Bill Bailey Live tour in Manchester

Bill Bailey had performed in The Palace Theater in Manchester last Firday. Me and my hubby went to see his Live tour for the first time. I can actually say that it was my first experience to see Live stand up comedy and I was so excited. I booked the ticket for two and our seats were at Grand tier A row. Literally speaking my seat was quite far away from the comedian, and it was almost like watching the act from a bird's eye view point. The seats were occupied by the audiences, once I was inside the building I was thrilled by the size of the hall which is quite small as well as the decoration. The act started at 8 pm and finished at 10 pm but I wanted more! Hahaha! Bill Bailey began the jokes about Britney Spears that she blundered " Hello, London!"(while performing in Manchester). Well, apparently someone forgot to tell her where she was! (This is my joke by the way.)

I must admit that I absolutely enjoyed his performance, it was sensationally brillant,superb jokes and what a talented musician he is! I persume that he can play any instruments. Gosh! He is so cool!!!! Love the joke about 30 seconds sunshine and it was so true because I am actually act like that whenever the sun stick its head out of the clouds. Another memorable act is the short film at the end of the show it was absolutely hilarious. Genius Bill! Can't wait to see more of your acts!

Last night dinner

Last night I made an Indian Chinese dish which is called Chicken Manchuria, it was my first attempt and it turned out amazingly delicious, haha, it was worth trying something different because it took me quite a long time to prepare all the ingredients but it was fun since I like experimenting with flavour combinations. Honestly I'm not an expert in any areas of cooking and as I always say I usually "wing it", it is my way of learning or to learn from my experience. It is either hit or miss and hoping that the result would be good. The best part of cooking for me is when I photograph what I have cooked, I can see my improvements as well as the effort. It unquestionably put a smile on my face whenever I receive a compliment. I'm absolutely over the moon to see my hubby enjoy my food. After all I didn't realize that cooking with passion is something I can do.


The second dish I made last night was japanese rice roll or sushi roll, I actually did it my way because I had no idea what it should taste like and I have never tried authentic Japanese food before but that wasn't a problem for me. The problem was I didn't know how to roll it properly, my first roll was far too big,haha,and the second roll was ok, I guess. Well, let's the pictures explain itself.

Tonight's Dinner!

Soy sauce glazed chicken thighs

Ingredients

Chicken thighs
Copped garlic
Chopped ginger
Chopped corriander
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon soysauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
Olive oil/Peanut oil

Methods

- Boil chicken thighs to make sure they're cooked then shallow fry in a wok till golden brown, set aside. Add chopped garlic and ginger into the wok and fry till brown then add brown sugar, soy sauce, Chinese rice wine and pour a cup of water then bring it to the boil, add chicken into the sauce then reduce the heat to gentle simmer. Cover the wok and cook till the sauce is reduced and thickened and glazed the chicken thighs after that you can garnish with chopped corriander. Bon Appetit!



I bought a new cookbook a few days ago and I tried one of the Chinese recipes from the book which is soy sauce glazed chicken thighs and I served that with mashed potatoes and carrots. It was really really delicious, I absolutely love it! Oh, I also made butternut squash soup for a starter, I didn't like it at all because it's too sweet for me but my hubby likes the soup so it was worth the effort.

Spring has sprung!

I have been looking forward to spring for so long and it's finally arrived! I feel as if I have been in hibernation mode during the winter. Now the weather has improved, it's getting warmer but it's still unpredictable anyway today's weather was quite nice and it was not windy(Thanks to God, I hate windy weather.)so I went to Heaton park for a walk. I took pictures of cherry blossoms and daffordils although some flowers have not fully sprung yet but it is still nice. I hope the weather will stay warm and sunny like this as long as possible. Although I can not expect too much but I will make the most of it anyway. Right, it is time to show some pictures. Here we go!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Recently I have been trying to cook something different, something that I have never cooked before. It's quite challenging, isn't it? Last week I made Chicken Tikka Masala, it was my first attempt to cook Indian food. I think my culinary skills has improved a lot since I started surfing internet for new recipes and I like experimenting with new ingredients or what I usually say to myself is"wing it"! Hahaha, anyway I hope that experiences will take me to the next level, for now I'll keep trying to be a master chef in my own kitchen. LOL

Let's get cracking! Here is my recipe!

Ingredients
chicken, boned and skinned
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp gram masala
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp crushed ginger
5 cardamon pods
cinnamon stick
chopped onions
chopped tomato or tomato puree
olive oil, salt, coconut milk

Method
1. Heat a saucepan to medium heat then add olive oil, put in cardamon pods and cinnamon stick. Stir once, add chopped onions cook till brown then add crushed garlic and ginger.
2. Mix all the spices together and add into the saucepan and stir for 30 seconds. Add chopped tomato or tomato puree, pour in water to simmer it for 10 mins. Season with salt and taste.
3. Add chicken and coconut milk to thicken the sauce, bring it to the boil for 5 mins then simmer gently for 10 mins or till cooked.

There you go! Chicken Tikka Masala served with baked potatoes. Triumphant!

Cook For Life!

Before I moved to England I never bothered to learn how to cook. I wasn't interested in cooking at all and why bother cooking when you live with your mom, right? Actually, I was too lazy to cook and clean and I didn't realise how important it is to be able to cook. Until I moved to England, I started to cook for myself and my hubby. I tried to cook him grilled pork chop served with veg and chips, surprisingly he loved what I cooked. And that's what we had for dinner for about 3 months. We got pretty fed up with it after that, so I started to cook a variety of dishes. I bought a few cookbooks. Sometimes I phoned my mom to ask for some recipes. These days my cooking skills have improved quite a lot which is a good sign for my hubby. He titled me as a "master chef" haha. In fact I'm nowhere near that title but I am determined to be a better cook. Now, I'm going to show you what I've cooked. Here we go!





This is what I called "homecooked popcorn chicken". It looks really yummy!


This is seafood red curry with green beans and babycorn.


This is steamed salmon with salad. I just wing it,it was pretty tasty though.


This is scallops with pea puree. My first attempt to cook pricey scallops.


This is stir fried noodles with prawns in Thailand known as Pad Thai.


And the last one is Chinese steamed and pan fried dumpling. This dish reminds me of when I was in China. I love Chinese food!


Ps. © All rights reserved for posted pictures.

Introductory

Hello passerby!

I'm quite new to this blog thingy and I don't really know how to create a blog. I just have to wing it I guess. I really like this site although I haven't got a clue about what I'm going to put in my new space. I'm quite a shy and quiet person and I rather like my photographs to speak for me. I particularly love photography because I truly enjoy doing so and I find it fascinating. But let me tell you, I'm just an amateur photographer, I think I have a long way to go to be a professional one. I usually visit http://www.flickr.com/. It's my favorite website which pack with loads of professional/amateur/natural talented etc. photographers. If any of you would like to see my works do follow this http://www.flickr.com/photos/toxic-midget/

Ps. The picture above my blog was taken at Tatton park - It's one of the places that I usually visit.