Teochew Brasied Duck

I'm a Teochew and one of my all time favorite Teochew dishes is the Teochew Braised Duck.  I've bought this recipe book: Chinese Heritage Cooking last year but I only recently started to cook some of the heritage dishes and so far, the recipes had turned out really well.

Above was my first attempt at the braised duck and I was really pleased with how the duck turned out. Actually that was half a duck as I wasn't confident to braised one whole duck, so for my next attempt, I will definitely buy a whole of duck.

With this recipe, I don't have to buy overpriced braised duck during Chinese New Year anymore! I can braised my own duck. Whippee!

Pig's trotters in black vinegar

Inspired by Petunia's post on pig's trotters in black vinegar, I decided to cook my very own as well! It has been a long time since I had pig's trotters in black vinegar. I used 2 front trotters, some "muscle meat" for my hubby who prefers lean meat, black fungus and eggs.

Pig's trotters in black vinegar is a classic confinement dish and it is my all time favorite confinement food. I can eat this every week, I swear. Thankfully Hubby and my in-laws are huge fan of pig's trotters in black vinegar too, so that big pot was finished to the very last drop in one setting. No left overs at all!

Looking at Petunia's recipe, she used 2 types of black vinegar: sweet rice vinegar and black rice vinegar. For me, I only used 1 type: the Bull Dog Brand Black Rice Vinegar.

It comes in "single strength" or "double strength" where "double strength" is about 1.5X the price of the "single strength". I have previously only used "double strength" since that was what my mom and my confinement lady used as well.

But this time round, I've decided to give "single strength" a try, to test whether is there any difference. The verdict: no significant difference. However, the "single strength" wasn't as sweet as the "double strength", so I had to add a lot more black sugar, in order to have the same sweetness.

Another interesting fact that I have learnt about this Bull Dog Brand Black Rice Vinegar: it is manufactured in Singapore. Wow... our very own local brand!

Yummy. Looking forward to cook another pot in a month's time! ;)

Beanie's first visit to a farm (and mine too!)

Little Beanie took her feeding duties very seriously and insisted on carrying the feeding bucket.

The little wallaby was SO CUTE! It was a gentle little thing and was very patient with Beanie.

But Little Wallaby was simply too greedy so it went straight for the bucket.

Beanie: "Nah, bread for you!" 

During the Margaret river trip, we visited a petting zoo / farm: The Sunflower Farm. It wasn't really a real farm but more of a touristy petting farm. Nonetheless, it was an eye-opening for me, who have never been to an Angmoh farm or a petting farm.

First, we bottled-fed 2 cute little lambs. OMG, they were so cute and their wool was so soft! And the best part: they weren't smelly at all!

Then the baby wallaby came along and stole my heart. It was such a gentle little creature! It followed Beanie around since Beanie was the one carrying the feeding bucket. And Beanie was very intrigued by her furry friend. They hanged out for a while until... well, the feeding bucket got kind of empty.

Then we saw geese, limas, many different breeds of chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, sheep, a horse and a pony... etc (strangely, no cows) and most important of all, pigs.

I have never knew that pigs can be so BIG. I mean, HUGE. In my mind, I thought pigs are the size of big dogs, but fatter and smellier. But apparently, pigs that are reared for meat are really big animals! They are twice the length of me... Geez!

I stared at the pigs and lambs for the longest time and started to feel bad that I actually eat them. Sigh, maybe I should become a vegetarian but the foodie in me refused to even entertain the thought.

As for Beanie, she had a blast at the farm. She happily carried the feeding bucket, fed the animals, she was not afraid of them (not even the pigs?!) and was constantly interacting with the animals. I was rather proud of her, my little trouper. ;)

I'm now looking forward to visit other farms in other countries and maybe a farm stay too!