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Gastronomic Sunday
2007-11-06 06:42:00
Yum cha for Sunday lunch is nice since I love dim sum. We walked over to LiuJingdi, a Cantonese Restaurant which is near Gulou. The weather was cool and it was a nice brisk walk before stuffing our face!We had a bit of trouble with the all Chinese menu but good thing David recognized some characters. So we know a certain dish has fish, pork or chicken meat - the rest we had to guess. One thing to note is that the order form they provide uses the traditional Chinese characters!We think the dim sum excellent and the price reasonable. Most dishes are between RMB8-13 with some more expensive dishes like prawn rolls. The prices are clearly listed on the self order form provided. Here are the dishes we had:-It was chrysanthemum tea - very fragrant.My favorite veg - Hong Kong kai lan.Fried dumplings were really good but just a bit too oily for me.Prawns in rice noodle rolls or fun cheong.Another of my favorite is pan fried radish cake.Fresh steamed buns/pao which chicken and parsley fillin...

Mister Donut
2007-10-31 11:29:00
We had some donuts in Shanghai. Donuts go well with coffee, anytime. We had ours for breakfast. So many flavors and toppings. I snapped this photo very quickly and got told off - that's why it is a bit out of focus.I love the castor sugar sprinkled on whole donut with custard cream center and the double choc. David had a french cruller. I didn't try it because David says it tastes like the old fashioned donut.
More About: Travel , Snacks , Western

Goodies from Shanghai
2007-10-30 08:33:00
We made such an effort to find this shop on Huaihai Road. I've passed it so many times but somehow only browsed, not willing to buy and sample the goodies inside. Would you believe that I forgot to find out the name of the shop and only found out today from the plastic bags that it is called ChangChunShiPin.It is a few doors away from the H&M flagship store in Shanghai and I believe it is after the Watson store.It sells cooked, baked, preserved, grilled, or smoked items; local, western, or imported; sweet, sour, or spicy; fruits, chocolates, cakes, sweets and meat products. It takes awhile to figure out what things are because everything is in Chinese.There was a long queue of people waiting for their turn to buy cooked vegetables or meat. I guess the Shanghainese pack these and cook their own rice for dinner. We stayed away from the preserved or smoked meat products. We were also not interested in the preserved fruits counter although it is nice to try and guess what type of f...
More About: Travel , Biscuits , Pastry , Goodies

Soahc, Shanghai
2007-10-30 07:09:00
I had fine dining in Shanghai !Meeting our friend Kit for lunch was the highlight, not so much the food. But then one can't help enjoying the good food as well when it is exquisite in presentation and taste.Soahc is located at XinTianDi in Shanghai. I guess you can google the address but don't ask me for directions because I was busy talking to Christine and we followed Kit blindly as he led us down an alley after Coffee Bean.The hushed atmosphere and the dim lighting gave this place an old feel. The decor was....how shall I say...a mix of western and eastern with engraved wooden cornices and some polished dark wood paneling, matte gold walls with an oriental motif of cheery blossoms and birds, I think. The furnishing was definitely western and modern. Comfy cushioned chairs with plush velor fabric in dark colors. Fusion would be the easiest word to describe it.I left the ordering to the men intent on being surprised. I was busy taking pictures and savoring the whole atmosphere. W...
More About: Travel , Chinese

Qing Yuan Tea House
2007-10-27 11:46:00
The Qing Yuan tea house is a quiet place to chat with friends.If you are alone, it is also a nice place to savor tea and read a book.Just some of the food offerings at the buffet.You can order noodles soup, pork dumplings and fried eggs at this window counter.The spread was quite good with lots of fresh fruits, soups, fried noodles and sweets.This pot of tea lasted me a while.Just ask for a refill of hot or cold water.Order your tea and enjoy a buffet spread on the house. Of course your tea might just set you back a few hundred RMB! Today we tried something different - white tea served cold. Not too expensive at RMB68 per pot. Some pu erh tea cost more than twice that amount!Black tea as we know it is fermented tea. White tea is is made from immature tea leaves that are picked shortly before the buds have fully opened. The tea takes its name from the silver fuzz that still covers the buds, which turns white when the tea is dried. The exact proportion of buds to leaves varies dependi...
More About: House , Chinese , Tea House

Liudingji Restaurant
2007-10-25 15:47:00
Fancy alligator for dinner anyone?Well seeing these offered live in tanks at a Cantonese restaurant in Ningbo shouldn't come as a surprise since the Cantonese people are famous for eating anything that moves!The restaurant is situated on Zhongshan Xi Lu right at the crossroad at Jiefang Nan Lu.Still it was a shock and the whole time during dinner, I kept looking around to see if anyone actually ordered it and kept wondering how it would be served!We are fans of the Cantonese cuisine otherwise and so are a lot of people. I believe the Cantonese cuisine is probably the most popular or most widely served Chinese food outside of China and really made popular by the many tourists who've been to Hong Kong first before China opened up its doors to tourism.As Malaysians, we are very familiar with Cantonese food because a lot of Chinese descendants Malaysia are from the Guangdong Province. However our Cantonese cuisine may be adulterated with spices found in Malaysia and combined with the ...
More About: Restaurants , Restaurant

One Hundred Taste
2007-10-25 15:15:00
Once in a while you need to let your palate rest from the flavorful and the spicy! Funny I should say that since everyone who likes food would look for those qualities. Well, maybe not the spicy but definitely the flavorful.I just think that having something simple like chicken hot pot with clear soup makes a change.Baiwei Chicken Hot Pot restaurant on Xiaowen Jie is one restaurant that serves up herbal soup hot pot. Baiwei means a hundred taste but I wouldn't quite call this simple herbal preparation that - it has only one taste to me - a simple clear soup with a tinge of taste from red dates, gojiberries (or wolfberries) and ginseng root. Not infused strongly like some herbal soups, it is almost flavorless.It is very popular with the locals and we have noticed long lines during dinnertime. If you need to wait, stools are provided - which just shows that there might be a long wait because a hot pot dinner is definitely not fast food!You choose a set meal which consists of meat, 2/...
More About: Chinese , Poultry , Noodles , Taste

A New Oven
2007-10-21 16:14:00
I got an oven! Finally! It is a small oven with heating elements top and bottom and is slightly better than a toaster oven because it has a temperature control. It is a very cheap and classy, made in China oven. You don't find many ovens for sale here in China - baking and roasting is not quite in their range of cooking methods.I'm not so great at baking actually, even back home, I stick to basics like sugee or chocolate cakes, choc chip cookies and maybe some breads. I'm not sure how far I can go with baking, here in Ningbo, considering that a lot of ingredients are hard to find but at least I will attempt to use the oven to vary my cooking methods. I think roasting or baking is a healthier way of cooking which brings out the flavor of food without having to use too much oil.I think it was a good move to buy the oven. It will also help me keep food warm before serving, when winter comes. I hate how food gets cold so fast.
More About: Oven

Z Place
2007-10-21 14:53:00
Fried rice with dried shrimps and prawn pasteCurry chickenMy favorite vegetable dish.The green like bean is petai. Yummy :)We have certain food favorites and David is a creature of habit. So it was no surprise to me when he mentioned he wanted to have dinner at Z Place ...again. We also had another reason to go by that area. We get bread from Sheraton every other weekend. The best thing is, it is 50% off after 6pm. We grab a few and freeze them to last for a while.At Z Place, we ordered 3 spicy dishes. A curry chicken (David's favorite), a vegetable dish which has brinjals, long beans, onions, prawns and petai fried with sambal! I love petai!! And I am surprised the restaurant managed to import them in.We ordered fried rice with prawn paste to go with the dishes. I must warn that the food taste leans towards a Malaysian flavor. I guess with ingredients like sambal, prawn paste and petai it is difficult to classify it otherwise. We, being Malaysian find the food absolutely delicious!...

Sweet Potato
2007-10-21 14:36:00
Purple on the outside.Yellow/Orange on the inside.The flesh is sweet and nice when eaten hot.Food for the common folk and cost RMB4 for that piece you see in the picture. It is sold by street vendors across the city and like roasted chestnuts, it is a nice warm food to eat outdoors in cooler weather. For health benefits of eating this humble root vegetable which taste more like a dessert click on the title.We were at O'Reilly's Irish Pub for our weekend sandwich or pizza depending on our mood. David and I love the roast beef sandwich made with freshly baked baguette! That day, he had a burger and I chose to have the pizza. The pizza served was different. I was used to the 9" pizza on thick crust but I was nicely surprised to find that they now do a thin crust pizza. It was good!But it was too much for me and the overload of cheese gave me indigestion the whole afternoon :(
More About: Snacks , Italian , Sweet , Potato

Mom's Recipe
2007-10-19 14:32:00
A simple steamed chicken dish I grew up eating. I love that it has lots of gravy and and the chicken very flavorful.Marinade chicken pieces with sliced ginger (lots of it), oyster sauce and tomato ketchup. You can adjust the measurements depending on which flavor you prefer more! I added some black pepper, sesame oil and Chinese cooking wine just before steaming it. Oh! If you prefer more gravy, add some chicken stock to it.It took some time to cook. If we had used chicken breast meat, it would have been faster. And the taste didn't turn out quite the same as Mom's - I just need to tweak the ingredients a bit when I next serve it for dinner.ps. I can't seem to upload the picture. Will try it later....
More About: Recipe , Poultry , Reci

Vietnamese Spring Rolls
2007-10-17 06:34:00
I simply love Vietnamese spring rolls. Fresh, fried and with all kinds of fillings. I like a fusion of taste - sweet, savory and spicy. Vietnamese and Thai food fall under that category.I had some really delicious rolls back in Kuala Lumpur last week. We stick to Vietnam Kitchen for good Vietnamese food. It opened some years back and the food at the USJ Taipan outlet has been consistently good.I was craving for the fresh spring rolls with prawns. My expectations were dashed when they told us that the rice wrappers hadn't arrived. It was only 11am after all! No matter, we ordered some fried rolls and were happily surprised how tasty they were.This was vegetarian but definitely tastedlike there was minced meat inside!It was still delicious!The crispy net roll was fine, flaky andvery crispy and the filling was so tasty.The most important condimentis the sweet tangy sauce to go with the rolls - delicious!Aaah! Vietnamese drip coffee.A caffeine pick me up!
More About: Spring

Shrimps and Parsley Noodles
2007-10-17 06:20:00
See how parsley react to heat - they don't look fresh and green!I made another noodle dish for dinner yesterday. I had some parsley and onions leftover from yesterday and I used them with my noodles.I fried garlic and onions until the onions were soft. Then I added the shrimps and fried them until cooked. For seasoning, I put some dark soy sauce, fish sauce and a few dashes of Maggi's belacan powder. The noodles were mixed in and chopped parsley added last. I must remember to turn off the fire first before adding the parsley. They don't look fresh and green when heat is applied.I could have made this dish spicy by adding some chili paste but didn't and regretted it. I realize that I cook without tasting nowadays. I go by my taste instinct. I just add whatever sauce, powder, paste I need going by whatever taste I hope to achieve. It has worked so far.It is a good thing that David is not too fussy with food and content with a simple dinner instead of expecting 3 dishes to go with ...
More About: Chinese , Noodles

My AMC Pot
2007-10-15 14:02:00
Has anyone heard of AMC?Well I grew up with mom using their cookware. She got them back in the 80's. It costs a lot of money back then and it still costs a lot to buy it now. Mom swears by it and when we moved into our new home, she gave us a set as a gift. I was not quite happy that she spent so much money buying me pots when I hardly cooked but now that I've started, they are a great help in the kitchen.They claim that their cookware "allows you to prepare meals by using waterless and fat-free cooking concepts. These methods make it possible to prepare meals without using excessive amounts of added fat, oil, salt or water".And it is true - it works.Today I made a simple pork stew with onions, tomatoes and parsley and David said that it tastes really good. I wasn't big headed to think that it was my cooking - I know using the AMC pot helped a lot. It took me just over an hour to prepare and cook - the meat was tender and all the flavors retained. It worked better than having to ...
More About: Cookware

Jujube Tree @ Ningbo
2007-10-06 16:16:00
My friend ate at Jujube Tree Restaurant in Shanghai and found out that they have a branch in Ningbo so he recommended that I try. When I told my friend here, she said that she has been there and the food is good. It is a vegetarian restaurant.Today I was out almost the whole day spending it with a friend. We had lunch at the Japanese Restaurant which name I don't know unless it is actually named "Japanese Restaurant"! Then we went over to the Ningbo Museum of Art to look at the exhibition of Rembrant's etchings - how cultured!We were headed home after but since it is a Saturday, I asked her to hang out with me until David finished work - Yes! He had to work! Poor guy :( and then we could go for dinner together. With quite a few hours to while away, we walked to Tianyi Square. It was there that my friend had a brilliant idea to go have some desserts at Swaka - a local dessert cafe which I have also been wanting to try. We both had a mango juice with mango fruit and mango jelly - ca...
More About: Travel , Vegetarian , Dessert , Chinese

Japanese Restaurant @ Lao Wai Tan, Ningbo
2007-10-06 15:41:00
I don't know the name of this Restaurant !I went out to meet a friend for lunch today. It was drizzling so we searched for a place to eat near our meeting point @ Lao Wai Tan. We checked out a Chinese restaurant but were not that eager for abalone, bird's nest and shark's fin - all the more expensive Chinese dishes. When Japanese was mentioned, I was happy at the suggestion.Tempura with udon in soup.I always add wasabi into my Japanese noodle soupto give it some oomph!I love natto beans!I was so happy they had this on the menu.I always ask for the menu in English. As this is a restaurant in the Lao Wai Tan area, they usually have one but be careful - they may not translate it well as I found out today.I had a craving for natto bean sushi and pointed to "fermented soybeans" on the menu but what was served were edamame beans. At first we thought they were complimentary appetizers - most Japanese restaurant s serve a simple appetizer before you start your meal. Good thing we checked. ...
More About: Travel , Ningbo

Noodles or Rice?
2007-10-05 13:46:00
Noodles!David is still under the weather so eating at home is best. He wanted something simple and less oily.Going to the market in the evening to get fresh ingredients is becoming the norm for me. I usually decide what I want to cook after browsing the many produce at there.My friend Doris introduced me to this vegetarian mushroom sauce and I really like that I can use it in a lot of ways. I put some in porridge, add it to stir fries and use it as a sauce for dry noodles. So what I attempted to do was to create the same sauce.I like using ramen noodles and I always keep a packet in the fridge for days like this - when I need to cook up something quick. I boil the ramen first and set it aside to drain and cool.I bought fresh button mushrooms which I cut into small pieces. I realize later while eating, that it is nicer to use sliced mushrooms - you get more texture. I also got 1 red bell pepper and some fresh leaf lettuce. I wanted to use the bell pepper to spice up my mushroom sauce...
More About: Chinese , Rice , Noodles

Xi'an Food Delights
2007-10-05 04:26:00
Entrance to the Muslim streetMuslim traders with an assortment of dried fruits, nuts and sweetsGrilled mutton leg, skewered beef sticks and pita breadwere some of the street fare.Roasted chestnuts and walnuts All sorts of desserts or sweets. From L to R and bottom: rice dough covered with sesame and layrered with red bean paste, rice cakes decorated with cartoon characters and persimmons blended with flour to make a fried cake. We tried the persimmon cake - to us it tasted like dough with very little flavor. The locals seem to love it because the lines to buy some were very long.We assume these cakes taste sweetas they were full of datesOur first sampling of street food at the Muslim Quarter near the Drum Tower.Dumplings in spicy soup spiced withSichuan peppercorns and a heavy taste of coriander.The dumplings were wrapped with minced mutton and it was really tastyThis is recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide. Yang rou pao mo - mutton soup and meat with pieces of bread. It was no...
More About: Travel , Food , Fruits , Restaurants , Snacks

Pomelo
2007-10-04 16:57:00
It is like a big orange :)This one was rather dry and not sweet enoughI didn't think I'd get to eat pomelo for a while since I won't be back home for a while. So, when I spotted it at the fruit store yesterday, I was surprised. It is smaller than the ones we get in Malaysia and less juicy. It could be that the one I chose wasn't the best!I love it when you eat it cold. I used to squeeze the pomelo sacs at my brother's face when we were kids - it hurts when the juice hits your eye!I especially love the Thai version of spicy pomelo salad but you'd have to make sure that you use very sweet and juicy ones or else the fusion of taste is lost.I should try this recipe soon as I've found the fruit and I did bring a bottle of fish sauce with me from Malaysia! I have all the ingredients.
More About: Fusion , Spicy , Pomelo

Kangkong Belacan
2007-10-04 16:15:00
Food can't taste any more Malaysian than this dish - kangkong belacan. I didn't follow the recipe link but since most Malaysians know this dish, it is something most of us would be able to cook without a recipe, I dare say!My version of kangkong belacanDavid sorta insisted I cook dinner as he is really sick. Physically down with a cold and taste wise, sick of eating out.We picked out a huge bunch of water convolvulus for only RMB2. I wanted to attempt cooking it with belacan (dried shrimp paste). I had no recipe to follow and went by my taste instinct but I think I have beginner's luck with cooking because David gave me full points on his scale for taste :)I heated some oil (I used canola and olive oil) and fried some garlic. When almost brown, I added a teaspoon of shrimp paste. I gotta warn you. Frying the paste makes the oil spatter all over!When the paste is nice and fragrant, add the vegetables. It takes a while for the stems to get soft but it is ok to "overcook" them becau...
More About: Kang

Asian Porridge
2007-10-04 15:48:00
We were in Xian the last few days and I've got a few food posts coming up!After eating out the past few days we were starved for a home cooked meal.The moment we reached home, put the bags down, I had the rice cooker out and ready to make some porridge :) I know most people eat porridge when they get sick but David and I love it and can eat it anytime.Porridge to Asian s means rice cooked with a lot of water to make a gruel but much nicer than what Oliver Twist had, I can guarantee that! We usually put a lot of ingredients in to make it tastier :)I cooked my rice in a chicken broth instead of water. When it was nicely boiling, I added diced and seasoned chicken, some straw mushrooms, pickled lettuce and some miso paste. I left it to boil until the rice was all soft.It was a satisfying lunch before getting down to doing the laundry and clearing up things used for our travel :)
More About: Chinese

Elements Restaurant @ Lao Wai Tan
2007-09-27 16:49:00
I've only been to Elements to drink!Tonight we had some guests, David's guests and since they've had too much Chinese food the last week, they wanted western so for the first time, we had dinner there.And we had a great dinner!It was an easy choice since there were a few set menus to choose from and we all decided to have steaks. T-bone for some and a beef tenderloin for another.Service was excellent and our salad served quickly. It was a small portion but the lettuce was fresh and I liked the honey mustard dressing sprinkled with black peppercorns. Next came asparagus soup. Again the portion was smaller than what we'd usually get at Western restaurants but I think it was just right for me. Thin slices of buttered garlic bread were served with our soups.Steaks arrived just a while longer than the other dishes but it gave us time to enjoy the bottle of French wine we ordered. I must say that this is one of the rare times I've enjoyed a French wine. I'm not much of a wine connoi...
More About: Travel , Restaurants , Restaurant

Chinese Muslim Food
2007-09-26 09:24:00
Lunch was great today for all sorts of reasons. I had great company, the weather was good and I was hungry!Christine, my friend gave me a choice of vegetarian or Chinese Muslim food and we ended up eating the latter because it was nearer where we were. I haven't tried either so it was fine with me.I find that because I can't read the menu and can only guess at how the dish would taste by looking at the picture, I am more inclined to let someone else order. I like being surprised. In any case, most things are new to me and being a bit adventurous and not picky with my food, I don't mind at all and eat whatever is served.There was a chicken curry dish which looked delicious and Christine says that it is. I was quite happy to think that I can order a flat bread and dip it in the curry sauce. The curry dish came with a free order of noodles so I decided to forgo my bread and see what the noodles were like.The bread offerings looked interesting. There was a nan like bread, a twisty on...
More About: Food , Restaurants , Poultry

Simmered Pear with Orange Juice
2007-09-24 12:01:00
I am back to cooking after one week of rest since we've been back to Ningbo :) And today I have a reason to make it extra nice because a friend is coming over for dinner.It still isn't anything fancy - just rice with 2 dishes like any of our regular dinners but I decided to make a dessert. It wouldn't be nice not to have any dessert when we have guests :)For Asians, fresh cut fruit is the norm for dessert so when I went out to the market I bought some Chinese pears. And because I have time, I tried to see if there were any simple recipes I could try. I did and if you click the title, you will find the link.Pear s gently simmering in a sweetened orange juiceBetter than just plain cut pears, right?!
More About: Fruits , Dessert , Orange , Juice

River View Restaurant, Kuala Selangor
2007-09-23 07:09:00
Deep fried crayfish is one of my favorite seafood dish.Fresh fishballs served in clear soup was a refreshing start.What we all thought were pork ribs turned out to be honey grilled chicken.Stir fried Kai LanPrawns fried with oatmeal and butterCurried crabs. Yum :)Fried egg with oystersSteamed fish Teochew styleThere hasn't been an outing with my cell members where food isn't the priority! We fellowship and feiloship a lot and we enjoy each other's company.So our fireflies outing started with dinner at the River View Restaurant . Jane called up to reserve 2 tables and ordered a set meal. We had less than 20 of us so there was ample food for all. Seafood being the specialty we had an array of dishes. Food was served very quickly even though the restaurant was packed, and we noticed, with Japanese tourists all headed to see fireflies like us.Stuffed and feeling heavier some of us went on to the fireflies colony at Kampung Kuantan with trepidation praying that we won't sink the sam...
More About: Travel , Restaurants , Chinese

Pre-Dinner Snack
2007-09-23 06:05:00
The restaurant was well designed and modernamidst the other older shop lotsMy potato wedges was excellent.Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.Nesfloat.Iced nescafe with ice cream which everyone says is really good.I didn't try because caffeine too late in the evening will keep me up all night!This was what we had en route to dinner in Kuala Selangor and then to see fireflies. It was a snack since we were early and it was surprisingly good.
More About: Travel , Snacks , Dinner , Drinks , Snack

Healthy Eating
2007-09-19 07:10:00
I've got high cholesterol! My doctor back home told me to go on a high fibre and fruit diet. I guess this is better than going on medication! He did say that if I had any other risk factors, he'd prescribe medicine.So healthy eating means less tasty food :)I had oatmeal for breakfast and I am now having steamed broccoli and boiled edamame beans for lunch. Sounds pathetic but actually very tasty! I love the beans and broccoli has to be one of my favorite greens.
More About: Healthy , Eating , Heal

The Living Room, Westin Kuala Lumpur
2007-09-07 06:48:00
This is where we go once in a while for a buffet dinner. With the Starwood card, we get 50% off our meals when 2 persons dine together.It was 9.30pm by the time we reached the hotel and to discover that they no longer serve buffet at The Living Room . It didn't really matter since it was late and we were having more of supper instead of dinner :) but David was disappointed.Pumpkin Tortellini, Pumpkin TuileCaesar Salad with Reggiano Custard, Baby Romaine,Anchovy Dressing and Parmesan CrispHomemade RavioliChicken, Smoked Scamorza Cheese, Pine Nuts, Basil JusSeared Ahi Tuna, Lobster & Avocado SushiTaggiasche Olives, Apple, Nashi, Preserved Cherry Blossom& Orange Vinaigrette** the sushi rice was undercooked!We ordered a soup, a salad, an appetizer and a main dish to share. We had quite a wait for someone to attend to us when we arrived. And I was not happy that they only gave us only 1 set of menus (food and drinks). We also had quite a wait for the food.At the end of the meal, we d...
More About: Living Room , Kuala Lumpur , Western

Delicious...
2007-09-07 06:21:00
Again!!This time I was there to meet Eliza and Doris. We had a girlie outing and it was timely because Eliza just came back from Bangkok for 3 weeks and I thought I'd better catch up with her as well as Doris.A fusion affairI spotted something different on the menu. It was spicy crab linguine and I don't regret ordering it. I enjoyed it very much and was pretty stuffed because the serving was huge. A nice ice mocha was what I had to go with my meal. I used to order the latte but Doris introduced me to mocha and I find that mocha is less strong in terms of its caffeine effect on me.
More About: Fusion , Italian , Western , Delicious , Deli

Jalan Alor
2007-09-07 06:01:00
We needed to go to Low Yat Plaza to get computer accessories and things so having dinner at Jalan Alor was the obvious choice since it was Malaysian hawker food that we missed most.Nicely BBQued chick wingsLobakFried Oysters :)Not having anything in mind, we walked the length of the street and checked out the stalls. When I spotted the fried oysters stall, I knew it was what I wanted to eat! David ordered some BBQ chicken wings and lobak as well. I washed everything down with fresh coconut juice! How satisfying :)
More About: Chinese