coffeedreames

Bak Chang!

2009-06-14T21:20:00.012+08:00

YES! And that ladies and gentleman, is the bak chang that I MADE! haha, i am so glad i accomplished this mission of mine to learn how to make bak chang this year. YAY!

Well, to be frank, I didnt fully make it myself la. We went to seek the wisdom of this wise auntie. Yep, LL's aunt is ever willing to impart her knowledge to youngins. We must not let this tradition die!

Anyway, this bak chang version is on the healthy side - less salt, less oil but chockful of liao!

So here we are the ingredients.

- Pork (must get those layered with fat, marinate with salt, pepper, 5 spice chinese powder, light and dark soy sauce),

- Dried oysters (soaked),

- Chestnuts (boil till soft and peel off the skin),

- Mushrooms (Soaked and then braised with salt and pepper),

- Salted egg yolk.

- Pulut rice (washed, soaked for a bit then drained),

First work on the rice. Heat up oil, sautee shallots and garlic till fragrant. Add rice and stir fry. Add salt, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. Adjust the seasoning to desired amount. Some ppl like it darker so just add more dark soy sauce. Put aside.

Next comes the pork. Heat up some oil, fry up some garlic slices and some minced garlic. When its fragrant, add the pork and cook it till its half done. Put aside.

Here comes the more complicated part. Bamboo leaves. Blanch them first then wipe clean. Select 2 and arrange them at opposite directions. They don't have to be directly overlapping each other, you can adjust to have them arranged like above so you have more width and length to work with.

Next, fold like so.

To make a cone shape. Make sure you get this part right and there's no hold at the bottom fold or the contents will spill out during the cooking process.

Put a tablespoon of rice.

Fill it in with the yummy ingredients, - mushrooms, pork, chestnut, dried oyster, egg yolk and maybe one more slice of that yummy pork.

Top up with more rice, make sure it covers up the ingredients. Press it down well to make sure its all compacted.

Here comes the tough part. Hold the cone properly and shape it like so

Flip it over while still holding the sides firmly. Fold up the sides of the leaves then twist it like below.

Hmm i think my pics arent too clear. Sorry!

Then tie it up firmly with the strings. (I think those strings are bamboo fibres)

There's our bounty. Before boiling them, check thru to ensure they are all firmly tied and trim the hard stems off the leaves and also for a neater look la.

Boil them in a deep pot for about 1.5 hours. This depends on the size of your chang. The larger ones should take about 2 hours.

Voila! Delicious, mouthwatering Bak Chang... I love the creaminess of the chestnut, the salty egg yold and melt in your mouth pork. Of course not forgetting the sticky rice that has soaked in all the flavours of the ingredients.

Enjoy! I know I did :)

Spot the difference!

2009-05-25T20:04:00.004+08:00

Random Thoughts

2009-04-27T09:53:00.004+08:00

I must read more and eat less
I must read more and watch less TV
I must exercise more
I must drink more milk
I must learn to cook more dishes

On a positive note, i finally got those curtains down and gave them a good wash. That's 3 years of accumulated dust.

Weekend Makan

2009-04-19T23:13:00.008+08:00

Kin Kin Restaurant at Cheras

Famous for its chilli pan mee.
The main restaurant is located at Chow Kit, KL area. We went to the son's restaurant at Cheras. Almost as good but somehow i think you need the shouting, yelling and fighting with the crowd for tables to make the whole eating experience more satisfying. However at Cheras, there are 2 shop lots so there's more space, plus there's air conditioning! The heat has been unbearable lately so Cheras seemed the logical place to go.

This is one of my makan buddies. The minute our food arrives, we both hover over it like vultures with cameras. And while we're clicking away, the food gets cold. sigh.

Look at that perfectly poached egg! Yummers. The moment you get it, break it quickly and let the yolk run and coat the noodles and minced meat.. oohhh absolutely heavenly!!

Add in the secret ingredient. Fried pounded dried chillies with chilli oil. Spoon all this good stuff into your bowl and mix somemore.

Each serving comes with a bowl of hot, clear soup with daun cekur manis.

oh, and lets not forget this bowl of delicious, springy pork balls. yep all 35 of them. haha no, i didn't gorge em all up. shared among 11 of us. mmm

HOoray! I've quite fulfilled my cravings after 2.5 weeks in Europe having cold sandwiches.

Intruders in my home!

2009-04-09T23:10:00.003+08:00

the other day, hubs and i had a very nice lunch at our usual hainanese chicken rice shop.

we came back to expect to dump ourselves in front of our TV and just laze about. I opened the door and lo and behold. i just stood there speechless, looking at our kitchen counter and going uhhh uhhhh.....

then hubs being the hero starting yelling SHOO! SHOO! Boo! (wat a ruckus)

not 1 but TWO monkeys were in my kitcheeeeeennnn!!! BWAAAAAAAA

one was brown and the other white. good grief! the brown fellow was actually analysing my LOCK LOCK containers of dried fruits and nuts.. using his fingers and running thru the containers like he was actually studying which to take! arrggghh and I can remember his horrible tail all curled upwards arrggghhh on my kitchen counter!!!

they jumped off into the open window with a packet of my brown rice. Ed then started being the hero again and jumped there to continue his booing ruckus. At this point I was actually wondering who was the bigger monkey.

Then the WORSE thing was, he started getting ice cubes from the fridge and hurling them at the monkeys.

-_-

I think he got a pretty good kick out of it coz he went HAHA! and all excited and took more ice cubes to throw. The monkey had the cheek to just sit on the fence, eating his nice packet of brown rice and just stare at the bigger monkey throwing ice cubes.

-_-

so there, that's my latest update. gotta clean up my kitchen from all those 'hand' prints

can't leave my windows open anymore :(

AH SOON

2009-02-08T17:22:00.001+08:00

Great name for a restaurant eh? Ah Soon. I have a cousin called Ah Soon too.
This placed was recommended by none other than my food buddy, MY. Go to her if you wanna know some of the best places to fill your tum.

Not too far from where we stay, basically if I remember it right, just go along MRR2 all the way from Melawati, past Sri Damansara until you come to Desa Aman. Turn into it and somewhere, somehow you'll find it. Sorree!!! I'm terrible with directions. Call MY, or my hubs if you wanna know exactly how to get there. :P

yea yea I'm hopeless

So what's good here? Ta da! Steam fish again heh heh. We like to eat healthy food :) Its not Teo Chew style. Could be Hokkien style. Anyway, the fish is fresh, sweet and the soup is very flavourful. They serve yau char kwai to throw into the soup! What an excellent way to soak up the soup and enjoy. Its like fish kut teh. :P

Next is the wild boar curry. WOO.

The meat was tender and cooked just right. How do they do it? Not at all like any of the tough, dry and tasteless wild boar meat that I've tried. Is that 4-angle beans there? yea I think it is. This post was suppose to be up a month ago.

I was so busy balancing between eating and taking photoz, (trust me its not an easy task) that I forgot to take a photo of one of the dishes. I dunno wat you call this veg but its soft, has a slightly slimy layer on the surface of its leaves yet its crunchy. You can see part of it in the pix above and below. i think its a seasonal veg, recommended by the peeps at the restaurant. You must ask them for their seasonal greens. Apparently they have unique ones here and they're cooked well too.

At the bottom is tau fu with minced meat. Not bad too. Pardon the lack of details and descriptions. But be rest assured this is a good place to go eat. So its worth the drive there.

Biz hours: 11am-6pm so its just open for lunch

Close on Sundays!

Add: No.122, Desa aman, Batu 11, Jln Sg Buloh.

Tel: 6140 3510

What I do when I'm bored

2009-02-04T23:40:00.005+08:00

1. Listen to soundtracks and guess which movies they're from.
Remember Jurassic Park? The music is incredible - I can just about picture those fantastic scenes when we first see the dinosaurs. Wow. I so wanna watch it again.

I can even guess American Beauty's soundtrack - beat that!

2. Look for clothes online.

3. Eat milk and cereal.

4. water plants? nah...

5. Select a book to read from the many piles lying around in my house. They are everywhere! Outside the toilet, on the bed, on the bedside table, on the kitchen table.. Arrgghhh and they are either about politicians or on self development or mind power or age-proofing your brains... Urgh, i need to buy more chic lits. My husband's books are growing more than my stack.

6. Describe my 6-word memoir
" Lost my wedding ring to penguins"
--> Bet no one else can say that.

7. Clean my fridge

8. Plan things to buy to restock my fridge

9. Clean my fridge

10. Budget my grocery shopping

yUMmiliCiOUS !

2009-01-06T22:39:00.006+08:00

Gardenia just launched (or maybe it was some time already but i just discovered it) a new range called Delicia.

This loaf is absolutely HEAVENLY, really Really REALLY GOOD!

You smell it before you see it.

Well, that's how I found it. Pick up a pack and breathe in deeply. Its healthy.

The sweet and buttery smell of butterscotch will make you salivate!

The bread is wonderfully soft with bits of melted butterscotch in it. mmmMMM

Only RM4/loaf

I just discovered this very morning that there's also a choc raisin flavour too! Almost finish half a loaf for brekkie good grief..

So good you can even eat it on its own!

Grab one today!

Hitting the big 3-0

2009-01-02T22:28:00.007+08:00

I've been in denial mode the whole year since I'm a Dec kid. But now Dec has come and gone and I am now unarguably 30.

People say things change when you hit 30.. especially for women. Your body goes into automatic mode to grow more white hair, in more obvious spots, have more allergies, put on more weight in more obvious spots, turn drier, more wrinkly, crinkly - oh no more smooth, supple skin despite all the cosmetics you sweep off the counter.

Man.

But then, I've got a great life partner (who is now busy packing for his 8am paintball session tomorrow), wonderful family, a cosy home of my own, a crazee bunch of friends and a job i enjoy (70% of the time and that should be good right?).

Lots to be thankful for :)

And places to go eat and blog about. Heh.

Have you been to Neroteca? Its an Italian restaurant tucked in Lorong Ceylon, KL. This is my 2nd time here and they serve delicious pastas. Affordably priced too, except for their specialities like roast suckling pig. Go for that only if you're willing to splurge :)

Sorry my pics arent that good, its got a pretty dark ambience.

-_-

Ok TIME OUT. My ridiculous husband is testing out his paintball gear at 12am. Knee guards, chiplak army pants and his 2nd hand face mask that makes him look like Darth Vader. Good GRIEF.

Sigh.

This is the appetizer I ordered. Prosciutto e Melone (fresh parma ham and melon) RM 34. Absolutely delicious. Love the saltiness and hammie taste of prosciutto with the cold, sweet and refreshing melons.

For mains, I had Parmigianna eggplant with ham and smoked cheese RM22. This was ok. Perhaps because I wasnt very hungry and there was a wee bit too much of mozarella and too little eggplant. A little overpowering for me tastebuds.

Hubs ordered Tagliatelle Funghi e Prosciutto, ham and mushrooms RM22. Large portion and VERY GOOD. Love the cream base and mushrooms. Tops for me!

So far from my 1st and 2nd visits, their pastas with ham were very good. Try those if you love the taste of porky ham.

To wash it all down, we had a refreshing scoop of strawberry gelato. It was smooth with bits of berries, love the natural strawberry taste. RM6/scoop.

I'll definitely dine in this place again whenever I have the craving for a really good bowl of comforting, creamy pasta.

Important note: Make bookings in advance to avoid disappointments especially for dinner on weekends. Seats are limited.

Hello 2009!!

2009-01-01T15:24:00.008+08:00

It has been AGES since i last posted!! Its been a crazy few months, busy with work, church activities, having fun hahah! All in all, 2008 was a great year. I dont think I had like life changing moments but it was rather made up of a lot of small, fun, great moments all mixed up together.

Let's see... i had my first go at Karaoke! phhooeeett! And then I went again! Never thought I'd enjoy karaoke but if you're with a crazee crowd, its really fun!

I didnt travel much this year as compared to previous years, gotta cut down on all these luxuries. Yessirree. Sigh, there goes my big plans for a holiday in New Zealand.. maybe in 2 years time.. hopefully.

I didnt cook as much as I wanted to. Hmm the cooking bug seems to have left me. Sigh. I better get my cooking buddy MY and plan wat we intend to try out for year 2009 or else I will just get plain lazy.

I made a lot of good frens this year. You learn a lot from different people. And they really make you grow as a person.

I learnt how to make mooncakes!!

Anyhoo, the whole reason for this post was actually to blog about my latest recipe. MY and I couldnt resist making this classy dessert/starter (don't know which) for a fren's christmas do.

Our very own Christmas Cheese Log!!

Bring it to any potluck and you'll receive plenty of praises, plus its super easy to make!

Lookit all those yummy nuts...mm Hmmm!

What you'll need is just - 1 block of Philadephia cream cheese, any nuts and dried fruits of your choice. We used dried pineapples (they are delish! you absolutely MUST try them), pistachios and dried apricots. Another version was with almond flakes sans the pistachios. The first definitely tasted better because of the pistachios but the latter was not bad too. You can try with walnuts, or more luxurious nuts like macadamia, brazil nuts .... i love NUTS!

So, just leave the cream cheese out to soften a bit. Chop up all the dried fruits. Toast the nuts for a wee bit in the oven then chop them up too. Mixed the dried fruits into the cream cheese and stir them up. Plonk the cream cheese onto a piece of aluminium foil and start sprinkling the chopped nuts all over. Use the foil to roll the cream cheese into the shape of a log. Press in all the nuts, sprinkle more and repeat till your log is bursting with those nuts.

The pistachios really make the logs look beautiful with their shades of beige, brown and green.

Serve with some crackers and enjoy the praises!

Hainanese Chicky Rice, Tmn Melawati

2008-11-01T15:38:00.011+08:00

Above portion is slightly more than 1/2 a chicken, RM18

Lookit that chicken, so beautifully roasted, the flesh is tender, juicy and dripping with flavour. The skin is super 'hiong' and all the fat has melted off from it so you don't have the gross fatty bits. Served with a light sauce and cucumber slices, this dish is just perfect!

The 'yellow rice' as we call it, is cooked with the drippings from the roasted chicken. You can imagine how delicious and fragrant it is. Doesnt the rice look so nice and fluffy too? I love pics that are able to show the details well :)

This shop also serves various side dishes like taugeh, tauhu and green veg.

Good food that's affordably priced with friendly service every time! My parents love the food here too, mum says it serves one of the best roast chicken she's ever tasted!

Located at the food square in Taman Melawati town centre. Opens everyday except Thursday. The chicky runs out fast, problie till 2.30 to 3pm only so head there early for your lunch!

For more reviews and detailed directions:
Heart2 Heart
Past, Present, Future

Soba Buckwheat Noodles

2008-10-19T21:05:00.007+08:00

I love the earthy colour of soba. Made from buckwheat flour, its a healthy alternative to normal noodles. Contrary to its name, buckwheat is not related to wheat! According to Wikipedia, the name buckwheat or beechwheat comes from its triangular seeds which resemble the seeds of the beech nut and the fact that it is used very much like wheat.

I roughly know buckwheat has plenty of healthy benefits. A quick research proved this. Several interesting links The World's Healthiest Foods, BBC News.

I couldnt resist buying a pack of organic soba made from buckwheat when I was at Cold Storage. It looked sooo healthy, and I felt immediately healthier after buying it. Ha.

I've eaten cold soba and soba in hot soups at japanese restaurants but havent tried it dry. So I'm breaking the rules (or so I think la). Anyhoo, I threw together a simple dish and was plenty pleased with the results. Must be some inner talent. Finally!

Shredded some carrots finely, chopped up some garlic and sliced up some leek, celery and some cabbage into thin strips. Everything cut and ready, I cooked the soba first according to instructions. Lo and behold that was when I realised hey! this is from China!! Good grief, anyway it isnt white in colour so it shouldnt need to have melamime. But my mind started to imagine stuff and the noodles started to look like strips of cardboard or wood shavings pressed together. HEEELLPP!

oh what the heck. My stomach is growling and I already cut up everything. If its cardboard or wood, it should be pretty neutral to my system so let's continue.

Saute the garlic then add in the leek and celery. Cook till fragrant and slightly soft. Add the carrots and cabbage. Cover and let it cook for a bit. Onwards to the soba, cook it just like pasta, in salted boiling water for about 5-8 mins or until soft. Drain, rinse in cold water then put it into the wok with the veggies and mix em up well.

Add salt to taste and some organic mushroom powder if you have some. Tadah! I love the texture and the taste of the buckwheat soba. Really, you don't need to load it with too many ingredients, just simple veggies to subtly enhance its already distinctive taste.

Go over to Simply Recipes or 101 Cookbooks for more simple recipes on buckwheat soba noodles. Enjoy!

Bellaroma Cafe, Damansara Perdana

2008-10-19T17:03:00.009+08:00

Another Saturday, and the hunt for good food is on! I've been having cravings for good Italian food for too long.

Throughout weekdays, I mentally make plans to cook during the weekend. Must eat healthy. Must not spend on extravagant food outside. Must explore more recipes.

Sat morning - off to the market, buying all sorts of stuff that (I think) I need.

Sat afternoon - sleepy... need rest.

Sat evening - Hey! let's go out and call so and so!

I dont know how Hubs bears with me. I know I would strangle myself.

Anyhoo, so yea, I didnt cook and we ended up in Bellaroma. Check out their website. Menu and prices are listed.

As neither of us dined here before, we decided to order Chef recommendations. First up. Appetizers.
Italian Crostini with spinach and ricotta. Topped with Parmesan. Pretty good. But I can never get over how much we have to pay for just 4 mini slices of bread. Not at Bellaroma in particular but in almost all Italian restaurants.

Next, the Mediterranean pizza. Roasted capsicums, olives and feta cheese. Tasty and I love their pizza dough! (sorry for the dark pictures, lighting wasnt good and the only functions I know are whether to have the flash on or off :P)

We also had the Lamb Pizza which came with generous, succulent pieces of lamb, all nice and juicy with crumblings of feta cheese. I would have preferred more rosemary though to cut through the general saltiness of the toppings.

The mushroom and blue cheese pizza was also delicious.

Yes and yet another pizza we tried was the Mafia. This was also savoury and delicious. Beef sausage, olives, onions and quail eggs. How can that combination not make your mouth water?

I think what I like best in Bellaroma is the refreshing combination of ingredients used as pizza toppings. They are like a breath of fresh air and everything just reads off deliciously from the menu. You picture it in your mind while ordering and wait for it patiently. They don't disappoint.

The pizzas stole the limelight, the pastas dimmed in comparison. They were ok but I think pretty standard. We badly wanted to try the pot roasted let of lamb pasta unfortunately it sold out.

Hop over there for good pizzas at affordable prices.

Corn & Wintermelon Soup

2008-10-13T20:49:00.003+08:00

I've been cooking almost everyday last week. MY and I were on a 'diet feast!' Talk about oxymorons...

I'll post the whole diet programme one day when we go thru it again coz Hubs took the camera while he was away so I couldnt snap any pics of all my lovely meals :( Boo.

The diet programme allows us to have limitless amounts of vegetable soup to help us through. So we cracked our brains to come up with different types of soups so we wouldnt get bored. Plus its best to work with different vegetables so we don't miss out on a balanced meal.

The soups were the hilight of our grey gloomy days - Nothing beats slurping a hearty, hot bowl of soup when the main meals of the day were just cold fruits or banana & milk.. Man, after this diet, you'll realise how much we rely on food to keep us happy.

Anyway, 2 keeper soups from our brainstorming.

1. Corn & Wintermelon Soup. (I'll post the next one soon)

Beautiful isnt it?
Aren't soups just the best? basically you don't really need to measure your ingredients. So for lazy people, this is great! You can just about dump anything in. You can't go wrong as long as you have the basic ingredients - tomatoes, carrots, onions. Yesiree.

So anyway, this is what I put into this soup- Carrots, tomatoes, onions, garlic, corn, wintermelon, red dates AND my secret mushroom powder and some onion salt. heh heh not so secret anymore. (you can get mushroom powder from organic shops). Of course, don't forget to season with the usual normal salt and pepper.

Boil boil boil

I've never cooked with wintermelon before this. Some people say to remove the skin, some people say not too. So anyway, because I dont trust the growers and didnt want to clog up my body with pesticides, I removed the skin. Of course remove the seeds to la.

I like to chop up my ingredients into big irregular chunks. Makes the soup look more homecooked and there's more 'solids' to bite into.

What's your favourite soup? :) Do share!

Mooncakes!

2008-09-20T08:55:00.015+08:00

"Once you've tried HOMEMADE mooncakes, you'll never be able to swallow another commercially made one".

My friend MY went on about this every 5 minutes or so and I'll say, I've never known anyone so passionate about homemade mooncakes.. ever.. no siree.

So that's when we started to plan our mooncake making party. 8 gals with a do or die mission. (plus poor hubs as by default he had to be in, the party was at my place)

Mooncakes - the ultimate killer diet formula - its all about oil, carbo and sugar

Mooncake moulds. I like squishing the cake out from these moulds and seeing the pretty designs on em.

Masterchefs plus an inquisitive sous chef.

That's us in the beginning. At this point, everyone was still enthusiastic and full of hope - har har

That's the chocolate mooncake skin dough. I'll just post the recipe for the normal Lotus skin.

Mooncake skin:
1 cup golden syrup
1/3 cup oil
3/4 tsp alkaline water
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
350g cake flour

- Combine the first 4 items in a mixing bowl. Set aside for 1 hour or more.
- Slowly stir in the flour, mix into a dough and set aside for another 4-5 hours. Leaving it overnight would be good too as the dough would be more 'flexible' and easier to work with.
Note: the last part of mixing in the flour is pretty tough. Get a sturdy wooden spoon and a guy with muscles

Now for the lotus paste filling
Mooncake filling:
600g lotus seeds
1/2 tbsp alkaline water
400-425g castor sugar (use less if you feel guilty)
2 cups groundnut oil (use Knife brand)
60g maltose
60g melon seeds (lightly toasted)
A LOT OF PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE (i'm serious here)

- Boil lotus seeds in water with the alkaline water. Test to see if skins can be removed easily. This should take about roughly 20 mins. Wash and remove the skins immediately.
Note: This part is really tedious. Ensure you have a good supply of friends who have no idea what you're gettin 'em into

Happy innocent folks. So unaware of the tortorous hours ahead

Peel peel peel until your skin gets all wrinkly like a prune.

Note: If you don't peel em well, the blackish skin parts will make your paste look hideous and taste bitter. So PEEL!

- Steam the lous seeds till soft
- Cool and blend them up until they become a smooth, thick liquid. Add a little bit of water if necessary but don't add too much.
- In a cooking pot, put 1 cup of oil and half of the sugar needed. Cook the sugar till golden brown then add the blended lotus. Continue cooking at moderate heat. When all the oil has been soaked up, slowly add in the remaining oil and sugar. Add in the maltose.
Note: You have to keep stirring thoughout the entire cooking process or the paste may burn. I couldnt even stir for more than several minutes coz the paste was so darn heavy!

- When the paste is thick and no longer sticks to the pan (like above) its almost ready. Test with a knife. Cut the paste and if it doesnt stick to the knife then its done.
Note: Be alert at this point. Overcooking it would spoil the whole thing as the oil would then start to come out. We learnt this the hard way - some of our batches didnt turn out due to overcooking.
- Remove and cool. If possible, leaving it to cool overnight would be best.

Add salted eggs yolk if you like em. Wow, don't they look like some sort of alien eggs? Steam em first.

Ok here's the done paste, with the lightly toasted melon seeds

Now start making the cake!

- Divide the mooncake skin dough into 40g balls and the lotus filling paste into 120g (if u intend to add the egg yolks) or 150g (without the egg yolks)

- You see the skin in the background? Roll it out thinly. In the front is the lotus paste filling. Flatten it slightly and put the egg yolk in the middle.

- Roll the lotus paste into a ball then wrap the skin around it. Do it carefully to avoid tearing. Try to get the skin around as evenly as possible.

- Next, grease the mooncake mould well. Press the mooncake ball into the mould carefully. even out the surface.

- Press it out and

Voila! Mooncakes! Beautiful ya? Almost fit to be sold.

If you have extra mooncake skin, knock yourself out by making weird creatures only you know what they are. I'm guessing the above is a cross between a pig and a mouse. S what is it?

Anyway, bake the mooncakes in the oven at 180 deg C. for 10 mins. Take out and glaze them with egg glaze

Egg glaze = 1 egg yolk,1 tbsp water and a pinch of salt.

Leave to cool for 10 mins and then pop them back into the oven to bake for another 10 mins.

And there you have it! HOMEMADE Mooncakes and a lost pig/mouse with a birthmark

Siamese Style Fried Bi Hun

2008-09-01T14:42:00.010+08:00

Hello hello all! Sorry i've not been blogging for more than a month! Not that I havent been cooking but time just really flies and every morning when i wake up, its a blur till the time i get back from work.

Thank god for the long merdeka weekend, though I have to keep reminding myself that yesterday was Merdeka day. Celebrations this year are significantly watered down. I used to see plenty of cars flying the Malaysian flag proudly. Some would even madly clutter the top of their cars with mini flags or wrap their bonnet with the Jalur Gemilang. This year.. hmm. Its sad but then again, I don't feel very happy with the state of things in our country.

BUT I almost shed tears of joy with the results of the recent by-election. Ha! These coming 2 weeks should be reaaallllyy interesting eh?

So! today I have something really exciting to blog about! Woo hoo. A couple of us went over to one of my cell member's house for a cooking lesson! Not by her, she only knows how to eat (haha sorry LL) but from her gracious aunt!

Mum and dad, try this!

Siamese Style Fried Bihun (rice vermicelli)

(A)
Tauchu
Apple cider vinegar
Sugar
Water

(B)
Heh Bi (dried prawns) smashed and pounded
Shallots (sliced)
Garlic (finely chopped)

(C)

Shallots (thinly sliced)
Garlic (finely chopped)

Taukua (deep fried first and sliced into small pieces)

Bihun (Soaked but not for too long to avoid the bihun getting too soft. LL's aunt recommended the Golden Dragon brand )
Soy sauce

Garnishing:
Fried Shallots
Ku Chai
Dried red chilli flakes (LL's aunt actually made her own - washed, dried em for 3 days then pounded them)

First, mix items (A) and heat them up. Set aside. This is light sauce/seasoning to pour over the bihun when its done.

LL's aunt giving us lotsa tips

Now, heat up some oil and saute items in (B) till fragrant. Break up the Heh Bi into smaller bits. .

Next, its items (C). Saute them up till fragrant. Add the taukua last. Set aside.

Now use remaining oil in pan or add more if you need to. Splash in a generous amount of soy sauce and a dash of pepper. Add the bihun and mix it well. Use a chopstick to detangle the bihun without breaking them. Stir in the taukua.

Serve with lots of the sauce/seasoning you made in (A), sprinkles of the Heh Bi and the rest of the garnishing

Ta-dah!

Corn Casserole

2008-07-27T10:02:00.006+08:00

wow, would you look at that! Jagung Mutiara or Pearl Corn. You can eat it raw or steam it over a pot of boiling water and slather it with butter. Absolutely the best corn I've ever eaten - sweet, crunchy and juicy. Its so dense that I couldnt even finish one! We got it from our recent trip to Cameron.

You can even make a casserole out of it but this is definitely not for the faint hearted. Since I had some leftover whipping cream, and I remember reading a recipe from Pioneer Woman on corn... so here goes!

First, slice the kernels off the corn. Now this is a messy and potentially dangerous process for the clumsy ppl. Be careful! I did a pretty lazy job here. Didnt get a clean finish, created such a wasteful mess that I quickly hid it away before Hubs got the chance to ramble on about how many ppl out there are starving. Ok ok i know but my arms are really aching. Anyway, Elise recently came up with some good tips on this. Read it here.

So ok, once you've got all the kernels out, or whatever you can manage, pour in some whipping cream (not too much, you want it to be creamy, not watery), a dash of salt and pepper and of course some butter.

Put the whole thing into the oven and bake for 20-25 mins. And there you have it!

Enjoy!

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2008-07-16T08:23:00.000+08:00

Squeezing in a quick post here. Must share this recipe with you guys. Its sooo easy and the results are fantastic!

Cherry tomatoes eaten fresh are great - juicy, sweet but I would say 'mild'. To really appreciate its potential, you gotta let it go thru some fire! (heat lah) haha.

Cut the tomatoes into half, sprinkle some salt and toss it around. Leave for about 15 mins then drain the excess liquids. Now put them into a roasting pan, sprinkle on some olive oil and roast it at 180deg for about 20 mins or more, until the juices have sort of dried up.

Wow. The flavour is deep, intense and sooo good. Trust me. Serve on top some toasty French bread or just eat it on its own.

Tummy Filling Cream of Broccoli Soup

2008-07-14T08:18:00.000+08:00

I know some of you may cringe and go eww broccoli soup? I had that with some guys who went ewww .... pumpkin soup? Pumpkin soup was one of the very first recipes I ever tried and got hooked on cooking!

Now, broccoli soup. I like it coz its completely different from pumpkin soup. Its a light green colour. Pumpkin soup is a bright orange colour. So there. I have different coloured soups to blog about.

AND its so much easier.

Chop up shallots and sautee them with oil or butter until they turn translucent. Add in broccoli together with chicken stock. Simmer till the broccoli turns a bright green (don't overcook them!). Save some broccoli florets for garnishing.

Transfer the whole lot into a blender and puree to however fine you want the broccoli bits to be. Pour back into the pot, add whipping cream and lemon juice. Simmer, season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Lamb Chops with Herbs

2008-07-06T21:29:00.005+08:00

I saw a whole lot of chilled Australian lamb on promotion and grabbed them off the freezer. I have yet to try my hand at cooking lamb. Hooray! Something new.

I made a simple marinade of dry mixed herbs, added extra dried thyme, then salt, pepper and olive oil. Massage well into the meat and leave in the fridge overnight. To cook, heat up pan with some oil. Cook lamb on one side for about 6-8 mins (depending on thickness of cut) .When its lightly browned, turn to the other side and cook several minutes.

The fat was the best part - all the flavour from the marinade is here and it has a delicious melt in mouth texture.

For more info and tips on cooking lamb, try out these sites

Great Midwest Lamb Company

Lamb cooking guidelines

Pasta Tossed with Asparagus, Cheese and Olive Oil

2008-06-25T08:45:00.008+08:00

This was a winner with me and hubs. I bought a bunch of really beautiful asparagus at Cameron Highlands. Vegetables are so fresh and cheap there! Went thru a few recipes on ways to cook the asparagus and this caught my eye.

Asparagus goes well with lemon, olive oil and parmesan cheese. Actually the recipe I was looking at was to make a simple side dish but I added pasta as a more substantial meal for our dinner.

Clean and cut the asparagus into 1 1/2 inch sections. (remember to remove the tough lower ends). Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the aspragus and reduce heat. Cook for 2 mins and drain. Make sure you do not overboil as you want the asparagus to be crunchy, not mushy.

While the asparagus is still hot, quickly toss it with some lemon zest, olive oil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (I never use pre-grated parmesan sold in packs as I find they lack the strength and flavour of freshly grated block cheese). Season with salt and pepper.

mmmMmm I never knew asparagus would go so well with lemon!

For the uninformed (like me) I never knew lemon zest was actually the grated yellow outer skin of a lemon. I always thought i could buy it like any McCormick's bottle of herbs. Haha no wonder I never could find it. Have fun with it, the oils in the lemon skin are so much more powerful and aromatic that the juice. And take care not to grate the inner white membrane as that part is bitter.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

2008-06-21T23:15:00.002+08:00

Combine fresh, juicy strawberries from Cameron Highlands with a huge craving for chocolate cake and what do you get?

Baking choc, cocoa powder? Check.

Flour, sugar? Check

Patience and determination? Check

Now its time to get the crusty oven working. Sometimes, only home baked cakes will satisfy my sweet tooth. :)

As usual, Simply Recipes is my go to website. For the chocolate cake recipe I used, please click here. I made only half of the recipe. It came out good - very moist, rich and dense. (I used Van Houten baking chocolate instead of cocoa for the frosting)

For the strawberry topping, cut strawberries to about 2mm thick slices. Add a little sugar (depends on how sweet/sour your strawberries are) and mix it well. Set aside to macerate for about 20 mins. Macerating is the process of softening the strawberries and in here, it will also sweeten any rebelliously sour strawberries.

Once you've frosted your cake, spread the strawberries on top as you like. I went for free style haha, just dump as much as possible on the cake.

I also chose a loaf tin rather than the 9" round tin recommended because I always feel loaf shaped cakes have a very 'homebaked' look about them, don't you? And the free style arrangement of strawberries are more honest looking ( read: unprofessional :P) .

Anyway, I loved the cake very much! Yum Yum. And it was ages before I could take a bite as getting a good pix was tougher than I thought. My camera has a problem adjusting to the bright red colour of the strawberries...

Cameron Highlands

2008-06-17T22:22:00.022+08:00

What a trip! There are things to gripe about and there are things which made the visit worthwhile (mostly food). Let's be positive and talk about the good stuff first. But some negative stuff may creep in between. Prepare for a lenthy post, I'm off work tomorrow, its raining now and I have a cup of coffee right beside me (sue me, its instant coffee).

Of course every trip along the North South highway needs a pit stop at Bidor. I thought I blogged about Pun Chun Restaurant before in my trip to Pangkor Laut last year but apparently not. I think everyone knows what this place is famous for - Yam puff (Wu Kok), wan tan noodles and the variety of biscuits and pastries sold. This time, I tried the herbal duck noodles and Hubs had the pork rib noodles. The herbal duck soup was absolutely delicious but the duck meat was pretty dry. Hubs pork ribs were dry and tough too. However, the noodles were as good as always - springy! Not cheap, almost Kay El prices in this small town...

Yam puff RM1.50 each

Herbal duck mee RM6.40

Pork ribs noodles RM6.20

Moving on, we stopped by the Cameron Bharat Tea Plantation. There's a tea house here too but prices are higher than they should be so we didnt grab anything here except a few good shots of the tea plantation - beautiful view :)

Combed hills of the Bharat Tea Plantation

Arriving at Century Pines Resort, urgh, sorry but I was quite put off from first sight. It had horrible exterior colour scheme, the lobby was one of those with dark green marble and just had a feel of trying too hard to look grand. Sigh. Check in was also sloppy. We didnt get a non-smoking room as I requested and upon checking, there were apparently no non-smoking rooms in this hotel! Good grief! Are all kids, grannies and fussy women doomed to the allergy inducing smell of rooms with carpets and furnishing that have absorbed 3-rd hand cigarette smoke? Paying RM215/night, I expected better service and quality. Hmph. Woe to all the families driving up to the hotel.

Not one to let anything put a damper on my holiday, I went tramping into the town. Everything was not what I remember. The old gas station has turned into a taxi station with paint peeling all over the place, becoming everything of an eyesore. So much development has taken place. A large bus station loomed over shophouses just across the narrow road. And what's this? The weather was hot in the afternoon! I came here for cool weather!

Boo. Anyway, we came here to enjoy nature so off we went for a walk to Robinson Waterfall. (If anything, Century Pines is at a strategic location, walking distance to town as well as to some of the jungle walks.) There are altogether 13 paths - some easy, leisurely walks, others tough, steep and unclear which may require a guide. Robinson is an easy walk. Don't expect impressive views, but seeing as I've been complaining pretty much, let's just say this was a nice excursion from city life :)

Dilapidated signage :(

Robinson Waterfall

For dinner, we headed over to Rose Lane. Recommended by my dad and I'd say not bad.

Rose Lane, Tanah Rata (located along the 2 main rows of shophouses in town)

They operate the shop next door called Rosedale too. Set dinners are priced at RM13.90 & RM15.90 inclusive of a soup, main and drink. Not bad again. I had a lamb chop, Hubs had the honey grilled chicken. The buns were warm and really soft, we loved it. Soup of the day was mushroom and this was pretty dilute, you could count the mushroom bits. Its like they added a litre of water to a can of Campbell soup. Anyway, it served to warm our tummies.

Mains were pretty good - tasty and portions were adequate.

Honey grilled chicken

Juicy black pepper lamb chop

The next day, we woke up early to head over to Sg Palas Boh Tea estate. Its located further up from Brinchang (coming from Tanah Rata), past Kea Farm and Equatorial Resort. Look out for the turning to your left, the Boh signboard wasnt prominent.We missed the turning and realised it only when we found ourselves in Tringkap. Anyway, there are great views of the vegetable farms along the road here. Stop by and take some pics. Don't mind the flies zooming past.

Scenic views of vegetable farms

Once you've turned in, the inner road to the Sg. Palas Boh estate is very narrow and winding. Be careful when driving and always honk when you are nearing a blind corner. We had many heart attacks when jeeps zoomed down at corners. However, the view up here is worth it. Breathtaking! And at 2000 meters above sea level, this is the highest road in Peninsular Malaysia! (this beats climbing mount KK. To a certain extent heh)

Green, rolling hills with clear blue skies

Next, we headed to Raaju Strawberry Farm where they serve all things strawberry - strawberry cake, ice-cream, milk shake, float, jam, waffles with strawberries and of course tea and scones with strawberries. I had a strawberry ice-cream.

Strawberry ice-cream - RM6.00

Oh, did I mention we changed accomodation? Yes! We decided to check out of Century Pines and into Bala's Holiday Chalet ! Heh Heh. The grounds are beautiful... a charming English garden where you can read a book and have their famous tea and scones, cosy rooms and cheaper rates! We opted for a Deluxe with sunrise view at RM180/night. Rooms are basic though (no dvd player) and kettle to make hot drinks. Never mind - I love the setting!

Dreamy walkway

Sunlit English garden

Sunrise view from our room

Bala's 'famous' tea & scones. Overpriced at RM18.50. IMO, not worth the money.

Before I get carried away, several things you need to know. Deluxe rooms either face the sunrise/sunset. Those facing sunrise is also facing the main road. So you'll hear the lorries and cars with their roaring engines. Those facing the sunset view are above the English garden. Outsiders can sit here and have their tea so their voices can carry all the way up to your room so.... you can go for the superior rooms which are smaller and cheaper too (RM120) but I don't know what's the catch here.... And they have other suites and family rooms which I think are much nicer and further uphill where its quieter - check them out.

NOW:

A gem we found in Tanah Rata. The T-cafe, located above Marybrowns.

Going up the little staircase, you'll see lots of notes pinned to the notice board. Messages from travellers all over the world adourn it with their praises.

This cosy little cafe was set up in Oct 2001. It has been recommended in the Lonely Planet, as well as NST and many other magazines and blogs. Just google it and you'll find plenty of reviews. You'll love the simple decor and home cooked meals. Here's what Hubs and I had.

Decadent banana chocolate cake RM3.00

Cream scones RM2.50 served with butter, cream and homemade jam.

Now THIS is the BEST scone in Cameron Highlands. Unlike Bala's which claims that, this scone has a rich buttery taste with a crumbly cake-like texture. Bala's was dry and had an odd bread-like texture. T-cafe's goes well with the jam and cream. Wash it down with a cup of Cameron Valley tea and life is certainly blissful.

Apple pie RM3.60

All these deserts are their home specialty. Check out their strawberry cheesecake as well as their new Fruity Scone. Now aren't you glad I'm such a responsible blogger, putting my waistline at risk just to evaluate the food out there for you.

Next, their mains. We had their beef lasagne which was excellent. Not your usual type with minced beef and slatherings of tomato puree but a unique version with slices of beef (you get the real deal), carrots, onions and some green veg. It won't leave you with the stuffed feeling you get from the usual cheese laden lasagnes. This leaves you satisfied without the guilt. Even the garden salad by the side was delicious with a simple vinegar/apple cider dressing.

Beef Lasagne - RM9.90

Cantonese Fried Rice RM4.90

Yummy with lots of liao (hub's description - so articulate). I had a spoonful - delicious and very addictive! Maybe they cook the rice in chicken stock hmmm...

On the way back, we stopped by the Habu Boh Tea estate. Also beautiful. If you're up to it, go up to the viewpoint (its a pretty steep climb). The view there is excellent.

Nong & Jimmy's, Ampang

2008-06-14T23:50:00.002+08:00

I've been to this place several times before I started blogging. My colleagues and I would come here for their special grilled crabs but at RM40/kg (the last time I had it, not sure if prices have gone up) it does make a dent in your wallet.
Always start with this - fried yau char kuai with a plate of kaya to dip in. Yummy but pricey. RM6 for a plate.

Apart from the crabs, some of their other dishes are good too. Check out their ikan bakar - the sauce is flavourful, slightly spicy, flesh is grilled just right with all the juices sealed in.

Kai lan ikan masin

Nong & Jimmy's specialty - fried rice. I think this is the only style they serve. Something very suspicious about it - at first glance, you expect it to be just like any normal fried rice as all you see are just bits of eggs, prawns and veg. UNTIL you get a whiff of that steaming plate of rice, THEN your mouth starts to water and you dig in for dear life. I'm dying to find out what seasoning they use.

p/s: If you are sitting in a table with frens like mine, its literally a war zone. Grab all you can, there's no time to be pai seh (polite).

Oh and then there's lala... Sauce was pretty good.

We also ordered tom yam just to satisfy my hubby's craving. I would say its average, wasnt tangy enough for my liking. No pics here though coz it came out blurred.

Head over to Boolicious here for a review on their steam fish too. Apparently its one of the star items too.

I'm off to Camerons for a long awaited break. I think its been almost 10 years since my last visit good grief. I hope it has not turned into a typical commercialised tourist spot....*crossing my fingers.

Steak Hut at Suzi's Corner, Ampang

2008-06-01T16:05:00.009+08:00

Important: Closed on Tuesdays

Everyone I know who stays around this area is gonna scoff at me.. What??!! Are you nuts? Eat at a tourist spot in Ampang? Cut throat prices lah!

For sure, forking out RM30 for steak in a non-air conditioned, mamak stall seems incredulous. The big question is - have YOU tasted their steaks?

Your mouth is so gonna water up. First, they serve a small lil bun with butter. Someone told me its to get your salivary glands workin so when the steak arrives, it will seem even tastier. Is that true? I guess probly, most things taste extremely good when you're well salivated.

They have 3 choices of gravy - garlic, brown or black pepper. I took the garlic. Delicious. Every bite of this tender juicy morsel is oozing with flavour. I'd say it can even give Angus Steakhouse a run for its money. Fries and veg at the sides to make it a well balanced meal. I always choose healthy meals.

This is my 2nd time here. Many tourists frequent this place. I could hear them singing praises about the steaks across the table. Its amazing the information you can get from eavesdropping. I highly recommend it.

Actually, the reason why Hubs and I decided to give this this place a shot was becoz of his colleagues (from Dallas, Land of Steaks) who actually said the steaks here were really good. Now that coming from them is good enough to warrant a visit.

So, go sink your teeth into one of these big juicy steaks and I rest my case.

Other food sold here: Satay, typical mamak food, other western food like chicken chop etc.
For a more detailed review of the other food sold at Suzi's corner, check out Boolicious here.

Healthy Eating at Taman Segar, Cheras

2008-05-27T08:02:00.006+08:00

I have not been posting lately because:
1. Been busy every weekend for the past 3 weekends cooking for various birthday/Mother's day and pot lucks. Sad to say I still can't bake the Perfect carrot cake yet. My parents and friends liked it a lot but hmmmm.... I've tasted even better ones so I'm still gonna try to bake it again.

2. American Idol mania. I have been watching reruns of the finale, the grand finale and then when David Cook was announced the winner, I started reading up all about him, going thru his journey in american idol from auditions right up to the finale. Phew! I want to post his pics up but Hubs may not appreciate it :( heh heh. (psstt my desktop is a pix of Cook)

Anyway, back to the purpose of this post. Steam food at K.T.L Restaurant at Taman Segar Cheras (nearby Leisure Mall)

Succulent steam fish with ginger, spring onions, red chillies and a very unique tasting soy sauce.
This is what I call healthy eating!

They also have a version of herbal chicken with wine, arrggh what do you call those red stuff erm keji or goji/wolfberries right? Hmm tastewise ok but the chicken was slightly on the tough side. I prefer the version at Jalan Pudu.

We also ordered steamed egg which came out very smooth and steamed veg. All in all, affordable and satisfying. Bill came to about RM10-12 per person.

Call Wilson Lim at 017 872 7567 / 012 308 7311 to book your choice of fish earlier coz more often than not it finishes by as early as 8pm on weekends.

Toast at Kuala Ampang Market

2008-05-19T20:42:00.010+08:00

Here's a typical kopitiam that's worth a visit. We've been having our brekkie here for the past few weekends. I like the uncle here.

Lady: I want a kopi cham

Uncle: No such thing as kopi cham.

Lady: *perplexed*

Uncle: You either want a kopi, a teh or a cham

Me: (okaaaayy i better go thru what i want quick or face the wilting sarcasm of this uncle)

A refreshing tall glass of ice lemon tea with reeaal slices of lemon. Puuurrrfect after a *strenous* morning hike. Heh RM2.30. Guess who's that behind the glass.

And here it is - toasted buns with generous slashings of kaya and cold, frozen slices of butter that melts in your mouth. The friendly uncle uses the 5-star brand of butter. At first, we thought he meant it was a 5-star grade and that it was SCS butter. However, it really was the 5 Star brand. I wonder if its this butter here. I havent seen this brand anywhere in our grocery stores but it tastes really really good.

Hmm the buns look slightly dry here but they arent. I feel so healthy after eating it. Its a good dose of carbs, oil and sugar. You aint gettin any healthier than this.

The steamed version is also available. Soft and cushy like pillows.. The buttah melts fast here so u gotta gobble it down when it arrives. (RM1.60/set)

The soft boiled eggs are also good here but no pix though. (RM0.70/egg). Was too busy eating it and my hands were too messy to take any shots. Its a constant struggle every time I have good food in front of me. :P

Where's your favourite egg & toast place?

Meatball Soup Hokkien style

2008-05-04T21:15:00.006+08:00

This is a dish I learnt from my MIL. Its a tradition for my Hubs side of family to cook this meal every Chinese New Year. Since its so delicious, we have it more often :). Its a fairly simple and satisfying dish and needs just 10 ingredients - minced pork, sengkuang (yam bean), Shitake mushrooms, onions, garlic, cornstarch. Seasonings - salt, pepper, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce.

First:

Soak the mushrooms till soft.

Chop up the sengkuang and onions finely. Mix them with the minced pork. Add some salt, pepper and a lil bit of dark soy sauce. Add some cornstarch to help the meat hold well. Roll them up into balls, pat on some light soy sauce and roll em somemore to get your hands all smelling porky.

Heat up some oil and deep fry them until a nice brown colour. Set aside.

For the soup, boil water, add in mushrooms, garlic and some of the oil used to deep fry the meatballs. Boil it up. Add in the meatballs, bring to a boil and serve.

I've made this 3 times and several tips to share:

- Make the meatballs slightly bigger than how you want them to be. They shrink after deep frying.

- Don't use lean meat and chop em up as your 'minced pork'. You need fat in the meat to make the meatballs nice and juicy.

- Add some ikan bilis to the soup to give it more taste.

- Don't be afraid to be generous with the oil you put into the soup. It gives the much needed flavour.

Enjoy!

Blondies & Plates

2008-04-20T18:11:00.001+08:00

Blondies. Aren't they cool? I think not many Malaysians have heard of blondies as opposed to the darker half aka brownies. Blondies are basically brownies without chocolate. And they taste great.

To me and Hubs that is.

Coz we are both enlightened people and have no fear of a little extra sugar and all things sweet.

In essence, they taste like caramel in the form of a chewy cake. And the taste of dark brown sugar paired with butter is a winning combo - sooo deliciously rich.

I used the recipe from Elise here. Cut down the butter as several commenters said the base came out slightly oily.

I also fancy plates. Colourful, cheery, chic plates. They made my Blondies look better.

Arent they lovely? Got them from a charity bazaar last weekend at Great Eastern mall.

Doing my bit for charity at RM16/ plate.

Dallas & San Antonio, Texas

2008-04-12T08:45:00.005+08:00

I blogged so much about San Francisco last year that I totally forgot to blog about Dallas & San Antonio!

In Dallas, Hubs was hard at work attending meetings and workshops and those things that make you sleep while I was hard at work shopping. I realised I didnt take many photos in Dallas - there really wasn't time. Every day was spent navigating my way through new roads, drilling myself to drive on the right side of the road, going to as many shopping malls as possible and covering every bit of it as much as I could.

It was a serious business of selecting and trying on tons of tops, jeans, jackets, shoes, accessories. I get giddy even just listing them down.

We visited their main hypermarts - Walmart, Krogers and World Market. I loved Krogers! There were so many varieties of everything! Dallas folks must love their frozen instant food, cakes and pastries. Rows and rows of em. Wow.

I ate Krispy Cremes with a burp (ala Homer Simpson style). Thought it was pretty good, soft and tasty with sweet glazing that will bring you one step closer to being a diabetic.

Its true. Everything's bigger in Texas. Food portions are just enormous, and they're half the price and double the portion compared to San Fran. Hubs and I should have done the decent thing and shared a meal but there was only so many days and we had to make the most of every experience. It was the only logical thing to do.

There's so much land that almost all the shopping malls are built with just 1 or 2 levels and sprawl across large areas. There's no such thing as insufficient parking. Houses are big too.

Hubs took a day off and we had a long weekend and made a trip south to San Antonio. All his colleagues said it was THE place to go (to do touristy stuff). We left early in the morning to start the 5 hour road trip. The thing I look forward to during road trips are the stops. Heh. Of course not toilet stopslah, the eating stops :)

i-Hop! HOoray! Spread all across the highways - you can't miss em. Young and old, fat and thin, tall n short, Hubs and me, every creature flocks here for a hearty breakfast.

yum yum..... Award winning, milky, fluffy pancakes with buttah and maple syrup... And coffee with free refills.

I want pancakes now!! Stomp Stomp.

We arrived at San Antonio and checked into our hotel - Hampton Inn. Hubs didn't know quite how to pronounce and called it Ham - Tan Inn (meaning salted egg in Chinese) and keep saying here we are Ham Tan Inn. We've arrived at Ham Tan Inn. Grrrr.

Anyway, let's give some credit to the man who took the shot above. He was really trying to compose some sort of 'artistic' shot and I thought watever it was he was trying to do, it came out pretty good.

First stop - Paseo Del Rio - The famous Riverwalk at San Antonio! (sometimes described as the American Venice)Located below street level, its a beautiful place with shops and restaurants lining the walkways. Just stroll along and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere or hop onto the boat rides for a cruise down the river.

Colourful duckies observing tourists

The next day at downtown San Antonio, we happened to be there when a street bazaar was going on. There were plenty of stalls selling gifts, souvernirs, authentic Mexican food and a live band. (If you can spot on the right of the pix below, this man brought his own portable chair, propped himself under a shady tree and just sat there throughout to enjoy the music.)

Here's my plate of tacos with lots of juicy pieces of beef, spicy chillies and creamy guacamole.

A cowgirl wannabe

One other IMPORTANT thing. If you ever go to US, you gotta try out Marble Slab Ice cream for "The freshest ice-cream on earth" home-made, delicious and oh so creamy! Choose your flavour and the counter girl will scoop it out, slap it down onto a cooled marble slab.She then scrapes and scoops it up, and slaps in onto the slab again several times. i think this technique is to make the ice cream softer and smoother before we eat it. Well, it works and we loved it, loved it, loved it!

We also went to the Alamo - another famous spot at San Antonio but I can't the find the pictures and am in need of sleep now.

Have you ever tasted

2008-04-05T17:59:00.007+08:00

anything so good?

Behold the Siew Yoke (roasted pork).

Will you just look at that? Can you feel your mouth watering up right now?

Who can resist this?

Each piece of succulent pork is cut to just the right size for you to savour every single layer in a bite

the crisp, well roasted skin,

then the glorious melt-in-your mouth fat,

then the juicy, tender layers of meat...

Every mouthful is HEAVENLY. and too much.

You can't eat more than a half dozen pieces. Or you'd be overwhelmed.

Eat this on as rare an occasion as you can possibly. The heart would not take this lightly.

Each portion - one length cut into roughly 8 pieces is RM16 - steep but worth every cent.

Restaurant Wong Kee, Jalan Nyonya, Off Jalan Pudu, KL. Starts serving at 12.30 but park yourself there earlier.

For more details and pictures which will make you get off your butt and get over here this minute:

Whiff of Lemongrass

Boolicious

KY Speaks

Our 2nd Anniversary

2008-03-30T09:21:00.011+08:00

Can you imagine, it was only our 2nd anniversary and we both FORGOT! (its a good thing i forgot too our hubs would be getting plenty from me)

So anyway, we celebrated it the next day at Ma Maison, a cozy lil French restaurant along Jalan Ampang. It was raining so the restaurant was quite empty when we got there. As usual, service was attentive but I think the menu was slightly different from what I remembered.

I ordered the Parfait de Foies de Volaille (homemade chicken liver pate). Hmm.. it was on the dry, crumbly side. I prefer pate to be creamier but the taste was alright. The tangy salad helped balance the overpowering taste of the pate.

Hubs ordered the tarragon spring chicken. The flesh was quite dry too - oh dear what a letdown for Hubs but the potatoes served at the sides were delish.

I ordered the lamb cutlets with mustard crust. Now this was good! You can tell something's good when you have someone at the side poking into your dish every minute and looking at it and then at his own meal forlornly. HAHAHhaha I can just recall hubs face then. Poor guy. The lamb was perfectly done - juicy in the inside, cripsy on the outside. It came along with a bowl of potato gratin and this was excellent too!

It was creamy, hearty and had a nicely baked top layer of cheese. Talk about indulgence.

Finally we finished off with Crepes Ma Maison (Apple pancakes with vanilla ice cream and orange sauce) hmmm I guess Hubs and I prefer the thick, fluffy American style pancakes vs these thin, delicate ones. The orange sauce was a tad too sour too.

I love the plate!

Also check out: Malaysia Alloexpat , Whiff of Lemongrass

Pasta & Pesto

2008-03-22T16:41:00.007+08:00

Another pasta that I whipped up and absolutely loved it! Basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and the usual salt, pepper and parmesan are all you need.

You can either patiently chop the ingredients or throw them into a food chopper like me. But don't chop them too finely or they'll end up like mush with no texture.

I didn't lightly toast the pine nuts coz I was just lazy and wanted to fill my stomach as quickly as possible. As usual I went with all possible short cuts.

Chop up the basil and pine nuts. Add the garlic, then pour in olive oil a little at a time. Chopping them up together in the food chopper will infuse the aromatic flavours into the oil. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Cook the pasta till al dente. Toss them up together and add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Other variations include adding chopped tomatoes. In future I think i may saute the garlic first as the fresh, uncooked garlic tasted slightly too sharp.

Bukit Tabur Melawati (updated)

2008-03-15T21:02:00.004+08:00

And that is a picture taken at the edge of urbanised KL. Beautiful!

This is my fifth hike up this hill. For me, its been a month of great accomplishments. (Hey, let me claim some credit here. I know this is an EASY climb for my veteran frens haha.)

I'm the sort that's terrified of heights and ALSO hate to get hot and sweaty with bugs and weeds around me. I used to seriously wonder how could people actually ENJOY outdoor activities. Gimme a gym with TV,music and air-conditioning.

So then, I'm not quite sure why did I decide to still hike up this hill. it must be the beautiful view :) Even with my humble camera and Hubs limited photography skills, the pics still came out breathtaking.

Probably its coz I need some good physical exercise and also I wanted to overcome my fears. So every week we would go one step further from where we last stopped. I remember my first time up this hill, I literally froze halfway climbing a rock wall. My limbs just refused to move and I couldnt figure out where to put my feet. Good grief. And I swore never to go up again.

Now I actually ENJOY the climb. Its great to feel your limbs working vs just the fingers tapping at the keyboard everyday at the office - sigh. Talking about that, I can't really write properly anymore. Seriously, the only writing I do now is just to sign my name. I don't think even that's legible too. Boo.

To enjoy better pictures of Bukit Tabur and the dam, click on my fren's blog - Iron Will. He's a professional photograher :)

Broccoli salad

2008-03-11T08:50:00.003+08:00

The past weekend was one which will be remembered in the annals of Malaysian history. Read about Malaysia's elections here, here and here although I know most Malaysians are already familiar with these influential political blogs.

I am proud to say I lived and participated in this period of amazing, miraculous change in our country. I feel proud to be a Malaysian, I feel proud of my fellow Malaysians and have all hopes that our country will be truly progressive, not living in the shadows of its neighbours and most importantly, the people will be known as ONE BANGSA.

As we wait for hopes to be realised, let's make broccoli salad shall we ? *wink :)

Sometimes we just need to eat healthy. Can you see the delicious cream dressing? No? Here's a close up shot.

See those droplets of precious calories and sugar? This dressing was taken from Simply Recipes. Apple cider vinegar, mayonnaise and honey. Its like a rainbow of tastes. Sweet, sour, tangy, rounded up by the creaminess of mayo. ( i made a smaller amount as I am quite a health freak 0_0 honest.)

I blanched the broccoli florets for a minute or 2 in boiling water. Quickly rinsed it under running water to prevent it from overcooking and becoming soggy. You still want the crunch in every bite.

Toss in a bowl with the dressing, some raisins, toasted pine nuts (yep still gotta finish that tub in my fridge) and chopped red onions.

Serve chilled.

Let's Salsa (2)!

2008-02-29T08:38:00.002+08:00

I've wanted to try Mexican food or Tex Mex for some time. After making my own pastas, i cringe everytime we fork out RM20-30 for a simple pasta at some fancy italian outlet. I'm gonna start cringing when i next step into TGIF. But then again, cheeses are not cheap, neither are sour cream or avocadoes to make guacamole.

When we were at Dallas last year, Hub's colleague invited us over for a home cooked Mexican dinner. Wow. It was excellent. His wife went 'feh!' over 'yellow cheese'. that's how they describe American cheese haha. I guess that means cheddar. Apprarently the real authentic Mexican food uses white cheese, not yellow. Hmmm I'll have to read up on that.

So since I am using 'feh!' yellow cheddar, I guess i'm making a Tex Mex dish then. :)

Don't the bright, cheer-y-ful colours look absolutely gorgeous? Fun, delicious and MESSY! Quesadillas with my salsa. Its so simple, you can't get it wrong! Kinda like a mexican version of our Chinese popiah.

Recipe
Tortillas
Butter
Cheddar cheese (grated)
Mushrooms (sliced)
Onions (thinly sliced)
Red and yellow capsicums (sliced)
Ground beef

Ok first, heat up some olive oil, and start sauteeing the mushrooms. Season with salt n pepper. Set aside.
Do likewise for the capsicums and onions and ground beef. I marinated the beef with salt, pepper and mixed herbs first. Delicious. Don't overcook or they'll be rubbery and tough. You want to keep the juices.

Soon you'll have something like this!

Lookit my tortillas, arent they so fun looking too? Anyhoo, i think i bought the wrong size.. these were too large for quesadillas... but I couldnt resist the fun packing! Oh well..

Now, spread butter onto your tortillas then pan fry them. Flip it off and on. Once you see air bubbles forming within the tortilla, it should be almost done.

Sprinkle a generous amount of cheddar cheese. I used some Seriously Farmy cheddar here. Seriously.

Then customise your quesadilla - mushrooms n beef? Just capsicums and onions? or EVERYTHING? Of course we went for everything. I mean, we need to finish the food right? haha

Leave it for a bit until the cheese has melted, fold it like an omelette and flip to the other side.

Serve with salsa, sour cream or guacamole. (havent got around making guacamole.. avocadoes are mighty expensive here..)

I get my inspirations from: Elise and Pioneer Woman.

Let's Salsa!

2008-02-24T17:28:00.007+08:00

I have been watching American Idol and I'm starting to realise, there are plenty of disillusioned people out there. And the alarming thing is, fren's and family that are (too?) supportive, blindly encouraging and making them believe they have true talent and to pursue their dream. seriously, if everyone were to tell me I could sing, could you blame me for thinking so? dear me..

I like to cook. Sometimes, I wonder if I should have pursued a degree in the culinary arts. Wouldnt it be great to cook for people for a living? Everyone loves to eat and everyone is happy when they eat.

Where is the point where we can go, hey - i have a passion, I think i'm good at it so I should pursue this dream. Or rather,

Where is the line we draw and say ok, let's be realistic. i love doing this and i'll enjoy doing it everyday in my own time, as a - hobby. But that's what it all is. No blind chasing of dreams.

If we all knew whether our passions would lead us to become great, wouldnt that be great?

Anyhoo, that aside, let's get on with my passion. Yes, learning to cook new stuff (or is it actually taking photos)? Hmm... dilemma, dilemma.

Salsa! (the sauce, not the dance) Such an easy dish that's so colourful and zingy and tangy and hot! what a mouthful. I like how the flavours and colours combine. Tomatoes and coriander leaves who would have thought of such a simple yet wonderful combination? Salsa is the Spanish word for sauce, and is always used to accompany Mexican dishes. Read more about it here. Here's how to make fresh salsa or Salsa fresca.

Recipe

Tomatoes (seeds and pulp removed, diced)

Onions (chopped)

Lime juice

Cilantro / chinese celery (chopped)

Jalapeno pepper

Salt & pepper

I wouldn't know where to get jalapeno peppers in Malaysia so I substituted with our very own hot cili padi! Combine ingredient together and taste. Adjust to the hotness you prefer.

Set aside to chill for about an hour.

Next up, quesadillas to go with this salsa (should be the other way around)...

Nyonya Fried Rice

2008-02-09T23:49:00.005+08:00

Another item to strike of my list from Wat's in store for 2008. I got around frying this up on a Sunday. Before this, I read Delia Smith's book on techniques on how to cook eggs. She had a pretty good technique on omelettes. Wow I wish I could have bought that book but just one volume cost close to a hundred ringgit. Anyway, I managed to memorise important bits.

To get a nice fluffy omelette, first whisk eggs well. Add in a pinch of salt & pepper. Heat oil and coat the pan well. Pour in the eggs and let it cook for a bit. Once the edges are slightly cooked, lift the pan to a 45 degree angle and push the edges of the omelette to the middle. This lets the runny eggs inside flow to the outside. Repeat the other way until there's only a bit of runny eggs on top. Flip over to the other side and you're done! Yummm don't finish the eggs first!

For this recipe, set aside the eggs and cut them into smaller slices.

Ingredients!

Overnight rice

Heh bi (dried prawns - soaked)

Shitake mushrooms (soaked & sliced)

Garlic (chopped)

Shallots (chopped)

Chilli boh

Prawns - deveined and shelled

Seasoning

Oyster sauce

Light soy sauce

Salt & pepper

I marinated the prawns first with some salt, pepper and sugar. Now, start by frying the garlic and onions till fragrant. Add the dried prawns and fry again till u can smell its fragrant aroma! Next, mix in the chilli boh and fry some more! (This really gives your arms a workout, what more with my heavy utensil). Then the prawns and mushrooms. Add the rice and break up the chunks well. Pour in the seasoning mixture and fry till well combined. Add the eggs, dish up and serve!

Claypot Rice at Huen Kee, Jln Pudu

2008-02-08T11:57:00.000+08:00

Nothing satisfies better than a hearty meal on a cool night right after a refreshing hike. That's what we did last Sunday. Hubs went for his usual futsal and i didnt want to stay home gorging on cookies so a bunch of us decided to burn some calories. woo hoo! It rained almost the whole day so the weather was really cool - perfect!

Dinner plans were made and off we went to Jalan Pudu for Claypot Chicken Rice. I have never ventured to this area before though I do know there's lots of good food here.

We ordered a large waxed duck claypot rice. Priced at RM40, it was pretty expensive. We all thought it was just okay, overall too salty and there werent many pieces of the wax duck to enjoy too. The small pot costs RM15 and the medium RM30.

Next, the claypot chicken rice which was better. Many large, succulent pieces of chicken. As E kept saying, this is not "fake chicken claypot rice" where the chicken is precooked and added in later. This is the real thing where the chicken pieces are cooked together with the rice over charcoal flames. Imagine all the juices flowing into the rice..yum. The rice was well coated with the dark sauce but hubs would have preferred more burnt rice - he likes eating carcinogenic stuff. Priced at RM6.50[S],RM13[M], RM18[L]. Add extra RM4-RM6 for extra chicken.

Another highlight of the meal was the chicken with chinese wine. (RM21 [S],RM33 [M], RM38 [L]) mmmm wonderful! You can feel the hot soup warming up your whole body. The wine used was sweet, slightly bitter and very heong. MY was commenting that there is a particular sweetness to the soup just like when you boil crabmeat with ginger. wow, my frens sure have specialised taste buds.

Tipsy over Tiramisu

2008-02-02T20:28:00.000+08:00

I don't know if this picture actually looks remotely appealing. To me, it looks like bits of yau char quai floating in some weird gooey stuff. S_I_G_H.

This is my tiramisu. And since this attempt took up an hour and a half of my weekend, lots of sweat, mutterings and almost splutters of expletive words, I shall post it!

Before you go ewww and yucks, I have to say, it actually tasted pretty good - probly due to the lashings of Tia Maria.

I suppose there's no point in mentioning the recipe here coz i think my proportions were slightly off :(

There goes all the good stuff down the drain.. Tia Maria liquor, mascarpone cream cheese (this costs RM20 for a small 250g tub), Lindt dark chocolate (RM10 per bar). Savoiardi (lady fingers) Other items included eggs, coffee and sugar.

First i was suppose to whisk the egg yolks and sugar together till pale and creamy. I was pretty tired so I didnt really do a good job here. Then, stir in the mascarpone. Here, i forgot to take it out of the fridge to warm to room temperature so it was hard and difficult to stir well into the mixture. Next, to whisk the egg whites till stiff and fold it into the above mixture. The whole thing was weird and lumpy and i had to squish every single lump to make it combine well into the mixture. HARD WORK.

Just when I thought nothing else could go wrong. The next step, to soak the Savoiardi in the coffee + liquor mixture. How was I to know the darn thing soaked up the liquor in the blink of an eye? I read a recipe which said to leave it for about 30 secs to ensure its soaked well! arrgghhh i had to quickly scoop them up but the damage was done.

I still had to go on.

So i started the layering process. savoiardi, cheese mixture, shavings of Lindt choc, savoiardi, cheese mixture, Lindt... You don't know how it feels like to go on when you already know its gonna turn out bad... its all like a bad dream and you hope to wake up and find out it was all just that - a bad dream.

Anyway, all said and done, in it went into the fridge overnight.

I scooped a mouthful, tasted it and hey! it was OK! not delicious or as rich as I would have preferred but it was EDIBLE. hhaahaa. The oversoaked saviordari was a bit gross, and it didnt have much texture left but! the liquor saved the day.

I shall attempt this again!

This recipe from allrecipes looks worth trying. Either that or i shall attempt this from Tartelette.

The Perfect Mash

2008-01-26T14:23:00.000+08:00

Do you make a list when you go grocery shopping? Conversation in the car:

Hubs: Did you make a list?

Me: (realised sumthing and felt guilty) Errr yeah.

Hubs: Good.

Me: its at home....

Sometimes i think its better to shop WITHOUT a list. I mean its so boring when you have a list and u just walk down the aisles, put the stuff into the trolley and methodically strike it off your list. BORING....

I say where's the creativity in that? Its so much MORE fun to go shopping WITHOUT knowing what to get. Then when you see something (let's say an onion), you mentally start creating ways to cook it! Salads or soups or fried onion rings. Its endless!

Only problem is then i wouldnt be able to decide and in the end i'd just get all the ingredients for all the possible ways i'd cook it.

Anyway.

So today, I saw a potato and decided to make the perfect mash.

I'd say if this is the source of carbo in your meal, it should be a medium to large potato per person.

Recipe

Potatoes (I read Yukon Gold potatoes make the perfect mash! Couldnt find it here though - the usuals are just Russets and Holland potatoes)

Garlic (this is a great tip I read about!)

Mayonaise

Butter

Heavy/whipping cream

A dollop of Djon mustard

Salt & Pepper

Clean potatoes and boil them. Add several cloves of garlic here. Boil till the potatoes are soft (~15mins). Drain and peel them. Now, mash them up together with the garlic! ooohhhh yummy!

Heat up the cream with butter. Add in to the mashed potatoes a little at a time, continue mashing them until you get a nice creamy texture. Add mustard, mayo and season with salt and pepper.

Served this with Italian sausages and a simple salad.

Wat's in store for 2008?

2008-01-20T15:54:00.000+08:00

I have a dream.

Not anything like Martin Luther King's but one that will test every ounce of patience in my Hubby, one that will require him to summon will power beyond what he was ever capable of to smile instead of frown, to give a deserved (even if underserved) pat on the back, to nod vigourously with approval after every bite that will hopefully be swallowed and not quietly hidden and poured into the sink.

what drama.

Actually I just want to learn to cook a new dish every week lah. I have not improved or tried anything remotely new in the cooking category. :( So this year, I declare to be more disciplined. A new dish every week. 52 new dishes. With a 20% rate of success (anything less and I shall be depressed), I should be able to learn 10 new dishes and stop feeding my family with the same old mouldy stuff.

So here's my list! Its not exhaustive - just a coupla recipes I like, basic ones that I should know etc. Any other suggestions?

The Soup Category

I love soups! Healthy (er, then again not always) and filling. 1-bowl meals that can be cooked in advance and heated up to eat any time when hungry.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Cream of Cauliflower Soup - (hmm not sure bout this tho, i mean Hubs already has unbearable gas problems... )

Cream of Asparagus Soup

The Baking Category

Look out waistlines!

Cream Cheese Chocolate Brownies

Carrot Cake

Hummingbird Cake

Still trying out variations to get the best Moist Chocolate Cake. (If all else fails, I recently discovered that The Ampang Grocer stores Ghirardelli Cake Mixes hurrah!)

Poppy Seed Cake

Banana Bread/Cake

Peanut Butter Cookies

Apple Pie/ Apple Crumble

Mains

I got this great nonya recipe book as a gift. Hurray! More stuff to experiment with!

Nonya

- Asam Laksa (urrgghh recipe looks like a lot of work but I guess I must learn to cook this in my life time)

- Nonya Fried Rice

- Tau Eu Bak (Soy Sauce Pork)

- Nonya Fried Chicky

- Kari Kapitan (Kapitan Chicken Curry)

- Popiah Chee! ( this will be a great finger food to bring to Pot Lucks!)

Italian

- Spaghetti with a mushroom cream sauce

- Spaghetti alle Vongole (spaghetti with clams)

- Spaghetti with Italian sausages - tomato based sauce

- Must try to a make a Lasagne!

- Must try to make my own pizza - dough plus toppings

- Grandmother's Pie ( apparently one of the most popular and delicious desserts in the Italian repertoire)

- Tiramisu

- Chocolate Truffles

Misc

- A Good Roast Chicken

- A Good Pork Chop - maybe I'll try one version marinate with Guinness Malta.. mm hmmm

I don't really like to mess around seafood (i like to eat them, not cook) coz most of them are smelly stuff before cooked... Hmm... only if i come across a must-try recipe..

A banana in Taiwan

2008-01-13T21:02:00.000+08:00

Oh man, I was not looking forward to this working trip. Usually I'd be full of glee, having the chance to be away from gruelling days stuck facing 4 walls but

7 days in a Mandarin speaking land + me, a Chinese who cannot even utter a single word of Mandarin except Ni hao and Xie xie = tremendous, unspeakable boredom.

Now that its over and I'm back in good old Msia, i think it was actually a pretty enjoyable trip. My coliks, the suppliers, the presentation of new products were exciting! And I picked up plenty of Mandarin words heh!

Anyway, as with all of my posts, the topic is on FOOD! First up, we made a trip to Miao Li, and had lunch. And it was full of l-e-m-o-n-g-r-a-s-s. For me, being a product person, lemongrass always equals insect repellant. Blurghh. Lemongrass is not a herb that's commonly used in Taiwanese cooking but this supplier had a thing for it.

Lemongrass juice. I felt I was downing a bottle of insect repellant. My coliks loved it though - said it was very refreshing.

Next was better, a plateful of colourful fresh taufus, vegetables, fishballs and meatballs. Taiwanese seem to love freshly cut capsicums.

There was a special sauce prepared to go with the steamboat. Yeap. Its blended lemongrass leaves with a dark sauce. Hmmm this was ok.

You wouldnt be able to guess what this is.

Salt baked fish! And true to the day's theme, it was stuffed with lemongrass! Arrrgghhhhhh

Taiwanese food is always packed beautifully. We had packed lunch boxes on one of the days. They use coloured rubber bands and tied them around the boxes to form patterns.

Woo hoo! not like our regular economy rice pack eh? Pan fried salmon and roasted chicken drumstick, tempura sweet potato and a big juicy prawn... mm mmm. Lots of colourful side dishes too :)

On one of the nights, we went to a shop that was famous in Tainan. For cooking minced meat in a pot that is n-e-v-e-r washed. See the man scooping from that pot over there?

ewwww... I'm not sure what the speciality is but i gather from the conversation that the pot will keep the fragrance of the meat and the dish gets tastier the longer the pot is used.

This is the bowl of noodles with meat from the old unwashed pot. Till date, that pot has held out for 5 years without a wash.

The helpings are small too and people would usually order several bowls. As the Chinese say, One bowl, one mouthful.

There were other pretty unique dishes in this shop too. These are slices of fish eggs served with cuts of white radish. The fish eggs were tasty and pretty strong but it was balanced by the slight bitter taste of the radish.

Slices of fish skin. Another unique Taiwanese dish. Deliciously smooth and went well with the sweet dark sauce.

They also served it in soup with ginger .. yummy.. light and refreshing.

Cheers!

2008-01-04T08:48:00.000+08:00

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine...and to those who don't.

Ben Franklin said:"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria"

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum,whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health

Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk silly, than to drink water and be full of crap.

Almost the New Year

2007-12-30T19:51:00.000+08:00

Wow, the past weeks have been extremely hectic! Both with planning and going for get-togethers with our families, coliks and church frens.

Don't you just love this time of the year? Everyone's in a holiday mood (read: daydreaming during work), traffic is clear in the mornings, shoppings malls with beautiful christmas decorations, grocery stores filled with chirstmassy puddings, cakes, gingerbread men, the list goes on!

Of couse, these are not the true meaning of Christmas but I'm glad to see that people relate Christmas as a time of giving and sharing :)

I had grand plans of baking brownies and giving them away as gifts. Grand plans they were but when the time came, I was just too exhausted. Sigh. Well, I hope I'll be able to do it next year *wink.

We just hosted a farewell dinner for E & J yesterday. I spent, oh ok, WE (hubs and I) spent the whole day cleaning and cooking. Boy! I really underestimated the number of people who would turn up. AND, most people came on time!

Anyway, I've blogged about most of the food I prepared in the farewell dinner but here's something refreshing after stuffing ourselves silly with rendang and pulut.

A Colourful Salad

Cherry tomatoes

Capsicum

Onions

Salad leaves

Pine nuts (toasted)

Extra virgin olive oil

Lemon juice

Salads are fun! As long as you have a good mixture of colours and fresh ingredients, you won't go wrong! For my version, start with salting the tomatoes. I read that this will bring out its flavour. Just halve them, rub with salt and leave for about 20 mins. Mix everything together and serve chilled.

And here's another pix for E & J. No goodbyes but a happy see-you-soon wave from Mr. Frumps and us! We're planning a holiday in Kuantan right this moment! Heh :)

Mushroom Caviar!

2007-12-15T13:41:00.000+08:00

No this is not something the beluga fish layed after eating mushrooms - that is if fish ever knew how to enjoy this delicious fungi.
I was looking for different ways to cook mushrooms besides the usual olive oil and garlic combo. Found this recipe from Simply Recipes here. and was pretty impressed with the term Mushroom Caviar. Go to this site for the full recipe. For my lazy version:

Recipe
White button mushrooms - or your preferred choice
Garlic
White wine
Butter
Olive oil
lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste
Wheat crackers

I omited sour cream as its not a usual ingredient in my fridge, shallots as I don't quite like onions, (gimme more garlic any time!) as well as pine nuts simply becoz i forgot! arrggghh i have a whole tub in my fridge and they'll just dry up before i ever remember to use them. sigh.

Anyway, heat up the butter and saute the mushrooms till tender. Add garlic, salt and pepper. saute for another 5 mins. Stir in the white wine and cook for another minute. Squeeze the lemon juice when it has cooled down.

Its suppose to be served chilled but being a typical Malaysian, I couldnt bring myself to eat cold food. Unfortunately after I was done taking more than a dozen pics, the mushrooms were already cold.

I spread the 'caviar' onto the wheat crackers, munch munch... and thought... Hmmm a lot of improvement needed. I don't know why but it doesnt taste as good as I thought it would. Perhaps its the wine that I used or because I used white button mushrooms? (I usually prefer Shitake).. hmmm

I'll have to try again with Shitke and maybe some oyster mushrooms.. Any ideas?

crabs, Crabs & more CRABS!

2007-12-04T21:55:00.000+08:00

Go fly kite! In Malaysia, that has a pretty nasty meaning... so practice care when you want to invite ppl to go fly kites here.

I laughed when I saw my CG leader's sms- lets go fly kites! Haha. On one of the Saturday's back, our cell group organised an outing to fly kites somewhere around Kepong area. (The park is situated on the left side of MRR2, headed towards Bandar Sri Damansara or Manjalara). Flying a kite requires lots of patience. I saw a girl pulling and running in circles trying to get her kite to fly higher. Then she just collapsed in a heap of laughter coz she realised how ridiculous she must have looked. And she saw me laughing at her too.

You'll see all sorts of kites there, from the big flashy ones to the tiny humble kites that somehow seem able to do a better job. As soon as you hit a certain height, it will be quite steady and you won't have to keep pulling and nudging your kite to catch the wind. Hmm.. an interesting hobby which i may consider in future :)

Anyway, the highlight of the day (for me) was dinner! I didnt know my CG leader had booked dinner at a seafood restaurant. Woo hoo! i have not had crabs in agesss..

De Foodland in Bandar Sri Manjalara, Not a new place, just that i have not been there. When you have been deprived of these tasty morsels... the place I believe, may not matter so much. Just as long as I get to crab and claw my way into its flesh.

Creamy butter crab (one of the recommended choices). The sauce was really good though some of us felt the crab wasn't really fresh as the meat was too soft and not firm and succulent.

Pepper salt crab. Now this is what i'm talking about. Sweet juicy crab meat flavoured just right with 2 simple seasonings. This. was. good.

Crab with salted egg yolk. My all time favourite style. Also one of the recommended choices here. Talk about cholesterol - this is THE works. Not bad as well but I had a better version at Tak Fook (yet to blog about this place).

Pork ribs with Guinnesss stout. Swoooonnnn. So absolutely delicious! What a winning combo! I am going to search for the recipe and try cooking it one day!

Meal was FOC as my CG leaders paid for 'em. Thanks E & J! Prices here are slightly expensive and helpings are not very large though.

Kung Fu Chao at Alexis

2007-12-02T17:30:00.000+08:00

My idea of unwinding is either to glue my eyes to the laptop and watch movies or to have a satisfying meal at a place with good ambience. After our US trip, Hubs and I have been on a more watchful mode and are trying not to spend too much on meals. When i was not paying for my own home and bills (ie staying with parents) I didnt think much of forking out RM50 for a good meal. Well, things are different now ...

However, the past few weeks at work have been horribly hectic and stressful. Our company had a recent restructuring exercise and I ended up with double my current portfolio. So all i remember from the past few weeks were running up and down, solving issues, understanding the flow of the new products, meeting up with even more suppliers and basically just moving along from one day to the other without really knowing wat went on. Who wants to work like that?

Anyway, complaining about work is something everyone will have a say on. This blog is meant to be an account of my happier times so i shan't rant here.

Hubs ended up as runner up for one of his company's presentation 'competitions' (?) so he got rewarded and what better way to spend that money than on his wife? muahaha.

So here's how we ended up at Alexis and broke our solemn vow of spending less on food.

Truffle pappardelle with cep. Tastes like Kung fu chao. hmmm I havent tried this sort of pasta before. Pappardelle reminds me of kuey tiow. Flat ribbons of pasta -smooth but they all kinda stuck together in clumps. The truffles were deliciously juicy and i think they were soaked in wine and the light cream sauce complemented the pasta well.

Hubs had a simple linguini with pesto. Tasty and well done.

Dessert - For me, Alexis's classic cake, the Tiramisu (RM12). I love Alexis's version of it. The best! Sponge cake generously soaked in liquor, cheese filling was delicious and had lots of chocolate rolls in it and the cake was topped with crunchy bits of toasted nuts and glass candies.

Hubs had a brownie which came nice and warm with lots of fudge and a dollop of ice cream. (RM12)

Ham or Eggs?

2007-11-25T21:10:00.000+08:00

Think about it.

Chicken or pig... Are you only just involved or are you committed?

Food Republic, Pavillion

2007-11-18T00:03:00.001+08:00

*updated*

Finally I am well enough to go out for a proper dinner! After my bout of food poisoning, I came down with the dreaded flu, sore throat and fever. I must have lost almost 2 kgs (er... whee?)

I read from Boolicious's blog that the food court at Pavillion was open for business and from her reviews, the food variety and quality there sounded promising. So off we went. After walking around, we decided to go to Thye Hong. There was a short queue, people were waiting for the batch of oyster omelletes to finish cooking.

We ordered the fried prawn noodles (RM 7) which was pretty tasty. According to Hubs, the prawns were fresh and juicy.

I ordered the oyster omellete (RM7). Well, it was not bad, though it cannot be compared with Penang's omelletes at macAllister road. (which were chockful with oysters and gooey and fragrant). The omellete was quite plain (I don't think there were any oysters in the omellete itself) but it was topped with (few) lightly fried, juicy and sweet oysters. It would have been much better if they were more generous with the oysters. However, the chilli was pretty good and went well with the dish.

Update: I forgot to mention that we also bought John King's egg tarts and chicken pie plus Movenpick ice cream! After all, an oily, starch-rich dinner should be finished with a good dessert! In case you're thinking wah! wat gluttons!, we had the tarts at home ok, and that's almost a full hour after our dinner heh. lalala.

Anyhoo, you can choose the tarts with cookie crust or pastry crust. We got the pastry ones and I like it! the custard was eggy, soft and smooth. I just warmed up the chicken pie - QUICK!, Hubs isnt home yet from church so I shall have it all to myself muahahahaah!

Hmm, what a let down. It isnt that good. The filling is quite salty and there isnt much buttery taste from the pastry. Sigh. Looks like the DBKL will have some to eat when he gets home after all...

Hubs and I found out about Movenpick ice cream during our hol at Pangkor Laut Resort. We loved the chocolate ice cream so much - lusciously smooth with just the right amount of chocolate taste, and not overwhelmingly sweet. Our meals at the resort were unlimited (package price) so we had lots of the ice cream. The other flavours were just so-so. So when I saw Movenpick at the lower ground floor of Pavillion I went like YAY!

UNFORTUNATELY, as you can see from the picture, the RM5.90 scoop of ice cream is so miserably small even though it tastes just as good. Sigh, that sure took half the enthusiasm and enjoyment away...

A Soothing Cup of Tea

2007-11-12T18:06:00.000+08:00

to let out the gas...

I had another food poisoning attack. This usually happens to me twice a year and at very unfortunate timings. Nothing depresses me more than not being able to eat what i want to eat, when i want to eat. I was slumped over the toilet bowl at my office (its not the cleanest of toilets, my office is in a public building) on a Friday evening! Imagine starting off your weekend this way!

Liquids were spewing out of almost every possible part of my body. I was weak from all the internal twisting and cramping.

I got a jab to stop the bursting dam but it didnt help much with the gas the next day. Believe me, you do not want to mix diarrhoea with gas. You'd better be walking around with adult diapers.

So, i made myself a cup of ginger tea, and old Chinese method of getting rid of gas. Just slice up some old ginger, boil them and add brown sugar to taste. Ahhh.. comfort at last.

Pricey Pine nuts

2007-11-08T20:07:00.000+08:00

I've been experimenting with a new ingredient - pine nuts! I remember having tapas at Sentidos, Star Hill where they served spinach with pine nuts. I thought it was really good! Little did I know that these tiny little nuts were so expensive. I bought a small 150g jar and that cost me RM14.99!

Pine nuts are used in pasta's, desserts, salads and yes, there even is pine nut coffee! I've already tried a pasta recipe with pine nuts but that will be in another post.

Yesterday I cooked up Spinaci con Pinoli e Passerine - sounds classy ya? haha, its actually a very simple dish, basically Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins. Got the recipe from Epicurious.

Ingredients
Spinach - Baby ones would be better, mine were slightly old and stringy already
Olive oil
Onions - minced
Pine nuts - lightly toasted.
Raisins - soak in hot water till they are plump
Salt & pepper

I had a disaster while toasting pine nuts for my earlier pasta dish. I thought I'd just sprinkle some olive oil on it and pop it in the oven. There they were, roasting happily and in a blink of an eye, they became totally brown and started burning! I saved them in the nick of time though now you wouldnt say they were 'lightly' toasted anymore. For how to toast pine nuts the PROPER way:
"Take a dry non-stick pan. Put the pine nuts in it (use no oil) and turn the heat to medium. Shake the pan every 30 seconds and toss the pine nuts. When they are lightly browned, turn the heat off."

Back to the recipe.

Wash the spinach well and remove the stems. Place in a large pan with only the rinsing water clinging to the leaves. Cook over medium heat, turning until wilted. Set aside. Add the olive oil to the now-empty pan and place over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until tender. Add the spinach, raisins, and pine nuts and sauté briefly to warm through. Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

The 4th of November

2007-11-04T18:40:00.001+08:00

Another year down, another year wiser. Yesterday was Hub's birthday. A quiet affair. We just went about our usual routine and I think sometimes, routines are fun! we haven't had a normal routine-y weekend in ages! We went to church, ate at our favourite breakfast kopitiam, did grocery shopping and watched House Season 4!

House-isms (memorable quips) that me and Hubs laughed over like crazy:
"Great. The only way he could turn down any more cheeks is by pulling down his pants.”
"Luckily violence isn’t the last resort. Extortion is. Go ahead. Extort her.”
“Would you condemn this woman to a life where people look at her face when they talk to her?”

Hahahah!

ok, on to Hub's birthday. Hub's colleague from Dallas bought him something for me to try! Woo hoo! Ghirardelli Instant brownie mix! We both absolutely luuurve Ghirardelli chocolates. So its just perfect! Baked it for Hub's birthday.

All I had to do was add water, vegetable oil and an egg.. haha. Even I couldnt mess that up! It baked beautifully. Add a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Spring Cleaning

2007-10-27T12:03:00.000+08:00

my kitchen...

i discovered

- my onions have green stalks growing out of them - is this spring onion then?

- a whole legion of evil weevils have taken over my rice bag - i can't see my rice anymore, just powdery white dusk. everywhere

- i have half a block of parmesan cheese in my fridge that's expired

- i have pork ribs in the freezer, dry and frozen to their bones

- a steam and stew sauce that has expired

- 3 bottles of unopened Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce and i only feed a family of 2. I dont know if they will end up as expired stocks next year.

- thickened cream that I bought when i got excited after reading through delicious dessert recipes. excitement died down too fast and cream is now 2 weeks to expiry.

So. Lesson learnt.
Plan meals ahead and shop with a shopping list - memory doesnt get better with age.
Or.
Buy less, go eat out more often.

Confusion over Cream

2007-10-23T22:23:00.000+08:00

I have so many delicious, cream based sauces and soups that I've been dying to try but almost all of the recipes required heavy cream. I've been searching high and low at our local supermarkets, hypermarts, Cold Storage and even places like Hock Choon for it but all I've ever seen were President's Light Cream, various whipping creams, heavy whipping creams, buttermilk, sour creams etc at the dairy section.

Finally, I decided to look it up in the world wide web of knowledge (heh)

Lo and behold (if i got it right, please correct me if I'm not!)

Heavy cream = Heavy Whipping Cream! link here and here.

Boy oh boy. Isnt there an international standard for labelling food stuff? Why the difference in naming a product? Poor, uninformed people like me wouldnt know ya? And to think, I have been avoiding making all the yummy, creamy recipes everytime I see Heavy cream in its list of ingredients.

But of course, heavy cream has a much higher fat content than light cream. Hence it gives sauces a richer, creamier taste and doesnt break down like light cream when heated. Some say light cream is not suitable for heated sauces but I've used it plenty in my Shell Pasta with Zucchini Swirls in Cream and it comes out delish every time! So I guess its up to every individual.

I can't wait to try a mushroom soup recipe this weekend. Probly use half whipping cream and half light cream to be a little 'healthier'. Heh

Shoot - camera's with Hubs. arrgghhh Won't be able to take a pix... hmm

San Francisco (Part 3)

2007-10-21T13:53:00.000+08:00

The Golden Gate bridge - one of San Francisco's top attractions. The weather was holding up ok on the day we went. Skies were slightly dark and cloudy but there wasn't any fog so we could see the bridge clearly in all its splendour.

We walked along the whole bridge and back - i think we took almost an hour plus coz of constant stopping to oohh and ahhh and take photos. The colour of the bridge is actually called "International Orange". Why wasn't it painted gold? Read here.

Heh. One thing that caught our attention:

My goodness! do people think its romantic to jump off this bridge? oh man, there must have been quite a number of people doing this else the authorities wouldnt have put up these signs.

At the other end of the bridge - Sausalito, looks beautiful but we didnt manage to explore it. I'm sure there are lots of beautiful places in the outskirts of San Fran. So many places to go still...

Food again! If you ever visit San Fran, head over to Mama's for a sumptious brekkie. Loads of reviews on this place. I read that people would line up as early as 7.30am (shop opens at 8). Sure enough, there was a line already when we arrived at 7.45am. Wow, people were still yawning but when good food beckons, its no trouble to wake up earlier and join the queue yea?

I'm somewhere in the line

Mama's is located on Washington Square, North Beach. We walked here from The Crookedest St (ie. Lombard St). The thing I like about San Fran is all the restaurants and tourist spots are within walking distance! What more with lovely cool weather, you can just walk on and on :) Ok. back to food. The Omelettes here are good and... Super Large. I can't imagine finishing it by myself. Good thing Hubs, the walking DBKL wiped my leftovers clean. (even though he had his OWN omelette) The omelette was stuffed with tomatoes, bacon, sausages and wat not. Yum! Mama's also serves French toast, cakes, muffins etc - I wish i had several stomachs so I could try everything! Cost-wise - not cheap for us Malaysians. The omellette costs USD 9 ++ excluding tax and tips.. Eating in San Fran is an expensive business. But we wanted to enjoy ourselves, after all, we came all the way here. :)

Food again haha. Dinner at Lori's Diner. Its a classic, All American Diner. I like the decor and ambience - Rock and roll musci, neon lights.. Makes me feel like i'm in the set of Grease or America in its 1950s. Food here is only so-so. Portions were surprisingly modest. I thought it would be large. If anything, dine here for the ambience only.

San Francisco (Part 2)

2007-10-16T23:20:00.000+08:00

Do you know i get a little stressed out every time I try to complete my travel blogs? Do any of you guys experience this? I'm pressed for time and yet I know that with every day/hour/minute that I delay my posts, I'll end up forgetting all the tiny but precious details that made my holiday Great.

Most of the time I just rush out the post and blog out everything in one mouthful (or post-ful) Sigh. I should be more disciplined. Wow - even a hobby that was suppose to be destressing - needs discipline. Gosh and Good Grief.

I need another break. Heh.

Anyway, while Hubs was going on and on about the chocolate shop, I was going on and on about this - The CROOKEDEST street in the WORLD. isnt this something better to harp on? I dunno why I was so excited about it and just kept saying - we gotta go to the CROOKEDEST St. in the world ok? CROOKEDEST St. Heh, i think i just liked saying it to irritate Hubs. Say it! You'll go on and on. After all, its the CROOKEDEST St !

ok ok. Before I irritate you all to bits. Look at it! Isnt it just so crooked? People would either ride in cabs or drive down the road themselves. Its a one way road, 40 degrees slope with 8 switchbacks - and its very well maintained by the people staying along it.

Will you look at the size of these strawberries?? ! DOUBLE the size of those we get at hypermarkets in Msia. And yes, they cost double if not triple too. Me being the typical tourist just couldnt resist and bought them by some fresh fruit stalls at Fisherman's Wharf. Reeaal Smart. The upside, they were the sweetest ever strawberries I've ever tasted. This was one of the moments that made my holiday Great. Sinking my teeth into humongous, sticky sweet strawberries.

Next, not so sweet a sight. Smelly, noisy sea lions that fight over drying space. Yep. Its a competitive world out there. Even for sea lions. Its kinda fun just standing there watching these great big sausages with fins. if ever a wet one lies on top of or takes up the space of a dry one, there'll be a great big honking or barking or whatever you call the sound sea lions make, and lots of pushing and shoving.

Hey! Don't you dare take up my space in the sun. I darn well need to get a good dry off before I get wet again. Eh?

Or that's what I imagine they would be saying. These sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf came here following the 1989 quake. Read more here or below:

View of Fisherman's Wharf - colourful and just fun to walk around and soak in the touristy atmosphere.

Must try here: Clam Chowder. The best place to have it is at Pier Market. Lots of shops sell it here, some claim to be the "original'. But the nice lady at the information center told us we should have it at Pier Market. We nodded our heads like enthusiatic tourists with a nugget of wisdom and headed there. Hubs was as usual in his "not hungry" mode. yea right. I never get fooled. Anyway! doesnt the pix just makes you drool? :)

EXCELLENT stuff. The steaming hot chowder was creamy and had that delightfully sweet taste of clams - not fishy at all, had lots of clam bits and crab bits too. mmmMMM served in a sourdough bread that was nice and chewy - great to dip into the soup.

Every last bit of chowder scrapped off!

San Francisco!

2007-10-12T17:00:00.000+08:00

Whoopsie - I have not been blogging for ages! Apologies to the few people who frequent my blog haha (my parents and a handful of friends :P). I had the unexpected chance to go to the US as my hubby had to go there for work so we thought, hey - accomodation's gonna be free for 2 weeks so why not? I had my visa done and before i knew it, we were off on our first trip to this great country.

We stoppped over at San Francisco. At first we were torn between LA or San Fran. Lots of ppl told us to go to the latter as it would be more scenic. (besides, my hubby wouldnt be able to stand outdoor themepark rides. scares the daylights outta him heh heh *shhhh) So San Fran it was! And we didnt regret it ONE BIT!

I can say that to date, this is one of the most beautiful cities I've been too. hmmm i've been to Paris, Rome and several asian cities but the charm that enveloped San Fran just really got me. This city is a mix of beautiful quaint buildings, stretches of roads that roll up and down, dotted with lush greenery, covered by clear blue skies and surrounded by great food!

Of course we sat on the famous trams of San Francisco. You can see the Alcatraz at the background below.

Hubby was talking about this chocolate shop located at the end of the touristy Fisherman's Wharf non stop since he read about it. So obviously that was the first place we hit to keep him quiet or I'd never hear the end of it. There we are - Ghirardelli Square. Finally I had some peace.

hooray for someone!

We ordered the 'must order items' like the World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae and Decadent Drinking Chocolate. Yummers! It was sooo c-h-o-k-a-l-a-t-e-y !!! not your regular chocolate that just tastes sweet. Every drop of that thick, gooey, fudgey chocolate is HEAVEN! and The Drink was so rich, creamy and smooth - *drooollll* If ever there was a sundae and drink of the gods, these would be it.

We walked along the wharf area and stopped for dinner to sample their fresh dungeness crab. This was a let down though. the crab portion was small, flesh was dry and almost non-existent. So no pic for it here. Ha. But here is a pix of a wannabe dungeness crab.

So ends the first day of our stay - More coming up!

Happy Birthday Teej!

2007-09-16T13:38:00.000+08:00

We had a surprise birthday get together for Teej this year. Thanks to WL who got us a really 'unique' cake. Trust her to know where to get these stuff. :P Sorry but I'm not gonna post a more 'detailed' pix of the cake here as my parents and some 'underaged' kids read my blog. Hahah suffice to say, it isnt your regular birthday cake. Cake's such as these are known as 'Designer Cakes' but they are not all naughty lah. Doesnt come cheap too (read that Teej? heh)

Anyhoo, I am sure he's a happy man. Ya? Are you still keeping the figurines to display to everyone?

Sabah Maiden Trip (Part 3)

2007-09-12T23:00:00.000+08:00

3rd day. We headed to Poring Hot Spring, about 45 mins drive from KK park. Here's wat greeted us at the entrance.

ok.. Mamut sounds like Maut - a malay word which means 'D_E_A_T_H' - great. Well, no fear for the tough guys.

Hmm if it were up to me, I would have made the whole place more 'natural' looking with wooden tubs to soak in - not the tiled ones they used... urgh, looked like stained bath tubs which were not cleaned it ages. I actually came here to walk on the canopy walk. We had to pay RM5 if we wanted to take photos from the canopy walk. Hmph! So we didn't lah. Anyway I was scared stiff all the time up there, my arm muscles were aching coz I was so tensed up. Not a pleasant walk for the faint hearted.

BUT we did stumble upon a gem of a restaurant. Located just opposite Poring:

.
You must try their Special Mee Goreng! Only RM6.00 for that yummilicious meal. The noodles were springy and nice - very flavourful! The pix does it justice! Heh.

Next, we took a drive to Kundasang War Memorial. A fort with 4 beautiful gardens built to commemorate the soldiers that died in Sabah during the Japanese occupation. It also remembers our people who died trying to help the POWs. Read more here

Its raining MAGGOTS

2007-09-09T19:30:00.000+08:00

I'm suppose to record te 3rd part of my Sabah trip but just had to put this up now.

Yes, its literally true. It rained maggots in my office last Friday. Let me go thru the sequence of events
Mon: There was a stench in our office in the evening. I was quite sure it was a dead rat.
Tues: No more smell! Gosh, so we all thought that was that.
Wed: Flies spotted zooming around in our rooms. I KILLED one haha! In the evening, my colleague swatted another.
Thurs: PEACE
Fri: 10am Department meeting in the meeting room. I sat at this one particular spot near the
aircond.
: 11am. My colleague had a meeting with her supplier in the same room. Something dropped
from the ceiling. They thought it was dust.
: 12.45pm. The usual tah-pau bunch was about to settle in the meeting room when there were shrieks
: 13 creepy, gross disgusting large maggots crawling on the carpets!!!

Arrrggghhhhh!!!! There were queer brownish spots on the meeting table. We then realised it was the juice from the maggots coz upon closer inspection, you could actually see their squirming trails. Dropped onto the table, crawled and plopped onto the floor. G_R_O_S_S! And the spot where i sat was one of the ones where they landed!!! Arrggghhhh i was just hours away from a traumatic experience of having maggots landing on me!

2 of my braver colleagues went into the room and sprayed Baygon and all other sorts of bug spray but they didnt even stun the maggots! They just kept on crawling towards the door. In the end, we (or rather they. I just stood, stared and provided the sound effects) resorted to more barbaric means, scooped them into newspapers and crushed the living daylights out of them. One of my colleague said it was quite satisfying to squish it. I don't know what's more gross.

We discovered that there was a dead rat after all.. They must have burst from the rat's dead body that morning.

I'm going to try to have my dinner now.

Sabah: Maiden Trip (Part 2)

2007-08-19T14:43:00.000+08:00

On the 2nd day, we headed to Kota Belud - a small town located north of Kinabalu park. The journey took us roughly 1 1/2 hours. Hubby wanted to go to this town as it was a Sunday and the locals gather together only on Sundays to sell their wares. Market Day is known as "Tamu" (meeting place).

There werent many interesting stuff there actually and it was a disappointing trip. Apart from the few stalls selling local fruits, kueh and handy crafts, the rest were selling typical pasar malam items like T-shirts, jeans, slippers, shoes, hair accessories! Goodness, i thought Tamu was suppose to be a showcase of the unique heritage from the local tribes but the whole thing just ended up being swallowed by commercialism.

Hubby was intrigued by this exclusive area at a far, away corner.

Its old womenfolk selling homegrown TOBACCO. Dunno why he found it so fascinating. They were all giving him the eye while he was busy snapping photos. Is it legal to sell homegrown tobacco? hmmm

Anyway, one thing I don't regret though is this:

Tarap! A local fruit that's unique to Borneo. Looks like a cousin of Cempedak. Its flesh is milky, sweet and soft. YUM! Cheap too! An average sized fruit would cost between RM1-RM2! How's that for a nutritious meal?

On the way back, we dropped by a row of stalls along the road. My mum and I ended up buying rattan baskets - guess no matter where I go, I must end up buying a 'handbag' haha.

We didnt do much the rest of the day. Basically just walked around in Kinabalu park and rested.

Here's a pix of the Hill lodges in Kinabalu park. Beautiful little houses - small I think, but with a magnificent view of the Kinabalu mountain! One of the park rangers mentioned that Europeans would come and stay in these lodges for several months to do bird watching.

Wow - when would the day come when i'd be able to go holidaying for months?

Sabah: Maiden Trip (Part 1)

2007-08-18T11:59:00.000+08:00

This trip marks the very first time my parents would step on board an airplane. Hence the momentous occasion captured above. At an age when even kids travel (sometimes on their own) in airplanes, it has taken my parents little more over half a century to make this journey.

There were no panic attacks during take off. They certainly enjoyed the airplane food. I guess the first few times are always fun, being served while flying several thousand feet up in the air.

We rented a car and had a quick turn around Kota Kinabalu town. Small and easily covered if you don't take the city traffic into consideration. Weather was hot hot HOT!

First up: Little Italy! Apparently THE place where locals and foreigners head to for authentic italian fare. Its located just opposite Wisma Merdeka. Lots of blogs warned that it would be crowded. We arrived slightly past lunch time so it wasn't packed.

Hmmm scanned the menu. Its pretty complicated and offers lots of varieties that i've never heard of. Hmm.. and I thought i knew italian food pretty well. We weren't that hungry so we settled for just a few choices. The thing that caught my eye was this:

Its called Schiacciatina. Looks good eh? Goes great with the eggplant lasagne we ordered - just as the waiter recommended - yum!

Onwards. We moved out of KK town, using the coastal route towards Likas. Beautiful scenery.

We drove an auto Wira 1.5 so you can imagine what an a-r-d-u-o-u-s journey it was once the road got steeper. Overtaking was almost impossible, unless you want to risk a head on collision.

The journey from town to Kinabalu Park took approx. 1 1/2 hours with breathtaking views of the valley.

I booked us at Sutera Sanctuary Lodge, Kinabalu Park as I think my parents would prefer staying in highlands rather than at sweaty beach resorts. Though it was hot throughout the journey, it was immediately cool when we entered Kinabalu Park.

We stayed at Nepenthes Lodge - 2 bedrooms, pantry and living area complete with a fireplace and ASTRO. (important to my hubby).

Great view from the balcony. You can almost see peak of Kinabalu mountain on clear mornings.

We had dinner at Liwagu restaurant, within the park itself and just a minutes' walk from Nepenthes.

Food was surprisingly good and affordable with ala carte Asian delicacies ranging from RM12-RM14 (served with steamed rice). Portions are pretty large too. My dad ordered Chicken Curry even though he was having a persistent cough. According to him, spicy food is good for coughs and colds. A-Hem.
Beef & Veg Hotpot and Ginger Chicken was tasty. Tom Yam soup was only so so - i prefer the clear version, not reddish and made the mistake of having it with mihun which got soggy while I was taking pics :(

Otherwise, service was good with friendly staff.

We finished the first night off at our lodge with a warm cosy fire and hot coffee :)

POTTERing around

2007-07-25T22:25:00.000+08:00

I guess I don't need to say much as enough has been said in the world wide web, newspapers etc. Potter here, Potter there, Potter everywhere.

Just like the average kiasu (translated to: scared to lose) Malaysian, I got caught up in the hype. Honestly, I knew the book was coming out in July a long time ago (who can ignore the buntings and posters in major bookstores enticing you to actually PRE-ORDER), but I wasn't really that bothered... until the last few days to the world wide release.

Good grief.

It's POTTER MANIA!!!

I don't know what came over me but i just couldn't wait. EVERYone was talking about it - the internet was full of stories covering this last book - Rowling's comments, reader's comments, online bookstores 'accidentally' releasing the books, spoilers, etc.. I actually searched and scanned through papers and the internet to read more! Advertising even in the last few days sure builds up the hype that's one thing i gotta say. The big, mean hypermarts even jumped in, taking advantage of the situation and knocking down the price to RM69.90 vs the recommended retail price of RM109.90. Hey! Even the first few Harry Potter books were going for as low as RM19.90! I bought them at double the price!! Grrrrr. So the 4 major bookstore chains is Malaysia made a stand.

Price drama aside, its pretty obvious I spent the whole Sunday at home trying to finish the book. Its a massive 607 pages.... I managed to finish 500+ by end of the day, packed it to work the next day and read before 9am (ahem) and continued during lunch (ahem - i work seriously during my working hours) then rushed home and finished the rest. Some ppl I know finished the whole book in 5 hours straight. Jeepers. Can a person actually do that? Maybe they did speed reading.. or just jumped to the last 100 pages.

After finishing the book, I must say that I actually experienced a feeling of err... emptiness? sadness? I don't know what you call it. No don't worry, the ending isnt sad. It's just that I've been reading Potter all thru the 7 books and i think the story is pretty amazing. Now, just like that, snap! it's ended. Booo hoooo :(

I've really enjoyed reading all the 7 books. What a journey. There's nothing quite like having a good read and getting lost in the story for a bit (not escapism here). It's just like a good movie, where in those few precious hours, I actually felt like I was standing right there, being part of a great story unfolding.

Man.

Good old Minced Pork, Potatoes & Mushrooms

2007-07-18T21:23:00.000+08:00

Whoopsie, haven't had much time to plan my cooking for the week... So ended up cooking regular dishes... nothing unique or new. But sometimes, we just wanna have good old tried and tested recipes yeah? :)

This is one of my favourite dishes. Easy to cook, using very common ingredients. I like pork, potatoes and oyster mushrooms so I just throw them all together in this dish *grin*. I'm pretty sure there are many better or correct ways to cook this style but this is my style!

Minced pork - not very healthy coz you don't really know what goes into the mince but oh well.. Add salt, pepper, sesame oil and some cornstarch. Leave for about 5-10 minutes. Slice up potatoes and lightly stir fry until edges are slightly browned. Set aside. Use the oil and stir fry some garlic, then add the pork. Break them up into pieces. Add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, water and some cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Add oyster mushrooms and the potatoes. Simmer for a bit until potatoes are soft.

Yum when eaten with rice :)

Lemon-Butter Garlic Sauce

2007-07-10T22:11:00.000+08:00

After the previous disastrous attempt with pork Chinese style, I needed to build my confidence back before I totally give up on cooking :P. I ear-marked or more accurately, web-marked this site last weekend to try with the salmon steak in my freezer. Looked pretty easy and I was keen to try different sauces for my favourite fish :)

Doesnt the sauce sound simply divine in its simplicity?

I got it from Elise Simply Recipes - one of the new sites I added to my favourites list. Its a great sauce to accompany your favourite seafood.

Recipe:
- 1/2 cup clam juice (goodness wat's this? I used Know chicken cubes hee hee)
- 1/2 cup dry sherry (er, i omitted this but i read that it should be ok to substitute with white wine)
- 1/2 cup whole milk (this i have!)
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic ( i used a lot more )
- 1 Tbsp minced shallots (this too)
- 1/2 bay leaf (Substituted with dried Parsley)

- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp flour

- 3/4 pounds unsalted butter

- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Me being me after coming back from work and starving, didnt follow the measurements. Just went by ear. I guess when it comes to cooking, the exact measurements arent really that necessary to follow. I usually just taste and go along. Mentally converting cup measurements to gms and mls just puts me off - arrggghhh no figures without calculators or my excel please! haha ( I dont have a proper cup measurer yet..)

Reduce first 6 ingredients and cook on medium heat. In another pan, prepare the roux.
(I'm learning a new word everytime I blog. Before you pronounce it in your head as it spells, stop! Its pronounced as 'rue'. Roux is apparently the basis of 3 of the MOTHER sauces in French classical cooking. Wow, my hubby better appreciate this sauce. High class stuff going on here. hee hee)
Sorry back to where I was. How to prepare the basis of a Mother French sauce! Heat 1 Tbsp butter in a saucepan on medium heat until foamy. Sprinkle in the flour and stir with metal whisk until well combined. Be careful not to brown/burn the mixture.
Add reduced mixture to the roux, stir quickly to incorporate. This was fun. As Elise said, the roux bubbled up at this point. Continue adding and whisking to incorporate.
Lower heat. Whisk in the last batch of butter, add lemon juice, salt and pepper

For the salmon, I just rubbed it with a bit of pepper and salt, wrapped in aluminium foil and popped it into a preheated oven for 10 mins.

Rating: 7.5/10 from me! I'll be trying out with sherry if it isnt too expensive in the near future :)

Lots of leftover. Hubby doesnt quite appreciate salmon goodness knows why, so I'm having his share for lunch tomorrow.

A Whole Pot of Pork

2007-07-09T22:22:00.000+08:00

down the drain...

boo hoo... i was so optimistic that my Char Yoke dish would come out okay. My mother-in-law bought the right cut of pork for me, dried black fungus plus the reddish bean sauce. Everyone has been telling me its easy to make, I dont even need to do slow braising.

Never has anything turned out so horrendously wrong wrong wrong. Then again, I fare pretty badly when it comes to Chinese dishes. Sigh... totally demotivated. I don't know what went wrong but the whole thing came out so salty! I only seasoned the meat with a bit of pepper and salt. And just a teaspoon or less into the entire pot but when i tasted it - it was horrible! I pushed the panic button and kept adding hot water. Wrong move! The whole thing still came out salty and tasteless. Gross.... URgh.

Thank god MIL had extra briyani and kurma or hubby and I would have starved to death tonight.

No photos this round. Just can't bring myself to deceive myself even though I'm pretty sure /i could hv taken some pretty good shots.

Ratha Chicken Curry

2007-07-07T21:50:00.000+08:00

I'm sure many of you have heard of this place. Whenever hubby and I are free or if i havent exceeded my petrol allowance (heh) or if it gets really hot, we'll take a drive up to Gohtong Jaya for the cool air AND for Ratha's famous chicken curry.

Ratha curry style is thin and soupy but it packs a WALLOP! Every spoonful is flavourful and spicy (and slightly on the salty side), and it goes great with rice or roti canai. Hubby will keep scooping the curry and we end up fighting for the last few spoonfuls! If we could lick the bowl dry, i think we would! haha! The chicken meat is pretty tender but this varies, we've found it to be dry sometimes.

The chicken curry costs ~ RM3.80 per piece and it comes with lots and lots of gravy as they know ppl love to flood their food with it :) They are also famous for Fish Head curry but hubby and I find it just so-so.

Ratha's original branch is in Raub old town.

Broccoli, Asparagus & Pork Pasta

2007-07-02T22:18:00.000+08:00

Weekends are way to short. I wish we only had to work 4 days instead of 5. Those who work 6-day weeks, that's really really sad.. To me, relaxing is having an ENTIRE day, all 24 hours of it with absolutely nothing to do except eat, sleep, maybe try out a new recipe, watch my favourite series and read blogs. Heh. It would be so productive.

Today is horrible, dreaded Monday, which explains how I started the way I did. Thank goodness its almost over. Once you get through Mondays, you look forward to Wednesdays and then the week really starts to look BRIGHTER. That's how i get through my weeks... every week. Don't get me wrong. I like my job but it takes up 10-12 hrs of my day and that's a lot of time to do something you gotta do. But, a job's a job and it brings in the dough for me to do the things I wanna do so o-k-a-y.... I shall bear with it.. for the next 25 years... urgh.

Onwards to more cheerful topics! I can proudly say I whipped up my very own pasta dish this time round! Totally originaI. I bought a bunch of asparagus the other day. This is an interesting veg. Did you know an asparagus spear can grow up to 10 inches in 24 hours? WOW! I'll bet lotsa ppl would wanna learn its growth secret. hee hee.

Tips on picking asparagus - the larger the diameter, the more tender it is. Go for those with firm spears and compact tips.

I had brocolli in my fridge and a can of luncheon meat (very useful - a must in every kitchen). Heated up some olive oil, pan fried the luncheon meat till just slightly burnt at the sides. Set aside. In the same pan, saute the asparagus and broccoli for a few mins. Add in the luncheon meat, a dash of sea salt and pepper. Cook pasta till al dente in a pot of boiling water with salt. Toss together and Voila! A perfectly healthy meal.

Verdict: 7/10! Luncheon meat tastes better than bacon or ham any day!

Honey Sauce Chicken

2007-06-26T22:30:00.000+08:00

This recipe is from famous Amy Beh at Kuali.

Recipe:
- chicken wings (i used thighs coz i have not tried cooking with this cut yet, yea can u imagine?)
- garlic
- shallots (omited coz didnt hv any)
- ginger
- 3–4 cili padi or bird’s eye chillies (substituted with red chillies)
- oil
- toasted sesame seeds (omited this as well hee hee)

Marinade
-1 tbsp ginger juice
-1 tbsp oyster sauce
-1 tbsp light soy sauce
-¼ tsp salt
-½ tsp pepper
-1 tsp sugar

Honey sauce – (combined)
-1 tbsp oyster sauce
-2 tbsp light soy sauce
-4 tbsp honey
-2 tbsp sugar
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper
-150ml water

Massage chicken well with marinade. Leave overnight.

Deep-fry chicken until golden brown. (i pan fried instead which isnt such a good idea but i really didnt want to eat deep fried food)

Heat wok with oil, saute shallots, ginger and garlic. Add in chillies and pour in combined honey sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil.

Return pre-fried chicken to the wok. Cover and cook over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until sauce is reduced.

Garnish with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds.

Verdict: The sauce was excellent!!! Hubby and I give it a 7/10.

It was very flavourful, with just the right hints of sweetness from the honey, followed by a spicy tinge from chillies and pepper, well rounded off by the oyster sauce. Mmm mmmm....(sounds like me doing my job describing fragrances). I kept scooping up the ginger and garlic pieces which were soaked in the sauce. yum! Prepare for stinkbombs tomorrow everyone! Heh.

The chicky however was grossly bloody... grrr that's why I hate cooking chicken with bones. If you noticed, most of my other dishes use chicken fillets or chicken breast meat. I can never get it right with a chick and its bones. It is just because its undercooked? Mom! How to avoid bloody chickies? Do I just need to cook it until its really well done?

Brussels Sprouts & Leek?

2007-06-21T22:11:00.000+08:00

Was thinking of a new veg to cook and brussels sprouts came to mind! I love these little green balls! They resemble mini cabbages don't they? And they have such a vibrant green colour that makes my picture look good haha!

Surfed around for ways to cook. hmmm looks like the common ang moh style is to steam them. This method will help prevent overcooking as they will turn bitter and release sulphur when overcooked. I decided to do a quick stir fry with leeks. Can you imagine - 10 years ago i would have made a face at such a combination... yelch. (Brussels sprout was once Britain's most hated vegetable, I don't know about leeks though)

However, I think age or maturity helps you to learn to appreciate the different aspects of things in life, in this case brussels sprouts. ahem. (my hubby didn't like the dish so that's saying sumthin heee)

There were some recipes that combined these 2 vegetables together so it shouldnt go so bad. I just cut the leek into thin slices, stir fried them, then added the halved brussels sprouts. Add salt to taste. Dish them up quickly when the sprouts turn a brighter green or suffer the taste of sulphur! Cooking certainly has its hazards.

Some tips: When selecting, go for small sprouts with tight heads. Apparently small sprouts are more tender and the tight head indicate freshness. Also, cut of a bit of the base off and discard the outer, older leaves.

Verdict: Not bad (6.5/10). The leek gave a slight meaty taste - I'm not sure if it does that when its stir-fried though. And the brussels sprouts were slightly bitter and sweet. I didnt get the nutty flavour which they say comes out when its cooked correctly. I do like its crunchy texture and felt a sense of satisfaction that i was doing a big favour to my bowel movement (its green and leafy and high in fibre)

Potato Chow Down!

2007-06-20T23:14:00.000+08:00

Tell me one person you know who doesnt like potatoes. They gotta be weird. Hahah!
Everyone loves potatoes! They're super versatile, tastes great fried, baked, mashed, boiled; in creamy or clear soups, curries, stir-fries, the list goes on!

This recipe is originally called Rustic Potato Chowder from 101 cookbooks.

Recipe:
8 to 10 slices Bacon
extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions,
chopped 3 shallots, (whoops, didnt hv this so i just omited it)
chopped 4 cloves garlic,
chopped 4 cups diced potatoes
salt & pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 cups milk
1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated (i substituted with Parmesan)

Pan fry bacon until browned and crispy. Cool and chop into small pieces. Put aside.
Heat up the olive oil and saute the onions, shallots, and garlic for 5 mins, or until the onions start to get soft.
Add potatoes and a teaspoon of salt and saute for ~ 2 mins.
Add mustard and milk. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the soup thickens and the potatoes are soft.
Throw in the cheese, another dash of salt and pepper.
Sprinkle with the bacon.

You can also make this into a pot pie. Roll out some Pampas pastry, cut into desired size and cover your little bowl with it. Poke several air vents for the steam to escape. Pop into oven and wait eagerly for it to turn a golden brown. :)

Rating: Hubby said 7/10! I say problie 6/10 coz the milk taste was a bit overpowering... I used HL milk so maybe its taste is a bit strong. Also, the potatoes were quite a lot and as I made this on a Sunday and put into the fridge for the next day's dinner, the liquids were kinda soaked up by the potatoes so there wasn't enough 'soup' or should I say 'sauce'. I may add some chicken stock to counter the 'milky' taste and problie chicken bits for more 'texture' to the soup.

The pot pie I like best is Dome's Chicken and Mushroom pie.. , but it is soOOoo expensive. I remember the good old days when it was ~ RM17.. now its RM22 or 25. !!! hmph. this is another driving factor for me to cook my own food. Prices are just escalating everywhere.

Chocolate Banana Cake

2007-06-17T12:59:00.000+08:00

I love this picture!

What are the odds of my hubby coming home and looking around expectantly, popping his head into this picture just as I was snapping it? *grin* The best thing i like about the the pix is it really says a lot about my hubby HAHAaha (he hardly reads my blog so i'm pretty safe here heeeee) He's always snooping and sniffing around when I'm cooking, pinching here and there and always enthusiastic to try anything I whip up. He's my number one fan! (or victim hee hee). I think I like to cook coz I like to feed him and see that satisfied look on his face when his tummy is stuffed.

I'm still trying variations of Chocholate cake recipes. This recipe is from Baking 911. It's suppose to be a 'sinfully rich and moist cake'.

Recipe:
Dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
Whole-grain wheat pastry flour (couldnt find this anywhere so I just used all purpose)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup lightly mashed bananas ( I used pisang emas)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup lowfat buttermilk (I substituted with 1 cup milk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease cake tin.
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In another bowl, with a hand held mixer, beat the wet ingredients for about 1 minute, until frothy.
Pour wet ingredients into the dry and quickly combine with a large spoon. Do not overmix.
Pour into cake tin and bake for about 25 minutes.
Cool in pan on wire cake rack for 10 minutes before removing.

I STILL have not mastered the art of baking. SIGH. It seems that once you get something right, something else goes wrong! This time my cake rose properly with very minimal cracks. Hurrah! I was pretty happy coz my past cakes had crackes and peaks - very volcano looking :(

It looked a bit dense, not velvety and crumbly when I sliced thru. I think it's coz I didnt use the specified flour. Apparently whole wheat pastry flour is low- gluten so it can give a more tender outcome. Oh dear, I always find these things out the hard way :(.

The taste also wasnt as banana-rish as I liked. My bananas were pretty ripe so it could be the type of banana I used. Maybe next time I'll try the large Montel kind. Hmmm and it wasnt sweet enough. Clever old me cut down about 1/4 of the sugar coz I read other banana cake recipes where ppl commented that they cut down on the sugar and the cakes still came out just right. So I thought to cut down here as well coz the bananas would be pretty sweet already. Anyway, I sprinkled icing sugar on the cake and this gave it the sweetness it needed.

All in all I give myself only 5/10 until I try again with the proper ingredients.

Delicious Chicken Curry

2007-06-13T21:17:00.000+08:00

Mmmm... this an all Malaysian favourite.. chicken curry... Goes great with rice, roti canai, even day old toasted bread! Mmmm a bowl of this spicy dish just makes my day. The proper, "homecooked' way to cook it would require too many spices, lots of preparation and time - all of which I am not able to indulge in so...

Heh, a quick fix for working girls like me :) Instant Chicken Curry paste from Cosway's very own brand. Yummers! Its not new but I was involved in the tasting sessions that eventually lead to its launch so yes, I contributed greatly to this yummy mix heh!

2 thumbs up from my dad too. Apparently even better than our famous local brand Brahims. My dad's been cooking our family's chicken curry since i could count to ten (or more?) so he should know *wink*

Only rm3.50 for a 200g pack For a big pot of delicious chicken curry FOR the whole family in 20 minutes flat! (almost) Wahh every housewives' dream eh?

All you need to add is just water, santan (coconut milk) and potatoes. I used milk instead of santan - a healthier alternative :)

Anyone wants a packet to try?

Deep Fried Spicy Chicken

2007-06-10T22:03:00.000+08:00

I usually try to avoid deep fried food for my cooking but baking them takes too long and too much effort. I'm also slightly bored with stir frying so wat the heck, deep frying just once in a while wouldnt clog my arteries right?

Used Amy Beh's recipe just as a guide coz as usual I didnt have all the ingredients so I just improvised here and there. heh

Recipe:
- Chicken wings
- Oil for deep frying

Marinade
- onions
- garlic
- oyster sauce
- ginger juice (actually, i never know what ppl mean by this so usually i just chop the ginger into thin slices)
- Worchestershire sauce
- brown sugar
- salt

You'll be wondering which ingredient is suppose to give it a spicy kick? Well, the recipe actually called for lemon grass, curry powder, curry leaves, fish sauce and tumeric powder (!! ok i cheated a lot but I those spices are really not the usual ones I use in my preferred cooking style... hmmm.. maybe i should start learning more dishes with these spices .. after all, I am a Malaysian... )

Anyway, for the spicy bit, i used this--->

Found it at Cold Storage, Japanese section. Actually I think its just chilli powder with some other seasonings. ermm wasnt that spicy or maybe I didnt add enough.

Combine all the marinade ingredients and rub them into the chicky and leave it overnight in the fridge. Heat up oil and deep fry the chickies! Pat all over with paper towels to ease the guilt.

Updated Pumpkin Soup

2007-06-07T22:16:00.000+08:00

Just made this golden-licious soup again (wow did i coined a new word there? hee hee) and remembered to take a pix this time round. Recipe is here. This creamy soup is best eaten with warm, freshly toasted crusty bread with generous slatherings of buttah!

Hmm my pictures are all rather dark coz the lightings in my home are all yellow and I only manage to cook at nights. Oh dear, makes me so envious of all the other foodie blogs with cheery, bright pictures. Natural lightings are the best aren't they?

Shell pasta with Zucchini Swirls in Cream

2007-06-04T21:25:00.000+08:00

One easy peasy pasta dish that can be served up in a jiffy! Got this recipe from Female appetite magazine. Its a light cream based pasta that's easy on the stomach. Great for those who who fear getting 'jelak' (ermm wat's the English word for 'jelak'? stuffed? creamed out?) after a few bites.

Hey Alicey, try it out and tell me how it goes :)

Recipe:
- half packet shell pasta (250g)
- 3 large zucchinis, or more :)
- garlic
- Light cream
- Parmesan cheese (1/4 block)
- red chillies
- butter
- salt
- pepper

Use a potato peeler and peel the zucchinis into thin ribbons. Don't use the middle seeded part. Heat butter in a pan and throw in the chopped garlic. Saute over low heat for about a minute or until fragrant. Add zucchinis, stir for another 5 mins. Stir in chillies, then light cream. Add salt and pepper. Simmer sauce for one min.
Cook pasta in a pot of rolling boiling water. Add salt into the water. Cook till al dente. Drain.
Top pasta with the zucchini sauce and add shaved Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Note: The baguette at the back is not part of the dish. My hubby plans to dip it into some leftover rendang which his aunt made. Its a killer! i'm gonna pick it up from her ONE DAY.

Baked salmon with pasta

2007-06-02T19:18:00.000+08:00

I really love salmon :) This time I baked it instead of pan-frying it. Pretty simple recipe.
- Salmon
- Lemon
- Garlic
- Dash of pepper and salt
- Olive oil

Preheat oven to 180 deg Celcius.
Rub salmon with just a pinch of salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon juice over it or you can place lemon slices on the salmon. Wrap it in aluminium foil and seal the ends well. Pop into the oven and bake for ~ 10-12 mins or until flesh flakes off easily.

Serve with pasta. This time I cheated and used instant pasta sauce :( I know, i know.... But i bought this sauce some time back and thought I'd better use it before it starts moulding haha.. It wasnt that good - Leggo's Alfredo Sauce. I thought it would be nice and creamy but oddly, it was on the sour side! (no, it's not expired yet)

What a let down.. and I even used my fresh button mushrooms to go with it. Oh well...