken at the Great Ocean Road way back when I was at Uni. EL, CS, Wayne and I took a tour bus in the freezing cold and we took rolls and rolls of film. When I'd this photo developed, I was struck at how the rays of light from the clouds shinning down onto the rocks and water look so calm and almost divine.

Our wedding portraits meant a lot to me because we were on a super strict budget so we didn't get any pre-wedding shots done. We did this dip kiss and that moment, everything felt just right. When our photographer played a slideshow of the portraits at the wedding reception, I teared up when I saw this shot.

Hubs took this photo of Bubs on the second day he was born. Words cannot express how much I love this photo, the squishiness of his pudgy newborn cheeks, how blissfully shut his eyes are right after his feed and that tiny pursed up mouth ... massive love!

The Extra Public Holiday

Unexpected public holidays (King's Coronation) are a bonus and and having a day off is perfect to just recharge myself for a while.

Aussie Godma's parents were back in town and passed to us a bunch of presents from her. Thanks Godma and again, you are spoiling him! :) There were boxes of T2 tea which I'd been wanting to try for the longest time, a purple and green long sleeve shirt for Bubs who'll easily be the chic-est toddler in the room with it on and a dreamy lace and satin skirt for me *heart*

We had Sukhothai beef noodles (which unfortunately had a slight price increase) and tried their mango sticky rice which is easily one of the best ones I've ever had. The sweet and luscious mango chunks went perfectly with the warm, creamy glutinous rice. Hubs and I were debating over if there was a taste difference between the white and black sticky rice. He said the black one tasted a bit more fragrant ... I couldn't really tell.

There was a major earthquake in Indonesia in the late afternoon but we didn't feel a thing. I didn't even realise that there was one until my brother texted me. I thought it was some kind of joke and checked Facebook (yes, it's sad that I use social media for updates instead of news websites) and apparently the quake was felt so bad in certain areas that people were evacuated. Glamazon and BFF were at the 7th floor of Gurney Plaza and could feel the tremors very strongly, car alarms even went off though my dad was coincidentally at the ground floor and didn't feel a thing.

Shopping centres were closed for the rest of the day and there were fire and rescue personnel stationed along the coastal areas of Penang. Hoping everyone stays safe and that there are no casualties.