Roast Chicken with Rosemary

I made these over the weekend for dinner. Roast chicken with rosemary and steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce.

. 1 chicken
. Salt
. Ground black pepper
. A handful of fresh rosemary
. Butter
. 1 whole bulb of garlic cut into half
. 3 small potatoes

1) Rub chicken inside and out with a generous amount of salt and ground black pepper.
2) Rub chicken with butter and chopped rosemary.
3) Push garlic into the cavity of the chicken.
4) Leave in the fridge until you are ready to cook.
5) Cut potatoes into half and put around chicken before putting into the oven.
6) Preheat oven to 180 C.
7) Cook in preheated oven for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked.

DisneyWorld - Florida

I have always wanted to visit America at least once in my life time. My dream finally came true when my boss was kind enough to allow me to take almost a month's leave. With my bags packed I was ready to go, first to LA and then to Houston. We spent about 2 weeks travelling on the road. My brother-in-law drove us from Houston right up to New Orleans and back to Houston. One of the stops we made was Florida, DisneyWorld for 5 amazing days. Really had a fantastic time. One of the food that I really enjoyed eating was the unforgettable Turkey Leg in DisneyWorld. Huge and tasted so good...mmm.....

Galvestone - Texas

These pictures were taken at Galvestone, Texas in January 2008, one of the few places I visited while visiting my sister, brother-in-law and nephew in Houston. The weather was cold and windy never the less I felt so excited and happy to be there.

Potato Salad

Potato salad is rather easy to make and it complement well with your grill steak or salmon or as side dishes.

. 3 or 4 medium size potatoes
. Spring onion
. 1 white onion
. Salt
. Black pepper
. Mayonnaise

1) Boil the potatoes with skin until tender but firm, let it cool and peel skin
2) Cut the potatoes into bite sizes into a large bowl
3) Cut white onion, spring onion and mix in with the potatoes
4) Add salt, black pepper and mayonnaise and mix well
5) Refrigerate until chilled

Apple Pie

I found this lovely apple pie recipe at http://www.videojug.com/ It is so delicious and since then I am hooked on these easy steps on how to make good apple pie. I made some adjustment by cutting down the sugar and peel off the skin of the apples. I recommended Granny Smith apples to those who are trying out for this recipe. You won't regret it. Making the pie crust is not easy at first but all it takes is some practice. You can eat it on its own without the vanilla ice-cream or fresh fruit. Really yummy...

· 2 ½ cups (620ml) all-purpose floor
· 1 tsp salt
· ¾ cups (190ml) butter
· 6 green apples
· 1 cups (250ml) white sugar
· 1 cups (250ml) brown sugar
· 1 tsp cinnamon
· ½ tsp nutmeg
· 1 lemon juice

1) Pre-heat your oven to 375 F (190 C).

2) In a large bowl, combine 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup (170 g) butter and 1 tsp salt. With your electric mixer on the lowest setting, begin to blend together the ingredients. Sprinkle in 1 tbsp of ice water and mix until the batter starts to thicken. Continue to add an additional 6 to 8 tbsp of ice water, mixing thoroughly after each one, until the batter becomes a moist dough. Be sure not to over water or the dough will become too wet. Remove the electric mixer and roll the dough into a ball.

3) Place the dough on a cutting board coated with flour. Cut the dough into two halves. Roll the first half into a 9" (22 cm) circle to form the bottom crust of the apple pie. Carefully roll the thin dough around the rolling pin and transfer it into the pie pan. Use a sharp knife to cut off any excess dough around the edges. Roll the second ball of dough into a 12" (30 cm) circle. This will go over the pie filling before baking.

4) In a large mixing bowl, add 6 apples, cored and sliced, 1 cup (200 g) white sugar, 1 cup (220 g) brown sugar, 1/2 cup (60 g) flour, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Mix all ingredients together until every apple is coated. Pour the apple mixture over the bottom curst in the pie pan and smooth it out evenly. Finish by topping the apples with 2 tbsp butter.

5) Cover the pie filling with the 12" (30 cm) rolled dough and pinch the two crusts together. Trim off any excess dough. For crimped edges, use a fork around the crust. Cut several slits on top of the pie for ventilation while baking in the oven. Place the pie on the center rack of the oven and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until the pie crust is a deep, golden brown.

6) Cut the pie into 6 to 8 slices. Serve warm on a chilled plate with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or fresh fruit to accompany the sweet apple flavor. Enjoy!

Ipod Touch 2nd Gen

The Ipod Touch 2nd Gen is an awesome gift that I received recently. Such a cool gadget, I can store all my favourite music, movie, photos, video, games and surf the net, not forgetting receiving and sending emails. I can save all my contacts nos, write notes, calendar to remind me of appointments and also watch short clips from YouTube. The graphic display is super clear and with the wide screen it is so enjoyable to watch a movie. I really enjoy listening to my favourite songs when I am doing my cardio workout in the gym. Couldn't ask for any other mp3. This is just so cool for me. Loving it..... Thanks baby....

Langkawi

Recently I was in Langkawi for a 4 days 3 nights vacation with some friends from Australia and Germany. We had such a terrific time. We took a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi with Air Asia which offered reasonably good rate. Upon arrival, the hotel staff picked us up in a van as this was pre-arranged earlier with the hotel (Berjaya Resort). It was nice for a change to stay in a chalet overlooking the sea. The beach was great. Plenty of deck chairs under big umbrellas and water activity sports such as jet skiing. On our first day, we did nothing but lazed around at the swimming pool and beach.

We joined a sunset cruise the next day, sailed on a yacht, viewed many islands of Langkawi. Some of us went for the sea water jacuzzi and later witnessed the sun setting into the horizon of the Andaman Sea. What a spectacular sight! Open bar cocktails and barbecue dinner were provided and the guide was very friendly and informative. The following day we took a boat ride to Kulim mangrove area to watch the famous eagle feeding which was really fantastic to be able to see with such close proximity the beautiful eagles which were feeding on the chicken remains thrown by the boatman. Next was the caves exploration which were full of bats, followed by a visit to the fish farm where we were allow to hand feed the stingrays, archer fish and some big fish. We had early dinner at the floating restaurant and that was the end of the itinerary for the day. We flew back the next day with plenty of happy memories, suntan on our bodies, red lobster faces for some..hahaha.... Everyone enjoyed their holiday.