The Bin Tai - Ham, Cheese, Fried Egg, Mayo, & Potato Chips Sandwich

Junk food haters, cover your eyes. This post is gonna disgust you to oblivion.
Inspired by e_ting at desk's post, the nutella cookie peanut butter sandwich, last night I made this monstrosity that I named "the bin tai" (Cantonese for perverted).
It's fully loaded with all kinds of junk that I found in my kitchen.

It's like this:
- A slice of buttered bread
- Slather mayo
- Add a slice of ham
- Add fried egg (runny yolk ftw)
- Add potato chips (I used Lay's sour cream and onion)
- Add a slice of "cheese"
- Add more potato chips
- Dump in the oven until the "cheese" melted
- Squeeze a few dots (or dollops) of mayo
- Squeeze a few drops of ketchup or chilli sauce

If you're up for it, top it with another slice of bread.

Did I really eat this bin-tai-ness?
Yes I did.
And the most bin tai thing is, I really loved it.
Sobsssss.....please don't hate me.

Light Dinner? Bellota Ham Open Sandwiches

One fine weekend, a good friend of mine came over and she brought goodies. Whew, and what goodies she brought, two packs of Bellota ham! Let's just say that our plan to have a light dinner was effectively ruined.

We devoured the ham with chunks of sweet melon and with slices of goat cheese...


And we also made sandwiches. Slices of sourdough; salad lightly dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice, goat cheese and the ham. Still sounds like a light dinner?

Ahem, we consumed our melon ham and sandwiches with this roasted corn, coriander and chicken soup..


...and glasses of this bastardized Sangria


...and this coffee cream soda granita

Light dinner...fail.

Anyway, gotta go stuff my face soon, diet's off on weekends. Yippie!
Happy Friday & happy weekend, everyone!

Ham & Cheese Chicken Roulade FAIL 失敗的芝士火腿雞肉卷

Look it in the eye.
The face of (another) failure.
一睇就知係失敗之作..

One day, I saw Athena's ham and cheese chicken roulade, I love the idea and decided that I was going to make it.
有日我見到Athena整芝士火腿雞肉卷, 見佢整得咁靚, 我就試吓啦


I am very bad at following recipes, I pretty much just looked at the pictures briefly and I was convinced that I could do it. I was wrong.
其實我唔係好識睇食譜, 多數都係睇住張相就黎整..

I used a slice of ham and a slice of cheese for half a chicken thigh, so I didn't have enough chicken to cover the filling, I couldn't seal the chicken properly and the cheese leaked all over the place...
整整吓先發現件雞唔夠大件...包唔埋..

Yikes! Taste-wise, it was delicious, since I seasoned the chicken really generously, and the skin turned nicely golden. Anyway, I will try again, I will succeed, and I will post the recipe.
可惜, D埳溜晒出黎, 雖然唔好睇, 但係食起上黎又好好食喎!

What a determination. Atta girl.

Have a delicious weekend la!
大家如果想試整就去Athena個blog睇吓啦

Leftover Ham & Cheese Failure Pizza

There a pack of ham and a pack of cheddar cheese in my fridge.
Athena left the pack of beautiful ham when she made a refreshing appetizer of sweet melon and ham.

Seeing those two ingredients, I planned to just scatter them on pieces of fluffy bread and eat them as they were, and sing unto them, their glory (or something to that effect). Unfortunately, I had to have a pair of itchy hands who always wanted to try making my own pizza crust. I think you could probably smell a disaster coming your way.

I searched for a pizza crust recipe that sounds as doable as "pizza crust recipe for idiots" and found something that looked manageable.

Clearly, I overestimated myself.

Knowing me, it was probably not the recipe's problem, it should've been me.

The crust turned rock hard, you could hear us trying to bite into it.
Crackling doesn't even begin to describe how hard it was.
It was harder that sous chef's stubborn head, and was even harder than my feet's callouses.

Either my instant yeast wasn't bubbly enough or I must have overbaked my pizza as I waited for it to turn golden brown (it never did)....whatever happened, I shall try again with another recipe and try to do better at following directions. Meanwhile, let me put pizza hut on speed dial.

Pssst, the crust turned so hard...the phrase "between rock and a hard place", from now on shall be changed to "between rock and rita's pizza crust".

Ham and Cream Cheese Muffins

You guys know me. The savoury girl who is trapped in a sweet-named food blog.

In case you don't know how the sweet name came about, you can read it here. It's super lame. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;)

I have been going on and on and on about how I prefer savoury over sweet like a broken record (or these days, like a hit party song, remixed by a famous DJ, played in a hot club and everywhere else, over and over again). So don't be surprised to hear this when you go clubbing..."Yo! S-S-S-Savoury is HOT!" (Hmmm. I should pitch/brainwash this idea to a DJ friend).

Because of my love for savoury treats, the phrase "Life is short, eat dessert first" doesn't really work for me. "Life is short, eat lotsa bacon" is probably more appropriate. It doesn't mean that I don't love sweet nothings. I did lotsa lotsa sweet muffins. But every time I had them for breakfast. I secretly wish that I was biting into something savoury, cheesy and creamy instead.

*Ms. No Action Talk Only, please stop complaining and start doing*

Sir. Yes, Sir! Finally, I had enough ingredients in my fridge to bake something savoury for breakfast.

Ham and Cream Cheese Muffins

Recipe
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder (optional)
- a bit of dried italian herb mix (oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme)
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2/3 cup yoghurt (or 1/2 cup milk)
- 2 slices of ham, cut into small strips/cubes (you can sooo replace this with bacon)
- 1/4 pack cream cheese, cut into approximately 1 x 1 x 1 cm cubes

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. In a mixing bowl, mix all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients. Leave the ham and cream cheese for last. Whisk dry and wet ingredients until just combined. Add ham and cheese. Line muffin tray with paper cups, pour batter 3/4 full and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

I can't resist to share with you how amazing these babies look, smell and taste, fresh out of the oven.

Rich. Savoury. Creamy. My kind of breakfast.

By the way, guys...I know you love challenges! You got it!
My foodie fellow, Rurie is inviting us to join her event. It's not just foodie event, it is a contest with fantastic prizes too!

Join "know your Indonesian culinary heritage" contest and share your knowledge on Indonesian cuisine as well as fabulous pictures, if not for the prizes. Hehe! The food has to be Indonesian, which is rarely found these days. For Indonesian bloggers out there, the food might be something you noticed and always had when you were a kid, but you hardly see them anymore. Savoury dishes, snack, dessert and drinks. Anything goes! For more information, please click here.

Creamy Mushrooms, Ham & Italian Herbs Fusili plus Hong Kong CBD Lunch Tale

Everybody has their restaurant horror stories. Susan from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy and Cathy from Noble Pig have shared theirs....and now I wanna bitch about my recent endeavour.

It was...
- not much of a horror (although if there were ghosts there, they probably had fun watching us)
- barely a drama (no one got reunited with their birth parents, cried or died)
- can't be considered a romantic comedy (unless I suddenly realised that my every day lunch pal is my soul mate and decided to seduce him LOL, only to find out that he is gay - I can assure you he is NOT LOL)
but it could be an action flick if I threw in some kung fu moves juggling my BBQ pork rice tray while shashaying to grab a seat at a lunch joint in Hong Kong's Central Business District hehe

Finding a seat at lunch time in Hong Kong CBD is a BITCHHHHH. I am impatient (yeah, tell me something I don't know). I hate hate hate waiting and queueing of any kind especially for food which are just so not worth waiting for (Hollywood could probably make a whole drama series based on waiting and queueing in restaurants hehe). But, you don't have a choice. If you wanna dine at any eateries in Hong Kong CBD at lunch time, be prepared to wait and fight for a seat. Good food, bad food, cheap, expensive...it doesn't matter. Fight your battle, and wait.

Certain places have hostesses who will organize the queue, but not fast food and self service joints. Thanks to Hong Kong's higher than high rent costs and population density, there is NO SEAT and OH SO MANY PEOPLE!

I went out with my lunch buddy and we crave BBQ pork rice from a fast food joint. He said he will order and I was in charge of looking for a seat (cue music: mission impossible theme song). So I roamed around and tried to find an empty seat, which of course was NOT available :) (the chance of finding a miraculously available seat is almost as slim as winning mark 6 hehe). The normal practice is...to wait for the earlier lunchtime people to clear off by standing near their table. I know it is annoying and obnoxious, but when you are here, be prepare to finish your last spoonful of food under a pair of hopeful eyes, waiting eagerly to take your seat as soon as you lift up your butt off your chair, don't expect to have a nice and lengthly conversation after your meal, of the hopeful eyes will turn dagger sharp hehe.

So, I stood and waited by a table with two uncles, one reading his newspaper and another picking his teeth (they weren't together), with my BBQ pork rice tray with hot tea on hand. I expected the newspaper reading uncle to stay put (he did not seem like a considerate person), but if he has any considerate bone at all in his body, he will probably leave after the tooth picking uncle left....here's the illustration

Apparently, I expected too much from newspaper reading uncle. He did not leave even after tooth picking uncle has left. I was not going to start from scratch and wait by another table. So, after apologizing profusely to the guy at the next table (bless him for his kindness), I took another chair and squeezed into the one person space (this is Hong Kong, so I can assure you the one person space is NOT big), while of course shooting numerous bitchy stares at newspaper uncle. Even after seeing this, he still stayed...and only left when we almost finish our meals.

I know, I know...he bought his space at that table by drinking that cup of hot tea (duh!). There are plenty of seats outside the restaurant in this air conditioned building where he could sit and read his newspaper comfortably. This is why I prefer to pack my lunch from home, and for today...I'll have...

Creamy Mixed Mushrooms, Ham and Italian Herbs Fusili

Recipe
- 1 pack of fresh shiitake mushrooms, each sliced into a few pieces
- 1 pack of oyster mushrooms, slice big ones into a few pieces
- 4 slices of ham, cut into strips
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- dried Italian mixed herbs
- black pepper
- half cup of cream
- 3 handfuls of fusili
- water for boiling, olive oil, butter
- salt, sugar

Boil pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Brown the hams, set aside. Saute garlic, add mushrooms until slightly browned, add ham strips, add herbs, black pepper, season with salt. Drain pasta, add into the mushroom and ham mix, add cream, adjust seasoning with salt and sugar if necessary.

Sharing this recipe with Presto Pasta Night's Gang! Enjoy!

Every time, I'd say I'll never have lunch at that fastfood joint ever again. But, hey!...Never say never, right? They do a really bitchin' BBQ pork rice there :)