Thursday 30 December 2004

Peace to All

The death toll has reached 77,000 and its still climbing. It's so sad but I'm kinda glad that our Prime Minister has called the nation to call-off New Year celebration and in place to hold prayers.

I've kick started a donation drive at my office. A right time cos it's around pay day plus they've collected their claims cheque teehehehe... I can see the donation box is getting fatter and hopefully by next Wednesday it would have a substantial amount for us to channel to Red Cross and Mercy.

The avenues to donate locally are:

(1) Buddhist Maha Vihara
123 Jalan Berhala, Brickfields
50470 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03 2274 1141 / fax : 03 2273 2570

They're accepting canned/dry food, cloths, medicines, and money/cheque (write to "Buddhist Maha Vihara"). The first shipment out to India/Sri Lanka is tomorrow.


(2) The Star Malaysia

Excerpt:

When we launched our appeal, The Star was working in association with the Malaysian Red Crescent Society and Mercy Malaysia.

Now, we would like to announce that we would also be working with another partner -- the National Disaster Relief Fund or Tabung Bantuan Bencana Negara.

The public can send their cheques to our headquarters at Menara Star, 15, Jalan 16/11, Section 16, 46350 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia or to our Penang office at The Star, 202, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang.

Cheques can be made out to:


Tabung Bantuan Bencana Negara, and mark “Untuk Mangsa Tsunami” on the back of the cheque;

Malaysian Red Crescent Society, and mark “Tidal Waves Victims” on the back of the cheque; or

Mercy Humanitarian Fund with “South-East Asia Earthquake Appeal” on the back of the cheque.
The Star will hand over the cheque to the respective organisations at the end of the campaign.



(3) The Star/Maybank Tsunami Relief Fund

Extraction from Maybank2u

* How Can I Contribute to the Star / Maybank Tsunami Relief Fund

Maybank has set up a Maybank Account No.114013169092 for the Fund. You may contribute to this Fund via this account using any of the following channels:


Where How
a. Maybank counters nationwide - Cash or Cheque Donation
- Payee’s Name Star/Maybank Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund.
- Kindly also write the Fund’s Account Number at the reverse of your cheque.

b. Maybank ATM - Third Party Transfer.
- Input the Fund’s Account Number

c. Maybank (Cheque deposit machine) - Payee’s Name Star/Maybank Tsunami Relief Fund.
- Kindly also write the Fund’s Account Number at the reverse of your cheque.

d. Maybank2u.com - Under Fund Transfer to 3rd Party Accounts
- Input the Fund’s Account Number


* How long is the Fund campaign?

The Star / Maybank Tsunami Relief Fund is opened from December 29, 2004 to January 31, 2005.


* How will my donation be channelled to those affected?

At the end of the campaign period, your donation together with Maybank’s contribution will be channelled to the government National Disaster Management and Relief Committee. The Deputy Prime Minister is the Chairman of NDMRC. We will provide details of the presentation at Maybank2u.com.

For more information, please Tel 1-300-88-66-88 or 03-2072 7788



(4) The New Straits Times/Berita Harian/TV3/8TV

Excerpt:

The New Straits Times and Berita Harian newspapers, joined by TV3 and 8TV have launched a Malaysian Tsunami Disaster Fund to assist Government efforts in rehabilitating and helping the thousands of victims affected by this tragedy.

All contributions will be handed over to the Federal Government Disaster Fund.

Contributions can be sent to the New Straits Times or Berita Harian at Balai Berita, 31, Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur and cheques should be made out to New Straits Times Press Berhad. On the reverse side of the cheque, please write "NST-BH Malaysian Tsunami Disaster Fund."


(5) Mack's Brand New Malaysian

Excerpt:

Update on Bloggers for Tsunami Victims Donation Fund. My wife is handling the donation project and will be posting in this blog relevant details woth regards to the issue.

The account number for you to bank in donate to is as follows:

Affin Bank : 1022 0000000 38248
Branch : Puchong
Name : Aini Marlina Binti Halim

Donors who bank in their contributions, kindly hold on to your bank in slips and check here for acknowledgement of receipt on our part. We will be updating this entry daily, to reflect the amount donated and the entry number for you to countercheck. At the end of the donation period, we will hand over the money together with those from the USJ/SJ Donation Drive to red Crescent Society Malaysia.

Please direct any questions to our Bloggers Stand Up for Malaysia Email address, prf@brandmalaysia.com or direct to me here.



There are scores of many more such avenues, please check your local news.

I'll be off from work tomorrow, hence might not have much time to update this blog with my hyper boiboi around. Will try to find time to get things updated. Till next year... wishing all a Happy New Year!

Love & peace...

Wednesday 29 December 2004

Not So Cheap Lunch Afterall

Sighhhh every darn thing is getting very expensive in Malaysia!!! Come 1st Jan 2005, the price of lots of stuff will be increased from toll rates to petrol/diesel (well who knows??), even newspapers will not be spared! All these will indirectly hit us on our daily consumptions ie food, transportation, clothings and what not. Sadly our salary does not increase accordingly!!!

Even lunch is getting expensive these days. Just for example, this regular hawker place we frequent. It doesn't have a name and we usually refer that place as "Siew Pai Kuat Farn" (Cantonese for Roasted Pork Rib Rice). Goodness gracious, the price had increased RM1 for those who order pai kuat and siew yoke (Cantonese for roast pork).



Strangely the usual char siew (roasted pork strips with sweetish sauce) & siew yoke rice remained the same price. Its kinda puzzling. Well either that or the Forever-Arguing-With-The-Wife fella decided to jack up the price just because he doesn't the face of the patron!! Heehehe



Hmmm but still did not hear people complaining, maybe because they're so delicious that it's worth its money???

If you don't mind the price and crowd (just need to be there early before 12.30pm), find your way to behind Istana Hotel, I forgot the road name, sorry. Turn into the road that houses Estana Cafe (corner). Siew Pai Kuat Farn is right at the end of this cafe beside errr an out-of-place "hotel".

Tuesday 28 December 2004

Tsunami death toll rises to 40,000!!!

Taken off the latest news on local online paper - The Star:

Regional tsunami, quake death toll rises to 40,000

About 40,000 people are reported dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, most killed by massive tidal waves that smashed coastlines after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's coast on Sunday, followed by aftershocks in the region.

Death tolls by country:


Sri Lanka: 18,706.
Indonesia: About 15,000.
India: 4,371.
Thailand: 1,516.
Malaysia: 65.
Myanmar: 90.
Maldives: 52.
Somalia: Hundreds.
Tanzania: 10
Seychelles: 3.
Bangladesh: 2.

******************************

Situation doesn't seems to look any better with many more missing and unaccountable. And now what more with the survivors are at risk of food and water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid; lack of clean water and medicines.

Mack of Brand New Malaysian is coordinating a donation drive with the assistance of Jeff Ooi and his USJ community. Dear readers, do your bit for the victims, what ever the amount, every cents count!!!

Hmmmm... I think I should start off collecting from my colleagues :) Don't run away ok when you see me tomorrow!!! Thank you.

Monday 27 December 2004

Tsunami in Penang, Malaysia

As you would have known by now, part of Malaysia in the North West region are hit by sea waves as high as 5 storeys tall after the earthquake over in Sumatra, Indonesia. By now death toll in the Asia region has hit 11,000 people! Such a sad Boxing Day.

I've got the news very late last night after dropping boiboi off at my parents' place. Rushed home to catch midnite news. Gosh it was so horrible! Scanned thru CNN, CNBC and BBC too... all breaking news and showing the clips over and over again!!

Check out these pages for further details... ScreenShots; TV Smith's Dua Sen; The Star, Malaysia; and The New Straits Times, Malaysia.

My condolences and sympathy to those who have lost their friends and families in this disaster...

Thursday 23 December 2004

Have a Blessed Christmas

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all readers a Blessed Christmas. It's that time of the year to tuck into stuffed roast turkey. I guess over the years, Malaysians have caught on having turkey for Christmas. It seems like not only hotels are preparing the turkeys these days for take-away but restaurants too.

Let me tell you this, most Malaysians are pretty lazy when it comes to preparing such food during festive seasons, hence, most will just order their stuff to bring home or the most convenient way - eat out at restaurants. That is why restaurants in Malaysia are thriving!!!

There is one place in KL that still uses a traditional firewood oven to roast their food. It's non other than the grand old dame, The Coliseum Café. This place has been around since the British colonial days and has been around for more than 80 years!

“The Coli” (for those uninitiated, this is not a bacteria’s name but a name fondly given by the many writers who spent a good deal of their creative life mingling with the folks downtown). Nevertheless, The Coli needs no introduction for its famous sizzling steaks and stuffed crabs! Oh yeah and it's butter infused smoky interior due to the sizzling actions all day round and and (pun intended) their aged wait staff.

This is the turkey that went on displayed.



This is the serving we've gotten. Roast turkey here comes with chestnut stuffing, chicken sausage, parsley potatoes, broccoli, cranberry sauce and a choice of four sauces – Classic which is the traditional giblet sauce made from turkey liver and gizzard, Black Pepper, Garlic and Mushroom.



Do not expect a glob of stuffing on your plate as The Coli serves the chestnut stuffing in blocks of square instead, well, for better presentation they informed. The turkey meat is surprisingly tender and moist unlike those remarks we always get about turkey meat being dry, tough and tasteless. Is it really true that food comes out from a firewood oven tastes better? From me, it’s a resounding ‘yes’!

I managed to get ALL the sauces to try out in one go. Classic Sauce is a very much toned down version to suit Malaysian taste and the black pepper sauce is not overly spicy. The Garlic sauce will definitely chase Count Dracula away with loads of chopped garlic in it. Mushroom sauce contained plenty of shitake and button mushrooms slivers. The best sauce – Garlic mixed with Mushroom, errrr…, I’ve experimented with the various combinations and this is the best!

The appetiser, potato skins loaded with roast turkey, onion and green peas topped with cheese. Surprisingly with all those gooey melted cheese, the skins did not give us the jelak (Malay for gosh I can't find an English equivalent word for this, sorry, will try to look up harder) feeling but you have to chow this down quickly while it’s hot. Not that they managed to stay long on the plate!

Roast turkey, cheese and onion spring rolls are really out of this world. Don’t worry about being bombarded with cheese again, this one is subtly filled. The filling’s marinade seeps out onto the crispy skin and gave it an indescribable aromatic taste.



Hmm, how about some Malaysianised roast turkey dishes? The Coli turned innovative with Roast Turkey Rendang that tasted like chicken rendang and the flavourful gravy goes well with hot white rice or ask for the infamous Hainanese bread. Kepit (Malay for stuff or rather fasten) the rendang in between the bread.

To end the meal, the Christmas Pudding is served with Special Vanilla Sauce. The pudding is not too rich and has bits and pieces of mixed fruits and nuts. What’s so special about the sauce? It’s not the normal watery vanilla sauce that floods the whole plate and makes your pudding soggy. The sauce is thick but not too sweet and goes well with the sweet pudding. Perfect with a cup of local kopi-o (Malaysian language for black coffee hehehe...).

We certainly got turkified with all the glorious roast turkey dishes. As if it’s not enough, you can take away half or a whole roast turkey plus its accompaniments back home to enjoy with your loved ones.

Do drop by the grand old café at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (before Coliseum Cinema or opposite Kamdar). Tel: +6 03-2692 6270



Wednesday 22 December 2004

Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone

Never felt so good until I spent some of my dough on a daily basis buying feel good stuff. Hehehe... sighhh... I was actually waiting for Miss Sweet 16's stuff to be delivered at one shop. Got bored waiting for more than 15 minutes so I asked when is IT arriving?? AhLian Mui Mui told me its on the way already from XXX. Aiyoh... so far... she assured me it'll arrive in a jiffy via the trusty motorbike.

So I scoot by next door to my regular music store. Mr Boss greeted me with a very wide grin.

Mr Boss: What you wanna buy today??
Me: Eh everytime come here must buy something?? Let me browse a while first ok.

Mr Boss started his stunt... of whisking out some latest goodies. Arrghhh each time so hard to resist! Next he play those CDs one by one. My heart also melted. Strangely he always recommend me stuff that hubby likes. Not a very good sign, ain't it??

So I got this Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone AND Joshua Bell's Romance of the Violin. I've succumbed to his trick AGAIN cos I bought TWO and not ONE CD!!!



Click on the album covers to listen to the samples.

This Yo-Yo Ma album is fabulous, highly recommended for classical and Ennio Morricone fans. Whilst Ma is a great cellist, Morricone has composed scores for many films ie. The Mission; Once Upon A Time In America; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly...

Joshua Bell's Romance of the Violin is my first album by him. So no comment yet until I've listen to the album thorougly but I know it sounded great after one round.

Hmmm... ok maybe I'll pass on both or maybe just Ma's album to hubby as Christmas pressie hehehe save my time hunting for something suitable for him at his current state of mind.

Have a nice day ahead!

Tuesday 21 December 2004

Adding One More Year to Your Life

Today, the Chinese around the world celebrates Dong Zhi (Winter Solstice) festival. It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese.

Usually, the whole family will gather together for prayers where tong yuen (a type of dumpling made of glutinous rice flour in Cantonese) will be placed on the altar and once prayers are done, we will have tong yuen together after a sumptuous feast!! As a child, I had always looked forward to this as we only get to eat tong yuen once a year. However, due to commercialisation, frozen tong yuen is available all year round. Hehehe well as we grow, I guess none of us look forward to it hahaha maybe we do not wanna add one more year to our life!!

A detailed blog on this can be found in Renee's Shiokadelicious.

Ok it's time to head home for the sumptuous dinner!!!

Happy Dong Zhi to those celebrating this!!!

Tong yuen recipes can be found here and here.

Adventure At The Hairdresser

I had a little adventure at the hairdresser about a month ago. Can't stand my curly hair sticking out after my rebonding session in February or was it January?

First, I have to locate the hairdresser new location at Berjaya Time Square. Upon reaching the mall, I grabbed a copy of the floor directory. Zoomed into Hairdressing and saw the familiar name on 4th Floor. Took the escalator up but surprised surprised my hairstylist, Madame Sexxxy (she's in her late 30s and she's a hot hoochie mama!), no longer work there and thank goodness they directed me to Madame Sexxxy new shop. I went to the other end and found the place. So apparently she's on her own now after discussion with her lady boss failed. Anyway, I think she did not want to pay the lady boss the franchise fee if she retained the shop name. Well, she's is RICH enough to own her own business so it's really no big deal.

After some exchanges of pleasantaries, I just told her I want my hair short!!! She was like shocked and asked me if I'm serious. I told her I had enough of my almost waist length hair which took me about 2 years to grew. Well, she still insisted that I should get another rebonding session.... arrrghhhh which meant I need to spend at least 4 to 5 hours there. Gosh so boring!!!

After washing my hair and she went on a snipping spree... snip snip here... snip snip there... When she reached my long fringe, she went SNIP!!! I cocked my eyebrows and asked her "Goodness, you're snipping my fringe in that manner?? (I meant straight across)"
Madame Sexxxy: This is the current fashion
Me: But it looked weird on me
Madame Sexxxy: Naw, don't worry, I'll give you some jagged edge so that it won't look so straight across. If you don't like it, come back and I'll fix it for you.

Sighhh... are ALL stylist this pushy. Anyway, most times I trusted her sense but this one I really can't believe it. What I saw at the end of the snipping session was the pool of hair under my seat. Her assistant swept them up and I got a photo of that.



Later on they slattered on the rebonding solution and used a heater kinda machine to heat my hair up. After washing them off, then came the painful and slow procedure of "ironing" my hair with the Straightening tong or was it known as Flattening Iron. It looked something like this.

Once that is done, another round of lotion is applied before sticking the partings of hairs with flat plastic boards. Goodness I looked like an alien! Worst, I was told not to move about to ensure really straight hair.

Whilst all these were going on... hey it was not that all boring. There were so many things happening in the shop! Aside from gossips I overheard the other customers chatted with Madame Sexxxy... there was this sweet old lady who walked in and started chatting with Madame Sexxxy. Next on I heard Madame Sexxxy asking her customer to guess how old is this old lady whilst the old lady's lips were beaming from left to right. Customer said she's in her 70s. Madame Sexxxy told her that she's already in her 90s!!! On my goodness... sweet old lady said that she's 99 years this year!!! Wow and she looked so healthy. Nothing like someone in her 90s. More like 70s. Ok I've got a couple of shots on her.





Amazing... it seems like she's from a neighbouring shop. Maybe her children's shop. Anyway, after sitting down there close to four and a half hours, my hair is finally done. Hubby came by to pick me and he had this silly smirk on his face. I knew it, he got some bad comment but I don't care!

Pssst: Saw the lady in black top with some meat sticking out from mid section?? That is Madame Sexxxy. She was wearing a black tube that day with cargo pants!

Last checked in the mirror... I looked like Cleopatra, I meant my hairstyle!!! A month down and I'm still trying to get used to it. I was laughed at but friends being friends, they laughed and yet tried to pacify me saying that I looked CUTE. Gosh that's the last thing I wanna hear. I don't wanna look CUTE when I'm in my 30s. If I'm still 5 years old, you can call me CUTE. Haiiii....

Monday 20 December 2004

Restoran Makanan Laut Mushroom Farm, Genting Highlands

**This is a non-halal review!!!**

This is one of my hubby's fave place when we go to Genting Highland. Genting Highland is a resort located about 45 minutes drive away from KL. It's a popular place for the old and young. The old will go to casino for you know what... whilst the young love its theme park. This is the only place in Malaysia that has got a licensed casino operating in the country. Otherwise, gambling is illegal in this country!

Ok back to this place, I never knew its name until I really took note of it recently for the sake of this blog haha, yes hehee... How to get to this place?? Just follow the signboards in Genting that says "Mushroom Farm". It's really a place where they plant or rather farm mushrooms. You can take a visit inside one of those dark and musky rooms where they culture the mushrooms. You can buy fresh vegetables, mushroom and some souvenirs here.

There are two restaurants here, this one is located on the right as you enter the restaurant area. The reason hubby liked this place is the friendly staff and reasonabily priced food. However, one must know what to order cos not all dishes turn out nice.

First up that came was Salted Fish Pork Meat (Harm Yue Far Larm Poe). Thank goodness the meat was not too fatty. However, this dish lack of salted fish. No ummpphhh, so disappointing lerrr.



Next up was Fried KangKung Belacan*. This one is nice. The KangKung is fresh and crunchy just the way we liked it. Fellow blogger, Reid, managed to stir fry some recently.



Next up was my fave... Three Mushrooms Stir Fry with Beancurd Sheet (Dao Karn and not foo chuk). I always have the knack for this soy bean product. Its like layered beancurd sheets, the texture is slightly chewy. My last count of the type of fresh mushrooms used was like 4 and not 3 hahaha... lets see, oyster mushroom, enoki mushroom (also known as golden needle in Cantonese), shiitake mushroom and straw mushroom!!! It's basically fried in oyster sauce. We finished up everything!



Well this is an additional order that was not supposed to be ordered. This Pig Stomach in Hot Pepper Soup came from a separate stall selling Bak Kut Teh. Hubby ordered that and I was blinking at him as far as I'm concerned I think we've over ordered!!! Fancy eating all these and there were just the two of us excluding my boiboi??? Urrrghhh... anyway, it came piping hot in a claypot. It has pig's stomach and white snow fungus. The taste is simply not peppery enough - doesn't have the ummmpphhh factor!! So sad...



I can't recalled how much we've paid for this meal but it was reasonable. Should be less than RM50 with 2 bowls of white rice and a teapot of Chinese tea. Should have stick with the drunken chicken soup, steamed fish and prawns! Nevermind, there is always a next time...



* Belacan - Fishermen catch the shrimps, drain them of water, salt them immediately, then dry them on huge metal beds placed on low stilts. The salt and decaying shrimps will eventually combine into a semi-solid tightly compacted pulp. The pulp is then pressed through a mill and passed out as thread-like paste. The process is then reversed when the paste is repacked into sacks for a second round of fermentation. The fermentation process is repeated once more before full maturity occurs. The final product is chopped into bricks, resembling blocks of butter. The mark of the producer is lightly etched on top of each block with a name press brushed with vegetable oil. Family members then wrap the blocks, first with grease proof paper, followed by a plastic sheet then finally the outer wrap bearing the name of the product and manufacturer.

Belacan is used in countless local dishes: sambal belacan (de rigueur as a dip accompanying most Malaysian foods), laksa, belacan fried chicken, sambal tumis, fried cincaru, satay sauce and yummy rojak.


Selangor Hotels
Title: Selangor Hotels
URL: http://www.hoteltravel.com/malaysia/selangor/hotels.htm

Thursday 16 December 2004

Air Mata Kuching

There is this famous air mata kuching (literally translated as Longan Water) in KL's Chinatown (also popular known as Petaling Street). Each time hubby & I are in that area, we will naturally stop by this stall and drink the ahhhh soooo nice and cooling air mata kuching. Any KLites like me or hubby?? Hehehehe...

Since we hardly go to Chinatown these days, we'll usually boil some to enjoy it hot or cold ala Petaling Street style. The ingredients are pretty simple, just need to get some fresh winter melon (tung kwa in Cantonese), Buddha's fruit (loh horn guo in Cantonese), dried mata kuching flesh (longan in Cantonese) and some rock sugar.



I usually grate winter melon into thin strips. I've tried cutting them manually but somehow the results do not yield what I liked and it took longer to boil them. Well, unless you have very good knife skills to cut them really thin! Dunk them into a pot of water. Break up the Buddha's fruit into pieces and place them plus the dried mata kuching flesh into the pot. Boil until the winter melon turned transparent like. Add rock sugar to taste. Serve either hot or with crushed ice (which resembles the Petaling Street stall!!).



Tuesday 14 December 2004

Satay Kajang Hj Samuri

Darling hubby has been hankering for Satay Kajang Hj Samuri since two weeks ago but due to various commitment (well he blamed me haha) he did not get to eat them. He went out of town yesterday and called me on his way back telling me that he's going to stop by Satay Kajang Hj Samuri at the stadium to get his dose of satay (it's a Malay word which is widely used in the world now of grilled meat on a stick). Being such a darling, he packed some home for me as well.

On top of 10 sticks he ate there, both of us whacked another 24 sticks of chicken and beef satay. Sighhh he forgot to asked for deer meat satay as it tasted delicious the last time we were there.

Ok on a little of this particular place, Kajang, it's actually a small town in the suburb of Kuala Lumpur. As far as I could remember since I was a kid, Kajang is famous for satay. It's also known as Satay Town!!! No kidding. Well apparently, there is one particular stall selling delicious satay, it got famous and you've food crazy Malaysians who will drive all the way out looking for delicious food. Next thing you know, you've other satay stalls sprouting around and claiming them to be the famous satay Kajang. How typical!!!

It got on so popular that the town council erected a food court calling Medan Satay. This food court sells nothing but satay of course. In the course of expanding and in search of grilling different meats other than the original beef and chicken, they have now rabbit, deer, all sorts of innards, fish etc. Well they gotten very creative!!

Well Satay Kajang Hj Samuri is amongst the pioneer in the industry and they've expanded greatly over the years that KLites do not need to drive all the way to Kajang to savour this delicacy. The chicken and beef satay retails at 50 sens a stick. The meats are very well marinated with all sorts of spices as shown in this recipe here.

What I like best about Satay Kajang Hj Samuri is the way the beef satay turned out. It's always tender and moist unlike some places I've been to, they came out like tree bark literally. The chicken satay also hardly contain any fatty skins but yet they are tender.





Served with a not too spicy peanut sauce, we were absolutely in sky high enjoying our satay for dinner last night. Ahhh... till his next craving for satay.........!!!

Monday 13 December 2004

Old Cucumber Leung Shui

Leung Shui or sometimes also known as leung char, literally translated as cooling tea, a drink to balance out the body's yin&yang thingy haha... well more like to cool (yin) down our heaty body (yang).

I bought this old cucumber hoping to turn it into a soup but something cropped up so I can't cook for that weekend. Had wanted to pass it on to my mum and she told me I could use my slow cooker to turn that into leung shui.

Oh what a brilliant idea cos its really easy to make. Wash the old cucumber with a brush. Cut it up into slices and discard all the seeds. I boiled the old cucumber with some rock sugar and lots of water in my slow cooker over night for about 6 hours.

It came out very "fragrant" and it's pleasant to drink. We scooped out the flash as we drink it for some bites. I think boiling them with a stove would render a more "ummphh" taste hehe



The other alternative of similar leung shui is to scrub clean a watermelon before cutting up. Then cut out all the red flesh to be consumed fresh. Reserve the skin (the white flesh and green skin) and chopped them into small pieces. Boil the skin with rock sugar and water for a couple of hours on the stove on a slow fire. This drink tastes very very nice. We love it! So it's kinda two-in-one thingy, what a wonderful fruit!!

Thursday 9 December 2004

Sweet Potatoes Soup

This is one of the easiest tong shui (sweet soup) to make. Buy sweet potatoes in different variety of colour. Cube them and boil them in water till tender. Add in a bit of crushed ginger (more if you prefer a stronger flavour), pandan leaves and sugar to taste.

This could be the result...



I've added in additional steamed gingko nuts and yam (I just love them) this round.

Monday 6 December 2004

Fried Roast Pork

**apology to my Malay readers**

This is one of the simplest dish best served with plain white rice porridge. Bought some delicious roast pork (siew yoke in Cantonese) and pan fried till golden brownish. If you've got some fat roast pork, you'll notice that there will be some oil oozes outta the meat. Pour them away if you dislike your dish to be filled with lard.

Next, add in some chopped garlic in there and brown them together with the meat. Drizzle some dark (thick) soya sauce all over the meat followed by a sprinkling of sugar. Stir fry the meat for a while to blend in the sauce and sugar. It is not necessary to add in any salt since the roast pork is roasted with salt and 5 spice powder.

Here is the picture... errrr its hard to photograph black or dark coloured food hehehe... Looked so unappetising! Kelvin, any tips??



The sugar caramalised nicely giving a tinge of sweetness and did I mention the skin is ooooo soooo crispy. Usually I'll skip the skin but this one is very hard to resist!

Best eaten with rice porridge with the other accompaniments like salted eggs and fried kembung rebus (Malay for poached mackerel).

Kids Are Darn Lucky These Days

Do you know why???

This is why... it's my boiboi first so called notebook hahaha!!! **Jealous man cos mummy also never owned any notebook before except the 555 type (a type of small notepad)**



This Powertouch thingy is really canggih (Malay word for awesome??)!!! Amazing!!! Million thanks to my cousin who bought him this toy. It's really a great toy to keep pre-schooler occupied and it's really educational too. Boiboi picked up quite a fair bit of words from the booklets. There are more booklets for us to buy though.



This is how it works... first place the booklet onto the Powertouch, then switch the power on. Touch the characters, words, virtually anything on the booklet and the Powertouch virtually sing; spell; say the words, colors, count; and so forth. Even mummy and daddy were fascinated!

It functions too without the booklet. When the alphabets are touched, the system actually name the alphabets followed by some words.



Powertouch is manufactured by Fisher Price retailing at RM299!!! So expensive but thank goodness I've a very generous cousin hehe and so happened she became my boiboi fave aunt. Still have to fork out RM50 plus for the booklet!!! Arrghhh... need to get some sponsorships soon tehehehe....

Friday 3 December 2004

Bad Stick???

Hehehe it's literally translated for Batang Buruk (Malay). It's actually a Malay delicacy usually available during festive seasons. It's a pastry roll filled with mung beans flour by the size of half an index finger perhaps. They don't look very appetising though, just plain powdery rolls which was why it was named Bad 'looking' Stick in Malay hahaha...



These days the Malays use popiah skin (can be found at supermarkets) to make the pastry roll. First they cut the popiah skin into smaller squares then roll it up. Apply some egg white to the end of the roll to stick them up. Next, fry them till light golden brown. Cool them. Next up, they'll dry fry mung beans flour till it's yellowish. Cool a bit then mix in castor sugar. They'll then painstakingly fill the rolls up with the flour mixture. It's best eaten fresh and to be stored in air tight container.

Allow me to describe the feeling of eating them... usually I'll pop one into my mouth then slowly crack up the crispy roll... wah sehhh the feeling of the mung beans flour bursting inside the mouth is simply divine hehehe... Kinda sensual hahaha!!! Gosh no choice cos I've been craving these for years. It is very hard to get good tasting ones in Kuala Lumpur. The good ones usually come from the state of Johor. I've had bad experience buying hard rolls instead of crispy ones. I've actually entasked my Malay colleague to help me get nice ones for more than 2 years!!!! Finally this year she managed to get for me, wahhh, I was in super duper heaven when I first popped my very first one after that many years of waiting.

Sighhh... now I gotta wait for another year or maybe Hari Raya Aidil Adha for my next sensual moment of downing Batang Buruk... sighhh....

Of Eclairs And Cream Puffs...

We were in the vicinity of Desa Sri Hartamas a few days back to collect my contact lenses, hubby just blurted out "Hmmm I wonder Celicakes still have cream puffs available at this hour???"

That's it, it just got me working... Managed to find a parking space in the crazy place. Saw Celicakes staring at us and I blinked to hubby hahaha... So he asked me to go collect lenses first then go Celicakes. Ohhh no, no, no :p hahaha no way man!! What if they sold off their last box away??? So in we went to Celicakes first.

Celicakes is amongst the first few establishment that opened in this area. Well known for it's cakes, cream puffs and cupcakes. This round we bought the cream puffs (6 for RM5.90) and choc eclairs (6 for RM6.90).

This is how they looked like... Crappy pics cos I used my mobile since I lent my digicam to my brother.




The cross section of them yummm...



Mmmmmm....... the cream puff is still super delicious!!!! The choux pastry is thin and it's filled to the brim with custard cream. Whoooo... nice! Their so called eclair is actually the same sized as the cream puff with the same custard cream but topped off with melted chocolate with some slivers of almonds. We find the eclair does not contained as much filling as the cream puff, kinda feel ripped off having to pay RM1 extra for a wee bit of chocolate coating!!

I guess we'll stick to Celicakes cream puffs!

Celicakes is at the same row as Finnegan's. Call them at 03-23000 773.


Thursday 2 December 2004

My Links!!!

Removed them and the fonts are back to normal size duh!!!

Monday 29 November 2004

My Links Are Not Working

Haiyah, not sure what's happening!!! Even the font size also gone crazy... will look into them later. Please bear with me... Sorry!

Bubur Cha Cha

Cha cha cha... Cha cha cha... Cha cha... hehehe this dish has nothing to do with cha cha the dance. It's sweet potatoes, taro cooked in sweetened coconut milk. It's a tong shui or sweet dessert. Bubur in Malay means porridge, in this case, a sweet one that is. Not sure how the Cha Cha came about. I wonder how the name originated? Is it a dish originated from the Baba and Nyonya?

Errr I actually have no idea how to make this but I just agak-agak (guess) my way thru. Well it turned out well except that it was over-boiled till the santan (coconut milk in Malay) breaks. Forgot to tell hubby not to let it come to a boil whilst I was bathing my boiboi. Nevertheless, it tasted still nice hehe...

Since I have some steamed taro left from the Taro Rice, I went down to the market and got some purple and orange sweet potatoes; and grated coconut. Cubed the sweet potatoes and steamed them still soften. Added some cooled boiled water to grated coconut and squeezed out the thick milk. In actual fact both hubby and I have no idea how to do this, so we just go along with our guess-timate hahaha... Thanks to hubby, he managed to squeezed out the thinned milk after adding water to the squeezed grated coconut.

So we boiled the thinned milk first, then added in the steamed taro and sweet potatoes. Place in sugar and pandan (screw pine) leaves. Then added in some boiled sago pearls. Subsequently added in the thick milk and just let it heat thru. One not supposed to let the milk go to a roaring boil as this action will break the coconut milk. Well, I think hubby was not aware of this hence, we do not have a nice looking bubur cha cha.

Also, I've used the purple sweet potatoes which gave the bubur a tinge of lavendar haha... now I seems to remember not eating bubur cha cha with purple ones in them. They're usually the yellow and orange varieties :p I always love the chewy starchy bits in Bubur Cha Cha but I've no idea how to make them so I substituted with sago pearls.

Here was the end result...




Monday 22 November 2004

Taro Rice Serves With BKT

With the long weekend, some of us decided to do a potluck at my place. We were supposed to buy all our food since most of us have a child to handle, hence, it was kinda hard for the mummies to cook heheh... As we were planning what to buy, I've got this SMS from Satine one evening. She was supposed to bring fried chicken but when she told Mr Clown (her hubby hehehe :p) about the potluck, a very brilliant Mr Clown suggested to her to bring Bak Kut Teh (BKT in short which is pork meat and innards cooked in herbal soup) instead. Since they lived near Klang, the capital of BKT, they will pack the BKT from this famous shop before coming over.

With that it spring into an entire different menu, thanks to Mr Clown *clap hands*

We were discussing what kinda rice suitable to go with this BKT and 3 types of rices came to mind - plain white rice, nasi minyak (oiled rice) or taro rice. Errr... I volunteered to try my hands on taro rice since I checked the recipe and it seems simple. So taro rice it is then!

Taro also known as yam with the Asian community. It's a tuber suitable to cook sweet or savoury dishes. It can be found in Taro Cake also popularily known as Yam Cake, a type of savoury cake made of rice flour. It's also a must have in bubur cha cha, a sweet soupy dessert made of sweet potatoes and taro in coconut milk. I've made some bubur cha cha 2 days later as I've got extra taro. Well, wait for the write-up.

I followed the steps in this recipe but definitely not on the ingredients and the amount of ingredients used. I've used dried shrimps, dried chinese mushroom, taro and rice. For the seasonings, it's basically oyster sauce, dark soya sauce and just a wee bit of salt. Oh yeah, I've added loads of deep fried shallots which did wonders to this dish. The aroma was just so nice whilst it was cooking in the rice cooker. Since it was my first attempt and according to the recipe, I need to add one extra cup of water in there. Urrrghhhh I think, no, not think, I added more water than necessary!!!! So the rice came out way too mushy and wet but the taste was OK. Errr... or was it that my guinea pigs were just too courteous to me hahahaha...

Here's a close up of the rice...



Anyway, those were the leftovers cos 2 couples can't make it on that day. We've got so much rice left in the cooker!! Pardon for the poor lighting and camera skill.

Oh yeah, can't show you guys the BKT and the side dish yau char kwai (deep fried crullers which is readily available at the market) cos those guinea pigs wallopped everything so fast!!!!

Thanks to Dafthamsta for sharing the BKT cost with Satine.

Thanks to Miss Sweet 16 for bringing the delicious Carrot Cake from Secret Recipe and helping non-stop in drinking up the Gingko, Bean Curd and Barley Sweet Soup else we'll be having that for the next 2 days!!

So, whose place is next huh??? hahaha...

Thursday 18 November 2004

Stir Fried Mee Hoon

Managed to get some time to do some stir fries cos I've gotten very tired eating outside food plus its more tiring to thinking of where to makan (eat in Malay) each day.

This one is stir fried mee hoon also known as rice vermicelli. Simple and quick to prepare.



Just need to cut carrot, green onions and cabbage into strips. Marinade chicken breast meat (cut into strips too) with some soya sauce, a dash of sesame oil and a wee bit of corn starch. Chop some garlic and soak the rice vermicelli for a short while to soften.

First brown the onions in oil before adding carrot strips. Stir and add some salt. As carrots soften, stir in cabbage until soften but not too mushy. Dish out.

Stir fry the chicken in oil till brownish then add in garlic followed by prawns. Add in some oyster sauce to taste. Stir all till cooked. Add in the vegetables and a wee bit of water then add the rice vermicelli. Fry till dry and dish up.

It's a very simple quick stir fry one dish meal. Can be done with loh shue fun (literally translated Rat Tail Noodles). The noodle is made from rice flour pressed thru some holed mold into cold water to create the shape that looked like rat's tail. For this one, I add in some scrambled eggs and used minced meat instead.



Wednesday 10 November 2004

Have a Blessed DeepaRaya

This year, the Malaysian community had coined the phrase DeepaRaya where Deepa came from Deepavali and Raya from Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Both the Hindus and Muslims will be celebrating these two festival within days of each other.

Tomorrow, the Hindus all over the world celebrate Diwali, popularly known as Deepavali in Malaysia. Diwali means rows of lighted lamps, as it signifies the triumph of good over evil – light over darkness. Hence, Diwali is also known as Festival of Lights. During this period, the Hindus light up their house with oil lamps or of late with colourful fairy lights. Everyone in the family wakes up early on Diwali to have oil baths before dressing up in new attire, done in the prayer room. Then, they conduct pooja (prayers).

Two nights ago, I was thick in action at Brickfields, a place famous for Indian shops and food. Went thru rows of temporary stalls selling colourful clothings, sweets (delicious ladu, ghee balls, murrukus... yummy) and decorative lights. Whoa, I was really in the mood! Amazing!!! Its really too bad that I did not bring along my digicam cos it was really an impromptu visit there. We hate crowds usually but hubby had wanted to look for some items over there so no choice but to tag along. I'm glad I did!!! The sight and smell really make it so festival. I managed to find a lone picture from TV Smith's photoblog. Check it out here.

This is how Ghee Balls looked like. Yum yum...




As for Hari Raya (Day of Celebration in Malay), it is also known as Hari Raya Puasa (puasa means fasting in Malay) or Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Muslims celebrate the festival of Aidilfitri to mark the culmination of Ramadhan, the holy month of fasting. It is a joyous occasion for Muslims, as it signifies a personal triumph, a victory of self-restraint and abstinence, symbolising purification and renewal.

Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is a must, whereby Muslims abstained from satisfying their most basic needs and urges, daily, between sunrise and sunset. It is one of the five tenets of Islam; as is the paying of zakat (alms tax for the poor), which must be tithed by the end of Ramadhan.

In Malaysia, the period of fasting ends when the new moon is sighted on the evening of the last day of Ramadhan. This year, its predicted to fall on the 14th November. Aidilfitri is celebrated for the whole month of Syawal, but in Malaysia, only the first two days are observed as public holidays.

Well since Diwali is on 11th and Hari Raya holiday is from 14th to 16th, I've taken leave for 4 days which takes me back to work only on the 22nd November. Wooohoooo.... so I might be quiet during this period.

Urbanites of all races make their pilgrimage to their hometowns (this is popularly referred to as balik kampung), to be with parents, relatives and old friends. Thus, cities like Kuala Lumpur will be relatively quiet during this period. Such a bliss!

The Muslim community ushers in the first day of Aidilfitri by performing morning prayers at mosques. Then it's usually breakfast at home with the family, followed by a visit to the cemetery where deceased loved ones are remembered; graves are cleaned and cleared of overgrowth, and prayers are offered to Allah.

Aidilfitri is a time to forgive and forget past quarrels. Asking for pardon is done in order of seniority. The younger members of a family approach their elders (parents, grandparents etc) to seek forgiveness, to salam (Muslim equivalent of a handshake), then kiss the hands of the older person as a sign of respect.

Unique to Malaysia, we have this open house thingy where friends, families and even strangers would visit the homes of those who are celebrating the festival, to wish them well and enjoy the feast prepared by their hosts. So this year I get to go to both Diwali and Raya open houses to feast on all the goodies. Can't wait to dig into putu mayam, mutton curry, murruku, rendang, ketupat, lemang...

From front to back - Beef rendang (a type of dry beef curry), Lemang (glutinous rice with coconut milk cooked in bamboo) and Ketupat (compact rice cooked in nipah leaves casing).



The various kuih-muih (sweet cakes)...



Anyone throwing open house, please invite me yahhh :D


To all my Hindu and Muslim readers,

Happy Diwali & Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir Batin!!!


Gingko, Bean Curd and Barley Sweet Soup

This one is amongst hubby's fave tong shui (sweet soup in Cantonese). Pretty easy to cook. The only tedious part is to crack open the gingko shell with hammer and remove the gingko's skin. Some skills are needed to crack the shells cos hammer too hard, the whole nut or seed will be crushed. Hammer too soft, the shell won't break open. The brown skin is usually very easily removed by peeling with a knife. Other wise, pour hot water over them and soak for a while. This will then peel easily. Next, the gingkos need to be slit open to remove the bitter inner stem. Alternatively, one can buy the ready peeled ones imported from China.

It's a 6 ingredients dish - pearl barley, bean curd sheets, shelled and peeled gingko hard, boiled quail eggs (optional), water and rock sugar. Place water in a pot and dunk in the washed pearl barley and gingkos. Boil till the barley is expanded and the gingkos turned opaque (I wonder if this is the correct term?? :p). Add in the rock sugar to taste. Wash and break up the beancurd sheets before placing them into the boiling water. I prefer mine with the sheets intact so I get more bite in my sweet soup. Lastly add in the hard boiled quail eggs. You can use normal hard boiled chicken eggs.



Some people like to add in beaten eggs and stir it quickly to create dan far (egg swirls in Cantonese) just before switching off the stove but I omitted this since I've added in quail eggs. Need to limit our eggs intake hehehe.

This can be served hot or chilled... both ways also yummy... great for the throat and body. Oh yeah... I had loads of these when I was pregnant courtesy of my mother haha. The Chinese believed that preggy ladies who eat this sweet soup will produce fair and lovely skinned babies. The end result - smooth and lovely skin but my boiboi is no where near fair hahaha I guess he would rather fall under the tall, dark and handsome category!!! ;-)


Monday 8 November 2004

Something Fishy?

I was in Pulau Pangkor (Island in Malay) sometime last month. Mention this island errr, satay fish will usually popped into mind hahaha. Gosh it's ridiculous but it's true. No one leave this place without packages of this delicacy.

However, this time round I did not get the satay fish (crispy deep fried fish snack sometimes spice up with chili). I got these fishy snack instead. It's my first time encountering such roll. They have both fish and sotong (squid in Malay). I bought the fish one. One large pack contained 2 smaller packs and it costed errr I think less than RM10.



Came in one long strip rolled into circular rounds. It's really crispy and tasted good. Salty with a tinge of sweetness from the soya sauce I reckon. As one ate on, a hint of spiciness hits the tongue. It's very very addictive!!!

I've gotten this snack from this shop...





Some shots taken at Pulau Pangkor...

The jetty over in the mainland, Lumut (literally translated moss in Malay haha fancy a town call Moss??)



The beach is nothing spectacular over at the place I stayed.







Tuesday 2 November 2004

Trip to the Beach

We made a trip to the beach recently. It's my boiboi's first trip to a beach actually. We picked Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan (PD) since it's the nearest beach from Kuala Lumpur, roughly about one and a half hour drive from our home.

This time we stayed at Guoman Port Dickson Resort instead of Avillion Port Dickson cos the rate of a water chalet had escalated sky high. RM500 plus a night is certainly not worth it unless it's a romantic outing haha... just to let you in why is that so, each room in the water chalet has a Pangkin (day bed in Malay) about the size of Queen sized bed and a very very spacious bathroom with an open air shower section and a separate bath tub. Ooooo I missed Avillion!

Anyway, we have lots of fun. The moment we arrived and dumped out stuff in the room, we headed to the beach.



It's high tide at late afternoon. Since PD is not famous for nice and clean beach, well we made do. The sands are errrr very compact and coarse maybe due to some construction at this particular beach 2 years back. Boiboi had tremendous time scooping and scraping the sands to make sand castle, well more like destroying them haha. I think his daddy had lots of fun too.





Here are some pictures taken around the resort.







And I leave this photo as my last. It is a normal reaction for a boy to immediately climb a tree when he see one??? Well, my boiboi did. This was his first reaction I managed to capture the moment he saw this coconut tree. Goshhh we lived in the city and there isn't any tree for him to climb back home haha...



Blog Revamping

Hello... I'm in the midst of revamping my blog to make my life a little easier. So do not be alarmed as work is still under construction.

Cheers,
Babe_KL
16 Oct 2012