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Rakuzen
2008-06-06 09:25:00
Japanese! Again?I just love Japanese food and since it was my cousin's treat it was hard to refuse. I've eaten a few times at Rakuzen but discovered 2 new dishes ordered by my cousins. One is the salad which was really sinful. Drowned in a very rich creamy sauce, the salad is made with fresh lettuce, cabbage, crab meat, fish roe and also a few slices of salmon sashimi. It not only appetizing but was a sight to behold.Then there was natto. How could we eat Japanese without an order of something natto. June ordered natto with lotus root. Crunchy lotus root with lots of natto and some seaweed and mint leaves. A very interesting combination. I found the lotus root a bit salty from the soy sauce but love the combo of soft natto beans with the textured root.For mains, I always go for chirashi sushi which is sushi rice topped with a selection of raw fish and seafood with tamago - I think this is probably the most reasonably priced dish in any Japanese restaurant if you are a fan of vineg...
More About: Japanese

Nyonya Rice Dumplings
2008-06-06 08:50:00
I like anything with glutinous rice except when it is teamed with coconut. By itself, the rice is very fragrant and full of flavor and seem to soak up all the tastes of any ingredient it is cooked with.Mom bought some glutinous rice dumplings the other day. Nyonya rice dumplings to be precise. It's filling is sweet minced pork with mushrooms and doesn't have the traditional ingredients of the zong zi like salted duck egg yolk, chestnuts or mung beans.I have no idea why the one she bought has a tinge of blue but I think it's the same bunga telang coloring used for nasi kerabu. It doesn't really add to the taste. I guess it's just for decoration? Not all Nyonya rice dumplings are so colored.I'm still not quite sick of the zong zi yet although I've had it for lunch for the past 2 days! The only not so nice thing about eating too much glutinous rice is that it is bad for my digestion :(
More About: Malaysian , Rice

Cafe on the Tenth
2008-06-03 07:22:00
It was an all girls' night out to celebrate my cousin's birthday. Mom was nice enough to babysit and for the first time I was out for a record time of 5 hours.It was a buffet and what a spread there was. I am really into the cold cuts, salads and the raw stuff. Oysters and salmon galore. I must say that they kept the oyster supply coming the whole night. They were fresh and with an extra dash of tabasco sauce, tastes divine.I never liked fresh oysters until I discovered how well it goes with tabasco and a squeeze of lemon. I think between all the ladies and I, we probably ate several dozens. Some of us started with oysters and ended the meal with oysters!The dessert spread was pretty good. I have to confess I had 2 servings of caramel custard, mango and bread butter pudding plus a selection of cakes as well :)There were mini cream puffs as well! Made with fresh cream - my favorite. The other ladies preferred custard filling but not me. Alas, the choux puffs were a bit disappointin...
More About: Seafood , Cafe , Buffet

Semolina Cake
2008-06-02 09:38:00
This has got to be my favorite cake. Not only has it got sentimental value - this was my wedding cake, it is also because I love that it is very moist, grainy and has a very buttery taste.I've baked it too many times and on this occasion when my sister wanted to bake a butter cake, I requested for semolina instead. I was also eager to try taking some pictures with the camera to see how it would turn out.It was easy work since my sister helped measure out all the ingredients and set up the Kenwood cake mixer which by the way is probably as old as I am! My dad fixed it up a few times over the years and it still works. The only problem is that we can only set it at one speed! No matter - we just had to be careful when sifting in the flours!Semolina Testing out the cameraOur very ancient cake mixer whichcost my Mom her whole month's salary back in the '70sTa dah!Cake broke into half despite all efforts to keep itwhole when transferring.It good! We polished it off within a day. ...
More About: Cakes

Preserved Vegetable with Pork Belly
2008-05-30 07:22:00
My favorite Hakka dish is braised preserved vegetables with pork belly. Mom used to make a huge pot of it and we could eat it for days. It tastes the best on the last day when the vegetable has soaked up all the flavor of the sauce.Get the recipe from Lily's Wai Sek Hong. It's where I find great traditional Chinese dishes.
More About: Vegetable , Pork , Asian , Belly

Miyako
2008-05-20 05:48:00
When someone offers to babysit, don't refuse! We jumped at the chance to have dinner together, just the 2 of us when my sister offered to babysit Micah for the night.It was nice to get all dressed up - I have been in living in shorts and t-shirts or jeans and t-shirts for the past few weeks and for once, wearing a nice girly top with some silver hoop earrings and a bit of make up did wonders for me. So did a great Japanese dinner.We were in one mind about where to go yesterday night - both keen to use the Starwood Privilege card which we renewed this year. I was not a fan of these type of cards before but my resolve wavered once when a telemarketer convinced me of the benefits and I have been renewing my membership ever since. We've used the card in China so being away from Kuala Lumpur hasn't diminished the use of the privileges.Japanese was our choice of cuisine and Sheraton Subang, one of the participating hotels is the nearest as we didn't want to be away from Micah all that...
More About: Seafood

Steamboat
2008-05-18 04:00:00
Mom made an effort to prepare a steamboat dinner yesterday night. She was up as early as 5am, going to the market at 6am to buy fresh fish, and meats plus vegetable. The great thing about having steamboat is that everything is uncooked - we do our own cooking at the dinner table. The tough part is all the preparation including making the stock/soup or broth.I couldn't help much, being busy with Micah but was definitely appreciative of the spread at dinner. My only contribution was to give the recipe for the chili sauce - blend red chilies or bird's eye chili for extra oomph, garlic and a bit of ginger together then add some lime juice and fish sauce and you end up having a tasty and very spicy dip for the food. David was really lathering his food with the chili sauce since he has a penchant for spicy food. Fiery chili sauce and fried shallots to add flavorMom made 2 different types of broth - a clear consommé and spicy tom yum. Both David and my brother in law sat near the...
More About: Asian

Roast Pumpkin Soup & Mango Salsa
2008-05-14 07:51:00
The second dish we prepared for the dinner party was a roast pumpkin soup. I got this recipe from Central Foodhall (Bangkok supermarket) magazine. It was our first attempt at the recipe and were very pleased with the result. Roast Pumpkin Soup Pumpkin, peeled and diced 1 kgGarlic cloves, unpeeled 6Carrots, peeled and chopped 1Celery, chopped 2 sticksLarge onion, chopped 1Butter 1gGround cumin 1 tspVegetable/Chicken stock 4 cupsPre-heat oven to 180C. Roast the pumpkin, whole garlic cloves, carrot and celery on a lightly oiled tray for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft, but not browned. In a large saucepan, fry the onion in butter until soft. Add the roasted vegetables, vegetable stock and cumin and slowly bring to a boil. Leave to simmer for around 30 minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool. Puree the soup in a blender until liquidised. Re-heat, season, and serve (Own addition:garnish with chopped italian parsley, pepper and whipping cream). Mango Salsa DipThis rec...
More About: Western

LaLa Chong Seafood Village
2008-05-11 15:21:00
David and I had an opportunity to go out for dinner yesterday night after being housebound ever since Micah was born. My sister asked her helper to stay home to look after Micah for a few hours while we went together with them for dinner nearby.'Dinner nearby' for my sister's family means LaLa Chong, the nearest seafood restaurant and also where they pack fried noodles when they don't cook.I was pretty happy to be out of the house and looking forward to having dinner at a restaurant. For the past 2 weeks, I've eaten at home and this outing, though nearby and just for dinner was the highlight.The wait for the food was long but not unexpected since it was a Sunday night and also Mother's Day. The kids got a bit restless but there were enough of us to entertain them.I wonder if it was the eating out experience that made the food taste so much better or that the food was just good. I did the ordering with the help of the elderly waiter or boss, who was not very patient and a tad s...
More About: Restaurants , Malaysian , Chinese , Seafood , Lala

Meng Kee Char Siew
2008-05-11 06:13:00
We no longer have to travel all the way to Tengkat Tong Shin in Kuala Lumpur to eat Meng Kee's char siew. The branch in Shah Alam is most convenient since my sister's house is in Ara Damansara.Meng Kee Char Siew20 (Ground) Jalan Pekedai U1/36Hicom Glenmarie Industrial ParkShah AlamTel: 0193793629I feel that the char siew is by far the best - but of course you have to ask for the cut with a bit of crystallized fat. Eating lean char siew just isn't right! Then again with my cholesterol so high and having now to take medicine for it has persuaded me to consider my health and suffer eating lean meat.Good food don't come cheap so don't be surprised if you take away char siew with rice for one person and end up paying RM5! And having lunch there with a few people and ordering the works, meaning, char siew, bean sprouts, stuffed intestines, rice and drinks could set you back quite a bit.It is quite worth it though :)Yummy char siewFat juicy bean sprouts with fried shallotsStuffed inte...
More About: Malaysian , Chinese , Coffeeshops

Baby Back Pork Ribs
2008-05-07 07:12:00
I am honoured that Tracy invited me to post on her blog. She actually asked me months ago when I was still living in Bangkok and now I'm finally doing it. Thanks Tracy. For my maiden post, I want to share a recipe for baby back ribs. There are not many western restaurants that serve pork in Malaysia. When Tony Romas opened here, we were disappointed that they did not serve pork. Somehow beef ribs doesn't cut it for us. So, when they don't serve it in restaurants, make your own! 2 must dos for best results:1)Season and marinade the ribs overnight so that the marinade has time to seep into the meat.2) The trick to getting tender and juicy baby back ribs is to wrap the ribs in double-layer foil and roast for 2 hours. Then remove the foil, brush the ribs with sauce and grill for 2-3 minutes each side to char it slightly.I found this recipe from Martha Stewart's website. Whilst I used this as a broad guide, honestly, I use whatever sauces and spices I have in my fridge and pantry. Af...
More About: Baby , Pork , Back , Western

Meet...
2008-05-06 11:19:00
my guest blogger, Kess' Mama, Liz.Liz has a passion for cooking and food. We discovered not only the same interest in food but we are both dog people, and have had many conversations about our pets. Then came a time when I was in China and she was in Bangkok, both our husbands were working abroad and we became homemakers for a while. It was then we spent time chatting via skype and sharing our cooking adventures or rather more of my cooking misadventures!Now Liz is back in Kuala Lumpur and has a spanking new oven. We had the honor of savoring her baby back ribs, pumpkin soup and mango salsa when she had a little get together recently. She planned it and made sure that David was also back from China.We had a great time with a few other friends, one of them was Doris. I'll let Liz tell you all about our party and the glorious food we had. My contribution was a creamy potato salad.I am excited to have her as my guest blogger and look forward to her posts.
More About: Meet

Creamy Potato Salad
2008-04-26 10:25:00
I can't say this is my recipe for I got it from the internet. It was such a long time ago that I've forgotten where or who from so I can't give credit. Somehow I've made this 'my' potato salad.I have been using this recipe for the last 9 years and it is always a hit. I think 2 ingredients that make it taste great is mustard and bacon bits. I have tweaked the recipe a few times and cut down on the onions because using a whole bombay onion is just too pungent for this salad and I personally prefer whipping cream to heavy cream.Tonight we are going round to Kess' place where her owners are hosting a pot luck get together - it's just going to be the few of us. I can't wait to try baby back ribs and pumpkin soup. Kim Meng is bringing home made caesar salad. I asked him to cook extra bacon bits for my potato salad because I hate grilling bacon! Doris is contributing dessert and I think she mentioned buying the world's best fruit rojak! We are feasting tonight.Bacon bits will be...
More About: Salad , Potato

Max Brenner
2008-04-24 18:19:00
I was told that there are 2 great chocolate specialty shops in Australia. Koko Black which is only available in Melbourne and Max Brenner. I was glad that Ai Ling suggested to try Koko Black in Melbourne, if not, I would have missed out.Max Brenner was an altogether different experience and since it was available in Sydney, I had a chance to try it when I met up with Audrey. We met up in Manly where she lives and had a cuppa with her son Declan after picking him up after school. The Manly branch is located at the wharf.We went to Manly twice on our last trip. I spotted Max Brenner when we arrived at the wharf and was quite eager to try but on our way back, we rushed for the ferry instead. We should have just stayed and caught the later ferry - we ended up on the Darling Harbour side stuck for another half hour waiting for the storm to subside.I was just glad I had a chance to try it.I love the experience of a well designed product and Max Brenner is one. It is funky and very modern ...
More About: Travel , Dessert , Chocolate

Lobster Sashimi
2008-04-07 11:50:00
I had my first taste of lobster sashimi in Sydney. It was at East Ocean Chinese restaurant on Dixon street. I didn't remember the name until I googled it. I guess the name of the restaurant didn't matter, the other dishes were overshadowed by this exquisite, delectable and absolutely delicious raw seafood. I can't even give credit to the chef - it wasn't cooked! I can only sing praises of Sydney's fresh seafood.We were amazed at the size of it when the waiter put the 'boat' down on our table. For a few moments we were just staring at it and also at its feelers which were still moving! It was that fresh!I am a fan of raw fish but I haven't tasted something quite so good before in that category until then. I caught a glimpse of the bill because our host was sitting next to me and I know that it will be a long time before I get another taste of this. I was really in food heaven.Look at the size of it! It's a good thing I had a personin the picture to give you a comparison.A cl...
More About: Travel , Lobster , Seafood , Asian

A Healthy Snack
2008-04-06 16:13:00
Almost all health articles I've read will encourage us to increase fruits, leafy vegetables and nuts intake in our daily diet whilst cutting down salt, sugar and foods high in saturated fats.I love leafy vegetables and broccoli (which is another great though not leafy vegetable to add to our diet) so I am covered in that area but I am very picky with my fruits, preferring them cut and served on a plate! Anyway, I've taken to cutting up a whole melon and eating the lot of it slowly. Not sure if that is an ideal practice - I read somewhere that fruits should be cut and eaten immediately.For snacks, I've cut down on junk food. I only get a craving for crisps once in a while and I don't ignore it - my guilty pleasure but I've tried to switch to healthier alternatives most of the time. My current favorite is almonds and raisin. They go together so well - I should say raisins go with nuts so well.I can't eat more healthy than this!
More About: Snack , Healthy

Dairy Queen
2008-04-06 15:33:00
We had Dairy Queen in Hangzhou! David had the Blizzard and I tried a 3 berry blast Smoothie by Orange Julius. It was unfortunate my berries had tons of tiny seeds which stuck to my teeth and made it a really unpleasant experience :( I would have enjoyed the Blizzard much better.
More About: Ice Cream , Smoothies

Sardines
2008-04-04 08:33:00
Here is another of my favorite, simple, healthy and appetizing dish.Sardines!Yes, straight from a tin but with some tweaks making it a delicious dish with rice. Just fry big onions until they turn soft and add sardines from a tin. Serve once it is nice and hot.

3 Simple Dishes
2008-03-30 11:33:00
I have a yearning for Chinese style soup so when David and I went grocery shopping yesterday, I bought some pork bones and white radish, just these 2 ingredients to make a really nice Cantonese soup.I use a slow cooker to boil soup because it is convenient and easy. Just put boiling water into the slow cooker, add white radish cut into thick slices and lastly, pork bones. The bones have first been boiled in another pot of water to remove a bit of the fat and to ensure that the floaty brown sudsy bits from the marrow are eliminated making the soup clearer and cleaner (to look at). The cooker is set on high heat for at least an hour and then turned to a slow heat for another 4 hours or so, depending on how flavorful you want the soup to be. I like it very tasty so mine took about 5 hours in all!On a whim, I added some wolf berries to the soup after about 3 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste, last - just before serving. It is best to use whole peppercorns for extra oomph but I only ha...
More About: Malaysian , Dessert , Simple , Dishes

Coriander Chicken
2008-03-28 15:43:00
I didn't take any pictures of my stir fried coriander chicken dish. It just looked like chicken drummets in some dark sauce. I am not quite equipped photography wise or tableware wise so I wouldn't do the dish justice.I remember long ago when I first attempted cooking, I cooked Ketumbar (Coriander ) Chicken based on a recipe I cut out from the newspaper. And it was a really flavorful chicken dish with lots of gravy. I don't have the recipe with me here in China - I probably have it glued into a book where I keep all my recipes. So next best thing - I googled for a similar recipe!Most of the recipes I browsed through called for coriander seeds, toasted or pan fried for extra flavor. I only had coriander powder. And I don't quite like following recipes closely - being lazy and all. So I just go by taste. I knew that I wanted my chicken to taste like coriander but I also needed it to be spicy for my very picky husband. His ratings go sky high if the dish is spicy!For the marinade, I...
More About: Malaysian , Poultry

Pesto Sauce
2008-03-25 13:58:00
Not many people fancy pesto sauce with their pasta - it is a bit bland if you are used to either tomato based or cream sauces. I enjoy pesto sauce or just plain aglio olio once in a while. The sauce doesn't overpower and you can taste the herbs.I made do with flat leaf parsley for my pesto sauce, not being able to find fresh basil. Pine nuts are easy to find in China, in fact, I bought some the other day. Unfortunately, pine nuts are irresistible and before I knew it, I had finished them off! This tiny nut is so delicious. I love it's distinctive taste which is why it is really great for pesto sauce. So no pine nuts in the pantry but I still had some macadamia nuts courtesy of my sister in law who lives in Melbourne and brought some for me when she visited us during Christmas last year. I have been eating them ever so slowly :)So I finely chopped up macadamia nuts, flat leaf parsley and garlic. For 'meat', I used shrimps and for the pasta, Barilla's spinach Tagliatelle.I think ...
More About: Italian , Pesto , Sauce

Tempus Two, Hunter Valley, Australia
2008-03-24 11:04:00
I don't profess to know about wines. I do enjoy a glass or two once in a while but find that I prefer whites to reds, complaining that the reds are too acidic for my stomach. I am more partial to sweeter whites, especially Riesling or rose - more dessert wines.I know what I like but just can't describe it like a sommelier would.On our first visit to Hunter Valley in 2003, we visited some wineries. We saw Tempus Two from afar - it is quite a remarkable building standing alone in a vast expanse of green very unlike the other wineries. To me, it was also the most modern of structures in that area but it looked so intimidating especially since we know naught about wines. So we skipped it.So when we were there in February, I made David head straight there. Not only is it a winery but it houses 2 restaurants. A Japanese and a Western. Too bad we didn't know or else we would have made it a point to have a meal there.It was a nice experience - especially since we could ask the sommelier ...
More About: Travel , Wine , Australia

Pancakes On The Rocks
2008-03-21 06:07:00
Earl Grey teaJust look at David's loaded pancakes!Buttermilk pancakes with grilled banana, walnuts,cream, chocolate ice cream and our home made chocolate sauce.My Devonshire buttermilk pancakes withstrawberry jam and creamWhy can't we have pancakes, breakfast, lunch and dinner!As you can imagine - we had a great meal and did I mentioned that we had these at about 2pm right after we had stuffed ourselves at the Fish Market!Pancake on the Rocks - ROCKS!
More About: Travel , Dessert , On the rocks , Western

Leftovers
2008-03-17 11:58:00
I put some leftover sambal sauce to good use tonight. I deep fried pomfret first. Then cooked up more onions and garlic and added the leftover sauce to create a spicy sauce for the fried fish. I must say that deep frying is hard, messy work. I don't think I will be deep frying for a good while.There's just no good way to present cooked whole fish!Notice there are still squid in the sambal!!I have to say that I would have preferred to steam the pomfret as it was really fresh but David likes spicy food. I could have vetoed him but seeing that I have sambal left, I decided to put it to good use.For vegetable, I stir fried some celery with shrimps. Soy sauce just wouldn't be the right complement so I added a dash of sea salt instead and it was good to go. I think I've developed an instinct when it comes to cooking!Stir fried celery with shrimps
More About: Malaysian , Chinese , Leftovers

Nasi Lemak and Squid Sambal
2008-03-15 07:19:00
I made an exception today - I cooked although it's the weekend.See, I've been craving for nasi lemak and not having cooked it before I decided to give it a shot. David went out to the market to get me some squid for the sambal and he came back with cucumber and also fresh spring rolls.There seems to be a season for fresh spring rolls to be sold at the market. We started seeing most of the vendors busy wrapping and rolling them during winter. We didn't buy them before because we aren't too fond of deep frying but I think David wanted to try them today.Fresh spring rolls with vegetablesAll fried upNow, making nasi lemak is no big deal. It's just coconut steamed rice with sambal and cucumber. The funny thing is that the combination of these items make it a most delicious meal. The coconut steam rice is a must - without it, you don't get the 'lemak'.I used powdered coconut milk because we can't find fresh ones in China. Steamed rice is cooked normally except substitute water wi...
More About: Malaysian , Squid

Bastiaan Bakery & Cafe
2008-03-14 04:58:00
I love eating at bakeries. The smell of freshly made breads, rolls and pastries plus the warmth of these eateries is enough to make you feel at home and comfortable.Bastiaan Bakery and Cafe is one of those places. We found it while walking on the Hongmei pedestrian street which is littered with many restaurants and cafes. It was very busy on that Sunday that we visited. A lot of people preferred to sit outside on the sidewalk as it was a sunny afternoon. It was still quite cold but I guess when the sun is shining down it can be nice and brisk. We wanted to eat alfresco but there were no tables left.We don't regret having lunch inside because the atmosphere was even nicer with lots of fresh food on display at the counter to entice you and a host of Easter chocolates on sale.The menu was pretty extensive for a bakery and I decided to have a roast chicken and avocado salad while David went for a salmon sandwich.Bottled apple and orange juice.Fresh juice is also served.There was quite ...
More About: Travel , Cakes , Pastry , Breads

Little Sheep Hot Pot. Shanghai
2008-03-12 11:58:00
Branch at Ya'an Xi Lu by Jiangsu LuWe judge a good hot pot by the soup and the sauce and Little Sheep Hot Pot is high on the list but that was before the MSG attack cramped our stomachs and gave me the tingles on my cheeks! I must admit that the soup tastes wonderful and I couldn't help slurping at it.There were so many things inside that would make the soup nice and tasty without having to add MSG but it could be that there are natural glutomates from the ingredients. We found huge cloves of garlic, dried longans, wolfberries, ginseng root, leek, black taucu beans on the 'clear" side whilst the spicy side was full of dried chilies and oil!Yin Yang soupI like the sesame sauce. Taste really nice with the meats.Combo of thinly sliced fresh beef and lamb.They look like quite large pieces but they shrinkand disappear in the soup so we cook it in the soup ladle.In the Malaysian style, noodles are last.These glass noodles were yummy, absorbing all the tasty soup.Nothing like some fresh...
More About: Shanghai , Chinese

WaterVue Restaurant, Manly
2008-03-11 08:35:00
We had a simple lunch near the beach at Manly. Watervue Restaurant is on the touristy street of The Corso, a pedestrian only walkway to the beach with restaurants, shopping outlets and pharmacies selling cheap sunglasses and a whole lot of sunscreens.Our lunch specials were a steal at AUD12.90 each - David had a steak while I chose the grilled barramundi. The portions were generous for the price. And it was nice to eat outdoors in the shade of umbrellas enjoying the sea breeze and the atmosphere of the beach and its surrounds.
More About: Travel , Restaurants , Seafood , Western

Google Chat on Makanning
2008-03-07 14:57:00
I am chatting with WokkingMum right now thanks to the google chat widget I put up on this blog. It gives me the opportunity to interact with my visitors much like a chat widget except more interactive.It has been up for a few days and WokkingMum is my first guest chat. This is great and I am making a friend across the miles.
More About: Google , Chat , General

Sugar High
2008-03-07 14:50:00
A good friend gave me Bassetts Jelly Babies recently. I know. I just blogged about Jelly Beans! Well the ones from Bassetts are priceless because they brought back memories. We used to eat them when we were kids. I remember spending my pocket money on a small box of and eating them ever so slowly to make it last. I did the same with my Mars bar. I take a bite and put it back into the fridge :)I will definitely make these last!
More About: Sugar , Sweets , High