How to look good in a passport photo eh?
The answer to that is a 50-50 chance that you'll turn out good or bad. If you are having a bad hair day and you still decided to snap the photo anyway, the chance is of course you'll have the worse photo ever and maybe you need to have a retake. Ouch, what a waste.
I've found a couple of tips over the internet certainly useful in order for you to get the best photo for your passport.
Here are the few things that I could remember and I think will work:
1. If you haven't had a haircut for months, go do that and make sure your hair stylist do a really good job and march to the photo studio right after your done with the hair.
2. Make sure you communicate with your photographer. Some of them are more keen to snap a picture of you, crop, print, ask for your money right away. Good photo studios will snap a couple of pictures with the camera, show you the pictures and you can decide to choose (or they will suggest) on the best pictures. After that, they will take the time to crop and probably do a little editing (just for brightness and probably contrast of the picture) and then they will print. If ended up with a lousy photographer, I doubt you can hope much on getting a well decent looking picture.
3. If you think you don't need a haircut because you still look okay and you have no bad hair day whatsoever, then do make time to spruce yourself a little bit just before you head to the photo studio. Going straight to the photo studio right after you were running out errands under the hot sun, looking all oily and sweaty, is not really a good idea.
4. Last but not least, this is something I'd like to add up myself. Go to the photo studio with a good spirit. Haha. With a good, happy and positive mindset, you'll have a good time and hopefully the photographer will capture the best photos for you and everyone shall be happy.
If all things fail and you think you have a lousy photo for the passport, don't hesitate to retake those photos again. You don't want to get stuck with the same not so nice photo on your passport for years to come. Happy taking photos and hope it'll turn out great or at least looking decently nice for you.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
100% Beef Burger Tortilla Wrap Recipe
[caption id="attachment_2833" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Ready to eat tortilla wrap cheese burger"]
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I made this super yummy and healthy ( I think) 100% Beef Burger wrapped with tortilla a couple of weeks back. The size of the burger may look small but it is full enough for my stomach.
To make this burger patty is super easy.All you need is a food processor in the kitchen and let it grind down to a mince and season the minced beef with some mix herbs, salt and pepper. Make and shape the meat into a round patty and let is sit for a bit in the fridge. If you want a cheesy burger, make a tiny hole in the middle of the patty and squeeze through whatever cheese you have on the fridge ( I used cheddar cheese) inside the patty. This will make a nice melted cheesy burger that comes oozing out from the middle of the patty.
If you don't have a food processor you can get some minced meat from the supermarket and hopefully they are 100% meat. Most burger patties are made with a combination of 80% meat and 20% fat and with the fat comes flavour. However, if you can have 100% beef, why not go for it right?
Get a non-stick pan or a grill pan or any kind of stainless steel pan will also do. Heat up the pan and oil the pan a little bit. Cook the beef patty over the hot oil and pan, let it brown a little bit. Since the patty is going to be rather chubby, you need to properly cook the insides, hence you'll need to cover the pan with a lid. Let the patty steam for a couple of minutes and turn sides and remember to steam with a lid again. Both sides looking nice and brown, smelling delicious and it's done!
[caption id="attachment_2831" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Tortilla wrap with 100 percent beef burger onion rigs and vegs"]
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Heat up your tortilla over the pan and when it's done, toss the cooked patty in the middle of the round tortilla. Toss a bit of vegs or salad of choice and since I love everything hot and spicy, I pour a good portion of Extra Hot Nandos Peri Peri sauce over the burger and mix with another sweet and hot sauce (Lingam's sauce - only found in Malaysia, I think) and fold the sides of the tortilla to the middle and it's ready to eat!
[caption id="attachment_2832" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Top view of the 100 percent cheese beef burger tortilla wrap with oozing melted cheese coming out from the patty"]
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Oh, I also sliced a whole onion into thin slices and separate them into individual rings, toss them over some flour and fry. You'll get yourself some really crunchy and sweet onion rigs. Put it as toppings for your burger patty and Enjoy!
This is a super easy recipe, fast to make and as always I only spend max of 30 minutes in the kitchen to whip up an awesome dish. Happy cooking and eating everyone!
[/caption]I made this super yummy and healthy ( I think) 100% Beef Burger wrapped with tortilla a couple of weeks back. The size of the burger may look small but it is full enough for my stomach.
Making the 100% Beef Patty
To make this burger patty is super easy.All you need is a food processor in the kitchen and let it grind down to a mince and season the minced beef with some mix herbs, salt and pepper. Make and shape the meat into a round patty and let is sit for a bit in the fridge. If you want a cheesy burger, make a tiny hole in the middle of the patty and squeeze through whatever cheese you have on the fridge ( I used cheddar cheese) inside the patty. This will make a nice melted cheesy burger that comes oozing out from the middle of the patty.
If you don't have a food processor you can get some minced meat from the supermarket and hopefully they are 100% meat. Most burger patties are made with a combination of 80% meat and 20% fat and with the fat comes flavour. However, if you can have 100% beef, why not go for it right?
How to cook your burger? Steam it!
Get a non-stick pan or a grill pan or any kind of stainless steel pan will also do. Heat up the pan and oil the pan a little bit. Cook the beef patty over the hot oil and pan, let it brown a little bit. Since the patty is going to be rather chubby, you need to properly cook the insides, hence you'll need to cover the pan with a lid. Let the patty steam for a couple of minutes and turn sides and remember to steam with a lid again. Both sides looking nice and brown, smelling delicious and it's done!
Wrapping the burger with Tortilla and vegs
[caption id="attachment_2831" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Tortilla wrap with 100 percent beef burger onion rigs and vegs"]
[/caption]Heat up your tortilla over the pan and when it's done, toss the cooked patty in the middle of the round tortilla. Toss a bit of vegs or salad of choice and since I love everything hot and spicy, I pour a good portion of Extra Hot Nandos Peri Peri sauce over the burger and mix with another sweet and hot sauce (Lingam's sauce - only found in Malaysia, I think) and fold the sides of the tortilla to the middle and it's ready to eat!
[caption id="attachment_2832" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Top view of the 100 percent cheese beef burger tortilla wrap with oozing melted cheese coming out from the patty"]
[/caption]Oh, I also sliced a whole onion into thin slices and separate them into individual rings, toss them over some flour and fry. You'll get yourself some really crunchy and sweet onion rigs. Put it as toppings for your burger patty and Enjoy!
This is a super easy recipe, fast to make and as always I only spend max of 30 minutes in the kitchen to whip up an awesome dish. Happy cooking and eating everyone!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Fish and Chips with Smashed Peas Recipe
Fish and Chips with Smashed Peas Recipe
I haven't posted anything food recipes related for a long time and seriously there is no set focus on this blog. Never has that been the intention anyways. So, back to the Fish and Chips with Smashed peas recipe, I got someone who asked me for the recipe and here goes.
Ingredients :
A bag of Dory Fish ( 3-5 pieces in a bag, depends) . The thing about frozen dory in a bag, it has a fishy smell. For those with sensitive nose and taste buds where you can't stand the fishy smell, the trick is to soak the dory in a bowl of water and flour mixture for sometime and drain the water afterwards.
Frozen peas ( a bag of 500g) or mix it together with broad beans ( which is like RM 8 for a bag of 500g, in my standard that is freaking expensive, but broad beans are delicious)
Butter or Cream
Flour
Coke/Sparkling water
Salt and pepper
To make the fish batter :
Originally this is a beer battered fish. But the version I made is the non-alcoholic version and I swapped the ingredients with coke instead. You can also use some sparkling water for the batter.
Wipe the fish dry with a kitchen towel because you don't want the oil to go all crazy when you start frying something with water on it. Lightly salt and pepper the sides of the fish.
Meanwhile, mix a bit of coke ( about 3-4 table spoons, depends on you really) with the flour. Mix the two ingredients well.
Then toss the fish into the coke and flour batter and make a second coat by tossing it around plain flour ( do it on a separate plate) and finally deep fry the fish until golden brown.
Next you can fry the chips and I specifically choose a big cut fries because that's how it's eaten. Never have I seen anywhere in the UK that fish is served with those skinny cut fries. It's a big no! :)
For the Smashed Peas :
Over a boiling water, throw in the peas along with some cloves of garlic. Boil them until they become soft enough to mash. Drain it out and mashed it straight out from the pot. In that case, you'll have less things to wash. Throw in some butter or cream, pepper and salt to taste and mashed everything together. I prefer them to be slightly chunky and it looks more rustic that way.
Plate everything up. Being Asian, I love to dip the chips with something hot and my choice of a ketchup is Nandos Peri Peri Extra Hot chilli sauce which you can buy either at Tesco or Giant for about RM 10. Originally, the chips are eaten simply with salt and vinegar or HP Sauce. But I doubt HP Sauce is Halal and it is not even spicy so Nandos Peri Peri Extra Hot chilli sauce is the best bet.
It is a very simple recipe. Don't bother much about staying low on the calories here. Hehe. Another tips, if you have a frozen fish and chips, best to thawed them in the microwave under low heat because you'll get the most of the frozen ice bits of the fish and chips, ready for the super hot frying oil.
I haven't posted anything food recipes related for a long time and seriously there is no set focus on this blog. Never has that been the intention anyways. So, back to the Fish and Chips with Smashed peas recipe, I got someone who asked me for the recipe and here goes.
Ingredients :
A bag of Dory Fish ( 3-5 pieces in a bag, depends) . The thing about frozen dory in a bag, it has a fishy smell. For those with sensitive nose and taste buds where you can't stand the fishy smell, the trick is to soak the dory in a bowl of water and flour mixture for sometime and drain the water afterwards.
Frozen peas ( a bag of 500g) or mix it together with broad beans ( which is like RM 8 for a bag of 500g, in my standard that is freaking expensive, but broad beans are delicious)
Butter or Cream
Flour
Coke/Sparkling water
Salt and pepper
To make the fish batter :
Originally this is a beer battered fish. But the version I made is the non-alcoholic version and I swapped the ingredients with coke instead. You can also use some sparkling water for the batter.
Wipe the fish dry with a kitchen towel because you don't want the oil to go all crazy when you start frying something with water on it. Lightly salt and pepper the sides of the fish.
Meanwhile, mix a bit of coke ( about 3-4 table spoons, depends on you really) with the flour. Mix the two ingredients well.
Then toss the fish into the coke and flour batter and make a second coat by tossing it around plain flour ( do it on a separate plate) and finally deep fry the fish until golden brown.
Next you can fry the chips and I specifically choose a big cut fries because that's how it's eaten. Never have I seen anywhere in the UK that fish is served with those skinny cut fries. It's a big no! :)
For the Smashed Peas :
Over a boiling water, throw in the peas along with some cloves of garlic. Boil them until they become soft enough to mash. Drain it out and mashed it straight out from the pot. In that case, you'll have less things to wash. Throw in some butter or cream, pepper and salt to taste and mashed everything together. I prefer them to be slightly chunky and it looks more rustic that way.
Plate everything up. Being Asian, I love to dip the chips with something hot and my choice of a ketchup is Nandos Peri Peri Extra Hot chilli sauce which you can buy either at Tesco or Giant for about RM 10. Originally, the chips are eaten simply with salt and vinegar or HP Sauce. But I doubt HP Sauce is Halal and it is not even spicy so Nandos Peri Peri Extra Hot chilli sauce is the best bet.
It is a very simple recipe. Don't bother much about staying low on the calories here. Hehe. Another tips, if you have a frozen fish and chips, best to thawed them in the microwave under low heat because you'll get the most of the frozen ice bits of the fish and chips, ready for the super hot frying oil.
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