Happy New Year

I hope all of you have a lovely Christmas. Year 2008 is coming to an end soon. Do you make New Year Resolutions? I usually don’t because I find them so difficult to keep but as we get close to 2009, I’ve been thinking about them as they were related to blogging. Year 2008 has been good to me.

I started blogging a bit over 2 years ago. It is a great way for my family and friends to know what was going on with me here in the US as well as me writing down all the recipes I’ve tried. To my pleasant surprise, it just took off from there with more people visiting my blog, reading my recipes and some people even asking me to try out their products.

I think blogging is such a great way of keeping in touch and through this great medium, I have had the pleasure of getting to know a lot of nice people, some of whom have become good friends. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support and kind comments and hopefully I get a chance to meet up with some of you when I visit Malaysia this coming January.

In the meantime I will continue posting more recipes and pictures in my blogs for year 2009, so feel free to drop by any chance you get. Thanks you once again for all your support and wishing all of you a wonderful and Happy New Year!!

Christmas Brunch

Just like every year I prepared very simple brunch for Christmas. It is normally some light finger food. This way I don't have to spend too much time slogging in the kitchen doing cooking, baking and then washing up. After lunch we can just sit back and relax next to the fireplace and watching TV or just being together. Here are some of the foods I prepared for the family and share some with our good neighbor Nancy.


Seafood Tarts

Spinach Rolls

Meat Puffs

Light Japanese Fruitcake

Chocolate Cake

Cajun Chicken and Shrimp Pasta

This is another quick and easy pasta dish with wonderful spicy cajun flavor. I used shrimp and chicken for this dish but you can use any kind of protein of your choice. I didn’t add any red or yellow peppers to it as I ran out of it but you can always add it to this pasta dish. As for the half and half you can replace with with heavy cream.

Ingredients :

1/2 box pasta of your choice (I used wholewheat penne)
2 pc of chicken breast
1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled/deveined
1 small onion, diced
2 tomatoes - diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp of flour
1 1/2 cup half and half or heavy cream
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp of pepper flakes
some chopped parsley
2 tsp of cajun seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the pasta until al-dente and set it aside. Cut chicken into thin strip and season it with the cajun seasoning.
2. Heat a bit of olive oil over medium heat in a pan. Saute the chicken breast until lightly brown. Dish out and set it aside.
2. In the same skillet add a bit of olive oil, add the onions and garlic. Saute until lightly brown. Add the flour and stir it for a minute or two, to cook off rawness of the flour.
3. Add the half and half, cheese and stir until thick. Add the shrimp, chicken and tomatoes into the skillet to cook through.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper, pepper flakes (and more Cajun seasoning, if desired). Toss in the pasta.
5. Garnish with some chopped parsley.

Merry Christmas

To my family, friends and blog readers,

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love
Merry Christams and Happy Holidays to All!!