Chicken Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes

We wanted to get some chicken breast fillets the other day and bought some breast tenderloins by mistake. Not knowing what to do with them, we just decided to make chicken breast cutlets and serve them with Ikea gravy.

Chicken cutlets:

1. Cover the chicken meat with plastic wrap and with a flat mallet (tenderizer), pound the chicken to tenderize and flatten it out.
2. Coat the chicken fillets with flour.
3. Dip in beaten egg and coat with panko flakes (Japanese bread crumbs).
4. Fry in hot oil, approximately 2 minutes on each side or until cooked.

Mashed Potatoes:

1. Boil potatoes in hot water for 15-20 minutes or until soft.
2. In a bowl, peel off the skin (this should come off easily) - some people actually prefer to have bits of skin in the mashed potatoes.
3. Mash the potatoes using a potato masher or a fork
4. Add a dollop of butter.
5. Add a little milk but not too much that the consistency becomes runny.
6. Season with salt & pepper.
7. If desired, top with bacon bits and melted cheese (top mashed potatoes with grated cheese and melt in the microwave).

Note that the unseasoned and unmarinated chicken cutlets are bland when eaten as is. Make sure to serve with gravy or some tonkatsu sauce to give it flavor.

VOIP woes

I switched to VOIP 4 years ago and have always been a fan. The rates are cheaper (than regular phone lines) and I always have a cellphone with me so who cares if service isn't perfect - goes down w/ the internet connection, electricity, router, modem, ... ?

I was a Sunrocket customer for almost 2 years when they closed their business last July. I have been a happy and satisfied customer and have convinced several friends to subscribe with them. Sadly, they didn't last.

So I switched to JoiPhone. Why ? The rates are uber-low. I guess this is an obvious example of getting what you paid for. For starters, it took JoiPhone a while to get my account up and running, apparently, the adapter had to be placed BEFORE the router, otherwise you won't get to hear anything when you place outgoing calls. Unfortunately, placing the adapter before your router degrades our bandwidth so we wanted it placed behind our router. JoiPhone's technicians took 2 weeks to "tweak" their systems and support static IP.

Last August 30, I received a message that they were able to port (finally!) my old phone number to my JoiPhone account. Note that their website promised that they are able to port phone numbers from Sunrocket customers within 24-48 hours. It took them 6 weeks to port mine. I didn't complain.

Later, I'd find out that in the process of porting my old number to my account, they DESTROYED my account completely. Incoming calls are routed to voicemail and I cannot make any outgoing calls at all. Since Aug 30, I've had 4 tickets assigned to my problem. Each time, I'd get a call from a technician who'd walk me through a power-cycle process and each time, it won't work.

It's been 9 days since I lost my voip service and it's starting to hurt. I've been working at home for 2 weeks now and my cellphone minutes are dwindling down. Of course, I made the mistake of signing up and pre-paying a year's service. I locked myself into this jail cell and threw away the key.

and the most ironic part is that if you call them, an automated system picks up and says "Thank you for calling Joi Phone, we bring Joy into your life.." ---> f*ing joi. &*#!@^!&*(#^@!*&(#^!@*. Joy ? Yeah right.

Pork with Bell Peppers

(recipe from Shelby)

This dish was prepared and shown to me by an officemate during a project stint in NJ. Thanks Shelby!



Ingredients:

• Pork shoulder, cubed
• Bell pepper, diced
  
• Oyster sauce
• cornstarch
• salt
• soy sauce
• chopped garlic
  

Steps:

1. In a plastic container, mix cornstarch and a dash of salt. Place a few pieces of cubed pork, cover and shake to coat the pork pieces evenly. Do this until all the meat is evenly coated with the cornstarch mixture. Set aside
   
2. In a wok / saucepan, heat some oil (put enough oil to deep fry the pork pieces).
3. Deep fry the pork cubes and set aside to drain. If possible, drain the oil from the meat by using a metal mesh strainer rather than paper towels. This will help keep the meat crunchy. Set aside.
   
4. In a small bowl, mix oyster sauce with a dash of soy sauce (to taste) . Mix just enough to coat the pieces of meat. Add a little water if the mixture is too thick.
   
5. Saute garlic in a wok/saucepan, add the bell pepper. When bell pepper is cooked, add the deep fried pork and mix.
   
6. Pour in the oyster sauce mixture and mix.
7. Serve

w810i

My cellphone just keeps on amazing me!


Hubby and I got our w810i cellphones last March for free when we signed up for Cingular's family plan. I started nursing this aversion for buying mobile phones since I moved to the US several years ago and realized that you could get mobile phone units for free - and sometimes, depending on the model and the plan that you sign up for, you even get cash back. So why pay ?


Keeping my strategy in mind, note that I don't usually get the latest in mobile technology whenever I sign up or renew my contract. I don't even bother getting exploring the features that my phone has to offer. To me, a mobile phone is what it is - a small phone that you can bring with you anywhere. So imagine my surprise when we got bored while waiting for a friend we were picking up at a bus stop.

Image stitching!
<-- This image was composed from 3 separate shots.

Picture templates
<-- I had to erase hubby's pic in this monkey template, he made me promise not to post this pic.

NYC with Edson

August 18, 2007

New York

American Museum of Natural History, Rose Center, Chinatown

(click photo to view album)

It was a Saturday so I get to join the boys' outing. We had planned to meet up with Steven for brunch at a dimsum place in Chinatown but we ran late (waiting for a realtor & her client) so we decided to cancel brunch and go straight to AMNH.

I don't even remember how many times I've been to the AMNH but I can definitely say that I only saw a few sections during each of my previous trips. After today, I remember why I never get to see the entire thing in one day. There really was a lot - too much for a day - and in fact, after a couple of hours going through 2 floors, we were pooped. We then just walked briskly through the rest of the exhibits and the Rose Center so that our entrance fee is sulit.

It was almost 6 when we got to Chinatown and I asked the boys to just hear mass first before having dinner. By 7, we were famished and our Hop Kee dinner tasted even better than usual. We got to see some sort of Festival in Little Italy. Apparently, the streets get barricaded and are off limits to vehicles on Saturday nights.

Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus

We prepared this dish last Sunday lunch, the recipe is from my friend Irene.

Sammie did a great job wrapping up the asparagus stalks with bacon, they were all firmly wrapped and don't fall apart even if you cut it across the middle.

We're still a bit off with the oven settings and as you can see, the asparagus tips are overcooked. Nevertheless, these were yummy!

Link to Irene's Original Recipe:

Ingredients:

• Green Asparagus Slices of Bacon
• Pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Teriyaki Sauce (Kikkoman)

Steps:

1. Hold 1 asparagus on both ends and bend gently until it snaps. Throw away the bottom portion, and use the remaining one as a guide to cut the rest of the asparagus bundle.



2. Take 3-4 asparagus together, wrap 1 slice of bacon around it in a spiral manner until it covers 3/4 of your asparagus. Do it for the remaining asparagus.



3. Line bacon wrapped asparagus on a baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Brush with teriyaki sauce (optional).



4. Bake at 375F for 10-15 minutes, or until bacon is brown and crispy.

Pork Liempo

We had broiled pork belly tonight and it was good! It smelled (and tasted) so good that it was all gone before we even thought of taking pictures.

Marinade (portions are estimates):
- 10 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce (mushroom based)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- dash of Mc Cormick montreal steak seasoning
- 4 tbsp vinegar

1. Marinade pork belly in mixture for at least 1 hr.
2. Set the turbo broiler to 350F and cook until golden brown. You would have to turn the belly slices over halfway through the process to brown both sides. Depending on the thickness of the slices, this should take between 20 - 30 minutes.