Shopping, Leisure and Travel

Red Chopstick Restaurant @ I-Avenue

2009-05-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

As we enter, this restaurant has a little chinese + modern type decoration. It is famous of it's "Tong Sui" (sweet broth?) and also "Mee Sua Tau" (Noodle soup). Usually pack during lunch. You need to go a little earlier to avoid waiting for long to be served.

~The Menu~
Main Course - Rice in set or Noodles

Dessert - There's "Tong Sui" or Ice Dessert or "Tong Yuen"(sweet dumpling)

Main course we ordered :
Nyonya Curry chicken rice

Spagetthi cum satay set.

And here comes the Famous "Mee Sua Tau". The portion is a bit small.. but it would be just nice after some dessert.

Dessert that we ordered:

Peanut thick soup with Tong Yuen. Yummy !! They also have a set of 3 different flavors that includes black sesame, peanut and red bean, all without Tong Yuen.

Or if you do not like creamy type, you may order this Sweet Potato dessert. (Fan Sue Tong Sui).

This is a restaurant that I will come and visit again...

Asian Style Spagetthi

2008-10-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Did you miss my home cook recipe ? hihihi.... not something to be proud of actually.

I never buy spagetthi from our cafe as I always think that I can cook the "same" as they do. :-D I don't see anything special in their servings. Neither do they have a nice deco. Hence, I will turn to other choices.

I do not cook spagetthi because I want to have it. It is always because I do not have enough time to cook rice and sometimes I do not have "enough" ingredients to make up a few dishes. That's when I take out my spagetthi.

My ingredients always changes. This time, I cook it in Asian style, like "fried noodle". :-D (Got the idea from my colleague).

Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients that I used:
For frying
Sausage
Button Mushroom
Mix vegetable
Crab meat
Onion

For taste
a slice of cheddar Cheese per serving
tomato sauce
dash of Salt
dash of sugar
dash of pepper

For garnishing
Herbs

Method:
1) In a pot, bring water to boil and cook spagetthi.
2) In another pan, heat pan. Add oil. Fry onion till fragrant. Add all "frying ingredients" in and saute till fragrant.
3) Add tomato sauce, salt, sugar, half cup of water / milk. Bring water/milk to boil. Turn off flame. Add in pepper and cheese.
4) Sprinkle herbs on top for garnishing.
and it's Ready to serve. :-)

My Asian Style Spagetthi. Something different from the usual Spagetthi Bolognese. :-D

Dragon Fruit Flower

2008-10-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a dragon fruit flower ? It was my first time.... I only come to know that dragon fruit flower blooms in the night from 9pm + to 11pm and it only bloom once a day. After that time, it will close...

Here are some of the close shots I took.

Sou Men (素麺) Soup

2008-10-09T23:44:00.000-07:00

This is my first Sou Men (in Japanese) soup.

My neighbor taught me a very simple and fast dish which I never thought that it would be Such DeLlicious.
She cooked it with Yam cake made by herself and I replaced the yam cake to Sou Men. :-) (as I always do change recipes). hahaha

Serves : 4 ‾ 5

Ingredients:
1 pack (250g) Sou Men (素麺) 250g
4 shallots (finely chopped)
1 big Shiitake mushroom (soak till tender)
2 stalks Kau choy (ku chai)
1 bowl Bean sprout

Soup base (Seasoning):
3tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
pepper to taste
(adjust the soup taste depending on the brand and the intensity of the sauces)

Garnish (optional)
Parsley

Method:
1. In a pot, bring water to boil and put in sou men. (add a little oil) Boil till tender. Drain and flush sou men in cold water.

2. Fry shallots till golden brown. Put aside, add shiitake mushroom and fry till fragrant.
3. Add 3 bowls of water, cover with lid and bring water to boil.
4. Add Kau choy and bean sprout and seasoning, simmer for just a little while.
5. Turn off flame. Divide the sou men into each serving and add in soup.

And it's ready to serve ! This is one dish that you must try. But if you do not like shallot taste, then reduce the amount.

We all simply love it !

Mee Sua Yong Tau Foo

2008-09-20T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hi... I'm back with my own recipe again. :-) LOL

I always test on new food. I don't have a "fixed" recipe for all my cookings. Such a nice phrase... LOL. Actually, I'm just trying to twist and turn so not to expose that I don't know how to cook. :-D

Maybe it's because I am really not a picky eater, therefore, I cook anything that I can find from my fridge or just anything that comes into my mind. As long as it can still be eaten, healthy and taste not bad, right ? See... I have great supporters to test my cookings. :-D

Not bad, mom...

Here it is, my Mee Sua Yong Tau Foo. :-D

Not to praise myself, hubby said it's very very good, especially the mee sua. :-D He took 2 big bowls.

Ingredients:
5 Mee Sua
Yong Tau Foo ( buy ready made fish balls, ladys finger, etc)
3tsp Sesame oil

Soup base :
2tbsp anchoves (mee sua and Yong Tau Foo itself somehow is salty. So, do not put too much of anchoves)
Water 4 cups
some black pepper to taste
2 slices of ginger

Method:
1) Wash and drain anchoves
2) Bring water to boil and simmer anchoves, ginger about 15 mins.
3) Drain anchoves away from the soup and add ready made Yong Tau Foo and pepper. Bring to boil and turn off flame.
4) In another pot, boil water and cook mee sua. Drain out mee sua.
5) Put all cooked mee sua in a big bowl and add some sesame oil. (Mee sua will not be sticky and lump into a big clog). Sesame oil adds fragrant too.
6) Divide mee sua into per serving, add soup and yong tau foo. If you have parsley, do garnish some on top for nice decoration.
And... it's ready to serve !

Easy & simple. :-)

*Note: If it is not taken instantly after cooking, drain out the Yong Tau Foo from the soup to deter the Yong Tau Foo from being overly soft and not crunchy.

Twisted Pasta Soup

2008-09-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from Bukit Jambul's "The White Coffee" restaurant. One of their menu "Nissin Soup Noodle".

In Japan, "Nissin" brand is famous for it's cup noodle. Just like Malaysia's "Maggi" brand. Again, as a "health freak", I turned it's "Nissin Soup Noodle" to become my own "Twisted Pasta Soup". :-D

There it goes....

Ingredient wise, I only changed the instant noodle to Italian twisted pasta and the soup base from instant soup to anchovies soup. Egg and sausage was the original dish served. It is sold RM 5.90 per bowl, if I'm not mistaken. Mine is more healthier, isn't it ? :-D

My ingredient:
Soup base :
Anchovies
little salt
1/4 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Garnishing :
1 egg
1 sausage
1 crab stick
2 tbsp bean sprout
1 stalk of siu pak choy

Easy, fast and healthy. :-D
Don't always have to prepare rice for dinner and it's yummy !

Ang Chiew Mee Suah (Hong Chau Min Sin-cantonese)

2008-08-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is Hock Chiew's signature Mee Sua or Min Sin.

This is Sitiawan's famous dish. It's like Kei Si Hor Fun (sliced chicken noodle) in Ipoh.

My first try on this dish was back in 1999, almost 10 years ago. I can say that I like it very much.

What so special about this dish ? The soup base is not merely braised by chicken stock nor pork stock. It entails chinese red rice wine which soaked in for 3 months before it's ready to be used.

As below pic, glutinuous rice with red rice and wine cake.
Mix them together and soak for 3 months.

It is then kept in bottle and ready to be used to cook ginger chicken soup or saute chicken with it's rice wine. MIL used to cook soup whenever it's the birthday of any of the family members.

The mee sua is first cooked with plain water. After it is cooked, drain it. Then, scoop up some oil from the red wine soup and mix to the mee sua. In this sense, the mee sua will not stick in one big lump, and it is much tastier.

*Note: There are 2 types of mee sua from Sitiawan. One is fatter and the other thinner. I like the thinner type. It goes well with this soup.

In fact, this dish is also perfect to be eaten during confinement since it is made of rice wine and also cooked with chicken and ginger. I had it almost every other day during my confinement. nmm... it's yummy !

This Signature Dish has also been blogged by Motormouth from Ipoh earlier on. You can check out from his blog on where to find this dish in Sitiawan. As for Penang (mainland), there is one coffee shop selling this at night. It is at Tmn. Mutiara night food court, BM. Main road to Jit Sin (SRJK) Secondary high school, coffee shop facing the main road. (the morning wet market is at the back).

Hoe Si Fatt Choy-Stewed Mushroom, Oyster, Moss

2008-08-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

My version of stewed Mushroom, Oyster without Moss. :-)

When I opened my fridge, all I could see was only chinese herbs, mushrooms, some dried food, cabbage and lettuce.....

Gosh... What can I cook from these ingredients ? Really scratched my head.

All of a sudden, I reminisce my grandma's Hoe Si Fatt Choy. We used to have this dish during chinese new year. But not anymore ever since she passed away 24 years ago.

Since I have Big Mushrooms and dried oysters in my fridge, I decided to stew them even though I hadn't got any moss nor pork for the soup base.

To compensate pork or chicken meat, I thought of using anchovies, but I remembered hubby didn't like the smell of it. Being obsessed with chinese herbs, I ended up using chinese herbs as the soup base. :-)

Soup base Ingredients:

10 red dates (pitted)

4 flower seeds ? (sorry, I forgot what it calls. If anyone can pic that, pls let me know. The one in brown color in the pic)

1 dried abalone (it's not 100% original abalone. Can get it from chinese provision shop).

3 dried oysters (not those big ones during CNY. Got it from sundry shop).

2 dried longan

2 tbsp of Kei Chi

8 dried shitake mushrooms, soak in a bowl of water, retain water for cooking

1 tbsp of thick soya sauce

Marinate Mushroom -for 15 mins after mushroom is soft.

1 tbsp of corn starch

1 tbsp of oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

Method:

1) Wash and soak mushroom for 1 hour and drain.

2) Soak for the second time and retain the water for stew.

3) Drain mushroom, add starch, oyster sauce and sugar. Leave aside.

4) Boil water with the soak mushroom water together with all the soup base ingredients for 15 mins.

5) Put the mushroom and the pot of soup into slow cooker, add thick soya sauce and leave it to stew until soft.

This was my first time preparing it and hubby said it's tasty. Before I stew them, I took out a cup of the sup base and let my kids and hubby taste. They all like it. :-) It leaves me more confident to stew them using the soup. :-)

Though, it is not the original Stew Mushroom, Oyster and Pork, but this is as good.

Javanese Jawa Mee

2008-08-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with my friends yesterday about cooking Jawa Mee and they said that I never posted anything about Jawa Mee. I remembered snapping some photographs of it the 1st time I cook at my new home. I must have forgotten to post it again. Yesterday was my 4th time, if I've not mistaken..

Here is my Jawa Mee, the revised version suitable for kids - not so spicy and with healthy ingredients.

Serving: 4

Preparation + Cooking Time: 45 min

Ingredients:

Yellow noodles

Rice vermicelli/rice noodle

Soup / Gravy

3 medium sweet potato

2 medium potato

3 small tomatoes (in replacement of Asam Jawa)

100ml tomato ketchup sauce (add more or less to suit own taste)

3 tbsp chili sauce (add more if spicier taste is preferred)

4 shallots

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

** Optional : 40g chili paste with onion (bought from wet market or buy RM1.00. Half for the gravy and half for garnishing sauce)

Garnishing
3 medium eggs, hard boil
1 stalk chinese lettuce, shredded

2 cups bean sprouts, briefly blanched

1 tofu (soy bean cake), thinly sliced
Fried beancurd slice (in replacement of prawn cracker)

2tbsp chili paste to taste

fried shallots to taste

Garnishing: Prawn Cracker (MIL's secret recipe)

300g medium sized shrimp

300g flour

100g frying powder Hup Loong Batter Premix

salt to taste

Method

1. Bring 3 cups of water to boil.

2. Skin sweet potato and potato.

3. Cook sweet potato, potato and tomato until tender.

3. In another pot, cook hard boil egg.

4. Wash, drain lettuce, bean sprout and tofu.

5. Shred lettuce and cut tofu into cubes.

6. Marinate tofu with sugar and light soy sauce, put aside. (for better taste. You many skip this one).

7. Drain out sweet potato, potato and tomato. Blend them together until very smooth.

8. Remove from blender and pour it back to the pot that boils the potatoes. Mix it and boil with low flame.

9. Saute shallots until golden brown. Add chili paste and saute till fragrant.

10. Pour in shallots and chili paste into the potatoes pot. Mix it well.

11. Add in tomato sauce, chili sauce, little salt and light sauce.

12. Bring it to boil or until soup is thicken.

And it's done ! Ready to serve

Oops ! I forgot to put on shredded lettuce ! :-D

* In my previous cooking, I added lime for a more intense sour taste. However, I find that Ernest always have throat irritation at night each time after having the Jawa mee. He has no throat irritation after I eliminated lime into the cooking. Thus, I guess, he is allergy to lime.

Wanna give a try ?

Lunch at Victoria Station

2008-08-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

"Victoria Station" is not a new place for any steak lovers. However, it is new for me to dine in for a lunch. A very heavy lunch, I had today with my colleagues, 25 of us in total.

While waiting to be served. I order a strawberry milk shake, which is Ernest's favorite fruit juice. It's very tasty.

We were then served a bun. Till we finished up the whole bun, our soup was still not served. We kept waiting and finally.....
Crabmeat Sharkfin soup. It would be much satisfying if the soup was 100% hot.

And.... our main course is here..... :-D
Just joking.

It's this one. I ordered Lobster + beef set. It comes with one special side dish, i.e bake pumpkin. It's 90% similar to fried wedges. We did not notice it until we tasted it. Very nice. :-) The lobster was baked with cheese. I find it a bit overcooked. The beef was just ok for this set.

This was another main course ordered by my colleague. Lobster + Salmon. This set isn't in the menu, they special ordered it. The salmon, nmm... it's not nice.

The 3rd set is Lobster + Lamb. I don't like lamb, but this lamb was good. Really good. It's very tender.

A complementary deep fry prawn from my colleague. The portion was too much. She can't finished hers, but I can 'cas I have an elastic stomach. :-D

We all were actually more than full, really full and for the girls, none of us could finished up our own portion. I meant including all the side dishes in the serving.

Yet, we still have another dessert...
Chocolate mousse cake with a scoop of ice-cream. Some were served with cheese cake or coffee cake. Cheese cake was the best among them.

At the end of the course, we were served with a tea / coffee. Me and another colleague couldn't tolerate anymore. We needed something non-sweet and thus, we put a deco lime on the fruit juice into our tea ! :-D Well, that was nice for a temporary digestion. :-D

I couldn't elaborate how full we were, but I didn't had any dinner tonight. It was just too much. I think I will not take anymore seafood or beef for at least another few months.

The sets were RM 73.00 each. (1 soup, 1 main course, 1 dessert + coffee/tea). Worth it, isn't it ? Will you try it out even if it's not a treat?

Pizza at Bella Italia, Belissa Row.

2008-07-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

Pizza anyone ?

Going to Pizza hut for pizza seems nothing new. In fact, kind of boring. I personally don't really like the base of the pizza made by Pizza hut. I feel that it is either too thick for the normal crust or too thin for the pan pizza. Don't they have something very similar to the Real Italian Pizza ?

I was craving for one true Italian Pizza. Since we were at Penang and Ern chosen to go for pizza, we came to this restaurant, Bella Italia. :-) This was my 2nd time to this restaurant. The first was few years back (it does not mean that it is not nice. Just that it is far from home).

We arrived late and we were starving. So we got outselves a mushroom soup and some garlic bread first while waiting for our main course.

What to order ?
There are varieties of pastas. To name a few, Fettucine, Penne, Ravioli, Penne, the famous and common spagetthi and also lasagna.

Apart from the pastas, there is of course our delighted Italian pizza.
Pizza Margherita-only tomato, cheese and basil as toppings. It's for people whom likes mild taste and plain type.
We ordered Pizza Quattro Stagioni. We can't eat much but wanted to try different flavour. This quattro stagioni comes in 4 different taste in 1 pizza.

While waiting for the main dish to be served... we had garlic bread w mushroom soup. We waited for long for the main course to be served. The kids were already making noise. So, the manager offered us more garlic bread at no cost. :-D

The restaurant was full. We were seated outside the restaurant. Thus, mosquitoes everywhere...especially on the head area

While waiting.... Too boring nothing to do...
I like these oil bottles very much.

At last, our Ravioli came. Ravioli are pasta that wrapped with cheese inside and is served with cream sauce. This is also one of my favorite menu. Recommended. ;-)

Our pizza only came in 45mins after we ordered and after we had finished everything. Thus, I could only managed to snap this quarter left pizza. :-D
As soon as it was served on the table, it was grabbed and taken all by the 3 boys.
Take a look at the pasta. It is very thin and soft. Not crispy like Pizza hut's. It is bake in very low heat at charcoal fire place. The pizza were still very juicy. Recommended. This is a must try menu.

Very cheezy.... very delicious ! nmm.... yummy.

Our bill came to about RM 70+. It's abit too expensive but still affordable once awhile.

Bella Italia provides genuine Italian tastes food. A restaurant you must not miss. ;-)

Our Beautiful Adeniums

2008-07-20T10:54:00.001-07:00

This is one of our Adenium plant given by MIL when we moved to our new house. MIL said, these few were her most beautifully grown ones.

4 months later after we moved, the flower blossom so much. So Much. Unbelievable. It was so beautiful.. so, I thought of snapping a few shots and keep as rememberance.

Every branch that has leave, will bloom few flowers ever at the very short trunk.

Amazingly nice.

Now my house has 11 pots and all of them bloom beautifully. My neighbors too grow Adenium at their house, but is still waiting for it to bloom. Maybe, they take too much care of it. :-D

Beautiful Caterpillar

2008-07-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a real caterpillar before it turns out to be a beautiful butterfly ? Frankly speaking, I've never in my life and this was my first time ever and it was so close.... just at my garden :-) Yes, it's this little creature on my plant.

On Sunday evening, I found my porch tiles had lots of black dots. I wondered what it was.. and my neighbor said that it's worm. I thought to myself, worm ? What worm? No legs, only black dots. I tried looking everywhere at my plant but couldn't find anything. So, I ignored.

On Monday after I get back from work, I felt something different to my Adenium plant. Seems so bright. Then only I realized that it is bold ! (below pic!) The used to be beautiful full with green leaves and flowers now became Clear ! Left only it's trunk. I was soooooO shocked.

I slowly walked to the plant and carefully examine it. I can't really go too near as the floor was scattered with black dots. (which my neighbor earlier said it was worm's poo-poo). Then I saw it. Hiding behind on of the trunk.

As soon as I saw this wriggly thing, my whole body shivered and I stood very still not knowing what to do. I continuosly shivered for about 5 mins. (Even when I'm writing this post now !) It's really eery...

I was alone and in a rush to prepare dinner before I go fetch my kids. At the same time, I'm afraid that this thing will disappear. I called Mrs. Rain for help. I know there's nothing she can do, but just to provide a listening ear. (Hoping that my goose bump will be transfered to her. LOL. :-D )
As it is so difficult to describe how big it is, I decided to snap photos to show her.

Then, I found that it's actually very beautiful. It has a glowing body.

It's body is as green as the leaves and it has some yellow spots.

Not long after, I found that my time had passed and I already had to go fetch my kids home.
Not with any surprise, Ed was not afraid. Instead adore it so much. Ern was a little hesitated, just like me. :-)

He was trying to say that the caterpillar was big.

About 7:05pm, this caterpillar is getting sleepy. :-D Drowsy eyes..

We waited for hubby's return to remove it. It's body was really soft. Must wait for it to crawl on the stick by itself.

We did not want to kill it. So, hubby took it out from the house and wanted to throw to the drain. Not sure if it will still climb back to our plants. Before hubby could do anything to it, Ed had already began begging his dad not to throw it. He wanted to have it until it turns into a butterfly.

After much begging, he won. I found him a plastic container and we kept it in.

It's body was really beautiful. The dots were neon green yellow.

Is he hungry ?

Very tame insect. The more I look at it, the more I like it. But I can't have it in my garden. It ate up my whole plant in 24Hrs !

I used a dish wrapper and cover it. I poked many holes for it to breathe. The next morning, I found it hide inside the leave and I saw many webs.. it's a bit like cocoon.. but I think it's dead. Felt sorry and sad. But I really do not know what to do with it.

Is this really a caterpillar that will turn into a beautiful butterfly ?

BBQ with Colleague and Family

2008-06-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

1 mth anniversary... It's actually 1 month anni that I did not update this blog. I've been very lazy uploading photos..... Actually, am enjoying my life :-D

Last Sat, FUN, I had, WE HAD.... it was BBQ at pool side organized by my dept director for our hardwork and achievement made for Q1. All the main food were sponsored by the managers while some of us brought over home made jelly and some crackers.. ;-) Yummy~~~ I made Egg sandwich for the gathering. :-D

My egg sandwich was not those normal egg with mayonaise... ;-) I added Japanese cucumber and onion into it. Plus some pepper and salt for seasoning ;-) Oops... so sorry.. that due to busy preparation at home, I forgot to snap any photo of it. Additionally, due to overwhelming response (too delicious), it was finished up before snapping any photo of it. :-p

BBQ fun. My colleagues had started BBQing when I arrived.

This is the seafood with Tomyam sauce. A bit salty but was nice.

Chicken marinated with honey and soy sauce. This was fantastic ! (especially when someone else's BBQ and U just eat. LOL ).

There was also black pepper chicken. But Honey chicken was better.

We also have fresh BBQ salmon (Yaki Sake). Nmm... this is really gr8. Original taste. No salt or sugar or seasoning added. This is a must menu the next time u do BBQ. Wah... ichiban !

Other than BBQ stuffs, one of our manager's wife made us sushi roll and Fried Tang Hoon. :-D

Oops.... this is Hotate. Scallop in Japanese. Yes, it is the fresh raw scallop.

I arrived at the very right timing. All food were unpacked, ready on the table. BBQ stuffs were also done ready on the table. I just need to eat ! LOL

After awhile... more ppl came.. and we continue to eat and chat. See the lady in black ? She is the one whom prepared the sushi, fried Tang Hoon, Korean pancake with vegetable, potato egg salad and the last Cool dish was "Kimchee". Cool ~ isn't it. hehehe... the true Kimchee... A good Korean chef. ;-)

Oh, BTW, where has my kids gone ? :-O They disappeared themselves to the pool as soon as they arrived. That's why I could eat all I can. :-D
After awhile, they got up from the pool and went to play at the playground.

We also prepared some entertainment. Ern with his violin again. :-D This time, he practised 2 songs specially for this occasion. 1. Friend (Pang Yau sung by Alam Tam), and the second song was 2. Tung Hwa (sung by Kwang Liang). Tung Hwa is one of Ern's favorite chinese song.

Ed did practised 2 songs to play too. Due to the mini compo was not ready at that time, Ed did not present it in front of everyone. He played it specially for this 2 sisters only. :-)
(Ed is at the back there playing with his new friends after the presentation)

Well, that was the entertainment part. Party wasn't over yet with the food introduced just now. The main one is this.
:-O What's this ?

It's head.

There it is. Already guessed it ? I wasn't waiting to eat. I was trying to back off from the camera.... since I was only carrying the plates rather than the main dish.

Yes! It is Salmon Sashimi. Our favorite Sashimi ! This was the one main dish that all of us were waiting for the whole entire evening. :-D
This salmon weighs 4.44kgs and it's only RM 111.00
Worth buying the whole salmon, isn't it ?

One whole big salmon. Nobody dares to take first. Not only after our sponsorship, the one in photo below. :-)

I think I had more than 10slices of the salmon. Freshly bought from morning market. That was the last dish served. After it was entirely swept up in just 10 mins ?, everyone started to pack and go home. (very realistic. hahahah)..

Well, it was already 7pm and it was getting dark...
A great evening. :-)

Here are some pics of the making of Sushi roll..

Home Cook Curry

2008-05-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I'm late home from work, I'll cook something that is easy, fast and the kids like. Curry is one of them. :-)

I bought the curry paste with mix ingredients from the wet market on Sun and keep in chilling compartment in the fridge. Before I leave the house in the morning, I'll take down chicken from freezer to the normal cold compartment of the fridge. (Something like de-frozen it).

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Cooking Time : 20 mins

Ingredients:

1. 3 full chicken thigh

2. 3 medium sized potato. (easily soft type)

3. 1 small size carrot

4. some spring onion

5. Curry paste (which included onion, garlic, lemongrass, etc..)

6. 1/2 cup milk or 1 small pack of coconut milk

Method:

1) Cut potato and carrot into triangle size.

2) wash and clean chicken thigh. (I usually request the seller to chop into smaller pcs for me so that I don't have to do it at home).

3) Heat oil in wok, pour in curry paste and saute it until fragrant.

4) Add in chicken, potato and carrot. Saute until potato turns a bit brown or until fragrant.

5) Add water until cover up all the ingredients (or to the desired gravy needed).

6) Simmer for 15 mins. Open up and add in coconut milk or milk, throw in spring onion and simmer for a while. Turn off gas.

Ready to serve.

P/S: I put spring onion, just for decoration purpose. More colorful to the dish. Also, my curry paste is not reddish because I actually asked the seller not to put so much of curry as kids can't eat.

Steamboat at StarView (Pacific Megamall)

2008-05-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

Like any other weekends, when it comes to dinner, we'll be looking for a place to dine in. It has been months that we did not go much for restaurants food. Last 2week, hubby thought of having steamboat. As I did not want to go to Raja Uda for the Yam steamboat, I suggested hubby to try on the Starview Steamboat, which is just at Pacific Megamall, Chai Leng Park. Starview steamboat is famous for it's fish soup base soup. Not like the common chicken stock or herbal soup.

I had tried the steamboat there once with my friend and thought it was nice. :-) Hence, I brought hubby over for the first time and treated it as hubby's birthday dinner. (haha... 2 in 1).

The soup comes with fried fish and lots of bean curds.

It's in the package. I did not ask for additional as the portions are enough for 4 of us.

Ernest waiting to taste it... since it's their 1st time too. :-)

nmm.... like nothing special... very hot..

I've finished all the fish ! Still have lots of bean cur~~d... (Ed doesn't like bean curd... but he did finish all of them without me telling him). Good boy, isn't it ?

Here comes the dessert.. the is one that you must try. The Creamy Peanut dessert. (in cantonese = fa sang wu). It's very creamy, not very sweet, extra peanut fragrant. nmm.... We all like it very much.

It seems not much things to eat, but we were all so full until we can't finish the dessert and got it packed home. :-D

Hubby said that he'll only come for the peanut dessert next time. It's not because of the taste but of his own fobia towards fish since childhood. haha.. It's ok. Still got to savor the peanut dessert.

It's recommended that you try it the next time you visit Starview restaurant. ;-)

Pulau Pangkor's Photo

2008-02-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

The Beautiful Pulau Pangkor...

Hi !! I'm back with some of my Pulau Pangkor's shot. Well, well, as per all my previous photos, I do not edit them. It's all original straight from my camera. Thus, no any special effect. :-D

The start of our journey

I woke up at 6:05am in order to reach the assembly point by 6:45am and depart at 7:15am. We ended up depart at 8:30am !! Why ? As usual, the "Malaysian Time". Can you imagine people coming in late for trip for an hour ?! Well, I guess this was my very first time of waiting for someone for an hour !) Gosh... What can we say to these type of people ?

At Lumut jetty waiting for ferry to come..

(The toilet in Lumut costs RM 0.50 per entry maybe because it has a small garden in the toilet !)

We stayed in Coral Bay Resort. Coral Bay Resort's swimming pool..

Our 1st stop in Pangkor. The beach... Clear sea and clean beach.. ?

Well, it's not easy to ride on this wheel swing. It kept rotating round and round and round.. Couldn't get out from here without the help of my colleague. :-D

Island sight seeing. This is the place where anchovies are process. Dry under the sun.

Clearer view.. anchovies everywhere on guni? sack.

Workers coming out to show us how they process them.

They took a broom and sweep them to turn it over.

See what they were wearing and what are they stepping on ??

Do you still dare eat anchovies ? How many times will you wash it before cooking them after seeing this ?

Just next to this anchoves factory, is the "Fish Satay" factory.

We made many purchases at this outlet.... which after that, we found that the shops beside our hotel was much more cheaper than buying it from the factory itself. Whew... we all got conned. :-(

After that, our next stop was to the mini Great wall of China.

Then, dun really know what exactly is the name of this place. It just stated the The then Perak people called "Acheh" launched an attack to the Ducth.

This is also one of the photo at this spot.

In front of the "Penentangan" is this maze. We do not know what is this maze for and what has it got to do with the "opposition arose" to the Dutch. Just took the shot as it is nice. ;-)

Team building time in the afternoon after lunch.

Beach near Coral Beach Hotel.

One of our team building's game. Wrap the managers with toilet roll. :-)

This is the nicest mummy.

Towards evening.. sunset.. Cloud was too thick. Couldn't really see the sunlight.

Activities after team building. Some of them rode on the banana boat. Some played beach volleyball.

While, I ... very lazy and afraid of getting dark, be the referee of the beach volleyball. :-D

View from Ferry going back to Lumut.

I didn't go with an exciting feeling. I didn't wanted to go because of the many preparations needed to be done for CNY. However, it was a nice trip afterall. I like the beach, the scenerary and most important, is the fun I had with my colleagues. I learnt many new games which I could enjoy with my kids at the beach.

To Pulau Pangkor - 26 & 27 Jan 2008

2008-01-24T06:41:00.000-08:00

vKeong says that he is a "BM Kia", while I say that I'm a "Yi Pou Mui" (Ipoh girl)... and New Kid on the Blog is a "Mainlander" ? Oops... anything related ?

Nope, actually I was just wondering myself if they both have been to Langkawi before. I'm sure they had. It's so near to their hometown. I know of a friend that born and raised in Kedah but never been to Langkawi even after she's married with a kid. Pangkor is very near my hometown Ipoh, but I've never been there. :-) Shame on me ? Even New Kid on the Blog has been there.

Now, I have the opportunity. Organized by my colleague as a team building trip there this weekend. So, I won't be blogging again tomorrow and this weekend and maybe even after I'm back the first few days.

I will definately post up whatever photos I find nice. Hopefully can capture nice scenes.

Wait till I'm back, ya !

Christmas Vacation 2007 - Part 3

2008-01-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos as promised.
1st pic taken at Genting upon reaching there.

On the raindeer ride.. on 21-dec-2007

Ern saw a youngsters jumping up as a post at the hotel. And so, he imitated..

Then, the daddy imitated him... They're having lotsa fun, ya.

The next day on 22-Dec, we were at the outdoor for the whole day..

1st ride on the flying chair. This is the 2nd time they play. They've played this b4 last year.
Getting ready...

Very innocent look 8^8

AH !!!!!!

Flying up high~~~

Help ~~~~!

Hwew... Let's get some rest. And off we go to the coloring contest by Mamee. Am touching up on Ern's piece..

Playing musical chair at the piazza.. (the center of the outdoor theme park).

After the game, coloring contest result announced. Ed stand in the 1st and Ern got consolotion.

Coloring contest done. Move on to the next game.
The Pirate Ride. Min height: 122cm. Ed was a bit shorter than required. So, he didn't get to play. Ernest yelling all the way.

Compensated Ed with this attraction called "The Dragon Coaster".
Min height: 117cm.

Another flying ship with Ed. Ern with his daddy at another plane. ?

Lastly, A big candy floss to end the day at Genting.

Overall, they somehow did enjoy and had fun in Genting. The rest of our trip were back to KL.

Christmas Vacation - Part 2

2008-01-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

Wow... after more than a month that I have not updated this blog of mine. Sorry.... not wanting to ignore my blog. Pls be so kind to excuse me for being absent.

Well now, as for part 2 of our Christmas Vacation 2007, where have we been at last ? Obviously, we didn't manage to get any reasonable tickets to HK and Marco Polo's mileage were not available for peak seasons. Thus, we planned for Sunway Lagoon in KL. :-)

We took Ern to Sunway Lagoon in 2006 and he had a great time there. While Ed didn't get to enjoy much because of his height not reaching the min requirement. Most of the attractions has a minimum requirement height of 117cm. While Ed was only 5 at that time, he was only about 108cm and Ern was about 116 to 117cm. Just right to play.

So, this year (I mean 2007), I planned to bring them to Sunway Lagoon. They both can enjoy together. :-)

We departed to KL on 12/21 night. On the day we depart, MIL told hubby that she is in Genting and that she could share her room with us. Hubby wanted to enjoy cool air.. and thus added Genting in our trip. (So, continuously 3 years to Genting !!). Obviously, our kids can't enjoy indoor games anymore, also because of height - too tall ! So, we went outdoor. But then again, many of the thrilling attractions requires min 122cm tall. Ed isn't that tall ! He can't play again. Only Ern, whom was just about right, tried on the Pirate's Revenge with hubby. That was his first time ever to play such an adventurous game. He was screaming his heart and guts out. When he got down, he were still excited and described how scary it was up there but still fun.

Since there were not much games that we could play, we entered the kids to coloring contest from Mamee. Hubby helped Ed and I helped Ern. We were the last to register and only left 1/2 hour to complete an A3 size drawing. Ed got out winning the 1st prize while Ern in consolation. Our grand prize was a big pack of Mamee, Mamee tupperware and another junk food. hahah.. Just for fun.

With that, it ended our Genting Trip. We spent the rest of our days in KL doing shopping. Shop for furnitures and fittings for our new house at IKEA for 1 full day. Ended up... we did not go to Sunway Lagoon which was initially our plan. We were just too tired.

Will we still be in M'sia for this Christmas ?

(I'll post up some photos about our Genting and KL trip).

Christmas Vacation?

2007-11-28T07:19:00.000-08:00

Part I - Genting Highlands then HK Disneyland.

We spent two consecutive years of Xmas holiday at Genting Highlands in 2005-06. why? One and only reason, the kids. Kids love Genting Highlands because of the theme park and hubby love it because of cool atmosphere and ca$ino.

But, we can't just go for the 3rd yr in a row to Genting Highlands for Xmas, right?

I have been hinting directly to hubby about planning for Xmas vacation to HK Disneyland since two yrs ago. It was not long before when we had moved into the new house, the idea again pops out in several recent discussions when the scent of Xmas season is nearer. Due to the fact that it would have cost us some good saving we had for the new house deco, we have been pending this idea for now (we agreed)

Recently, hubby fren made a good offer. He has tons of Cathay Pacific Airlines Marco Polo mileages that willing to offer in great discount rate. The itch rose again, shld we or shld we not taking this advantage to fulfill our mission to take kids to HK Disneyland for Xmas...

To be Continued...

Possible Related Post:
Travel to HK Disneyland

Bonsai, Gardening

2007-11-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

Bonsai is a Japanese word, 盆栽. Bonsai is actually two words, "Bon", and "Sai". The word "Bon" means "tray" and "Sai", "growing" or "planting".

What I like about Bonsai is that the shape itself is like a miniature big tree. It gives me a cooling and relaxing feeling. Buying a Bonsai and keeping it at home is easy but... it is not easy to grow and manage them. Bonsai needs thorough care and it takes time to grow into a beautiful plant.

How I wish I could have many different Bonsais decorated at home. Any of the below one would be nice, isn't it?

These are special ones.. with it's trunk grew winding and made into words.
The seller told me that it take years for these to form into wording and because of that each of them costs few hundred ringgit.

I wonder if I have even only 1 of it, do I know how to take care and have it continue growing healthyly? I think I need to read more of bonsai books before I could own one.

Travelling

2007-10-25T03:31:00.000-07:00

I've not been travelling to overseas eversince I had my 2 superkids. It's kind of melancholy, right? So to satisfy myself, I've been snapping these photos..

Planes taking off...

and planes landing..

Landing.. almost touching the land !

The most beautiful plane I ever come across was Fedex's plane. I couldn't snap a shot of it as I was driving on my way home. It was 7pm +. Fedex plane was coming from front with it's lights on and roller down, about to land. Wow.. it was beautiful. You know, the lighting plus the purple body plus the sunset.. a great combination.. I was stunt for a moment..(still driving.. Luckily, still in a piece now. :-)

How nice if I can travel by Fedex to Hong Kong this Chrismas. haha :-D

Are you planning for a trip this year end ? Check out cheap rooms and air fares from Asiaroom.com I find this site very useful for planning before a trip on your own.

Possible related post:
Trip to Bali
Travel to HK Disneyland

Teow Chew Meng, Chai Leng Park

2007-10-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

Do you like Min Sin in cantonese? Mee Sua in hokkien. nmm... I like it very much. I always feel that it's a bit expensive to pay RM 10/pax for mee sua.. so, I'll cook it by myself. :-D (Stingy mom).

Last week, hubby said he wanted something hot, or some soup base thing for lunch. Since we're around Chai Leng Park, I suggested to go Teow Chew Meng. I think we've not tbeen here for a year,at least.

It was a rainy day. It's nice to have hot soup. :-)

The famous Teow Chew Meng mee sua.. in the Star

Outlet at Chai Leng Park. I think this is the first shop, as according to theStar online.

Sharkfin Mee Sua for 2.

Closer shot but with my mobile. Not so clear..

They have upgraded service. Can go online. :-D

Expanding their biz to Pulau Tikus. The 7th branch.

Main Menu..

Other than Min Sin, they do have other side dishes. We've not tried them and don't think will try at all.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that the food is tasteless, just don't feel like it. :-)

Business operates from 10 to 11pm. Close on Mondays.
Chai Leng Park, Prai (012-438 5288)

Branches in Penang:
Pulau Tikus, Penang (012-411 0988)
Sunway Tunas, Bayan Baru (04-646 6675)
8-Row, Krian Road Georgetown (04-228 8675, 012-4728186). Diners club have 15% off on F&B till Dec 2007 at this outlet only.

Other branches in PJ:
9, Jalan SS14/1, 47500 Subang Jaya
54, Jalan 8/62A, Bandar Manjalara, 52200 Kepong

Other related posts:
Teow Chew Meng Restaurant

Manhattan Fish Market at Auto-City

2007-10-15T01:26:00.000-07:00

Manhattan Fish Market is one of Ed's favorite restaurant. Whenever we ask where he'd like to have dinner, he'll either choose Victoria Station or Manhattan Fish market or he could even say at Hotel ! Wow.. what a splurge. He really knows where to find good food.

Anyway, sometimes, we do listen to them just to favor them, hoping that they will be good.

I usually get my kids to bring something to do, either read or write while waiting for their food to be served. (so to keep them busy and free myself).

We ordered our usual Platter for Two. RM 42.90

This dish will be enough for the 4 of us.

We will also take a soup of the day + ice lemon tea. Total RM 8.90

Soup for Ern and Ed (mostly Ed will consume much) and tea for hubby.

Since I did not try on the fried mushroom which we ordered previously, we had it as our side dish this round.

To my surprised, the volume of fried mushroom increased. Previously, it was only 6pcs.

Hubby and the kids love the mushroom, especially Ern. He eagerly pick up one by one and nibble slowly..

Ern found a fish bone in the mushroom ! We were puzzled of what we were eating then.... quickly, we get a waitress to confirm the dish. She said, +ve mushroom. Not fish. It must be the kitchen's mistake!!

She immediately offered to give a complementary dessert but Ed requested for a complimentary orange juice. Ern kept quiet. So, Ed only shared a little with his bro. :-D Contented Edmund.

That was not the end. After the meal, Ed continued asking for ice-cream! I said, that sister offered you ice-cream just now, but you resisted. Now, you want ice-cream ? He said yes and swiftly said, "OK, I'll go and talk to sister". He went right straight up to the waitress and asked for a complementary dessert !

Not bad a service. He got his ice-cream ! See his happy face !

OMG. Ern was the one whom found the bone, and there his little bro got all the complementaries.. hahaha :-D

Possible Related Posts:

Manhattan Fish Market @ Auto-City-29 Jul 07

Auto-City Manhattan's contact:
The Manhattan Fish Market
Attn:

Fredie Deo (Mobile: 012-3816077)

Andrew Tan (Mobile: 017-2346556)

Cindy (Mobile: 012-5836664)
1825-G1, Jalan Perusahaan,Auto-City North-South Highway Juru Interchange,13600 Prai, Penang, Malaysia.
04-5018688
04-5018686
fredie@manhanttanfishmarket.com.my
http://www.manhattanfishmarket.com/

Tao Cuisine - Japanese Restaurant

2007-10-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

My first visit to Tao Cuisine at Auto-city was after they launched not long ago in auto-city. At that time, I didn't get to eat much because the serving were extremely slow. As a result, we all didn't enjoy much. However, few of my frens kept saying that Tao's buffet is nice, the oysters are good... and so, I couldn't get out of their temptations. I want to try on the oysters !

I lured hubby about the oysters in Tao and hahaha... he scheduled one dinner with his friend together. :-)

This is my 2nd visit to this restaurant. My kids and I like the environment much. The natural decorations with man-made fountains made this place refreshing and cosy to dine in.

We started unagi Set for our kids. 1 Set each for them. Ed consumed the whole plate while Ern didn't like it at all.

After a whole place of unage, Ed continued with california roll.

Again, Ernest did not have a bite at all.

Chawan Mushi (Steam egg) - Ordered for Ed and Ern too. This one, both of them finished. It's one of their favorites.

Grill fish (I was told that the dish is called Miso Sake) and Salmon Roll with papaya. Both this dishes tastes ultimate ! One that you musn't missed.

My Favorite Sashimi !!!! Nmmm... wow.... so tasty and fresh !

To our disappointment, they didn't have oyster that Friday but instead offered us scallop. We tried a plate. If you like hot and spicy, you'll love this dish. But not for me. Hubby's friend like it.

We did ordered sushi set, miso soup, fried udon, mutton curry and also fried crab meat. The mutton curry and fried crab meat is nice.

Grill salmon for salmon lovers.

As salmon is also one of my favorites, (yes, I have many favorites. hihi), I tried as much different salmon cookings as possible. The bottom dish is called the Salmon Skin. This dish gives you the original taste of salmon (sake in Japanese).

Our last order was Green Tea ice-cream. Although we were so full that we really couldn't finish what we'd ordered, the waitress still recommend us to try on their Green Tea ice-cream. So, each of us had one except Ernest. He doesn't favor ice-cream. nmm... It's really good.

So, overall rating for this time. 70% satisfied !

Why? Because they limited our dining time to 8:30pm for Fri to Sun (buffet time is 7pm to 8:30pcs). We reached at 7:30, so, we only had an hour to eat. Secondly, we didn't have our oysters which was the driver that brought us there. :-(

The buffet costs RM 45++ for adult and 1/2 price for children below 12. From 7:00pm to 8:30pm. (It seems that there's no time limit for Mon to Thur). You may call to confirm at below details.

Tao Authentic Asian Cuisine
Attn: Mr. Jack (Mobile: 016-4638167) Ms. Saras (Mobile: 016-6879773)
1820-F1, Jalan Perusahaan,Auto-City North-South Highway Juru Interchange,13600 Prai, Penang, Malaysia.
04-5017826
04-5017827
info@tao-cuisine.com

Hou Mei Yuen-Pan Mee@ Bukit Jambul Flat

2007-10-03T00:46:00.000-07:00

Other than those sumptious and luxury dinings, I also like to venture into hawker foods. This is one of the place where I like to have lunch in.

This place is surrounded by big trees. Thus, it has a refreshing environment. No matter how hot and stuffy out there, this place is always cooling, under big shady trees.

Not only the seatings are under the shady trees, car parks are also under shades. You don't need to get into a hot and stuffy car after a good meal. :-)

So, what is famous here? The Hou Mei Yuen (好美園) Pan Mee. If you look at the chinese characters, it means "Tasty Garden". But because I read the English characters, it became "The backyard garden". ;-) Just a thought. Nothing related.

Sorry, cut the crap, this stall is famous of it's home made Pan Mee (made of flour and egg). Located nearby Bukit Jambul complex. This place is known as BJ flat Pan Mee.

Previously, it only has Pan Mee and another western food stall next to this. Now, the western food had moved and replaced by a rojak stall. Where as Pan Mee too, expanded their biz to Dim Sum varieties.

Chu Cheong Fan served in small bowls. Cute.

Pan Mee stall. It is neat and clean. Many foreign workers.

Dim Sum stall.

Pan Mee Soup. - RM 2.50 / bowl.

Dried Pan Mee - thin type. They have medium and fat type too.
Did you noticed the leaf in the soup? It's the fallen leaf from the trees.
It's very windy.

The waiter kept asking if we want Loh Mai Kai and Chu Cheong Fan, so, I ordered one Loh Mai Kai. (chicken glutinous rice) (One of my favorite dim sum).

See, another leaf on my loh mai kai.

We sat with the table clean without leaves. With the wind breezing, our table, even on my hair... were leaves. :-D

Overall: If you are health conscious and like to dine in this natural environment, drop by this place and have a try. Am really not sure if they put any MSG to the dishes, but it is definately not salty and does not taste so. It has a natural taste. Mrs. Rain doesn't like to come here because the taste is "too natural". ;-p

The View-Equatorial Hotel, Bukit Jambul

2007-10-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

I wasn't prepared to blog about this restaurant, thus, I did not prepare my camera with me. However, when I saw the artfully presented dishes, I just couldn't help but started snapping with my camera phone. It's only 2MP. ... so, not so good quality pics.

We've often hear of French cooking - the finest cooking in the world. If you are a real food lover, and if you love steak like i do, then you should know where is "The View" in EQ Hotel, Bukit Jambul.

I was invited again to dine at this fine posh restaurant. It won't be difficult for me to describe how classy the decoration is, but it would be a challenge for me to describe it's menu. It comes with one main course and complemented by a buffet of appetizers, soup and desserts.

Salmon and Oyster lovers will love it here. They serves daily fresh salmon and oyster at the buffet corner. How fresh? Anything fresher you need to fish yourself. Ok, here i go again my dine in experience write up.

The decoration:
This is the definitely a place of special events. I mean, this is one of the best restaurant for your first date. The luxury interior setup,with nice overview of the Bayan Baru township and the Penang bridge too. Not far for the side window corner, you can see some of the fairways of Bukit Jambul Golf Club. The comfort of its lighting and live piano performance added the extra"feelings" while you dine in there.

The Food: The quality is there. except for the soup. My friend said it's too salty. Thus, I did not try it.

Appetizer Corner - raw & cooked fish

Seasoned raw salmon

Soup and Salad Corner

Dessert Corner

This is the Tiramisu, one that you MUST try on. Highly recommended.

It is very fine and it melts once you put in your mouth.

The cheese cake is rich (I mean really rich) in cheese. Soft and juicy.

Main Dishes : A varieties to be chosen from. Steak, fish, seafood and also pastas.

The main dish has yet served. But, we were all more than 1/2 full.

This is King Cod Fish - RM 78++

Known to be the best dish among the fish category.

Salmon. RM 65.00++ The green mash potato is luscious. nmm.. yummy.

Tenderloin Steak - RM 92.00 ++

I ordered this. Medium-well done. Fragrant and tasty.

Steak (Black Pepper) - RM 94.00++

Seafood

And lastly, we ordered lobster to share.

This lobster is well over-cooked. The flesh is too spongy. Very difficult to chew.

Appetizers that I took... Raw Salmon, raw oysters and some others.

Oysters again... (sorry, it's my favorite. Yes, I had 10 of them 8-) ).

Dessert..

By the time I finished all my portions, I really could not fill up anything anymore... but after a short rest, I could not resist myself in getting at least a scoop of ice-cream. nmmm.... that calls it a complete meal. ;-p

Overall: I would say that this is a lavish buffet. You could already enjoy this fine ultimate luxury dishes with only RM 65++. Afterall, a normal buffet dinner will easily costs about RM60 and above. What say dining in this posh restaurant, right ? Shouldn't we pamper ourselves once a while ?

Note: There is one thing needed improvement. That is to label their dishes. There were no labels at all, except for soup.

The Roxbury@Auto-City

2007-09-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

Hubby is a great fan of American food, I mean, not that kind of fast food like McD or Pizza Hut, but the genuine taste of American food that only available in the USA. It's kind of difficult to find a good genuine American food in this region. We eat out very often, we like trying different types of food, especially writting our experience in blog after trying them out. If we ever heard anyone saying any restaurant, or, there is any special dishes or great cook, poof.... off we go.

Recently, my friend (whom called herself as Mrs. Rain), was commenting about the food in Roxbury at Autocity. I told hubby about it and he said Roxbury is one of the only two restaurants outlets that we have not tried and we should give it a shot.

Roxbury has an outlet in Bandar Sunway, where their main biz attraction is actually alcoholic drinks. Although they serves food there, but it was never the main attraction. So, hubby was eager to try it out.

The atmosphere: The decoration is just so-so. It has about 15 tables in a big hall. It's ceiling is high that it's not normal to have such high ceiling in a restaurant. That makes it windy even if there's no air-con! haha. Their tables and chairs are no where near what we can call it elegant. However, you can have the feeling of space. This is what you can't find in other restaurant. Hubby likes the glass wall that surround the whole restaurant,which give us better viewing pleasure of outside the decorative Autocity .

The Food: It has variety choices of American food. Well, this is how hubby called it, as they served foods that uses the names that how American call them in the USA. Such as Buffalo wings (Spicy chicken wings), Pancake, 1/2 pounder beef burger, variety types of pizzas, steaks etc. Hubby spends his good 10 minutes to scan through the menu and finally decided to try his 1/2 pounder Beef burger. He simply loves it ! There is also Tortilla chips and Mexican Nachos for side biting. nmm... so tempting...

The 1/2 pounder beef burger that hubby ordered.

Buffalo wings (Spicy chicken wings)

Not cooked ??

Big bottle of Lemon Tea.

For those who does not like American food, you can always try on Asian local food which Roxbury calls it as "Hometown Delights". A bowl of curry mee costs RM 12.50. Think twice before you order. ;-p

Offers:They have free meals for kids age 5 and below for Fri, Sat and Sun. Great, isn't it ? My kids have it ;-)

The Service: We were greeted by few waiters at the entrance and were lead by a waiter to a seat. He then disappeared and only came back with their menu few mins later. Well, I can accept that if the restaurant was busy. But, there were only 2 tables occupied with their food on table. No one came to get our order afterthat. That's why hubby got his own sweet time browsing the menu. :-D

Overall: Despite the poor service and the uncooked chicken wings, hubby will still step in here again because he can't resist the American taste of the beef burger. My kids too finished all their servings. Therefore, they'll have a 2nd chance to serve us a cooked chicken wing.? haha :-D

Their slogan " The Best Food in Town".

Sushi Lovers - Another option

2007-09-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

When it comes to Sushi, everyone will think of the dominated "Sushi King". While I like sushi a lot, I will not walk in there if not of it's promotion. :-D I find that the taste of the food just doesn't worth it's price. Thus, it made me crave for sushi sometimes.

Luckily, there is another one very nearby and tastes very very much better - the Sakae Sushi. There is one at Queensbay mall and another at Sunway Carnival Mall@Seberang Jaya.

Again, I was given another treat on Aug 31. Yes, I am a little slow in blogging about this... but know what, hubby has yet try on this restaurant. It's still queueing in his food list. :-)
It was only 11:30am and the waiting queue was already very long. We queued for 30mins before our turn to get seated.

The atmosphere:
It's not spacious but not compact. Just nice and cosy.
What I like is their seating arrangement. They have a big kaiten belt that most of their seats were just next to the kaiten belt, meaning next to sushi. Very convenient. We could just take and start eating once we're seated.

The service:
They have all their menus computerized. I know many Japanese restaurants here do have this service, but my Jap friends told me that there isn't any computerized menu in Japan itself.
Interesting, isn't it ?
Computerize is good because we can have our own sweet time to order and can order multiple times. It didn't take them long to get our orders on table.

The food:
They have the Japanese genuine taste. Not being localized. The sushi were fresh. U know, I love salmon and I can get it here for only RM 1.90 per plate for 2pcs ! Wow !
It's cheaper than Sushi King even when they're on promo. I ordered one Ikura sushi (pic below) which I like very much...

We also ordered some set meals.

Overall:
Satisfied. Will bring hubby here.

Grille Salmon

2007-09-07T01:37:00.000-07:00

Salmon is my favorite. At last, I found a great place to dine with reasonable price yet deliciously cooked. nmm.... yummy

Many of you should have known this place.... Familiar?

Yes, it's Bayan Baru's Sunshine Square food court. The Western food corner.

The menu board. Many varieties. Many choices to be picked.

I ordered Salmon Grille. (RM 13.90)

If you are a small eater, you will not be able to finish this plate. It's serving is quite an amount. I would recommend you to this place for lunch as there are lots of varieties to be chosen from. It is also facilitated with air-con and also free sheltered parking. :-D

Pizza Hut's Sausage Pick

2007-09-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

After the Kampachi treat, I was given another treat by different ppl. ;-)
The new sausage bite dip.li.cious - pick it! pull it! dip it! from Pizza hut.

Dunno about you, but after trying this, I would still prefer the one which was stuffed with cheese. Cas I just luv cheese !

Kampachi @ Equatorial Penang

2007-09-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

Here I am with good food again - The famous Japanese restaurant - Kampachi. A treat from someone else again. LOL envy me ? I have been eating sumptious food for the past 2 weeks without paying a single cent! Thank God for pampering me :-)

Kampachi is Equatorial's Japanese restaurant. The taste of the food here is somewhat "Japanese", not being localised.

Cozy environment

I started with the main course. I ordered Kampachi Bento (RM 68).
This set is stronly recommended for people whom like to taste a little of everything.
It consists of sashimi (salmon, maguro and squid), Prawn Tempura, Fried chicken and fried salmon. Also some "oden" - Japanese Yong Tau Foo? (in the middle compartment between tempura and fried salmon in pic below)
The set also comes with chawan mushi(steam egg) and miso soup (traditional soya bean soup).

I also ordered a side dish for sharing, which is Japanese's famous and favorite "Natto". It is fermented soya bean. Japanese eat them together with white rice for some additional taste. Like "bovril", we eat locally here. Natto is very nutritious. At Kampachi, Natto is served together with some sashimi (maguro). (RM 18 /bowl)

My friend ordered a conservative set - all cooked food. She prefers some noodles and rice. This is recommended for those whom doesn't like sashimi.

For sashimi lovers, you just can't get away their tempting Sashimi Moriawase (RM150). This is assorted raw fish. We ordered one for sharing too! This is the 2nd most expensive sashimi in Kampachi. The most expensive one is Toro Sashimi (RM160)(belly of salmon). We did not order this as it contains only 5 slices of Toro. nmm... not really enough for us. ;-) Toro is shown at the bottom pic- left upper corner.

My favorite sashimi is salmon and ikura(Salmon fish egg). Ikura is shown at right bottom of pic above. nmm... yummy.

By this time, we all were really full. Yet again, a complete meal will come with a dessert? I ordered Red bean soup with 3 balls of glutinuous rice. (RM 10 / bowl).

The red bean soup is quick thick. Not like the local chinese red bean soup. It is not added with coconut milk too. It tastes good. You may also order this for sharing.

Overall comments:
1) The environment, service, taste of the food - satisfied.
2) The decoration, appearance of food - satisfied.
3) The utensils used - nmm... need improvement for some. Look at this. It's old and most of the paitings on the bowl has gone.

If someone were to treat me again, I will come again. ;-)

Seafood @ BaliHai Gurney Drive

2007-08-25T02:50:00.000-07:00

It's alright not to go travelling in Bali. But I can still enjoy Bali food?? haha... it's just so coincidence that this seafood restaurant's name is BaliHai. It's located at Gurney Drive, beautiful seaview. Nice environment and a cosy place.

You may have different opinion where is the best place to have seafood in Penang. But I can share with you what I think the best seafood restaurant that meet all my expectations.
Fresh,
Variety,
Taste.

Bali Hai is one of the most popular seafood restaurants in Penang. Indeed, it is also one of the most well known seafood restaurant of foreign tourists, as it label itself “everything that swims, you can find it here.”

We had Spider crab (up to 4 feet in width), 12inches Mantis prawn, 3KG lobster, 2KG of fresh tiger prawn, Crab and fresh lobster sashimi.

Lobster on Ice. This is the fresh 3kg lobster, front and back view.

Freshly served, a layer of Lobster Sashimi laid on top of ice.

The head and legs which you can see in picture above, is then taken to the kitchen to cook for another luscious dish. Lobster Yee Mee.

Mantis Prawn fried in dried chili

Black pepper crab and fried crab. Two different flavor.

2kg Fresh Prawn

I can’t describe how good were the seafood cooking. You ought to try them out to know how good they were. In short, the best seafood ever we have ever tried. The food was finger lickin’ good!

As a typical Malaysian, we “ta pau” took away what we couldn’t finish, which was the last dish – Lobster fried Yee Mee. We hardly eaten any of it, so we ta pau for later.

Ernest enjoying it at home. ;-)

You must be thinking where is Edmund. He is busy looking at the live fish. :-)

So, will you give it a try ? Indulge yourself in a nice weekend. ;-)

Trip to Bali

2007-08-20T02:16:00.000-07:00

Recently, friends and relatives had been talking about going vacation in Bali. Seems there are much hotel accomodation promotions going on there now..

Even Astro was promoting Bali yesterday on their sumptous seafood and cooking varieties. Big fish only costs RM 28. There are also fresh lobsters, clams and other seafoods serve by the beach either done in baking, grill or BBQ. Of course, there are their local Balinese specialty and cookings which one shouldn't miss. It is called the Babi Guling (non halal) and Bebek Betutu.

Babi Guling is a grilled suckling pig - a specialty of the town of Gianyar, and Bebek Betutu is a duck baked in banana leaves together with many different herbs and spices.

Other than food, there are also cruises which one can experience it. You can also do some scuba diving, watersports or paragliding which we don't have it in M'sia. (So far, I don't see any yet). What else can we do in Bali ? Yes ! Shopping ! $hopping is a must! Shop for fine arts and handicrafts, stone carvings, masks, woven and dyed fabrics, etc. All these can be a good souvenir too.

It is quite tempted to go..... but not for now. I still have not gone thru the dilemma of Bali Bombings.... LOL. I know that was history now but still... me not ready yet.

Japanese Curry - made of fruits

2007-08-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

I am glad that there's request for more recipes from my loyal readers. Here I have another one that I had wanted to put for long but hesitated... Why? Because I did not capture a good pic to be shown. It's the Japanese Curry Rice.

This is again a very ez recipe because everything is cooked in a pot. In cantonese, we say it "yat wok suk". Means everything cooked in a pot. It's Lazymom's style - Simple and easy.

Ingredient:
1) 125gm Curry Paste -buy ready made. It's 250gm per pack.
2) 600gm chicken thigh (I only like thigh for it's tenderness).
3) 4 Medium Potatoes
4) 2 Medium Carrots
5) 1 Onion
6) 3 medium mushrooms
7) 1/4 cabbage (This is optional. I find that the gravy is sweeter with cabbage).
8) 3 cups of water

Method:
1) Wash and chop chicken. Soak mushroom.
2) Cut carrot and potato into triangle shape.
3) Cut onion and cabbage.
4) Heat up wok and fry onion till golden brown.
5) Add in mushroom, potato, carrot and chicken for about 1 min. (Do not saute until chicken is overcook. Otherwise it will not be able to absorb the taste of the curry).
6) Add sauted ingredients and cabbage into a pot with boiled water.
7) Cover up and boil for 15mins with medium flame.
8) Add in curry paste and boil for another 5 mins with low flame.
** Curry will thicken. Beware of dry up.

This is the final boil of the curry. Add some parsley for decoration before serving. :-)

** Notes:
For those whom are vegetarian, you can substitue the meat with vegetarian meat. I had also cook that before for my children. I also added button mushroom at that time. The taste is about the same. Just something different.

I hope you will like it too !

Ginseng Chicken Mix – My first try. 12 Aug 2007

2007-08-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

It all started from Ed after he tasted a teaspoon of this cooking in the shopping mall.

Ed : nmm.... yummy. Can I have more. pls?
The auntie seller: ok. Nice ah, boy? (gave him another spoon).
Ed : nice, auntie. Very nice. Auntie, your cooking is very nice. (sweet talk). Can I have more soup, pls? I want more soup.
The auntie seller: You want soup ah. OK, ok. I give you a small cup ah.. spoon is too small for soup.
Ed : nm. Cup is better. Thank you auntie.

Wah.. I was so embarrased....leaving me no choice but to buy one.
Here u go, something new for dinner. :-)

Ingredients:
5 drumstick – about 500gm (I always prefer chicken than pork as I think chicken tastes sweeter).
2 medium potatoes
1 medium carrot
4 medium dried mushroom
½ onion

Method:
1) Marinate chicken and mushroom with the seasoning given & some salt for 30mins. (Marinate them separately).

2) Cut potaoes & carrot into cubes.

3) Heat up frying pan with medium heat.

4) Fry onion until golden brown, add potatoes,carrot and fry for a little while.

5) Pour some water just enough to cover up potatoes. Add some seasoning and cover up for about 1 min. Turn off heat.

6) Take out marinated chicken. Add potato, carrot and mushroom on the chicken.

7) Steam for 20mins and it's ready to be served.

When hubby saw the dish, he paused for awhile… like this is not what I wanted to have. Luckily, he said, ok. Let’s try it. And he like it !

Since my picky hubby can accept the taste of this ginseng chicken, I think, you may also try it. After all, it’s an economy dinner + nutritious :-D

Tips :
1) I only used chicken thigh - boneless. I used the bone to cook herbal soup.
2) I used butter instead of oil for the above frying. It gives better taste.
3) For the potatoes & carrot, adding seasoning and cover it up for just awhile will enable the potato & carrot to absorb the seasoning into it, and still leaving some original taste of it.

Would you give it a try ?

Nutritious meal for my kids -12 Aug 2007(Sun)

2007-08-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

A simple, fast yet nutritious meal for my kids.
Me, Lazymom felt guilty of not cooking anything for my kids for long. Cogitated for a night and this is what has came out.

Ingredient:
Pasta – estimated amount that is enough for the 2 of them.
2 slices of Mozzarella Cheese – (that is the only cheese I have in fridge).
Fresh prawn – (I put around 20 of them as to supersede meat).

Paste Ingredient:
Fresh tomato – 1 small – chopped finely
Dried mushroom – 1 small – (I soaked it before going to violin class). –chopped finely.
Garlic – suitable amount – chopped finely
Onion – 1 small – chopped finely
Tomato sauce - 3 tbsp (or the amount of gravy you preferred).
1tsp of sugar
Pinch of salt
Water (or fresh milk. If fresh milk is used, sugar is not needed)
Parsley

Method:
1) Boil water in a pot. Put pasta and pinch of salt. Cook until tender (usually 10 – 12mins). Drain pasta.
2) While boiling pasta, Heat up a frying pan with medium heat. Fry onion, garlic until brownish.
3) Add mushroom, fresh tomato, prawn and fry for a little while.
4) Add water just enough to cover up the prawns, add tomato sauce, sugar and salt.
5) Cover up for 2mins or till prawn is cooked. (*Note: If you add milk instead, the sauce will thicken. Be careful of not cooking until gravy is dried up).
6) Turn off heat and add cheese.
7) Put pasta into bowl and pour gravy on top. Sprinkle with parsley and pasta is ready to be served.

*Note: I sprinkled some cinnamon powder to add some sweetness and cover up the tomato sour taste.

This is not as yet. My guilt was not over. I continued my day with another homemade dinner. With the dinner + a herbal soup, guess, I have made it up with them 

Ed Driving..

2007-08-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

A Sneak Shot of Edmund while waiting for his daddy in the car...

This is the side effect after playing too much of remote control cars. :-)

Juru Auto-city

2007-08-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Juru Auto-city 1, has been in operation for years, but not long for the Juru Auto-city 3rd to become one of the Mainlander’s happening place ever since it started business, mainly for famous restaurants, most known cuisines and bars. It has also since, be one of our weekend dining places.

Last Friday, I had a lunch with one of my good old friend (Kelly) in Penang Island, and in one of our conversations, she mentioned that she has never been to Auto-city. She doesn’t know how it looks like even though she has been listening to ppl talking about Juru Auto-city.

2 days later, on Sunday, I was having Pizza @ the newly opened branch in Auto-city. As a blogger, it immediately struck my mind that I should capture some snap shots of this place for Kelly and those Penangites whom are so near but have yet been to this place.

Just Outside Pizza Hut

Outside Seoul Garden & SOHO - few shops away from Pizza Hut.

Opposite Pizza Hut, it's Nando's and Starbucks

An outlet of PORSCHE.. Citibank is just right beside PORSCHE.

Left Side of Porsche is another row of restaurants.
THe Flame Steamboat is at this side. A row away from Pizza Hut, starbucks, Tao, etc.

There is a FLEA Market too. My kids will ask for a stroll each time after dining at this place.

Some interesting stuffs sold at the Flea Market.

Fishing..

This is the only stall my kids yearn to visit.

A night will not call off until Ed gets something for this place.. and there.. Ern is the one very happy.
The seller said that this is a plant. You need to water the head and grasses will grow ....

Travel to HK Disneyland

2007-08-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

We had been planning for a trip to HK since 2 years ago. We were supposed to go with Hubby's friend and family last year but we 747 him cas we were not prepared for it.

First of all was because of no $$ lah. Anything comes to trip - must have $$. Secondly, we told Ernest that we will only bring him to HK Disneyland when he is at 6. Thirdly, it was too young for Edmund to enjoy in Disneyland at age 4. So, we spent our year end trip at our usual Genting Highland. Luckily, the kids still enjoyed much.

This January, Ern had turned 6. We have to bring him to HK Disneyland as promised. He remembers well and keep reminding us that. As a parent of my word, a promise is a promise especially to kids. Once kids experience a broken promise, they will not have faith in adults anymore in the future. So, I'm trying hard to save as much $ as possible.

Pray God that our trip to HK Disneyland this year will be reliased. :-)

Team Building at Langkawi 2005

2007-07-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, not long before I joined my current company, my department organized a team building at Langkawi. It was my first trip to go without bringing my kids along... I was quite reluctant to go as I know I will miss them so much... but thanks to the programs, the games that the tour agent had arranged, I had a real fun time.

That's me flying in the air !
Sea View from hotel..

Hotel's swimming pool.. The water was warm and I think a bit salty.. we could easily float..

View from Hotel Room.

There were other games too, like tug-of-war. By the way, this Hotel is Holiday Villa. It was a nice and cosy trip... sweet memories with all my new colleagues.. It is a place for one to get-to-know each other better.

Notice - Old Posts to new domain

2007-07-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

I'm moving my earlier posts to my new domain. I do not yet know exactly what I am going to concentrate on this blog, but I think I will write on my experiences on travelling which is one of my hobbies. I love music, decorating house, sports, shopping and day dreaming.... haha I'm just crazy.

In fact, shopping is what most ladies hobby. That's why, more and more shopping malls is coming up at Butterworth area. We now have Sunway Carnival.... it's just like another Queensbay mall.

Wherever we go, we'll try to make our kids have some "satisfaction" after "lepaking" in the shopping mall.... Although we din buy any, at least they had feel something. haha :-D

Trip to Sg. Sedim Recreation Forest on 7/14 (Sat)

2007-07-18T17:20:00.001-07:00

Hi there,
As promised, here are some of our picnic snaps at recreational forest - Sg. Sedim, Kulim last weekend. We planned to reach by 10am and have breakfast before our walk.... however..... as expected, we reached at 11+. Without any further delay, we went our way to the canopy walk ! This is like a hanging bridge. It started from as low as 5.1m and reached to the highest point at 26.05m. It took us about 35mins to complete the walk. Here are some snap shots I took during the walk.

Buy ticket to enter to the canopy walk.

Shots from above... during canopy walk..

At Tree Top Walk......... my MIL using BIG Leaf found by Ernest as her umbrella.. Wow... hot ! hot !

Friends enjoying the beautiful scenery from the top.

You can also find Nyatoh tree there... an excellent choice for outdoor garden furnitures.

After the long walk.. it's picnic time. Each family prepares some food and we had lots to enjoy. From appetizer, to main course to our very local salad - Rojak. nmmm... yummy !

Water play after filling up our stomach... the water was sooooO cold..

Kids too having fun...

Sweet memory for all adults and kids.. so, we leave our trip with sweetness too...

just a snap shot of a kampung house... on our way home...

Looking forward to another family outing. :-)

Hey World, I am LazyMom

2007-07-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, this a great start for me....

It's hard to believe a LazyMom like me would think of writing, managing and creating blog that would have cover all my interests in this small webpage that links to the world. I have many great stories, superb experiences and unforgetable travel and adventures stories to share with. But first of all, let me take a quick intro of myself to the blog readers...

I am a LazyMom with two great kids (well, every mom would think that way and I am no special to that). Ernest (6yrs old) is a great looking kid with brilliant mind. He loves music and reading, of course video game and animation. However, Edmund (5yr old) is totally another monster. He posses high EQ (that's why every teachers and relatives love him much) and has one of the sweetest smile that kills. It's absolutely the greatest challenge thus far in my life to grow two kids. I can have thousands of words to describe them but I wont do it at this beginning of my new blog-life here.

In my next post, i will share with you our latest family outing, a picnic at the Sg. Sedim. So, stay tune and make sure you mark my blog in yr favorite list ;-)