Julienned my carrot for cha soba stir-fry

Opened my fridge door and saw my stash of spices staring at me. Tasted a sprinkle of ground cumin and paprika each... and I decided to try a paprika-flavoured baked tau kwa. Marinated the tau kwa cubes with my self-devised recipe, for baking it in the oven tomorrow.

小雨 didn't cry nor whine when she came out from the classroom with her Chinese teacher, dragging her big bag along with her. The preschool inculcates the virtue of child independence, which includes bringing your bag into and out of classroom (which means dragging it around as preschoolers do not have the strength to carry their big bags), feeding yourself, returning your used utensils, napping on your own. I have to say I was pretty impressed by the bunch of independent, well-behaved preschoolers when I was with 小雨 on her first day in school. They fed themselves well (you do see scraps of food around their faces, tables and chairs but generally most food got into their tummies), went straight to their spring beds after shower and zz for hours on their own, undisturbed by 小雨's cries.

To julienne is to cut something e.g. a vegetable into thin strips or small matchlike pieces. Ok, I need to julienne half a medium-sized carrot. I have always cut my carrots into rounds, then the rounds into halves or quarters... so how to julienne?

Google queen watched several videos on how to julienne carrots and said to herself: I need to get a bigger and better knife. The two knives I own have served me long but are a little too small. I julienned my carrot anyway.

Julienned carrots

Velveting chicken

And here's my velveted chicken strips ready for dinner tomorrow - asparagus & chicken cha soba stir-fry. Bought this Hakubaku organic pack from Cold Storage. It's also available at Fairprice Xtra.

Hakubaku organic cha soba

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