Stock Up on Chicken Stock

A key ingredient for Chinese cooking is chicken stock. It is the thing that adds the basic flavour in many soups and gravies. Brands like Maggi and Knorr package chicken stock in cubes or powder, ready to use, for sale in supermarkets. However, these products, while convenient and tasty, are processed and may not be the best option for your body.

Chicken stock can also be prepared fresh by boiling the bones of chicken. This can be troublesome and time-consuming if you have to do it every time you cook.

Thankfully, I recently learnt of a way to get the best of both worlds! Get the nutritious goodness from chicken bones AND have it prepared and ready to be popped into your soup/gravy!

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First, buy chicken bones and clean them. Try to get rid of all the blood and innards. Be careful though, as the bones may be sharp.

Photo Credit: Juxxtapose

Next, rub the bones with salt to get rid of the smelly chicken stench. Rinse off the salt when you’re done.

Photo Credit: Juxxtapose

Place the bones in a pot of water to boil. It should be roughly one part bones to two part water. If you are unsure, it is better to put less water and have the stock more concentrated, because you can easily dilute it later but not vice versa.

Photo Credit: Juxxtapose

Begin with an hour over high heat to get the flavour and goodness out of the bones, followed by 2 hours of low heat to simmer, to enhance the flavour. Be sure to keep an eye on the pot as it may boil over, or the water may end up boiling until it’s dry (in which case, just add more water).

Photo Credit: Juxxtapose

Once the stock concentrate is done, allow it to cool enough for it to be stored in parts either in plastic bags, or, in my case, ice cube trays, Storing in parts allow for convenient usage of a portion of the stock you have prepared.

Photo Credit: Juxxtapose

You may store the frozen stock for up to a month. However, once you have thawed a portion out, you should not re-freeze.

Photo Credit: Juxxtapose

Easy peasy.

3 Simple Things that will Immediately Personalise Your Home

Photo Credit: Juxxtapose

Having recently moved to a rented apartment in a foreign land, I felt the need to personalise the place, like IMMEDIATELY, so that we would feel more comfortable. I could have gone to great extents like painting the walls, and buying loads and loads of decorative items (which I would have LOOVEEED to do), but I soon realised that I didn’t have to.

Here’s why (and how):

• PHOTOGRAPHS

Nothing personalises a place like photographs can. And it’s sooo simple too! You don’t even need bulky frames. Stick them on the wall, hang them on a string, put them up on the fridge. The possibilities are endless!

• Handwritten notes

I’ll be the first to say that I hate my handwriting. I strongly believe that I destroy cards because I write in them. But you know what, your handwriting (or actually, anybody’s handwriting) can make a space more personal. Little notes on sticky post-its or a written grocery list will do the trick. Little cards from friends will do as well (the pretty ones will add colour to the room too).

• Your mess (and the individuality that shines through it)

I don’t know about finding order in chaos, but you can definitely find the individual in her mess. I am reputed to have a ‘messy’ workstation. Well, they say ‘messy’, I say ‘personality’. Besides, I’m always able to find my thing in my heaps of stuff, so no harm done there! Still not convinced? Picture a showroom flat – beautifully designed and furnished, clean tabletops, immaculately-made beds, spotless (and food-less) kitchens. Picture perfect! Except, it lacks the personal touch. Yeah, so allow yourself a little mess. Now, it looks like home!

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It really doesn’t matter that your space never looks like a picture you find on Pinterest or that showroom you stepped into when you bought your house. Because it’s the imperfections that make your place ooze with your individuality. And it’s your own ideas that eventually make a place your own.