Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Sweet & Sour Fish Fillets

It's been a while since I had time to actually share a new recipe on this blog. Since I have a little time on my hands today, I will share with all of you a quick recipe that's really easy to make and super yummy to eat. Sweet & Sour Fish, who doesn't like Sweet & Sour Fish, right? Both Kevin and I love this dish to bits. We would usually eat that with a huge plate of steaming white rice. Mmmm mmm mmmmmmmm :D Try this recipe, I hope you will like it as much as we do!
The first thing we must do is prepare the fish fillets. You can pretty much use any type of fish fillet for this dish but I would usually use catfish. It's really affordable and it taste awesome! Start off by cleaning the fillets. Then, add some pepper, garlic powder and salt to some flour and set it aside. Now, heat some oil in a large pan. Once its nice and hot, coat your fillets in flour and drop it into the oil. Remember not to overcrowd the pan.
You know that your fillets are ready once they turn golden brown. Take them out of the oil and set them aside on some kitchen towels.
Now, its time to make the sauce. It's really easy. All you need to do is mix some ketchup, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and pepper with some chicken stock. You can also add in some chili paste too if you like. Apart from that, I would also add in some syrup from the canned fruits that I would be using later on. There is really no fix ratio in all those ingredients. Some people like it really sour and some people like sweet. The best thing would be just to taste the mixture and continue to adjust the amount until you get the taste that you like. For me, I like it on the sweeter side. Once you are done with the sauce mixture, set it aside.
Alrighty, now we can put it all together. Start off by sauteing one large onion and one green pepper that has been cut into bite size pieces.
Then, add in a can of mixed tropical fruits. Remember to drain away the syrup before adding the fruits in. If you do not like mixed tropical fruits, you could also just use canned or fresh pineapples.
After sauteing the vegetables and fruits for a bit, add in the sauce mixture. Allow it to simmer until it comes to a boil. Then, add in some cornstarch that has been mixed with a little bit of water. This will help thicken up the sauce. Once the sauce has thicken, it's ready to be served. I would usually just add in my fish fillets into the sauce and give it a good mix. You could also place your fillets on a serving platter and pour the sauce over it. Either ways, it will be yummy! You can serve it with some steamed rice or if you like, you could even eat it with noodles. Try it out and let me know if you like it! :D


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The ZzzQuil Nights Challenge

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ZzzQuil. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have a question for all of you out there. Do you sleep well at night? I do. Well, for the most parts, I do. I would fall right to sleep the moment my head hits the pillow. HOWEVER, there are certain nights when it’s just impossible to fall asleep. I would spend the entire night, just tossing and turning. The worst thing is getting up the next day. I would feel totally drained and tired the entire day. I was down with a cold a couple of weeks back and had a tough time falling asleep. I took some Vicks® NyQuil® and headed to bed. I fell asleep within minutes and slept through the night! When I woke up, I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if they made something that would help me fall asleep and sleep this well even when I don’t have a cold?

Guess what? They do have something like that! I was thrilled beyond words when Socialspark got in touch with me not too long ago and asked if I would like to try a product from P&G called ZzzQuil. ZzzQuil is made by the same people who make Vicks NyQuil. The difference is, it’s for when your only symptom is occasional sleeplessness. That’s right, it’s not for colds, and it’s not for pain. It’s just for sleep. ZzzQuil’s active ingredient, diphenhydramine HCI, helps reduce the time it takes for you to fall asleep when you have difficulty falling asleep, so you can sleep soundly and wake up refreshed. It is also the only over-the-counter sleep-aid medication available in both Liquid (Warming Berry flavor) and LiquiCap® forms. The best thing about it is that it’s non-habit forming as well as safe and effective when used according to package directions! That was exactly what I was looking for! Truthfully, that is one of the biggest thing I was worried about when I was looking at sleep aids. I didn’t want to be addicted to it. ZzzQuil sounded like a dream come true. So, of course I had to try it.

In less than a week, P&G sent me my very own 6 fl oz sample of ZzzQuil to try out. I totally love the packaging. It’s packaged in a very nice shade of purple (my favorite color!). It also comes with a measuring cup, so it’s really convenient too. I tried ZzzQuil that very same night. I must add that I pleasantly surprised that the Warming Berry flavor tasted really yummy. Certain medications taste so bad, you just dread taking it. It’s not the case with ZzzQuil. It was really tasted good! I headed to bed soon after taking it and I feel asleep without any problems. The best part was, I stayed asleep until the very next morning. Eight and a half hours of deep restful sleep! I woke up the next day all refreshed and charged up. I wasn’t tired or groggy from the medication. In fact, it was quite the opposite. I felt great! I must say that I was glad that I decided to try ZzzQuil out! You guys shouldn’t just take my word for it. You should try it out too. Go ahead, test out ZzzQuil and tweet about your experience using the hashtag #ZzzQuilNight. Also, you should head over to Facebook and ‘like’ ZzzQuil to get all the latest information about it. I did, you should too!

Visit Sponsor's Site

Argyle Restaurant - Kearny, NJ

Each time we visit our doctor's office, we would park in front of Argyle Restaurant or Piper Cove (his office is located directly across the street), where are there always ample metered parking spots. From the signs outside the restaurant, we sort of figured out that it was a Scottish restaurant. After some research online, I found out that Argyle Restaurant and Piper Cove is actually under the same management. Pipers Cove is a specialty shop that carries all kinds of Irish and Scottish products, from candies to highland regalia, kilts and bagpipes! Each time we passed by, we would say that we need to check it out someday, but we never got around to doing so.
I was looking at some Living Social deals there other day (yes, I do that religiously every morning! :P) and saw a deal for Argyle Restaurant. Only $15 for $30 worth of food. I had some left over Living Social credit, so we ended up paying only $5 for $30 worth of food. A very good deal indeed! After reading some reviews on Argyle Restaurant, I found out that it was featured in the NJ Monthly magazine not too long ago and many claim that they serve the best and highest quality Scottish fish and chips in the whole of NJ! Wow, so yeah, we were really excited to check it out.
We decided to go for an early dinner and the the dining room was practically empty. Just us and two other tables. I guess it's a lunch and late dinner place, who knows. The decor of the place was nothing to shout about, just basic furniture and they had Scottish themed photos lining the walls. However, there was a certain charm to the place. Since it was a Scottish place, Kevin thought that he would try the Shepard's Pie ($14.95). Kevin is a huge fan Shepard's Pie, so he was quite eager to try it. I didn't get a chance taste the Shepard's Pie but Kevin said that he totally loved it! He said that it was really flavorful and yummy. From his almost licked clean plate at the end of the meal, I am guessing it must be really good!
Now, the piece de resistance, my Scottish Surf and Turf ($16.95)! A large portion of Fish and Chips, Coleslaw and a Meat Pie. Firstly, let me start with what I didn't like. The coleslaw wasn't really my favorite, it had a weird taste to it. I let Kevin try a little and he agrees with me. There is just something not right about it. Now that the coleslaw is out of the way, I must say that the rest of the meal rocked my socks off! The fish and chips was really one of the best fish and chips I have ever tasted. The batter was light and really good. Add in a little vinegar, and you will be in fish and chips heaven! For an additional $1, you could get curry on your chips. Trust me, that would be a dollar well spent. The mild curry goes so well with the freshly made chips, mmm mmmmmmmm goood! The meat pie was really yummy too. It's crust was flaky and the meat filling was really delicious. I ate that with some HP sauce and boy oh boy, it was good!!

Overall, we had an awesome meal. I have never been to Scotland before (so that I could compare) but I think we had some really authentic Scottish food that day. It doesn't really matter even if it wasn't authentic, because it was really yummy! The fish and chips was seriously one of the best fish and chips I have ever tried. No wonder so many people swears that Argyle serves the best fish and chips in the whole of New Jersey. I wouldn't go that far (since I haven't tasted all the fish and chips in NJ), but I can say that yes, the fish and chips there is mighty awesome!


Argyle Restaurant
212 Kearny Avenue,
Kearny, NJ 07032
Tel: 201-991-3900
Web: http://argylerestaurant.com/index.html