Culinary Cravings

Aubergine Parmigiana

2009-08-28T22:47:00.003+01:00

Aubergine was on good offer in the supermarket and hence this! Easy and no fuss, only downside I'd say is its slightly time consuming, but beats eating the ones outside as this is definitely healthier, so no more guilt after the 2nd helping :)

All you need is some garlic cloves, 2 aubergines, 1 can of 400g chopped tomatoes in tomato sauce, 3 tomatoes (optional), 200g-300g cheese (I had some cheddar, you can use other nice melt-able cheese) , olive oil, salt and pepper

Firstly, slice the aubergine into round cross sections of about 2 inches thick. Note that I have done it length-wise as per the pictures below, but found that it made serving the dish later more difficult in terms of cutting them into portions. Then, brush some olive oil on both sides of the aubergines and season with some salt and pepper. Get your grilling pan and heat it up for some serious grilling!

Grill the aubergines both sides till almost cook and soft. It took me about 5 minutes each side. Be careful not to burn them too much!

The tomato sauce is up next, quite straight forward. I chopped some garlic and fried them till fragrant, before adding the contents of the can to the pot. Lower the heat and simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes till it thickens, finally add a pinch of salt and some basil/oregano if preferred

Then the fun part starts! Don't forget to heat up your oven to 200C for at least 15 minutes beforehand.... With the casserole dish, start with a thin layer of tomato sauce at the bottom to lightly coat it....

... then continue with the grilled aubergines, cheese, sauce, and then repeat again. I added a layer of tomatoes into mine for fun, supplementing the sauce :)

Try not to overflow the dish though! Finish up with a nice layer of cheese and place it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes and its done!

About Squids and the Road not Taken

2009-08-22T00:10:00.003+01:00

This ain't a blog post about cooking this particular seafood (yet), but I was referring to the tentacles, and wishing I had as many pairs of arms as it has over the past year!

A couple of things have changed, I chose a path less traveled by, and fingers crossed, hope this will make all the difference (and more cooking)!

Alive

2009-05-17T12:40:00.001+01:00

Yes, I'm alive, despite almost half a year of disappearance....
It's been hectic workwise, and I do try to squeeze in as many cooking sessions as I can, lots of back log photos in my camera still to be posted...

And yes, I finally made my own Chicken Tikka Masala from scratch :) How's everyone doing by the way?

Dang, I feel like Beef with Chinese Broccoli noodles tonight...

HK Style Cheese Baked Rice

2008-11-24T20:10:00.000Z

I'm like on a cooking spree these week, perhaps its just an appreciation of my free time remaining before I start losing it next week in a different work setting...

Another new thing I've not really tried before, but conceptually it shouldn't be too difficult, the HK Style Cheese Baked Rice. It basically goes with most chinese stir fried dishes, and just adding an additional layer of cheese on top and baked it in the oven. Tonight, the base is gonna be Stir fried Pork with Broccoli and Chinese Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce. Yup, the name is a handful, but the ingredients aren't.

You'll need 400g-450g of pork, about 10-12 dried chinese mushrooms (soaked a few hours till soft), 1 big broccoli, garlic (cloves crushed), oyster sauce, shredded cheese (cheddar/mozzarella), rice. So whilst cooking the rice (I used brown rice here, hence taking longer), boil some water and cut the broccoli into bite size pieces. Pour the boiling water into a pan, and steam the broccoli over it in the covered pan for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the pork thin lengthwise, about 2-3 cm each. In a bowl, season the pork with some cornflour and dark soy sauce. Take care not to oversteam the broccoli and it's perfectly cooked with a nice crunch (not mushy!)

Heat the oil till hot in the wok, fry the garlic, add in the pork and show of your wok stir frying skills :P After 5-7 minutes, or whenever is pork is almost done, add the mushrooms and broccoli in to the mixture, add a little bit of water for more sauce, and add 1-2 tablespoon of oyster sauce (it's very salty, adjust the amount to your taste buds). Gently mix and coat with the sauce and it should be done when the pork is cooked.

The final step is simple just assembling your cheese baked rice, get an oven proof plate/bowl, spoon some rice at the base and gently place the stir fried dish on top, sprinkle generously with some cheese of your choice (red leicester is possible too, giving you an orange topping!), and pop it in the pre-heated oven of 160C for 2-3 minutes and dinner is ready!

My Very Own Beef Stew

2008-11-23T12:07:00.000Z

It's winter time now and wrapped up like a giant snow(wo)man, I decided its time for some comfort food. Taking a peek in my fridge/food cupboard, I have 500g baby potatoes, chestnut mushrooms, onion, 450g of beef shoulder meat, a can of organic chopped tomatoes. With my spice rack, I think I could just about whip up my first winter stew!

Having some rough idea forming in my head, its always helpful (and advisable) to sense check with my cookbook collection. There were some beef stew suggestion, but non of them I actually have the exact ingredients and patience for them. So, its the usual Grace-style improvisation and doing it my way :)

I normally don't eat beef and have been trying to beef up my consumption of it lately since its so nutritious and contains lots of good-for-you iron and protein, without too much fat. The thing about stews is that although the ingredients list is more extensive than say a chinese stir-fry, but the cooking method requires way less attention to speed/timing. There's always a trade off, but never in flavor, cos you have to have confidence in your awesomeness always (not too much tho).

So I just quartered my mushrooms, sliced the onions into thin long strips, washed the baby potatoes and cut the meat into big chunks. Heat up some olive oil, and fry the onions till brown and soft. Meanwhile, put a tablespoon of flour into a plate, season with some salt and pepper, and lightly dust the meat, and fry them along with the onions for another 5 minutes or so. Lastly, add the mushrooms, potatoes and the tomato puree in. Mix thoroughly and season with salt and pepper to taste. I added a glug of red wine in too :P If you find it too dry/thick, add a cup or two of water and let the mixture boil for a 2 minutes. Don't forget to put in some herbs (basil/oregano/thyme/rosemary, I had these mixed in a bottle) and sprinkled some on for a nice aroma...

Then, in a slow cooker pot, pour your stew into it and leave it for 4-5 hours on medium heat. Your flat will smell pretty lovely by then and its ready to be served, with warm crusty white baguettes or just a simple buttered brown toast, just like below...

Enjoy!

Back to Basics

2008-11-22T12:03:00.003Z

First things you always crave for after not cooking for ages are the ones you grew up eating... And for me its nothing more than simple homey styled dishes, improvised of course with what's available in Britain.

Spring onion and ginger is always a match made in heaven for Chinese cooking, it somehow gives a subtle invigorating flavor to meat dishes. Goes particularly well with white meat, e.g. fish, chicken and frog (yes, frog meat, which tastes something like poussin). However, nowadays its common with red meat like beef too, and can be pretty much found on the menu of any chinese hawker-style restaurants.

I'll stick with the classics for now, starting with Chicken with Ginger and Spring Onion. Thighs/drumstick meat is preferable (chicken breast is ok but drier texture). So for a you'll need about 6-8 sprigs of spring onion, 2-3 inch ginger, 400g-500g chicken meat, dark and light soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, chilli (optional).

I used thigh meat, and de-boned about 8 thighs and cut into bitesize pieces. Spring onion stalks are chopped about 2 inch long, separating the white bit (at the bottom) and the 'leaves' (the green bits at the top). Slice the ginger thin, producing a size like your thumb print. For the garlic, I prefer to just skin them and crush the cloves with the back of the knife (yup, I'm one of those that actually love fried garlics, hehe), and we're ready to go!

So heat up a little bit of oil, and once hot, put the ginger and the white stalk of the spring onions in and stir quickly. About 2-3 minutes, the ginger should be brown and then add the garlic and chicken meat in whilst tossing as usual. The key point should be here, add a few drops of sesame oil for wonderful nutty aroma and flavor, then the usual light soy sauce for taste, dark soy sauce for a little bit of color... Do add a little bit of water if its too dry, and the meat should be roughly cooked in 5 minutes or so. Remember to add the green leave bits of the spring onions, and continue to stir fry for a minute or so, and its done! You can garnish with finely chopped red chillies on top for that extra spicy kick :)

The next vegetable dish is somewhat of an experiment, inspired by a dish in Chinatown recently. It was some sort of tofu dish with leafy vegetables stir fried in bean sauce. Here's my version of it with long beans instead.

It's just a 5 ingredient dish!! 1 carrot (sliced into matchsticks), fried hard tofu or taukwa (sliced lengthwise), long beans (sliced into 2 inch pieces), garlic (crushed cloves), and fermented soy bean sauce (tau chu). This sauce is available in many Asian grocery stores, and is basically soy beans fermented and tastes sweet and salty.

Heat some oil in the pan, and let the garlic sizzle in it till slightly brown-ish. Carrots in first, and 2 minutes later the long beans. Alternatively, you could actually pre-cook the long beans and carrots by steaming them for about 3 minutes before stir frying if you prefer. It's perhaps faster and healthier. For the former case, the stir frying time is longer, and adding some water helps. 5 minutes later, or whenever the vege are cooked till your preferred level of crunchiness, add in the tofu and half a tablespoon of the bean sauce, adjust to taste, and it's ready to be served with some rice!

Seasons Change

2008-11-08T21:12:00.004Z

Last 2 months have been manic, admittedly haven't had much time to pursue my usual culinary endeavors. In crazy times like this, though easier said than done, but the best move forward is probably not to worry too much, cruise along and soak up as much experience you can as it probably only happen once in ones lifetime...

And yes I haven't forgot about cooking yet, and got a nice cookbook for present, which means more kitchen meddling projects to come, starting tomorrow. Have a few wish list of stuff that I want to start playing around a bit more, like improving pasta making, exploring and building a better spice rack, and making use of the oven more :)

Now, just time for some sleep to recuperate ...

Quickest 3 Course Dinner to Impress

2008-09-06T19:45:00.006+01:00

A presentable one too! Seems like I've been away for a bit, have had so many things happening that need a bit of thinking time ... but I'm back, as usual, this time with an impressive 3 course dinner that takes 40 minutes from start till the end. Good for those who are in a rush with this impromptu, simple classics ...

Inspired by what's seasonal/on offer in supermarkets, I got myself some fresh scallops (8 of them), a pack of rocket leaves, some sweet cherry tomatoes on the vine, baby/salad potatoes, and 2 spare rib chops, strawberry flavored Onken yoghurt and some digestive biscuits (optional).

The beautiful thing about cooking is that you DON'T NEED to be super skilled/trained to cook amazing food! Most of the time, it can be supplemented with super FRESH, QUALITY INGREDIENTS ...

This applies to the starter dish. Was gonna serve Pan-fried Scallops with Tomato and Rocket Salad. Preparing the salad first, simply just mix the rockets and tomatoes with your favorite dressing, I used French dressing in mine, done! Ooh, loving the speed eh?

Scallops cooks pretty quickly, so just heat up 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, and once hot spoon the scallops on the pan gently, preferably cooking them in one go as they have to be serve immediately once done. Bear in mind that they overcook very easily, and full attention to the pan please for 3 minutes maximum, ok? While they are sizzling away, season with salt and black pepper, then flip them over after a minute. Do the same on the other side, season to taste and it should be slightly brown both sides after another minute. Serve with the salad immediately like below:

Beautiful yea? I prefer having them one minute a side pan fried, to be it's just nice, but if you prefer them 100% cooked, you can have them 90 seconds a side, it'll still be fine. All you want to avoid is eating a rubbery, overcooked texture ... It was perfect, P was pretty amazed at the speed and taste for sure ... this is exactly the misconception I'm trying to prove to many out there who are intimidated by cooking - taste does not always equal complicated and lengthy cooking preparations!

Ok, main course next! First, settle the potatoes: bring a pot of water to boil and place the potatoes in to cook. Meanwhile, the meat: this is my random seasoning which I thought up on the minute since I didn't have time to marinade for hours, but thankfully it didn't taste weird, hehe. So I had some leftover tomato puree from the last cooking of spaghetti, some ketchup, balsamic vinegar, paprika. Basically I put a similar seasoning to the BBQ Pork Fillet recipe, so listen up. First season the meat with salt and pepper all over and rub them well. Put 2 generous tablespoon of paprika, 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, about 100g of tomato puree (for a bit of sauce for the meat so it's not too dry), and generous dollop of ketchup. Mix the seasoning and rub it all over the meat, leaving it to rest while you heat up your grill pan. The potatoes should be cooked now, as seasoning of meat probably took 5 minutes, so drain them and set aside.

Once the pan is hot, place both the spare rib chops and let them sizzle away. Note that you would have leftover marinade and use these to spoon on the meat when you flip them later. Since the meat is cooking away, you can afford some time to set up your simple salad on the plates, which is the same as your starter anyways, with the additional potatoes on the side now. Time taken? 1 minute at max :P

So full attention to your meat now, let it cook about 5 minutes on one side and flip them over. Now hopefully you have some professional looking charred lines on it, but if not it's not a disaster either, LOL. Spoon some marinade on top and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Like the scallops, overcooked meat is hard and chewy like rubber, not very nice at all. So avoiding this simply takes a sharp eye and a bit of gut feeling. For those more risk averse, after cooking 5 minutes a side, you can use a fork/knife to put through the meat and if the juice looks clear you're fine. As long as it 's not bloody/red. But that is difficult to gauge with the marinade being of similar color in this case! Hence the gut feel comes in, you know it's almost cooked and perfect when you prod the meat and its slightly springy. Serve immediately and spoon as much of the marinade in the pan on top of the meat. There you go: BBQ Chops with Potatoes and Rocket Salad

There you go, 15 mins for starter, 20 mins for main maximum, and of course 5 mins for a simple easy dessert. Just roughly break some digestive biscuits served with dollops of strawberry yogurt, for a Quick and Healthy Cheesecake Imitation! Surely you don't need a picture for that :P Enjoy!

Mee Goreng Mamak

2008-08-17T20:20:00.002+01:00

Empty plate with a lime ... waiting in anticipation for the best dish of all time --> Mee Goreng Mamak! (fried noodles, Mamak style)

All you need is fresh yellow egg noodles, chinese greens (I used bok choy/pak choi), fish cakes, potatoes, chilli paste, tomato ketchup, firm (deep fried) tofu, dark soy sauce, garlic, lime juice and some chicken meat (drumstick/thighs are ideal). I had to do it twice, given the small wok, but personally feel that it produces a better result than mass production...

As usual, add in a bit of oil on the wok. When its hot enough, stir in the roughly chopped garlic and potato slices (or in thin wedges) for a minute or two. Next is the chili paste (lots of it!), where the heat starts to kick in. Add the chicken, fish cakes, tofu and bok choy next and stir fry quickly for another 3-4 minutes before adding in the noodles. Stir as quick as you can to evenly coat and mix. Finally season with dark soy sauce, tomato ketchup, a bit of salt to taste and its done!

Serve it on a nice hot plate with a wedge of lime. Always gives the dish an extra kick with a tangy aftertaste. Enjoy!

The Ultimate Summer BBQ Pork Fillets

2008-08-03T23:02:00.002+01:00

This is something inspired both from Jamie's cookbook and the unexpected good weather on Saturday morning: Blackened BBQ Pork Fillets. Great for parties and ever so popular during summertime since the sauce is just finger lickin' good :) Try it out and see if I'm right!

Ingredients wise its slightly lengthy, as we're gonna create our own marinade pretty much from scratch, so let's take this opportunity to build up your spice rack ...

What you'll need:
500g pork fillets (serves 2-3)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp full of paprika
2 cloves
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
120g good quality tomato ketchup
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked and finely chopped
zest of 1 orange, and juiced (or if lazy, just use fresh 100% orange juice with pulp/juicy bits)

metal/wooden skewers (optional)
lemon juice (optional)

So there you go, not too bad eh? This recipe is a good start for you to start dabbing into the world of spice and knowing what they look like and how they smell, what they go well with etc ... bringing your culinary skills to a higher level with more tools in your hands!

Ok, so maybe we need a mortar and pestle, to grind those cloves, cumin and fennel seeds. And since I couldn't find one at the supermarket, I omitted the fennel seeds, bought ground cumin instead, and use all my power and might, with the back of my knife, slamming and trying to crush the cloves into powdery form, with 50% success rate, so not too bad hehe. Best if you have the mortar and pestle to grind it to release the aroma, but if not, don't beat yourself over it yea?

So first, mix the cumin, crush cloves, garlic cloves, generous amount of paprika, thyme, orange juice and zest. Then add the ketchup and spoonfuls of balsamic vinegar and gently incorporate them and you got yourself some mean BBQ marinade there, dip a finger in and taste and see ...

Next up is easy, just put your pork fillets in to marinade, at least 1 hour, preferably whole morning/afternoon for me! Refrigerate and rub your hands (or tummy if you prefer) in glee ...

So after 5 hours, I took them out of the fridge and used wooden skewers to present the pork fillets in kebab style, easier to cook in that sense. But if you don't have them, no worries again, it's not necessary, you can just cook them on the BBQ/grill and flip them around with a tong.

Time to test out my new grill pan, keen to get a few professional charred lines on my meat :P So heat up the grill and start cooking! Should hear a loud sizzling noise right away, make sure you have cut the fillets properly as its quite difficult to cook if it's too thick. You should have extra marinade leftover and use these to brush over the meat whenever you turn sides. Cooking should take about 15-20 minutes per batch on the grill. You should start seeing the marinade getting thicker and meat getting into a nice dark color as below ...

When it's done, leave it aside for 5 minutes to rest, whilst you prepare a very simple salad of your choice. I had mine with plain lettuce, cherry tomatoes on the vine and some sweet corn, with a light lemon salad dressing and balsamic vinegar. Then slice your meat up in serving portions and feast!

Kamari Beach, Santorini

2008-07-27T20:00:00.000+01:00

So I got reimbursed for the wok fiasco in the previous post, LOL :D

Back to Greece: 3rd day, this time renting a car to venture further out! We got a Toyota Aygo (automatic) for EUR 30 a day, quite reasonable. Make sure you shop around before you finalise because there are a lot of rip-offs out there in Santorini, given its a way too touristy island...

And first thing before the road trip is to head to Lucky Souvlaki in Fira for some wholesome kebabs

Thing about the kebabs here is that they are stuffed with fries as well, sprinkled with paprika and good ol' tzatziki, which is a Greek meze made of natural yogurt, cucumber, garlic, salt, a bit of lime juice and parsley. Definitely a healthier alternative than mayonnaise :)

I tried their falafel with pita instead, and my oh my it was the freshest and tastiest one I've had to date. There was something special about their falafel, which I suspect is extra spices in there different from the usual bean filled ones, and the beans is green-ish instead of the usual brown-ish mash in a falafel, perhaps its local beans ...

And off we headed for the most famous beach in Santorini - Kamari, which took us about 20 minutes drive and was south east of the island. And man, it was tough driving in Greece, firstly being the 'wrong' side with a left hand drive, and secondly... Greece itself. The roads were extremely narrow, yet people still drove fast like F1 drivers, with pedestrians ignorant and walking on the dangerous corners as if they own the roads, plus sign board quality was slightly appalling. But I think once you graduate from driving in Greece, you probably can survive in Malaysia pretty comfortably :P

Along the way we spotted many quieter seasides with beautiful beaches as well ...

Kamari was all you imagined it'd be for a popular tourist spot. Lots of straw umbrellas with lazy benches for skin cancer creation, many hotels and bars loaded with pools, sofas, alcohol and food. The ultimate hedonistic getaway most Europeans identify with, which is slightly different from my version at least.

Nevertheless, it was beautiful yet awfully hot, and we retreated to a nice cafe with good shades for some thirst quenchers. P went for the local Alfa beer...

whilst I took the (wrong) risk of trying their local Greek coffee.... which tasted like bleurggrhh with some strange aftertaste and muddy bottom...

A relaxing stroll towards the end of the beach was nice, and also helped out with some dinner hunting given that all the bars/restaurants were laid along the beach and impossible to choose or judge just by walking by. It's always a fine line between being friendly or just plain hassled when you just walk past a place and any slight indication of interest (e.g. exploring the menu) you'll just have a brigade of overly eager waiters pulling you in their restaurants. Definitely an art some restaurateurs have still yet to master...

And so I tested my theory out by choosing a restaurant that didn't have anyone hassling us in when we were checking out the menu. The place was quiet with not many patrons, something of a warning perhaps. Yet we went ahead anyway as the place, like anywhere else, boasts authentic Greek food.

P had Calamari with fries. Simple and nice, seafood was fresh, and fries not overly salted, squeeze of lemon and went down in minutes. Nothing extraordinary though, but fresh seafood sufficed.

I had some local grilled fish with salad. I remember the fish had an awful rubber sounding name, and was skeptical about it. It was fresh but the fish didn't taste amazing, despite the nice simple grill just with salt and pepper. So theory still unproven, so unfortunately no hard and fast rule for selecting good restaurants without back up research. Just look up into the sky, clasp your hands together, say your prayers and follow your instincts :P

Not entirely satisfied with the portions, we went for second round 'dinner' at Gyros Stop. A small family run place serving reasonably priced kebabs. Here's a glam photo shoot of the humble gyros' that made our day :)

Bored and done with the place, we decided to head home early and watch the sunset from our balcony...

Tao YOUR HEAD!

2008-07-22T00:18:00.003+01:00

I think this is the best title I've came up with. Ever

Some may think my brain somehow only works for non-work related nonsense. But spending so much time and effort researching on woks and finally buying one called Tao that gives you a tao-thong (Cantonese for headache) is definitely crossing the line. So here is a little something that I'd love to share with you guys after buying KEN HOM'S WOK

Here's the beautiful signature on each wok handle:

Here's the related email which you may find entertaining:

From: Grace Lee <culinarycravings@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 12:10 AM
Subject: Ken Hom 36cm Non Stick Carbon Steel Hanging Wok - Xylan Coating
To: cust.serv@dkbrands.co.uk, cust.serv@williamlevene.com

Dear Customer Service team,

On 12 January 2008, I purchased one of your product: a Tao 36cm Non Stick Carbon Steel Hanging Wok from Debenhams Oxford Street, given that it is one of the few woks in the market that is Xylan-coated and comes in this size. It comes with a use and care instruction list which I carefully adhered to at all times.

However, even after the first use, it seems that the main selling point of your non stick carbon steel wok range is not at all living up to it's claim.

As quoted from your website (http://www.kenhom.com/tao/carbon_steel_woks.asp), "Our carbon steel woks are coated with Xylan® - a non-stick coating reinforced with particles that are virtually as hard as diamonds, for outstanding abrasion and scratch resistance - making TAO woks resilient and long-lasting.The coating incorporates silicone for easy cleaning, as it is of course dishwasher safe."

I certainly found it extremely difficult to clean after the first use, with the food sticking to the wok instantly, somewhat ironic for a non stick wok. Please find attached a picture of its current state, despite all the gentle soaping with sponge pads and usage of wooden utensils whilst cooking.

I am deeply disappointed with your product(s) and its unfounded claims, which misleads consumers and violates the UK consumer rights legislations (The Sale of Goods Act 1979 - as amended). I do have a proof of purchase and I would like to receive a full cash refund for this in order to purchase a new wok of my choice, as I have completely lost confidence in your range of cookwares.

Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely,
Grace Lee

Santorini - The Fairy Tale Island

2008-07-13T23:09:00.000+01:00

Night time at Athens was another eye-opening experience... Strolling along the streets after dinner, passing by Syntagma square, we spotted a lifesize version of a choo-choo train, and it moves around the city! Apparently its called the Athens Happy Train, an alternative way to sightseeing buses, which from the name sounds like something to fetch around a bunch of people high on dope...

Arriving at the airport for the flight to Santorini, we somehow landed in the local McDonalds where I spotted something Greek on offer - Mozzarella Balls. Didn't try it but looks good!

P was hungry and happily munching McFarm, a burger filled with 2 pork patties that tasted just like sausages, with some salad and cheese sandwiched in between. A tad too salty for me I find, always preferred burgers like GBK ...

The short 35 minute flight to Santorini was delayed, nevertheless the breathtaking views made everything worthwhile. This is the amazing balcony view we had at our hotel in Imerovigli, just facing the caldera, with the soothing sea breeze, ever so quiet and peaceful ...

Apparently people in Greece do everything 2 hours later than the 'norm', something like the Spanish, having dinner at 9pm, clubbing starts at 11pm, waking up after 10pm, etc, you get the drift. So not a surprise that arriving at 7pm in the morning wasn't a great idea, especially after not much sleep the previous night. But then, it was time to explore the area despite the grogginess, we enthusiastically headed for the nearest town Fira, which was the capital city of Santorini ...

This is a great snapshot of Imerovigli and Fira (further at the back). One thing unique about Santorini (not sure if it's a Greek island thing as haven't been to others), is that the buildings are built as part of the mountain, hence inheriting the hilly and disorganised structures, with a small path connecting each of them. Personal balconies were a big feature of the hotels, as most people came here to have a tan, with outdoor chairs and small swimming (dipping) pools are all readily available.

We made it to Imerovigli 'town' as still unsure of how to walk to Fira without getting confused (no road signs!). Wouldn't call it a town per se, a street of shops is probably appropriate. But it has all you need as a tourist, a few restaurants, mini markets, souvenir shops, an ATM, car rentals and a bakery. And breakfast at the local bakery called "The Sun" was a good start ...

I had a huge Apple Pie pastry for €2. It was fresh out of the oven and tasted heavenly, without being too sweet at all, perfect.

P had something local, a Feta Cheese Pie, which wasn't that great. Basically too little feta cheese encased in too much flour/bread that was too dry to begin with.

With not much to do and whole of the island still pretty much asleep at 9am, a morning stroll back to the hotel for a nice big nap was super appealing. Nothing beats the calm sea, cloudless skies and warm sunshine ....

Feeling more refreshed (and hungry) after a good long nap, we started to make our way to Fira. It takes about 20-25 minutes walk, but it was a pleasant one especially when not too hot in the late afternoon. On the way, in a mini town called Firostefani, we got some 'Mipantas' from the supermarket. At least I think that's what I heard from the lady cashier. Mipanta is a local biscuit, very simple nothing special, but so good and so easy to pop in your mouth, hehe. Made of flour, sugar, egg, it has a slight hint of vanilla sweetness and crumbly texture. Good snack to have with some outdoor reading in the island...
And we made it to Fira! Here's a view of the city from top of the mountainous route we took. A lot of cafes and restaurants are set up here as to the right of this is simply just the sea, all buildings facing the caldera , but from a lower point than Imerovigli ...

For dinner, we headed to this place called Stani, situated right in the center of town, boasting volcanic views of the island. Pretty excited to finally try out some local specialties that I'd read so much about.

For starters, we had Aubergine and Tomato Keftedes. Keftedes is a generic name for fried items in ball shape I presume. The Santorini Aubergine is special, where instead of the usual purple skin we're so accustomed to, Santorini's is white and hence I was intrigued to see if it tasted different. The aubergine keftedes was crispy outside with a melt-in-your-mouth texture within, tastewise similar to its purple cousins I'd say, nicely spiced and not too salty.

However, what I was more interested in was the Tomato Keftedes, which just got me thinking how can you deep fry tomatoes without making a mess out of them? Especially after tasting amazing local tomatoes at Athens, would it taste better fried or just left alone simply? And here's what we got ...

It looked like banana fritters (pisang goreng) back home, but somehow they managed to fry the tomatoes in a very light and crispy batter, retaining all the sweet juicy tomato goodness once you chew into it. I still have no idea how they did that, but it was truly amazing!

So progressing to the mains, I chose Stani's chef's special, Lamb in Vine Leaves, which our host assured us it authentic and within the family recipe. It was indeed very homey looking, with the meat stuffed with feta cheese and red peppers, wrapped with a layer of vine leaves and slowly braised to produce the soft texture. Served with boiled potatoes and rice, it was definitely a healthy change from the starters :) I was full from the starters, but thoroughly enjoyed something so simple infused with natural flavors.

P went straight ahead with traditional Mousaka, and it certainly looked mean and done the proper way. No more mushy, cheesy and messy unauthentic attempts one so often see at confused restaurants, this one means business. A thin layer of cheese, lots of aubergine as base, and lean minced beef in between, with a sprinkle of herbs on top, P was happily munching away and it was super filling.
It was a good first dinner, but we weren't fans of the local wine I must say. Nothing that interesting and the white was pretty flat in taste, but good food made up for it :P

Meanwhile, the crepe shop next to Stani had some interesting (weird) suggestions for the possible combinations for a crepe filling ... Chicken, banana, curry, yoghurt and peanuts anyone?

Soon, it was time to head back and here's a sneak peek into the beautiful sunsets I was raving about previously ...

Adventures in Athens

2008-07-06T22:31:00.000+01:00

After a 3.5 hours flight, we arrived fresh faced and eager to explore the city of Athens for the first day of our Greek adventure. For me, it's the first time venturing further out in Europe and going for a Mediterranean twist in search for a different sort of holiday. And the best bit (probably stressful/frustrating for some) is I decided to do book this holiday in my usual rashed/irrational style with not much planning, never had time to research more of the cultural history and must-see sights given that I was busy working most of the time. Literally just booked the connecting flights and hotels and just headed off! In a strange sort of way it did pay off and I loved every bit of randomness of this Greek holiday ...

Athens feels like a small town living in history, not your typical glamorous and trendy European cities (e.g. Paris, Milan, Barcelona). Buildings are older and less polished, roads are narrow, Greek words and graffiti everywhere (not very English friendly), lots of nuts and olives, and of course, random shops like this ...

Colorful bottles of local liquor called Ouzo (which tastes like mouthwash or some toothpaste actually) ...

And then I saw something totally inappropriate which I thought you all would be interested ... -_-||

But anyways, we headed straight for a famous taverna for seafood called Tou Psara for dinner, which is near the Plaka, but pretty hard to find I must say. Well worth the hunt as you can just ask some locals like we did which will point you to the direction once you're nearby.

There are tables indoors as well as outdoors. You get a pretty decent view of the city like below

Here's a snapshot of the menu, on the starters page. I decided to go for the famous Greek salad for starters, after hearing so much about how its different locally.

And boy were they SO right! The Greek salad I've had all along outside of Greece was a poor attempt to replicate what is originally a refreshing, crisp and fresh salad. The key ingredients that made a difference was the local produce: giant red local tomatoes, fresh capers, olives, cucumber, green pepper and onions, dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, topped with a generous chunk of feta cheese... absolutely heavenly! The salad is served chilled and what I found interesting was that the raw onions were sweet and juicy and doesn't give the sharp aftertaste which many find unappetising. Now we know the ones available in the UK is not doing this amazing salad justice at all ...

P had the Grilled Kalamari Stuffed with Feta and Red Pepper, served with a mini tomato salad on the side. And that's what I meant by the giant local tomatoes if you look at the size of it :) He thoroughly enjoyed the dish being a big seafood and cheese fan, and I took quite a liking to it as well especially the crispy tentacles bit ...

On the other hand, I ordered Lamb Souvlaki with Spinach Pie and Rice. Souvlaki is probably what we normally call kebabs, basically pieces of meat grilled on skewers. The big chunky meat was succulent, grilled pink and perfect, with little charred bits on the green pepper which was nice (but cancer causing unfortunately) ;P The spinach pie was something new I've not tried before, but basically spinach cooked with a melted cheese topping, which is unsurprisingly feta I suspect. Pretty balance dish with a bit of meat, vegetables and carbo.
And there was something red, big and local that I would have missed out if it wasn't for the kind host who gave out fruits on the house. The chilled watermelon was great on a warm sunny day, oozing with natural sweetness and juiciness. All in all a great start to the discovery of Greek cuisine!

By the time we paid our bill, it's starting to get dark and even in Athens, the sunset is so beautiful and an event that you actually have to stop doing what you're doing and just standstill for 5-10 minutes to appreciate this natural beauty that is so often taken for granted ... More on this when we're off to Santorini island next!

Tou Psara (Fish Taverna)
Eretheos, 16. Plaka
Athens, Greece

The Simple Life back Home

2008-07-02T22:49:00.011+01:00

Yes, I'm back from beautiful Greece!

Not that I'm happy that my holidays are over, but its still feels great to come back to London. Yup, I actually missed the weather slightly, as it was just freaking 35C permanently in Athens and Santorini. One good thing about Greek summer is that clouds don't seem to exist there, which proved great for sunsets and spotting shooting stars in the starry starry nights! I'll leave the rambling of the trip to the next few posts as it's still work in progress as I've way to many pictures to consolidate :)

In the meantime, there are a few things about Greece that reminded me very much of home:
1) The obvious hot weather
2) Athens feels and looks like Klang/Petaling Street (no kidding here)
3) The slower pace of life in general

Which brings us to another episode of home cooked Malaysian food ...

This is something I whipped up during the weekend for the housemates since it's been a while I cooked something homey. The beauty about home cooked stuff is that it's simple, no fuss, yet delicious and generally healthier than eating out

This is Stir Fried Pork with Mushroom and Carrots, garnished with some chopped spring onions (could have named it some Dragon/Phoenix related/Funky-Pig-Jumping-Over-the-Carrots or whatever, but sod it, its midnight and it's been a hard week with not much brain juice to spare ...)

Seasoning is simple like the theme: marinade the pork for at least an hour in a bit of corn flour, light soy sauce, sesame oil (for extra oomph!) and dark soy sauce (for color, if you fancy). For the vegetables, just chopped them in whatever shape you like (I did a flower one for the carrots), and sliced the mushrooms thinly and you're pretty much done! Of course garlic is always your base for stir fries, and all you have to do is brown them in oil, and then add the carrots (they take a while to cook) first, and the pork 5 minutes later, and the mushrooms last, adding very tiny amount of water if necessary. Remember to test the flavor and add a pinch of salt if necessary (season to taste).

Bought a 400g loin of cod of the highest grade in the supermarket seafood counter for the classic Cantonese style steamed fish, which costed a tiny bomb, but well worth it as it was fresh and flaky when done. Lay the sprigs of spring onions below the cod pieces, and fine ginger slices on top, and then just add light soy sauce and a dash of sesame oil before steaming it for 10 minutes or less, depending on size/thickness of the fish.

If you squint your eyes properly you could probably see another dish in the top left of the picture that just looks brown. Forgot to take a picture of that, but it's a dish that I grew up with: Steamed egg with Chinese Mushroom and Dried Prawns topping. Judging from feedback, it was the most popular dish of them all that night :D Promise to do one special post on the steam egg dish as I recently learnt a secret to the perfect one from a friend.

Anyways, expect lots of delicious Greek foodie banter next!

What Scottish Breakfast?

2008-06-20T21:04:00.001+01:00

Hoho, I'm on holidays at LAST --- for a week only though, but nevertheless, Grace is going to Greece :) ! Good sun, beautiful beaches and hopefully not too crowded, definitely haven't chilled out properly and the idea of catching up with some story book reading sounds amazing ...

Anyways, I digressed and let's go back to my last day in Edinburgh ... time to check out what the Scottish lads have in the morning ... Yes I've been lousy and couldn't resist a nice cuppa cappucino to start off

And then the full Scottish breakfast comes ... something in between a British and American fry up to put it simply. You have buttered toasts, lorne, grilled tomatoes, fried eggs, tattie scones, sausages, hashbrowns and of course, black puddings. Lorne, black pudding and tattie scones are probably the Scottish influence there.

Tattie scones is easy (bottom left of the picture, near the toast and sausage), if you remember from previous posts, tattie = potatoes basically. It's like a soft potato oatcake in a fan shape, quite thin and chewy. On the other hand, black pudding (black thing in the picture, easy to spot) is a sausage made with animal's blood, typically pig or cattle's. Yea, it sounds a little gruesome I suppose, but it's really flavorful like haggis and I prefer them in small doses, goes well with bread and other fillers.

Lorne (the piece rectangular meat near the tomato and baked beans top of the plate) is something I've totally not heard of, but apparently its some sort of squarish sausage. To me it's a Scottish version of luncheon meat (something like corned beef), too salty to me but P's a great big fan of luncheon meat and simply adores it, LOL

And do you know this whole serving is HALF a portion for breakfast? I can't imagine how anyone could take on the full monty ...

Meanwhile we had an extra does of baked beans on toast, just had the odd realisation I haven't had those for ages, weird ....

So that's most of what I had in my short weekend in Edinburgh, but hoping to make another trip in July soon when the weather is even better!

I will be heading to Greece tomorrow to slack in a beautiful island for a week :P Promise to take a lot of breathtaking views of the place and of course share some delicious photos with you all when I'm back!

Edinburgh Eats II

2008-06-19T00:13:00.001+01:00

Ok, I'm super tired now on a Wednesday night and have to be in office early tomorrow. With about 6 hours left of my precious beauty sleep, let me just briefly show you the best bits of Edinburgh that I was raving about previously...

After the quaint market, we head towards town center (Princes Street), with many beautiful architectures around such as this ...

And I'm determined not to be like one of them, doing typical boring touristy stuff sitting on one of these red sightseeing buses *shudders*

and instead headed straight for the beautiful park where the Edinburgh castle is! Definitely have to be there to see it for your own eyes really: fresh air, good sun, shady trees, green grass and most importantly no crowds, it was pure bliss just lying down on the grass facing the bright blue sky and watching the day go by ....

I really liked this picture taken by P in particular, super focused on the park surrounding and the greeneries, pretty soothing and calming, my new wallpaper now, lol. Apparently its good for the eyes too, especially at work when staring at computer screens the whole day, its best to take a break and look at something green and faraway ... yup that was totally random :P

And I knew I had to show you guys this Mister Potato statue, as I call it, not sure what it is, or what it was for, probably some memorial, but it's queer shape definitely caught my eye

and of course I have to take some Scottish-y pictures for you, here with a man in his favorite kilt performing on the street ... Super keen guy I must say :)

Next, time to grab some FOOD (finally)! There was a shopping mall nearby and I was super excited to check out the local McDonald's, hoping to see the globalised giant have some interesting local specialties just like McRib in Germany or Green Bean Pie in China.

I was hoping there was a McHaggis or something which would make my day for sure ... to my dismay, there wasn't anything 'local' and all I saw was this typical menu, what a let down!

Nevertheless, we walked around and spotted this really nice looking place called 'The Garden Cafe', which offers alfresco dining, perfect for the sunny weather. You know you can't say know when you get such a nice atmosphere like this....

P ordered Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with Brandy Sauce ... Come on, how can you not order that when you see that funny name?! I couldn't stop laughing at the word Neeps, its probably a Scottish word for mashed swede. Tatties on the other hand is just mashed potatoes, just an old English way to say potatoes I suppose. More importantly, something very Scottish and probably the traditional dish is Haggis - to put it simply its minced animal intestines with spices, something like Christmas stuffings, but the method of cooking is unique, in the sense that it is boiled in animal (usually sheep's) stomach for a few hours.

Sounds gross? But it actually tastes pretty good. Only thing is that I can take it in small doses as the strong flavor of offal is not really my cup of tea. But P absolutely loved it, especially with the brandy sauce ....

Me ? I ordered a Seafood Pizza with Watercress as there were no other interesting Scottish things I'd like to try and the menu is pretty general (pasta, pizza, sandwiches, steak). Pizza was great with the chewy and cheesy texture, a large portion too, unfortunately diminishing marginal returns sets in as I get less satisfaction out of each extra bite, as the pizza loses its chewiness as it gets cold ...
Yes I'm ashamed of myself not having found a fried mars bars place yet and ate a French breakfast and Italian lunch in Scotland, WoooT is THAT?! But I love Edinburgh all in all for its quaint, peaceful and beautiful town, getting all the balances right with a bit of city and a load of countryside :)

Edinburgh Eats I

2008-06-15T23:00:00.001+01:00

So I went to the land of kilts last weekend ... and man, I couldn't resist my laughter when ScotsAir actually had kilt-covered flight seats, it's definitely the first signs of a fun filled weekend :)

Even pronouncing the road names in Edinburgh was a task itself, nevertheless the taxi man definitely had a good laugh at my attempts, but we got there finally before midnight. A good night's rest definitely renewed my appetite, as I was famished the next day and went straight into a bakery that serves this...

Yea yea, I almost can hear you scream "WooOT?!" when you saw the wines and French flags, not to mention the croissants below, but you've to forgive me, I'm hungry in Scotland and the pain au chocolates were tempting, as you can see from the half eaten one below even before I snapped the picture ... The cappuccino helped too, very comforting to get a slight caffeine jilt with the tiring travel the night before (yes, sadly I love my coffee a lot and display some withdrawal symptoms sometimes, P is convinced that its just psychological)

Nice quick breakie and I'm super charged for the new town I'm visiting. Edinburgh is big and spacious, with many nice buildings just like in Cambridge, but more uniformed, which gives a nice tranquil feeling especially when you walk into town. The air is crisp and fresh, roads are wide, traffic is almost non existent with greeneries everywhere - the perfect place to live and retire :)

On the way, we passed by a mini flea market which sells an array of interesting products. Think you all know by now that I'm a hopeless market-y sort of person, having gone to many food markets in London and absolutely love strolling in large supermarkets aisle by aisle, awed by the choice of *insert any food here* (cereals, breads, cheese etc) LOL

This one in Edinburgh is slightly different, there's food as well as local arts and crafts too, even better. There's a chocolate fondue store (yes, in the morning!) selling fruits to go with it, now you know that fried mars bars doesn't sound too absurd after all.

What I really liked was this store selling bags and belts made from some sort of cloth (wool maybe?) which I completely forgotten. They have tiny colorful brooches too

And belts like these look pretty funky I think .... makes good accessories if you have the height I think

My favorites were the bags, especially the one with orange belt around it as below, pretty chic don't you think? Though perhaps cloth materials do get dirty pretty quickly in polluted London. Maybe that's why she doesn't have a store in London but the US, hehe. But it's certainly encouraging and inspirational to see these talented artists gather and pursuing what they love doing and still expanding their business across the continent.

And the hat lady is even better! She has so many cool looking hats made from some sort of cloth as well, which seem to maintain its shape yet bendable.

Not something I can pull off I think, but don't you just love this red hat? Very Sex-And-The-City don't you think?

More Edinburgh sights and tastes to come in the next few posts!

Review: Lahore Kebab House in Whitechapel

2008-06-10T23:00:00.000+01:00

Given that my favourite curry place in London (Nutmeg in Pimlico) had closed down recently, curry craving triggered last week and P & I decided to check out a new place called Lahore Kebab House (LKH) in Whitechapel.

Location is slightly interesting as I'd not been to this part of London before, but Lahore Kebab House thankfully wasn't too hard to find, and its just at the edge of a T junction and very easy to spot. Be warn though that there are many "Lahore **insert your favorite word**" named curry houses all nearby that area, capitalising on their reputation. So its Lahore Kebab House or nothing at all, make sure you get the right one!

LKH is a halal establishment hence they do not serve alcohol, however, they have a Bring-Your-Own (BYO) policy and its definitely a plus point in Britain. There's even an off-license shop just right next to it, very convenient if you'd like a cold beer with your curry. The place seems pretty newly refurbished and clean, and was rather full upon arrival at 730pm, another good sign.

For starters, we had a Seekh Kebab each (£1 each), made from lamb minced, really nicely spiced and grilled just right with very little charred bits. Meat was juicy though a tad salty for me, other than that really enjoyable. Wished I had space for more starters like samosas and bhaji...

Hankering to try out their famous lamb curries, I ordered Karahi Gosht (£7) - a lamb dish with medium heat curry (which was all I could get as a description from the waiter)

whilst P had Lamb Curry (off the bone) (£7), one of their signature dishes ...

Chapati/Roti (£1.50) was just the perfect accompaniment for me ... :)

Though the curries look the same, mine was thicker and slightly sweeter, but has good level of heat and was great with roti. P's lamb curry would be better off with pilau rice I feel, as it kind of makes the bread soggy, just a personal preference :) Overall, I felt that the lamb curry was nothing to shout about really, the rest of the items in the menu is worth trying as well. This place would be great for a big group, since you get to try out more varied dishes and starters. Prices has apparently increased due to popularity, and services are VERY quick though slightly cunning in the sense that they tend to place bottled water on your table in hope that you'd consume them instead of ordering yourself. And when we ordered them to take it away, another waiter just pops it right on our table 2 seconds later! Must be some sort of strategy, LOL

Overall, authentic curries, loved it to bits, worsens my craving (since I wanted more!), price wise reasonable to moderate for central London, I'd say probably expensive for the location. Definitely worth a try despite the location which isn't that convenient to get to by tube.

Lahore Kebab House
2 Umberston Street, Whitechapel (just off Commercial Road)
London
E1 1PY

Fried Noodles with Fishball

2008-06-08T19:49:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the long absence! Just got back from a weekend in Edinburgh and the weather was excellent! Expect an interesting one on Edinburgh this week!

Meanwhile, here's a 10 min recipe on something that I'll always miss from home and can't find it even in London: Fishballs :) Always had homemade ones and definitely not taking those for granted when I'm devouring it at home the next time ...

This is a usual breakfast/lunch item for me at least, where you just need a pack of fishball, some vegetables (I used chinese leaves here), and some flat rice noodles. Garlic or shallots as usual starts up the frying process, makes the dish a little tad more aromatic. Then simply fry the fish balls for a bit and stir in the freshly boiled noodles and stir fry. Season as you wish, mine here is a little light as I usually prefer my food less salty. But if you like a bit of color, dark soy sauce gives it a dark brown color and a sweet aftertaste which some may prefer. Mix in the thinly slices leaves and it'll be done it a jiffy

Review: Awana at South Kensington

2008-06-01T12:10:00.001+01:00

It's been 3 months since I've been home, but yet it somehow feels much, much longer than that ... It may be the working factor, which probably make the days feel more strenuous and long, or it might just be London itself, doing one thing to another non stop, and the only time you can slowdown is the weekend which is way too short to begin with :P

So with the taste of familiar dishes from home feeling ever so distant all of a sudden, P and I decided to go for some authentic Malaysian street food, albeit in a fine dining setting, at Awana Restaurant in Sloane Avenue, London.

Having been there once, I was pleasantly surprised as my initial doubts of losing the mamak stall atmosphere whilst having those street food wasn't really an issue after all. Awana proved that having authentic traditional Malaysian food in a classy setting is possible and the Malaysian cuisine is increasingly well known and accepted in London just like its other Asian cousins (Thai, Chinese, Indian etc). We had the Rewards Menu as P had enough points for redemption to get us both a 3 course meal free!

For starters, we had Chicken Satay with Homemade Spicy Peanut Sauce and Popiah Sayur Goreng, which are vegetable spring rolls served with sweet chilli sauce.

The Popiah/Spring rolls were fresh, crisp and piping hot when served, always a good sign. It was filled with minced carrots and chopped Chinese mushrooms, nevertheless I found it a little too salty for my taste, but the sweet tangy chili sauce balanced it out so it was okay.

Definitely preferred the chicken satay starter! Perhaps its the peanut sauce factor, but I found the succulent chicken pieces to be well marinated and grilled to perfection, slightly charred, just the way it is back home. Peanut sauce is delicious, I love the bits they sprinkle on which gives a chunkier texture so the sauce can hold better when you dip your satay into it. Would be more authentic if they had the rice squares (ketupat) to go with it as well! And of course, more peanut sauce, I could drink that thing :P

P ordered his favorite Bandung drink, which is a pink colored drink consisting of rose syrup with added milk, hence the color. A popular drink back home as its cold and sweet, Awana definitely created a classier version of this drink when served in cocktail style, with swirls of mango and raspberry puree, lychee juice, rose syrup, milk, brown sugar - Fruity Bandung. As you can see below, they've not mixed the drink entirely and the layers of red rose syrup and milk and clearly separated.

Definitely like the funky cocktail glass a lot ...

For mains, we chose Ayam goreng kacang gajus and Kari Ayam. The former is basically chicken fillets stir fried with peppers and cashew nuts, whilst the latter is good ol' comfort food of (corn fed) chicken curry served with coconut, potato and snake beans.

The dishes were served in a nice dark green/brown plate, giving the white rice a nice stark contrast. Somehow gives you an impression of the exotic tropical cuisine you're about to experience ...

All in all, I felt that they were presented well, nothing surprising or unexpected taste wise.. Perhaps its the choice of the dishes itself that is not too exciting, given that I had higher expectations from previous visit having things like Lobster Char Kuey Teow (Lobster Stir Fried Rice Noodles), so it's not comparable:) The only gripe I probably have, especially for P, is that the portions are too small, but then that serves as a great excuse to try out many other dishes in their menu, as we'll see later ...

Desserts was probably one of the more exciting courses given that I love and miss the kuih-muih (local Malay cakes/desserts) from home. We decided to go for Tiga Krim Chocolate - a trio of chocolate mousses, served on a crisp biscuit with raspberry sauce ...

and Dadar - a pandan flavored pancake with a sweet dessicated coconut filling, served with a scoop of coconut icecream! The coconut ice cream was Awana's own addition, but it matched the dadar perfectly as pancake and ice cream usually never go wrong together.

The chocolate mouse fits well into any chocoholic's dream, since it has white, milk and dark chocolate all in one plate. Being a dark chocolate fan, I was slightly disappointed as it was infused with Brandy or some sort of alchohol which distorts the bittersweet taste I was looking for... but that's just me :)

Feeling a bit underfed given the tiny portions, we decided to indulge in some extra Roti Canai goodness post desserts :) For those who are not familiar, Roti Canai is a type of local flatbread with many of its variations found mainly in Asia. It's a usual breakfast item or a great tea time snack. Definitely not the healthiest of all breakfast, but heck, its so GOOD!

We ordered a Garlic Roti Canai (£5.50) and it arrived on our table fresh and crisp 10 minutes later after witnessing the roti chef exhibiting his roti-flipping skills. Apparently they have a large flat screen LCD focusing on the chef and it seems to be quite a star attraction at Awana. And yes, I can feel all your wide gaping mouth at the price tag for this, especially when it's like 20 times cheaper in Malaysia, LOL. But rest assured, it's well worth every penny when its done to perfection as in Awana. The roti was garing (dry and crispy) outside, but soft inside and melts in your mouth instantly! The accompanying dhal curry was nice, mild and did not overpower the slight hint of garlic flavor in the roti. So they say leaving the best for last, in this case it was definitely accidental for us :)

Overall, Awana did Malaysian cuisine a great justice, providing creative improvisation of local dishes in a classy dining ambiance without losing the key authenticity features, very important in our increasingly globalised world of food.

A few words of wisdom to maximise your gastronomic and cultural experience at Awana: be brave, be adventurous in terms of trying out a variety of new dishes and definitely go for at least one Roti Canai!

Awana
85, Sloane Avenue,
London SW3 3DX
Nearest Tube: South Kensington

"Konlo" Noodles

2008-05-24T11:34:00.006+01:00

Is my absolute favorite breakfast back home in Malaysia. I think you already know that by now, I've blogged about it twice previously :P Seems like it's an annual affair, lol, check out the ones in 2007 and 2006! The char siu recipe is in there and it has never failed so far :)

It's probably the char siu (BBQ pork) that I'm more keen in, but nothing beats having them tossed with fresh egg noodles! This time, I decided to make some potato wedges for starters since we've got some leftovers ...

Not to difficult to make good wedges, all you need is some olive oil, salt, and even paprika/herbs if you like for the extra kick. Scrub them well and make sure you dry them properly with a cloth or kitchen towels. Slice them into wedges, thickness wise you can refer to the picture below for a good gauge. Important as you don't want them too burnt or undercooked! I had about 6 baby potatoes, sliced and lightly tossed in olive oil and salt, and grilled in the oven along with the marinaded pork for about 40 minutes at 200C.

The pork is crackling well about 20 minutes into the cooking, don't worry too much as it's usually the honey caramelising into the fat and having the burnt edges! When I did it the first time I was always too worried that my dinner will be black charcoal and constantly open and close the oven to check the meat, but this does impact the heating and the finishing of the meat. If the thickness is about 1-2cm, 40 minutes you'll be fine. You can flip the meat halfway through if desired

And the rest was pretty quick to prepare, just steaming some green beans (didn't have the right vegetable at the time, i.e. pak choy or kai lan - chinese style vegetables). But wedges turned out great, brown and crispy skin, but still soft inside. Good with some dipping or finger food. Fresh noodles took a quick 2 minutes boiling and strained under cold water (makes it more chewy, more "bite" so they always say). Didn't toss it with dark/light soy sauce as its naturally slightly salty. One special tip: adding a hint of sesame oil to toss with the noodles does add an edge to the dish - you get an extra nutty aroma and smoother noodles too!

Doesn't it look beautiful?

The Easiest Breakfast in the World

2008-05-24T11:32:00.003+01:00

I don't know if this is British, or whether even it deserves to be categorized as a recipe, but it's one of my favorite breakfast since I love the versatility of eggs in cooking. Would have had one everyday if I didn't have this amazing 'ability' to produce extra cholesterol in my body :P

Anyways, its dead simple. Egg, bread and good ketchup. Eggs, any way you prefer, poached, fried, boiled (tho not so exciting this one). I like mine poached, and yes its tricky to get it poached right, but if you're in a rush of time or simply can't be arsed, you can microwave the egg in a minute. Just need to beat the eggs a little with a fork (don't overdo it), and place it in a flat plate/bowl in the microwave for about a minute. The flatter your plate/bowl, the better since it takes less time to cook evenly.

This took me 3 minutes to assemble :)

First Signs of Summer ...

2008-05-16T21:15:00.001+01:00

Weather in London last weekend was perfect ... the kind where you can finally unbundle/unwrap, go around in shorts + T-shirts, have barbecues at your balcony, hangout in the park ... basically making you feel like La-la-la-laaa :)

The very first sneak peek into summer weather, and fair enough which doesn't last long, given the grey and cloudy week ahead. Hence apologies for this post being one week late!

Nevertheless, my menu last weekend changed to a lighter summer menu, given all my doner kebab craving lately, having discovering a good one just 2 minutes walk from my place.

Which relates to another important discussion ... why are doner kebabs so unhealthy? I always thought they were one of the healthier version of fast food given that they are solid (depending on shop quality) chunks of meat roasted slowly over a long time! Not until I saw this report in the Guardian paper today. Apparently it contains a serving contains an equivalent of a WINE GLASS FULL of cooking oil. Now how can THAT possibly be?!!

Checking on methods of making a doner kebab, here's what Wikipedia quoted:

"There are two basic ways of preparing meat for döner kebabs:

The most common and authentic method is to stack seasoned slices of lean meat onto a vertical skewer in the shape of a cylinder. The stack is cooked by radiant heat from electric elements or gas fired infrared burners. Often meat, tomatoes, and onions are placed at the top of the stack to drip juices over the meat keeping it moist.
Some cheaper shops serve a combination of seasoned sliced and ground meat cooked on a grilltop as döner kebab. In Germany the amount of ground meat is not allowed to surpass 60% (Berliner Verkehrsauffassung) "

The only way to reconcile this is that the research was based on the poorest quality of kebabs (second bullet point above).

And apparently one of the best (fast food category) in terms of low salt content was fish and chips. WHAT?! This sounds like a pro-British food campaign to me, :D. Ok, maybe not the fish, but chips are surely salty, but that result may arise given that the chips portions arent that large and tend to not be salted heavily as well since the Brits love theirs with vinegar. In relative terms to the junk food peer group of heavily salted processed meat burgers/sausages and pizzas, this result doesn't sound that absurd anymore, LOL

Ok, back from digression, where was I? *Summer menu* yes. Whipped up something simple for dinner, salad with turkey kebabs (not really the kebabs above). Salad was just a rough mixture of tomatoes on the vine, lettuce, carrots, roasted mushrooms and potato wedges. Marinaded the turkey for barely 10 minutes with grated ginger juice, honey, soy sauce and a little dash of sesame oil. Potato wedges are just lightly coated in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper just like the mushrooms and along with the turkey went for the oven treatment for 35 minutes or so.

Turkey was a little dry as expected since marinading time was too short, but the salad was great, especially with the smoky mushrooms that I love ...

Just in case any of you are interested in somemore kebabology ...

The Finger Lickin' Good Factor

2008-05-10T11:00:00.001+01:00

I've always hear comments that KFC in the UK doesn't taste as good as the ones in Malaysia. So this is to supplement What the Foodies' recent post on KFC in Malaysia. Sounds strange to me given that its an international chain and the food should be standardised. Well, the only way to find out is to try it out for yourself! For me, finding a partner in crime was easy, just tag along P who occasionally has to satisfy his fried chicken cravings...

So we got a Classic Variety Meal set, which was accompanied with the tagline:

When you love everything at KFC why not have it all? Original Recipe Chicken, Hot Wings, Crispy Strips plus fries and a drink really answer those KFC cravings!

Heh, it definitely reminded me of my childhood days, though I was more of a A&W fan then (amazing rootbeer floats!). One thing I noticed was that KFCs in the UK seem to have a reputation or at least give the impression of a lower quality food chain, than say in Malaysia. Back home, KFC, A&W and McDonalds seem to be on par in terms of food standards, restaurant upkeep and customer service. I was surprised that even the KFC branch in Leicester Square seem to be a little bit messy and run down, unlike the now newly refurbished McDonald chains. Seems like they're lagging behind the race ...

Anyways, back to the fried chicken. I love the crispy strips best! Strips of boneless breast fillets deep fried till perfection. Such a sinful creation since its so easy to eat them all if I'm given a bucket full of it. I think tastewise it's pretty similar to Malaysia, though not ordering coleslaw and mashed potatoes with gravy is probably the reason why most feel that its different to the familiar versions at home. And they have baked beans on their menu here too, strange...

The finger lickin' good factor is definitely a mystery. Will definitely try my own version soon, probably a BBQ one to suit the weather these days :)

Every Cook's Dream Dish: Lamb Stroganoff

2008-05-06T23:50:00.001+01:00

This dish is probably one of those that I often call misleading ... Why, I hear you ask?

First, the name. Being such a ubiquitous dish in many cookbooks and the British menu, it was a slight surprise to find that it originated in Russia with the beef version, and has been popular in Europe since with many variations of it.

Second, it requires less types of ingredients than perceived. With a name like that, you'd think it involves a combination of millions of spices, ingredients that are in general expensive or hard to get.

Third, the method of preparation is easier than you think! There's no long hours of braising, watching over the oven times, or marinading required at all!

Isn't this essentially what we are all looking for in a recipe? A dish that provides minimal headache over the ingredients, tastes amazing yet so quick and easy to prepare? Not to mention that it's easy to cook in bulk (unlike stir fries), without sacrificing the flavors and results, perfect for a party? Not to mention that for this recipe can definitely fit into the menu of those health conscious too! So here goes:

Ingredients for two
300g Lamb fillet/neck strips/shoulder bits (I personally prefer fillets, as its a whole chunk of solid meat and not too fatty)
Mushrooms (as much as you like, the more variety the better, I used chestnut and closed cup mushrooms)
1 Onion
250ml of crème fraîche/sour cream (I used a reduced fat version)
1 Lemon (juiced and 1 tsp of lemon zest, or if lazy, bottled lemon juice)
3 tbsp paprika (or season to taste)
Salt (season to taste)
1 knob of butter (optional)
Olive oil

So, the meat is first cut into thin slices, about 0.5cm thick or finer would do. Then mix the paprika, and about 1-2 teaspoons of salt for a quick marinade. Mince the onions into chunky pieces, cut the mushrooms into bite size quarters or cross section slices (or whatever shape you fancy) and we're set to go! That probably takes 15 minutes max isn't it?

Time to cook! Heat up some olive oil, as usual. Then fry the onions until brown and soft. Scoop them up and set aside. Do the same for the mushrooms, but add the lamb pieces in when the aroma of mushrooms fills the air. It should be soft and smaller now, given that some moisture is lost. Add the onions back to the pan, and continue stirring them around for a bit before adding the crème fraîche, lemon juice and zest.

Now, the tasting bit. Which you absolutely have to do. Can't imagine a cook who doesn't taste before serving, pretty risky even for the pros. I tried mine, and found it slightly too spicy for a stroganoff, hence leveled off some of the heat with a pinch of sugar. Sugar works to counter a bit of saltiness too, as in this case you shouldn't add water to this dish as its meant to be creamy and thick. If desired, you can add a small knob of butter, it does add a nice creamy flavor to it.

When you're happy with the taste, serve with rice, and eat right away. In this case, I used wild red rice, has more of a nutty taste which I love, a nice change from the usual white rice. The whole process took about 30 minutes or less, great for those of you who are rushed for time yet still want to eat something wholesome and delicious.

There's another venison version of Jamie Oliver's website, with parsley and gherkins to match, will try that sometime soon! Now that summer's here, it's time to bring up the BBQ!

La Paradeta in Barcelona

2008-05-03T17:31:00.000+01:00

Man, just when I was boasting about how good the weather was last Saturday, this week I'm blessed with the irony of heavy rain throughout ... and Barcelona just lost to Man U in the Champions League too!

Ah well, let's forget about the football for a moment and cheer ourselves up with a bit with some more good foodie pictures in the Barcelona dining scene :P In Barcelona, seafood is the thing to go for, period. In a land deprived of fresh and reasonably priced seafood (Britain, fyi), La Paradeta, located at the heart of the trendy La Ribera area, is the place worth queuing for , for the marisco lovers out there.

This seafood restaurant has a unique fish market concept to it, in the sense that the crabs, squids, prawns, etc are all displayed in huge plastic tubs as below. In the true market style, you order your seafood by weight, and then simply select from a few simply styles of cooking: deep fried, grilled, steamed etc. What's great that you don't often get the unpleasant fishy smell of markets, which is a good sign as it means the ingredients are TRULY FRESH.

I was brought there by K, who has roamed Barcelona so many times that he's as good as a local. We had to queue outside before it opened at 8pm, and there was already a little queue outside of enthusiastic fans of the place. Never a bad sign! :) So there you go, we chose some mussels, prawns, squids and many other interesting stuff that I never knew roamed in the sea :P

And when the dishes came, I knew we, or rather I, had overdone the ordering since I was so excited to try so many things! Look at this gigantic plate of fried goodies! Haha, starting from the left, its fried baby anchovies, then fried baby squids and fried calamari. My favorite was the baby squid, though it was a pity that the calamari was a little too rubbery for my liking. Could have been better grilled, or I've just been eating them from left to right and just got tired of them. Despite best efforts, 3 of us couldn't finish that platter, whole heartedly agreed that there was way too much fried stuff. :P

And of course we had salad, artichoke heart salad to be specific. It was definitely great to do something towards the 5 a day intake, and it's probably a hit or miss for some on the bitter/sourish artichoke hearts, but I do like them, feels like sauerkraut and its very appetizing.

Mussels in tomato sauce was good too! Never was much of a mussels fan, but the sauce was great with some crusty bread ...

Highlight of the meal was definitely the grilled dishes. The giant succulent prawns and long bamboo clams, lightly grilled with salt, pepper and a little gentle squeeze of lemon juice ---> heavenly! Cannot emphasize enough how easy cooking is as long as you have fresh ingredients, the simplest methods will suffice for an amazing meal. So its not about the fancy kitchen gadgets at all, and cooking only becomes necessarily complicated mask poor quality ingredients really.

Always a good idea to end the meal with some funky desserts too! K brought us to this little shop (forgot the name unfortunately) nearby for some designer desserts. All I remember was both were chocolate and nuts based mousse (almond and hazelnut) as everything was in Spanish and it was simply just looks based choices, :D

So if you're a big seafood fan visiting Barcelona, do pay La Paradeta a visit - they do seafood good justice. Enough said.

La Paradeta
Comercial 7
El Born, Ciutat Vella
La Ribera

Nearest metro: Arc de Triomf
Opening times: 8-11.30pm Tue-Fri;
1-4pm, 8pm-midnight Sat;
1-4pm Sun

My favourite city

2008-04-26T19:01:00.006+01:00

Here comes the sun finally! After having heavy snow on a Sunday in March, I kid you not when people say the phrase 'as unpredictable as British weather' :P You just get paranoid and bring umbrella everywhere since you really do have millions of weather predictions/symbols in BBC going like this!

Hence, Spain is easily one of my favorite countries in Europe. Reasons? Pretty easy - Excellent weather, friendly culture and amazing cuisine all year round :) And the first Spanish city I visited was Barcelona about 2 years ago ... I couldn't get enough of it, hence I went back earlier this year for a short weekend! And man, it was was a gourmet trip for sure since I could pay more attention to the food having done all the touristy stuff previously. Now I understand what people say about visiting a place the second time ... it's a different experience all together...

In the day, you get a good contrast of modern day shopping activities vis-à-vis the various cultural offerings (art museum, La Sagrada Familia etc). At night, the restaurant and bar scene comes alive especially in La Ramblas with many Spaniards and tourists having tapas tastings from pub to pub, accompanied with a good excuse to drink and be merry :)

Besides, you have the beaches just 5-6km away from city center for a good relaxing stroll. What more can you ask for in a city? I went to Platja de la Barceloneta, one of the older beaches near Barcelona for some yummy fresh seafoood. What I love most about the contemporary Catalan cuisine of Barcelona is its simplicity - fresh, satisfying and uncomplicated - maximising the flavors of regional offerings. These are some of my samplings there and then:

K ordered ham for appetizers, sorry I didn't remember the name of the ham, but it must be some sort of local Spanish jambon. But it was really nice with bread, balancing the hint of saltiness nicely ...

The restaurant was by the port, and with clear blue skies and sun shining on a early January afternoon, how can you not love Spain given that Britain is cold and rainy until end of April?!

Seafood paella was on the menu for sure, since we were by the sea. Comes in those huge paella pan that I love (not to wash though!), with crusty crispy bits at the bottom: basically a wholesome dish consisting of tomato and saffron-infused short grained Paella rice with lots of fresh seafood.

More importantly, I tried a new Spanish dish second time around, something recommended by the locals called Dorada a la sal, a fresh sea bream baked in a salt crust. Kind of the same concept like the Yim Kuk Kai (Chicken baked in salt crust) dish in Malaysia, commonly found in Ipoh. Anyways, the fish is baked whole, with its scales still intact, covered by a whole mountain of sea salt. When the salt is brushed away, the fish is filleted and served with just some freshly steam carrots, broccoli and asparagus.

I've never eaten something as ... pure as this before! The quality of the fish definitely plays a role, as there is not a hint of the fishy smell at all and all you taste is the lightly salted springy/elastic flakes of the sea bream ... Something that I'd love to try again and again

Now that Greece is up for the summer plans, I can hardly wait to explore the beaches and Mediterranean cuisine :)

Fresh Homemade Pasta - Part 2

2008-04-20T22:22:00.001+01:00

So have any of you tried to make your own fresh pasta yet? Would love to hear how it went or any improvisation suggestion you have!

Anyways, back to the tagliatelle in the previous post ... I wanted something simple, not a over powering sauce since the pasta is the main star of the dish, hence opted for something light and simple, in hope to bring the best of the tagliatelle :)

I decided on Tagliatelle with Cod and Spicy Parsley Sauce. Perhaps something of a random unheard sauce, but it's a combination of my favorite spices - shouldn't go wrong with lots of garlic, parsley, some sliced cod and chili flakes. Here are the prepared ingredients for two:

Cod (2 fillets, sliced in huge chunks)
Parsley (or Coriander will do, finely chopped without the stalks)
1 whole bulb of garlic (or even more if you wish, minced)
Olive oil (abt 3-4 tbsp)
Salt (to taste)
Black Pepper
White wine vinegar
White wine (optional)
Chili flakes (or freshly chopped chilies)
Parmesan cheese

First, heat up a few tablespoon of olive oil for a minute or so. Then add in the garlic and stir fry quickly to avoid overcooking them. As I was lazy and short for time AND hungry (due to all the kneading work with the dough previously), I just added the cod pieces in together to fry, knowing that the fish flakes easily and probably the result will be some sort of mush. My attempt of trying hard not to flip the fish too much isn't effective either, but ah well, stomach rules when it growls :P

Ideally, I intended to grill or pan fry to WHOLE cod fillet before hand and sliced them once they are crisp with the skin. The way to do this is to leave the whole cod fillet as a whole, heat up your grill or pan with a little oil. If you choose to grill, it's best to oil the fish skin a little bit as well so it doesn't stick to the grill pan and make a mess of the beautiful fish skin. 3-4 minutes on each side on medium to high heat should be fine.

For pan fry purposes, you can also pat a little bit of flour on the skin part of the fish to get a nice crispy effect. Put the skin side down on the heated pan with some oil, and let it fry for about 3 minutes before you turn the other side for another 2 minutes or so. Set the fish aside once grilled or pan fried.

Ok, back to my mush :) I added parsley towards the end, with some salt and chili flakes to taste. One important addition is also a bit of white wine vinegar (just a few drops or roughly 1 tbsp would do), somehow I find it adds a little sharpness to the sauce to make it a lil' more exciting than just chili flakes alone. A dash of white wine is always welcomed in this kind of sauce too.

Meanwhile, don't forget to cook the pasta, and if you followed the fresh pasta recipe in the previous post, it'd probably take about 2 minutes in boiling water to cook it. Then, drain it quickly and add to the cod mixture and give it a good toss to coat the pasta.

When its thoroughly mixed, do take a pinch to taste and see if the flavor is fine, or else adjust accordingly. Finally, serve on a nice plate/bowl, garnish with some Parmesan cheese and chili flakes and tuck in!

Phew, after all that ordeal, I'd say it was an interesting experience and nothing beats eating something homemade from scratch :) My pasta definitely still has some way to go in terms of improvement, especially in terms of texture (a bit dry) and thickness (not thin enough, probably about 2mm, as you can see in the pic above). Taste wise was not bad, sauce was not over powering, but there's definitely a difference to the dried pasta, which is usually harder with more 'bite'. Fresh ones are soft, chewy yet retains its al-dente texture giving the best of both worlds. Doing it again? Definitely, despite the tired arms! Gonna try linguine or something more funky like ravioli next time, with a different sauce. Need to be a bit more creative here, no Bolognese , Carbonara or any other sort of sauce that has a bottled version of it hehe. Still inspired by my Da Mario trip, and one day my pasta will get roughly comparable to theirs ...

Fresh Homemade Pasta - Part 1

2008-04-19T17:20:00.002+01:00

So it's time for the homemade pasta challenge folks!

I promise you that your week long wait was well worth it, I certainly found the arm busting experience of making my own tagliatelle from scratch worth while! :) It'd be better if you find a nice comfy couch to sit on whilst reading this long post as this is a COMPLETE, step by step and carefully illustrated guide to making your pasta from scratch.

And yes, no machines/gadgets involved whatsoever, simply because ...

Pasta machines are for babies
Real women (men) use rolling pins!

OK, let's get down to business ... The ingredients for making fresh pasta is pretty simple and easy to obtain:

Plain White Flour/Tipo 00 Flour (Around 150g - 200g per person)
Eggs (1 medium egg per 100g of flour - free range preferably)

Yup, that's pretty much what you need. Tipo 00 flour is the finer Italian flour found mostly in Italian delis/specialist shops. I tried with plain flour this time, will let you know of my experiment next on that special flour and see if there's a significant difference. Gadgets wise is simple too: just a sift for the flour and a rolling pin would do, and we're set to go!

Firstly, measure the amount of flour you need, and gently sift them through so you get a nice fine texture to make the mixing process slightly easier.

Using your hands (washed and thoroughly dry!) or a spatula, shape the flour into a mountain structure.

With your fingers, gently make a well in the center of the flour and break the eggs into the well, both the yolks and egg whites.

Using a fork or a knife, stir and mix the egg mixture slowly, incorporating the flour with it bit by bit. Try not to rush this and mix thoroughly as it will save more effort in the kneading process later.

You'll notice that lumps start to form as more flour mixture is added. No worries though, just try your best to even out the lumpy bits and stir in all the flour gradually. Slow and steady :)

When the mixture is very thick and impossible to mix use the fork/knife, this is where the arm busting kneading process starts! Despite the seemingly intimidating process, dough kneading is stress relieving and pretty therapeutic. Depending on how many people you're feeding, it may also be a good idea to split the dough and work with smaller pieces for starters, or split the workload with your dedicated friend/helper :) Thank God I'd P who was willing to help that day, despite being warned that his dinner may be at risk!

Here's a bit of a tip on the kneading technique. Kneading isn't exactly pressing, so you don't need your thumbs or fingers to press the dough. Instead, a more energy efficient and pain free way (it matters when you're kneading for at least 30 minutes!) is using the palm of your hand for essentially the "Push-Pull Technique":

Use the heels of your hands and press firmly into the dough, pushing forward slightly. Then pull and fold the far edge of the dough upwards, towards you, and press it into the middle of the ball. Rotate it slightly, too, and repeat the steps until the dough is well mixed, unlumpy and not too sticky. The well kneaded dough ball should look yellowish due to the yolk, with no trace of improperly incorporated white flour.

Do note that in my first attempt I got the flour measurement wrong, and hence the whole pile of extra flour there now. In fact you probably only have a little extra for some dusting later on. With the 100g flour to 1 egg rule and you should be fine :)

Continue kneading ... ***knead^100***

... till the flour and egg is properly incorporated ... ***knead^300***

... into a light yellow dough ball ... ***knead^500***

Do take a short break occasionally as it's understandable that kneading for the first time is pretty tiring for the arms! Try not to take too long though as the dough will dry out and you'll have brittle pastas, which would be shame after all the hard work!

Just in case, here's a better graphical illustration of the kneading technique:

Use the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you...

then pull and fold it back over itself...

Give the dough a little turn and repeat the previous step. Another handy tip is to utilize the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm so that it's less tiring for the arms.

I definitely had a new found respect for the bakers who still do kneading the traditional way, they probably also have their dominant arms significantly bigger than the other! But as mentioned before, it's probably a good idea to split the dough that you find too challenging to knead into half and work on them separately. Takes longer, but better result than struggling with the large dough alone!

This whole kneading process took me about 40 minutes, but I think it'd probably be less for those quicker and stronger ones of you out there. As long as you see no lumps and the flour is well mixed , it's ready to rest.

And HOW do you know the dough is ready? POKE it!

If the dough gently springs back up once you relieve the pressure of your finger, then it's ready :) If not, just continue kneading and the lumps should be evenly mixed by then, it'd be springy in no time! For those who kneaded the dough in smaller portions, don't forget to combine them altogether at the end to rest.

Reaching this far, it's time to congratulate yourself for the hard work :D The hardest part is probably over and you're closer to your own homemade, authentic Italian pasta dinner ...

You can cover Mr Smiley Dough with a big bowl for a 20 minutes rest, whilst you start off the celebration with a toast to your achievement so far!

Meanwhile whilst the dough is resting, you could also take the opportunity to prepare the ingredients for the pasta sauce of your choice. This would be for the next post, since we're ready to rock and ROLL ...

... with the rolling pin and the dough! Let's start simple with the aim of simple pasta shapes :P So nothing complex, just roll the dough as thin as you can make it.

All you do is keep on rollin' ...

rollin'

rollin' (yeah) ...

... till it gets as thin as you can make it to be, ideally 1mm. Don't rush off trying to get a ruler or something to measure for you engineers out there, you'll know it's thin enough when you can see your fingers and palms slightly underneath the rolled pasta sheet.

Finally, just fold in the sheet from both ends, in 2 inches/5cm each time, until you reach towards the center.

I trimmed the uneven bits at the end due to my lousy rolling skills so that it looks nice and rectangular now - It was just an excuse for greedy me to just test those extra bits right away by plunging them into hot boiling water for roughly 2 minutes, and my my they tasted so soft, slippery yet al dente at the same time! First taste of hard labor and I'm excited and pleasantly surprised at the result :D

OK, OK, we've finally reached the best and most crucial part of all this pasta making mumbo jumbo, haha. This part, equally important with how the final dish tastes like with the sauce of your choice, will not only earn you extra brownie points for the audience you're trying to impress, but probably make you the coolest person in the world too... only if it's executed beautifully ...

I'm talking about cutting the pasta with your hands ...

and for those who thought it was a normal, mundane and even an uneventful task, perhaps these videos can change your mind? This is the key to your 10 seconds fame ... hehe

:P I hope it did for you guys, because it's probably one of the reasons I want to make my own pasta from scratch without the boring pasta maker! Trust me, there'll be lots of Oooh's and Aaah's :P

... Dust the sharp knife with flour beforehand, slice through the pasta sheets with speed and accuracy, lifting up the pasta swiftly whilst watching it roll down in style... *priceless*

Voila! My fresh tagliatelle ...

Tagliatelle was on the menu for me, so I sliced it with about half to 1 cm wide, something finer (say 0.2cm) will give you linguine, something wider than that (2-3cm) will give you parpadelle. It's flexible, no worries...

Wooohoo! We're done and thank God the process went smoothly and dinner is safe hehe. I guess there's no need for the back up dried pasta anymore!

Stay tuned for the next post on the actual cooking with the tagliatelle :)

Inspired by Da Mario

2008-04-12T13:06:00.001+01:00

Da Mario is the type of restaurant that I'd love to keep quiet about and not share with anyone, simply because it's the type of restaurant which you'd thought had extinct by now and once publicized quality tends to go down ... But they have maintained their standards thus far despite the excellent reviews by loyal patrons for years, so I'm going to let you into this little secret :)

Located in Covent Garden, one would think that this is just another touristy Italian place with its typical pasta and pizza dishes. Not Da Mario though, a family run trattoria style restaurant, located on Endell Street, slightly away from the mad shopping crowd, and boasts a merry and chatty atmosphere (so Italian!), neutral deco and VERY reasonable prices! More importantly, I went there last week with the aim to try the authentically home made fresh pasta, which completely blew P and me away!

My camera went bombastic halfway through, so apologies for the photo quality of the starters: Garlic bread (not photo) and Baked Aubergine in Tomato Sauce. This is a rather dark photo of the aubergine dish. Can't believe I only learn to appreciate this purple vegetable only since 13! Portion was small, but still good to share, as you don't want to fill up too much before the major star of the meal appears :)

Da Mario doesn't give you those main stream pasta sauces you see marketed everywhere, no such thing as Bolognese, Carbonara, Al Fredo, Arrabiata, or Rigatoni. Great for those who think going to Italian restaurants being a waste of time (and money) given that you can buy fresh pasta/pasta sauces, or pizzas and jostle up some Italian meal. In addition to the standard menu, Da Mario has daily specials to fit in seasonal ingredients into their refreshing menu.

For my main, I had Tagliatelle Gamberoni, a dish of fresh tagliatelle with king prawns, cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber and chili in a special brandy sauce, served with some grated Parmesan cheese and ground black pepper. Flavor wise it's out of this world! The quality in the fresh pasta is noticeable - it's slightly softer and chewier, yet still al dente, i.e. still has some bite. The brandy sauce adds a slight thick creaminess to the light tomato based sauce, which I suspect is made using good quality prawn stock with a mild sweetness towards the end. And best part is the sauce is not over powering the fresh bursty prawns and sweet cherry tomatoes, just enough to coat the pasta and giving flavor to the mild cucumber slices - perfection! :D

P was adventurous and went for Casarecci Pasta with Chopped Italian Sausage Meat and Broccoli. Anything with sausage meat is usually pretty flavorful, but we were more intrigued about the casarecci pasta, and how broccoli can fit well with pastas in general, as it seemed a pretty uncommon combination to me.

By the way, don't you think Italians have a beautiful accent? Listening to the waiter explaining what is Casarecci pasta like is like music to your ears, lol. Maybe I'd just been influenced by The Godfather movies starring Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. Anyways, *slaps forehead*, back to pastas...

Casarecci pasta is shaped like a very narrowly twisted and rolled tube. Upon close observation, it looks like an "S" if turned and viewed from the end and is about 2 inches long. P also fell head over heels in love with his choice of pasta. The sausage meat was nicely seasoned and not too salty. I had a taste of casarecci too and its awesome since its twirly shape manages to capture and hold on to more creamy sauce. Broccoli balances the dish by giving it a bit of a crunch and goes surprising well with the pasta.

Well what can I say? Having done 2 courses that exceeded expectations, I was keen to check out the dessert menu to satisfy my sweet tooth. Their home made apple pie is famous from the reviews I've read, but way too heavy at that time after the heavy meal. Sharing a Tartufo Nero seems perfect: a vanilla ice cream with hazelnut cream, topped with chocolate shavings and chopped hazelnuts. Picture doesn't look as impressive due to bad lighting, but tastewise it's good stuff.

My advice? Visit Da Mario for for the mains, especially authentic fresh pastas/lasagnes, which outshines the starters and desserts. In fact, I probably might go for 3 main dishes to share to try out more main dishes the next time I visit :)

In fact, I'm so inspired by Da Mario that I want to make my own fresh pasta today, since I have 3 other willing guinea pigs. Will let you know on my progress/outcome real soon this week!

Da Mario
63 Endell Street,
London, WC2H 9AJ
(Advanced booking recommended)

The Essential Fatty Acids

2008-04-06T23:04:00.001+01:00

Probably the only fatty thing you're encouraged to eat more of by health experts, so listen up :) Oily fishes such as mackerel, salmon, sardines, tuna and lake trout are key sources of the good fatty acids (Omega 3) that have heart benefits since they are low in the bad fatty acids (saturated fats). And nowadays they come in tinned versions too, though its better to choose those in brine/water, which are healthier alternatives.

So if you find yourself (like me) staring at your food cupboard and fridge, twiddling your thumbs on what to eat on a weekday after work, or even what you can make out of what you have ... here's a case study haha.

I had some wholewheat pasta, fresh basil leaves (courtesy of a delayed attempt to make pizza from scratch from the weekend), some tinned chopped tomatoes, garlic, fresh bird eye chillies and a can of salmon, which translates into some good comfort food :)

First, to make the pasta sauce, saute the chopped garlic cloves till brown, then add the can of chopped tomatoes and lower the heat once its boiling. Then open up the can of salmon and gently flake them before adding it to the sauce. Try to flake them into larger chunks rather than fine ones as it adds texture to the sauce or else you find that you cant taste any of them later! If you have are using fresh salmon instead, it'd be nicer to pan fry them first before hand. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and adding a tablespoon of white wine vinegar always works wonders to enhance its flavors. Finally, add the chopped birds eye chillies (1 should be fine to bring some heat) and chopped basil leaves.

Have a taste of your pasta sauce now with the wooden spoon. If the heat is too much for you, a pinch of sugar would tone things down a bit to suit the palate. For those who prefer a thicker creamier sauce, its good to add a bit of grated cheese/soft cream cheese in to stir before serving. Here's my version served with wholewheat spaghetti, with some leftover sauce to keep for next time!

Smiths of Smithfield (SOS)

2008-03-30T13:03:00.001+01:00

In terms of lifestyle, transport and dining, London probably fares best with the latter with so much to offer in terms of eating out. You get to taste some of the world's best culinary creation here, but more importantly to me, there is a general higher quality of eateries even for the less pompous/celebrity chefs loaded restaurants. No one could really afford those expensive dinners all the time, and even if you see them and wonder, they're probably on company's expenses for client meetings etc :)

Here's a continuation of my quest to search for non pretentious, interesting and of course delicious food across London. I usually give those big Michelin dudes a miss since they've already enough media attention and cash flow for the moment, time to search for underdogs worth supporting. However, this time I chose to try out John Torode's Smiths of Smithfield (SOS) in trendy Clerkenwell, a place famous for nice pubs, bars and good nightlife. Seems like a perfect place to bring a friend who loves meat or a good steak.

John Torode is a well known food writer and TV presenter, and more recently one of the judges of the chef spotting talent show in BBC Two called "Masterchef Goes Large". Born in Australia, he is acknowledged as one of the player who introduced Australasian food in the UK. I would say he marketed himself as a meat specialist, sourcing fresh quality produces from farmers all of UK.

SOS is located near London's Smithfield market, boasting a 4 floor restaurant with a different theme to each, with formality increasing the higher you go, interesting eh? So the ground floor has loads of comfy couches, a comprehensive bar and some DJ-ing, good for breakfast, lunch or a quick bite anytime of the day. 1st floor focuses on wine/champagne tasting and appreciation, accompanied with exquisite light bites to match the drinks. There is a floor dedicated to private parties too, where you can hire private rooms for those special occasions. 2nd floor is the place to be for a nice ambiance, solid oak tables and chairs with candlelights, with the ability to peep at the chefs doing their work at the semi-opened kitchen. The highest floor is for those who crave a fine dining experience with breathless rooftop view of the city, completed with an extensive wine list and broader fresh seafood/meat selection.

Talk about price discrimination eh? This guy is probably the first I've seen that applies this economic principle to restaurants! Anyways, its good to book in advance and they do online booking which is handy. Up to 2nd floor we went, and for starters we chose something true to the Australasian theme, which is Lucky Squid, Chilli Jam and Chinese Broccoli. With a hint of hot, salty yet sweet spiciness of sambal, fresh squid with lightly blanched crunchy leaves - done to perfection. Apologies for the bad lighting of the photo, ambiance was dark and I don't Photoshop them, its as original as it gets :)

For mains, P decided to forgo the steaks and try something different - Crisp Belly of Pork, Mash Potato and Green Sauce. Presentation wise a bit odd, mash potato was all right, and the belly pork was crispy and nice, but I would say the green sauce didn't really go that well with it. Missing something that plays down the good work done on the pork really. Nothing outstanding.

I had something memorable as well, but that is two-fold. I think it was Roast Cod on a bed of PuyLentils, taste wise unmemorable, bland tasting lentils and cod was safe, lightly salted and pan fried till crisp, nothing exciting. But what was MEMORABLE was the really bad tummy ache that it gave me on the way home on the tube. Imagine having to stifle the pain and persevere till you run (with a bad tummy ache) out of the tube to the nearest loo and pray to the toilet god in many ways.

But yes I shall digress from going into too much details into that, but it is just so disappointing with a place capable of offering so much more ends up failing in hypocrisy. This is why time and time again I feel that all these publicity sometimes has adverse effects on a good chef, breeding complacency and being too business-like, starting to lose the very key passion or role of an excellent chef - to prepare and share a good culinary creations. This is not a generalization however, there are some level headed chefs out there that maintain or even increase the level of their work with pride, upon the recognition for their work.

To end things with a less serious note, I saw the name of this random lane that made the dinner memorable for sure :P

Smiths of Smithfield
67-77 Charterhouse Street
EC1M 6HJ
London

The Roadhouse Tex Mex Mania

2008-03-23T13:20:00.000Z

Time to revive the American fast food days, with a Tex Mex twist! The Roadhouse near the Covent Garden market fits the occasion perfectly. It gives the whole authentic experience, with the American diner deco, food quality AND quantity a class above the TGIF chains! There were special Happy Hour deals with buy one get one free cocktails before 7pm too, combined with a half price offers on mains, definitely one good value place for excellent Tex Mex selections.

Starters was Nanchos Grande, and they do mean every bit of that phrase. Definitely an overload of melted cheese with crisp tortilla chips, served with a cheese fondue, sour cream, salsa and fresh guacamole!

P had Philly Steak Sandwich, a tender 8oz prime sirloin steak with caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, red & green peppers and topped off with melted cheese dipping gravy. Comes with a little salad garnish and some fries on the side too.

I on the other hand, was feeling more carnivorous that day. Given that I don't take beef pretty much limits the menu (majority is steak/burger variety) to chicken, pork or fish. And there's no way of having fish in an American diner (leave it to the French :P), so it's definitely Smokin' Ribs and Chicken: half rack of bbq ribs and a grilled breast of chicken basted with smoky bbq sauce, served with french fries and onion rings. I did try to minimize the guilt by swapping the fries and onion rings with mashed potatoes and some salad :P Looks pretty mighty to even finish both chunks of meat, but we both did a pretty good effort at it in the end. The nachos had probably taken more space that we thought, haha

A place that I'd highly recommend, especially for big groups of party, since its hard to find restaurants in London that actually fits big groups of people. Fun place for Hen/Stag Nights out too, I did spot a table or two of those whilst there. Cocktail selection is vast, encompassing most of the famous American ones like Cosmopolitan, Big Apple Martini and Texas Fizz.

On the way back I spotted these interesting scooters as well. Which would you prefer? A Spidey one or classic green Vespa? You know me, choice is always the latter :) Happy Easter to all of you!

Change

2008-03-15T16:19:00.000Z

Variety? Spice? ... Whatever you choose to call it.

Such a vital thing in life, yet easily overlooked in the midst of the hustle and bustle of our daily routine. You go to work from Mon-Fri, have the same thing for lunch everyday, or even do the same thing after work everyday, without realizing it and always wonder why you seemed to have lost some sort of direction in life, what purpose are you doing these for, gloomy and feel lost on weekends?

Sounds familiar? I certainly hope not for most of you all out there. But it sure is easy to focus all your energy on something at inception, get immersed so fully in the bubble, and somehow forgot why you're doing it for. It's good to self reflect once in a while I suppose, to remind yourself the purpose and what you want to go for in life, looking at the bigger picture.

So if you've been wearing the same sort of shirt color, doing the same sport, meeting the same type of people etc... it REALLY pays to give it a try to do something different. Something out of your comfort zone, something random, something that inject some sort of fresh spirit in your life, new experiences, new people, visit new places ... Come on, you only live one life, make the freakin' most of it!

Keeping the spice in life (and food of course! :P) in key to keeping sanity. Since the theme is change this time, let's try something Western for a new twist, how about fish? Something quick to cook, but easy to destroy at the same time due to fragile nature. But please don't let that deter you, the result is pretty amazing since it's easy to prepare.

So all you need, is a bunch of closed cup mushroom, a bit of potatoes, fresh green beans (from local grocer hopefully!), big red tomatoes, and a cod fish fillet, some salt and pepper, that's pretty much it! Ah, and some aluminum foil of course, and a working oven :) My original intention is to pan fry the fish, but that'll be for next time, as this is a no frills introductory to seafood cooking. Start of slow and steady, yea?

So we'll bake/grill/roast the fish, I never really know the terms or the difference, that's besides the point. First, preheat the oven at 180C-200C for about 10 minutes. In the mean time, wash the mushrooms, green beans and tomatoes, set aside. For the potatoes, once washed, pat DRY with tissue or a clean cloth, this is important for good potato wedges! With a fork, poke the skins of the potatoes evenly before you chop them into nice wedge shapes. Put the potatoes in a baking tray and season with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle a bit of olive oil and mix to coat the potatoes evenly. I personally prefer to add a pinch of Italian herb seasoning as well (oregano/basil/rosemary), works well too if you fancy.

With that done, chop the ends of the green beans to make equal length strips. Tomatoes can be sliced into thick quarters as we're going to roast them with the fish too. I like my mushrooms huge and unsliced, personal preference, you can cut them if you wish. Finally, all you have to do is cut out a big piece of aluminum foil, place the fish (I used cod here, plaice, mackerel, haddock, salmon, rainbow trout etc is good too) skin side up, mushrooms and tomatoes together. Before you wrap them up tightly in a parcel, season with the usual salt and pepper again, and I added a bit of lemon infused olive oil n rub against it to the skin of the fish. So we are now all set once the foil is sealed properly.

Put the tray of potatoes and the foil containing the fish and vegetables in the oven simultaneously. It should take about 15-20 minutes before the potatoes are brown and crispy. I didn't forget about my french beans by the way :) I prefer to steam them separately for a reason. They would have been overcooking if placed with the fish, and probably soft, brown and lumpy, uninteresting color. Gently steam (it's criminal to boil vegetables!) them over a pot of boiling water for 5-7 minutes or till cooked but crunchy. It gives a nice finishing touch and color contrast for this healthy dish!

Bento Boxes?

2008-03-08T00:34:00.001Z

Call me odd, but there's just something about food being presented in tiny proportion in many dishes that I really enjoy, not just because of the variety (having a bit of everything), but presented delicately in little boxes/plates & bowls that somehow enhances the dining experience.

In particular, Japanese bento boxes. Yes, it may seem uncool as it feels like your lunch box in the olden school days, but they do make it a point to have a good color balance as you see below from a Chicken Teriyaki set I had a while ago. And yet somehow, I only get this feeling when having a bento set. Not from Chinese dim sum, Spanish tapas, or even the French way of food presentation. That's because in all those, the norm is that you share the dishes or take it as starters. But for bentos, all the variety in front of you is ALL FOR YOURSELF.

Yup, maybe I'm a greedy monster, maybe not, I don't know. It's the only difference I can observe thus far. What do you think?

Going Italian

2008-03-02T23:23:00.000Z

There's nothing more relaxing than listening to Moondance on a lazy weekend, cozily snuggled under the sheets, with a good book and a cuppa aromatic coffee ... :) (plus a lot of cooking!) What's your idea of a quiet, relaxed weekend?

This weekend was great, went out with a bunch of corridor mates to see the Tuthankhamun exhibition at the O2 Arena, interesting really as I never thought I'd be intrigued by the ancient history of Egypt. Would definitely like to visit there someday ...

Slow cooking has always been one of my favorite method of cooking as it involves minimal supervision and usually achieves maximum flavor! It's also very ideal for students/working young adults as a healthier/cheaper alternative of eating out. It's worth considering investing in one of these smart cookers with 3 heat adjustments!

I got mine earlier this year and so instead of doing my usual Chinese, I stumbled upon this Italian pork stew while flipping through one of the cookbooks in Borders with my usual latte :) The ingredient list is straightforward, with non of the complicated foreign-sounding spices that tends to discourage people to abandon the recipe altogether.

So here's the recipe list, if memory doesn't fail me:

Italian Pork Stew

Ingredients:

1 large onion, cut in wedges
2 bell peppers (orange and red ones), sliced in long matchsticks
300g-500g potatoes, cut into large chunks
1 can of tomato puree (400g)
1 litre of chicken stock (or use chicken stock cube for convenience)
Slabs of pork, about 800g-1 kg (shoulder/spare rib), do not cut into cubes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Thyme, 2 tsp
Olive oil, 2 tbsp
Pasta (optional)

Method

1. Heat oil in pan till hot and brown each side of the pork slabs quickly (not cooked). This should take about 1 minute each side of the pork. Remove the pork slabs once its slightly cooked on the outside.

2. In the remaining oil, stir fry the onions till soft and slightly translucent.

3. Add in the potato chunks in and continue swirling them around the pan occasionally for about 5 minutes

4. Then add the tomato puree with the chicken stock in to boil for about 10 minutes. Don't forget to and salt, pepper and thyme to taste too!

5. Finally, add the colorful pepper in the mixture and let it cook for about 1 minute. Then, bring transfer the whole mixture into a pre-heated (3 minutes or so) slow cooker, placing the pork slabs on top before covering it.

6. Set the heat to 'High' for about 3-4 hours or 'Medium' for about 6-7 hours and it's done! The beautiful aroma should linger about the whole household and perfect for a cold winter's dinner. Serves 6.

I served mine with some pasta too and the soup was amazing. The pork slabs don't need to be cut as it might turn mushy after slow cooking. It does that automatically after the long cooking hours, soft and tender, falling off the bone!

Brit's back!

2008-02-24T17:05:00.006Z

I don't mean Britney, but British cuisine!

But first of all, before I embark into my foodie talks again, apologies for the long absence, life has been topsy turvy with the work madness, settling in a new place, and flying around the globe ... Yet, I haven't forgot the blog of course, and my love for food (despite New Year resolutions to lose weight, go to gym blah blah), so I'm starting to fire the first of my series of backdated posts!

And the topic of the day is British food. And why, I hear some of you all say, of ALL topics, huh? Seems like British cuisine had acquired some sort of negative connotations over the years, one being not really having an identity of its own, plain flavors, unimaginative, boring, etc? I beg to differ and please give me a chance to suss it out before you all ignore me, because I started out having the same stereotypical views too!

French cuisine is commonly used as an unfair comparison with English food but they are fundamentally different in principle. British dishes are on the whole simpler, in the ingredients and presentation sense, more down to earth and approachable (to recreate) to normal (non chef) people like us, I suppose.

No identity? Bangers and Mash, Fish and Chips, Sunday Roasts seem like foolproof dishes? They may seem plain but extracting their maximum potential is definitely no mean feat. It's probably easy to make average versions of these dishes that no one thought it could taste better, but the type of sausage/potatoes, the fish batter, and the gravy content and methods all matter in making these dishes taste just a notch higher.

Come to think about it, the pub culture in UK is actually unique and not found in any of her European counterpart. With the recent rise of British celebrity chefs and the nation's increased exposure to international cuisine, British food has been redeeming itself well with some good gastropubs mushrooming in the cities and regional towns. Not only that, more attention has been paid to this recent phenomenon with gastropub rankings like these appearing in newspapers and magazines.

I recently went to a good one in West London, near Baron's Court Tube Station, right next to the Queen's Tennis Club. There's nothing like having Sunday brunch in a good ol' fashion pub in England! The quirky oldies music, soccer channels on TV and the warm couch next to the fireplace ... The Curtains Up Pub definitely fits this rustic description where you can soak up all the culture and British atmosphere :) Interestingly, it also has a theatre within its premises, perfect for the pre theatre meals or after show drinks!

These are what we'd tried on a Sunday pilgrimage : a bit of everything :P I had the mixed platter consisting of good British sausages, roast potato wedges, Thai prawns and chicken goujons.

Beer battered fish and chips in various angles ... Fresh haddock and a beer infused crispy batter is all you need! Definitely one of my favorite pubs in London :)

The Curtains Up Pub
28A Comeragh Rd, London, London, W14 9HR

Indian Rissotto

2007-12-12T21:50:00.000Z

I am surprised if this is not invented already. But it's actually NOT exactly risotto. What I did was cook my normal curry, this time it's prawn tikka masala and boil the basmati rice. The difference is that instead of serving them separately, I pre-mixed them together in the pan for ease of P who does that anyway messily in his plate. A surprising positive result as the dish looked more appetizing than served separately actually, provided you eat it right away of course before it turns cold and mushy!

Burger With A Difference

2007-12-02T10:26:00.000Z

With all the posh burger chains mushrooming in the city (e.g.Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Hamburger Union) , the once humble and simple burger has somehow achieved some sort of status upgrade from their fast food days, to 'posh' gourmet food. Some interesting food development, it's as if taking fried rice and making them upmarket just by sprinkling it with abalone and truffles (eeks)

Hence I proceed to experiment with this concept after spotting some venison burger at Tesco. Mind you, I'd love to make by burger patties from scratch, but unless I plan it early and appear at the butchers with my odd request of venison mince, that'll have to do. Besides, it looks like some hefty quarter pounders, and venison is my favourite meat :)

Simple and good dinner with a bit of fun flipping the burgers in the air, though I still have yet to have the guts to risk my dinner, all I offered was to take a photograph of it in action :P Ingredient was pretty simple, just matching the burger with burger buns, loads of onions (fried caramelized onions are THE BEST!), mushrooms and some BBQ relish and we are set to go for some flippin' exercise here ...

So this was my version of a posh makeover of a burger dinner, with a bit of wine and jazz :P

PS: Tesco Venison burgers are pretty amazing I must say

Birthday Surprise

2007-11-20T23:28:00.000Z

Archipelago at Whitfield Street is the place to go for a completely new and exotic dining experience...

There are just so many things that make this place stand out. I'd have walked passed it thinking it was a pub if I was not brought here. Upon entering the tiny entrance with a mini rock pavement, its as if you're immediately brought back to the Indiana Jones era, with a dark and calm ambiance, with an eclectic mix of Indian,Thai and Chinese influences in their decor. Of course, it's the menu that bags that extra surprise for a special occasion :) THEY SERVE CROCODILE, KANGAROO, ZEBRA meat ... and even chocolate coated scorpion for desserts!

Talk about being adventurous with your palate! Dinner started off with some cocktail and champagne (sprinkled with gold dust), courtesy of recommendation from Z. The cocktail was named after the restaurant, and I can't recall what it exactly contains (it served its purpose), but I know that it's something sweet and citrus-y which disguises the alcohol content, until it was too late... :P

That was Z's champagne with gold dust sprinkles, pretty good to get one bubbly and chatty ...

Starters was a selection of nibbles: Parsnip chips with sweet chili dipping, mini duck quiche and mini grilled pepper canapes. Parsnip chips were awesome, though slight thicker slices would be amazing. Canapes were my favorite since quiche wasn't my thing really. But they were delicious in small amounts :)

The highlight of the meal was the second starter to share: Crocodile fillet seared in vine leaves with a plum dipping sauce. The dish was freshly prepared, seasoned with some fragrant spices, wrapped with the leaves before deep fried. Yet, the white crocodile meat was succulent and springy, flavors accentuated with a little bit of plum sauce dipping. It was also served in a unique porcelain 'plate', seems like a (squarish) cross section of a tree.

When you come to places like these, wimp-y choices like chicken, lamb or fish are out of the question. Either you close your eyes/nose or both, one's gotta try something out of the ordinary, like gnu, zebra, or even lovebug salads, LOL

For mains, Z had Sliced wildebeest (gnu) fillet in a hot and sour sauce with nutty soba noodles. The waitress was really keen and patient in explaining the menu, which I think they are used to anyway given the amount of foreign meats/exotic names in it! Gnu, according to Wikipedia, is " an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved ungulate mammal. And you know what, that sentence doesn't help either. So from the picture search online, ignorant me would just say it looks like a member of the bull/ox/cow family... simple (indeed)! Z enjoyed this dish thoroughly, as the gnu was pan fried nicely for the crunchy edge and matched well with the soba noodles which was lightly dressed in the sauce.

I, on the other hand, had Zhug marinated kangaroo fillet with water spinach, pak choi and crushed chilli potatoes. Apologies to all Australians or kangaroo lovers before hand though.

Now you know what I mean when I say this is also an educational dining experience! Zhug, according to the host, is a hot sauce marinade from Yemen, containing ground fresh hot peppers seasoned with coriander, garlic and various spices. Kangaroo meat, actually tastes pretty similar to chicken, contrary to my expectation of it being tougher like turkey. Unfortunately, I found the dish way TOO salty, especially the vegetables having too much soy sauce on them. But other than that, it was a surprising dining experience, good to give it a go for something authentic and different for a change!

Misato Mania

2007-11-14T21:15:00.001Z

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we'll see
No, I won't be afraid
No, I won't be afraid
Just as long as you have,
MISATO ...

Well, I could go on and on singing about this place, but nothing beats value for money if you can stomach a plate of Chicken Curry Katsu so BIG, on a cold winter night... :P

We were walking around London Chinatown one weekend and the craving hit us, fitting the criteria of having something wholesome, big, crunchy, warm and fast. Z ordered Pork Katsu Curry, which is about £6, and basically larger than life.

I had Chicken Teriyaki with Rice instead, and it was crisp and crunchy, just perfect. I think it'd be better if it was less salty though. I guess I'm not that large a fan of Japanese curry as they are just not the real ones, seems to have this strange sweet after taste for me. Nevertheless, it was a simple happy giant meal in a overcrowded student-y place in Chinatown on a cold Saturday night. You'd be amazed how guys can eat after you visit this place.

Of Breakfast and Brunch

2007-11-14T21:07:00.000Z

There's nothing like Wednesdays, when the weekend is almost in sight, and the feeling is best on Friday night when you know you've got 2 alarm-clock-free days coming up, before Monday Blues set in, and the cycle repeats again.

Don't get me wrong though, I do like what I'm doing now at work. It has been enjoyable so far, each day you learn new things, or get better at your tasks. With a nice team of colleagues, working life isn't as bad as some make it out to be. In fact, I much prefer working to the student life. One big advantage is definitely the ability to switch yourself off after work, knowing that you can forget about things until the next day, unlike student life with exams in sight a few months in advance. Pressures you face are definitely different...

Yet I still do look forward to weekends for obvious reasons, as much as I like working :P After my usual Saturday morning routine of cleaning and tidying up the place, it's about brunch time and here's an 'artistic' version of the traditional English breakie ... I got some rolled eyes from Z for repositioning the sausages before taking the photos ;P

Alternatively, another approach to a nice' savoury brunch is a giant salmon and cream cheese pancake, definitely a hearty start to the weekend!

The Funghi Season

2007-11-08T22:00:00.000Z

All you need is mushroom soup, turkey breast cutlets, onions, and corn! And 15 minutes (in total). No kidding. Terribly sorry for the super short post, but my Internet connection screwed up last week and it did not save my entry at all, hence my long post was wiped out :S Look forward to the weekend for more exciting posts on birthday celebrations!

Of Portobello Market and Permutation

2007-10-23T23:00:00.000+01:00

Working life is miles different from being a student. Somehow part of me is really glad to move on and do something different instead of studying, yet there are perks of being a student in a beautiful place like Cambridge (except the silly workload). There are endless activities to get involved in, I definitely do miss the cookouts, formals, and the proximity of everything/friends whilst belonging in a quaint university town.

Working is not all bad either, you get to switch off after working, take a break/chill out, and finally make things happen and execute deals. But its a different ball game in a way that your colleagues are not really your real/close friends, so that takes time to get used to, although having fun/nice people to work with is one of the biggest plus point that'll probably make you hate/love your job :)

Anyways, you all probably know my fascination with markets whether its pasar pagi (morning markets) in Malaysia, or Christmas ones in Germany. All is good and I love it when people congregate in one place and display whatever random things they'd like to interest people to buy. I've been to Portobello Market (near Nottinghill Gate tube station) before, but it's nice to take a stroll in it on a Saturday as it has the widest array of stalls that day, despite being a bit too touristy.

I'd like to highlight this stall I spotted, unfortunately, after I had my lunch. Probably spotted it more through my nose that sight, but it has the most amazing looking/smelling Paella! The pan was lifesize too, and pretty good value for money too for the generous portions ...

Here's a close up of the Seafood Paella, I suspect that will trigger a Paella cooking session again pretty soon!

Meanwhile, I haven't forgot to cook, my dear readers :P Life's a bit too hectic at the moment settling down with so many changes and transition, but yeap, I haven't forgot about cooking for sure. This is what I conjured up in my kitchen, first cooked meal in the flat I must say. This is the time where you open your fridge and see what you've got, do some simple permutation and see what you can come up with.

So in my fridge I had some minced pork, chopped vegetables, eggs, noodles, garlic, soy sauce, chili sauce. Hence its fried noodles with those things, predictable. First, fried the chopped garlic, whilst boiling some water in a saucepan for the noodles. Then add the minced pork and fry till half cooked. The vegetables can be added then. By this time, the noodles should have been soft, drained, and add these to the wok. Finally, season with soy sauce to taste, then add the egg in the middle of the wok and let it set a little before scrambling it up with the noodles. The extra thing I added was a dash of sesame oil for a smoother, silkier taste, and of course a naughty scoop of chili to spice things up a little. Turns out pretty good, reminds me how long (2 months!) since I ate home cooked food :)

140 Park Lane Restaurant

2007-10-22T22:32:00.000+01:00

This is my first proper eating out experience in London after coming back from NYC training. Definitely something worth celebrating for :) Hence we went to this restaurant near Hyde Park Corner tube station, called 140 Park Lane Restaurant. Although a little quiet at this time of the year, the food and ambiance definitely made up for it.

The online menu has recently been changed, so I guess I have to use a bit of my imagination to explain what we had, though not in the most euphemistic of words! Starter was Rabbit Timbales & Sun Dried Tomato in Pesto Dressing with Toasted Brioche. Timbales is something like a mold, generally high-sided, drum-shaped and slightly tapered at the bottom and closed end, used to bake various dishes. This is a cold dish, with lightly seasoned rabbit meat, egg, cucumber and held together in a gelatine/jelly like mixture. Just imagine these ingredients being rolled nicely in a swiss roll shape and cut into an oval cross section :) Accompanied with the warm and lightly buttered brioche, this dish was a brilliant mixture of richness in the pastry and simplicity in the timbales. Lip smacking stuff! But there is more to come...

P had Grilled Cod Fish with Crabmeat Mash and tomatoes, the sauce, which I seem to have forget, how utterly embarrassing. Love how they place the parsley as decoration on top, though I do love parsleys with steam fish Cantonese style. Thumbs up from him for this dish.

Finally, I ordered Chargrilled Seabass with rocket salad in dressing and Deep Fried Quails Egg. I suppose you can say its a cholesterol disaster, but the egg was done beautiful with the yolk half cooked and melts in your mouth. The Seabass had crispy skin and wasn't overly flake-y, perfect cooking timing, complementing the salad well :)

Definitely a dinner to remember ...

Your M&M's dream come true

2007-10-15T17:28:00.000+01:00

Personally, I was never much of a fan of M&Ms even though I do like things with peanuts and chocolate, much prefer Asian types of desserts like mochi or festive kuih's (cakes/snacks).

Then again, when you see billboards in Time Square like these, how can you resist? This is definitely one of the largest M&M stores I've been, and definitely a must see. I literally stood there for a minute to watch the colorful M&Ms advert board snapping photos of it in broad daylight. What a tourist :P

And you know you're in NYC when you see this! That's one hell of a sexy version of the statue of liberty :PAnd this is the world's biggest wall of M&M collection, of any color and versions. I've seen white and dark chocolate ones, and even ones with almond and hazelnuts. I was oblivious to other merchandises at the store given this huge array of variety to choose from.

They even have M&M country packs too, with them packaged nicely according to country colors in a nice gift set. Maybe a good idea for rugby/football matches ...

But the only thing that brought down my defense and made me succumb to this M&M mania is this Shrek mix, i.e. 'Ogre sized peanut M&Ms'. Man, that was a great snack before trotting off to watch Bourne Ultimatum :)

The Inner Child In You

2007-10-07T17:27:00.000+01:00

Being in NY for a few days kind of dries up your desire for any more fashion sightseeing. Strange you might think, but walking pass so many Ralph Laurens, Abercrombies, Coach and even Zaras, I think I'd seen enough of clothing range to be able to write a 8,367 word essay consisting purely of clothing brands in NY.

Hence, it's time for something new guys :) It's time to feel what's it like to be a kid in NYC, hehe. Definitely a more refreshing perspective after doing too many window shopping in shops that things you admire but know will never buy :D

So what do kids in NYC do? First thought was to visit toy shops, and here is one smack right next to the Apple Store, which we'll come to later. This is FAO Schwartz, a posh looking toy store for kids and serious toy collectors. It has every single popular toy imaginable ... e.g. soft toys of all sizes,

toys for those musically inclined, like this life size key board where kids hop about to the sound of music ...
to Barbie fans ....
Lego mania ...
and some Potter magic! These are life size figures built from Lego sets, pretty neat yea?

Apple Store was next. Definitely a hip and cool place to visit. Apparently the Apple Store is opened 24/7. It's a basement floor building, but I was keen to check out the iPods and of course, the iPhone! Pity I didn't take any photos downstairs, but iPhone is one pretty impressive gadget I must say. The only down side I see is that it's quite difficult to type , and also it's rather ergonomic shape makes it a rather slippery phone to have. Cool but not practical, to me at least.
Another picture of Time Square at night! There's nothing in this world like that place, comes alive at night time with those multicolored bright electronic boards full with adverts, feels like Hong Kong in some ways ...

Back on 5th Ave!

2007-10-01T23:00:00.000+01:00

So, I finally passed all my exams yesterday! Woohoo, my life is back (for the moment), before I start work on Wednesday, hehe :)

It's back to the New York story, this time along 5th Ave in continuation of the (mostly window) shopping spree...

Here's the large Disney store along the street, filled with every imaginable kind of stuffed toys you want, yes, there's Mr Donald and Shrek in there too. It's about time I started growing up and out of these, :P

Any of you a 'The Apprentice' fan? Here's the exterior of Mr Trump's Tower. Had lunch inside too on the last day before I left. Definitely an air of sophistication which somehow leaves you in awe as you see the display of jewelry and other merchandises. Music at the bar was great too (it was Frank Sinatra's and other musical-y songs, suits a Sunday brunch for me!), though food wise wasn't that impressive, so let's not waste too much time on that...

More importantly, I managed to meet up with a good pal HH, who is working in Tokyo now, was there was training at the same time too! Yes, Japan! It was cool catching up with him in Little Tokyo, keeping each other updated of what has happened so far in the past 1-2 years since he left uni, and of course, life and work in the land of the samurais.

Dinner in Little Tokyo was even better! The place was near Aston Place on the green line, where Little Tokyo is situated. Humiliatingly, my Japanese reading skills has deteriorated that I can't read the name on the sign board as it's only written in Japanese. Nevertheless, that and the presence of many locals eating there is definitely a positive indication :)

And we were spot on! Can you believe this big mug of Asahi/Japanese beer just costs $3? HH was definitely a happy man munching and drinking away, haha

I had my first try of Oden, which according to Wikipedia, is a "winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs. daikon radish, konnyaku and processed fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth." The yellow condiment you see by the side of the bowl is Karashi (Japanese mustard).

To me, that's the Japanese version of 'Yong Tau Foo', a common Malaysian dish consisting of various fish cakes or vegetables/tofu stuffed with fish cakes, boiled fish paste dumplings etc, in a flavorful broth. I loved the Japanese version too! It's the ultimate comfort food

And we had few other dishes too! The glutton in us resurfaced especially since everything was relatively cheap in US dollars, effectively 50% off compared to London! Stir fried yakisoba was good as well, not too oily or salty. The beer definitely made me regret stuffing myself silly, happens after the weeks of deprivation of Asian food :S

It was a friend Sasha's birthday a few days later too! Visited the Grand Central Terminal, a majestic looking subway station, which looks best at night with the beautiful chandeliers lighting the large hall, with many restaurants and shops in it too. Amongst them is the ever famous 'Oyster Bar', and (duh) as the name suggest, seemed famous for their seafood and oyster selection. We decided to go upper class, celebrating her birthday with a glass of champagne with a couple of fresh oysters.

Geez, you must be thinking, but its fun acting like a posh snob sometimes! What's life without a bit of fun and giving yourself a little treat?

New York, New York

2007-09-23T19:30:00.001+01:00

Phew! Finally had some time to settle down and post up my American trip ... Thanks for being so patient. I've finally got over my jetlag, yet got caught in preparation for some regulation exams, and in fact still have not shifted my stuff fully.

Glad to be back in London, but starting to miss the buzz of NYC whilst training there! And of course, all the new found friends I've made :) I've only been in NY for 9 days in the whole of my trip to US, and hence we definitely made the most out of our short time there. Hehe

First night arrival in NYC after classes in Princeton, headed straight to the Hudson hotel. It's a pretty cool concept for the hotel, which looks and feels like a bar in the first place. The reception was pitch dark with small glimmers of light from the chandeliers, adjoining to the hotel bar/club, and there was no hotel sign outside saying 'Hudson Hotel' even, that I'm surprised the cab driver knew where to take us!

Anyways, by the time we settled down and went out for dinner, it was near midnight, and I've passed my hunger stage such that all I could stomach was this salad:

Taste wise disappointing, though slightly interesting presentation of it. Perhaps it was rather late for the restaurant to have freshly prepared chilled salads with good dressings.

Meanwhile, this is a typical scene taken outside my hotel, near Columbus Circus subway station. It's right next to Central Park, and just thought that a picture of the ubiquitous yellow NYC cabs are interesting :)

After a late Friday night out at the Hudson bar, miraculously I managed to drag myself up at 9am to go shopping with some friends at Century 21, which seems to have pretty good discounts, a place near Ground Zero/Wall Street. Here is a picture of the construction area near Ground Zero, pretty dusty I must say, especially on a humid day.

Macy's was up next, as it's apparently the largest departmental store in the world. Lunch was at the food court there, which has a wide array of selections. Always thought that food courts are the best places to check out what local specialties a place has to offer. As I was browsing through the sections, I saw this Pasta Board, which has Pasta a la Vodka, LOL. Not very appealing after a late night out full of that :P Interesting nevertheless

Dinner was at this place near the hotel called Landmarc, a place for good steak and REALLY NICE atmosphere. It was quite dark, but lit with dreamy yellow lights and candles. Food was great too, but unfortunately the food pics didn't turn out nicely due to dark light conditions. But I managed to get this chicken dish M had as I was trying out my new camera's zoom, and it turns out pretty good except for the odd glass at the left. :P

The next few days we were shifted to The Benjamin Hotel on East 51st Street. Seems like a boutique hotel with little rooms but classy decor. Can you believe that they actually have a 'PILLOW menu' for you to try on?

Time for some touristy stuff, and Rockefeller center was on the main agenda. This picture probably didn't do the architecture justice, as the building is pretty tall, but cut midway in this picture to show the beautiful waterfall and restaurant/bar they had at the basement.

C had a Caesar salad as she was 'detoxifying' after another late night out again, haha. A salad finally up to par I must say. Even the simple tomato basil soup I had was made to perfection, doesn't taste like it's out of a can, accompanied by freshly baked breads and mini madelines.

Food pics are rather scarce during the first few days in NYC as people were hungry and I couldn't snap their food photos in time, and of course, taking pictures of food was so foreign to them that I had to explain several times! More coming up next on my New York escapade!

Ba Back Real Soon!

2007-09-11T05:39:00.000+01:00

5 weeks have just absolutely whizzed by, and terribly sorry to all my dear loyal readers for the month's disappearance as training have been absolutely busy. So to speak I just got back from the classroom, and it's nearly 1am now.

Yet, fear not, I've so much to show and so much to tell about this US trip, despite being in Princeton 90% of the time. I certainly did make the most out of the weekend road trips, without, hopefully, jeopardizing the exam performance of this regulation test I have to take by next week.

US is great, but still I can't wait to go back to London to settle down in a new place and finally get used to the new surroundings and worklife. Eeks, I'm feeling old man :P

Weekend in Washington!

2007-08-31T21:39:00.000+01:00

This week has been real busy, with 9-5 lectures and constant homeworks. But it's all fun in the end when you get to know your friends (I prefer not to call them colleagues) much better. Plus we have an excellent corporate finance lecturer for 3 days, Mr Damodaran, which made the week much more pleasant than the accounting one.

It's the Labour holiday weekend here, and planning to go to DC for a day or two to check out the White house and all that jazz. Gotta have to do that despite the mountain load of work thrown at your face. Can't come all the way to the States and work, right? :P Definitely a test of time management here, with family, friends, work and own commitments, all fighting and screaming for a fair share of time ...

Anyways, still haven't manage to locate anyone here who's got a USB cable for a TZ2, so hopefully my literary power would come into great use in terms of describing what I've been up to. :) Trust me, my backlog food posts are immense. So take this as an opportunity for you to get to know Grace for 3 weeks without mentioning much about food :P

Back from NYC!

2007-08-26T04:41:00.000+01:00

Ahh, I'm finally back from New York! It's been a mad 9 days there going for training and trying to squeeze in as much time to sightsee, shop and of course eat :P

Literally just got back to Princeton, had a shower, unpacked and I'm online again finally :) Scary how dependent we are on technology these days...

Got loads of interesting stories to tell and pictures to show you all! Sadly I can't seem to find my USB cable to transfer my photo files :S I've gotta ask around some friends if they have the same model camera of Panasonic Lumix TZ2.

Fingers crossed I'm gonna get some positive feedback as pictures do paint a thousand words!

National Food

2007-08-13T23:00:00.000+01:00

In conjunction with Malaysia's Independence Day the end of this month, I thought it'd be appropriate to list down my favourite food that I think represents Malaysia. But then due to the immense culinary diversity in Malaysia, I just have too many favourites (if that makes sense) across the different local cuisines.

Hence, if I just have to list down my absolute favourite which I think is uniquely Malaysian, it's gotta be Nasi Lemak and Ice Kacang.

Nasi Lemak typically comprises of some warm fragrant rice steamed with coconut milk, slices of cucumber, fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, hardboiled egg, a good dash of sambal (a sweet and hot chili paste with caramelized onions) and chicken/beed rendang. The meat curry can vary from seafood (squid, prawn) to chicken and more usually beef. The preparation of each ingredient is rather simple, but it's slightly time consuming since there's so many ingredients needed for this dish. I'll post one in the future with my simpler version :)

In my opinion, Ice Kacang goes perfectly hand in hand with Nasi Lemak especially if the sambal is pungent and spicy! A standard ice kacang is made of shaved ice, dollops of Gula Melaka (a local brown sugar syrup), creamer, accompanied with some red beans, jelly, peanuts, sweet corn and canned fruits to form a gigantic snow mountain. It is a good drink/dessert on a hot summer's day, or for those craving for a good sugar high, hehe.

Currently in Princeton, US at the moment. First day of training is pretty hardcore. Hope to get some good posts in NYC next week then! Stay tuned :)

Swanky Sweden II

2007-08-03T09:24:00.000+01:00

Speaking about my IKEA furnished rooms previously, here's a few pictures for illustration. Strangely how something so basic and simple can look so elegant and classy, don't you think?

Even the wash room is spacious and practically designed. You can see the simple curtains for the shower on the mirror image. Somehow everything in Sweden seems to be designed to maximize space without making it look tacky or extremely claustrophobic, especially noticeable in the place we stayed in Stockholm. Apparently Britain may start building "IKEA-villes" in the future to increase home affordability for first time buyers, with houses/apartments furnished with IKEA furnitures and designs to save space. That'd be cool to see :)

Dinner was a stone's throw away from our hotel. Barely 20 seconds walk there (yup, the island is that small). I decided to take my parents and family for a full fine dining experience, not sure why I decided to do that in Sweden, a country with 25% service charge :P (ouch!). But it's well worth the time and money of course as I get comical responses from my parents given its their first time trying out fine dining.

Starters are either Seafood Cocktail with Buttered Toast

or Grilled Scallops with Asparagus Soup. I got my taste of both and I must say the latter is slightly better and more unique as I've never had home made asparagus soup before. It was creamy with tiny bits of asparagus, served in a dainty cup as you see below. The seafood cocktail was light and well dressed with citrusy flavours, matched well with the mini buttered toast. Grilled scallops done to perfection, lightly seasoned and bursting with springy-ness. Yumz!

I had Chargrilled Lamb shoulder with Polenta. I usually like my lamb slightly medium done, still pinkish, hence this fits my palate nicely. I was quite excited to try out Polenta too, which is basically coarse ground cornmeal, forming a thick mush after boiling and lightly salted. To describe the taste, let's just say Polenta is to Italians, what potatoes are to the Brits. I quite like it for a change of scenery after 5 years of potato, but I think I'd still miss my potato mash after a while :P

G had Steak with Mash and Tomato Salsa, I'm sure they'd a nicer name but the menu was in Swedish, hence I'm providing the basic breakdowns, heh. I don't really take beef, but with the lightning speed he ate, I'm sure it's good stuff.

M chose to have Squid Ink Tagliatelle (pronounced tah-lyah-tel-le) with Poached Sea Bream and Asparagus. You all know I'm a super-big-squid-ink ANYTHING fan (well, maybe not a drink on it's own), so I was relieved when M liked my recommendation :)

Think the highlight of the meal wasn't really the taste of the food nor ambiance of the restaurant, but rather the opportunity to be able to gather around as a family over dinner, and more importantly laughing over M's comical expressions of wonder and confusion like "You pay so much for this small amount of food?!". I don't understand much either about the fine dining concept, maybe the price you pay also includes the presentation (BIG plates with SMALL servings), ambiance (candles and yellow lighting etc), and even the expensive rent these restaurants have as they're usually situated at prime locations. I somehow prefer more 'down to earth' cooking, like the ones I had in Portugal, but nevertheless, it's nice to pamper and treat yourself once in a while :)

Swanky Sweden!

2007-07-31T00:52:00.000+01:00

Finally managed to get hold of the photos taken from my Stockholm holiday. Thanks to K's Canon SLR, photos (especially the food ones) showed significant improvement in quality! Hope my compromise on getting a Panasonic Lumix TZ2 recently provides an adequate compensation in terms of quality, trading off on it's weight/bulkiness .

Stockholm is a beautiful city by the sea, boasting hundreds of beautiful islands on the archipelago. We spend 5 days in Sweden, with one in Sandhamn, a quaint island just a short ferry ride away from the city. It's my favorite day in Sweden, just because the island is really small and there's not much to do except wine and dine and slacking around, which fits my criteria of a retirement plan :P

There are 3 main accommodation on site, 2 restaurants, a cafe and some grocery stores. That's a tiny island yea? But there are plenty of yachts around that day, as there's a competition going on. We arrived at noon and were instantly mesmerized by the crisp and fresh air, clear blue sky and crystal clear water

Lunch was at Seglar hotel's bistro, the largest hotel at the island (there are only 2 anyway) ...

I had Truffle risotto with grilled vegetables and pesto. It was a large serving, but it was really good that I manage to clean the plate :) The risotto was creamy and fluffy, yet maintained it's bite and not overcooked. The pesto sauce was freshly made, a good match with the lightly salted grilled peppers and even the truffle risotto.

G had beef for starters. Somehow I can't recall what it's called, but it was a roast beef dish served with some grilled vegetables and sausages, in a spicy tomato sauce, if not mistaken. Ain't it pretty?

M had fish for main course, also beautiful presented below. Poached lemon pike in a cream sauce served with vegetables. I really like the way to line up the carrot, beetroot and radish, not chopped up and on top of each other, making something so common and plain special.

And after lunch, all of us just retreated in our IKEA-like furnished hotel and slept for the afternoon... Now that's a real holiday :P

Chinese Snacks

2007-07-26T12:06:00.000+01:00

Cravings, cravings, what has it done to me? :P

I realized how much I missed this Chinese snack upon spotting the road side stall miles away, through my nose :)

Even in London, it's common to find Chinese crullers/you tiao/yau char kuey, sold by Chinese bakeries and the dim sum restaurants. It's a popular breakfast (yes, really) item in Hong Kong, served with warm congee (rice porridge). In Malaysia, it's commonly dipped in soya bean milk and also Bah Kut Teh (literal translation: Pork Bone Tea) soups.

Yet, there are many variations to this and this is my favorite one called Ma Keok (Horse's Foot). self explanatory as it looks like the horses' hoof. It's sprinkled with LOADS of sesame seeds and has some spice-y (no I don't mean hot) flavor to it. I think it's 5 spice powder or something. It's best crisp and fresh out of the hot boiling oil, cooled for a few minutes or so to allow all the oil to drip dry.

Another variation is called Ham Chim Peng. In this category, there is 3 types: salty, with glutinous rice, or with tau sar (red bean paste). You can call it a "Chinese donut", it can definitely rival the Krispy Kreme I must say. It's made out of flour, some 5 spice powder, ammonia powder and water. This is the tau sar version below.

Sinful stuff, I know. But what's life without some of them occasionally?

Bah Zhang (Savoury Dumplings) Round 2

2007-07-22T16:32:00.000+01:00

This is the revenge of the Bah Zhang that I'd promised since the first attempt in May that went awry. Good and accurate control of the water level is key, turns out perfect after the porridge-y version episode :)! However, this time I was less ambitious and reduced my 'guinea pigs' by 33% (from 3 to 2) :P

Same recipe as before (check out the May 07 archive for details), here are some photos of my attempt. This is the lap cheong (chinese sausages), sliced and dry fried. The more observant ones will notice that there's a small piece of the fat casing that fell off the top layer of the sausage on the table.

This is the wok in action, a picture of stir fried pork loin pieces (I used this instead of chicken this time), dried prawns, and Chinese mushrooms with seasonings.

Adding the glutinous rice that were soaked overnight, there's loads of tossing and stirring to be done...
Adding some light and dark soy sauce (I'm not really an Oyster sauce person somehow) for color and taste ...
Yan kindly brought a special extra ingredient of chestnuts to add the authenticity of the dish. And to think that I even forgot about that! You can see them in the final result below :D

Another dish improved, thankfully :) Taste wise you'd better consult Yan and/or P about it for a more objective opinion, as it's the norm to love eating what you cook :P

Delightful D'Arry's

2007-07-19T09:14:00.000+01:00

What better place to bring your family and friends for a meal in Cambridge?

I know, I know, I'm raving about d'Arry's again! Cause it's simply the place to impress, whether it's to show off British cuisine in a non conventional way, or that Cambridge is just not another nerdy town with pub grub and kebab stalls only :P

Graduation lunch here with my family and Yan provided the avenue for us (mainly me) to provide a more objective review of their main courses. All of us went for their main instead of lunch menu which only consist of lighter meals like sandwiches and wraps. My oh my, their menu didn't disappoint.

Ready to feast with your hungry eyes, mind and soul??

I chose Fish Pie (£10.80) which is a combination of salmon, smoked haddock and prawns on a bed of spinach, baked in a fresh and creamy white wine butter sauce with Parmesan herb crusted top, served with beautifully roasted baby new potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Yes, everything about it sounds evil with cream and dairy overdosage, ah well, it's graduation :P I'd have preferred a crustier top though, and given their extensive menu, I'd say that there are better options out there. However, their roast potatoes are to die for ...

K ordered Fish of the Day, which was Grilled Sea Bream on a bed of roasted seasonal greens. Look at the picture. Never have I seen such a beautiful masterpiece. Not only beautiful by sight, it was also grilled to perfection, with it's succulent texture and crispy skin lightly seasoned with salt.

I'd love to be able to do this dish in the future since seafood is my favorite thing. Something simple yet with such powerful impact if done perfectly ...

M had the Bacon and Barbecue Chicken (£ 8.95), which was reviewed in my previous post on d'Arry's. This is a safe bet with chicken breast grilled with a bacon rasher (to prevent dryness), BBQ sauce and melted Cheddar cheese, served with chunky chips and seasonal vegetables. The sauce was still good with a gooey consistency, something like sweet and sour sauce with extra cheesiness :) I absolutely love the chunky chips, their presentation makes big fries trendy again!

G had the 12 oz Scotch Rib-eye Steak (£ 13.95), grilled on demand with chunky chips, roast tomato, onion rings, seasonal vegetables with peppercorn sauce. Needless to comment on how it tasted like as the dish was finished pretty quickly, a big complement coming from a rather picky eater! However, I can't believe he didn't touch the onion rings! I'm not much of a fan as well I must say, but look at those irresistible onion rings and how can you not at least try them?! Boys ... :P

D had the special Dish of the Day, written on the blackboard. I don't exactly remember the name, but all I recalled was that he ordered Pan fried Shark Meat, how cool is that! It was served with some sort of sauce and vegetable dressing, with a purple potato timbales beautifully decorated on the side.

Ok, I might have just said a confusing and incomprehensible sentence. Let me explain ...

The Purple potatoes itself are uniquely of Peruvian origin. They are a smaller oval-shaped potato with a purplish black outer skin and vivid purple, dense inner 'meat'. I so love it when you have 'odd' colored food which add a special dimension to a dish! However, I learn that they are less flavorful as other potato varieties and tend to get mushy if overcooked. On the other hand, timbales is a cylindrical metal drum which are played with 2 sticks, seems to be common in European/Latin American culture, if I'm not mistaken. Hence the purple potato is shaped like a timbales in the picture below. Now you know what it means if you see the word timbales (pronounced teem-bah-les) in the menu of a fancy restaurant :) This dish received a thumbs up from D.

Yan's choice was also from the blackboard, this was her Shepherd's Pie served with lightly roasted asparagus and root vegetables (carrots, parsnips and purple radish). Highly suspect that purple may be a trendy food color or something :P Anyway, I liked the brown colored sauce dressing. The pie was really good and the vegetables nicely balanced out the gamey taste of the pie.

It was a good lunch fare for a special occasion. Definitely a day to remember ...

Lunch was beautiful :)

Copper Kettle

2007-07-18T09:28:00.000+01:00

The Copper Kettle restaurant at the heart of Cambridge (Kings Parade, just opposite the touristy King's College) serves a pretty good fare from breakfast to dinner. It's a good place to pop by for tea as well, sipping a cuppa with their beautiful array of desserts, cakes and snacks :) I brought my parents and Yan here on their visit to Cam for a try on their Mediterranean food.

Mom had grilled swordfish and aubergine with salad. This was all I could manage to take given the direct sun shine still at 7pm that day.

I on the other hand, was feeling slightly carnivorous that day and craving something meaty and more substantial. This gigantic braised lamb shank was the answer to my prayers :P

I also ordered hummus and pita bread as starters, as my parents have not tried them out before. Despite their curious looks and lack of adventurous spirit, they finally tried it out thanks to our persuasion :) I guess it's difficult to imagine eating mashed chickpeas with tahini sauce and pita bread for the first time!

Granchester Meadows

2007-07-16T04:22:00.000+01:00

The pre graduation mania is worth a post.

It's ironic to think that one should be more carefree and less stressed after final exams. Yet, it's simply just a different sort of stress with more administrative stuff to do, e.g. shifting, transport, accommodation search (for myself and parents), packing up etc etc. This was interspersed with more fun stuff like May balls, garden parties and simply catching up with friends, making the post exam 'holiday' of 3 weeks before graduation equally tiring.

I took the opportunity to walk out and about a day before my parents arrived, given that there was not much to do as most people had left, or busy with their parents, and moreover, the weather was more like summer for once. I went to Granchester Meadows to check out the B&B place that I booked for my parents to make sure it was okay. The place was pretty and the lady kindly recommended that I take a stroll to Granchester. Since I have not been there (& absolutely can't leave Cambridge without visiting it), that seemed like a brilliant option to fill up my time. :)

It was a nice, quiet stroll on a sunny yet cooling day... having some 'me' time musing over the past 3 years of Cambridge. Halfway there after 20 minutes or so the weather started to be... let's just say a bit unpredictable. Being neither here nor there, I had no choice but to pray that it doesn't rain and I don't get drenched.

This is what unpredictable British weather really means ...

The day started off like this ...

And when it was this I thought I was doomed to be drenched ...

But it progressed to this, without a single drop of rain after all, phew!

Finally making my way to the Orchard, I was keen to check out their famous tea garden for some tea and scones! They have a huge array of food, ranging from light stuff like scones and cakes to main meals like pasta and sandwiches.

I chose this gigantic fruit scone with jam for only 2 pounds, with a cuppa Earl Grey tea. Must say that I've never really been a big fan of scones, but this was pretty good and super filling! It's best eaten toasted I feel :)

Here are some pics of the beautiful tea garden and it's tranquil surroundings ...

Glad I finally made a visit there to take a long slow stroll by the river Cam before I leave... Gonna miss Cambridge a lot! T_T

Pub Grub at Slug

2007-07-11T21:25:00.000+01:00

Hey people! I'm finally back home in Malaysia for a short 3 week holiday! Expect a huge surge of posts frenzy as soon as I get over the jet lag :)

Here's another of my favorite British food, especially on a cold winter's day - Lamb Shank in onion gravy with peas and mashed potatoes. The perfect comfort food, hehe

But I still had this at Slug and Lettuce on the third week of June, maybe because it doesn't feel like a typical summer anyway this year with the strong wind and rain!

Be Right Back!

2007-07-01T16:27:00.000+01:00

Dear all,

Graduation has come and passed, and now I'll be away for a week of holiday in Sweden! Have way too many backlog posts, will be right back soon by next week to update on Swedish food :)

Gourmet Burgers

2007-06-28T08:49:00.001+01:00

Man, once exams are over, everything is a mad rush (still) in preparation for graduation. Have been going out and eating out most of the time and cooking less these days. Hence the these few upcoming posts would be highlighting a few nice places to grab a bite whilst in Cambridge (UK).

A new burger chain recently opened, marketed itself as an upmarket burger chain called Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK). I decided on the Venison burger, with spiced red currant & cranberry sauce and salad. This gigantic thing appeared right in front of me, while I just burst out in laughter, thinking of what strategy I could implement to chow down this thing which is like 20cm tall. Mind you, even if I open and stretch my mouth to the maximum, at most I could attack 60% of the height in one bite. Trying it the civilized way with a knife and fork was the way to go for me, despite the slight annoyance that I should get my hands on it and eat it the real way. :P The meat was medium done, which is perfect with a hint of pinkness, however, I found that the spiced red currant sauce was in fact over-infused with mustard which made it too hot to eat it in one go, where I started to burst into tears as the heat goes up into my nose instantly! But it was good all the same by taking out some of the relish, think they have a flavor imbalance there which is a pity for such a nicely done burger.

On the other hand, P had the Cajun Burger, 100% Aberdeen-Angus Scotch Beef, served with smoked chili mayo, salad & Cajun relish. We ordered a portion of fries for sides to share as well. This is how the Cajun burger looked...

And the cross section (innards) halfway through the quest of eating it neatly without dropping all the contents... As you can see P has better skill in managing his burger and manage to chow it down using his hand, cutlery free, hehe

Overall, I think it's a nice place to check it out, slightly pricier than other chains, but probably worth it only once in a while for a treat. I somehow prefer simpler yet equally tasty burgers in some pubs, and even Ramlee ones which size suits me better. I was full halfway through that giant burger already :) But for more exotic types of meat and sauces, do check GBK out.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen
43-45 Regent Street
Cambridge
CB2 1AB

Opening times
Monday to Friday 12pm to 11pm
Saturday 12pm to 11pm
Sunday 12pm to 10pm

Mapo Tofu

2007-06-25T02:30:00.000+01:00

Tofu has always been one of my favourite dishes as it's pretty versatile and adds different texture to dishes. There are mainly the soft, silken tofu's that are very fragile and breaks easily, or the harder, firmer version which are usually deep fried. Yet both types can still be used in soups, stews and stir fry dishes.

So here's a recipe for a classic tofu dish for those who love a slightly spicier kick to the relatively bland tofu, it's called Mapo Tofu, quite standard in most Chinese restaurants I'd presume. Getting the sauce right with a good balance of sweet, salty and hot is the key to this dish. The version I present below is a quick and simple method, do try it out! And of course, let me know how it goes :)

Mapo Tofu

Ingredients

2 x 400g packs of firm white tofu (in water), slice into big cubes
100g of minced pork
Garlic, 1 bulb, skinned and chopped coarsely
Spring onions, sliced coarsely
Chilli, deseeded and sliced coarsely
4-5 bulbs of shallots, deep fried
2 table spoon of preserved bean paste (tau cheo)
1 table spoon of hot chilli paste or sambal (I used a mixture of grinded fresh chilli and garlic)
300ml water
1 tablespoon of cornflour, dissolved in 2 tea spoon of water
Sugar, to taste

Steps

First, heat up the wok and stir fry the chopped garlic till fragrant and add the minced pork.
Continue stir frying till slightly browned.
Then, gently put the tofu pieces in and stir carefully around the wok and try not to break them.
Add the sauce mixture of tau cheo and fresh chilli paste.
Continue stirring for a minute or two before adding the water and let the tofu simmer for 5 minutes or so.
Do give the sauce a taste and add some sugar accordingly. You wouldn't want it too sweet, salty nor too hot. The sugar should balance out some of the saltiness and spiciness.
When you're satisfied with the taste, then add the cornflour mixture and stir the tofu around for a few seconds till sauce thickens and turn off the heat.
While it's still hot, garnish with some chopped spring onions, chili and fried shallots before serving.

There you go :) Note that I was slightly unconventional in the version of this picture with added mushroom as well as a friend was a mushroom fanatic.

Paella Party!

2007-06-21T14:16:00.000+01:00

Another post exam (rare) cookout. Promised R on this since last term so it's the perfect opportunity for a Spanish themed party coupled with a few jugs of ice cool Sangria after exams. I made Seafood Paella this time, and probably one of the easiest Seafood Paella recipe ever, so here it is to share with you guys to impress your friends during parties!

It's really easy, I presume this recipe is with minimal, essential, and easily available ingredients with maximum taste, speed and authenticity. :) Spoken like a true blue economist yea!

Seafood Paella

Ingredients

2 lemons, quartered
1-2 onions, diced into cubes
Two packs (200g) of mixed seafood (mussels, crayfish, prawns etc)
500g of Paella rice (or using Italian arborio rice is a good substitute)
A pack of frozen mixed vegetables (peppers, corns, peas etc)
1 can of chopped tomatoes with tomato juice
1-2 cubes of chicken/seafood stock
Salt to taste

Steps

First, heat up the pan with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add in the onions to stirfry till soft.

Then, add in the Paella rice, and swirl it around for a bit. Next up put in the whole can of chopped tomatoes. This gives the rice the red/orange-y color. Add 2-3 cups of hot boiling water to the whole mixture and let it boil.

As the frozen vege and mixed seafood are partially cooked already, you only add them last when the rice is almost ready.

It's important to check the consistency of the rice, you won't want it over mushy or too hard. You want it al dente and slightly hard in the middle for the 'bite'. So watch over your rice carefully, stir it around occasionally to prevent it sticking to the pan, add water bit by bit so that it does not overcook.

Meanwhile you can add the stock cubes for some taste. Add salt as well to adjust the taste of the rice. The rice probably takes about 30-40 minutes to cook to the right consistency.

Now when the rice is almost ready, add the frozen vege and mixed seafood into the mixture and mix thoroughly.

(*) Once that is done, you can turn the heat to maximum and leave the pan there for about 3 minutes to hopefully get the crispy, caramelized, toasted bottom found in traditional paella (called socarrat in Valencian). Once the aroma of toasted rice comes from the pan, remove it immediately, take the pan aside to let it cool.

Note that even though your paella may seem a little wet, it will absorb the excess broth when cooler, so not to worry, you'd want it slight wet when done. :)

Finally, just add the sliced lemon for decoration on top. Make sure your guests remember to squeeze the lemon on top of their rice before eating! It gives the paella an added dimension :)

There you go, the easiest, no frills paella you've ever eaten! Just like the theme of this site, we go for simple, do-able and speed, without sacrificing quality, taste and authenticity.

I'm in the process of reorganizing the site, so not only you all can refer for emergency recipes like these, there are also slightly more complicated and time consuming ones to come, for those who love a greater challenge in the kitchen :)

Comments and suggestions are definitely welcomed! :D

My List

2007-06-18T14:57:00.000+01:00

This is the final updated list of the Malaysian Blogger listing that I'd joined recently. Do take some time to visit each of them for their very own interesting content and unique writing style. :)

Once Upon A Time
Money Making Blog
Bubba Stuff
Little Raymond's
quaint melody
Seraph Chronicles
Route Brumeuse
Coder's Talk
Reggae And SKA
Art Of ApOgEE
THE VEGEMASTER LIFE
Boonage
Coretan Pengalaman Mat
Silverhorsegunnysack
BLUEAPPLE
scribbles
Diet & Detoxification
Karma Kameleon
Hsien's Dirty Little Secret
The Rojak Blog
keeyit
My Life Online
Fun Stuffs
Donny's Bits
Nicholas Chan's Blog
dream of's DESIGN
strike freedom 115
Truly Malaysia
It's another new day
Lisan's Scribbles
Ramblings of a 22 years old
The Towering Joe
Life's a Breeze
Life's Roller Coaster
AceOne118
In His Time
in His time
The New Sanctuary
a life full of surprises
Sketches of Life
Shannon's Old Space
Pikey Dude
SEO & Online Marketing Blog
ShowMeMoneyBiz.com
Snapshots
kahpengBlog
I am Who I am
yung . silent whisper
Simple Life
One blog.One girl.One story
The World Through My Eyes
Why Malaysia?
Etcetera~Etcetera
Giddy Tigers
Make Money Online: Exploring The Dark Side of Blogging
Xilly's Blog
Malaika Xiao Yu
My Home Recipe
SQKIKI�s Simple Tech
Nukilan Jejari Azhad
ITCHY HANDseng
Just My Lil' Organic Life
Oooh La La...
Weird World of MerapuMan
Fibre Art
The World at My Fingertips
Organic Income
Organic Parade
Shopping Flavor
Daily postings of a chung ling student
Something about LAI
KennyP�s Technology Blog
Women Mumbles
KuKuJian.com
Lyon & Wien
Under The SUN
Crumbs In Life
SotongZai's Flow In the Ocean
allthingspurple
Christene's Kitchen
toxicle.org
[ Wood ] [ Earth ] [ Cheap ] [ Flight ]
COMtech
Ah Ling's blog
Memoirs.:*CRoSs mY hE@Rt
~WoOLaLA~
vivivava Design
My Mothering Corner
Shoppingmum�s Home Office
My Filling Station
Shopping Mum
All about Beauty
Shoppingmum and Kids
datotalrandommessy.grey
Notes from my heart
Joy Montessori
wahlau's online hut
Cedric�s Asylum
mott�s mutterings
Just My Thoughts
delephant
Incoherent Ramblings
HOT STUFF
Make Money Online with Malaysia Love AGLOCO
MONTESSORIMUM.COM
Funky Cookies
Earn Money Online
PabloPabla's Whatever
Make Money with Blogging
Paris Beaverbanks
Free Links Giveaway
Free Blogger Templates
Blogsreview.Net
Making a Living
5xmom
How to be a Better Blogger
My Women Stuff
Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food
Best Recipes
Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget
Daryl's Discovery Journey
The fluff must go somewhere

Kitchen Experiments
Elliottwave Signal
Internet-Crazy Blog
Newopps Blog
Make Money Online Review Center
Little Penang
iFlicks
Healing tips and home remedies
Ornamental Fish
Grasp! Seize! Get hold of it!
Life Snapshot
Mental Freedom, Por Favor
Eat. Live. Be Merry!
Funny Junk Addicting Flash Games Pictures Video Clips
mott�s island
Clinke Bidding Directory Blog
Easy Home Cooking
FrenzRSS.com
Pink Poison Store
Show Me Health Biz
The Undeniable Beauty - Revamped
An Anonymous Journal
Cyberpartygal
Blank Canvas
She Rambles On
charcamayne
Money Online | Adsense Money | Tips For Adsense
Belajar Cara Membuat Blog Wordpress
Usahawan Internet
Peluang Perniagaaan Internet
iNicholas
Made In Penang
Syaf The Geek
snapshots of life with Cheng Leng
iCalvyn.com
Blogging Through Depression & Life
Trying to Save Money
novatech personal playground
Little World Of Thoughts
Sumber Dekorasi & Laman Anda
Menarik.com
INSIDE MY MIND
Sleepy As Usual
blogs">thoughts ---> blogs
Share Everything In Life
Value Bookshop�s Reading Notes
Tips and Tricks to Happy Parenting
BERSAMA MEMBINA KEJAYAAN
THE BITCH CLUB
datotalrandommessy.grey
Artmaker
BlogWawasan.com
life is beautiful
Adino Online
Penang Homes
Physical-e
A Mom's Diary
Health Freak Mommy
mrdefinite.com - It�s hot
Tracking Movies
SquareCookies
MonkeyWong
Voice of a Glass Doll
Online Article Directory
Bambang
Wise Life Advice
Kaklong Online Portal
Down Memory Lanes
Sleeping Princess
Online Bisnes Forex Marketing Blog
project010
ProTechWang.Com
Bleargh
Pigeon Card
Pianologist
KCLau�s Money Tips
The Great Swifty Speaketh
Mr & Mrs. Imran
If fate allow our destinies to meet
From chopstix to steak knives
Where's My Noose?
Duke Amiene Rev
Mum & Kids In Wonderland
Yum-Yum Cuisine
Software, Web Development and Technology
just another ordinary story
Mummy In Vain's Little World
How To Solve Your Question
F�LLi�g L��V�S
add this to my life
Free Encyclopedia
High Paying Keywords
try-test
arshad's photojourney
EvelynHolic
RajaBLog.info
Lovelymummy's Bay
My Yummy Cruise
Home Sweet Home
Lovely Mummy
OnlineBisnes Malay Blog
Purest of e2wen
MyAnimes MySpace
Blog Badruzamani.Org
Parenting Life
Forum Newbie Bisnes Internet & Blogger
Mohd Sufian
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
hcfoo's blog
Culinary Cravings
The Sanctuary
Welcome To cHrIstInA_YY's Pink World
Defying Destiny
Dead Boredom Seeking Freedom
Travelogue
An amazing & adventurous journey
Erin
Nurjenna
[B][E][A][U][T][I][F][U][L]
Fluffy's Day Off
My Fairy-Tale

London Escapade

2007-06-18T13:38:00.000+01:00

London was on the menu last week for a great break from Cambridge, tying it in with watching Les Miserables, the musical! The best part was getting center first row seats, as I booked it real in advance during the Easter term. 3 words, a must watch (!) and it's my favourite musical thus far :)

But before theater, a group of us paid a visit to C&R, the Malaysian restaurant in the heart of Chinatown for a quick bite. Brought R there as she has not been before and I was keen to introduce this place to her as the food there is quite authentic. This is the Kampung Nasi Goreng (Village Fried Rice) that P had. Nicely done with the rice dry and separated well, fried with chilli and seafood and some cabbage.

R and I had Wah Tan Hor, as you'd probably have guessed, since it's my favourite noodle dish when eating out back home. It is flat rice noodles (kuey teow) fried with vegetables, fish cakes, thin slices of pork and seafood, all covered in a starchy eggy sauce. MmmmM bliss :P

Unfortunately, I had food poisoning soon after dinner, and thankfully it was much better before the show start after spending some quality time in the loo. :S

Seems like this is a recurring theme as my brother had the same experience a few month ago after having dinner there. Sadly the food quality in terms of cleanliness has gone down tremendously, so do be careful if you are still going there for dinner. Food there is still great though.

C&R Cafe Restaurant
3 Rupert Court
Soho
London W1D

Authentic Sri Lankan Food

2007-06-15T10:04:00.000+01:00

Rice Boat is one of the newer additions to the bustling food scene here in Cambridge. It serves Kerala cuisine, a state in southwestern India. As both my supervisor and course mate were Sri Lankan, rest assured it should be the authentic stuff I'm trying.

On the menu, you find some familiar items from Malaysian cuisine like Biryani rice, Chapatti, Pratha and assorted curries. You can check out the menu here. This is something I tried with the recommendation of my supervisor. It is called Puttu, which is ground and powdered rice, steamed in a bamboo tube, with a pinch of salt and a little grated coconut. Sounds pretty healthy eh? It is made of wild/red rice, hence looks a bit brown as shown below. I have just scooped a tablespoon of curry on top of it for picture purposes :) Apparently the way to eat it is the crush it with the back of your fork till it is mashed up and mix it with curry. Don't underestimate this little thing, it is REALLY filling!

But it was an excellent experience trying out a new cuisine, broadening my food horizon again :D