Lovely homemade Bak-Kwa

It's my maiden effort... making Bak-Kwa (pork jerky) in the name of survival, er I mean pigging out!!


Lovingly made, hehe!  

And while this might not be your Mei Zhen Xiang or Lin Zhi Yuan, it tasted quite lovely!

Finally!! I've been busy and tuckered out by day's end, driving on weekends not just weekdays. But really wanted to try and make this before the 15 days of CNY -- the reason (my excuse) to feast -- would be over after yesterday! 

The kids helped... and especially to eat it almost all up by the next day -- mostly among the boys and me! 


Their dad still can't chomp that well yet, but he's not really a BK fan.


So our Valentine's Day dinner (and this more exciting BK adventure was not on the same day) was... *drum roll please*...
more FISH... 
That I made for us all, haha!


A steelhead that looked like a pinker version of our salmon meal on CNY eve. Pan-fried some of it so the skin was lots crispier! Paired with a stir-fry asparagus cooked till soft and imitation crabmeat.  Eaten with porridge this time.

Specially to cater to the better half's dietary needs, post his wisdom-teeth surgery. Served up with love, ahem, and a "Happy Valentine's!".


Don't say I didn't try. But I AM a BK person, more than a fish person, you know ;p.  

***

Our first time making Bak-Kwa...

Jon gave the ground pork a good swivel in the marinade...


Ben rolled out the meat, the meat sandwiched between a clingwrap and parchment paper...


And after Round 1 in the oven at low heat, Kait helped to cut it up into all sorts of shapes... sorta!

(It's a lot trickier than this looks 'coz of the thin layer of meat prone to breaking up. I did the cutting eventually -- using the cookie-cutter picked by Kait, and a pizza-cutter)!


Then it was back into the oven (or grill, if you have one and prefer to use that) at a higher temp, for that crucial grilling (I used a mix of bake and broil)...

... As we sat tight for that Moment of Truth!!!

Mostly, my three little (guinea) pigs

were lots more enthusiastic over the end-product than they stayed on task during the process. And kept asking me:
"Is it done?
"Can I have some?
"Me, too, I want some!
"Now, NOW,  NOOOWWW!!"...
Like EVERY. OTHER. MINUTE!!!

Like them, I was just sooo excited over savouring the very first tray hot off the oven!  It was surprisingly tender!

But so much so, I forgot to keep as close an eye on the last two trays. So those were more charred, oops! You want to keep a really close watch not to burn every PRECIOUS piece of BK!

I heart BK... 
me, more so than Meimei, haha!
Spot the hearts, to borrow the lovely Stardust's line!

It took the children and me at least 2h to work on just 2lb of meat.  That yielded about four trays of pork jerky (and bear in mind the meat would shrink some after the grilling).

The Recipes...

Thank you Blur Mommy whose recipe is here, and she also shared with me the one from Crazymommy here that I based ours on.

It's really always THANKS to moms and bloggers like them, including the great Master Chef Jomel, who are generous in sharing their tried and tested recipes in detail, that our own beginner's attempts like this one is possible. I was thinking of Fay while making the BK, remembering she'd said before her family made their own must-be-so-yummy one :). Had not known we could make this at home.

So keep sharing, my friends!! Yan, it's nice you're back blogging.

And now, it's my turn to give a "TGIF!!!" shout-out, as SAHM does and beats me to it every time! ;p

Ways we love... 
It was really wonderful of my old pal Viv to drop me a note just to wish me a Happy V Day! I hope you got to exchange sweet words like these with someone dear, family/friends.  


And it does not have to be about romance only -- and "under bright bright lights" to quote NM is alright, too.  But I do like how WTT and her husband used V Day to make it extra special.


That's not restricted to that day only, of course, and more ways we can show love and in the little everyday things also. 

(The V Day crafts were made by the boys in school, besides getting to exchange Valentine's with their classmates).

Nian Nian You Yu... and got fish!

Our dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year had to have fish...

Because fish, or 鱼 ("yu") is a play on the "yu" in the phrase  年年有余 ("Nian Nian You Yu") meaning, year after year of surpluses.

Also because the salmon was fresh enough for me to season it with just salt and pepper -- and let its own sweetness shine!

I left it to bake simply in the oven. And went and did a quick stir-fry of the mushroom, and shrimp or "ha" as it's called in the Cantonese dialect -- for lots of "ha ha's" (laughter) in this Rabbit Year!

Also threw some chicken into that side dish with broccoli. That subsequently an old friend in Singapore said that chicken or "ji" could signify blessings and good fortune in the likes of 吉祥 ("ji xiang") and 大吉大利 ("da ji da li").

So there, a symbolic meal that was very doable for a schoolnight, but a special one at that. We ate it with long, long noodles, of course (angel hair for how fast it cooked).  And rounded it up with an easy longan + lychee dessert that required no prep.

Abundance, Happiness, Blessings... may the year we've ushered in be overflowing with them! :)

***

More fish...
I did not try to make our own Yu Sheng, quite the platter of a salad with raw fish in it.  I did go on to buy and cook more fish again and again since -- for the husband after his wisdom teeth (x4) surgery on the second day of CNY. 


Bake it, pan-fry it, or steam it, and he especially likes his fish in soup during this "baby food" phase. Only one week after the surgery now is he able to open his mouth better.  The swell is going down, and the pain is also slightly better but that's because he is on stronger meds that knock him out still.


On CNY eve, I was also going to rely on our trusty slowcooker to churn out a big pot of  soup with chicken drumsticks/thighs for more deliberate leftovers, if Meimei wasn't practising her "Yu Sheng tossing" with such fervour! Or maybe she was trying to help me do a lastminute clean sweep of the place, that busy schoolday?!! 


This, among the things keeping me on my toes. With the boys also, and more than just the usual to-ing and fro-ing for their school and activities. Whilst also trying to take care of the husband in this time he has to lay low to get all better.  


I am really exhausted, but am also really going T.G.I.F!!!  


(I find the cod fish fillet works really well in soup. Shrimp in particular their shells or dried anchovies are great to make a quick broth with for a simplified stovetop version of the steamboat. That made for yet another fish-ful meal for us, when eventually I got hold of some fishballs and other frozen seafood bites).  

*Hop, hop*... Happy Rabbit Year!

*Hippity hop*...


*Hippity hop*...


HAPPY


RABBIT YEAR!!!



And "Hippity hop, hippity hop"... chirped the li'l girl whilst skipping merrily in the aisles earlier in the day at the supermarket with me -- to buy our groceries for the week and especially what I'll need to cook a little feast for our next dinner, on this eve of the Lunar New Year. The bitter cold is back though with temps dipped to a low of 10F (-12C!), and I had us hop right back indoors as soon as we were done.


Feeling Crafty...
The instructions for the origami rabbit are here on Crazymommy's blog, where I blog-hopped to over the weekend for a particular CNY goodie I'm hoping to make but have not squeezed out time for. 


Kait and I have also been taking 5 min or less to make simple crafts out of paper plates, with her liking to be more and more hands-on like this. 


If not as a quick activity to keep my Energizer Bunny occupied during the day, it is one way I try and keep her from distracting the boys and me working on their homework.  She has her own colouring books and notebooks to doodle in, but somehow their homework and especially whatever book Ben is reading with me always appeal to her more! That's when things get more 'colourful' than this, but let me focus on the fun parts here.  (Kait at 28-29 mos).