Herbal black chicken soup and Aerogaz slow cooker

I read on the net that cooking Chinese herbs in a metal pot is not advisable because (somehow) the metal causes the herbs to lose their efficacy. So after looking around a bit, I decided to buy the 3litre Aerogaz slow cooker from Giant last Sat to cook the black chicken I had bought.

I also bought the 2 herbs I needed - Yu Zhu (Solomon's Seal) and Huai Shan from Giant since I saw the herbs there. The rest of the other herbs that I used were dang gui, dang shen, wolfberries and red longans. Now, my good ole mama told me that I needed to pour hot water into the crockpot so I boiled water separately and poured that into the pot over the herbs. Then I added the chicken from another pot that I used for blanching it. After that I set the slow cooker on auto-cook and left the house.

When I got home about 5 hours later, the entire kitchen and rooms were filled with an earthy herbal aroma. I found the chicken bubbling away in a delicious herbal concoction. Even after I switched off the electricity to the slow cooker, the pot kept the soup warm for a period of time. Just before we dug into the dish, I set the cooker to fast stew (which didn't seem to do much in 5-10mins) and the meat was by then so tender that it fell off the bones of the black chicken.

I think my CEB rather liked the soup as I did although he doesn't eat black chicken for no better reason that that the color is unappealing. That's alright - more for me! I had half the chicken for dinner while he ate the spinach dish and the tom kar gai with prawns dish which I had cooked for him in the tanyu pot I bought from Groupon. That pot is really easy to clean and seems to keep the food warm a pretty long time.

I tell you, I never thought I would end up so "domesticated" when just 2 years ago, I could not cook anything more than instant noodles. I'm just happy now that I have the time to indulge a little in the homely side of things

One Bite Puff from Taste Better at Jusco Bukit Indah

Thankfully the husband is away from SG on a work trip today (and for a week ~ yes brilliant marriage life we have with us spending half a month apart, when I travel and he travels the same month).

My mum had absolutely insisted on buying for her daughter (despite spending most of the car ride taking photos on her cellphone of my bulges sigh) a box of durian puffs at a shop that we just happened to pass by. It was the herd mentality - the sight of the queue there had her making a beeline for the shop despite my telling her that I did not NEED a durian puff. (At the time of writing this sentence, I have eaten all the puffs :( ).

Now, this picture below was taken right before I'd started eating - you will note that the box is full of the 6 puffs (cost RM8 for the entire box). I didn't notice what was written on the lid but I really should have heeded the suggestion there, despite the stupid smiley face at the end.

Firstly, I'd told my mum it would not be good just from the look of the puffs because the outer crusts looked so hard and slightly brown, nothing like those durian puffs which melts in the mouth from our good old 717. The crusts were hard for a reason - to contain the durian goo within which was lacking in substance...very thin and watery, not a paste at all, or real durian meat for that matter

Hence, the advice on the box to put the entire puff in one's mouth. Because half a bite would result in the same disaster that I had - durian goo flowing down my chin, on my chest, on my nightgown...after I'd bathed. However, the puffs are so large that it is a challenge putting the entire puff in one's mouth...and I assure you with all my eating, I do NOT have a small mouth. So figure. And the thick crust just tastes horrid and doughy. Combine that with the lousy durian goo (I can't make myself write paste as it isn't), you have a right sh*t puff.

There is a reason why the brand is called Taste Better. The sh*t puffs really need to taste better because after eating the entire box of puffs and having 3 puffs burst on/all over me (not that I didn't learn my lesson but I could not fit the puff in at a go), the aftertaste in my mouth is not one of durian but a strangely bitter one of lousy crusts