Katsu Re-visit - Baked Version

Yet another food post guys :) The truth is I cook more than I bake these days. Yes! I am a superwoman like many working mums...we struggle everyday to bring back the money and still try to squeeze our brain juice n strength to cook delicious food for the family. I really appreciate cooking blogs and Facebook Cooking groups like SHC, to keep the ideas coming  ! I think everyone can agree with me that Japanese cusine is well love n sort after in Singapore. This explains why you can see Jap restaurents in every corner of a little country like ours. There is this one dish which I always prefer homecooked rather than ordering outside, as restaurant standard can be so easily achieved with this one. Katsu Curry Don.

As I scroll through my own blog, I do have 1 posting on this dish. But recently, upon stumbling on Just One Cookbook, I decide to try out this dish again. The most troublesome part of making this dish is to fry the Katsu. Tell my mother I serve fried food to her grandchildren, I will get it from her that's for sure! So, why not bake it instead? Less oil and easy to clean up (basically no clean up if you lay your tray nicely with aluminum foil).
So, stop with the yakking (for now) and on with the recipe =)

For the Katsu, I followed the recipe from Just One Cookbook
As for the curry, Just One Cookbook do have one which is more authentic, but mine is simply working mum friendly.. hehe..

Ingredients:
(for 2 adults and a Todd for 2 days)
- 2 Carrots (diced up)
- 2 Russet Potatoes (diced up)
- 1 Large Yellow Onion (diced up)
- Olive Oil
- Japanese Curry cubes (I choose the mild one with apple/honey- more kids friendly and usually I buy the small box, no wastage and no leftovers for you to keep in the fridge till you forget about it)
- Half an apple

Instructions:

1) Stir-fry onion in the pot, this is optional, but I add a dash of mirin as I feel it makes the onion really sweet and a wee bit of salt. Let the onion sweat it out
2) Add in both the carrots and potatoes and continue to sautéed for about a minute.
3) Pour in water till all the ingredients are covered with water. Cover and let the soup boil and simmer
4) Till the ingredients have relatively soften, pop in the curry cubes and grate in the apple. Stir till well incorporated.
5) Cover, continue to simmer at med to low heat.
6) By the time your Katsu and rice are ready, you can off the heat.

I do not know why, but this curry always taste better the next day... so usually the next day I will add long beans and diced up chicken into the curry. There you have another meal settled... good right?!
I hope all of you will like this recipe, I do =) (Just add those purple pickles to this and shredded red ginger and a poached egg, your instagram pic will look even better!)

Viola!

My Girlie Fantasy

For those who do not know me that well, I grew up playing Barbie dolls and watching Disney princesses. I have always liked anything pink, cute, sweet...anything girlie you name it (although for the longest time I was in denial of it), I love it. Growing up I do have a few Barbies but when it comes to my own room, we do not have the luxury of space to have a room to ourselves. My lil sis and I had to share a room and the décor was just normal. Nothing wrong with it and we grew up just fine, but it is just every girl's dream to own a "princess room". Note, this is going to be a long long post... so read on if you are intending to revamp your kid's room, if not, you can just scroll quick to enjoy the pictures =)

I am very lucky to be blessed with 2 little girls...and being presented this golden opportunity to design their "Princess" Room!!!! Big K already has thinking of her own, so I would not be so mean to actually force my ideas on her. I value her input as well, especially when choosing the bedframe.

The truth is, my first choice of the bedframe was Flexa, I love their simplicity and quality materials(very solid). The reason Hubs and I decides on Kids Haven (2nd choice) are as follow:

- Customizations Allowed
- Affordable costs
- Acceptable Quality
- Girly Window which Big K loves. (Sorry lil K, when you are older)

Therefore, as you can see, the kid's opinion did played an important part in our decision making. After deciding on Kids Haven, we approached Vivian the Lady Boss of Kids Haven to place our order and also to specify all the changes we want on an existing showroom piece. She was really accommodating and gave us very realistic advices which I really appreciate. Due to our extensive customization, we waited 2 months for the bed, but it was well worth the wait. While waiting, it gave us ample time to re-paint the room as well.

When we first move into the house (with no kids), the room the kids have now is the least done up. It was only painted in white with laminated floorings. And so, we engaged Nippon Paint for their painting service. Although it was only 1 room, but it was their SOP to send a consultant over to access the walls before recommending us with the right kind of paint, very professional and informative.
On the actual day of the paint job, although we did clear up the room a bit, the workers came and helped move all the bulky items out of the way. Covered the whole room, only exposing what is needed to be paint. All in all, it was hassle free, and only minimum clean up required from us. With kids around in the house, fast and clean service like this is really what we needed.

At this point, I have covered all the big ticket items. Now, let's talk about the décor. My must have for the room, regardless whether my kids like Hello Kitty or not, is the Hello Kitty Lamp by baseNL.
This is really a love at first sight for me and I just got to have it. I got the lamp through HipVan, a Singapore based online store that sells unique stuffs ranging from furniture, lamps, decors, storage etc. What I like about HipVan, is their fast delivery (Free Too!) and 30 days return policy, not all the stuffs you think suits your home does . Therefore with this return policy, you will not worry to buy the wrong stuffs then worry about selling it off on Carousel the next day! Sounds familiar?
No worry for me though, I love love love this lamp and fortunately for me, so does big K and lil K.

Another thing that I would like to mentions are the canvas print. I bought the "Playroom Rules" from Totally Hot Stuffs. These canvas are actually produced by a brand call Lorliepop Prints. It is started by a mother who wanted to make beautiful prints for her baby's nursery. One print then another... and so it became Lorliepop Prints. I just love the simple quotes on their products and they do have customization available. This is definitely a pretty addition to the room.

Wow... I think I need to stop here... actually I am still in the midst of waiting other stuffs to arrive to complete the room décor part. But I basically have covered most of them in this post. Probably I will update again, as and when the new stuffs are added, as I do have a few more unique pieces coming. Do stay tune for it ya =)



The room so far

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