B's KITCHEN

Simple food from my kitchen cause what makes a great home-cooking recipe is simplicity ... and some random bits and pieces. Other fangirling stuff - B's GARAGE

[shi-huangdi]

A Very Expensive Lesson - I got ripped off :( in Australia!

WARNING: This is going to be my personal rant about my recent experience! I admit that I only have my own stupidity to blame for this, but just posting it here so I and others don't make the same mistake again. So after coming back from a vacation, my hot water didn't work. Although its already spring in winter but the weather is still pretty cold and having hot water is one of the necessity, for me at least since I couldn't stand cold weather let alone cold water to shower/wash my hands etc. The hot water didn't completely died, its just the water is luke warm instead of hot and the pressure is very small. I did suspect that its something wrong with the valve, since I couldn't fix it myself I decided to look for a plumber through google. The top search result lead me to Pascoe's Gas and Water, it is a sponsored ads however google review had 368 reviews and 4.1 ratings - that's good right, so I went to their website. MISTAKE #1: READ THE REVIEW THOROUGHLY! Don't just read the top few. I found out later that after you scroll down, many people actually gave 1* and complained about being scammed/ripped of by the company. The website advertised: No Call Out Fee, Free Quote! OK, that's good because having a surprise bill is the last thing I want after returning from a vacation. The truth is, after the plumber arrived, he told me that I need to pay $165 for "investigation fee" for him to know what is wrong with the hot water. I asked him how much is it roughly to fix it and he said he doesn't know yet until after the investigation. I explained the problem clearly and told him that I might need to just change the valve, but he insisted that he needs to do investigation first. MISTAKE #2: I SHOULD HAVE JUST SENT HIM AWAY, instead of trusting him. He seems like a nice decent guy. And judging by his look, he is not the kind of person who scam people. Anyway, I imagine the cost would be in the $300 mark, and the guy told me that this investigation fee will be waived if I go forward with the job after the ivestigation. It was really cold, so I thought, maybe its not that bad. So I said, OK, do the investigation. He did, for 1 minute and told me that the problem is in the valve and need to replace it. The cost? To my shocking surprise its $700+ (for comparison, I did a few google search afterwards and found out the valve only cost $200). But then, he suggested to do a full service of $1280 because a few other thing is also broken. FYI, my house is a new house of 4 years. I should have known at that time that its impossible for a new house to have so many broken/faulty things. At that time I thought I already paid the $165 so if I don't use this plumber and call another plumber then it would cost me more. MISTAKE #3: SHOULD JUST FORGONE THE $165. As it turned out, fixing the water valve doesn't cost that much. I asked around and was told that it generally only cost $200-$400 depending on complexity. Given that he finished the job in under 1 hour, it seems like a super simple job that shouldn't cost a fortune. I was talking to my brother about the cost and my brother was surprised at the cost and told me to just find another plumber. I was being stubborn for not wanting to lose the $165 that I stupidly agreed for in the beginning and signed the contract for. After much consideration, my brother thought maybe it costs that much and the plumber didn't try to scam us. After all this is Australia, they don't really do that in here right? (or so I thought - my experience with Australian by far has been positive and honest). Had this thing happened in Indonesia, I would be very skeptic with the whatever they said and wouldn't easily agree to such offer. MISTAKE #4:DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTION. People do all kind of thing, no matter where. Funnily enough, during my vacation in Indonesia - where I am usually more wary and careful, my friend just told me that you will be surprised what people would do for money. An advice I laughed at when she told me because I thought I don't really deal with that kind of people. Looks like karma came back to me too quickly. Anyway, after stupidly agreeing to the job, the plumber told me that the valve was broken mainly due to the water quality in my area being poor. So he offered to also install a water filter. The original cost of the water filter is $1800+ but if I sign the contract together, it will drop down to $1280, a huge saving right? WRONGGGGGG!!! MISTAKE #5: DON'T TRUST DISCOUNT. When they give you huge discount there must be a catch. Even with that amount of discount, I found out later that the water filter only cost $600 (and labour should cost no more than $200). I really hate myself for being so stupid and not firm enough in saying NO or just to send him away in the first place. I guess he can see my weak spot and use it for his gain. The whole thing cost me $2548 and sadly, if I use other plumbers for the same amount of work, they would only cost about 1/3. Some even said that the full service and water filter offered by Pascoe's is not even necessary, which should bring my cost down to only a few hundreds instead of thousands :( After slapping myself for my own stupidity and for being easily fooled, my brother just told me to just forget it and take it as a lesson. I just hope noone will ever have to go through the same mistake again. Just be warned when you call a plumber, not to trust them easily no matter how polite and friendly they seem. What makes this even harder for me to accept is, I am usually very careful before buying anything. I pride myself in actually rejecting things offered to me that I don't need, and always comparing products/service before agreeing to buy so most of the time I get the best value. I don't know what was wrong with me that day, he might sense my desperation in getting my hot water fix, or see how tired I was after a long flight, or know how to use my foolishness. To be honest, I don't know how they got that high of a rating and positive reviews, but if being dishonest and ripping people off is your way of doing business, I hope you stop doing it :( I still can't believe that they still do this kind of business in Australia - I guess reverse discrimination is just as bad as discrimination in general. 

[shi-huangdi]

Japan Diary part #2

[shi-huangdi]

My Japan Diary part #1, I might write something later, but for now, a bit of recap of my trip to Japan :)

[shi-huangdi]

Justin Bieber appears on Music Station Japan on 04/12/2015 to promote his album Promise (he sang What Do You Mean?).

I am not a huge fan of Justin, and neither Kanjani8 or AKB48 in general, but Justin seems like a good kid. Whilst he might came across as arrogant (and foolish at times), I feel like he is genuinely feel grateful and happy to be able to perform on Music Station. He answers every questions nicely and when Yokoyama apologised to him for not being able to speak English properly, he said its OK because he can’t speak any Japanese. I know a lot of people just magically assume that the whole world speaks English and mock other people’s poor English speaking ability. But I’m quite surprised Justin is not actually like that (Cristiano Ronaldo also seems really nice when a kid tried to talk to him in Portuguese). I guess when they are more exposed to international world and starts to learn other languages they become more understanding that its actually hard to learn other language.

AKB48 posted a couple of photos of them with Justin back stage and thanked him for spending time talking with them. Kanjani8 looked like they didn’t care apart from Yokoyama (but I guess they just don’t know what to say and have no idea what Justin is talking about). And Shibutani always looks like that anyway. But Ohkura (?) talked during a radio that the group talked back stage and Justin asked them things like how long they have been together and whether the group fights.

[shi-huangdi]

So last Friday, I've got Brownes goodie bag with a bunch of freebies in it. I love this sort of giveaway, not only because they are free (I mean I love all sort of free stuff) but because I can get to try their products without having to worry whether they will taste goof or not. I'm the kind who are very reluctant to try on different brands of food for feat that they won't taste good and buying them will be a waste of money. I can say that I'm not a huge fan of their non-homogenised full cream milk, cause they are just too creamy. I guess I am more used to non-fat milk after all. But I really love their yoghurt range. The wild berries yoghurt is my favourite 💚 and their CHILL range also taste pretty good. The double espressois pretty good, but the chocolate one is quite standard (as in I love chocolate milk, so in general I love anything chocolate). Haven't got a chance to try the buttermilk yet, I am still flipping through recipe to decide what to make with the buttermilk. Will keep you updated 😊

[shi-huangdi]

Came across this TOPguri recipe on instagram (I don't know who made the original post, so credit to the owner). I think its pretty common to eat yakisoba with mayonnaise, so that's why this dish is quite good 😁

[shi-huangdi]

Honey Butter McNight by Daesung.

Cost: ₩2,250

Time: 3 minutes 30 seconds

Again, this is one where the ingredients is a little hard to get in here. I’m guessing the honey pancake is a popular street snack in Korea, but I actually have no idea what it is. Maybe we can swap it with English muffins? Although English muffin is salty and the honey pancake sounds sweet, so I don’t know whether its a good substitute.

This dish is the winner of Late Night Cafetaria, even though Jaesuk’s taste has been screwed due to the sweet dessert Daljiyong and the main dishes TOPguri and Monster Gimbap. He said he can’t take anymore greasy food, but apparently the pepper added by Daesung counters the greasiness of the butter. 

It was voted by TOP, Taeyang and Seungri (and 2 other Happy Together members) as the favourite dish, so Daesung get to demonstrate how to cook it. I must say, the way he cooks is quite worrying, reminds me of Family Outing days XD You need to watch the part where he cooks coz its really funny, and GD can’t stop laughing at him. In the end, everyone loves the dish, its a good combination of sweet, savoury and buttery. And Daesung got a big thumbs up from the Big Bang member.

Ingredients:

- honey pancakes

- egg

- cheese (optional)

- honey, to serve

- pepper, to taste

- olive oil, to fry the eggs

- butter, to fry the pancakes

Method:

Heat olive oil in a pan. Break the egg and fry (use egg ring to make it perfectly round). Remove egg from the pan. Clean the pan using tissue paper. Heat butter in the pan, place honey pancakes on the pan, and fry until crispy and fragrant. Serve with egg, cheese and sprinkle with some pepper to balance the grease. Add honey to add extra sweetness.

[shi-huangdi]

Monster Gimbap by Taeyang.

Cost: ₩3,750

Time: 5 minutes

Though seems easy (maybe for Koreans), I found most of the ingredients are hard to find here :( And accordingly TOP also said that not everyone has beef gochujang at home, which I agree. Sometime I have gochujang, but I never find beef gochujang being sold at my local Asian groceries - I added the recipe from Maangchi if anyone is interested). Taeyang said that the squid tempura is usually the leftover he got when buying Tteokbokki on the streets, so he used that leftover for Gimbap.

Ingredients:

- rice

- beef gochujang (recipe here: http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/yak-gochujang)

- squid tempura

- nori

- additional ingredients for gimbap (like omelette, pickles).

Method:

Mix rice with beef gochujang. Place rice on nori, add tempura, pickles and egg (like how you usually make sushi/gimbap). Roll, cut into biteable pieces and serve.

[shi-huangdi]

T.O.Pguri by T.O.P - Noodle and Mayo (a variation of Jjapaguri XD)

Cost: ₩3,600

Time: 4 minutes 30 seconds

When I googled Jjapaguri, its actually one of GD favourite meal. Basically its a mix between Jjapaghetti and Neoguri (full recipe here: http://mykoreankitchen.com/2013/04/26/jjapaguri-korean-instant-noodles-mixed-jjapaghetti-and-neoguri/) and according to TOP, this is a like Jjapaguri but saltier. TOP said that when he eats french fries, he doesn’t just dip it in ketchup but also mayonnaise, hence the idea of T.O.Pguri XD.

Ingredients:

- Ramen, cooked

- Hot pepper

- Black bean powder

- Mayo

- Salted pollack roe/fish roe

- Spring onions, chopped

- olive oil

Method:

Heat olive oil in a pan and add cooked ramen. Add hot pepper and black pepper and mix them with ramen evenly. Add mayo and spring onions and mix. Put the fish roe on top and sprinkle with some more spring onion. Serve with additional mayo.

[shi-huangdi]

DALJIYONG by G-Dragon - Chocolate cake and milk

Cost: ₩2,210

Time: 1 minute

OK, this is arguably the easiest menu by Big Bang, though GD didn’t win it since its basically just a choco pie and milk. GD said that during the trainee days, since they didn’t have a lot of money, but he needed to eat a lot of sweet. To make the choco pie last longer (I think he meant take longer to eat), he microwaved it and eat it bit by bit. TOP said that heating a chocolate makes it sweeter and Jaesuk commented that its like eating a high quality chocolate cake/brownie, albeit its the taste everyone is very familiar with. 

Ingredients:

- Choco Pie

- Milk, warm

- Banana

- Garnishes (like mint leaves, almond slices, raspberries, etc)

Method:

Heat choco pie in a microwave. Top with banana and almond slices. Serve with warm milk.

[shi-huangdi]

Honey Lemon Chia Seed Muffins

The healthiest muffin (or so I hope). At least it contains lemon, honey, plain greek yoghurt and chia seed on top of sugar and flour. This recipe is adapted from Table For Two Blog (this is actually different from A Table for Two runs by Billy Masterchef).

I did substitute the ricotta cheese with plain Greek yoghurt, because I couldn't find the cheese in my local IGA store. I thought of substituting it with cottage cheese, but they ran out of it too, so Greek yoghurt it is. The muffins still taste incredibly good and you can taste the lemony flavour too.

For the muffins:-

1-3/4 cups plain flour

3/4 cup sugar

2-1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

170g (1 tub) plain Greek yoghurt

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup olive oil

zest of 2 lemons (set aside a little bit for the glaze)

2Tbs fresh lemon juice

1 egg

2 Tbs chia seeds

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a medium bowl, mix yoghurt, water, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and egg.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour the wet ingredients into the well and mix together.

Add chia seeds and gently fold into batter.

Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin tray.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let it cool while you prepare the glaze.

For the glaze:-

1 Tbs honey

zest of lemons (from the muffins)

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

In a small pan under low heat, mix together honey, lemon juice and lemon juice. Cook until honey is melted.

With a pastry brush, brush honey mixture onto the tops of the muffins.

Cool and serve! I found that eating the muffin warm is much better than cold :)

Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

[shi-huangdi]

Dark Soy Pork Spare Ribs (Babi Kecap)

I think this is as close as I can get to Babi Kecap :) and I served them with some vegies to make it healthier.

Recipe is loosely adapted from Billy's A Table For Two 

[shi-huangdi]

Going with my favourite - Nasi Uduk with Rendang, Ayam Woku, Sambal Goreng Kentang, Tahu Goreng and Lalap #homemade #seleraindonesia #yolomeal

[shi-huangdi]

Curry Chicken Buns

Getting my late night snack/early morning snack ready for England 🇬🇧 vs Italy 🇮🇹 #homemade curry chicken buns. I used the tangzhong (water roux) method this time, and the bun did become softer and fluffier.

For the buns, I used recipe from A Wok Of Life, and it uses the water roux method. I found that the dough is much stickier with this method though (or it could be that I did something wrong). But the buns turned out all right, softer and fluffier too :)

For the fillings, I used chicken curry recipe adapted from Little Miss Bento. I did try to make the bun looks like a chicken, but failed miserably T_T I guess I just don't have that artistic skill.

[shi-huangdi]

Martabak Telor Mini

Recipe from Just Try and Taste.

Make sure you cook it under low heat, otherwise some of the martabak will be burnt. 

[shi-huangdi]

Kiwi Sorbet

I love dessert! But don’t like the fat content that usually comes with it. Came across a fruit sorbet, all you need is kiwi!

Chop kiwi and store them in a fridge for 3 hours. Blend the kiwi with 4 Tablespoons water/soy milk. Place them in a container, enjoy.

Add more water (a tablespoon at a time) if your blender doesn’t turn. If you want it sweeter, add caster sugar when blending the kiwis. I don’t like my sorbet to be sweet, so I leave it as it is.

[shi-huangdi]

Nasi Kuning #homemade #seleraindonesia ... getting rid of the yellow stain on everything I touched is quite a challenge!