crab @ home

uncle D bought a live 1.3kg mud crab today at Richmond today after we had our Vietnamese lunch.

when I asked him how is he going to kill it, he said, "don't worry." wahh! he definitely sounds like he knows what he's doing.

I feel so sorry for the wrapped up moving creature in the plastic bag. when I brought it home and left it on the basin, I had the bag opened up to make sure it had air to breathe. aunty M asked why do I want to prolong his sufferings.

and when I asked uncle D how is he going to cook the crab, he said "restaurant style." Wahhh! and restaurant style indeed the end result was.

ginger and spring onion crab on fresh noodles, home-cooked restaurant style ;)

I know I'm horrible, one moment I'm feeling sorry for my pet crab, next moment I'm having it for dinner. It was interesting as it was my first-hand experience watching how people chop up crabs. there are certain parts like the gills and internal organs that you have to remove before cooking.

wrestling the crab down

It took quite awhile for uncle D to chop the crab's claw off. For visualization sake, the crab is bigger than my face, which means it was a pretty strong crab. the trick is to chop both of it's claws off first so you won't risk having your fingers crushed. the crab broke a chopstick. imagine what it can do to you.

After the crab was being chopped up, and whacked a couple of times to crack the shells, it went into the pan with the other main ingredients - ginger and spring onion. for the sauce, it was white wine, cornflour, sugar, chicken stock, salt and some water. uncle D did a good job with the shell-cracking as we did not require any prying tools.

simmer it for a moment and the crab's shell transforms from a muddy green to an appetizing bright orange colour! the smell is terrific too.

empty the pan and pour everything on a bed of freshly boiled noodles, and expect everyone running to the table, or in my case, already seated at the table ;)

the flesh of the crab was very sweet and springy, you know, that fresh texture.

I thought uncle D did a really a good job on the crab except the fact that I felt something lacking in the sauce. something salty, but haven't figured out what.

i'm warning you, more food.

warning: this post may again have a strong relation to the topic of food. supervision recommended for the non-food lover.

it was a super lovely day today. why you may ask.

firstly, i had don don with cherly and na for lunch.

it's this japanese place on swanton street serving quick, cheap (well, cheaper than most food you can find in melbourne) and super yummy food for people on the go.

teriyaki don @ $6.40, chicken teriyaki on rice. warm, tasty.

soba salad @ $7.50, fresh vegies on buckwheat noodles (it's underneath the vegies), very refreshing.

Then, along with audrey, we headed to dfo (direct factory outlet) south wraft for some Shopping!

to all you people out there, you shouldn't shop for Guess in Msia but instead come to melbourne. a pair of jeans that you get for RM200 at FJ Benjamin, you can get it here for $40 = RM120. then you can take that RM80 and spend it on something else. =)

and thirdly, I had my fav max brenner whipped choc frappe @ $6.70 after months of deprivation! and may i insist, its the dark chocolate variation. I finally had a try at the QV branch. it was oh-so-expensive but mm mm good ;)

among the few thai dishes we ordered

later on, 6 of us headed to lygon for spicy food at ying thai 2. the tom yam soup was not as spicy as the previous time I had it, but it was still good.

and to wrap up a whole day of good food, we shared a slice of pear and cheese crumble at brunetti among 6 of us. cheap students! X) you should have seen the expression of the cashier when i asked for 5 more dessert forks for a slice of cake!

rare dim sums

or at least these are what i find rare.. and yummy.

I don't see these in Malaysia.

Salt & Pepper Tofu

mm.. mm. absolutely tasty, crispy on the outside and super soft on the inside. Love it!

Pan-fried Water Chestnut Cake

something so different. Mildly sweet jelly-like texture with water chestnut pieces, pan-fried to enhance flavour.

dined at Kam Fook @ Westfield Doncaster.

I love dim sum.