A Penny For Your Thoughts, Food/Travel

Not so black…

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I was craving for some ‘daging masak hitam’ the other day, and so, I decided to look up STP’s ‘masak hitam’ recipe’.

But, instead of getting a genuine Sarawak ‘Daging Masak Hitam’, I got the above dish instead as I decided that STP’s recipe looks rather plain and what a shame it would be if I didn’t add carrots, bell peppers, onions and also potatoes in it. 😛

*sigh* Looks like my ‘daging masak hitam’ is not so black after all. It looks more like beef stew if you ask me. *sobs* 🙁

Oh, well, at least it’s edible and at the end of dinner, nothing was left of it. LOL…thank god my effort was not in vain after all.

If you’re interested to try and cook some ‘daging masak hitam’/ ‘ayam masak hitam’, you might wanna hop over to STP’s blog and take a look at the recipe yourself. Tweak at your own risk. 😛

Cleffairy: I can never follow recipe! I’ll surely tweak them and the dish will be totally a different thing!

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Down The Memory Lane, Food/Travel

Yummy oh yummy…

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Sorry for being absent for quite some time and haven’t had the time to visit your blogs and leave my thoughts. I was unavoidably detained during the festive season. LOL. You know… the usual… rampaging around for ketupat and rendangs as well as cookies and cakes.

Apart from walloping those sleep inducing ketupats, I was whisked away to the world of good food by someone. Can you guess who that someone is?

That someone brought me to Yin Her Restaurant, Sungai Buloh for these…

Thinly sliced pickled papayas with asam boi as the appetizers.

A very thick and nice spinach soup. I am not a fan of greens like spinach, period, but this soup is to die for. I like this spinach soup a lot… and I drank it up til the last drop. 😀

This, ladies and gentlemen is ‘Tiliapia Fish’ done in Nyonya Assam Style. Again, I am not a fan of fishes… cuz I’m scared of the tiny bones. When I was a little girl… I used to love fishes very much, but once the bones got stuck in my throat, I never want to have fishes again. The special someone told me that this fish doesn’t have any tiny bones… and so, I tried some. This dish is very nice too. I didn’t take much of it, cuz i was still skeptical that there’s no tiny bones in it. I took a lot of the sauce, though. It’s very nice. Thumbs up for it. Though that I wish they put more pineapple bits along with more ladies fingers in it.

This dish is called Kam Heong Sotong. It’s squids fried with loads of curry powder along with dried shrimps, curry leaves as well as bird eye chillies. I’d cut my hands and legs for another round of this dish. It’s very nice, and I like it very much.*blush* I think this dish went into my tummy more than anyone else’s tummy. Hahaha. Thumbs up for Kam Heong Sotong. Very delicious, and it’s something that I’ll probably go for again if I were to go to this restaurant again.

Next up… is the crawling crabs. LOL… sorry… I mean, steamed crabs with egg whites and loads of sliced ginger. The crabs are so fresh that you could have sworn that they’d crawl on your plates. Yummylicious…oozing with it’s natural flavour and sweetness. Another dish that a must have if you’re to visit this restaurant. Good on it’s own or with steamed white rice.

And this is…Hokkien fried noodles. Very nice too, not too oily, and just to my liking. There’s loads of squids, chicken bits as well as prawns in it. Something I’d hang my neck for again too.

There’s also claypot tofu. This one is very nice as well. I only took a little bit of these cuz i was too busy stuffing my face with the ‘Kam Heong Sotong’.

And as for dessert, we had this complimentary green bean ‘tong sui’. Very refreshing and very suitable to wash down those hot and spicy dishes with.

Do you know who that ‘someone’ is? Here’s some clue:

1. That someone have a new camera, and is a blogger. And all the pictures here is courtesy of someone.

2. That someone is a VERY generous person.

3. That someone couldn’t pronounce my real name, and therefore ends up calling me Auntie Little Bird.

4. That someone is somewhat like me, loves books very much and is an avid reader.

5. That someone is often featured here in Over A Cuppa Tea as a guest model/photographer. (cuz yours truly looks like a horrible ghost and not photogenic and is hopeless in snapping/editing pictures)

Cleffairy: If you’ve been a reader of my blog and someone’s blog, you will know who is that someone is. 😀

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Down The Memory Lane

Apparently, my love is conditional…

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Yes. You read it right. Apparently, my love is not always unconditional. They comes with conditions…especially when Laksa is involved. 😀 Pete posted Laksa in his blog, and it reminds me that I’ve been going nuts over Laksa these few days, and one pack is simply insufficient for me. Thankfully, my husband has grown immune to my craziness for Laksa after being together for so long, and he had somehow acquired the same taste for Laksa like me.

Growing up in Penang, Laksa and I often walk hand in hand. I had to have some Penang Laksa fix at least 3-4 times a month, a few bowls at one sitting or I’ll be a horrid person to deal with.

Some people may complain that I eat very little in one sitting, but one could be horrified on how I could lick my bowl clean, and ask for at least two more bowl of Laksa after finishing off my first one. Terrible, terrible, gluttony me…my mum used to make Laksa for us on weekends when i was still living with my parents. She’ll make one whole pot full of Laksa soup, and it’ll be licked clean within the first hour!

(Sorry for the awful presentation… It was midnight, and I was half way through my Laksa when I suddenly remember to take this picture. Too hungry. LOL)

But my love for Penang Laksa comes with condition. They’re these:

1. The soup must me thick, slightly creamy, and no sight of bones inside. No watery, darkish soup of for me, thank you. They repel me.

2. They must not have pieces of fish/fish flakes on top of it. They turned me off, and if I found any chunks of fish on top of my Laksa, I wouldn’t even touch it the Laksa, what more eat it.

3. They must be served with some green chillies vinegar.

4. They must have bits of pineapples on it.

5. The laksa MUST be served with prawn paste and generous servings of shredded salad, cucumber and onions.

6. They MUST be served with boiled eggs. That’s right. Plural. Eggs. A few boiled eggs, and not just one. (now, don’t go on a few hours of lecture on the calories on me. It would be a huge waste of your breath)

7. The Laksa noodles must not be the ‘wet rice’ kind… that leaves heavy taste on my mouth. They must be the regular, dried ones that you have to boil in hot water before serving them.

8. The Laksa must have the correct combination of spiciness and sourness, or I won’t even finish the Laksa.

So, how do you like YOUR Laksa? Oh yes, mind you… in my humble opinion… this is Laksa. Those that comes with curry and yellow noodles are not Laksa. They are MEE CURRY. Get it?


Cleffairy: I want it right. Or I won’t have it at all. I won’t settle for the second best!

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Food/Travel

Curry steak+ homemade salad

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Bah, humbug! You don’t have to tell me. I know I have somewhat a very peculiar taste when it comes to food, and it’s very rare that restaurants could satisfy my taste-buds.

I bought some Australian beef that’s on sale last weekend, and thought that it’s perfect for making steak.

Unfortunately for me, I don’t have any spices to marinade the beef, and all that I have left was curry powder. Oh, well it’s better than nothing. Curry steak it is, then.

Ingredients:

Some beef, cut into steak pieces.

Salt

Curry powder

First of all, marinade the beef with salt and curry powder for 15 minutes before tossing it into the non stick frying pan. I like my steak medium rare, so I just cooked mine for about 10 minutes or so and serve it with some French fries.

Tips: Seal the beef moisture/juices by frying both side slightly before continuing to cook it to perfection. No oil is needed for cooking the steak. The heat would suffice, and natural curry sauce would emerge during the duration of cooking.

Up next is some salad with homemade croutons.

Ingredients for salad:

Some butterhead lettuce/ice lettuce/any sort of lettuce

Some cherry tomatoes

Stale bread

Oil for frying

Thousand Island sauce (optional)

Cut some of the stale bread into small pieces, and deep fry them for about 1/2 minute before tossing them on a bed of lettuce and cherry tomatoes. Squeeze in some lemon juice/ vinegar, and serve.

Alternatively, you can go extremely unhealthy like me, and use Thousand Islands dressing instead.


Cleffairy: I wonder how much those would cost in a steakhouse? Hmmmm….

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Down The Memory Lane, Food/Travel

What you mean to me…

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I don’t quite fancy sweet things. Instead I love things that’s spicy and flavourful. I’m never the one who will go for bland food. They are torturous, and I don’t like it. Health food is never in my dictionary, and I had to be held at gunpoint if I were to be forced to take health food.

While I don’t really like sweet things, I do make exemption for cendol. A sweet Malay/Indian delicacy that is abundant in Penang and Northern parts of Malaysia. Cendol is some sort of shaved ice dessert topped with ‘gula Melaka’ syrup, creamy coconut milk, red beans as well as some green ‘cendol’ that’s made from flour.

Growing up in Penang gave me opportunities to savour cendol to my heart’s content, and I took it for granted until I moved to KL. 🙁

I used to enjoy cooling cendol almost every evening by the beach when I was growing up in Penang, and I missed it dearly. One could say I can easily find cendol in KL, as there are abundant. One could get it from the roadside or some famous kopitiam, but, I felt nothing could compare to the ones I had by the beach. Nothing is as authentic as that.

But then again… beggers can’t be choosers, I had to settle for the second best, so despite of the killer price of Rm3.90 for a few mere slurps in Wangsa Walk when I was having a date with my husband.

With constant craving for cendol like this, I do wish that I could go back to the times when I was a mere teenager frolicking in the sea.

Cleffairy: Yeah, this is a not so subtle HINT. So, Pauline…when the hell is our cendol trip? *SNARL*

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Food/Travel, Frugal Recipe

Soya sauce fettuccine

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I’m a huge fan of pasta, but the Italians would send me to the gallows for not following the rules.

Here’s a yet another quickie fusion recipe from me:

Ingredients:

1 strip of chicken fillet, cut to pieces

1 tablespoon of chopped garlic

7 tablespoon of soya sauce

3 tablespoon of oyster sauce

1/2 glass of water

A dash of pepper

1/2 pack of Fettuccine pasta, boiled til al dante

Some cooking oil

Here’s how you cook the quickie soya sauce Fettucine:

Sauté the chicken with the chopped garlic til fragrant. Add in the soya sauce and oyster sauce as well as 1/2 glass of water and simmer it til the sauce thickens. Add in the fettuccine, and stir will so that the sauce coated the fettuccine evenly. Sprinkle a dash of coarse black pepper on it.

Take out and serve.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Yield: 3 servings.


Cleffairy: Nobody ever said you have to play by the rules. Rules are meant to be broken. 😀

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Food/Travel, Frugal Recipe

With vengeance

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*sigh* Retribution comes without fail. A few weeks back, I tempted some hungry ghosts with my fried sotong. Now, Ghost no.1, Ghost no.2 and Ghost no.3 all ganged up against me at the same time and tempted me with their own fried sotong.

*SOBS* I have no sotong to fry, and therefore, I ended cooking those above. Typical Western junks. Home made cheeseburgers with French fries.

So…junks, anybody?

Cleffairy: Never, ever offend Hungry Ghosts.

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

Sweet Hut

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Remember my previous blog entry where I blogged about the Father’s Day dinner with my father in law? Well, another reason why I love and adore my father in law  is that he indulge us and make the time that we spent with him really worth spending.I may not grew up with my father in law, but he’s certainly a figure that I look up upon.

*sigh* I’m somewhat a daddy’s girl, aren’t I? I fancy elder males in my family rather than the elder females. I find the elder females in the family hard to deal with especially when they already hit the menopausal age. I could not stand them at all, as they’re very moody, naggy and not to mention they’re somewhat negative in nature, refused to learn and always thinks they’re right. 🙁 I find it very hard to deal with their monstrous mood swing but I can get along just fine with those father figures. (One reason that sometimes I pray to die early so that I won’t be seen and remembered as an unreasonable, inconsiderate menopausal monster. I’m vain. I want to be remembered as a young, sweet thing.)

Anyway, after we treat my father in law whom I fondly called Papa for the steamboat dinner, he coax us to have desserts after taking all the hot stuff earlier on. Everyone was stuffed, but the idea of an extended chit-chatting session with my father in law is rather appealing. So we went to a quieter cafe selling all sort of fancy desserts nearby. The shop is known as Sweet Hut.

Sweet Hut for the sweethearts. 😛

They’re selling various fancy desserts.

My father in law had this; cold, black sesame dessert.

My sister in law had this. Some sort of mango and aloe vera dessert served in coconut jellies.

My brother in law had this, some sort of mixed sago dessert served with sliced, juicy mangoes.

Stepmum had this, Sweet Hut’s aloe vera dessert.

While me… I had this, shared it with my husband. LOL…What’s dessert without some sweet brownie topped with ice cream and some fruits to wash it down with? 😀

The damage for these stuff? About Rm50.00++ It was my father in law’s treat. 😀 Thanks for the treats, Papa.

Cleffairy: LOL. I’m actually pretty easy to please. Feed me with ice creams and sweet stuff, and my heart is all yours.

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

Father’s Day Celebration 2010

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My father in law is the kind who enjoys good food and good companions, and he often will find excuse to lure us out to eat. This time, the excuse is father’s day. An early Father’s Day celebration.

What I like about dining with father in law is that dining with him is pressure free. He always emphasize on quality time together and not ‘quantity time’ together. The time we usually spend with him are usually short, but it’s very enjoyable. I can get along with my father in law pretty well, as he’s the civilized kind, and could talk a lot of things with me.

This time, we went for steamboat dinner once again. The restaurant was known as Meat Bone Soup Steamboat owned by my sister in law’s friend. Deciding that we should ‘support’ her friend and extort some discount from her friend, we went there instead of our regular steamboat perch.

Before the meal started…. everyone was busy yakking away with my father in law.

Tea in the tea compressor. You can bring your own tea if you want, and they’ll prepare it for you.

Various dips for the seafoods.

I like this dish the most. Fried soft Japanese taufu with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Goes very well with those dips, especially the Thai sauce dip.

Various seafood, veggies and meat for the steamboat session.

Extra chicken and veggies.

Two kinds of soup. One is ABC soup, while another is extra spicy Tomyam Soup. Initially we thought the Tomyam Soup is not spicy, but my father in law, my sister in law and I ended up sweating and whining that though the soup is nice, it’s very spicy! LOL. Very nice, but very spicy. It’s more like those Szechuan chillies soup.

It was a nice Father’s day dinner. The damage for 8pax? I don’t know. I just went there to eat and father in law’s kids, aka my brother in law, my sister in law and my husband split the bills to treat my father in law. LOL.


Cleffairy: Quality matters, not quantity.

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A Penny For Your Thoughts, Down The Memory Lane, Food/Travel

The nutty temptation…

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The temptation is too great too resist. I couldn’t help it. After seeing two evil beings, Pontianak and Hantu Bungkus write up about their sinful indulgence where they had apom balik (crispy Malay pancakes), I knew I’m done for, and I must have some of my own.

Unfortunately for me though, I couldn’t find any apom balik and I was about to give up on my search when I saw this when I was having a date with my husband in Wangsa Walk, Wangsa Maju:

Hot&Roll… can you guess what they’re selling?

All sort of chappatis and roti canai rolls with fillings inside….nice….those savoury ones are promos… I decided to settle on their crispy, nutty rolls instead…it’s something like apom balik. 😛 Well, beggars can’t be choosers…I must have something that’s similar to apom balik if I can’t have the real stuff.

See… the batter… waiting for the fillings.

The guy was spreading peanut butter onto my modern apom balik.

Then he placed some crushed, crunchy peanuts onto it.

And the sinful, chocolate chips…imagine that melting in your mouth, along with the crunchy peanuts and the crispy skin. WOW!

Then the guy folded it…

And this is how it looks like after being folded.

Taste-wise? Very nice, with the crunchy, sugary peanuts and the melting chocolate chips mingling in my tongue. I still prefer the original, traditional apom balik though. 😀

Cleffairy: When I’m sweet, I’m somewhat nutty.

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