Food/Travel

Roasted Spring Chicken

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I had this roasted spring chicken not long ago at my regular food court with my family, and it cost me Rm8.00 for half bird. Quite expensive, in my opinion, considering that you can actually buy 1kg of chicken for Rm8.00.

But then again, this roasted spring chicken taste superb. The spring chicken was well marinated and roasted to perfection (Something I believe I could never accomplish, considering that I’m only good at burning my food. LOL).

The skin was thin and crispy while the meat was succulent. The roasted spring chicken was polished to the bones as soon as it was served.  I can’t believe I’m actually saying this,  but it was actually worth the money.

I wonder how many of you would be willing to spend Rm 8.00 for 1/2 of roasted spring chicken… or you’d rather buy 1kg of chicken and cook it yourself?

Cleffairy: Sometimes, we need to give ourself a break. We deserve a little bit of pampering, don’t we?

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Food/Travel

Constant cravings…

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Restaurant Yin Her somewhere in Sungai Buloh is one of my favourite hanging out place with my evil sisters. We stuff our face there every now and then. But as of late, everyone is busy… including me, and we did not manage to go there to stuff our face as frequent as before…

As a result, I’m getting a withdrawal symptom, and all I can do is dream of these wonderful dishes…

Up there is the dishes that we had during our last meet up. It was during Chinese New Year season.

Fresh kam heong lala. Very sweet and spicy and goes very well with plain steamed rice.

Crispy pumpkin chicken. This dish needs some improvement, though. When it came to the table, it was already cold and rather hard. Taste- wise, it was okay.

Veggies for the veggy lovers… but personally, I think this dish could use some cooking wine.

My all time favourite kangkung fried generously with belacan sambal and dried shrimps.

Claypot taufu for the young and young at hearts alike.

And last but not least… fried sotong for yours truly. 😀

Food pictures are courtesy of Mamarazzi and her Smallkucing while the food was sponsored by a pretty young lady who naughtily sneaked out to pay the bills while we’re eating. TSK TSK TSK. Thank you for the food, gorgeous. And thanks for the uh…mysterious roasted chicken too. 😀

Cleffairy: Food, food, food, glorious food!

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Food/Travel

French toasts with minced meat filling

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I get bored in the kitchen preparing the same food over and over again every day, so sometimes, I tend to experiment a little bit. I wanted to have some minced meat pie, but since my oven went KABOOM-ed on me, I had no choice but to settle for something simpler, something that I can cook over the stove instead…. like French toast, but with simple minced meat with mushroom as the filling.

Here’s how I do it:

For the filling

1/2 can of button mushrooms (or if you have, you can use fresh button mushrooms)- sliced

100 grams of minced meat

Salt and black pepper to taste

To prepare for the filling, all you need to do is sauté the sliced button mushrooms in a frying pan along with minced meat til it’s fully cooked. Season with black pepper and salt, and put aside while preparing for the French toasts.

To prepare the French toasts:

Ingredients:

4 slices of stale bread

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon of mayonnaise

Butter for frying

Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them up lightly with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise. Cut the stale bread and dip them in the eggs mixture. (Note: if you’re on a diet or something, use salt and pepper to taste instead of mayonnaise)

Heat up the frying pan and fry the bread til golden brown. Take out, and sandwich the fillings accordingly in between the breads. Drizzle generously with mayonnaise or tomato ketchup and serve while piping hot.

Cleffairy: This is nothing gourmet, but it satisfied my cravings for minced meat pies. Our world would be a happier place to live in if people make do with what they have instead of grumbling about things they cannot fix, no?

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Food/Travel

Chicken Chop vs. Nasi Lemak

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Which one would you rather have for dinner?

Rm 7.00 crumbs coated black pepper chicken chop served with a side-dish of baked beans in tomato sauce, mashed potatoes with mushroom sauce and french fries….

Or

The Rm4.50 nyonya nasi lemak served with a side-dish of sambal, fried anchovies and peanuts, sliced cucumbers, kangkung belacan, fried egg, fried chicken as well as papadums?

Well… I couldn’t decide on what I wanna have; chicken chop or nasi lemak when I went for dinner at my regular lurk not long ago. So I ended up buying both and shared them with my family.


Cleffairy: When in doubt…choose both. LOL!

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Food/Travel

Nasi Goreng Belacan/ Belacan Fried Rice

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I’m a huge fan of fried rice. They’re nice, and convenient to cook. Simple fried rice like the one Mommyling makes can melt my heart anytime. *HINT HINT*

I could still remember my schooling time. My mum would cook the leftover rice from the day before and make fried rice out of them and serve them for breakfast. She’d also pack them up in a tupperware and let my sister and I bring them to school so that we could have them during recess in school. I was a very blessed child. I never actually needed to buy any food from the school canteen cuz my mum would prepare all sort of food for us to bring in our lunchbox and have them during lunch.

Those were the good old days. Fried rice is a dish for the poor and the frugal. But not anymore. I had the ‘belacan fried rice’ above while I was chilling out in a cafe while waiting for my boy to come back from his class, and it cost me a bloody Rm7.90. (I was very hungry, and that was one of the cheapest dish at the cafe)

I have no complaints whatsoever on the taste. The ‘belacan fried rice’ actually taste superb, and it was served with a side dish of ‘ayam rempah’, papaya, mango and pineapple salad as well as cool watermelon slices as dessert, but I have to say… serving it in a bento box is just a little too much. I couldn’t really enjoy the food as I found it hard to ‘dig’ into the bento box.

I wish it was served on a regular plate instead of a bloody bento box. Why can’t all these cafe keep things simple? Oh well, perhaps by presenting it nicely and cutely in a bento box, they could charge more. Beats me.

Cleffairy: Life is complicated enough… why can’t food be simple?

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Food/Travel

Ireland’s Potatoes, Midvalley

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I have the best dad in the world. He tends to indulge all my whims and fancy, and nobody can beat him in that. He’s still my no. 1 when it comes to indulging me.

Last month during his visit, he brought me to pig out in Ireland’s Potatoes, Midvalley, KL. And needless to say, I stuffed myself silly with all of those carbs and proteins that my body needs badly.

I saw this interesting Ireland’s proverb… There’s two things that cannot be joked. Marriage and potatoes. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but I agree that marriage is not something you can joke about. Saying ‘I do’ is like agreeing to eternal bondage, isn’t it? But then again, I’m kinky, bondage is fun. LMAO.

This is the counter where the Ireland’s Potatoes’ crew takes order from the starving customers. The kiosk is well designed, though I feel that it’s a tad too small. I wouldn’t consider dining in as well. The place is too small to my liking. It was stuffy, and it’s best if you order the food and take away instead.

My dad knows that I’m a sucker for anything cheesy, so he got me this, the Ireland’s Potatoes ‘Special Cheddar Cheese Potato chips’. The potatoes was yummy. It was topped with gooey cheese and it was generously sprinkled with bacon bits. Wouldn’t mind having another go of these anytime.

My dad says their BBQ chicken wings is something to die for, and I couldn’t agree more with him on that.

My dad knows that I missed my mum’s jacket potatoes, so he got me these to sink my teeth on as well. I have nothing against Ireland’s Potatoes Roast Cheese potato skins, but I still think my mum’s jacket potatoes is still the best.

Ireland’s Potatoes have a lot of potatoes varieties for you to choose from…and if I let my dad have it his way, I daresay he’d buy more than just 3 kind of dishes for me. Scary…I think he wanna stuff me til I’m rounder, but unfortunately for him, I have his genes. Hahaha… I can never grow an inch sideway, even if I stuff myself silly.

Anyway, if you suddenly feel like having potatoes and in the mood to ditch your diet, you might consider patronizing Ireland’s Potatoes. Below is the address:

Ireland’s Potato
LG-211, Lower Ground Floor The Gardens,
Mid Valley City, Lingakaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur

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Food/Travel, Frugal Recipe

Tea Eggs/ Cha Ye Dan

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I feel abit lazy these days. Lazy would only means two things when it comes to dealing with mealtime in my house. Either eating out, or one pot meal. LOL. I’m lazy, I would either cook curry, ABC soup or tomyam and just serve it with rice.

The ravenous sharks in my house has been eating and snacking like nobody’s business ever since Chinese new year started. I’m getting rather wary about it. They keep stuffing their mouth with junks that will never make them feel full, and therefore, I decided to feed them something much more tasty, filling and satisfying (not necessarily healthy or cholesterol free, though).

I got myself a fresh tray of grade AA eggs from my regular egg seller and a pack of Tea Eggs Herbs. The AA eggs from my regular eggs seller is pretty cheap and reasonable. It cost me only Rm 9.00 per tray. Elsewhere, it would have cost me a bomb.

And so, after boiling the eggs, I crack them gently and re- boil it together with the tea herbs a couple of hours. I boil it on very slow fire for 6 hours. (Damn, now the house is so hot!)

The outcome is this: A marble-like eggs. LOL.

Here’s how you can make your own tea eggs. It makes a very good snack on rainy weather. (It’s not rainy now, but who cares)

Ingredients:

6-15 eggs

4 cups water

6 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

3 tablespoons pu-er tea

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

3 cloves

1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

1 teaspoon sugar

(Alternatively, just get yourself a pre-pack of the tea egg ‘herbs’, and just add in soya sauce, sugar and salt into the boiling water)

First of all, boil all of the eggs, and when it’s done, take it out, and crack all the eggs slightly before putting it back into the pot along with the herb packet.

Boil on slow fire for 4-6 hours, take out, and serve hot. You can serve them with rice, but I usually have them on their own. It’s very yummy and make an excellent comfort food/snack. 😀

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Uncategorized

Mysterious roasted chicken

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So, what’s the big mystery? Well… it just so happen that during the ‘lousang’ session with my sisters (The ‘Balik Kampung Gang) earlier on, they stuffed me with food again.

No, I’m not complaining, but I got confused cuz there’s too many food stuff, and I don’t know who gave me what thing. There’s simply too much cookies and food…(which I will blog about later).

Among those CNY goodies is the roasted chicken. I have no idea who gave that to me. Was it you, Cyn? Or was it you, Ms. Anon? *faint* Mamarazzi and Ms. Anon no 2 says it’s not from them…. *faint*

Anyway, thank you for the roasted chicken. It was very yummy.


Cleffairy: Tsk tsk tsk… I’m only good at eating! Shame on me!

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Down The Memory Lane, Food/Travel, Time Heals What Love And Reason Cannot

Stress Free Lousang

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I mentioned in my previous entry that I went lousang with my blogger family, didn’t I? That was the first lousang of the Rabbit year for me, and I enjoyed it very, very much, because it was stress-free, and everyone seems to be very relaxed that evening.

Everyone dressed down too, and the entire session was very casual. LOL… you see, we’re all with kids, therefore, dressing up to the nines for dinners and whatnot is not really practical, as it’s a well known fact that kids are messy, and it’s best if we’re all frill-free.

And despite of it still being Chinese New Year, at least 4 of the folks who attended the lousang session wore black/grey-ish shirts/clothing.

LMAO. Talk about defying culture! The superstitious elders would probably faint out of shock if they’re to see us wear dark coloured clothing. You see… it’s considered a blasphemy and inauspicious to wear black-ish clothing during Chinese New Year.

Gosh… I must be getting really old. I feel more comfortable with people who are married, with kids rather than single brats who cared so much about dressing up, even for casual events.

Anyway, we ordered ‘Half Portion Yee Sang’

There’s some measly slices of salmon fish along with the yee sang set, waiting to be tossed with the rest of the ingredients.

Just look at the yummylicious ingredients…colourful, isn’t it? This dish signify the hope for a colourful and prosperous year ahead. By the way, can you guess which one is MY hand? LOL.

Tossing the yee sang… The Chinese believes that the higher you toss when you’re mixing the ingredients, the luckier you’ll be throughout the year. And so, we toss as high as we could while wishing a lot of auspicious things out loud.

The aftermath? Let’s just say, it was rather messy… but it was yummy nevertheless. LOL.

Cleffairy: Nothing beats spending time with friends who are more like a family to you.

note: The dish is called ‘yee sang’ while the act of tossing and mixing the ‘yee sang’ ingredients together is known as ‘lou sang’.

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Down The Memory Lane, Food/Travel, Time Heals What Love And Reason Cannot

Cravings satiated…

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LOL… this is going to be a very short entry, cuz I’m really beat. Just came back from ‘lousang’ with my evil sisters , and I can barely move… I ate too much, I suppose. I wanted to write something about that, but that will have to wait til my unofficial photographer email me the pics.

Anyway, I’ve been having loads of cravings lately…(no, I’m not pregnant… not that I know of… ummmm…. ummm!) and among them are fried rice, salted fish as well as pickled mangoes. LOL.

Well, most of my cravings has been satiated, though not indefinitely. Hahaha…Smallkucing has somehow managed to convince his Mamarazzi to make me a jar of pickled mangoes as well as buy me salted fish during their recent trip back to hometown. 😀

Pickled mangoes, made specially for me by none other than Smallkucing’s mummy, Mamarazzi.

Scary looking salted fish, but don’t let the looks fooled you. This tastes heavenly when it’s fried and eaten with plain steamed rice. (This one, however, is more suitable to be cooked in curry)

And as for fried rice…Ms. Anonymous fried some for me and stuffed it to me during my lousang session earlier on. You see, it’s not that I don’t know how to cook fried rice, but it’s just that sometimes you get so sick of your own cooking that you wish that you can have someone else’s cooking. I guess that’s what happened to me when I craved for Ms. Anonymous’ fried rice.

Geez…. I really did not expect her to cook fried rice for me. After all, we were having our ‘lousang’ session together and food will be abundant. LOL… I was really shocked when Ms. Anonymous told me that she made fried rice for me. Gosh…my friends are so kind and thoughtful, and I have no idea how to repay them besides saying thank you, and hope that God will bless them and their loved ones always.

Cleffairy: Having thoughtful friends who keep you in their hearts no matter where they go is indeed a blessing from up above. Eating in a humble restaurant with them beats dining in an expensive hotel.

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