I don't know about you, my dear reader, but whenever I clean the house, I just have to blast music out LOUD.
Well, not dance club kinda loud where even your heart is thumping to the music - I do have neighbors, y'know. But loud enough to make me dance and sing along :D:D:D
It sounds crazy because 1. you can't hear nuts when the vacuum is going 2. just how much cleaning and mopping will get done when you're busy singing your heart out and dancing with the mop handle?
I. Don't. Care.
If anything, I have always enjoyed turning the music up whenever I have to do housework. It just makes the mundane chore more ... FUN!
So anyway, as I was cleaning the house last week, I played music from my fave British acts: U2, Take That, Blue, Atomic Kitten, Robbie Williams, Westlife.
I know what you're thinking. Those are tunes from the late 90's and early 2000's! That's like ... aeons ago!!
Truth is, I've not quite caught up with the current hits of this decade. Plus, I don't really fancy the sounds of all these young talents - a grand Ariana? Iggy Azalea? JUSTIN BIEBER? *starts gagging*
I mentioned in my post a couple of months back that I have a soft spot for England and pretty much most things English. I spent a few years in the UK at one of their local unis. My time there was very memorable and I made a lot of friends, several of whom I still keep in contact with - Juo-Lan, Wahida, Kristina & Alex, Ninka, Dafi.
Every morning when I wake up in my hostel room, I would turn on my clock radio first before brushing my teeth. Nothing beats waking up to good tunes; in my mind, it helps set the mood for the day. Back then in 1998, the DJ always played Lighthouse Family's High and Gabrielle's Dreams.
And then there was Top of the Pops! TOTP was a TV show that did music chart countdown. What was wonderful about this show were the performances; you get to see your fave acts perform on telly. I didn't have a TV in my room so I would catch the odd TOTP shows at a friend's house.
Ahhhh those good ol' days in Buckingham! I remember sending a number of singles to one of my BFFs back in SG. Ayu was head over heels in love with Ronan Keating of Boyzone so I was her English connection to their singles. It was a wee bit pricey if you could find them in SG but in the UK, it went for as cheap as GBP1.99 (about US$3.00)!
I remember reading the booklet prepared by The Student Union - it was filled with wonderful tips and info for us new students. What was fascinating were their recommendation for best places to grab food. Being a student on a budget, good food which are cheap is like music to my ears!
And one of the first things I had to try was of course, Fish & Chips.
Britain is famous for their battered white fish & deep-fried chips; my first fish & chips at Buckingham was from Desperate Dan's The Kebab Van. Its a food truck really and you can only get them in the early evenings at the market square.
The SU booklet had recommended that the new students try their fish & chips slathered in their special sauce - a mixture of mayo, ketchup, cheese, if I'm not wrong. I didn't try it - I wasn't that adventurous. But I've learnt to enjoy their chips with salt & vinegar. Yum!!
Anyhoo, I've been meaning to make battered fish at home and naturally, I looked to The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver for his recipe, http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/fish-chips-and-mushy-peas
Here's how I made our dinner:
My dear FiL gave us this beautiful piece of lingcod not so long ago - thank you, Dad!! :D He caught it when he went out fishing one day. I think it was the perfect fish for our Fish & Chips meal so ...
I sliced the fish into more manageable fillets and then season both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
The original recipe called for cold beer but since we're a non-alcoholic household, we substituted the beer with a cold can of ginger ale instead.
In a deep bowl, I measured out 1 and a half cups of all purpose flour and 3 heaping teaspoons of baking powder. I stirred those dry ingredients together and then pour in 285ml of cold ginger ale. Whisk it thoroughly (I added a few more drops of ale to help the batter along) until the batter consistency is that of "semi-whipped double cream". Its like pancake batter, really.
I poured enough vegetable oil into my deep frying wok and let that heat up over medium-high heat. While waiting, I dusted flour on the sliced fillets. As soon as the oil is ready, dunk those fillets into the thick batter. Let any excess batter to drip off and drop the battered fish slowly into your hot oil.
Just remember not to overcrowd your fish in the hot oil, OK? Cook your fish until the batter is golden and crisp.
We had a late start to fixing our dinner last night so I did not make any chips from scratch. Thank God for frozen chips (we love Ore Ida's Extra Crispy Seasoned Crinkles)!
I had nuked some frozen peas too and then seasoned them with salt and freshly ground pepper, together with a dollop of butter. We also had a side of garden salad to go with our Fish & Chips.
My darling hubby and I enjoyed our battered fish. The thick batter came out crunchy yet the fish remained firm and moist. Very nice, very yummy!! I used some of my darling MiL's home-made relish and mixed some mayo into that to make a wonderful tartar sauce for the fish … DELISH!! :D:D:D
And perhaps next time, I might just dip other seafood (fat prawns, juicy scallops, calamari rings!) into the batter for some good ol' seafood fiesta!
Toodles for now, y'all!! :D:D:D
Do you know that there are actually music albums for housework?
Muahahahahaha. And no, mine isn't the same tune
that Snow White whistled with her animal friends ...
Well, not dance club kinda loud where even your heart is thumping to the music - I do have neighbors, y'know. But loud enough to make me dance and sing along :D:D:D
It sounds crazy because 1. you can't hear nuts when the vacuum is going 2. just how much cleaning and mopping will get done when you're busy singing your heart out and dancing with the mop handle?
I. Don't. Care.
So anyway, as I was cleaning the house last week, I played music from my fave British acts: U2, Take That, Blue, Atomic Kitten, Robbie Williams, Westlife.
I know what you're thinking. Those are tunes from the late 90's and early 2000's! That's like ... aeons ago!!
Ahhh … them Backstreet Boys!
These are a few of my fave British tunes for housework:
Five's Keep On Movin', All Saints' Never Ever,
Robbie Williams' Millenium, Boyzone's When The Going Gets Tough
Truth is, I've not quite caught up with the current hits of this decade. Plus, I don't really fancy the sounds of all these young talents - a grand Ariana? Iggy Azalea? JUSTIN BIEBER? *starts gagging*
I mentioned in my post a couple of months back that I have a soft spot for England and pretty much most things English. I spent a few years in the UK at one of their local unis. My time there was very memorable and I made a lot of friends, several of whom I still keep in contact with - Juo-Lan, Wahida, Kristina & Alex, Ninka, Dafi.
Every morning when I wake up in my hostel room, I would turn on my clock radio first before brushing my teeth. Nothing beats waking up to good tunes; in my mind, it helps set the mood for the day. Back then in 1998, the DJ always played Lighthouse Family's High and Gabrielle's Dreams.
And then there was Top of the Pops! TOTP was a TV show that did music chart countdown. What was wonderful about this show were the performances; you get to see your fave acts perform on telly. I didn't have a TV in my room so I would catch the odd TOTP shows at a friend's house.
TOTP had their own magazine too. And Smash Hits!!
Boy, I remember reading Smash Hits hehehe
Ahhhh those good ol' days in Buckingham! I remember sending a number of singles to one of my BFFs back in SG. Ayu was head over heels in love with Ronan Keating of Boyzone so I was her English connection to their singles. It was a wee bit pricey if you could find them in SG but in the UK, it went for as cheap as GBP1.99 (about US$3.00)!
I remember reading the booklet prepared by The Student Union - it was filled with wonderful tips and info for us new students. What was fascinating were their recommendation for best places to grab food. Being a student on a budget, good food which are cheap is like music to my ears!
My Malaysian uni-mates held a picnic one hot summer day
in Buckingham. From left to right: Nailah, Fadhilah,
me and my darling hostel-neighbor/best uni-mate, Juo-Lan
My graduation day in March 2000!
Here's me with a couple of my Singaporean
uni-mates and the Uni's Postmaster!
This gentleman called everybody "love". It was always nice
to stop by the Mail Room and he'll go "'ello there, love!"
And one of the first things I had to try was of course, Fish & Chips.
Britain is famous for their battered white fish & deep-fried chips; my first fish & chips at Buckingham was from Desperate Dan's The Kebab Van. Its a food truck really and you can only get them in the early evenings at the market square.
The SU booklet had recommended that the new students try their fish & chips slathered in their special sauce - a mixture of mayo, ketchup, cheese, if I'm not wrong. I didn't try it - I wasn't that adventurous. But I've learnt to enjoy their chips with salt & vinegar. Yum!!
Anyhoo, I've been meaning to make battered fish at home and naturally, I looked to The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver for his recipe, http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/fish-chips-and-mushy-peas
Here's how I made our dinner:
The love for fishing runs in the O'Bayley men :D
I sliced the fish into more manageable fillets and then season both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Such a simple recipe turned that beautiful fish into a wonderful delish meal!
Look at all that bubbles!!
In a deep bowl, I measured out 1 and a half cups of all purpose flour and 3 heaping teaspoons of baking powder. I stirred those dry ingredients together and then pour in 285ml of cold ginger ale. Whisk it thoroughly (I added a few more drops of ale to help the batter along) until the batter consistency is that of "semi-whipped double cream". Its like pancake batter, really.
I poured enough vegetable oil into my deep frying wok and let that heat up over medium-high heat. While waiting, I dusted flour on the sliced fillets. As soon as the oil is ready, dunk those fillets into the thick batter. Let any excess batter to drip off and drop the battered fish slowly into your hot oil.
Just remember not to overcrowd your fish in the hot oil, OK? Cook your fish until the batter is golden and crisp.
The Naked Chef had included his recipe for
mushy peas but I didn't like mine mushy.
We had a late start to fixing our dinner last night so I did not make any chips from scratch. Thank God for frozen chips (we love Ore Ida's Extra Crispy Seasoned Crinkles)!
I had nuked some frozen peas too and then seasoned them with salt and freshly ground pepper, together with a dollop of butter. We also had a side of garden salad to go with our Fish & Chips.
Tasty!! :D:D:D
My darling hubby and I enjoyed our battered fish. The thick batter came out crunchy yet the fish remained firm and moist. Very nice, very yummy!! I used some of my darling MiL's home-made relish and mixed some mayo into that to make a wonderful tartar sauce for the fish … DELISH!! :D:D:D
And perhaps next time, I might just dip other seafood (fat prawns, juicy scallops, calamari rings!) into the batter for some good ol' seafood fiesta!
Toodles for now, y'all!! :D:D:D
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