Yesterday, I attempted to cook something new for my family.  It was my first try at making the “Three Emperor Steamed Eggs” dish, something I’d first eaten back in Ipoh when I was a little girl.  It’s called “Sam Wong Tan” in Cantonese, a dish that sounds VERY royal, but is very very simple to cook indeed.

Last weekend, the owner of the organic shop I frequented gave me one century egg and one salted duck egg as a “sample” to try, so I figured I might as well cook this dish.

I consulted my Mom and also checked the internet for tips and tricks to perfect this dish.  The most difficult part was to get the mixture smooth and just the right texture, not too hard and not too soft.  And of course, even more tricky was to get my picky eater of a toddler to eat it.

Anyway, here’s what I used:

• 2 chicken eggs
• 1 century egg
• 1 salted duck egg
• minced pork, marinaded with soy sauce, dash of pepper and some sesame oil

First I whisked the chicken eggs, and then according to the tip I got from Flavor Explosions, I added in hot water to the mixture, while still whisking it.  I then sliced the century egg and arranged it together with the duck egg in the steaming bowl (I used my Corningware dish because I do not have a stainless steel plate).  Next, I poured the minced pork at the base of the dish, followed by the egg mixture on top.

The mixture is then steamed on LOW heat to ensure even steaming.  Before serving, I garnished with fried shallots.

For my first attempt, I would say it is very satisfactory.  The texture was very Japanese-tofu-like, and very smooth.  Most importantly, my *guests* all gave their thumbs up!

Have you cooked this dish before, and do you have any other tips you’d like to share with me?

Anyway…one of my must-haves is the Canning Garden chee cheong fun, now relocated to Central restaurant somewhere near Hotel Excelsior.  I ordered the small plate the first day and the day before I left, I ordered the large plate.  Tung-koo-chup chee cheong fun at its best…it just doesn’t get any better than this.

I didn’t miss out on the dim sum either.  There are so many dim sum shops in Ipoh, we were definitely spoilt for choice as to which one to choose.

And then, definitely NOT to be missed, the chicken koay teow (kai see hor fun) in Ipoh Old Town.  Kong Heng probably has the best kai see hor fun  around, and it was definitely a bowl to savor.  I was definitely sorry when I finished the last bits of my bowl.  Ipoh koay teow is still the smoothest in the world, and slurping up every bit is just plain delicious!

I also wanted to have the ever famous Caramel Custard from Thean Chun, located just right beside Kong Heng.  But apparently due to rivalry and whatnot, we are allowed only to order from Thean Chun, and bring the custard over to Kong Heng ourselves.  That being said, it was still well worth the effort (Thanks Mom!) and the smooth custard with the sweet-sweet caramel sauce drizzled all over it was just heavenly!

Of course, I didn’t forget to tar pow the famous Yee Hup Hiong Piah.  They’ve now made it halal, and the packaging is all done up nicely, like so…yum!

 Missed out several other types of yummy Ipoh food like the salt-baked chicken, beef stew, etc but there’ll be other times…

But fate must have had other ideas. 

As we walked towards the Japanese restaurant, something beckoned us as we passed a Vietnamese restaurant, just a few doors away.  I was drawn to the menu because it had a few of the Vietnamese stuff I love.

The name Du Viet sounded familiar, but we couldn’t quite remember where we had seen it before.  Most importantly, I checked to see if they had the Vietnamese Beef Stew dish, that Ethan loved back in the US.

Oh yes, they did…and they had other stuff too…

Like the summer rolls…

Tasted good, but there was something missing in the peanut sauce…

Hubbs had the dried noodles…

Verdict: Not enough fish sauce, and the noodles should be the Vietnamese vermicelli, instead of regular meehoon.

I, of course, ordered the beef broth noodles.  They didn’t have a whole lot of selection and customization available, though.  And I felt they could have added more basil.

Verdict: I’ve had better.  Broth was not thick enough, noodles were koay teow, when I was expecting the thinner Vietnamese vermicelli.

The highlight of our lunch, however, was the dessert.  My sister-in-law recommended their durian pancake, which, according to her, was to die for.

I thought I had gotten over durians, but when I put that spoonful of durian pancake in my mouth, it was just HEAVEN in one bite!  See how tempting it looks?

It’s like they took the durian, removed the seed, and replaced it with some whipped cream.  So it’s got some of the durian inside, mixed with the cream…the result was a SPLENDID dessert.  Now, we never got this in Vietnamese restaurants in the States…. Whatever it is, I LOVED it.

I would go to this restaurant again, if only to eat this dessert.

I have a newfound love for salads.  Not that I ever despised it before, but anyhow…I recently discovered that I can have a perfectly fresh, nutritious, balanced, organic, non-oily lunch and it’s absolutely healthy!

Best of all, I can be sure everything’s good because I make it and put whatever I want in it.

I foresee many many more of these lunches in the near future

By the way, lovin’ the French Dressing every single bit

Contrary to what you might think, these are NOT cherry tomatoes.  I served these for dinner last week and nobody knew what they were.

When I bought my free range chicken earlier that morning, the poultry lady asked me if I wanted the *unhatched* eggs they had found in the chicken.  Apparently that particular free range chicken was just about ready to lay eggs, and these orangey things were the eggs.  The poultry lady told me to just steam them and eat, which I did.

They actually taste quite good, smoother than egg yolks.  And they go really well with steamed rice.

Question is: would YOU eat them?

So when my hubby had a company function at Suffolk House, and the *spouse was invited*, I jumped at the opportunity.  With quite a heavy heart though, I had to leave my kids at the sitter’s for a few hours.

This is what Suffolk House looks like from the outside.  A gigantic bungalow with a huge expanse of land.

I’d read that Suffolk House served as the residence to many governors in Penang in the 19th century, especially, so it was certainly great to be in a mansion that had all that history behind it.

Anyway….enough about all that….

So when we arrived in the dining area, it was dimly and romantically lit…well, not exactly romantic, because it was not JUST the two of us, but there were other people from my husband’s team too.  But anyway, we were seated and given the menu to place our order.

We only had to select our entrée though, because the appetizers and dessert was already pre-ordered.  You read right, it’s appetizers in the PLURAL!  A whole long list 5 appetizers, but it being fine dining and all, I knew the servings would be minuscule.

First, we had poached baby oyster in saffron cream as amuse bouche.  It was served in a Chinese soup spoon, and I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but believe me when I say it was delicious!

Got pictures of some of the other appetizers though…can you spot the ONE piece of ravioli?

The last item on the appetizer list was the Tomato sorbet, which I didn’t quite like. I thought it tasted weird, hence no pictures
And this is what hubbs ordered for his main course:

I chose to have the steak..I guess I was swayed by the term “grass fed” in the description.

In conclusion, the lamb was the better choice, maybe because they made my steak well done instead of medium like I ordered.  But despite that the beef was tender and the potato cake was delicious!

Here’s our dessert.  We had not one, not two, but THREE different types of dessert, served in a longish plate with three sections.  Gotta love the plates they use here.

My favorite was the pear carambola cake.  Tasted a bit like cheese cake but with a hint of fruity flavor.  The photos turned out a little bit grainy though, because of the poor lighting.

It was a fantastic fine dining experience, although the funniest thing was that after the dinner, while we were walking out of Suffolk House, I noticed this sign:

Errr….can I say oooops?

Hannah seemed to love it though, so that was good.

But I was determined to rectify my error, and tried baking another loaf the following night, this time I used lukewarm water and omitted the salt.

Unfortunately, to my dismay, when I eagerly checked on the breadmaker the following morning (I left it to bake overnight), I realized that the mixture had not moved at all!  No rising was performed, no kneading was performed, and we definitely did NOT get a loaf of bread this time!

I thought I had somehow fixed the apparatus wrongly, so I tried again.  But then I discovered that when the breadmaker’s function showed KNEAD, the kneading arms of the breadmaker were just not moving!  In addition, the breadmaker did NOT heat up at all.  That was definitely NOT a good sign.

SIGH…I don’t know what’s wrong with it now.  It’s probably going back into storage today.

Guess I shall have to visit the bakery today to BUY a loaf of bread after all!

It only takes a moment to remind you of an experience.  And sometimes it takes a meal to bring back sweet memories.

It’s not exactly like the phố we had in the US, but it is a branch of one of the restaurants we used to frequent while we were there.  And while the menu might be slightly different, the taste is vaguely familiar.

It felt good.  And comfortable.

And my Ethan boy even said, “Wow…just like in the US!”

Saturday mornings always taste better when we start it off with a freshly homemade batch of pancakes.

…and don’t forget the maple syrup!

Let’s face it.  If I even have the remote-est chance of hosting a Chinese New Year reunion dinner in my home in the future, I had better learn how to cook Jiu Hoo Char, a very popular palatable Hokkien delicacy, that is never missing from any Hokkien household during Chinese New Year reunion dinner.  The fried cuttlefish dish that has shreds of carrot and turnip in it, is both visually appealing and tasty too, especially when wrapped with fresh lettuce leaves

Lately, hubby has been asking (more like *daring*) me to see if I can create this favorite dish.  It looked simple enough, although I have never cooked it before.  I had been forewarned that the preparation time would be way more tedious than the cooking itself.

So yesterday, I decided to give it a shot.  I had grated the carrots and turnip (bangkuang) the night before, so that saved me a lot of time.  I soaked the dried cuttlefish (jiu hoo) in balsamic vinegar for about 20 minutes before squeezing it dry.  And just as Hannah drifted off for her afternoon siesta, I quickly prepared the dish.

Not bad for a novice like myself, I would say.  Hubby gave his approval for it.

And when I was busy taking a picture of the dish, Ethan asked, “Mommy, you bought this?”

That certainly made my day. 

At the mere mention of carrot cake, most Penangites would verily point you to a certain famous bakery here (whose name I will not mention).  I have tasted the carrot cake there before, and while I do enjoy its moist-NESS and taste overall, there is just something missing from it.  I just didn’t know what.

And then just last year, I tasted the Carrot Brownie from another *secret* shop in Penang, and it was served with delicious cream cheese frosting.  Now if you know me well enough, you’ll know that I will melt faster than butter in a pan if you give me anything with cream cheese in it.  The brownie was very good, but because of it being a brownie, it lacked a little in terms of moist-NESS.

So when I stumbled on the Ultimate Carrot Cake recipe, I decided to give it a try to see how ultimate ULTIMATE really was.  Besides, it was a failproof way to get my toddler to eat carrots!

And it doesn’t just contain walnuts; the cake is jampacked with walnuts, raisins and pineapples too!

The whole process of making and baking the cake (including prep time) took me about 2 hours, minus the time taken to make the cream cheese frosting.  I baked the cake in the morning and allowed it to cool down.  I only made the cream cheese frosting at night after the kids had gone to bed.

For my first attempt at something I would call a HEALTHY cake, it was very moist, just the way I like it; PLUS the frosting complemented the cake in the best way possible.  Ethan only wanted the frosting part, but I managed to sneak in the cake for him too!  I have leftover frosting in the fridge too, so that might *encourage* him to eat more!

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and so I was certainly very pleased when hubby declared it was VERY good.

But only when the health and wellbeing of my family is concerned.

And when I cook, I want to make sure that the food I put on the table is tasty as well as healthy.  It’s not that I go out of the way to buy organic stuff, but I try to cook with organic produce whenever possible.  So when I discovered that the organic store I go to carries *organic* fish too, I knew I had to try that out for myself, given the fact that I was having a really hard time sourcing for fresh fish to cook (read: fish from the supermarket didn’t taste fresh at all, and I don’t fancy buying from the wet market where the fishmonger yells, “Ah Moi, ikan murah!”) Besides, I had never before heard of organic fish, so this was something interesting.

Anyway, the organic store only had one kind of fish: the Jade Perch imported from Australia, and it was frozen-packed.  The label stated the fish is organically grown, and contained Omega-3, EPA and DHA (magic words for any mother).

I chose the smallest fish and it cost about RM16.

The store owner recommended that I steamed the fish with miso sauce; again, something which I have not tried before.  I chose the brown rice miso…my first time cooking with miso (supposedly very good for *neutralizing* harmful radiation effects of people who spend a lot of time in front of the computer!)

I made a simple, nothing-fancy steamed fish, and garnished with spring onions when done.  The result was a tasty dish, with smooth-flesh fish.  The miso lent a unique distinct flavor to the fish, a taste I was very pleased with.  I might try using miso as a chicken marinade one of these days too.

Anyway, this was what the steamed fish looked like before it ended up in our tummies:

I bought another fish today, and am now deciding if I should steam it the regular soy-sauce style or Thai curry style

“Let your nose lead the way,” my friend had said after she gave me directions to get to the road Nancy Chong’s house is.

So when I was back in Ipoh during the recent Hari Raya Haji break, I stopped by to get some cake.

“No more extras today!” announced Nancy Chong curtly. 

Sadly, I left with only free smells of the butter cake and drool all over me.  Not even a single SLICE was available.

Until today.

My Mom came for a visit, so I specially requested Mom to get me one butter cake from Nancy Chong.  Turns out that my Mom actually KNOWS Nancy Chong personally, because she had ordered my first birthday cake and other birthday cakes from her before.

And suddenly, like the surprisingly heavenly whiff of freshly baked butter cake, it all came back to me.  The times when I was a little girl and I had followed my Mom to Nancy Chong’s house and had looked longingly at all the beautifully designed cakes, how the smell of her cakes had made me yearn for more…

And today, my Mom brought this cake all the way from Ipoh, colorful floral frosting and all.

Very sinful, temptingly sweet, but ooohhhhh so GOOD.

I call it a slice of marble butter cake heaven.  Now, now…stop licking the monitor will ya?

I have a feeling it will all be gone tomorrow…

Like how crowded the popular ngah choy kai stalls in Ipoh are, most patrons being out-of-towners stopping by for a quick bite.

Like how crunchy and succulent the ngah choy in Ipoh still is.  And always will be.  We were afraid we could not finish such a big plate, but that obviously was not the problem at all!

Like how tasty the chicken is, although we could very well tell it was extremely oily!  The combination of sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper and (I’m pretty darn sure) some secret magic ingredient made it all so worthwhile.

And as I mentioned earlier, some things will never ever change, and that is why my (unbiased) opinion is that Ipoh still serves the BESTEST koay teow ever.

Yes, some things just never change, and we love them all for their neverchangingness. But even more precious than the tastiest food in the world, the feeling of pride and joy when in the midst of a newborn will always remain unchanged too.

Last weekend, I met baby Caitlynn, newborn daughter to my brother and SIL.  The sight of a peacefully sleeping baby, oblivious to all the noise made by her brother and sibling, is truly a sight to behold.

Welcome to the world, baby Caitlynn!  I hope to be the your favoritest aunt in the whole wide world!

Oh, and speaking of things that never change, the malls in KL were all decked out in Christmas decorations too, as usual.  We were at The Curve and well, if you were not snapping pictures, you’ll really feel out of place!

Speaking of which…I need to go now,…cuz tonight we are setting up our tree!

I’ve always wondered why TGI Friday’s does not offer any special promotions on Fridays.  Anyways, when we came back from the States, we discovered that the 3-course meal had become a 2-course meal instead (maybe because most people cannot finish the entire 3 courses?)

I had stopped ordering the course meals since they removed the half ribs from the entrée selection, but the inclusion of the Southwest Adobo Chicken recently is making me rethink my decision.  Love the marinated herbs in it, love the sweet potato crips (shaped like fries actually) and love the hot hot Jalapeno sauce!  Lately the chicken was done a tad too dry though. 

However, I’d still recommend this choice to anyone ordering the 2-course meal.  I’m not complainin’..my kid loves this place, even though they don’t give out balloons anymore.

Oh by the way, did you notice that I chopped off my locks?  Had a concave bob done last Friday.  My iffiness about it disappeared when my tot exclaimed, “Mommy’s hair is BEEEYOOOOTEEEFOOL!!!!”

Oh, and the timing would be just perfect too, because chocolate cupcakes would be absolutely LOVELY to celebrate a fifth wedding anniversary

I saw this delightfully delicious chocolate cupcake recipe from Love and Olive Oil, and I knew I immediately must try it.  I was intrigued by the idea that the recipe calls for coconut milk and almond meal, and also that it did not contain any eggs!

The result is a sinfully moist, too-good-to-be-true yummy, and once-you-pop-you-can’t-stop kind of chocolate cupcakes that is (dare I say myself) hard to resist!  I made 24 mini cupcakes and 9 regular-sized cupcakes, but honestly, I prefer the mini ones.   They are just too convenient to eat! (but NOT very good for the waistline, I’m afraid!)

Love the vanilla-based frosting too.  I don’t know where to find vanilla beans here in Malaysia, so I substituted it with vanilla essence.  This is my maiden attempt at making frosting, and I am pleased to say that I am VERY happy with the results.  Might wanna jazz it up a bit with some colors in future…

At the end of it, I have a strong feeling this will ALSO be my go-to chocolate cake recipe.   Love it, love it, LURVE it!

Oh, and before I forget…Happy Anniversary, my Love!!!

Several people inquired how much the coconut jelly costs.  Initially I told them RM3.70 per coconut, but honestly I am not too sure now.

Scenario 1

My hubby buys 5 coconuts and was charged RM18.40 in total.  That comes up to RM3.68 per coconut.

Scenario 2

I get down from the car and buy 10 coconuts and was charged RM37.00.  That’s RM3.70 per coconut.

Scenario 3

I buy 5 coconuts and was charged RM17.40.  That amounts to RM3.48 per coconut.

So, you tell me how much it costs… buying 5 coconuts appears to be more cost effective compared to buying 10!  Whatever happened to bulk discounts?

Oh by the way, I forgot to mention one very important factor: in Scenario 2, I was dressed in a regular t-shirt and jeans, and in Scenario 3, I wore a V-neck tank top and knee-length pants.

And if you like coconut (like me)…

And if you like eating chilled desserts (like me)…

then you will LURVE this…

I wonder if we will have time to buy some more tomorrow…

Bravo to the Fatty Loh Chicken Rice store in Nagore Road, Penang for choosing paper instead of plastic!

Would have been even better if the spoon provided was non-plastic!

Hubbs and I went for a splendid lunch buffet last week, where I tasted crawfish for the very first time!  They look like prawns, don’t they?  Tastewise, it’s somewhere between that of a prawn and a crab.

This is how people eat crawfish:

• Remove the head of the crawfish.
• Press gently on its body through the shell and massage it, to ensure the meat is dislodged from it’s hard exterior.
• Bite on a small portion of the body, and with one swift deft motion, slide the meat out from its shell with your teeth.

And this is how I did it:

• Remove the head of the crawfish.
• Take apart part of the head still stuck on the body.
• Proceed to massage the body as instructed,
• Bite a small portion, and pull gently.
• When the meat did not budge, massage a little bit more.  Hands are all dripping with the juice of the crawfish now.
• Try biting and pulling again.  Didn’t work.
• Use fingers to peel off the shell from the body.
• Remove the piece of crawfish meat and put into mouth.
• Wipe fingers clean.

Anyway, why is a crawfish called a crawfish?  It’s not a fish…

Why don’t they call it a crawshrimp or crawprawn?  Eh?

I got these from Safeway upon the recommendation from my son’s daycaregiver.  The beans are labeled “12 beans for soup”.  Don’t they look colorful?

Boiled them in the pot for a while, and then right before serving, I brought the soup to a boil, added sliced tomatoes, 1 red bell pepper (if I were blogging this from Malaysia, I’d say “capsicum”), chopped scallions and some salt to taste.  Then I sprinkled some Italian seasoning.

The result is a colorful-looking soup which we had for dinner last night.  It’s perfectly healthy and it’s great for vegetarians too.  Hubby didn’t really like it though, but I did

So no…I didn’t check if the beans would grow into a giant beanstalk, but they sure make a splendid soup!  Now I wonder if I can get these from Malaysia…

When I was a little girl, Kentucky Fried Chicken were novelty meals.  The aroma of the fried chicken was heavenly and familiar and it meant some finger-lickin’ goodness was in store.

Last Friday, I tasted Kentucky Grilled Chicken for the first time.  Yup, not FRIED but GRILLED.  The telly has been screening these ads for so many weeks now, and there was only so much I could do to restrain myself from trying this *healthier* option.

In a bid to lure health-conscious consumers back into KFC (incidentally I learnt that it became KFC because the word FRIED in Kentucky FRIED Chicken needed to be dropped), KGC was introduced after two years of testing.  The selling point is that it contains less calories, less fat and less sodium than its *fried* predecessor. 

Original Recipe Chicken (varies per piece):
110-370 calories
7-21 g fat
290-1050 mg sodium

New Kentucky Grilled Chicken (varies per piece):
70-180 calories
4-9 g fat
160-440 mg sodium

(obviously the Hot and Spicy variety we have in Malaysia will have MANY MANY more calories, fat and sodium than the OR ones)

The verdict?  Well, I must say that I was slightly taken aback by how tiny the KGC pieces were.  It was almost as if free-range chicken were used!  I have never seend such minute chicken pieces in the US!  Tastewise, it did not have that fragrant OOMPH KFC always exudes, but it was definitely palatable.  Because it’s grilled, you don’t get that crispy skin though…but it FELT healthier.  However, if you’re talking *grilled* chicken, give me Nando’s anytime!  Hehe…

The set meal I had contained 2 pieces of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and instead of the bun we have in Malaysia, the set comes with a flaky crumbly buttermilk biscuit, which I absolutely LURVE!

I am not sure if KGC has come to Malaysian shores yet, but I would say it may not be a big hit there, given that people are more inclined to fall back on the comforting reassuring KFC they know and love.  Sure, they’ll try KGC one time at least, but Malaysian tastebuds would probably prefer the fried option.

Have I made your tummies rumble yet?

On Friday afternoon, when I saw these gorgeous blooms right outside my apartment, I knew it was a sign that GOOD things would come my way during the weekend.

…and I was right!!!

My family and I had a splendid and fulfilling American lunch on Saturday.  Believe it or not, this was the first time I had had an authentic American meal since I relocated here more than 6 months ago. We went to Applebee’s where they had the 2 for $20 deal (2 entrées + 1 appetizer for $20).

My parents shared one set, while my hubby and I shared another.  And everything was super delicious!

From the mozzarella sticks and boneless buffalo wings appetizers served with yummy ranch dressing down to the riblet basket, the steak and the fries, we thoroughly stuffed ourselves to the brim!  The photos of the ribs and buffalo wings don’t do them justice though…they certainly DO NOT taste as horrible as they look!

After lunch, we headed to the Gilroy Premium Outlets, where I managed to get TWO items I had been yearning for:

Item 1: Levi’s 501 in *most wanted* color

My hubby and I had been looking for this particular color of 501’s for the longest time.  We have seen it on sale a few times before, but we have never found our sizes available.  So when I saw the 501’s on sale for USD29.99, and I found the very color we wanted in my size, I could hardly believe it!  In fact, I don’t even know how to describe this color – it’s like a destructed washed dark blue, with a tinge of yellow and green, plus it has some *worn* parts which were put there on purpose.

Hubbs and I each got ourselves a pair, but unfortunately I can’t fit into mine yet

I’m giving myself a few more months…but this new pair is definitely inspiration for me to get into them soon!

Item 2: A brand new Coach!

I’ll be honest.  I had no intention of getting a Coach bag that day.  I had been into the Coach factory outlet before, and I did not really fancy the designs there then.

But that Saturday, I stepped in anyway, despite the long queue of people waiting to be let into the store.  Most of the items were on sale for 40-50% off the tagged price.  I weaved my way through the store pushing my baby stroller, and then suddenly I saw it: the little shoulder bag from the recent exclusive Coach Resort collection!

… and it was on SALE at a discount of 50% off the tagged price, whic was already more than 50% off the retail price.

I was torn between getting the shiny black one or the pink one (Punch), but in the end I chose the one in Punch, because it looked so stunning against my black coat.  Plus, I did not own a pink bag

This set me back USD54.99, when the original retail price was USD238.00.

Yes, I still can’t stop smiling.

Sinfully delicious…

Totally worth it…

And I feel absolutely NO guilt simply because it’s like I am doing cardio exercises the whole day long now that I am exclusively breastfeeding Hannah…

I’m just praying it doesn’t give me a sore throat!

***Rules***
1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious people to do the same thing and leave a comment on their bloggy tellin’ them ’bout it.

Okay, I have a confession…I sorted my folders in descending chronological order before I selected the picture, because I figured it would make more sense if I had a recent photo to describe.  Also, the actual SIXTH photo in that folder does not tell the story as well as the SECOND and FOURTH photo in that folder, and so I chose to show the 2nd and 4th photos because 2+4=6.

So there… that’s the rather authentic Japanese bento lunch my hubby and I had the glorious opportunity of partaking about a week or so ago.  We found this Japanese restaurant by chance when we were looking for a place to have lunch.  And we have no regrets.  I ordered the salmon teriyaki bento set (which also included tempura; one of them was broccoli tempura: a first for me!)  while hubbs ordered the mackerel bento with sashimi.  An odd observation I have had in Japanese restaurants in the US is that they do not have chawan mushi on the menu!

And knowing me, I just HAD to ask for additional wasabi to go with my meal!

I’m not tagging anyone for this, but y’all are welcome to flick this meme anytime you want!

Instead I had tarpowed the stew for dinner that day.

However, today I decided to try making my own Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo’ Kho). Hehehe…itchy hands make for a busy kitchen, eh?  I googled for the recipe, and not surprisingly, I found so many different variations of the stew. So instead of just following one recipe to the tee, I mixed and matched several and came up with my own.

Here’s my recipe for Vietnamese Beef Stew:

Ingredients
For the marinade:

• Chunks of beef (I chose the one that stated “good for stews”), about 1lb
• 1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
• A few slices of fresh ginger
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp five-spice powder
• 1 or 2 star anise
• 3 tbsp fish sauce (this is a must for Vietnamese cuisine)
• dash of salt
• some freshly ground black peppercorn

N.B. I did not measure everything using measuring tools, most of the time I just did the agak-agak trick.

For the stew:

• Vegetable oil for sautéeing
• 1 bombay onion, sliced (oh shucks… I just realized I left out the garlic!)
• 1 small can tomato purée
• 3 cups water
• 1-2 carrots, cut into chunks

For the garnishing:

• Fresh coriander

How I experimented:

• Marinade the stuff under the marinade section for at least 30 minutes.  I kinda lost track of time, but anyhoo…
• Then heat up the vegetable oil in a pot or deep saucepan and sautée the beef chunks for just a little while.  Remove and place back into the marinade bowl.  Set aside.
• Sautée the bombay onions for a few minutes till fragrant, then add the tomato purée.  Add some water to prevent it from becoming too thick.
• Simmer for about 5 minutes covered.
• Pour the beef chunks and everything else in the marinade into the pot, and add the 3 cups of water.  Bring mixture to a boil, add the carrots and simmer on low for about an hour and a half.  I suppose it would be easier had I used a slow cooker, but I do not have one with me here in US, so I had to periodically check on the pot to avoid it from drying up.
• Dish out into a bowl, garnish with some coriander and serve with hot steamed rice!  Oh…don’t forget to take a picture first! *wink*

I can’t wait to see what my hubby and my boy thinks of my lil experiment!

This fastfood joint was introduced to me by my dear hubby, and I have been a loyal patron since.  Just like yesterday evening, when I found that I did not have time to come back home to cook dinner after work…I drove straight to this Vietnamese to-go place, and bought TWO Vietnamese subs, one for hubby and one for me.

The bread is like a French baguette, and there is a variety of fillings you could choose from.  Our favorite is the barbecued pork with pate filling.  The sub includes coriander, shredded carrots, onions and a few slices of jalapeno peppers.

Most importantly though, it tastes superbly delicious!  PLUS it is healthy and is a balanced meal too!

We also like to get the Vietnamese spring rolls, served with a special peanut sauce.  Frankly, the Vietnamese spring roll is an acquired taste, and while I did not like it when I first tasted it, I need to have it at every Vietnamese meal I have now.

Having this for dinner is yummy AND cost-effective too.  The subs cost just USD3 each and the plate of 3 spring rolls is USD3.50.  No tax and no tip required

Oh, by the way, Ethan has not developed a liking for the subs (YET).  So last night, while hubbs and I were chomping down our subs, Ethan had beef stew with steamed rice instead.

Woohoo! Thanks to my thoughtful bro and sis-in-law, we get to enjoy a tiny little piece of Chinese New Year from back home, still within the 15 days of celebrations!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We had a dinner gathering this evening at a nearby restaurant called Chili Palace with some of my hubby’s colleagues.  And if you think about it matter-of-factly, taking into account the time difference between Malaysia and the US, we actually had a reunion LUNCH, according to Malaysian time!

Not the typical Chinese New Year reunion dinner with dishes like jiu-hoo-char, too-thor-th’ng and the like though …  Oh, how I miss those!

The dishes we were served tonight were mostly chili-inspired, but what would you expect from a restaurant with the name “Chili” in it, eh? 

The primary objective was to get our tummies filled, and we definitely accomplished that!

Although…I’m still very much craving the pineapple tarts I always pig out on during Chinese New Year!  SIGH…

So there you go…I’ve posted my Chinese New Year feast pictures…now I can’t wait to drool over what everyone else had…. here’s wishing a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year to everyone, all the way from the US!

I remember it was late that evening when I got back from work and I had to whip up something nice and warm in a really short time.  I remembered I had bought a packet of Chinese Herbal Mix for stewing chicken recently, and decided to use it with the easy-to-make fail-proof recipe for Steamed Herbal Chicken I saw at HaveYouEaten.net

There were more herbs in my herbal packet than was required in the recipe, but I just tossed everything in.  It was also my first time using aluminium foil for steaming chicken, and the aroma that exuded during the steaming process was simply heavenly.

Needless to say, the piping hot aromatic dish was the perfect complement for our dinner that night.  In fact, I wished I had put in all 6 pieces of chicken drumsticks instead of just 4!

But I did use the 2 leftover drumsticks for lunch the next day.  Again, using the rarely touched supply of aluminium foil and wok steamer, I experimented with another simple recipe:  Steamed Chicken with Rice Wine Sauce.  I didn’t have ginger on hand, so that was omitted, and I had to substitute red chillies with jalapeno chillies, so the resulting dish did not look as aestehetically pleasing, but don’t judge a book by its cover cuz it still tasted really good.  Loved the sauce especially!

I am not ashamed to admit that I have a major addiction problem.

To donuts.

Stan’s Donuts, to be precise.  I’ve always thought that I would be craving for Krispy Kreme donuts here in the US, but noooo…. gimme Stan’s Donuts any day now.  Apparently Stan’s Donuts is a local brand whereas Krispy Kreme is more commercialized, but in any case, Stan’s Donuts is closer to where I live, and yup, I am totally hooked now.

My hubby and I started by buying just two donuts each of the glazed and the sugar varieties, but now we have started buying more and more.  By the way, I only ever like the glazed and sugar kinds.  They do have the fancy-schmancy kinds with decorations and whatnot, but those don’t make me salivate.  Most of the time when we stop by the obscure little shop to get our cravings satisfied, we would be told they were out of glazed or sugar donuts.  Yup, they are THAT popular.

So anyway, here’s the thing.  One donut costs 70 cents.  But the other day, I bought 10 donuts to bring for my colleagues at work, and that cost me $7.25.  And that’s when I found out the strange pricing Stan’s uses:

10 donuts: $7.25

11 donuts: $7.25

12 donuts: $7.25

So who in their right mind would get 10 donuts, you tell me?  And just in case you were wondering, of course I went back to claim my 2 donuts that day!

And just last weekend, my hubby and I went to get a dozen donuts, but we asked to pack 8 donuts in the box and 4 in a paper bag (to give to someone).  The guy manning the counter wanted to charge us $8.40, just because all the donuts weren’t in the box.  Silly reasoning!  We still paid $7.25, but we were told that it was their policy to charge the non-discounted price if all donuts weren’t in the box.  Isn’t that ridiculous?

Well, that won’t stop me coming back for more.  I don’t see myself wanting Big Apple, J. Co or Krispy Kreme donuts anytime soon, not when I can get my donut fix at Stan’s.

Anyway, my hubby was tasked with preparing the barbecued ribs, and of course that task is lovingly delegated to his wifey.  I decided to use Pablo’s recipe for Fried Baby Back Ribs, and modify it for the purpose of barbecue.  I had tried his recipe a few weeks ago, and my hubby had given the thumbs up for the taste, so it was just a matter of whether it would work fine on the barbecue grill.

I gave the baby back ribs a real good marinade for about 18 hours, and because I had about 28 pieces to work with, I decided to move them around after a few hours so that they would all be equally marinaded, if there is indeed such a thing.

My first attempt at this recipe some weeks back actually left my kitchen and home smelling entirely of oil for a long time, although the ribs did taste good.  This is what they looked like:

They taste fantastic with hot steamed rice!

This time, with the barbecued ribs, I was somewhat glad that I didn’t have to get rid of the oily kitchen smell after, because all I had to do before bringing it to the barbecue was to microwave the ribs on medium heat for about 3 minutes.  This is just so the ribs are semi- to almost-cooked, at least on the inside, so that they won’t need to spend so much time on the grill later on.  This was indeed an excellent tip from Pablo.  I microwaved about 3-4 ribs at a time and brought them to the barbecue after that.

Here’s a shot of those babies getting that nice browning on the outside at the barbecue:

I’m glad my first attempt preparing baby back ribs for barbecuing turned out pretty darn well.  I guess no leftovers mean something eh?

Man, that’s cold!  And this is the temperature registered this morning:

I think we’ll need to get some more warmer clothes soon.  But until then, we just had to make do with warming our tummies, now won’t we?

Yesterday, hubby and I had a lunch date for Indian buffet.  It’s a norm for Indian restaurants here to have lunch buffets.  The one we went to charged about $9.99 per head, but the food was good enough to satisfy my craving.

Naan is free flow and you can have as much as you like, if your tummy permits.  The spiciness of Indian food blends so well with the cold weather, I must say.

I can’t wait for my next Indian buffet.  YUM.

(Flashback…Two days before Thanksgiving)

Supermarket cashier to me: So, are you all prepared for Thanksgiving?
Me: Sorta.  Well, more unprepared than prepared, really.

And I wasn’t kidding.  While most of our friends who relocated here decided to go for a vacation elsewhere during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, my family and I opted to spend Thanksgiving, well…the traditional way…at home, with family…and FOOD.  This was my first Thanksgiving ever in the US and I had only come to realize what a big deal it was here.

So, if I wanna go traditional, it would have to be traditional ALL the way.  I decided to attempt roasting a turkey.  I bought the smallest turkey I could find (about 10 lbs), and it only cost me $5.99.  Actually the supermarket where I purchased it from had a turkey promotion where all turkeys weighing below 16lbs were priced at only $5.99.

And while I was at it, I got myself one of those turkey timers too.  These little babies will pop out as soon as the meat is done, and ensures that the meat is not too try or (heaven forbid) undercooked.  I wanted to get one of ‘em meat thermometers, but they were too pricey.

Then I started collecting tips about roasting a turkey from everywhere.  I reviewed recipes from the internet, asked co-workers and friends, and hubby even got me some tips from the TV.  Simple American even graciously said I could call his wife should I be in need of any turkey SOS!

Well, one of my co-workers told me to soak the thawed turkey in brine.  So a day before Thanksgiving, when I had already thawed the bird, I soaked it in a little salt water, and left it overnight.  Actually I believe the turkey I bought had already been basted in some flavoring of some sort, but hey, no harm enhancing the flavor even more, huh?

I woke up nice and early (thanks to Ethan) on Thanksgiving day, and was all eager to get the turkey roasting.  Lilian had given me some splendid tips on how to roast a turkey to perfection, and of course I trusted her because she has got proof that hers turned out really nice.  She said I need to stuff some butter between the skin and the meat of the turkey, and then I need to cover the turkey in bacon strips before roasting.  So, see…this is how I did it…

Looks about right, doesn’t it?  I also put some chopped carrots and potatoes in the baking dish while roasting.  This is to absorb the juices of the turkey, thus perfecting the gravy (this tip from Martha Stewart, according to hubby)

And what did I do with the crisp bacon afterward?  Well, I ate some of it (was too salty anyway), and sprinkled a bit on the clam chowder we had.  The rest of the bacon?  Still sitting in the fridge…I’m still undecided what I want to do with it.

So anyway, after all the toiling in the kitchen, and about 4 hours of turkey roasting, this is what was served for dinner, as our main course:

Of course we had other dishes too, it being Thanksgiving and all.  Thanksgiving is like the western-styled Chinese New Year reunion dinner, where families gather and stuff themselves full of food.  So what I had on the table was western-styled food.

Roast turkey garnished with brussel sprouts, cherry tomatoes and parsley, served with the compulsory cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, multi-grain turkey stuffing, BLT caesar salad (lettuce, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese, croutons and dressing, and clam chowder.  For dessert, we had apple pie with whipped cream (lots of it).  YUM!

We sure had a lot to be thankful for!  Of course we could not finish the turkey in one sitting, not even till today.  in fact, I still have some of the turkey meat in the fridge, and I used it for making sandwiches.  My first Thanksgiving is gonna be one that I’ll never ever forget!

Cheesecake has and always will be a love of mine, and I was ecstatic when I found out that we had The Cheesecake Factory here in San Jose.  Well, I was kinda bummed when I found out it was already in existence several years ago when I was here, and I missed out on having cheesecake there then, so I had been bugging my hubby to take me there this time, torturing him with my rants of pregnancy cravings and whatnot.

My chance came last Sunday when we were in the vicinity of The Cheesecake Factory, and when we finally found the shop, I promptly stepped in to get a slice of yummy cheesecake.  Any one will do, I thought.  But I was spoiled for choice.  I could feel my saliva glands going into overtime as I glanced at the menu and finally selected a slice of Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake, which was packed in a jiffy, with TWO dollops of whipped cream to boot.  My hubby and I were wondering why I was given TWO servings of whipped cream instead of one.  Well, the only reason I could think of was cuz I was pregnant.  Tee-hee.

I am SO going back there for more the next time!

And then, the next day, lunchtime saw hubby and I enjoying a delicious bowl of phố (Vietnamese beef noodles) at Pho Nam, one of the most popular haunts for Vietnamese cuisine.  Then lunch crowd is humunguous, and if we get there a little bit late, we have to wait to be seated.  ALWAYS.

But don’t you think it is SO worth it?  The concoction of piping hot beef broth with smooth phố, topped with basil, bean sprouts and chilli is so GOOD.  We never get stuff as good as this in Malaysia, aitelyu.

My favorite is the tendon part, so I usually will choose the option that has that.  We ordered the fried spring rolls too, which were served with fish sauce laced with shreds of carrot.

Very, very good indeed.  It was something different from what we usually order, which is the UNFRIED and white spring rolls served with thick peanut sauce.  Both types of spring rolls are so good, I wished they serve it combo style, so we could get the best of both worlds.

In any case, can you tell that I am absolutely enjoying all the food here?  Well, I know for a fact that the baby in my tummy is…look at that amazing tumble-turn there!

Ahhhh…..YES.

One of the very first items my hubby and I bought when we first stepped into the supermarket here is the Häagen-Dazs ice cream.  They come in tubs of 1 quart each.  For those who are imperial-system-challenged, 1 quart is equivalent to about 2 pints.  And a pint is the size we normally see in Malaysian supermarkets.  In the US, they sell Häagen-Dazs ice cream in smaller sizes too, but we get the quart size cuz that’s more economical.

Anyway, 1 quart of Häagen-Dazs ice cream costs about USD6.99.  Isn’t that awesome?  And last weekend, we stumbled on a grocery store that was selling it at USD4.99 or something, so obviously I stocked up.

In any case, those tubs are still sitting pretty in the freezer, while I wait for my cough to recover completely.  Knowing fully well my passion to always “fight fire with fire”, hubby has strictly barred me from ice cream and cold drinks till I say bye-bye to my cough.  Can’t even have my favorite strawberry milkshake now….SIGH.

Oh, how I miss my ice cream!

Half an hour later, our whole apartment was reeking of that familiar tamarind-assam-like flavor and as I readied my tummy for the wondrous experience, I put the laksa noodles to boil…or rather, what I *thought* was laksa noodles when I bought it from the Asian grocer here.

It turned out to be loh-see-fun (mouse-tail noodles)!  So instead of the long strands of laksa, we had short ones instead.  What to do…

Oh, and we definitely did not forget the heh-ko (prawn paste), also imported exclusively from Penang.  No bowl of laksa would be complete without it!

I’m gonna have to try hunting for those laksa noodles now.  That supposed teatime treat turned out to be an early dinner for me, because I couldn’t eat anything else after that.

Besides, I was still suffering from my week-long cough, and it became a tad worse last weekend because my cough was so forceful, there were traces of blood in the phlegm!  Oh, it doesn’t sound as serious as it does.  It’s just drier here in the States and the throat tends to be more sensitive.  I’m on the doc-approved-for-preggers Robitussin DM now.  Got it from Target on Sunday, and hoping that my cough-free days will come back to me soon.

In the US, it really makes sense to bring a bento in for lunch because if we eat in the cafeteria, the prices are pretty steep, and on top of that, you have to pay sales tax too!  There is no such thing as an employee rebate here as well.  So bringing a lunch box into the office is a sensible thing to do, PLUS you get to enjoy homecooked food.  And of course, I get to do some bento-ing too!

My hubby and I are not into the TOO cutesy stuff of bento, rather we just prefer the simple meals that work to fill our tummies.  Besides, I don’t have to pack bentos for Ethan just yet, because his daycare takes care of all his meals.  On the other hand, even if I did have to pack Ethan a bento, he is not one to care too much for cutely shaped stuff.  Trust me, I have tried and they don’t work.  The most would be a nice adorable food pick or two, but that’s about it. 

Anyway, so here’s my bento story for the week:

Monday

This is hubby’s bento for Monday, consisting of steamed rice with chicken stew, garnished with blanched broccoli and baby carrots.  I threw in some juicy seedless grapes too.

Monday was my first day at work too, so I had a simple bento made for myself as well.  It’s the same as what hubbs had but in a smaller portion.  And I used two of the bento boxes I bought during my Daiso outing the other day for both hubby’s and my bento.

Later that evening however, hubbs complained his lunch was not enough as he was already hungry at 2:30p.m.!  That means I need to get one of those two-tier men’s bento boxes for him…you know those that come in black or greyish hues and cost a fortune on ebay?

Tuesday

This is what hubby brought for lunch on Tuesday.  It’s his favorite homecooked Hainanese Chicken Rice on a bed of lettuce with some chopped cili padi in a small container and of course, some soy sauce to go with it.  I placed a banana in his lunch bag too in the hope that it would be more substantial.

Wednesday

My hubby’s lunch for Wednesday was a very simple meal: steamed rice with two side dishes: tau-ewe-bak (soy sauce pork stew) and stir-fried pumpkin with dried shrimp and minced turkey meat.  Tau-ewe-bak goes really well with sambal belacan, so yeah, that’s what’s in the little orange container in the corner right there.  And of course, I added the obligatory banana.

There wasn’t any more tau-ewe-bak left for me, so I only put its gravy on my rice.  Of course, I packed a little bit more pumpkin for myself and added a cup of fruit jelly too.  Oh yeah, and mine, I brought to the office in a little warmer bag, like so:

Didn’t really keep the stuff warm as it promised, but still a very handy little thing to carry around.

Thursday

I had an early meeting on Thursday and I was gonna attend the conference from home, so I made sure I got lunch packed and ready early too for hubby to bring to work.  This is claypot chicken rice, garnished with spring onions and cilantro.  And how can we not have claypot chicken rice without cili padi? The steamed baby carrots are added for color.  And isn’t it obvious that I am trying to finish off the bananas in my house?

Friday

The cook is on official rest today because hubby has a team lunch every Friday, so I didn’t cook.  I went out for Indian food with my colleagues today for lunch too, in fact.

Here’s to more bento adventures in the weeks to come!

It must have been about 6 years or so since I had been there, and I definitely have very fond memories of this place.  On the way to Pier 39, we passed the Bay Bridge that leads to Oakland, and the view was absolutely breathtaking.

The weather was cool and nice, perfect for a stroll.  There were many people who had the same idea as us too, because that place was jampacked!  We went to Pier 39 first to walk around the shops, and of course, hubbs could not resist taking photos of the boats that were docked there.

I wanted a few pictures with Ethan too, but you know, that fella was so excited with the new surroundings, I guess he wasn’t too happy when we asked him to pose for long. This was one of the ones that got away.  You can see my 22-week belly showing too!

Next, we made a pitstop to look at the sealions.  They still had that cutesy sound I remembered oh-so-well, and most of them were basking in the sunset.

Then we took a walk over to Fisherman’s Wharf because we wanted to get a bite.  There were many shops around, and yes, all of them served the very very famous clam chowder!

Some of the restaurants had dungeness crabs on the menu too.  These are very rare in Malaysia, but apparently, they are very easily found here in Fisherman’s Wharf.  We opted NOT to have crabs that day,… can you imagine the havoc of having to peel crabs while caring for a toddler? Nuh-uh…not a very good combination at all!

In the end, we ended up at a restaurant called Boudin, which prides itself as being the place were the famous sourdough bread all started. 

Here in Fisherman’s Wharf, you HAVE to order the clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.  It is TO DIE FOR.  And since we were rather hungry, we added a chicken salad sandwich too.

I am still dreaming of the clam chowder now.   It was so thick, so creamy, so good (can you just taste it now?) ….and when you scrape the bread bowl at the end of it all, you just want to scream for more!  The chicken sandwich was surprisingly good too.  They put grapes in it – how’s that for unique?

And does this look spell SATISFACTION with a capital S?

Well, last Saturday seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to order a pizza, because there was this MEGA FOOTBALL MATCH on TV, and it made full sense to enjoy dinner right in the comforts of our own home.  Ethan doesn’t really DIG pizza (yet), although he would go “peh ta! peh ta!” when he sees one, so it was a good thing that I had whipped up some wholesome delicious sweet potato porridge with ikan bilis stock for him for dinner that night.

I decided to use Domino’s online ordering service and placed my order at about 7:10p.m.  If the pizza arrived at about 7:41p.m. or 7:42p.m., we’ll get a free pizza on our next order.  Hehe…not that I was hoping for that anyway.  But 7:45p.m. came and still there was no sign of pizza.  With a growling tummy, I called Domino’s up, and the customer service officer told me that the demand was unusually high that night, so they weren’t able to deliver on time.

10 minutes later, still no pizza.  Someone from Domino’s called to check if the pizza had arrived, and I told her no.  She promised it would arrive in another 10 minutes’ time, apologizing profusely for the delay.

I actually found this episode rather ironic, because the Domino’s branch is literally just a stone’s throw away from my apartment.

FINALLY, at about 8:15p.m. our doorbell rang and we got our steaming hot pizza…and of course, a voucher for a free pizza on the next order.  Frankly I would have preferred that the pizza I ordered was free instead of giving us a voucher for our next order, but whatever.

As soon as I sank my teeth into the pizza…..wah….. it was heavenly!  And the Cinnastix I ordered?  Unlike the miserable “sticks” we get from Pizza Hut, these were humungous!  They were so generous with them!  Tasted fantastically great with the sweet icing too!

Well, of course the most glorious taste of all that night was that of victory over The Red Devils.  Liverpool beat Man U 2-1!!!  Ah, the taste of success…. I simply LURVE it!

A favor I ask, in this time of dire need
As a friend or blog reader, I pray you’ll help me do the deed
Your precious vote is really all I seek
Just choose my name, it isn’t very hard indeed

All you have to do is visit Hochiak! today
Look for the poll for the USD100 giveaway
Every vote counts, so please vote for me
But hurry please, cos voting ends September 9th, you see.

Thanking you in advance for all the trouble you’ve taken
I’m Entry #4: please vote for my Ginger Sauced Chicken
Do rope in others to join in the excitement
Come one, come all, drop me a vote for the sake of entertainment!

***

Please, please, please go to Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food and vote for me in the USD100 giveaway contest!

I also discovered that I cannot stand the smell of garlic, although I loved it pre-preggers. So I can’t cook with garlic now, because the smell of garlic on my fingers after cooking will make me pukey.

Strangely enough though, while I shun the very sight and thought of garlic, ginger has the opposite effect on me. And it wasn’t too long before I realized that one of the foods I craved for now is ginger and spring onion chicken rice, more widely known as “kngeow charng kei pui” in Hokkien or “keong choong kai fun” in Cantonese. Truth be known, I can eat this every day and not be tired of it.

So when I discovered this Hochiak recipe in Pablo’s Delicious Asian Food, I couldn’t wait to try it out. Everyone knows that homecooked food tastes so much better than food bought outside. Okay la, plus the fact that there was a USD100 up for grabs that spurred my enthusiasm even further. Heh.

So last Friday, I tried the recipe out. It’s called Ginger Sauced Chicken in Delicious Asian Food, and it calls for ginger juice, but unfortunately I did not have the tools to juice my ginger. I do so need to get a mortar and pestle soon. Anyway, I followed the recipe almost to the tee but to my horror, the finished product turned out horrendously, and certainly did NOT look like the picture in the Delicious Asian Food blog. See? Mine looked more like Tau Ewe Chicken:

Being the stubborn and determined person I am, I certainly wanted to try perfecting it. So two days later, while my two princes were off to dreamland, I attempted to dish out a respectable looking plate of Ginger Sauce Chicken. Figuring the blackness could be due to the fact that I had reused some of the oil used to fry the chicken to make the sauce, I decided to use fresh oil for the sauce this time round. Instead of using ginger juice to marinade the chicken, I sliced up a LOT of ginger real fine, and mixed it with the chicken fillet, together with a dash of soya sauce and pepper. And oh, I omitted the garlic in the recipe because of very obvious reasons .

And here are the results of my labor:

I had it for my tea-time and supper that day. And hubby said it was definitely better than the first attempt. Hee.

***

By the way, wanna put yourself in the running to win USD100? Go check out Delicious Asian Food now, and cook yourself up a storm!

So anyway, that was why I jumped at the chance when my hubby’s department had a celebration dinner last Wednesday. It wasn’t simply just ANY celebration, it was held at 1885 in the E&O hotel. A fine dining experience it was, but of course it came with a price … we had to leave Ethan with the baby sitter for a few hours.

But still, this gave my hubby and I the opportunity to dress up and enjoy the evening together. Well, it wasn’t just the two of us ONLY though, because there were OTHER people around too, but still, it was a nice perfect evening of pampering.

It started with a cocktail session on the conservatory by the sea, which evoked memories of a similar cocktail session we had preceding our wedding reception at the E&O about 4 years back. Of course, it was less hazy then. Anyways, this time round, we had fruit punch and some kacang puteh appetizer, although I would have thought caviar would be more suitable for a fine dining kind of treat

We were placed in a table of ten, complete with elegant cutlery and table decorations, and our table was right beside the wine cabinet (although this does not mean we can help ourselves to the bottles there). Here’s the menu we had. Our entrées had already been pre-ordered, in order to save time. The lighting in the fine dining restaurant was a romantic amber hue, and it had chandeliers on the ceiling. There was even a pianist playing soothing jazzy tunes throughout that evening.

I hope they fed the pianist before he started playing!

First up was the Roma Tomato and Basil Essence soup, which had one piece of sui-kao (chicken dumpling) in it. Frankly speaking, the soup didn’t look too appetizing and I was right. It tasted like very diluted ABC soup, minus the homemade factor. And honestly, I would have expected much more from the 1885.

We waited for close to an HOUR before our entrées arrived, and yes, by that time, we were all starving (and praying that the entrées had better be good)

Here’s the filet mignon I ordered. Medium. I normally prefer the rib-eye steaks, but since that wasn’t on the menu, and I was craving for steak, this would have to do. And I was NOT disappointed at all. I am very particular about my steak being EXACTLY medium, and NOT well done, so the first slice I made through it, I knew I was in for a treat. The steak was perfectly done, tender and had so much flavour, I was actually sorry when I finished it

My hubby ordered the cod fillet with oriental noodles. Our intention was to share a bit of each of our food, so we could have some variety. The cilantro berry sauce that the cod came with was excellent and went really well with the noodles. The cod was all right, I suppose, although my hubby loved it to bits. I, on the other hand, preferred my steak. YUM. Maybe it was the taste of the steak that drowned out the taste of the cod. For me, at least.

Dessert was a mini piece of crème brûlée with a slice of banana tart. Very good stuff. I was glad that our table had an absentee, so I hijacked the absentee’s crème brûlée too. I couldn’t taste the glazed sugar coating of the crème brûlée though, but I didn’t really mind.

The evening would have been made lovelier if we had won one of the prizes (like the MacBook or the Nintendo Wii) in the lucky draw, but still, this would be one of the many many dates I would cherish for a long long time

I’ve read articles suggesting that people who work from home dress in their normal work clothes, just to get themselves into the “mood”.  But I don’t.  It’s just t-shirts and shorts for me, and it works just fine.  Last Friday, I worked from home and as always, I accomplished far more than I would have had I been cooped up in the office.

An additional impetus to why I prefer to work from home is that it allows me to experiment in the kitchen.  I am often alone when I work from home, so this allows my kitchen boo-boos, if any, to be forgivable.  And last Friday, I decided NOT to cook my usual instant Korean ramen, but instead, try a simple one-dish meal.  And of course, inspired by PB’s gastronomical fare while she worked from home, I too could not resist taking pictures. 

I had seen this dish served as a dim sum dish a few weekends ago, so I figured it ought to be easy to emulate.  Just put several pieces of chicken (I’m not ashamed to say that I use deboned drumstick meat, instead of the healthier breast meat) on top of a bed of watercress.  Sprinkle with kei chi (isn’t it obvious how much I love to use this?) and marinade with a dash of sesame oil, pepper, soy sauce and (optional) mushroom soup powder.

I steamed it on high for 15 minutes, and had it with rice.  Protein, carbs, vege and fiber, all in one meal.  Watercress makes lovely soup, so by steaming it, all the rich flavors of this vege will be married with the natural sauces of the steamed chicken, creating a yummy gravy I poured all over my rice.

Now who says eating lunch alone is boring?

In fact, last night I was my very own version of Chef at Home when I decided to throw together a quickie dinner of fried rice. It had been ages since I made fried rice, but I was eager because one can hardly go wrong with fried rice, and since I had some leftover rice from the weekend, it is definitely a frugal step to not waste it. I added whatever I could find from the fridge into the fried rice: chopped pumpkin, baby corn, some spinach and I flicked some of the frozen carrot strips in the freezer and chopped them up too. Eggs are a must, and for the protein element, I found some lapcheong, and sliced them up real nice too. Good thing there were a couple of cili padi left in the fridge which my hubby chopped up and drizzled with some soy sauce and voila…a simple dinner for two in the comfort of our humble abode:

It’s actually quite a healthy meal because most of my ingredients are organic ones. Not bad, considering it’s a leftover meal, eh?

Photo credits

Yesterday evening, we had Japanese food for dinner, and as I normally would, I ordered the Tenzaru Soba: Cold soba served with cold tempura sauce which was mixed with wasabi, spring onions and one raw quail’s egg.  It was delicious of course, and I downed it all with gusto.  We then headed for Queensbay Mall for some looksee and shopping, and after an hour, we headed for home.

As soon as I got into the car, I started feeling queasy.  It felt like heartburn, so I thought maybe I had eaten too fast.  Then when we reached our condo, I started hyperventillating, and was very nearly out of breath.  It felt like I was having an asthma attack, what with the wheezing and all.  I know these attacks too well, having suffered from childhood asthma when I was young, but I had since recovered from it ever since I took up swimming.  Anyway, it was all coming back to me all over again, and I could not even talk properly, but had to just sit still and take deep breaths slowly.

When I eventually started regaining my breath, I went to take a shower.  And that’s when I discovered that my face and hands were all covered in itchy raised red patches, something like hives.  The worse part was I couldn’t stop scratching, and soon the rashes spread to my whole body!  I tell you, my face swelled up like some beast woman, and my eyelids were swollen till my eyes looked so tiny!

My husband already suspected food poisoning, and it was further confirmed when I had mild diarrhoea later on.  And then subsequently, I threw up all of the nicely undigested soba meal…which made me feel really much better afterward.  Immediately after vomiting, the rashes started subsiding, and I went to bed shortly after that.

Today, my face has *relatively* returned to normal, but some of the rashes are still present.  They are subsiding though.  I don’t think I will ever look at a serving of Tenzaru Soba the same way again.  In fact, it might take me a long long while to get over the paranoia of it all.  Urrrgggghhh.  I blame it on the raw quail’s egg, which was the only thing I took that hubbs and Ethan did not. 

So of course today, I had to take food which were *kinder* to the tummy.  Homecooked food was the answer.  And although I originally intended to cook claypot chicken rice, I changed plans and cooked steamed rice with dishes instead.  For lunch, we had steamed chicken with black fungus and wolfberries…

…and for dinner, steamed ginger chicken.  Both meals of course had the obligatory vegetables in the form of freshly sliced cucumber and the feelgood factor of my favorite watercress soup.  Apparently the steamed ginger chicken went down better with both boys…

And with that, we succeeded in saving one day’s worth of petrol, because we didn’t even use our car today! 

Anyway, today, since I am nursing a cough and a slightly sore throat, I will be all goody-goody and eat koay-teow th’ng. I even had ampula-sui-boey for its supposedly good and curative effects on the throat…..

…..and then I will fight fire with fire and have a bowl of insatiable assam laksa. Good?

So anyway, the name of this restaurant is Nyonya Breeze and upon first glance, one might pass it off as a vegetarian restaurant, simply because of its (misleading) green and white signboard.  This picture was taken as we were leaving the place.  See the two cute guys in the doorway? *grin*

We didn’t order a lot since it was only two adults and one rice-loving kid dining.  Only four small dishes and dessert.  We ordered tau eu bak (braised pork with soya sauce), acar hu (sort of a pickled fish), jiu hu char (shredded radish, carrots, cuttlefish etc served with fresh green lettuce) and huan choo heok masak lemak (sweet potato leaves and sweet potatoes cooked in a soup mixture with TONS of santan).

I loved ALL of the food.  It was a nice authentic touch that the food was all served in those old-fashioned plates with the pink flower designs.  Actually I enjoyed the food so much that I almost did not notice that the tau eu bak did not have any eggs.  I did LOVE the masak lemak dish though.  Reminds me of the one my grandma and mother makes.  Mom calls it masak titek, which I believe is the same.  I can almost taste the flavor and aroma of the santan even as I am typing this now.  Definitely a must-order when I come back to the restaurant next time.  Not to self: get recipe from Mom.

I noticed a lot of elderly nyonya-looking folk eating at the restaurant too, which goes to show that the food must be good.  Lunch came up to RM37.75, which was very reasonable.  Of course it helped that our newly approved CIMB Platinum MasterCard qualified us for a 10% discount off the bill.

Therefore, it goes without saying that the reason we keep coming back for more to Friday’s is the impeccable service we receive whenever we dine there.  Well, save for a few instances where we were assigned dumb not-too-smart server-challenged servers, we do walk out of the restaurant feeling good about our dining experience.  Last Thursday, Labor Day, was no exception.  We ended up having our dinner at Friday’s because our initial plan of going to Soba Yoshi backfired when we discovered Soba Yoshi decided not to labor on Labor Day

Here’s what we ordered at Friday’s:

• The 3-course meal:
  • Appetizer: Shrimp Martini
  • Entrée: Half Back Ribs
  • Dessert: Cookies N Cream
• Chicken Quesadillas with Beef bacon
• Kids’ Chicken Spaghetti
• Strawberry Milkshake

(sorry, no foodie pictures this time round.  I actually THOUGHT I had an old picture of the quesadilla’s somewhere in my archives, but apparently not)

True to the exceptional service, the kids’ chicken spaghetti was served first, together with the shrimp martini, and after that the ribs came.  I had almost finished my plate of ribs, but my hubby’s chicken quesadillas had not yet arrived. 

The manager at Friday’s suddenly came to our table and presented us with a bowl of mushroom soup on the house.  He did not tell us what it was for, so we thought it was to compensate the delay in the arrival of the quesadillas (or perhaps because we were regulars there *wink*). 

A few minutes later and still no sign of the missing quesadillas, we asked the manager to check on the status of our order.  Then a few minutes later, our server came to our table and asked us, “You ordered just one main course, right?” 

Duh. We stared at her and said, “No…. we also ordered a chicken quesadillas!” 

She walked off hastily, with the manager hot on her tail, *scolding* her or something.

A while later, the server came back to our table, apologized for forgetting to include the order earlier on and reassured us that the chicken quesadillas would be arriving in about 5 minute’s time.

And that’s why, boys and girls, all servers should ALWAYS ALWAYS repeat their orders.

Anyway.

After our meal, Ethan was restless so I took him out for a walk while hubby finished his meal and paid up.  Later, my hubby told me the manager came up to him and told him the quesadillas was on the house.  However, when my hubby asked for the bill, the manager decided to charge us even LESS than what he would have charged us had he only removed the chicken quesadillas from the bill.  In the end, instead of paying RM68.65 for the stuff our meal (sans the quesadillas), we ended up paying just RM44.75 for the stuff that was supposedly complimentary.  I guess it’s just Friday’s way of recording their inventory or something.  Not complaining though.  It’s a good consolation…everyone’s happy…well, except for maybe the poor server who made the mistake though.

Now THAT is what I call SERVICE.  Making the customer happy

Believe me, I have dined in restaurants where even after I had complained there was a STAPLE in my son’s food, they did nothing but solemnly take the plate away with nary a single word or apology.  The nerve!

Of course, that wasn’t the only good thing that came out of our dinner that night.  We met Angie, Bart and Julian too, who were celebrating their anniversary at Friday’s.  And that encounter resulted in this very adorable family portrait, courtesy of Bart.  Thank you, it’s awesome!  We’ve not had a family picture taken for a long time now, and this was a splendid one…

Well, oookay…stress AND craving for cheesecake made me do it. It had been ages since I made cheesecake and I thought why not? I used to make a similar non-bake cheesecake years ago, and since I recently stumbled on this Philly non-bake lemon cheesecake recipe, I decided to give it a go last Friday. I love it because it is so simple and easy to make and also, cos I didn’t need to turn on the oven. Plus it is extremely comforting to stuff myself with it and (hopefully) reduce the level of stress. Heh.

When I opened up the packets of Philadelphia cream cheese, lo and behold, I discovered that the recipe is actually contained in the box cover itself. There was also a recipe for dark chocolate cheese cake, which I might try at a later date. Y-U-M.

Philly Non-Bake Lemon Cheese Cake

INGREDIENTS
1 cup sweet biscuit crumbs (I have always ever used McVitie’s digestive biscuits, so that’s what I used this time round too)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 x 250g Philadelphia brand cream cheese, softened at room temperature
2 teaspoons gelatine dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
1 x 400 g can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind

DIRECTIONS

• Mix biscuit crumbs with melted butter and press into base of a 20cm springform pan. Chill. (I missed the part about the springform pan, so I used an ordinary pie/cake pan instead)
• Beat the cream cheese with an electric beater until smooth, mix in gelatine mixture, condensed milk, lemon juice and rind.
• Pour onto crumb base and chill in refrigerator (2-3 hours or overnight).
• Top with a selection of fresh fruits and serve. Serves 8. (I used strawberries, simply because I have never topped my lemon cheesecake with strawberries before, and also cos I think red juicy strawberries look delish on top of lemon cheesecake, no?)

Tip: 1 cup biscuit crumbs equals approximately 10 sweet biscuits crushed. (with the Mcvitie’s digestives, it’s about 5-6 pieces)

Because I didn’t use a springform pan it was rather difficult to cut up that first piece of cake into a nice little slice, but it still tasted divine. I should rename the recipe to Lemon Crumble cheesecake or something, eh? Had a slight sore throat after downing the cake, and hubby thinks it’s the cheesecake, but I beg to differ….although I am taking it easy with the helpings now. Hehehe… The strawberries taste sublime with a dollop of that cream, though.

I wonder if Andie wants to trade a slice of her peach cheesecake with mine?

Look! Mini darling ang-koos & chneh-koos!  The red ones contain grounded green pea paste whereas the green ones have coconut filling.  Who’s to say good things don’t come in small packages?

My parents also tar-powed one packet of char koay teow for me which I finished in a jiffy, hence no photos lo…

Tonight, Mama prepared a splendid concoction of Ba Zhen chicken soup, with kampung chicken and all the herbs and stuff.  Sorry, I don’t know the correct terms for these herbs, but they are supposed to be good for health and vitality la. I ain’t complaining cos it tastes great and I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep tonight…

On Saturday, we made a day trip to Ipoh to celebrate my nephew Collin’s full moon. It was again another excuse to stuff our tummies with food. Hehe… no regrets there. In fact, we were so full after the lunch that all plans of tar-powing the famous Canning Garden chee cheong fun vanished into thin air (although the stall was only a stone’s throw away). Ah well. There’s always next time.

Then came Easter Sunday. As usual, the church was packed full to the brim with parishioners (methinks some of them were hoping that the CM would make another appearance). We had to make do with sitting on plastic chairs placed by the pews, because we were ummm….a few minutes late. Actually, it was rather a blessing in disguise because we had a full view of the altar and was able to concentrate 100% on the sermon being delivered. Well…maybe 90% because of intermittent distractions from Ethan.

It was also Race Day (Sepang Formula 1 Grand Prix) and Super Sunday (Barclays Premiers League) that day, and hubbs hinted VERY loudly that he would prefer homecooked food for dinner that night. So I bought a few items from Jusco for cooking dinner. I was only able to start cooking at 5:55p.m. though, that’s when Ethan finally fell asleep. One hour later, I managed to whip up a piping hot dinner, one which hubby gave the thumbs up to, much to my delight. *grin*

Although Race Day ended with Kimi getting what he deserved (yay!!!), I shall choose not to say anything about the Super Sunday score, which I don’t think was super at all. Bleagghhh….

Anyway, we stood outside and waited to be seated.  No one came for a good one minute or so, and when the lady came to ask us how many people in our party, she did so with nary a smile.  But we thought we would bear with it and see how the whole experience would turn out to be.  We were then ushered to our table and provided menus.

Hubbs ordered the lamb shoulder and I ordered the chicken monterey.  One cool thing about Chili’s is that they offer bottomless fruit juices, so of course I went for the mango juice, while hubbs went for the pina chillada (non-alcoholic, mind you.  Pina COLLADA is alcoholic, CHILLADA is not).  

By the way, don’t you think the mosaic design on the table is way cool?  Really unique.

Just like Friday’s, kids get to dine for free at Chili’s too, so I ordered a plate of spaghetti for Ethan and I was also pleasantly surprised that Ethan’s drink was on the house too.  My boy loves iced lemon tea and since it was not in the list of kids’ drinks, I requested for it and was delighted that they willingly obliged.  He finished the whole glass all by himself too!

All in all, the food was fantastic.  I especially loved the lamb shoulder and would definitely order it the next time I go, IF I go.  Service was well below par, I’m afraid.  In addition to the no-smile-greeting we had, right in the middle of our meal, someone interrupted us in a weird manner, I might add, and asked us how we found our dinner.  I notice this is something most restaurants practise these days, but unfortunately, it wasn’t done with tact, and so it appeared rather fake-ish. 

When we were leaving the restaurant too, no one thanked us for coming, unlike the jovial goodbyes we get at Friday’s.  There were no free balloons to give out to the kids at Chili’s too.  But then I suppose most Malaysians tend to overlook the bad service and go for the food, huh?  As long as there is bottomless chips, drinks and free food for the kids?

Maybe it was because I just sent out a whole bunch of Chinese New Year cards on Friday.

Maybe it was because I felt the living room lacked some Chinese New Year “ong”.

Maybe it was because my hands were itchy.

Maybe it was all of the above reasons in one way or another, but most probably it was because we were gonna have Ethan’s early birthday lunch celebration today, so my parents are here in Penang for a visit and yeah, so are my parents-in-law. Double the stress! So what to do, what to do, what to do? I mopped the house and gave the living room a facelift lo, like any good daughter/daughter-in-law would do.

The prosperity plant we had had long since dieded… so okay, we cheated. We bought a healthy-looking one from Jaya Jusco two days ago (RM23.80), and all I had to do was just to scoop out the old soil and replanted the new prosperity plant. The ceramic pot of course remained. The plan was working flawlessly, and I beamed with pride when MIL exclaimed, “What a healthy looking prosperity plant that is!” Unfortunately, my hubby let the cat out of the bag when he retorted, “We bought it from the supermarket laaaa!” Bummer. *grumble grumble mutter mutter*

Next, the space in the living room where once the Christmas tree stood, had been empty for about 5 days now. I took the tree down on Monday and on Friday, I brought out our pussy willow stalks in a tall vase. Fine, it was last year’s but they still look good, so I thought, “Why not?” After hanging the decorations and turning the vase a few times to ensure a perfect angle on the pussy willow stalks (hubby helped a bit with the aesthetics too), I was glad. NOW, it looks like Chinese New Year… well, save for the mandarin oranges we have yet to buy though. Do you think I have got enough decorative elements on the stalks or do I need to make some more?

On a rather unrelated note, isn’t it weird why I would crave for something Italian and cheesy when it is Chinese New Year season? When I work from home, I have the luxury to experiment in the kitchen, and pasta was the main course for lunch on Friday, as I cooked up a mushroom and herb pasta dish. So yummy, so cheesy, so calorie-laden, so…. Okay, okay, so you caught me again. I had some *help* making it (of course I “kah liu” with cheddar cheese and margarine – I didn’t have butter) Still good, no? Works for an Italian-food lover like moi!

My plans of cooking on Saturday, as was the norm, backfired when we had a power outage for about 6 hours, from 10:30a.m. – 4:45p.m. (another excuse I am using for being slack in blogging these days). So we ate in on Sunday instead.

The chicken stew recipe calls for mushrooms, either shiitake or button or both. But this time round I decided to use these fresh white mushrooms bought from the Jaya Jusco supermarket. Slightly pricey, but every bit worth it. I love mushrooms, so I used them all, stems and everything.

Making chicken stew is rather easy, I would say, though I made a mental note to make the gravy thicker the next time round (less water). Just stir in all the ingredients, bring to boil and simmer over a low flame. Of course, the dish tasted far better during dinner when it had been simmered much longer and the flavors had all enveloped the ingredients.

The boys thoroughly enjoyed the stew, though the older one preferred the stew slightly saltier. Point noted.

And thus ends my cooking escapade for the weekend.

~ Wordless Wednesday ~

So yum. So tantalizing. So seriously non-halal. So giddy. So tau-ewe-bak (soy sauce with pork), with some fat in all the right places. So watercress soup and so nai pai chye (that’s what I know it is called). That was our lunch at home on a fine Saturday afternoon.

One of my New Year resolutions to cook more often certainly has got off to a grand start. Makes it easier when I can afford to work from home Fridays. This way, I get to do some quick marketing at the nearby mini market on Friday morning and then prepare the stuff to cook a day before Saturday. And it looks like this system is working out pretty well.

Having a homecooked meal allows us time for a lazy afternoon siesta too. But last Saturday, I had nothing of that sort. While the two boys, with their tummies satisfied and full, slept soundly, John Grisham’s The Innocent Man kept me hanging on to every word. Finished reading the spectacular book and will be embarking on another novel soon, either Picoult or Kinsella. Flip coin?

***

Oh yeah, so this brings me to the New Year Resolution tag from Wen. Yes, I do make New Year resolutions, but I’m afraid I tend to fall into the *flippant* category. But I am determined to carry them through this year… see, I am already on the right track I sincerely hope I can keep this up… it’s only January!

*Start Copy Here*

When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions we seem to fall into four categories: 1) quite serious about them, 2) be flippant about them, 3) do it because we feel pressured to, or 4) do not do them.

So, the purpose of this little game is to let us know which category you are in. Copy from “*Start Copy Here*” through “*End Copy Here*” and post it. Before “*End Copy Here*” tell us who you are, your site(s) (with link) and your New Year’s Resolution, or not.

Then tag as many others as you like, from one to your entire blogroll, your choice.

If you like, create an intro paragraph to your post that also acknowledges who tagged you.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS:

Juliana – Juliana’s Site – My New Year’s resolutions are looking for a part time job, keep blogging, and learn to cook and bake.

Michelle – Rusin Roundup – 1. Learn to be happier and accept myself for who I am, 2. Is to lose about 25 lbs., and 3. Is to stop smoking.

Karen – Grow Rich Along With Me – My resolution for next year is to achieve $3K per month passive income by the end of 2008.

Mel – Attitude, the Ultimate Power & Complain Complain Complain – “I don’t need no stinking resolutions.” I never hold to them anyway so why frustrate myself by starting them now.

Sandee – Comedy Plus – I don’t need no stinking resolutions either. Years and years ago I did them because everyone else did, but not once did I follow through. Why set yourself up for failure?

Lynda – lynda’s loft – My resolution is to see resolve to that which needs resolution. Like Mel and Sandee, I feel that resolutions give us more stress, however, being a person who sets goals each year, isn’t that the same thing as a resolution??? Goals vs. resolutions? Goals are more general and allow for more time to complete them, a resolution requires a mind-set and immediate action, which is not always feasible… Well, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it…

Amelia – Amel’s Realm – This is a list of my New Year’s Resolution:
1. Health: Continue exercising twice a week, eat enough veggies and fruit, have enough rest, take vitamin C regularly and women’s multivitamin during my period.
2. Spiritual: Improve my Daily Bread reading routine and my prayer life and learn more from God’s Word.
3. Financial: Continue to make money online (my goal is getting €100 per month at least), be more creative in writing posts, and save most of the money.
4. General Life: Continue to learn Finnish AND practice it as best and often as I can, try out more baking and cooking recipes, continue to maintain and share positive thoughts, continue to learn to control my thoughts, continue to learn to catch myself before I start complaining and count my blessings instead, continue to stop and cherish all the little moments in life that oftentimes go unnoticed, and continue to feed my inner child and last but not least, continue to ENJOY my life thoroughly.

Trinity – Rooms of My Heart : My New Year’s resolutions in simple and fast way will be blog less and spend more time with my children and read more good books. I want to start studying about global warming and blog it…

Max – MAX – My New Year’s resolutions are to dedicate more time to my friends; to finally be able to read “Der Spiegel” in German; to be calm when organizing my marriage; to go one last time to my favourite club and dance the night away; and continue to be happy!

Eric – Speedcat Hollydale – I love chicken. Problem is that I really never get to have enough chicken! My New Year’s resolution is to enact “Chicken Tuesday”. On this day I will eat only chicken, blog about chicken, and promote chickens all over the world. (hormone free) Join me, won’t you?

Marzie – Mariuca & Mariuca’s Perfume Gallery – My resolution for 2008 is to enjoy a healthier lifestyle and to expand my Perfume Collection.

Sindi- Life Is A Roller Coaster – My resolution is to complain less, pray more and be a little more thankful for what I have.

Judy – Sugar Queen’s Dream – My New Year’s resolution is:
To take better care of my health.
To eat better, well at least 3 meals a day, I’m lucky these days if I stop for one meal a day….
To help make the world a better place to live, I love the human race, but think there’s always room for change.
To be generous until it hurts.
To live each day as if it’s my last.
To make a book of our personal family recipes and traditions for each of my 3 my children, so that the traditions and family cooking can be passed on in my family line long after I’m gone and finally…….
To help more with the local Human society, Animals like little kids can not fend for themselves so it’s up to each of us to take care of our pets and to step in and care for all animals…..
I hope that through me I can encourage my Children to be better adults and in turn to raise the Children they have or will have, to be good people with good, sound & solid values…. Peace!

Adrian – First Time Dad – My New Year’s Resolution for 2008 is to be a better father…now I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions because I never keep them but this one I better keep! Happy New Year to one and all!

Colin – Life – New Years Resolution? No way…Better to achieve more throughout the year rather than pander to the whims of a one day ‘wishful thought’

Mauro – 1 Million Love Messages – My resolution for next year are: 1. Change my job (maybe work online). I’m really unhappy in the actual one. 2. Dedicate more time to my family and girlfriend… maybe start to get ready for our wedding 3. Work hard in 1 Million Love Messages and reach 2500 Love messages (or more) in the end of 2008.

MidgetManOfSteel – Mental Poo – To get out of dealing with people who I have no desire in helping at the job I’m doing…catch the eye of someone who can see that I can write and be funny…and get my own ticket to happiness from my humor….and a Ferrari. While I’m doing this, I resolve to get a Ferrari.

Stacy – My Thoughts – My New Year’s Resolution for 2008 – Is to be more understanding to my children and to other people, Not to curse at others while I am driving, try to eat right and exercise, try to volunteer in my community, and to believe more in my spiritual side.

Jason – DatCurious.com & DatMoney.com – Although, I normally don’t do New Year’s Resolutions (because I find it as an excuse to actually do something I should’ve already been doing), this year I will plan on giving back to the blogging community, especially my audience. I’m not sure how I will do it yet, but I definitely will.

Kesa – Little Aussie Cynic – My New Years Resolution is the standard….. to finally get off the smokes and to loose 8kg…. both which are possible just difficult…..Happy New Year to you and yours….Aussie

Ann – A Nice Place in the Sun – “To let the rest of my life begin as soon as possible.”

Wen – Little Paces – I want to sleep early to reduce my haggard and tired complexion. To blog better than last year and hopefully can save money from paid post so that we can immigrate to Australia. To spend more time with my children. To be able to bake.

Giddy Tiger – Giddy Tigers – I resolve to fulfill my resolutions to cook more often, to reignite my reading hobby and to spend more time with my loved ones and with God.

*End Copy Here*

Happy New Year to all the following taggees!

Rinnah
Paris
LB
Chen

Yesterday morning, while driving to work, Phat Fabes and Ben on the Fly FM morning show were on the hunt for a place selling dungeness crabs. Apparently a listener had requested for them to help him source for these crabs because he had promised to take his wife she would get to eat them as a celebration for their wedding anniversary. All this because she is a seafood lover.

Ben (on the phone in Cantonese): Cheng mun lei tei yow mai *dungeness crabs* mou? (Do you guys sell dungeness crabs here?) [how to say dungeness crabs in Cantonese wor?]
Person on the phone: Meh lei keh? (What is it?)
Ben: Hai lei keh (Crabs)
Person on the phone: Mou wor, ngo tei mou mai *dungeness crabs* (No we do not sell dungeness crabs here)

This process went on several times, but I didn’t get to hear the part where they actually found a place selling those crabs. I know they eventually were successful though, because I heard a snippet later that evening of them informing that man’s wife that she would get to eat those delicious crabs soon. Man, they’re good!

Anyway, all this talk of dungeness crabs has got me wondering if I can get hold of some here in Penang too. I do still have a box of Singapore Chilli Crab paste which I bought during my last trip to Singapore, and I would absolutely LOVE to try cooking that with dungeness crabs. I haven’t tasted these species of crabs before, but from what I read, they sound truly lip-smacking good! I think they are seasonal though, and I would really love to savour that sweet sweet crab meat, which I trust would go so well cooked with chilli. So anyone knows where I can find some in Penang? Anyone? Or should I call Fly FM?

Yes, I made Sarawak Laksa for dinner last Saturday night. My Mom and Dad were in Penang for a visit, so I took the opportunity to make use of one of the Sarawak Laksa sambal packets I had in the refrigerator. A friend of mine had bought me two packets of the sambal from Sarawak a couple of months ago, so I thought it was the perfect chance to put it to good use.  Besides, it has been years since I last cooked Sarawak Laksa.  The thing about Sarawak Laksa is that we need to boil the sambal in water and then filter it. I don’t really like the filtering part because this would mean I need to wash an extra set of pots.  After filtering, I added the chicken stock (this I made from steaming the chicken meat, not from the *buy-off-the-shelves* stock, mind you!) and some water from boiling the prawns. Coconut milk helped to seal in the taste, and of course, some salt to taste for good measure.

Oh, by the way does anyone know the shortcut to break off the tails from the bean sprouts (taugeh)? I did it the manual way and boy was it excruciating! Luckily for me, I was only cooking for four!  I would say that the person who manages to create a machine to de-tail taugehs will make millions, I am sure! Anyway, all other ingredients like chicken and fried eggs were sliced thinly, and the laksa was garnished with coriander, mint leaves and the juice from half a calamansi lime.  I ought to learn the art of how to make the eggs thin and fluffy from Mom though, because mine still isn’t quite there yet.   The authentic Sarawak Laksa is made using vermicelli or beehoon, but I like the regular thick assam laksa noodle, so I used that instead. We each had two bowls each and were so full we could hardly move!  Well, that was dinner for last Saturday.  Does my Sarawak Laksa look anything like Laksa Shack’s?

Oh, by the way, it’s not very healthy to eat till cannot move every day you know. But a little bit of everything is certainly acceptable and does wonders for the body. And having good food is definitely healthy, right? This from someone who absolutely adores food. Heh.  So Healy, my healthy tip is to eat everything in moderation. The key point is not to deprive yourself of enjoyment. We only live once, after all.  And yes, I am once again disguising this as a meme…

*****

Copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.) Share one of your own health tips (tip on how to be more healthy) with others. Try to make your tip short but informative. Tag at least 2 persons.

1. Be happy – Everyday health and beauty
2. Everything in moderation – Giddy Tigers

Happy people to tag:

LB
Rinnah

On working days, I wake up, slide quietly out of bed while the boys are still asleep and put the kettle to boil. Then I make myself a nice cup of hot chocolate or Milo, whichever suits my fancy. And usually I will have either one wholemeal nine-grain bun or one hi-fibre sunflower seed bun. No fuss, no mess. If there are no buns are available, breakfast will be two slices of bread with a slice of cheese. But lately I have been influenced (in part) by Zara’s Mama and her healthy breakfast. Although I don’t follow her recipe to the tee, I now sometimes take half-boiled free range chicken eggs (kampung chicken eggs la) for breakfast. They do taste better than the normal chicken eggs, I feel. That’s my normal day breakfast. Rather simple and not as diversified as Ehon’s, hor? Well, on weekends, it’s normally a light breakfast, followed by a brunch, usually dim sum, laden with siew mais, lormaikais, egg tarts and char siew paus. Counted also, right? Brunch = breakfast + lunch what…

Rinnah, care to share what you have for breakfast? Nasi lemak on the go? Latté? Mc-D’s big breakfast? Or come to Penang, and we go for dim sum together, want?

So Sunday came and we were both still craving for Northern Indian cuisine. So I suggested we go to Tandoori House in Hutton Lane for lunch. It had been years since we both stepped foot in the restaurant and it was so good to return to something familiar. The decor was very simplistic and had not changed much from what I remembered. Even the plates remained the same. We also recognized our waiter immediately, from our previous visits.

We were first served a delicious appetizer of pappadums with an array of three different dips: mint sauce, chilli sauce, and a concoction of chopped onions, carrots and lime juice (I think). Very pleasing to the eye, and tastes as good as it looks too.

The appetizer certainly was a sign of good things to come. Everything we ordered tasted wonderful. The Kashmiri Naan was packed full with raisins, cherries and spices and was done to absolute perfection. Just the right fluffiness, the sweetness of the naan blended so well with the gravy from the Butter Chicken. Of course the tender pieces of chicken meat from the Butter Chicken was also the perfect compliment to the Kashmiri Pulao, an equally colorful sight to behold. Kashmiri Pulao is made from basmathi rice, raisins, cherries and fragrant spices like cardamoms, cinnamon, cumin seeds and bay leaves. Our vegetable dish was the delectable Bindi Masala (Ladies’ fingers cooked masala-style). I had wanted to order the Palak Paneer (cottage cheese with spinach) but that was not available then, so we decided on the ladies’ fingers instead. And I was not sorry at all. Lastly, my hubby says that since we are in Tandoori House, we HAVE to order the Tandoori Chicken…which turned out so tender and juicy. Our meal was completed with a tall glass of mango lassi.  Each.

And our cravings were definitely satisfied.

For Southern Indian cuisine, our favorite restaurant is Innira’s at Brown Garden. This restaurant has since been renamed Passions of Kerala. New name, but the food remains just as fantastic. Recently, Passions of Kerala expanded its business and opened a new additional outlet at the New World F&B hub in Swatow Lane. To be completely honest, every time we go to the New World F&B hub, we prefer to eat the hawker food there. I tell you, the wan ton mee, curry mee, ice kacang and chendol are truly to die for! But two Friday evenings ago, for a change, we decided to check out the classy looking Passions of Kerala instead. I was curious to find out how it differs from its original branch at Brown Garden. Plus, Ethan has his fan club there too

My first perception of the place was that the decor was very tasteful indeed. With dark brown sturdy wooden chairs and subtle amber lighting, the restaurant exuded a sense of peace and relaxation. It was fully air-conditioned, which was a welcome in our hot weather and it really helped because the place served primarily curry. In addition, there were also a couple of tables outside the restaurant to allow al fresco dining, if the patron so requires.

We ordered our usual vegetarian set meals: steamed rice served on banana leaves with three or four side dishes. And of course, we also had our favorite fried fish. This was garnished with slices of lime that made it all the more pleasing to the eye. We were also given generous helpings of pappadums to tantalize our palate. I was delighted that they also provided a trio of gravy in three separate bowls: fish curry, chicken curry and dhall. This allowed us to mix and match as we pleased.

As expected, the food was done to perfection. The fish, especially, deserves special mention as it was truly crispy and well done. The price of the food at this outlet was slightly more expensive than at the Brown Garden outlet, but it is well worth it. And yes, this is an awesome restaurant to bring guests who are game for a good meal of Indian food. Hey, Passions of Kerala didn’t call itself “The Best in Banana Leaf Cuisine” for nothing, you know!

I still don’t get why this donut place is called Big Apple. Not that I noticed any big ones around also. And I don’t think there were any apple-flavored donuts too.. but I finally managed to locate this place in The Curve when I was there 2 weekends ago. You’ve gotta try them, enthused Hijack Queen and Rinnah…. My plan was to try out these donuts when I was in The Curve in August but silly me, I forgot the name of the place and since I could not contact those 2 who recommended them to me, I had to tell my craving to wait. Until 2 weeks ago.

I gave Rinnah a call right before I hopped over to Big Apple. And she told me which flavors were good. So I got (bottom picture, clockwise from top left): Cocoring (Belgian chocolate – I chose this because the thought of Belgian chocolate melting in my mouth was just dreamy), Glacier (glazed sugar), Banana Rama (middle portion had a dollop of really sweet banana-flavored cream), California Almond (Almond flakes), Green Teaser (recommended by Rinnah; this one had green tea-flavored cream), Cool Blue (with blueberry jam).

I only had them when I got back to Penang, zapped them in the microwave first of course. Although most of the donuts were a tad sweet, I would have to give the thumbs up to the California Almond, Cocoring and the Banana Rama. I especially like the California Almond because it tasted somewhat savory, which was kinda different for a donut, I’ll have to admit. The Green Teaser did not taste as “green tea” as I expected.

But that being said, the taste of the donuts could have been marred by the fact that I did not eat them fresh. Would I go back again? I would say yes, but I would not go out of my way to get them…although I could very well do with one of those California Almond donuts now.

• Kids dine free! Ethan always gets a free meal when we go there, and I really like the fact that the kids are always served first, given that kids do tend to get restless and hungry quicker.
• “Customer is always right” attitude. Once when our beef sizzling fajitas came a tad overdone when we asked for it to be cooked medium, the server promptly replaced our meal with a new one, even without us asking him to.
• Fast service. Our food typically takes less than 10 minutes to arrive, even with a restaurant full of patrons.
• Free balloons. Need I say more?
• Relaxing atmosphere. I immediately relax when I step into the restaurant, because everyone certainly looks like they are having fun there!
• Promotions galore! They used to randomly award diners with a free sizzling fajitas meal, but now they have a Buy 1 Free 1 GSC movie ticket coupon to give away with a minimum amount on the bill (I think it’s RM50). In fact, we’ve already tried their latest set meal promo and I have nothing but good things to say about it. Can’t wait to try the rest of the items ….

So, is it any wonder that bright Friday’s ad is sitting prettily on my side bar this week?

With a name like Tu-Long, I was worried that we would need to wait for AGES for our food to arrive. I was already starving and my tummy was crying out for dinner. Since we were looking for a nice Chinese restaurant and my BIL mentioned that there was a good one just adjacent to MidValley Megamall, we decided to head that direction. It all happened last Saturday evening and thankfully in spite of that, the restaurant did not have many patrons. Not sure if that’s a good indication, but it could be due to the fact that it was located near a construction site and there were many construction workers loitering outside…you know, the kind that would potentially use wolf whistles?

Anyway, I was rather impressed with the decor of the restaurant. Classic Chinese restaurant and yet elegant in every aspect. We were ushered to the first floor and ordered various dishes, including the siew long pao and the hot and sour la-mien. My tummy did not need to suffer long because the food was served in less than 10 minutes! The siew long pao was really really good, the soup within each one oozing out with each careful nibble and sip, definitely miles better than the ones I have had in Dragon-i. But the most noteworthy dish would have to be the pig shank with mantou. Sinfully delicious, with just the right amount of fat, it tasted so similar to the fei-chee-yoke we got in the regular bak-changs.

I miraculously still found room for dessert, and I must say that the mango sago pudding really was the icing on the cake. It had just the right amount of sweetness to leave me craving for more.

Let’s just say I am thankful this restaurant did not live up to its name (which sounds like “too long” or “tolong”)

When is a mooncake not a mooncake? When it looks like jelly!

That’s what I had for dessert just yesterday during lunch. We had our monthly department birthday celebration then. Some of the jelly mooncakes were made from fruits, so it’s so much more healthier than its conventional mooncake counterparts. There were so many flavors to choose from: dragon fruit, lychee, markisa, honeydew (I think), leong fun and also red bean. I was so spoilt for choice! Each mooncake also contain a faux egg yolk in it, also made of jelly! I thought that was a very unique touch to it. Some of my friends actually *thought* it was actual egg!

Although these jelly mooncakes kinda sacrifices its authenticity in terms of having a regular mooncake, it bodes well for the eye. Look at how colorful the array of jelly mooncakes is! Wouldn’t you just wanna sink your teeth into one of them? Mooncakes have become so commercialized nowadays, as have everything else. This year, I have yet to taste mooncake that can be considered delicious, according to my taste. I had a few pieces of Shangri-la’s mooncake yesterday too (the traditional lotus paste with egg kind), but sad to say I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down about it. Perhaps it was because I expected too much from my previous year’s experience with Shangri-la’s… Hmmm….makes me wonder if the mooncake I tasted from Shangri-la Penang is the same as the one Rinnah raved about from Shangril-la KL….

Happy Mooncake Festival to everyone in advance!

Sluuurrrpppppp!!!! I love chicken kurma. As a little girl, it was the one dish I looked forward to every time Mom and Dad took us to visit friends during Hari Raya. Chicken kurma tastes good with everything and is easy on the palate of a young kid. Well, my love for chicken kurma has carried on till now. It’s really a challenge to find a good serving of chicken kurma, one which has just the right amount of coconut milk, and just the right amount of spices.

My craving for chicken kurma has been fulfilled now that the fasting month of Ramadhan is here. Throughout this month, I look forward to my visit to Kayu Nasi Kandar, because I can get fantastic chicken kurma there.

Last Friday evening when my hubby and I had dinner there, they even threw in some kind of appetizer consisting of a cross-sectional slice of pineapple and two pieces of cucumber, served with chilli sauce. I didn’t really like the appetizer though, because it tasted weird, but the chicken kurma made me forget the weird appetizer. And what’s better than chicken kurma? Why, chicken kurma served with briyani rice, of course! We took a little bit of the sambal nyior too. This is a whitish paste made from grated coconut and chilli. The appearance of the sambal nyior was deceiving, because although it looked white and non-hot, it really packed a punch of ooomph! Yumminess came with a price though, and a plate of briyani rice with chicken kurma and one type of vegetable costs circa RM7.00!

So until I find time to make chicken kurma of my own, I’ll have to be contented with this one. SIGH… Too bad we only get chicken kurma at Kayu during Ramadhan…

This is what a good glass of teh tarik looks like. Frothy on top, sweet and smooth at the bottom. It has been such a long time since I enjoyed this drink and I have just last week started getting addicted to it all over again. It goes so well with nasi kandar (seen in the background), roti pisang, roti canai, or simply on its own.

I don’t order the *kurang manis* (less sugar) version because it just doesn’t have that *kick*.

The teh tarik is the perfect drink for a weary dreary day.  But drink too much, and you’ll find yourself wide awake even in the wee hours of the morning!

Well anyway, I managed to cook lunch today.  Piping hot homecooked food.  Woohoo!  We had assam fish curry, thanks to the ingenuity of instant curry paste (which I doubt existed in Malaysia 50 years ago – yup, we’ve come a long way, baby), I whipped up a meal in no time at all.  Just add fish and lady’s fingers…..oh, and if a scrumptious lunch was not enough to celebrate Merdeka with, the 2-hour afternoon nap certainly did the trick! *wink*

I remember when I stayed in The Eastin during one of my business trips sometime back, I savored the excellent Japanese food at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel. I was travelling by myself then. Grabbed myself the daily newspaper, traipsed down to the restaurant at about 8:00p.m., and ordered a meal fit for a queen

I also remembered having had great Japanese buffet meals in KL, with a delectable spread that left every diner for want of more.

Last Sunday I had the chance to try another Japanese restaurant, this time in Damansara Uptown. Called Umai-ya, the restaurant is sandwiched between Izzi and Starbucks. They have an area for tatami-like seating, where the tables are lowered in such a way to allow patrons to be seated in a normal way but the table height is at chest level. We chose not to dine this way because there was no way we could fit a baby chair in.

The bento sets were priced quite reasonably, and we each ordered one. I, of course, had to order the sashimi set.

Freshness is essential when it comes to eating sashimi, and I was pleased to note that each and every piece was succulently fresh. Even the raw prawn didn’t had that raw taste which was apparent in some raw seafood. I especially love the thick chunks of salmon sashimi, especially when I had them coated in wasabi.

They say the way to evaluate a Japanese restaurant is to taste its chawan mushi. And boy was the chawan mushi good! For one, it had all the mushrooms in the world. And being a mushroom lover, it was all I needed to know this was one of the best chawan mushis I have ever tasted. It also had one gingko nut in it, which was a pleasant addition.

The one thing that is an absolute must-order is the dragon maki. Tempura prawn wrapped in sushi rice with unagi and slices of avocado, each bite was made even more sensational topped with the compulsory wasabi. This was rather pricey though but very worth it.

Would I come back again? What do you think? I’m still dreaming about it, even now.  Anyone wanna courier some dragon maki over to Penang soon?

Since our visit to Marché in Singapore, hubbs and I have been craving the Bundaberg Root Beer sold there. I have also been craving for the calamari, grilled chicken breast and the swiss cross buns, more so because during our second visit there, I was not feeling well and thus, did not manage to eat much.

So when we were planning our one-day trip to Damansara at The Curve last weekend, I straightaway decided that a meal at Marché would HAVE to be factored in. Somehow.

Now how did Marché The Curve compare to Marché VivoCity?

It was a disappointment. Really. For starters, the one item we were looking forward to, the Bundaberg Root Beer, was nowhere to be seen. We did see the bottles on display though, but that was a really mean decoy because the restaurant supervisor told us that those were empty bottles! Dang…

Marché The Curve used a paper card system instead of the ATM card-like system employed in Singapore. The paper card was way bigger and harder to handle compared to the convenience of the ATM card-like system.

No calamari, and even though the grilled chicken breast was on the menu, I was told that they were out of it that night. The swiss cross buns was not soft, and felt unfresh. it was sticky on the outside and dry on the inside. Of course it could be masked if I dipped it into the soup, but that’s another story altogether.

The mushroom soup was okay, but not as thick as I would have liked it to be. I did like the dried bread cubes which I sprinkled liberally in my soup though. That certainly added some texture to the soup. The grilled sausages were all right, but felt like they were fresh from a freezer. The ones in Singapore tasted meatier and more authentic in comparison. I did like the veal sausage though, and that one went down really well with Ethan too.

That being said, the two items that get the giddy thumbs up from me are:

The sautéed mushrooms. Well done, tasted not too mushy and went down really well. It cost only RM8++, and was worth every sen of it. My BIL commented that some evaporated milk could have been added into it.

The crépè with ice cream. I ordered the mango and banana crépè, which was served with chocolate ice cream, and drizzled with chocolate and raspberry sauce. Sinful, yes… and delicious too. Unfortunately the ice cream that it came with was not the Movenpïck kind. I was told that I had to pay an additional RM8 or so, if I chose to have a scoop of Movenpïck ice cream added.

And what about our root beer craving? Well, we saw bottles of it on sale in Cold Storage, so we grabbed a few then and there. Don’t need no Marché to serve us ‘em root beer, huh?

So it doesn’t come as a surprise that we have avoided this Japanese restaurant since that day.

A few weeks back, however, my hubby went for lunch at the same Sakae Sushi outlet with some of his colleagues and he told me that the service was a 180 degrees of a difference from the one we had experienced before. And being a hardcore fan of Japanese food, I just had to try it out for myself.

So off we went last weekend. The wait for a table was not long at all, and I was equally impressed when they produced a booster seat for Ethan. The booster seat could be placed right beside me where we sat and it did not take up any space on the walkway too! We ordered our food via the online ordering menu and although the restaurant was quite full, I was glad that the food arrived in no time at all. My hubby ordered the Unatama Don (grilled eel, served with fried egg and steamed rice) and I ordered the salmon teriyaki bento, which also included a delectable potato salad sprinkled with a teasing of fish roe. I also ordered the Sakae chawan mushi for Ethan, which had a little bit of sharks’ fin added in it.

Of course, we also ordered a serving of salmon sashimi with wasabi, because truth be told, what’s a Japanese meal without some sashimi, eh?

The food was piping hot and very palatable. Every dish was as good as it looked and I had no regrets having my meal there. We enjoyed it very much and as for coming back again, would you believe we made it two days in a row at Sakae Sushi? Hehe…. next time, perhaps we ought to try the one at The Curve? *wink*

Knowing how much I love these egg tarts, my hubby bought me a box of SIX when he was out for lunch last Friday. He surprised me with them after work My hubby and I usually have a hot date every Friday lunch, but last Friday, I had a meeting that lasted through lunch, so I had to forgo our date. My hubby went downtown for lunch with his buddies and stopped by a shop that was famed for its egg tarts. A quaint little shop on Cintra Street that had been featured in the papers before for its exceptional tasting egg tarts, they were priced at an unbelievable 80 cents each only.

Well actually if you hadn’t realized, egg tarts come in 3 different varieties. The first type is the kind that comes in a biscuit crust, thin and kind of hard. The second type is the egg tart that is made with a pastry crust, flaky and layered. The third variety is what we call the Portuguese egg tart. This is an egg tart with a more custard-like filling. My favorite is actually the second type, but the ones my hubby bought belongs under Type No.1. No biggie. Tastes just as good. Sinfully sweet, but that’s what makes it ohsogood. Me, egg tart queen will like the tarts anyhow they are served. And for the record, all tarts were completely finished by Sunday.

I have been wondering what the difference is between the regular Old Town White Coffee and the Nanyang Memorably. Both kinds of coffee are served in the Old Town kopitiam franchise and being a non-coffee drinker myself, the difference between the two still eludes me. However, a couple of days ago, my hubby was out with some colleagues of his and had the opportunity to try the Nanyang Memorably iced coffee. And he has been raving about it ever since. I suspect he is very much addicted to it. I too was curious as to how good this glass of mojo is, so we had lunch at Old Town today and I had my first taste of the memorable Nanyang Memorably.

Served in 2 layers, with really thick coffee (read: caffeine overload) at the bottom and topped with frothy milk which I suspect is evaporated milk, the Nanyang Memorably is not for the faint-of-heart. Even though the ice did dilute it somewhat, it was very strong and it will definitely give the conventional latté a run for its money. Stir it up real good and have a go at it. Every sip was like an instant shot of caffeine straight to the brain, guaranteed to perk one up for the rest of the entire day.

As for the difference between the white coffee and its memorable counterpart, anyone wanna volunteer and help me shed some light?

Anyway, the ambience exuded by the lobby and registration area of the g Hotel was one of class, sophistication and abstractness. It had modern art decor and equally modern furniture. The lobby area was vast too and there was a lot of breathing space. Good for people who suffer from claustrophobia. Unfortunately, the posh interior was marred by the fact that there was someone smoking away in the lobby, oblivious to his surroundings. I’m sorry, but are people allowed to smoke in hotel lobbies? I wanted to look for the No Smoking sign and tell him off, but we were in a rush to get to the food, so I let it go. Lucky him!

Back to the food-tasting.� The cutlery was really nice. I especially like the plates they used: in clean classic white, and it was shaped in a square curvy shape, very different from the usual round plates.� The food connoisseur in me gave a nod of approval at first glance.� Here’s the list of food that we have the opportunity to savor:

And my favorite from the list above are:

Can you guess what each of those are? Of course, this is just my opinion, and the rest would probably have their own say too. Oh yeah, by the way, I have posted a picture of me in the *sneak preview* attire from my previous post… it’s somewhere out there, but you’ll need to look for it…. please excuse my shameless way of generating web traffic. MUAHAHAHAHAhahahahahah!!!!!

Fine!  Laugh at my lame joke, but I get the last laugh now because I had mangoes for dessert 2 nights in a row on Monday and Tuesday.  We bought these mangoes from Jusco last Sunday – according to my hubby, there was a large crowd gathering round the new stock of mangoes that had just arrived.  Curiosity got the better of him and he chose two.  Each was approximately RM3++.  But boy, were they worth every single sen.

Choosing a mango that is sweet is really a gamble in itself.  Some mangoes look so ripe and almost reek of sweetness, you just have to buy it.  But once you slice it, the aroma will tell you it’s far from being sweet at all.  On the other hand there are some mangoes which look green on the outside with dark spots all over them, but taste so good.  Makes me wonder sometimes how mangoes are so like people eh?  The idiom “Never judge a book by its cover” springs to mind. 

But I digress… The mango we had the opportunity to savor had every element of being tastylicious.  Looking like a million bucks from the outside, what with a sticker that boasted “Best Quality”, I just knew we had a winner when I gingerly sliced off its skin, piece by piece.  Little by little, the orangey smooth mango flesh was revealed.  I sliced it up into bite-size chunks and sank my teeth into them. 

Sensational.  It has been a long while since I had tasted mango this good.  Just the right texture and color.  Succulent.  Juicy.  Every bite was like manna from heaven.  Had me wishing there was more.  Even Ethan enjoyed it.  And of course, hubby enjoyed it even more.  It is, after all, his favorite fruit.

…and we’re going back for more this weekend!  Woohoo!

Ethan’s baby sitter gave us 4 bak changs yesterday evening, and hubby and I had a feast of a time!  What’s there not to love?  Glutinous rice: yum.  Mushrooms: yum.  Tua-pooi-bak (fatty pork): yum.  Salted egg yolk: yum.  We already finished 2 bak changs and the remaining 2 I’ve put in the fridge for consumption later today(maybe)… after all, today *is* the actual day of the Dumpling Festival.  Eating a bak chang is a novelty in itself.  Peeling away the lotus leaf and revealing a glossy-looking interior of glutinous rice is enough to make one drool.  Using a fork or spoon to pry open the chang showcasing its scrumptious contents, wafting in the aroma of the freshly steamed dumplings.  Mmmmm…. mmmm….. lip-smacking good!  And all worth the few hundred calories it adds too!

Random thought: Why is it called “ham yuk choong” (salted meat dumpling in Cantonese) but not “kiam bak chang” (salted meat dumpling in Hokkien)?

The chicken rice was actually *tipu* claypot chicken rice, because I used the rice cooker. Heh heh heh…. And it was the first time my Mom (the claypot chicken rice sifu from whom I learnt the art from) actually tried it. …. Pressure, pressure…..

The secret of course is in the marinade, and I used light soy sauce, pepper, black soy sauce, some sesame seed oil and some oyster sauce to marinade the chicken pieces. I added some pieces of chicken gizzard too – absolutely love the crunchiness of it! I left it to marinade before I went for church in the morning and when I came back, it was all ready to be cooked!

First I fried the shallots, garlic and ginger slices until fragrant. I put in a lot of ginger slices because my hubby and I simply love the taste of it. Then I added the marinated chicken, sliced toong-ku (shiitake mushrooms) and lap cheong (chinese sausage).

Next, I added in the washed rice and stir fried for a few minutes. I then transferred the mixture into a rice cooker, added enough water to cook the rice and poured in generous pieces of kiam-hoo-bak (salted fish meat) right on top before I hit the Cook Rice button. I served it hot, garnished with spring onions and of course, lat-chew-chai aka cili padi (bird’s eye chilli).

Although I had cooked the chicken rice many many times before, it was my first attempt with the kerabu. I normally serve my chicken rice with just cucumber slices, but I was feeling adventurous this time round, so I thought of trying to make a simple version of the kerabu, a favorite appetizer among all Malaysians. The previous night, we bought a small pineapple and I attempted to cut it (first time too!). The kerabu was fairly easy to make and it was a matter of mixing everything up. I simply stirred in the pineapple, cucumber slices, cili padi (bird’s eye chilli) and sliced shallots…oh yeah, for a hint of aroma, I added finely chopped mint leaves too. I then squeezed the juice of a medium-sized lime onto it and mixed up the concoction real good. Then I left it to chill for about an hour in the fridge. That will allow the juices to permeate and give it the right taste.

I don’t know if sleep-induced meals are an indication of a meal well-cooked, but I made the meal for lunch and it left everyone so full, we all fell asleep after that.

Dragon-i has recently opened an outlet in Queensbay Mall. I’ve seen this outlet in The Curve and it was jam-packed. And since Penangites are prone to the “new toilet syndrome”, I wasn’t surprised to see a long line forming outside the outlet last weekend when I was out shopping. They even had 3 rows of seats in front of the shop to accomodate the waiting crowd. Well, of course, I didn’t go in then. I simply took the brochure and business card, just in case I wanted to make a reservation for a lunch appointment a few days later.

So last Thursday, my 3 girlfriends and I decided to check the place out. A couple of days before, I had read a review that claimed the service was impeccable. Expecting to be served like queens, we arrived shortly after noon and were glad to note that we didn’t have to wait long to be seated. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed with the service. Not only were we made to wait aeons for our orders to be taken, our plain water took ages to arrive as well. Service was sadly provided with nary a smile. Although the restaurant was full with people having lunch, but that is hardly an excuse for the poor attention and service rendered. I regret now that I had forgotten to leave a comment on their comment card but I guess this post will have to do just as well.

But thank goodness the food saved the day! We ordered the drunken chicken, which was a tastefully prepared cold dish. It was a fantastic appetizer which left me wanting more, and that’s always good when it comes to food.

Then of course we ordered their famous la mien (pulled mee), in both the soup and dry variety. For the soup variety, we had the spicy la mien, which was exquisitely prepared with minced meat and a hint of ground peanuts in a slightly spicy sauce. It was the one with the biggest picture in the menu, so we figured it ought to be the specialty of the restaurant. I can’t remember the price, but I think it was RM18 per bowl. We also ordered the seafood la mien which was recommended by the waitress, but that left much to be desired unfortunately. I thought it tasted just like any regular mee goreng, which would have only cost a fraction of the price. So go with the soup la mien if you want that bang for your buck.

We also ordered the famous siew long pao, which came in a serving of 4 pieces. Although it tasted excellent, I felt like I was being robbed in broad daylight in terms of garnishing. See… this is what Dragon-i has advertised their siew long pao looks like in the brochure:

and this is what we got, plonked down on our table:

Doesn’t it pale in comparison? No carrots and vegetables to make the pao look more delectable. Tsk.

Our final dish is something known as “The Pao that the Dog dowan to eat”, which is a direct translation of the name of the dish in Mandarin. Don’t ask me why it is named as such though. In English, it is stated in the menu as Tianjin Steamed Meat Bun. It comes in a serving of 2 steamed buns, containing a meaty filling. Nothing to shout about really, but delicious all the same.

Our lunch came amounted to about RM66, not too bad, I would say for a hearty lunch. Oh yeah, there’s a discount of 10% off the total food bill if you pay with your SBB (now CIMB) credit card. And credit should be given to the waitress because she informed us of this. See? I do give credit where credit is due.

When we were at Nando’s @ Gurney Plaza, I inquired if there were any special promotions for Jusco card members.  I used to be entitled to a free helping of Peri Chips with my Jusco card before.  Goody….The waitress informed us that with the Jusco card, we were now able to get a chocolate mud pie for free!  I really LURVE the chocolate mud pie at Nando’s.  Warm and moist chocolate cake, served with a scoop of chilled vanilla ice cream and drizzled with yummy and sinfully sweet chocolate syrup.  Every bite was so heavenly and had me wanting more.

So when we were at Nando’s @ Queensbay Mall, I thought we would get another helping of the chocolate mud pie.  Unfortunately, the waiter told us the offer had not begun.  He would not even give it to us when we informed him that the branch at Gurney had given us the dessert just the day before.  Hmmmph…!!!  Hope we’ll still be able to get it in Gurney Plaza when we go there the next time!

So yes, Simple American, since you’re wondering what kind of food I adore, my vote goes to dim sumbecause of its variety and yumminess of course.  Dim sum, which originated from Hong Kong, caters to people of differing tastes; people who like steamed stuff can have the fish balls, siew mais and char siew paus, whereas people who dig fried or baked stuff can choose to have egg tarts, woo kok or prawn fritters, to name a few.   Me? I love them all!  I hail from Ipoh, which is well-renowned for its dim sum outlets.  Funnily enough though, dim sum was hardly my cup of tea when I was staying and studying in Ipoh back then.  Now in Penang, my love for dim sum  has been reignited.  And since my hubby and son love it just as much as I do (maybe more!), it suits us just fine.

Yay…it’s Friday today, the weekend is here, and dim sum, dim sum, here I come!

**Start Copy**

Proposition: What is your favorite food in your state or country?

Requirements: Find some info about the food and show delicious pictures of it?

Quantity: FIVE PEOPLE.

Tag Mode: You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.

Mybabybay loves Asam Laksa from Penang, Malaysia
JustMyThoughts loves Penang Char Koay Teow
My Lil Venture loves Laksa Sarawak
Montessorimum loves Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun
Chinnee loves Melaka Wan Tan Mee
Leah loves Hakka Lei Cha
Hui Sia loves Crispy Duck Skin from China
Karen loves Pan Mee.
Simple American loves Cheese Enchiladas
Giddy Tiger loves Dim Sum

**End Copy**

I’ve made several friends lately just by blogging, so I’m gonna pass this food tag on to them:

LB
Paris Beaverbanks
Rinnah
May
Quaint Melody

Have fun guys!

What is steamed mushroom chicken rice?  Instead of the conventional claypot chicken rice or the regular chicken rice, the steamed mushroom chicken rice is exactly what it is.  Pieces of marinated chicken with mushroom placed on top of steamed rice in a ceramic bowl normally used for broiling soup, and then steamed in the old-fashioned wooden steamers, used for pau.  The result is a tasty meal of chicken rice without the drying effect of claypot chicken rice.  It tastes exceptionally good with cili padi, giving it the extra *kick*.  One serving costs only RM3.50 and it also comes with a small bowl of clear soup.  They also have it in the salted fish and pork ribs variety.

Good food for such a reasonable price.  Trust me, I had it for lunch just now.

On Sunday morning, we made a trip to Leech Street in Ipoh to savor the authentic white coffee, from the place where it all started.  The Nam Heong restaurant was jam-packed with coffee lovers and (I think) visitors to Ipoh.  Thankfully we found a seat, and ordered coffee and roti bakar (what else?!). 

It was the first time I had coffee in 2 years, at least, what with the pregnancy and breastfeeding.  Although I’m still breastfeeding now, I figured it should be all right for me to have a cup.  And I’m glad I did.  The coffee’s aromatic fragrance was just an invite to its smooth taste and rare blend of authentic coffee beans.  According to my hubby, from the taste, it is apparent that the white coffee here in Nam Heong is made from soaking and sieving the beans using the traditional muslin cloth, as opposed to the one at the Old Town White Coffee franchise, which tasted like they made it from the 3-in-1 packets.  I noticed that the Old Town White Coffee franchise even copied the way Nam Heong places the coffee spoon. 

However, the coffee at Nam Heong ought to have been served in the traditional coffee cups, the kind with the green designs at the side.  That would have given it that extra authenticity.

Rotibakar was all right too, thin and crisp.

Best of all, 3 cups of white coffee and 5 servings of rotibakar only cost us RM7.80.  In the Old Town White Coffee franchise, one cup of coffee alone would have set us back RM2.20!  It was therefore a surprise to me that the franchise also existed in Ipoh (in Greentown business center), and it’s a really huge one too!  Of course, people who frequent it pay for the ambience as well.

Well, I’m glad we found time to have brunch at Nam Heong.  Truly delicious and memorable coffee – I’ll take this anytime in place of a Starbucks latte!

First accomplishment: Yes! I can make Roti Bakar…and give Old Town Kopitiam a run for its money That’s what my hubby said. I tried this out early this week one night for supper and it tasted really good. The key to getting roti bakar done just right is to use BUTTER instead of margarine. And the butter needs to be cut into pieces (as opposed to being spread on the toast) immediately after taking it out from the fridge. Watch and salivate while the chunks of butter melts onto the hot toast. Can you just see the butter oozing out from the bread in the picture below?

Second Accomplishment: I managed to buy the jumbo pack of Mamy Poko diapers at an unbelievably dirtcheap price of RM42.90! The promotion started in Tesco last week, but there was no stock for size L, which Ethan currently uses. Yesterday evening, a good mommy friend of mine (you know who you are, dear!) called me up right before my dinner, and told me Tesco had restocked size L. She was already in the midst of buying hers. So Pete and I hurried over to Tesco after dinner and after picking Ethan up, and kiasu-ly grabbed 4 packs (we were only allowed 2 per customer). Good thing we were there early too, as there were only 2 or 3 packs of L left after I took those 4. Here’s our loot :

Third (and final) accomplishment: YATAAAAAAAAaaaaa!!!!!! We watched Episode 19 of Heroes last night! If anyone wants spoilers, you can email me directly. But it is edge-of-the-seat nail-biting exciting, aitelyooooo! I can’t wait for the next episode…

Back in Ipoh, my favorite beef koay teow stall is the one in Woolley Center. It was formerly a stall in the Kampung Simee market, but moved to Woolley Center several years ago. Since I don’t go back to Ipoh very often nowadays, I really miss the beef koay teow there. The lady at the stall always recognizes me whenever I stop by. Talk about store loyalty!

Since I have relocated to Penang for about 10 years now, I’ve not found a beef koay teow stall which meets my standards….chewah… until recently. This quaint stall has a signboard in Mandarin, save for a few English words like Large, Medium and Small, and the prices. It’s located at the corner coffee shop very near the Taman Sri Nibong police station, along the same row as the Ayamas shop and Yosenabe steamboat restaurant. The beef koay teow’s soup is just right in thickness and exudes a heavenly aroma so inviting and addictive, you just can’t help but love it. My hubby and I frequent this stall about once a week now, because it is just so good it keeps us coming back for more. Customization is also available for each individual bowl as you can choose what to include and what to exclude. Compared to Ipoh, the price is slightly steep, at RM8 for a large bowl, RM7 for medium and RM6 for small. But it is still cheaper than a bowl of beef koay teow at Pho Hoa

Yesterday evening we went there for dinner again, and when I started to explain how I like mine customized, the man said he already knew and when he repeated it to me, it was correct! Say…I wonder if they have frequent diner discounts there? *hopeful*

Oh yeah… have to add this: we had dinner at Friday’s again where I redeemed/claimed my FREE Sizzling Fajita Tower. On our previous visit to Friday’s, we were lucky enough to be selected as a recipient of this free entree, which costs RM30.90-RM32.90, depending on whether you order it in the chicken, beef or combo variety (I think they also have shrimp, but let’s not deviate, shall we?). Anyway, all I had to do was to log in to the Friday’s survey site, answer a few questions, and when I was done, a code was generated. This code needs to be copied onto the receipt and brought along to any Friday’s outlet to claim the meal. Ain’t that great?

I ordered the Sizzling Fajita Tower Combo (Beef + Chicken) and man, it was fantastic! It was served in 3 layers:

• Top layer – Cheese, Guacamole/avocado, salsa, sour cream
• Middle layer – Meat filling (Grilled chicken + beef strips) with onions and capsicums
• Bottom layer – 4 warm flour tortillas

Note of caution though: Be EXTREMELY HUNGRY if you wanna order this.

Our weekend was spent in Mutiara Damansara
Home of The Curve and yes of course, Ikea
We stayed at the Royale Bintang, so shopping was easy
No complaints there, we even had a flat panel TV!

Saturday night we had dinner at Italiannies
Excellent food which was oh-so-yummy!
Dessert at New Zealand Ice Cream, we savored every bite
Then some light shopping before we called it a night.

Buffet breakfast at the hotel in the morning
A hearty one at that and ever so filling
Some shopping before lunch to aid our digestion
Some Ikea and Aussino fulfilled our temptations!

As an encore to our gastronomical adventure
To Manhattan Fish Market, we chose to venture
Lunch left us thoroughly full and very sleepy
Off home to Penang from a mighty enjoyable journey!

Last Saturday, we visited the newly opened New World Park hawker center in Swatow Lane.  I heard that in pre-war times, this very same area housed an amusement park by the same name.  Well anyway, now the area contains almost all the hawkers from the nearby (famous) Swatow Lane coffee shop.  What’s good about this new hawker center is the ample car park available.  It’s not free, but is quite canggih cos they’ve got these car park payment machines, much like the ones they have at malls.  Car park is 50 sen for the 1st hour I think.

Here’s a mouth-watering look at what we had:

And a picture of satisfaction after the scrumptious meal:

Are you a sashimi lover like me? 
Do you crave the succulent taste of fresh salmon basked in wasabi?
Does your mouth water at the very sight of sashimi in Japanese restaurant windows (or like the one in the picture above), and do you find yourself not being able to restrain your urge to savour this delectable cuisine?

If you’ve answered a resounding YES to all of the above, then you are a self-professed sashimi lover like me, and you’re gonna thank me for what I am about to reveal.  Whenever I eat sashimi, I will never fail to eat it with wasabi… but of course! I would ask for the wasabi with the extra kick, because the regular wasabi just doesn’t do it for me … hey, I’m not called the wasabi queen for no reason, okay?

My favorite kind of sashimi is salmon, especially if they are sliced just right producing the right texture and succulence for my teeth to sink into….aaaahhhhh……perfection.

A couple of years back, I discovered that if one eats sashimi with plain wasabi (without soy sauce), it’s like kacang puteh. No kick at all.  But add the soy sauce, and oolalaaaa… you’ll feel it right up to your nose.  However, just last week, hubbs and I made another amazing discovery, after we got bored with the sashimi+wasabi in soy sauce kick.  Our discovery?

Sashimi + Wasabi in soy sauce + Radish strips = Fu-yooooh KICK in the highest degree!

Hey, I kid you not… go try it and let me know

My friend bought these iron eggs from Taipei and it was my first time trying them out.  I searched the net and found out that iron eggs are actually preserved quails’ eggs.  These eggs are boiled using a special sauce and then dried.  The entire boiling and drying process is repeated thrice producing iron eggs which are chewy on the outside and of egg-yolk consistency on the inside.  Legend has it that these iron eggs came about because the old granny that owned the shop could hardly sell her soy-sauce marinated eggs, so eventually the eggs turned as hard as stone.  Strangely enough, these eggs attracted gluttons and from then on, became a legend and tourists flock to Taipei to buy these iron eggs.  Sounds icky right?  But you know what, despite its foreboding exterior, the iron eggs were surprisingly tasty and extremely addictive!  But be careful, cos quails’ eggs are calorie-laden.

Food & Beverage

• Burger King
• Roti Boy
• In N Out Burger
• Tony Roma’s
• Pho Hoa
• San Francisco Coffee
• Saisaki Japanese Buffet
• Chilli’s (this will soon be off my list, cos it’s gonna open in the new Gurney Plaza wing soon!)

Home & Furnishing

• Ikea
• Pottery Barn

Books

• Barnes & Noble
• Kinokuniya

Mommyhood and Babyhood

• Mothercare

Departmental Stores

• Isetan
• Macy’s

Lingerie

• (always always) Victoria’s Secret

Hypermarkets

• Walmart
• Target

My hubby treated a few of his ex-subordinates to a scrumptious lunch at T.G.I.Friday’s at Queensbay Mall today. The saying goes that behind every successful man is a successful woman…so of course I got to tag along too! Yayyay…..I’m a Friday’s fan…so naturally I was elated like nobody’s business. Friday’s was eeriely unoccupied when we arrived (feels so different from Saturday nights when almost every table is occupied). We sat near the wall with musical legends…Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and the like…

I remembered that I wanted to order the strawberry milkshake because it was really good when I had it at Friday’s 1-Utama. Was it as good today? Well, the shake was good, creamy and thick but not as thick as the one in 1-U as far as I can remember.

We ordered the Friday’s Mushrooms for our appetizer, which I must say was superb. Deep fried button mushrooms…..oohlala….I’ve never tasted anything like it before and it’s now up there with nachos as my favorite appetizer. Crisp on the outside and mushroom-like on the inside (duh?), it went down perfectly with the sour cream. Yummy….we could hardly wait for our entrees.

After about 15 minutes, the food came (at last). We were SO HUNGRY!!!

I ordered the Smothered Steak (yeah that’s what they call it cos it’s smothered in cheese and some sauce) while my other giddy half ordered the NY Chargrilled StripSteak. We ordered them medium rare (did I mention we’re meat people?). Verdict: My steak was fantastic, done just right and tasted really good – slicing the meat revealed RED meat oozing with a little bit of blood, medium rare just the way I like it. The portion was also just right, not too big… so I could finish it, no problems. Certainly recommended to the discerning steak lover. I also loved the mashed potatoes which was prepared with the skin: mashed to perfection with all the wholesome goodness….. drooling yet? Hubbs’ steak on the other hand, was a tad too hard and “tendon”-like; the serving was really HUMUNGOUS. He said it was “okay only”.

I really enjoyed the meal and we were so FULL after lunch … really dreaded that we had to go back to work….SIGH…..and burp! (Excuse me!)

You see, since I only most of the time cook during weekends, or every other weekend, it is inevitable that one 5 kilo pack of rice can last us months on end. So these “koo” will invade our rice bucket especially towards the last bit of the rice.

What to do? I’ve heard from my Mom that the “koo” will not breed if rice is cooked and used frequently, like every day. Since I don’t do that, I put my rice in an air-tight container in the hope that the “koo” will not breed. But still the “koo”s will appear eventually. Why? Apparently the eggs from the “koo” are already present in the rice. So there’s virtually nothing one can do about it and leaving the eggs there with the rice will well…. cause them to breed.

So still a problem until NOW….I am proud to say that there is a solution! Place the rice in the FREEZER for 2 days. This will prevent the eggs from hatching and thus prevent “koo” from breeding. We tried this out during the recent CNY – we put the rice in the freezer and have been using it “koo”-free since. So far so good – let’s hope it stays that way

Being frequent diners at the restaurant, we already knew what we wanted and motioned a waitress to take our orders. The usual quarter meals and drinks. Pete wanted a glass of warm water because he was still barred from iced water since he had his cough sometime back.

Waitress: We only have bottled water, sir
Pete: No, I don’t want bottled water. Just plain warm water for me will do.
Waitress: We don’t have warm water, just bottled water.
Pete: What?!! No warm water? But I’ve ordered warm water here before.
Waitress: We were told to inform customers that we only have bottled water now.
Pete: Why?
Waitress: I also donno why. That was what we were told.
Me: Can we speak to your manager? (hehe….always scares them right off)
Waitress: Hang on, let me check. (leaves the table)
Waitress (after a short while): Sir, we only have bottled water.
Pete: No, I only want warm water.
Waitress showed pissed-off face and scribbled something, then walked away.

I just don’t understand why they can’t serve warm water. They have a kitchen right? And I don’t believe they don’t have warm water in the kitchen.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, our food finally came. Hunger had already turned to boredom. Not good.

Three men walked in, dressed in coats and ties. One of them started giving orders to the people working behind the counter. It became apparent that he was the manager of the outlet. The other 2 men sat at the table beside us, talking loudly whilst checking the menu and making their orders. Suddenly one of them pointed at my drink (I had iced milo) and said “You have milo ah? Gimme one glass of iced milo!” All this while he was holding the menu in his hands! Is he that incapable of reading off the menu that he has to use my drink as a reference?! To make matters worse, one of the other men at the table started to demand for their food loudly.

Well, their food arrived too, but it was apparent that they only had to wait like 5 minutes. Why? Because they were guests of the manager? Because they spoke loudly and demanded the food from the waitress each time she walked by? Tsk tsk tsk… hubbs and I would definitely have given them a piece of our minds had their food arrived BEFORE ours.

Anyways, I just realized that I did not have any food pictures from The View from previous visits (too excited about the food, din even think of taking photos). This time round, a lot of people brought along their canggih phones and cameras, so I joined in the crowd.

I ordered the ribeye steak with bearnaise sauce, because as I recall from my previous visit, it was done to absolute perfection. Medium, just the way I like it. Today, I was mortified. My steak came overcooked and well done. So much for perfection.

Luckily the appetizers and dessert made up for the lousy entree. BURP!

For years, hubbs and I have steered clear from eating chee cheong fun. The chee cheong fun that I am referring to is the Penang chee cheong fun, the kind that is served with “hair-ko” (prawn paste in Hokkien) and sesame seeds.
We just didn’t like the taste of it, and hubbs even said it gave him a headache. For me, it was just plain weird.

“Hair-ko” in laksa is divine, so that’s not the culprit. Neither was it the chee cheong fun, cos I LOVE to eat “toong-ku-chap-chee-cheong fun” (chee cheong fun with mushroom sauce), especially the one I get from dear Ipoh.

But recently, I think last week, hubbs suggested we bite the bullet and try chee cheong fun (what??!!)… Anyway, my parents claim that the chee cheong fun in Super Tanker is the best ever, so we figured, might as well go for the best, right?

You know what..? It didn’t taste THAT bad at all. In fact, to cut a long story short, since that day, we have gone back and walloped 2 more plates. We’ve not have the courage to finish one plate *each* yet, but I don’t see why not?