American, Lamb, Vegetables

Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Vermouth

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You’ll swoon over these lamb shanks in buttery braised garlic sauce.

Braised Lamb Shank

For some reason, it’s really hard to find good beef here in Kuching. Last year when Nate was hankering for some steak for his birthday, I went to the store and got some ribeyes to grill up for him.

They were not good.

They were tough and did not have enough marbling. I had bought a big hunk of ribeye frozen and when we thawed them out, we had a feeling they weren’t going to be good. So, we’ve pretty much given up on getting good steaks here. The rest of that hunk ended up being sliced up and used for Niku-jaga which was a better application of that quality beef.

Anyway, why am I going on about beef when the title of this post says lamb shanks? Well, it’s because I want to let you know that even though we can’t get good beef here, we can certainly find good lamb!

The same place I got my beef, I also found some vacuum-packed lamb shanks that were super meaty. I got myself two shanks the first time; made this recipe and regretted not buying more. So the second time around, I made sure to get four shanks.

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Fantasy

Of sequels and such

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I’ve always enjoyed reading fantasy (Lord of the Rings being one of my favorites!) and when I was a teenager, I enjoyed reading David Eddings’ fantasy series—with his Belgariad series being another favorite. Lately, I have found it hard to get into fantasies.  Several series start really promising and then get frustrating as you continue on.

I remember starting on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series (even introducing it to other friends) and then getting really frustrated as it slowed down and never seemed to end—the main character got really whiney and the female characterization was making me unhappy.  I stopped at Book Four and never looked back.  Turns out, he died before he even finished, though I hear that his son is finishing the series for him.

I’ve been really put off by fantasy series that start off really well, but don’t follow through. For instance, I enjoyed reading Eragon, only to struggle with the second book Eldest.  The story dragged and I could not get past page 100.  I don’t know if I am willing to invest the time in reading it if the third and fourth turn out to be just as problematic. 

Then one day, as I was browsing in Amazon, I came across a fantasy book that had been given really good reviews—The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I borrowed the book from the library and ploughed through it in no time at all. I recommended it to many fantasy-loving friends.  I was thrilled to find a new author I could get into.  Then, I had to wait for the second in the series to arrive.

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Talk

In Memoriam: Edith Lee Lau (1918 – 2011)

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You may recall that a couple of months ago, our family traveled to Hawaii to attend my sister’s wedding. Right around the time we were about to depart for Hawaii, my grandmother went to the hospital, complaining of shortness of breath. She was admitted to the ICU with fluid in her lungs. She spent almost a month at the hospital, going in and out of the ICU.

We were able to visit her in the hospital a couple of times while we were there. The last time was just before we came back to Malaysia. She seemed to be on the mend, and I hoped against hope that we would be able to see her again the next time we came back to Hawaii.

A few weeks ago, my grandmother passed away. She was 92.

Grandma Lau with Esther and Daniel

grandma esther daniel

She was laid to rest today in Honolulu. The following is the letter of remembrance that I wrote for her funeral.

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Malaysian, Poultry

Assam Curry Chicken Recipe

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An easy and delicious, one-pot chicken curry meal that will tantalize your tastebuds.

Assam Curry Chicken

Recently at our Friday fellowship, we celebrated a birthday by having a potluck. Most times, on our regular Friday nights, we end the night with some food but mostly it’s bought food like kolo mee, cakes and snacks. But whenever we have a celebration potluck, we all try to bring something home-cooked. It’s a good time of sharing and also a good time of discovering new foods.

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Making you hungry for the good things in life