Sue Zann Toh

Also known as jook, chok, Chinese porridge and rice porridge, congee is one of those traditional Chinese foods that reminds me of home. In particular, whenever us kids were sick, our parents made us congee of some sort, chicken, fish, pork or plain.

The following recipe is the most basic and most simple congee recipe that could ever exist. It serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 cup long rice
• 2 L water

Instructions

1. Add rice and water in a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. Reduce to simmer for about one and a half hours, stirring.

Optional

• Add 400-500 g diced chicken (breast or thigh, which ever you prefer), pork or fish (white flesh) about 30 minutes before end of cooking.
• Add salt and pepper to taste at the end of cooking.
• You can cook the congee with garlic and ginger for flavour.
• If you like smoother congee, cook for longer and add more water as needed. If you like chunkier congee, cook for less time and use less water. I like my congee somewhere in between, and I find that the recipe above gives the exact right consistency that I like.

Frittatas are quick, simple and nutritious and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This frittata recipe can be used as a base to add in any leftovers to make a scrumptious meal.

Serves 2.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 2½ Tbs parmesan cheese
• 10g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 200g ricotta cheese
• ½ cup cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Beat together eggs, milk and parmesan cheese until fluffy.
2. Heat the oil and butter together in a small deep saucepan.
3. Add egg mixture to saucepan and cook for 5 minutes until the edges start to set.
4. Add ricotta and cheddar cheese on top and cook for a further 15 minutes.
5. Grill for 5 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Divide and serve with fresh salad.

I have a sort of tradition of going somewhere and doing something on, or near, my birthday. I’ve gone down south to Margaret River for a 3 day romantic getaway. I’ve gone up north to Lancelin for a bit of quad biking.

This year I went down south again, but this time only one hour to Mandurah with a stop over at the Serpentine Falls for a quick swim.

The water was cold and refreshing on such a hot day. Hard to believe it’s meant to be autumn with temperatures up near and in the 40’s. I ended up slightly sunburned, mostly on the shoulders.

We wandered down to Mandurah and had a fish and chips lunch at Nino’s, then on the way back to the car we spotted a boat hire place and decided to take a boat ride. I thought it was pretty good value, $45 for an hour on a motor boat cruising around the Mandurah canals. We actually went for 2 hours, which was more than enough to explore pretty much all the canals and all the nice luxury houses and boats on the canals.

We weren’t fortunately enough to spot any wild dolphins in the main canals, but nevertheless, it was a fun afternoon.

I steered the boat for a little while, but I nearly got us stuck in shallow water so I decided to hand the controls over. It wasn’t very hard to steer and the boats have quite a decent turning radius. They only went up to 8-9 knots, which is roughly 15 kmph, and the speed limit in the residential canals was 5 knots.

After the boating we made our way back up to Perth and zonked out on the couch in front of a couple of DVD’s.

Chai is Indian spiced tea. There’s a great many ways to make chai with different quantities and variety of spices used. This particular recipe is a pretty basic and simple chai recipe. I would have included some fresh ginger, but there wasn’t any in the house when I hacked together this recipe.

Makes 2 cups, or if you’re like me, you’ll drink it all yourself.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of water
• ½ to 1 cinnamon stick or quill
• 8 cardamon pods
• 8 cloves
• 8 black peppercorns
• ½ cup of milk
• 4 tsp sugar
• 2-3 teabags, good quality, strong, black tea

Instructions

1. Add the water and spices to a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add milk and sugar and bring back to boil.
4. Turn off heat and add teabags and steep for 2-3 minutes.
5. Strain chai into cup and serve immediately.

Suggestions and Tips

• When boiling anything that contains milk, watch over the saucepan closely. Milk tends to boil over very quickly if you take your eyes off it
• I like my chai quite moderately strong, so I opt for 3 teabags and steep for 3 minutes. For weaker tea, use less teabags or steep for 2 minutes. The only way to find out which you prefer is to test it out.

Yet another video game review, this time it’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas Demo.

Firstly, W-O-W. Impressive and then some.

The graphics are really something else, very gritty and totally immersive. The effects when you get shot (and die) are very convincing. The gameplay feels very life-like too, not that I know what it’s like to be shot at, but you know what I mean. I found myself very quickly looking around every corner, hiding behind every box/crate/wall to stop dying every couple of minutes. I couldn’t do my usual gung-ho maneuvers. I also found out really quickly that knee shots do NOT kill the bad guys like it does in other shooting games.

The one confusing aspect (or maybe it’s just me) is the toggle between first and third person when you take cover (LT button) behind crates, walls, boxes and the like. It’s goes from first person perspective to third person perspective when you take cover, which is good, but when you stop taking cover it whizzes you around back to first person mode and it was pretty disorientating at first. Something I’ll have to get use to still.

I should mention that game is a cross between a first person shooter (FPS) and a squad based game. In the demo, you have two team members with you, who you can instruct what to do, but unlike the squad based games I’ve played so far, it’s mostly in first person view (except for the take cover thingy) as opposed to third person view. This make the game more immersive for me, and shooting is easier too.

Blood and gore effects are nicely done, quite realistic. When you shoot a guy and there’s a wall behind him, there’s nice blood splatter on the wall. It’s a little gruesome perhaps, but adds to the realism of this game.

I also liked how the demo asks you whether you want the “Normal” mode or “Realistic” mode. I went for the normal mode, but I’m assuming realistic mode means one shot and you’re dead.

I’ve played the demo probably half a dozen times and still haven’t got to the end. That just says:

1. I’m just a sucky gamer (very possible)
2. I’m too impatient (definitely part of the problem)

One more thing mention about the demo, it’s set in Las Vegas (duh) in a casino called “Dante” which is under contruction, the game layout really gives you that feeling of a construction site. You land on the roof top of the casino and make your way down, shooting almost-hordes of bad guys around, who aren’t always that easy to kill because they take cover. The AI is pretty smart too, the bad guys don’t stick their heads out practically screaming “shoot me please”, but they keep their heads down and only expose their gun and hand, usually pointed at you and usually spraying bullets in your direction.

This demo is so worth the download and it definitely makes me want to spend money on this game.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas is to be released in Australia mid-late November.

More reads:

• Wikipedia on Rainbow Six: Vegas
• Gamespot on Rainbow Six: Vegas
• Official Rainbow Six: Vegas web site

Where to get it:

• 
  But it at Play-Asia.com
• Bid on Rainbow Six: Vegas at eBay.com.au

Gotta love Xbox Live and the demo downloads. Granted, many of the playable demos are 600-800 MB in file size, which takes ages to download even on ADSL, but when you get a good game to download, the wait (and bandwidth) is definitely worthwhile.

I got the chance to play a bit of Tony Hawk’s Project 8. For those who don’t know (and how couldn’t you NOT know?!), the Tony Hawk games are all skateboard games. Sounds like something you may not be interested in? That was exactly my thought until I picked up Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the first Tony Hawk video game, and instantly fell in love with it. It was supremely fun and very playable, even for someone who had zero interest in skateboarding, like me.

Tony Hawk’s Project 8 is the 8th (gee what a surprise) installment of the Tony Hawk series of skating games and while you may think that skating would get boring by the 8th installment, you’re sorely wrong. It’s just as fun as it was in the first game, and possibly even funner (yes I know that’s not a word). As always there’s plenty to do, plenty of skills and tricks to master and best of all, it’s an open environment, so you can do the whatever tasks you feel like doing, whenever you feel like doing them.

Not much has changed in terms of my ability to actually “skate”, I still suck just as much as I did in the first game, but this still doesn’t stop me from playing and, more importantly, enjoying the game. The graphics are awesome, what you expect from a new gen console. Music isn’t awful. Learning curve is fairly easy, especially if you’ve played a Tony Hawk game before, and the controls are basically the same.

Something I enjoyed was the hospital bills that flashes up every time you stack it. As I said, I still suck at this game and managed to accumulate a $24,000+ bill in one fall. Noice!

While skating around the little skate park you’re confined to, you can interact with some characters. Sometimes these characters give you a task to complete, and sometimes they just give you information about the full game.

The new Nail the Trick feature gives you precise control over the skater’s feet so you can flip the board and pull of a trick. The camera slows down to “bullet-time” speed and you move the left thumbstick for the left foot, or the right thumbstick for the right foot and the board flips according to how you’ve moved the feet.

There’s also a task mode where a camera man skates around and you follow him, pulling off tricks in his vicinity. The more tricks you pull off within a given time limit, the more “pro” you are. This is one part of the game where it doesn’t allow you much freedom, if you stray too far from the camera man, the game will reset you closer to him. I lost my orientation a few times because of this.

There are also spot challenges around the skate park. These are mini-challenges scattered throughout the game world that you can choose to complete whenever you feel like.

I’d like to take a closer look at the demo again before the game is released, which should be mid November for Australia, can’t wait! Sorry, couldn’t find a reliable source for the exact Oz release date.

More reads:

• Tony Hawk Project 8 on Wikipedia
• Project 8 on Gamespot.com
• Official Tony Hawk Project 8 web site

Where to get it:

• Buy it at Play-Asia.com
• Bid on Project 8 at eBay.com.au

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 800 g sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1½ cup arborio rice
• 3¾ chicken or vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Add rice to onion mixture and stir for 2 minutes or until rice is translucent.
4. Add sweet potato and stock. Bring to boil then cover and simmer until rice is al dente, about 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Tips and Advice

Don’t rinse arborio rice prior to cooking. This removes the starch that gives risottos their creaminess.

Have you ever spoken and wished that you could immediately take the words back? Or that you could crawl into a hole? Here are the testimonials of a few people who did…

First Testimony

I walked into a hair salon with my husband and three kids in tow and asked loudly, “How much do you charge for a shampoo and a blow job?” I turned around and walked back out and never went back. My husband didn’t say a word… he knew better.

Second Testimony

I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls. I was unhappy with the women’s type I had been using. After browsing for several minutes, I was approached by one of the good-looking gentlemen who works at the store. He asked if he could help me. Without thinking, I looked at him and said, “I think I like playing with men’s balls.”

Third Testimony

My sister and I were at the mall and passed by a store that sold a variety of candy and nuts. As we were looking at the display case, the boy behind the counter asked if we needed any help. I replied, “No, I’m just looking at your nuts.” My sister started to laugh hysterically. The boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away. To this day, my sister has never let me forget.

Fourth Testimony

While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release some pent-up energy and ran amok. I was finally able to grab hold of her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she did not start behaving “right now” she would be punished. To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening, “If you don’t let me go right now, I will tell Grandma that I saw you kissing Daddy’s pee-pee last night!” The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing. I mustered up the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow. The last thing I heard when the door closed behind me, were screams of laughter.

Fifth Testimony

Have you ever asked your child a question too many times? My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training and I was on him constantly. One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch in between errands. It was very busy, with a full dining room. While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, so of course I checked my seven-month-old daughter, and she was clean. Then I realized that Danny had not asked to go potty in a while, so I asked him if he needed to go, and he said “No”. I kept thinking “Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don’t have any clothes with me.” Then I said, “Danny, are you SURE you didn’t have an accident?” “No”, he replied. I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse. Soooooo, I asked one more time, “Danny, did you have an accident?” This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, bent over and spread his cheeks and yelled “SEE MOM, IT’S JUST FARTS!!” While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing, he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down. An old couple made me feel better by thanking me for the best laugh they’d ever had!

Last Testimony

This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow but don’t get any… a true story… We had a female news anchor that, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn’t, turned to the weatherman and asked: “So Bob, where’s that 8 inches you promised me last night?” Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too they were laughing so hard!

Really simple and quick. This veal recipe fits all my requirements. There’s not much preparation or cooling involved.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 4 veal steaks
• 1.5 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tbs flat leaf parsley (Italian parsley)
• 4 thin slices of eggplant (Aubergine)
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Line a baking tray with grease paper.
3. Heat a grill pan over high heat.
4. Brush eggplant slices with half the olive oil and grill until soft, about 3 minutes each side.
5. Remove eggplant slices from heat and set aside.
6. Coat veal steaks in olive oil and grill each side one minute each.
7. Remove veal from the frypan and place on lined baking tray.
8. Sprinkly veal steaks with parsley and season with salt and pepper.
9. Top veal steaks with grilled eggplant and mozzarella cheese.
10. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
11. Serve with steamed green vegetables.

I thought it was a little strange that Rockstar, the makers of horrendously violent yet very, very fun video games such as the Grand Theft Auto series, is releasing a family friend, sports simulation game like Table Tennis. You’d expect some other company like EA or maybe even Activision to make a table tennis video game. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with Rockstar releasing a “family friendly” video game, it’s just unexpected, but very welcome!

I have to admit, I’m the last person who thought Table Tennis could be fun on a video game console, I was a skeptic. I couldn’t grasp how they could make table tennis playable on the Xbox 360. If you’ve ever played real life table tennis, you’d know how fast the game can be. I didn’t think that any game developer could capture the fast paced yet technical nature of table tennis. And yet, since playing the demo, I’ve found it to be surprising fun and quite addictive.

The Rockstar’s Table Tennis demo I played was downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace. It’s one of those demos that’s a must-download for everyone. Trust me, you won’t regret it. It’s instantly playable and instantly fun.

The demo gives you the choice of one- and two- player modes, but sadly, no online gaming. The two characters available are Liu Ping (Chinese) and Mark (African American).

Rockstar’s Table Tennis reminds me much of Tony Hawk’s original Pro Skater in the sense that even though I’m not a skater, and I’m not a fan of skating, the game was instantly playable and heaps of fun from the get-go.

Graphics are good. Realistic looking people made more realistic by their movements and mannerisms. Each of the two characters you’re presented with in the demo have their own mannerisms and different strengths and playing styles.

The display of the ball spin is quite intuitive. Ball spin can be top-spin, back-spin, left-spin and right-spin and each of the spins are represented by spinning coloured blobs around the ball.

The sound design is very effective. The music wasn’t irritating. One aspect I particularly enjoyed was when a rally started getting into the double digits, exciting music would start to fade up. Other sound effects were very simple, effective and rather cute. Option selection sound effects were just a ping pong ball bouncing on a paddle or on the table. The crowd cheers also added to the game with applause in the appropriate moments and random people yelling out support for the players.

The full version of the game will have 11 characters, 19 venues and various gameplay modes to choose from.

Official Rockstar Table Tennis Website

Where to get it

• Buy it at Play-Asia.com
• Bid on it at eBay.com.au (aff link)