Early Christmas Present

Goodness me, I don't know whether santa is really trying to prove he exists! I came home with a suprise again.

'We are delighted to tell you that you are the lucky winer of The Philadelphia Cookbook.'

OMG

O.O

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy. And you know what's funny? I don't remember at all participating the competition. LOL!

Thank you Kraft Philadelphia! You've made my Christmas season, and I've already picked out what I want to make this weekend!

Lasagna

This is also a great dish to make and can last you for a few days if you make it in large portions.I remembered that it took me 3 times before I actually manage to bake one that hold all the layers up, i.e not watery. Simple as it sounds, I just had to leave the lasagna to cool for 10minutes before cutting into it. Haha, can't believe that took 3 attempts :P

Anyhoo, this is my simple version of making a lasagna. Thanks to D, he loves lasagna so I get to keep practicing!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped into fine pieces
• 1/4 onion, chopped into fine pieces
  
• 250g mince beef
• 250g Mozzarella
• 1 bowl grated Parmesan
• 170g - 1 packet dolmio brand tomato and basil sauce
• 150g baby button mushrooms
• Italian herb for spice
• Dried Basil for spice
• 1/2 tbsp dried parsley
  
• 1/2 tbsp Salt plus extra for taste
• 250g of Sainsbury white sauce / béchamel sauce mix with sprinkled parsley
• 3 Layers of lasagne sheets (ones that you don't need to dip in water)
  

Method

1. Cook the garlic and onions in a pot/pan together. Add the mushrooms and 2 tbsp of water and cook until the mushrooms shrink. 
2. Add the mince and fry until 3/4 cooked before adding the tomatoe sauces. This can be seen when the meat colour turne from red to brown.
3. Add seasoning to the mix and let it simmer for a bit. Add cornflour if mixture is too watery. Allow the mixture to cool.
   
4. Preheat oven to 200degC. Prep up a square 25cm x 25cm square pan.
5. Add dried parsley to the white / bechamel sauce and mix. Set aside.
6. Layers consist of (starting from the bottom): 

• 1/2 Beef and mushroom mixture
• Lasagna sheets (break it to cover the tin entirely. Don't overlap the sheets on top of each other.)
  
• 1/2 White sauce
• 1/2 Mozzarella & Parmesan cheese
• Lasagna sheets
• 1/2 Beef and mushroom mixture
• Lasagna sheets
  
• 1/2 White sauce
  
• 1/2 Mozzarella & Parmesan cheese (gives a nice chewy top)

Cover the tin with an aluminum foil and bake for 20 mins. Remove the foil and bake for another 15-20 mins or until the top layer browns to your suit.

Here's a nice video clip as well by Kraft if you're more of a visual person:

Cafe East

Yes I'm back! Holiday was ammmaaazziinnnggg but I must say I miss my baking a whole lot. But I gotta get the laundry and photos out of the way as soon as I can!

Anyway, the day before we left, we headed out to our favourite restaurant Cafe East. We were actually at the O2 Arena watching the ATP Tour, and if not for that we wouldn't be heading all the way there. Talk about convenience, heh.

This restaurant is by far the most reasonable Vietnamese restaurant I have been to, but alas their menu hasn't gotten enough variety as Song Que.

Instead of the normal summer or deep fried springrolls, we opted for a different dish. It's still a spring roll dish, which consist of mushrooms wrapped with rice flour, topped up with a type of luncheon meat, fried onions and raw bean sprouts. Of course, served with yummy fish oil. There were about 8 pieces at least enough as an appetiser for 2.

My main course for a change was spicy prawn rice noodle soup with the usual sides of lemon, raw mint, and bean sprouts to add. This dish really clears up your nose if you have a cold!

D's dish was a bit of a let down as he was expecting a bigger portion. He had rice and pork lemon grass, in which he couldn't really taste the lemon grass.

So in conclusion (sounding like some crazy scientist) we think that their soup is their specialty on top of the rest of the other dishes, and it's worth heading to if you crave for their yummy dessert drinks and wanting a nice warm meal for the winter at a really reasonable price :)

More information:

Surrey Quays Leisure Centre, 
100 Redriff Row, London, 
SE16 7LH, UK.
Tel: 020 7252 1212‎

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