Mother's Day '11

Celebrated Mother's Day by cooking dinner for mummy with the sisters :)

Decided to go with a Western theme and by western I mean steak and clam chowder and the likes. I have no idea how you call it here because in Malaysia we call this 'Western Food' but when I say that here, people just give me blank stares and a vague 'oh you mean hamburgers?' aih.

Delicious clam chowder made by 2nd sis that tastes oh so yummy that even me, notorious clam chowder hater -no way! you gasp but its true- actually got second helpings.

All made from scratch :D Except the bread coz we ran out of time. Aren't you proud mummy for having such awesomely skilled daughters hurhur.

Cake baked by 3rd sis and decorated by 4th sis. One of these days I will buy an icing cake stand thingy so I can properly ice a cake. Its a heart btw. And finished in two sittings; my family is human pac-man incarnate I swear.

Here is mummy dearest all cheerful with her gifts.

Although my mom is very different from other moms where we never had beauty sessions and other feminine sort of bonding due to her tough childhood days, she taught me lots of other practical stuff like how to cook (and awesomely at that) and clean and come up with various ingenious ways to fix stuff which is really handy when the item you broke is some limited edition stuff that you cannot find anywhere anymore. She is also a genius at art and crafts and all our science or art projects are sure winners heh.

She used to be insanely strict on both me and 2nd sis when we were younger and we were simply terrified of her. However, if it weren't for her crazy methods (which I don't agree with still but was very effective *grudgingly admits*) and trusty rotan, we wouldn't be the straight A's students we are today. I totally memorized the entire 12x12 timetable under an hour ok. AN HOUR. When I was only SIX years old. With no mistake whatsoever because every mistake meant one stroke of rotan T___T Thankfully she has become super mellow over the years and now its fun to just hang out with her where I get to teach her stuff like makeup and fashion etc.

All in all, she has been and still is a good mother. Although our roles as mother and daughter have sort of switched over the years, there are still things that only she can teach me every now and then and for that I am thankful.

I love you mummy.

CNY in the Dorms

Spent 2011's CNY in the dorms because the family is in LA and all relatives and friends are in Malaysia. Also, I have classes still... BOO.

So mom brought part of the dinner and CNY goodies up through USPS.

Since the roommate and gamergirl are Chinese, I thought to include them in my tiny Chinese New Year dinner which was 3 days late ahahaha.

Yee Sang ingredients sent by mummy dearest which I just put together and uhm spam musubi and cream corn to live up to the poor college student stereotype XD

Nah, its because we can't cook in the dorms and have to use the community kitchen downstairs which is such a hassle so I'm lazy to bring up an array of cooking utensils and ingredients. I have already sneaked a mini ricecooker in (shhhh don't tell) so its more than enough. BEST purchase in my uni life ever I swear.

I need my rice okay!

Vid of us tossing the Yee Sang:

Apparently no one here knows what Yee Sang is and I am starting to think that maybe its a Malaysian Chinese thing so someone please clarify for me.

Group pic! Guess who is whoooo :D

And yeah yeah we all look horrible except 2nd sis who wore makeup, bah her, but I was too tired to care to slap on makeup after I was done cooking. Yes, that is me on the far right. But you can tell that we are very happy no? :D

Random pic of our vent laden with candies courtesy of some neighbors who I do not know. Apparently, the roommate was chatting on the phone around the apartment block one night, saw a group of girls putting out candies, yelled 'I SEE YOU! CAN I HAVE THOSE CANDIES?!', scared the heck out of them in the process where they could only nod yes dumbly before she proceed to grab handfuls back to our suite and later going back to write thank you on their door.

I guess they found her amusing and came back the next day to sneakily give us more candies lols.

Shall now proceed to throw in random nicer made-up pic of self:

Bangs be gone~ Its sad to know that my church leaders differentiate me and 2nd sis by my bangs and once I pin it up, I become Ariel all over again -___-

Christmas Dinner '09

Got myself into an impromptu Christmas dinner cook off with Faye in my Thanksgiving post here.

Was wondering how to get around carrying out this task as my mom is infamous for hogging the kitchen due to her love for baking. And the times she does let you in, rest assured she would be standing nearby peering skeptically at you like a hawk, ready to screech 'NOOO NOT LIKE THAT!!! YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!' and scare the living daylights out of you.

Thanks a lot mom for the 'encouragement' wteff.

Needless to say, I hated cooking or baking of any sorts as long as she was present. Its more like a death sentence than a fun hobby ok.

No one looks good cooking ok shaddap

But then the night before, guess who fell sick? :D Ok technically I shouldn't be happy hahaha ahem plus at that moment, the last thing I wanted to do was rejoice as everyone including her were like 'well you got your wish, the whole kitchen is yours now have fun, dinner (for 7 people) must be ready at 7pm the latest BAIBAI'!

T_________________T

Never in my entire life had I roasted anything before as my specialty are desserts and out of the blue, the task of cooking a full fledged dinner was dumped to inexperienced me T__T I was only looking forward to HELPING ok, not cooking everything single handedly!

My dad who religiously stalks my blog knew about this cook off though and was highly enthusiastic about it, whipping out his camera to snap pics of me as 'proof' wteff.

They were cheering every now and then ok like some over devoted parents it was unnerving. Like hello, why are they more excited about this than me hor. Anyway, thanks to the lovely internet, hounding my mom every 5 minutes for tips and a few prayers, everything came together deliciously ♥

 Stuffed turkey and Shepherd Pie (left, and is made of lamb meat and mashed potatoes)

Apparently, the paper bag containing the giblets found in the neck of the turkey needs to be opened and the contents emptied out when making the gravy/soup and not thrown as a whole into a pot like some sort of teabag like I originally thought and wasted a pot of fragrant turkey stock just like that T__T

 Pineapple Glazed Ham

Pecan Pie which was omgsoeffingyummy!

I will make this again soon because its totally unlike whatever pie I've tried before plus the fact that I've been lusting after this pie since young since pecans weren't readily available (nor cheap) in Malaysia. Made from scratch btw (even the corn syrup which took effing forever T__T) yes everything is made from scratch cuz my mom don't believe in ready made store bought stuff T__T

Full crappy shot of the dinner table. I'm hungry so excuse the quality ok and yes the tables are not chun because we had to combine two separate tables oh how I long for my house in Malaysia every time I see pictures like these sigh.  The rotini salad is made by 2nd sis :) And the tiny Christmas fruitcake all the way at the back by my mom a month ago (because it tastes better with age) cuz no one in my family likes fruitcake at all except her and my dad.

Thanks to Levin and 2nd sis for helping me make this dinner too like slicing meats or washing the dishes (hahaha I love this the most! I mean them helping me wash the dishes and not me doing it ok).

The whole dinner process took me from 10am right up to 6.30pm at night. Exhausting but I feel so accomplished now! I can cook! This is for all those women who sneer at me and 2nd sis every time thinking we are nothing but shopping bimbos when we say we can cook. Hello, lao niang can do better ok plus look prettier than you again overall *bitter

I don't know who is prouder, me or my parents who kept telling everyone in facebook that their daughter cooked Christmas dinner this year lol.

Anyway, this was my Christmas for 2009 ♥

Daddy's Birthday

Today is daddy's birthday and here I am blogging away after I'd just stuffed myself with 10 spring rolls and countless sticks of kebab 2 hours before.

Screw my diet hor, I think I shall just accept the fact that I can never ever become perfectly slim like I was 4 years back. Where is my stronger than steel willpower where I could don't eat anything for a day and spend like 4 freaking hours exercising daily? Where?! *cries

Anyway, I baked. Again :D

Its Vanilla Sponge Cake sandwiched with jam, fresh fruits, cream and topped with yet more fresh fruits with mixed nuts sprinkled on the sides. Exactly like how daddy wanted it to be ♥

And in case you're wondering, yes I stole the decorating concept from some random blog because artistic I am not and I need a guide if I were to make anything look remotely pretty :C I did made some minor changes anyway too so its not like its a blatant copy *mumbles

Below is the recipe in case you're interested:

(Click to Show Recipe)

Ingredients:

(A)
150g cake flour/superfine flour
1/2 tsp (2g) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1g) salt
10g milk powder

(B)
60g cooking oil
50g water
4 (75g) yolks
80g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

(C)
4 (150g) whites
90g castor sugar
1/4 tsp (1g) cream of tartar

Method
1. Sift ingredients (A) and put it aside
2. Whisk yolks and sugar till it turns lemon color
3. Add oil, water and vanilla and mix till well blended
4. Add ingredients (A) and mix it slowly till it forms a smooth batter
5. Whisk (C) on high speed till stiff
6. Fold in 1/3 of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and gently stir, then fold in the remaining egg white mixture and mix well gently
7. Pour batter into a lined 9" round cake tin
8. Bake in a preheated oven 356°F/180°C for 35-40 mins or till it springs back when touched
9. Once cooked, removed from oven and invert the cake on the wire rack until completed cooled
10.Removed from mold and decorate it.

SO CUTE RIGHT THE CANDLES!!!!! *_____* 2nd sis and I spent like 20 minutes (20!!!) in the baking aisle debating on whether to get normal candles, number candles, or this cute Happy Birthday ones. After 10 minutes we decided that normal candles were boring and is meaningless if not the correct amount and a fire hazard if it were to be in this case. The other 20 were spent debating between the number candles and these cuz the numbers were cheaper by 50 cents (yealar we super cheapskate how?) but then these were cuter and were more quantity wise blablabla and so we took the number candles in the end because we are so cheap but then switched at the last second cuz we didn't feel happy about our choice wteff.

However, cute as they may be, we soon discover that they make horrible candles when lighted. Due to the design, wax dripped from all corners onto both the cake and itself, snuffing their own flames in turn oh the horror of having to relight them every few seconds T______T

Most rushed birthday song ever sung -_-'

I am almost inclined to believe in the saying that 'looks aren't everything' after this event ah. If (these) candles could talk:

"Hi, I'm pretty :)

Useless :C

But still pretty :D"

I did say almost *smirks

It IS super cute what.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!! Thank you for all you've done for me and know that my love for you know no bounds really ♥ Words can never ever finish describing my love and adoration for you so I shan't even bother to start because it will never end and words can only go so far. So it is my prayer that God would continue to bless you always in everything you do as we look forward to celebrating your future birthdays together again as always in all the merry years to come :D I love you ♥

Mummy's Birthday Cook Fest

So me and my sisters (minus 4th sis because she is a lazy bum *glares*) decided to cook dinner and bake a cake for mummy's birthday yesterday.

And here are the results of our sweat and toil:

2nd sis was in charge of the kebab and pasta salad while I did the mushroom soup which was hahaha so easy since its condensed mushroom soup where all I had to do was add in milk and extra chopped mushrooms :D And 3rd sis is one lucky lucky girl imo. Cuz back in MY days, making mash potatoes required me washing, peeling, chopping them into tiny chunks and worse of all, MASHING THEM UP BY HAND WHICH I SWEAR TAKES FOREVER AND IS ENOUGH TO MAKE A GROWN MAN CRY BY THE END OF IT.

Now? INSTANT mix ah. Just add water wteff.

Anyway, the reason I didn't cook much was because I was the one baking the cake. And not just any cake but a Kasutera Cake （カステラケーキ）because I've been craving to make those cute Japanese Strawberry Cakes like since forever. And apparently, a Kasutera Cake is like damn hard to make where only 1 out of every 10 commenter in every single food blog ever came away successful. In Japan, its also known as the cake you'd rather buy than make :\

Ordinarily, I would have backed off but dammit I reeeeally wanted that cake ok so I decided to pray first before just risking my all. And should it fail.....

Well, there is a reason why Ralphs sell ready-to-go cakes ya'know....

After 40 minutes of non-stop whisking (most cakes take only 7 minutes) with my hand threatening to fall off any second, I was beginning to regret like mad. Midway through whisking, I asked 3rd sis to take over for a minute while I refer to the recipe on my laptop and when I turned back, I saw to my horror, the electric whisk's wire-cord caught on the stove, happily burning itself away WTEFF!

ALDKASJDLJAS!!!! Hopping mad at her ok cuz if I had turned back a second later, the stupid appliance would probably burst into flames ok wteff. Clearly told her to NOT move hor, and she didn't listen.

And the reason why its near the stove for all you smartasses out there is because you need to whisk the batter over a pot of warm water.

Made her go door to door to borrow an electric mixer cuz I tried whisking it by hand and no, just no. You'll probably have a happier time sticking your arm into a blender or something.

Anyways, 5 hours and 3 failed batches of whipped cream later:

I know the star is not very symmetrical thank you very much but apart from that, I think it looks pretty decent no?

It tasted really nice too but what irked me was that after going back to read the comments again, I saw this:

GENOISE. SO IT NEEDN'T BE DIFFICULT TILL CAN DIE KASUTERA ALDKASDAD *HEADDESKS*

Mummy said it was delicious though (which I'm happy to hear because she is like super critical!) and when I got home from school today, nearly everything was gone aldjajdlajsd EXCUSE ME but I spent HOURS making this cake ok and HOW DARE YOU ALL JUST EAT EVERYTHING UP WITHOUT LEAVING ME A SLICE *&@#!&!@!

So there you have it people, Kasutera Cake. Although really, just do what the Japanese do and buy it instead of making it. A lot easier that way and cheaper too cuz now I have to replace the electric mixer which stupid 3rd sis burnt. FML.

Onigiri

So yeah, my second attempt at making onigiri because my first was hardeeharhar total fail.

It kept falling apart and I do not know how to get the nori to wrap neatly around it despite staring at the instructional pics on my computer screen for ages.

BUT IT WAS YUMMEH I TELL YOU!!! :d

Ok, so nothing like the ones I ate in Japan because I do not have the right fillings but omg the rice itself? IS GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT ALONE :ddd

Just add salt.

2nd sis trying her hand at shaping an onigiri *snorts*

I used uhm pink salmon (what fish is this I have no idea. Is it salmon too? So are there like other colored salmons?) with mayo because I do not have tuna nor smoked salmon so, improvise! :D

HAHAHAHAHA I FAIL AT SHAPING THEM. So I got fed up in the end and cheated by making a round ball instead. I simply do not understand how to shape it into a triangle. The 'L' method is not working :C

If I were Japanese, I would be staring at a future filled with 27 cats cuz no one would marry me after looking at the state of my onigiri lol. I think it might fall apart as soon as one were to bite into them but I have to ask my parents about that tomorrow as I left the 'nice' ones (pic) for them. Which leaves much to be said about the un-nice ones I ate in a hurry so no one would ever see it....

By far, the prettiest one of the lot ♥

Will continue making more until I become Japanese girl worthy at it :p

PS. I think I might have adopted a stray dog in my past life instead because guess who dropped stats? NO MORE PHONE CALLS YAY!

Donut Lust

One of the few things I looked forward to during my move back to the States was donuts. More specifically, Krispy Kreme donuts which I heard was damn yummy :d

But guess what? No one cares for donuts here. At least that is what I think after being tricked into eating cake donuts -which is the most disgusting thing ever- and not being able to find a single donut store everywhere I go :C And after some googling, found that the nearest Krispe Kreme store is 11 miles away. No idea how far 11 miles is cuz I still haven't gotten all the metric conversion figured out yet but I'm betting that it is pretty far just to eat a donut.

BUT I WANT DONUTS OKAY WANT WANT WANT!

So the only way is to make it. Sigh.

This is how crazy my craving for donuts has gotten. Anyway, did a batch of them and they're like the fluffiest, softest, doughiest donuts ever till even those who hate store donuts loved it :D Totally didn't expect it to turn out THAT good as 2nd sis was predicting that I would fail spectacularly. Ha, guess the prayer I muttered before I made them worked :) Yes, call me crazy but every cooking episodes of mine which I remember to say a prayer before starting has always turned out amazing ♥

Glazed half of them with melted sugar and the other half with chocolate and chopped peanuts. I love love love sugar glazed donuts ♥ Oh so yummy I tell you especially when it's piping hot :d Will never make chocolate coated ones again though because I really dislike chocolate after all. I did it mainly cuz I thought it'll look pretty and am thankful that at least 4th sis adores chocolate.

Shall attempt to make har kow next one of these days because someone once promised to make me a plateful and never did and so I'm still craving for it like anything. Not to mention the fact that I spent the whole of last night googling and reading up reviews of various dim sum places (because I really want that har kow wth) and another 2 whole hours this morning driving to the next city and getting lost in the process to find it, oh and also nearly backing into a truck, only to find myself duped into what turned out to be a shabby dim sum drive in instead of a fancy restaurant like what the reviewers said. FML.

Speaking of which, saw this in the FML website today:

TEGOSHI!!!!! lol. Clearly, fandom is on my mind too much for my own good.

Karē Raisu

So yeah, one is bound to succumb to cooking this dish when one spend half her time immersed in the Japanese fandom. Plus I love love love spicy food too anyway =D

So there are 3 ways to cooking Japanese Curry:

1. Using ready made sauce with veggies included

2. All ingredients from scratch except for curry base (Curry Roux)

3. From...scratch

And because my daddy bought the WRONG stuff, I ended up with a whole bunch of raw ingredients and a box of ready made sauce with veggies instead of my curry roux -_-

So until I have time to go over to the next city to pick up my curry roux, I decided to start on the 1st method before trying the 2nd later so I can compare the taste. No, I am not trying the 3rd method what from scratch cuz I am lazy just like that =)

1st method

1. Buy pork and a box of sauce. Get the hottest one (5) cuz 3 totally has no kick. I mean really, not spicy at all =C

2. Cut your pork into cubes/thin slices and saute them in a pan.

3. Boil water and dump the whole sauce packet in and let it boil for 3-5 minutes. It says to dump the whole packet in exactly like that okay so don't bother asking me if I'm sure. I AM SURE. Though I am not sure if its actually safe to boil packets really. Nvm, can sue if anything goes wrong =)

4. Pour sauce out from packet and serve hot with rice.

And there you have it, kare raisu~♪

So what does it taste like?

EXACTLY LIKE MY MOM'S CURRY.

Which is what me and my sisters always call 'total fail of malay curry' lol. So well, now she'll be happy to know that contrary to what we say, her curry is not fail. She'll just have to call it Japanese curry and not Malay curry instead XD

Is it nice? Yeah. Kind of I guess.

2nd method

This is the roux and can serve up to 12 people per box and I am going to continue the rest of the commentaries in the same robotic tone cuz I am feeling very tired after spending a whole day designing my LJ layout but DAMN IT LOOKS SO PRETTY NOW SRSLY I THINK I SHALL JUST BLOG THERE INSTEAD =D

Potatoes, carrots and onions which is still the bane of my existence I swear I can feel my eyes just hurting now just by looking at the picture ugh.

Sauteing! Oh I used pork cuz I don't want beef anymore =)

Dump the rest of the veggies in ahh I love this part really cuz it reminds me of when I was young and used to pluck grass and berries and dump them into my tiny toy wok and pretend to fry away like no tomorrow =DDD And it looked something like this. Only uhm greener.

Add cups and cups of water and let it simmer on low (but I am impatient and turned it up high which I think might be the reason for the sorry state of my curry later but I'm not sure) for 50 friggin minutes omg just gimme the packaged sauce anytime....

Add the roux after 50 minutes and this is the part where my curry turned from awesome to whattheheckisthis? I don't understand how TEN minutes can change everything but it can. Suddenly my curry looked like a muddy wetland and I refuse to show you that pic cuz it totally killed my appetite -yes it is that bad- and I want to appear nothing short of awesome on my blog so byebye ugly picture

And so skipped to the end result:

OH ALKDJFHALFA I PUT TO MUCH POTATOES SIGH SO NOW ITS A LUMPY MESS SO MUCH FOR MY PREVIOUS HAUGHTINESS AT FROWNING UPON THE PACKET OF PREMADE SAUCE MIX EARLIER SO THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING OVER COCKY.

Yes I am aware that it looks NOTHING like the curry pic on the box and I wrote a letter of complaint to the company about bad advertising by deceiving consumers with misleading photoshopped pics that looks too good to be true and thus crushing the cooking spirit of the buyers when theirs come out looking more like canned dog curry instead but they just told me that it is mostly my fault and would I like to take up some cooking classes =C

But the taste is still the same and idk about you but I think Japanese curry is pretty meh. 2nd sis liked it lots though but I still find nothing special about it. I kinda expected it to taste mind-blowingly out of the world or something like the Hayashi Rice one did since Japanese food are all so awesomely yummy but I am disappointed =C

AND IT'S NOT CUZ MY COOKING SKILLS SUCK WTH I DARE YOU TO DO BETTER!

NO don't take up my dare wth you're just supposed to cower and give in to my stated brilliance.

Anyway, I still think Malay curry is like the BEST in the world so there. Gosh how I miss it.

Godiva

So Ammy, in response to your question the other day if I'd ever eaten Godiva chocolates before:

Well, now I have thanks to Soeun who gave me box of it during Christmas. As for the taste, it tastes pretty much like well, chocolates. The only special thing I find about it is the gorgeous box which comes in handy at keeping my jewelries atm =D

I'm not really a big fan of sweet things though so don't take my word for it. But chocolates has never really tickle my fancy much =x Though I do appreciate people who give me chocolates cuz to them chocolates is the world or something so the thought behind it is much appreciated =)

Yeah, Christmas dinner for this year excluding a few more pies not in pic. A far cry from the lavish affair we used to have every year back in Kuching with relatives and friends where I always try to hide myself after dinner to avoid washing the scary mountainous pile of dishes (but to no avail). Then again, my living quarters has since shrunk to the size where my car porch back home is probably bigger than my entire apartment combined so inviting many guests like before is out of the question. And its times like that I miss Kuching dreadfully. If only somebody can pack up my house and ship it here, I'll be happy as a lark.

Anyway, daddy just bought some annual passes to Universal Studios so we're gonna play ourselves silly starting from tomorrow onwards =) And its times like this that I'm happy to be here after all =D

Hayashi Raisu

My latest food obsession after watching Ryusei no Kizuna where every single episode never fail to feature Hayashi Rice (Japanese beef stew) till it drove me nuts for it.

Oh yes, it's a drama staring Ryo and Nino (Yes! A fall drama with JE guys♥) and Toda Erika. Nice drama if you ask me and even nicer if you love JE as much as I do =P Will review this drama another day.

And so I googled the recipe up to satiate my craving once and for all. After finding the one with the most positive comments, I gave the list to my mum who happily bought all ingredients lol I dunno how to shop properly yet cuz when I said I wanted beef, I was asked 'which kind?' Like wth beef lar what you mean what kind. You know, b-e-e-f? Meat from cows that go m-o-o? To which I was given an overwhelming reply like 'yes I know you want beef, but which kind? Like grain-fed beef, grass-finished beef, steak, brisket, boneless roast, ground beef, tenderloin, jerky, marbling, kobe, etc. etc.'

WTH OKAY SINCE WHEN DID BUYING BEEF BECAME AS COMPLICATED AS READING A MEDICAL STUDENT'S TEXTBOOK?!?!?!

So I took the liberty of googling the list beefs up and you can click here if you need an excuse to encourage yourself into abandoning cooking altogether. Life was so much simpler back then before I attempted this dish where steak was something you eat in a fancy restaurant, jerky a term referring to fidgety people and the only Kobe you knew of was an elite NBA player. Sigh.

Anyway, one good thing about my posts as opposed to those pro recipe blogs is that I tell you little useful tips for beginners which those pro chefs think too ridiculous to ever include like how you'll need this:

Oh shaddap ok you'll need this later trust me. Unless you're those pro cooking people then shoo. Plus now with this, you can also literally cook in style =P

First you slice the beef into thin and I mean THIN bite-sized pieces. Like paper thin ok and not what you assume is bite-sized pieces like I did (pinky sized thickness) and got reprimanded by my mom in return for how it'll take forever to cook and which would result in the beef becoming tough to chew -_- Sorry I forgot to take pics for this nvm we shall move on to the onions now:

And this is the part where you don your super fashionable sunnies =D Because I swear the sting of the onions is super unbearable ok! Look, I nearly chopped my finger off okay what with my eyes being practically blinded by stinging tears. And so if you're those glass-less people who hate the idea of being fingerless, don. the. sunnies.

Add an unhealthy amount of butter (if you find yourself going 'siao so much butter' then you just about got it right) in the pan crap my diet is so going down the drain and dump all your veggies and mushrooms in it and let it sauté until you deem fit. wth is sauté anyway?! How do you even pronounce it too? Sow-tee? Sou-teh? Sa-oo-teh?

Anyway, after you're done sauté-ing your veggies, transfer them into a pot (which I obviously do not have) and add all the liquid ingredients till it looks like a questionable steaming pot of molten lava with leaves floating in it. Only leaves don't float in lava cuz I think they would melt from all the heat? hmm. Let it simmer till only half of the liquid is left (what a waste of liquid ingredients imo) then dump your beef in it.

Then it's only a matter of adjusting the flavor and thickness of sauce to your liking by adding salt, pepper and water to your heart's desire. Ha I feel so damn pro shaking unmeasured salt and pepper over it and tasting then adding unmeasured water into it to decide the thickness heh. Cuz you are considered pro when you have no need for measurements no? Just you wait, now salt and water, next, EVERYTHING. Ha.

Oh another tip: the longer you cook beef, the tougher it gets. Seriously how am I supposed to remember all these, how come cooking pork longer makes it softer but beef becomes tougher? Baaah.

End result:

Ahem. Not bad no? =D Looks very Japanese ok if you ask me. I know the lighting isn't great, seriously I should buy a new camera, but I am improving right? I can now join the 'girls who can cook' club liao. Didn't even burn a single thing at all this time or have it coming out looking nothing like the recipe picture *beams*

Recipe I used can be found here. Btw, I cooked for my entire family in case you misunderstand and are now agog with incredulity at how a whole pot can only produce one plate. It's not ok. It's like enough for 6-8 servings.

Ha! Take that Nino, I also have my Hayashi Rice *happy*