Kitchen Tip#6

Tea Bags for Eyes!

Tea is the secret to calming my nerves down, it warms me up on a cold night and makes me feel very secured... My favourite tea before bedtime is chamomile and in the day, I love peppermint tea to help my overworked tummy. For breakfast, I prefer a mellow tea like the earl grey or an afternoon tea. 

With all my consumption, I decided to re-use some tea bags like chamomile and peppermint to soothe my tired eyes. It is a cheap and effective way to get rid of those puffy, under-eye rings. 

Instructions

Once I use the tea bag, leave it on a plate to dry. 

Put in a plastic zip lock bag and keep in the fridge until ready to use. 

Put in water, drain and place on the eyes for 10mins. 
Relax and breathe....

Tea bags can be stored in the zip lock bags for about a week. 

Kitchen Tip#5: Portabella Gills are out!

Have you ever tried grilling or cooking portobello mushrooms and having this not-so-pretty black liquid excreting out? It goes everywhere, colouring your cheese stuffing from white to black or leaving an ugly stain on the plate.

Well, I am one of those people who like my food looking nice, presentable and delicious. Here is the trick to stop this black liquid from ruining your food's good  looks. Take the portobello mushrooms out of the package and use either a table/butter knife or the side of a spoon to remove the gills from underneath the mushroom cap.

Do not wash the mushroom as it soaks up too much water. Instead, use a clean dry tissue and give it a good wipe down. Once done, it is ready to be cooked.

Kitchen Tip#4: Storing Unused Herbs

Unused herbs can be frozen in water using little containers. This way, you don't have to throw them away when they wilt.

I trim my Thai basil plant regularly to keep the plant bushy, and can't seem to finish using the leaves from this flourishing plant. Now I pop everything into the freezer until the next time I cook Thai green curry!

When cooking, simply put the ice cube directly into the pot. Or defrost to use the herbs directly in salads.

Kitchen Tip#3: How to simply poach an egg

My stage name is eggy for a reason. I love eggs and naturally, I eat a lot of them, which then leads to me having to cook them (who else will cook me eggs?).

My favorite are poached eggs as they don't feel so heavy and have a lovely creamy texture to the yolk. I know most real chefs say they poach eggs using a pot, add some vinegar in and top up with water, bring to a boil, make a whirlpool, crack the egg in, cross your fingers that it does not break and you might possibly have some strange form of poached eggs. Well, I have found a little trick that has never failed me and I hope it will not fail you either.

Instruments: Saucepan or frying pan (flat base), slotted turner, boiling water and eggs.

Step 1: Fill 3/4 of the saucepan with boiling water.

Step 2: Place on medium heat until small bubbles form at the base of the saucepan. Do not let water boil.

Step 3: Once you have the temperature under control, crack an egg and drop it as close to the water as possible to avoid damage to egg.

Step 4: Using a spoon, pour some of the hot water on top of the uncovered egg (usually the egg yolk) until it changes colour to resemble a poach egg.

Step 5: Turn off heat and cover saucepan. Count to 10 slowly.

Step 6: Uncover and use a slotted turner to scope up poached egg, pat the bottom of the slotted turner on some absorbent paper to dry the egg.

Ta-dah!

Kitchen Tip#2: Ants, Ants Go Away



Picture by Mike Plante - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Chalk.jpg

 With unpredictable weather in Singapore, we get unpredictable ant attacks.
Last week has been bizarre, rain, shine, scotching hot, thunderstorm, flood and shine again. The ants staying in my apartment suddenly started coming out to socialise. They were everywhere!

I am a clean freak, I do not leave anything in the open, food go in air tight containers, in the fridge, in boxes or in my tummy. So, I couldn't understand why the ants were out and about, thus blaming the weather. They were crawling in from the windows and onto the tabletops, chairs, stove, walls.. and I started to get stressed.

My husband got me some ant poison which the shop had convinced him was the best (the BEST they said!). It came in a tube, looked like superglue and was suppose to get rid of the ants within 3 days. I applied them everywhere, but the ants never went away.

Since that didn't work, I complained to my mum as usual. She is the answer guru, the know-all, the enlightener and the most dear to my heart. She told me to get some chalk and draw over the infested areas. I thought she was joking but did as I was told...

Surprisingly, ants do not like chalk!! Within 2 days, the apartment was cleared! Ok, I still get the random crawler(s) here and there but life is back to normal. Besides, you can improve on your sketching skills at the same time.

Have fun!

Kitchen Tip#1: Getting Rid of Garlic Smell

Garlic Cloves

"Garlic soap", said the label of a small box.

Curious, I took a closer look. It promised to remove the pungent smell of garlic from our hands if we rub our hands with it under cold running water. And hence the name soap. Anyone who has spent some time chopping garlic would know that the pungent medicinal smell of the bulb remains even after soap.

I tried it at home...