Archive for August, 2009

Roasted Duck At Home

August 30, 2009 at 11:44 pm · Filed under Food & Cusine ·Tagged , ,

Because I had cravings for ducks, we bought one from the poultry shop in Fyshwick yesterday.

My husband was determined to do it properly, so what I saw was a lot of work of searching on the Internet, then cleaning the raw duck (getting the excessive hair removed), pumping the air into the duck body with a straw, boiled water treatment, brushing on the first layer with some sauce he made, then overnight marinade in the fridge, another 8 hours drying with the duck hanging on a cloth hanger the next day, then stuffing some bread soaked with water and apple slices, another layer of honey being brushed on before it went into the oven.

Of course when the duck went into the oven after all the preparation work 24 hours later, we were hoping that this duck would better turn out perfectly :-) I guess it’s a bit hard to know what exactly we should set the temperature for the first time trying. The skin got a bit of evenly burned initially, but the aroma was coming out of the oven, which absolutely took my fancy.

I made some pancakes (a kind of very thin and two sided flour pastry) myself to serve with the duck. In Beijing, the traditional way to eat roasted duck is to put a piece of duck meat on the top of the pastry, spread on some salty and sweet sauce (Tian Mian Jiang), then add some shallot and cucumber strips. Wrap all the things up in your pastry, then put into your mouth. Delicious….!!!

We didn’t buy the Tian Mian Jiang, so we used soy sauce and minced garlic combination as the substitution sauce. By the time the duck was ready, I was all tuned up. I cut the duck meat with my very limited carving skills, and we sat down to eat.

It was a kind of very satisfying experience. I was so surprised how the duck turned out eventually. The skin was not as crispy as what we had in China, but the meat was nicely roasted but still juicy, having the nice flavour which only belongs to duck meat. My pastry was fairly good and the sauce was kind of different experience but wasn’t bad at all.We almost finished up the whole duck, only leaving a small plate of duck meat and the carcass for tomorrow’s soup.

I was so in love with it that I couldn’t find time to take photos. You know sometimes for some of the things that you had cooked in your kitchen, you just feel like trying it again. It’s a very possive feeling that almost for sure you believe that you would make it even better the next time. That’s how we felt toward roasted ducks, and that’s why we have already talked about to get another one in a very soon future :-)

Comments (1)

Transforming an old skirt to a shoulder bag

August 29, 2009 at 9:46 pm · Filed under Craft & Art ·Tagged , ,

I have just finished my very first sewing project last night, yeah….!!!

I am quite excited now. It’s been 14 years since I did my last one and had my hands working on a sewing machine again. It feels absolutely nice and satisfying, though I know that what I have sewn wasn’t really something big or complicated at all.

It’s a shoulder handbag, very simple but kind of classic for a timeless fashion. I initially wanted to do a cotton one with nice texture prints, but at the last I used one of my old tweed winter skirts (brownish coour with some white grids) in the stash. I remember I had this skirt since I was in the uni. I took it to here but I had never worn it in Australia as I put on some weight since 2000. I guess I would rather use some recycled stuff to do my first sewing project than using some purchased new and expensive fabric.

I am glad I made the right decision, other than the time being spent on undoing the skirt (ripping off all the stitches on the hems, ironing pieces to flat to make sure they are tidy), I haven’t really had any other troubles. The only difficulty I had was to deal with lining fabric, the slippery thing which tends to run away from my hands. Another thing was to stitch the pockets inside the bag. I think I need to know how to do that properly in the future. I managed to do it just right but not terribly successful :-(

Now I am carrying this bag to the work and everywhere. The idea of this bag is to give me both hands free and a very light weight bag which I can accommodate a lot of stuff in it but not to worry about bag’s weight itself. The colour is not ideal (I found it a bit boring) as I wanted something for summer and something really bright and vivid, but it’s not bad for the purpose of matching most of my clothes. However, if I could do another one, I would do a cotton one with bright colours and pretty printed texture.

If you are interested in making one of these yourself, here are Tiny Happy’s version and Lula Louise’s version for you to choose. I actually combined some bits from both patterns. Happy sewing!

Leave a Comment

Spring Bulbs Series 4: Jonquils are flowering

August 23, 2009 at 11:55 am · Filed under Home Sweet Home

This morning when I was standing in front of the kitchen window, I noticed that my jonquils are blooming in the pot. The little golden yellow flowers instantly swept away the winter’s dullness which had been there for months and brought the positive vibes to our little courtyard. I feel quite satisfied.

In China, we grow jonquils indoor at a particular time of a year, normally it’s about a month before the Chinese New Year. So by the time of getting into their flowering stage, they would be just right on spot around the Chinese New Year day or so. My family has a history of having jonquils in the house every year. Mom and dad have quite a number of friends or colleagues who were so into growing jonquils in water and also very good at craving the bulbs in some particular way to shape the plants to a particular figure to meet people’s aesthetics needs. Since the jonquils in mom and dad’s place had always been the successful growing experience, which forms part of my childhood memory, I’d say that I really like this sort of plant and consider them as one of the prettiest.

Now, my own jonquils are flowering. Unbelievable but true! Not in the house, not in the water, but in a soil-filled pot after a long time of staying in a freezing cold winter outdoor. They are known to be one of the most indestructible and easy to grow garden bulbs, though I had doubt before. However, since now even me is getting them into flowering, I’d say “yes, I definitely believe what they said”.

Another good news is, my tulips appear to survive. Now I saw the very first growth this morning as well in the same pot with jonquils. I thought they had died as it’s been so many months that nothing has happened, but now it seems they at least are still alive. Let’s wait and see what’s gonna happen in the next month.

Leave a Comment

Hello, birds!

August 20, 2009 at 6:51 pm · Filed under Daily Living

This is what you can see if you look up. At least this is what I see.

I have a theory that I had been telling people and hoping they would believe. My theory is that, people with different height look at the world differently. For example, a person who is 160cm tall sees the different things from what a people with 170 cm tall can see.

You maybe would laugh at me thinking that I am crazy or twisting other factors into this statement, as people see world differently anyway. But my theory is purely about physical side of it, coming down to the “height” but nothing else.

Anyway, believe it or not. It’s just a thought. It probably has nothing to do with 3 birdies standing on these cable lines. But it’s so quiet up there if you do look into that direction, leaving you behind all the chaos happening down there where we land our feet.

Leave a Comment

Birthday Present

August 16, 2009 at 8:04 pm · Filed under Home Sweet Home

Da-da-da-da……..! It’s a sewing machine.

We got it home this morning from the Spotlight, a bit ahead of my birthday. But would it really matter? :-) No, since I have had this thought for such a long time, so anytime is good time.

I am a very beginner level sewer. Actually the only sewing machine I had ever used was my mom’s old type of sewing machine. I remember the brand is Dong Fang Hong. It’s like a little desktop with foot paddle that you have to step on all the time to get the machine running. The whole thing to me is quite metal, every piece seems tough. It can’t do fancy stitches or things like that, but it’s very operatable and I actually enjoyed using it a lot.

I made a couple of things out of that using 90s Burda patterns with mom’s help when I was in the school holiday in the university. I was fascinated with sewing at that time. I remember I pulled a lot of fabric from mom’s cupboard to sew, without asking her permission (Of course when she was at the work). I probably had ruined some of them which I couldn’t remember clearly either, but the fun that I had was rewarding and encouraging. I just completely loved it.

So my impression about a sewing machine remains like that with the time passing by in the next 15 years, until now I have got this new one (Brother NS-10) with a price on sale. I spent a day reading the instruction and practising some basic things. It can do a lot of things that I had never imagined, one step button hole, overcasting the fabric edges like overlocking, beautiful stitches with easy jog dial, threading in a second, reverse stitches to secure loose ends, working with stretchy fabric…….The list can go on and on. Yet, all these features are quite basic for nowadays sewing machine technical development. This one is actually quite a low end product in the sewing machine world. However, I suppose, if I had this sort of machine 20 years ago, I probably would have had to become a dressmaker now :-)

Now, I am really looking forward to sewing something. Just something to start with, whatever, I need to sew…..!

Comments (1)

A Coloured Pencil Work

August 13, 2009 at 7:48 pm · Filed under Craft & Art ·Tagged ,

A quite boring afternoon without any phone calls. I was browsing one of the borrowed books from the library, page by page, picture by picture. Next to me was a set of Staedtler coloured pencils, half-way used probably by some visitors’ kids.

I got my sketch journal book out and started to imitate one of them originally drawn by pastel. It took me about an hour, on and off, chatting and doing some other work in the middle.

I always thought that coloured pencils are the toys for young children. However, after having seen some artists’ coloured pencil work, I was completely amazed. To me, it seems that it doesn’t really matter what medium you use, it’s how you do it, as always it should be.

Here is the thing I did, I quite like it, though the density of the colours had a significant lose in the scanning process. Hubby said the proportion wasn’t quite right and the angle from the viewer was like that you have to stand in the river to look at the bridge. Is it the case?

Leave a Comment

Older Posts »