Comfort food that spells 'home'

There's nothing like home-cooked food. Especially food that's from your home country!

Was invited to Wendy's place to have claypot rice and bak kut teh today. They are easily two of my favourite dishes because I love hot soupy stuff and I love rice. Add Chinese sausage and mushroom to steaming hot rice and tau pok to soak up the peppery soup... I felt like I was in food heaven.



The two lovelies with whom I hang out in FC

Claypot rice is best with Chinese sausage. Oh-so-fragrant!

Get good pork ribs for the soup. And tau pok to soak it up!

Wendy said she used the recipe from noobcook for the claypot dish (by the way noobcook is highly recommended for Asian cooking). I'm tempted to buy a claypot too but I'm not sure if I'd use it often enough - it's just Panda and me most of the time.

Plus, I read that you need to prep the claypot first and then clean it with extra care. Use lemon or vinegar to clean it as the porous material might absorb the soap detergent. Hmmm... Sounds like a lot of effort?

On a separate note, we hit the gym before going over to Wendy's and I didn't have time to wash my hair. So I used dried shampoo to clean and puff it up, backcomb the pony tail before looping a top bun. (The new comb is good for backcombing!)

I finally master that messy bun without using a hair sponge after all these years. I'm such a late adopter/learner... but I must say it's the best thing ever for bad hair or dirty hair days. Yay!



All bundled up!

Samosas: a small taste of home

One of the things which I missed and am too lazy to make is curry puffs. Hot, chunky bits of curried potato + chicken meat wrapped in golden pastry skin like these from Old Chang Kee! There are so many outlets back home that it's almost like a 7-11. I used to buy one or two on my way home from work; most of the time the bag would be empty by the time I reached.

The closest substitute I can find in USA is samosa. Behind FC's post office, there's a India Cash & Carry - a small chain grocer in the Bay Area which sells all things Indian. I'm not a big fan of Indian food and the first time I stepped into the shop (just for fun), I was a little overwhelmed by the smell of spices and small flies hovering over the produce. It was only upon my second return (on Wini's recommendation) that I realised they sell samosas. Giant samosas at 75c each. A real deal!

Selling all things Indian

What's in a samosa?

The samosas are of course not as spicy as the ones back home but I suppose they cater to the local taste. They are also not sold hot, so you'll need to pop it in the oven.

Recent news has it that Charter Square, where India Cash & Carry is located, will be redeveloped. Retail space will be reduced so there might be a chance that you won't see this old grocer at the current location anymore. For those who wish to satisfy a samosa craving or buy Indian products, the nearby stores are in Sunnyvale, Fremont and Cupertino. Have fun shopping and good luck with that Indian dish!