Air fryer pork ribs

We had this takeaway pork ribs from Pura Brasa last week to celebrate our wedding anniversary at home ( thanks to Phase 2 HA restrictions!!) 

I wanted to try to prepare a homemade version as Y loves her meats (her latest addition to her nickname list is "Miss meaty"). I didn't want to have to burn a big hole in my pocket to feed her carnivorous cravings. 

So I got this lovely slab of pork ribs from the wet market at Chinatown. This hit the weighing scale at close to 900+ grams (approx 2 pounds?), and costs $23/kg. 

The uncle at the stall suggested that I precook the meat before putting it into the oven to roast/BBQ, to avoid drying out the meat. So here it is, in my WMF stainless steel pot on a trivet,ready to be steamed.

I chose steaming rather than boil or parboil, so that the juices and flavour do not leech out into the boiling liquid. Besides, it's already so hot in the kitchen! In total, I steamed it for about 15 mins. It was fully cooked when I poked the meat with a chopstick, as the juices ran clear. 

I then rubbed on some store bought BBQ seasoning sauce and popped it into the air fryer for about 5-7 mins at 170 deg Celsius. I just eye-balled and flipped it over (for more even browning, aesthetics, really, since it was already fully cooked) and cranked up to 200 deg Celsius for a final burst for another 4mins. The BBQ smell was so enchanting and the fats sizzling and popping when I opened the airfryer. 

Here's a pic of the final product. 

Verdict: it looks better than it tastes. 

I think I overcooked it and the exterior bits of meat were super dry and tasted like jerky. Personally, I had the small loose piece of rib, which I cut off from the main slab so that it could fit into the airfryer. It was exposed to the convection heat in the airfryer and tasted dry and tasteless. I later had another rib from the middle section and it was much juicier and softer. 

By not marinating in advance, I set the stage for bland meat. The seasoning was only on the exposed parts of the meat. I can only shudder to imagine the quantity of seasoning used by restaurants to get that smoky, sweet, salty taste we get when dining out. I can only console myself that my version is healthier! 

This is a dish that I will definitely try again, not least because Y asked for more (her exact words were "mummy, can you cook this more often") , but also cos I have a bottle of BBQ seasoning dry rub to use up before SG's humidity ruins it. 

《长歌行》电视剧

追看电视剧了过后，总觉得意犹未尽。

A new wallet burn coming our way

24 May 2021 - Picture of our 11 year old (non-smart) TV. Somehow there was some liquid oozing out of those bubbles seen in the picture. So we removed it and hauled it to be disposed. 

Full HBL announced 19May 2021 to end of Term 2

Just hours after my previous post, MOE announced new measures of full Home based learning for schools for the last 1.5 weeks of Term 2. 

Although it is no longer a new development (compared to last year's experience), it was still a development that came out of the blue, and with only 2 days notice, the entire school ecosystem will be in a scramble again for the hours and days ahead. 

Social media (Facebook, readers comments) were a flurry with the usual comments... Why in two days, why not immediately, what happens to segment A /B/C/D of the student population. Sometimes I don't know whether we don't learn from past experiences or we forget, or we just mentally refuse to accept the government's previously stated (usually logical and easy to understand) explanation. 

I only have 1 question unsolved for my own scenario. What happens to Y's mid year exam that was due to take place on Wed 19 May? 

Here we go again... Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) Starts 16 May 2021

 Just a post to mark another stay-at-home phase... what the government has termed "Phase 2 (Heightened Alert)".  Starting today, 16 May 2021, dining-in at all F&B outlets would be prohibited; permissible group sizes reduced from 5 to 2 etc etc.

As I went out to buy breakfast today, the streets and shops were significantly quieter. F&B establishments in the neighbourhood that were already operating then (8am in the heart of Singapore's CBD on a Sunday!) were already well-prepared. The usual dining tables and chairs were stacked neatly to one side of their premises; signages were up, next to the ubiquitous SafeEntry posters and temperature scanners at each shopfront. 

How about the supermarkets? I hadn't needed to make a grocery run to the supermarket since the announcement of this newest development on May 14, and neither did I bother to follow social media for photos and reports of what 'uncommon scenes' (i.e. long queues of kiasu customers) ensued as a result of the new restrictions. But the NTUC Fairprice supermarket was relatively quiet, just like any other Sunday morning. Perhaps we had already gotten used to the fact that this "roti-prata" way of relaxing-and-tightening-social-restrictions will be the new way of life, at least for now, for the upcoming many months ahead. Or maybe all the panic-buying and "just-one-last-visit-to-my favourite-bubble-tea-shop" chaos had ended without me realising. 

Thankfully, I happened to complete most of my weekly grocery-shopping at the wet market on Wed, just  days before the announcement. And since I always had my stash of frozen food, I had been cooking simple meals without having to replenish much. 

As I sat down at my computer to start this post, I was wondering "What will change?". Hopefully, I can learn from my mistakes from last year's Circuit-Breaker experience, not to let my guard down too much (and face a mountain of work-related backlog). It probably won't happen this time since my workplace isn't closed. I also made plans to really prepare more home-cooked meals this time round, rather than relying on the ready supply of instant food products and the yummilicious hawker food just nearby. 

I had also been trying to get Y to go out of the house more often (she was refusing to leave home except for school and weekly visits to grandparents') ever since we exited CB last year. And dangled some incentive carrot for her to do so, so I hope we will get down to doing some outdoor exercise (as a group of 2). Everything, anything to pry her away from her bed, mobile and computer playing Kpop idol music. haha. 

Cushions and DIY cushion covers for MBR Bay Window

For years, we have left the Bay Window unused as it was quite exposed (without the DIY sheer curtains and blinds shown in the picture below). Preparing some padding for the space was on my "To Do" list for a while. 

So I bought some high density sponge cushions online during the 9.9 offers (it was too expensive to make to order in SG). The original seller couldnt fulfil the order, so I had to re-order from someone else and it took another 2 weeks to arrive. The cushions did not fit the space perfectly as the cushions were 50cm squares whereas the entire length was 158cm. I padded the end of the space (8cm) by folding a cardboard box. It cannot be seen in the picture as it was below the triangular pillow. 

The triangular support 'pillow cover' is actually just some scraps from previous projects, encasing an air pillow. I used a large plastic ziplock (i think it was those blankets storage bags from Daiso).  

To keep dust out and make it easier to clean, I machine-sewed a long cushion case to keep dust out of the crevices in-between the three cushions. Again, the fabric was from my stash, and I was so happy with the result of the first (the Christmas red) that I could not resist when I saw this cute cartoon print on sale at People's Park. So Taa-dah! I have two interchangeable covers.  

So on windy mornings or overcast afternoons, this is my little reading-cum-entertainment corner.