A new chapter and a new dish

2009-01-07T22:27:00.000-08:00

My Homemade 'Yee-Sang' (Raw Fish Salad with Fruits and Vegetables serves with plum sauce and Crisps) - A traditional food for Chinese New Year with meaning of a smooth sailing year by tossing the salad with a pair of chopstick together with families

2008-11-03T04:19:00.000-08:00

This classic and tasty 'Cranberry Sauce' is easy to make and serve perfectly with turkey for Christmas.

2008-10-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

We had breakfast at our small garden this morning; no good weather, not at the lovely balcony with blooming flowers and also not at the sidewalk cafe but still fine and we truly enjoyed this buttered-Japanese Grace Cup vegetable, fried egg and an Italian sausage breakfast with a cup of homemade Cappuccino....

2008-10-26T00:33:00.000-07:00

My ‘Quick & Delicious’ Sandwiches with homemade white bread for lunch....

2008-10-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

This 'Homemade Apple Juice' is ideal for the hot weather as cooling juice.

2008-10-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

These are wonderful Christmas cookies I’ve ever tasted and perfect with a cup of coffee. I love this recipe and going to make some for Christmas for my family and relatives.

2008-10-17T00:38:00.000-07:00

Always good to make the breadcrumbs from the leftover breads than buying from outside which I think is fresher. I usually prepared my homemade breadcrumbs by using my leftover whole meal breads and it was excellent.

That's my 'Homemade Breadcrumbs' and 'Calamari Salad'

The moist and yummy cupcakes to please my little craving for sweet stuff. [click on 'older posts' for more pictures]

2008-10-11T01:20:00.000-07:00

I've visited Cameron Highlands yesterday with my husband. The Highlands is located between Perak and Pahang in Malaysia. A place where famous for Tea Plantations, Vegetables and Fruits Farms. Tourists like to have their tea and scones along the tea plantations where they can also enjoy the fresh air and the greenery scenes. We were taken to one of the largest salad farm 'Big Red Strawberry farm & Gift Centre' by a friend, Mr. Mohan. His family owns the biggest Mini Market, Salad and Strawberry Farm in Cameron Highlands. His family also owned a Tea-shop with selection of teas imported from Sri Lanka. The Salad Farm was just 10 minutes walk from 'Brinchang Town', behind Cactus Valley. There was an eatery and shop inside the farm where the tourists can eat and shop for their homemade strawberry jam, cordial and cookies and experienced the cool breeze. Their Yogurt and Honey Strawberry Smoothie was lovely. The boss was too generous; he gave me 4 large bags of salad before we left. So I plan to prepare some salads and invite friends to come over for a healthy salad meal tonight. It was a lovely and satisfying trip.

2008-10-11T01:07:00.000-07:00

'Bahrat' Tea-Plantations....

[click to enlarge]

2008-10-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

Wow...look at that! A Gigantic Pumpkin from Mr Mohan's garden....

2008-10-11T00:45:00.000-07:00

The Hydroponically Lettuces, Parsley, Strawberries all from 'Big Red Strawberry Farm & Gift Centre'.

[click to enlarge]

2008-10-11T00:33:00.000-07:00

The tomato plants with its sweet and juicy tomatoes....Marvelous![click to enlarge]

2008-10-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

How am I suppose to finish all these salads given by Mr.Mohan plus some I bought from other vegetables sellers?? Well, I have some invited guests tonight to finish all up for me. I used what I've bought and started preparing salads with other combinations such as, grilled zucchini, pumpkin, grilled chicken breast,poached potatoes and eggs and cherry tomatoes. And then I prepared the sauce with using anchovy that I bought from Australia, roasted and chopped aubergine & capsicum, cider vinegar and olive oil to go with it. Many more dishes like Lettuce with Vinaigrette, Fish Fritters, Carrot-Pumpkin Soup and Sauté Potato Cubes; Tuna & Cheese sandwiches and Starwberry juice.

The Petai/Stink Beans were too fresh and no time to waste I just cooked it with Sambal and Prawns. [click to enlarge]

2008-10-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

I managed to get some fresh fish from market today. So I decided to prepare western food as a change for my dinner. And then I bought some button mushroom from the cold storage thinking of making some mushroom soup also. Hm..reminds me when I was in Melbourne for holidays with my family, I was so impressed by their huge market but I did not have enough time to visit to this place until my second visits to Melbourne. I certainly would not miss out The Queen Victoria Market. It was a largest open air market in Melbourne. I could spend the whole day there exploring what they were selling. They have all types of mushrooms, white, brown, small and large all were real fresh. I was so excited and bought some to cook, mm..lovely! Before I left Melbourne, I bought 2kg of button mushroom to share with friends and relatives, but it was not as good as what I had in Melbourne after a long hour’s flight. So during my third visits to Melbourne, I totally gave up of bringing back anything. So it has become an eating trip for me and my family. The food there were marvelous and the price was reasonable.

That's my Grilled Fish fillets with Onion-Mushroom Suace and Mushroom Soup with the real nice homemade croutons which from my left over homemade wholemeal bread.

2008-10-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

My daily breakfast with some extra soft scones and half-boiled eggs for today because a friend is coming over ....

2008-10-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

My husband and I were in the mood for Vietnamese food, so we decided to have our early dinner at this newly open ‘Vietnam Kitchen’ in Jaya 33. I ordered a glass of sour plum soda juice, a bit too sweet for me but still alright. The Mango Prawn spring roll was lovely and their Saigon Seafood Fried Noodle was tasted good too. My husband pretty like the Vietnamese Pancake served with plenty of basil and coriander leaves. We perfectly satisfied with what we ordered and the price was quite reasonable. We only paid RM43.95 for our food. We were happy with their service or probably we went too early and have fewer customers and we were well attended.

2008-09-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

I do not like “Yong-Tou-Fu’ all this while, but there is one selling very nice noodles [料粉]with their smaller version homemade ‘yong-tou-fu’ and beef stewed [牛楠] located in Canning Garden Ipoh, near Canning Market. It is inside a coffee shop call 'Sun Up" next to a fruits store. They only operate their business in the morning until 11.30am and is packed most of the time. Price is reasonable, RM4-5 you can get per single order, and the serving is big. They actually use mini dried scallops to prepare the soup. I love their fried dumplings [fu-chuk] and the meat balls, now we have another breakfast option.

2008-09-18T04:52:00.004-07:00

This Crepes Shop in Melbourne Central is selling their very unique crepes with variety of fillings, sweet and savory to suite customers taste bud.

2008-09-18T04:52:00.003-07:00

St Kilda Beach - A long, well-maintained and clean beach outside Melbourne, lined with markets, amusement parks and nightclubs.

2008-09-18T04:52:00.002-07:00

Yarra River View

2008-09-18T04:52:00.001-07:00

“Max Brenners Chocolate” was serving their best chocolate soufflés in town, located at Queen Victoria Mall. Try it out yourself when visit to Melbourne.

2008-09-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

Baking Tips:

If you want to bake a cake but forget to take out the butter from the refrigerator, simply grate the cold butter with a grater or cheese grater it will soften up in no time
Cheesecakes tend to get overcooked. Cheesecake is done when the centre is still wobbly. To prevent the cake from sinking or crack on the surface, leave the cake in the oven with door close and heat off for approximately an hour.
Whisk the egg whites with using clean and dry metal mixing bowl. Not advisable to use plastic bowl, it contains hidden oil that can ruin the foam. Do not over whisk the egg whites or will dry out, whisk until soft peak form. Add sugar gradually when after the soft peak just begin to form and whisk until the foam do not drop over.
Always use freshest eggs in the baking. To test the freshness of eggs, place an egg in water mixed with a little salt. If the egg is fresh it will sink. The quicker or farther it sinks, the fresher it is. If the egg floats, it has spoiled. Cold eggs are easier to separate than warm eggs.

Bread Making Tips:

Salt contains the growth of the yeast and is important as it keeps the yeast from going wild. It also adds flavor to the bread, however if too much salt, yeast will die or become damaged and your bread will flop.
Sugar provides food and energy to the yeast and too much of it will have the yeast running at warp speed which could kill it or cause your bread to over rise and collapes.
For best results all ingredients should be at room temperature with the exception of the yeast it can be used right from the freezer or refrigerator.

Correct way of preparing Steamed Chicken:

In a pot, boil water enough to cover chicken, put in half a bowl of salt.
when boiling, put in whole chicken to cook at low heat for half an hour(time depends on how big is the chicken), drain chicken, and in another clay pot, put in some oil, heat up oil and put in whole chicken and roll chicken with oil to coat well. Chop and serve.

Tasty Fried Chicken:

Moisten chicken drumsticks in water, drain well, put them in a zip bag, put in 20gm flour, 2 tsp paprika, 2tsp garlic salt, 3 tsp ground cumin, 2 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground black pepper & 1 tsp cayenne pepper. Shake well to coat chicken & marinate for few hours before frying.

2008-09-05T00:50:00.000-07:00

Baked Lotus Paste Mooncakes, Mooncake Biscuits and Mixed Nuts Baked Mooncakes

中秋要到了，送你一盒月饼。。。
“看不到但会记在脑里，拿不到但会感觉在手里，
吃不到但会甜在心里，想象不到但会留在记忆里“。。。
中秋节快乐。。。

2008-09-04T02:02:00.001-07:00

Feeling so lazy to get up early morning to prepare breakfast and my husband starts complaining that no more good breakfast. Okay, okay... and this morning I woke up slightly earlier than before to prepare something nice instead of just serving him with some homemade breads. Mm… what shall I prepare to make my man happy? So I decided to make the ‘Savory Crepes’ with grilled chicken breast and some spinach and button mushrooms serve with tomato dressing and my homemade latte to cheer him up!

2008-09-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

This colorful, delicious and healthy salad is perfect for lunch or dinner to serve to your house quests. The dressing can make up for one or two days in advance. The grilled chicken breast can be prepared earlier and chilled in fridge, warm in the oven or microwave before using.

2008-09-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

Thought of skipping lunch today because fear of getting too fat but stomach growling away and could not fight with the hunger so I decided to have something light rather than leading to gastric. Took out some bread but so unappetizing, start looking what I have in my fridge but nothing much left, what to cook then! Maybe just fry some noodle will do because my stomach no longer can wait for me to think for a nicer food. So I start chopping some garlic, cutting some leftover salad greens, defrost some prawns and chili paste that I used to prepare and freeze for emergency, boiling noodle, drain and start frying my “Mee-Goreng”. That’s my lunch!

2008-09-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

This quick and easy method of salad dressing is ideal for the beginners or salad lovers to prepare their own salad at home. Simply blend all ingredients in a food processor or whisk all ingredients in a measuring jar until thick. The vinaigrette can be kept in the fridge for up to a week. Serve with mixed salad greens.

Makes 3-4 servings
125ml olive oil
2 tbsp vinegar/lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey/apricot jam
¼ tsp minced garlic
Pinch of salt and black pepper

**Add any herbs you like into vinaigrette before serving. Replace ingredients to suit your own taste. The suitable vinegar you can use for salad is Red/White wine Vinegar, Sherry Vinegar or Tarragon Vinegar and Balsamic Vinegar. Common herbs to use in salad is minced parsley, tarragon or dill is usually use for seafood salad. Spices like ground cumin, paprika or cloves can be added to enrich the flavored dressing. Bacon, ham, sausages, grilled meats/fish can be added in as a main meal salad. I like to eat my salad with crispy bread or my homemade croutons over the salad. There are no rules and limits on what can or cannot add into salad, so be more creative and adventures to play with the ingredients.

2008-08-28T20:41:00.001-07:00

14th September is Mooncake Festival and I guess everyone busy making their own homemade mooncakes right now and all the family members are enjoying the baking fun together.
As usual, every year during Mooncake Festival, I will make some for my family and friends. I am going to miss my 2 daughters again each time the festival comes. They are miles away from us and we hardly celebrate the festival together. My elder daughter is going to miss my 'chilled lotus paste mooncake' again this year. And my youngest prefers the baked one but too expensive to get it in Melbourne.

Have you ever seen how people preparing mooncakes? It requires a lot of time to peel the lotus seeds and patients to cook the paste and the skills of moldings.
Variety of fillings is available nowadays in the market due to its hard task to make everything from scratch, now you can easily get the ready paste in commercial packed and just prepare the skin and bake just as simple. But nothing is better than the traditional and the real authentic taste with the hands on. I always like the original fillings of Lotus Paste in Mooncakes and the Mixed Nuts Mooncakes which I think is healthier because it doesn't involve too much oil and sugar in it, is my favourite anyway!

2008-08-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

Shanghai is the largest economic and trade centre in the country. It is also an ideal shopping paradise as well as a famous historical and cultural city.

Upon my arrival in Shanghai, the first thing I did was looking for a massage to regain my energy after the stressed climbing at Huangshan. My muscles completely relieved after the perfect massage and without wasting time we made our way to "Orient Pearl TV Tower" one of the famous tourist atrractions.

We were then taken for dinner by my brother to the second tallest building in China call "Jinmao Club Shanghai Restaurant' located at 86th floor where we were charmed with the scenery of 'Pudong'. It was an enjoyable trip and I had tried variety of foods like Benbang Cuisine, Xiao Long Boa (steamed Dumplings), Xiao-Long-Xia (mini lobsters), I was amazed with the way they served the seafoods. A set of dispossable glove and an apron were provided to all customers. It was a good idea that all seafood restaurants should emulate the same services to their customers. Hunan Cuisine impressed me the most athough it was abit spicy and oily but real delicious. We were waited for almost an hour to get a place to eat in this restaurant call "The Little Lamb Steam-Boat". All food served were prepared with lamb meat, one of the dish I missed was the roasted lamb leg.

Nanjing Road, the number one commercial street in china also call 'Pedestrian Street' was the best shopping street that should not be missed. After a day of shopping and eating we continued our nightlife at "Xin-Tian-Di', a happening area where you could see open air bars, theme restaurants, fashion shops and the architectural styles of both west and east of Shikumen Buildings.

With little time left, we managed to take a look at Zhouzhuang the water town, boarder of Shanghai and Suzhou. Presidents' wives were entertained to this beautiful place during the Apex Meeting held in Shanghai. There were so many types of sweet desserts, the making of maltose sweets, souvenirs and restaurants all along the riverside. "Grilled Trotters" was the famous food in town. I had some for take-away before I left this beautiful water town.

2008-08-22T06:35:00.001-07:00

FOOD REVIEW

'Chai-Kuih' / steamed rice dumplings with chinese chives fillings is one of the famous savoury comes from southern Penang, a small town call Jawi / Sg Bakap. People drive miles just for a taste and enjoy the freshness of the dumplings. There are two restaurants selling this famous dumplings but I decided to try the "Sin(new) Soon Lee Restaurant because I was told by the local they serve better dumplings. I finished nearly 10 dumplings plus some other dim sum, will be back for it again in my next visit to penang. I managed to get the permission from the boss to take some pictures of the making process but he was too shy to have a picture with me.

2008-08-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

THE VACATION

'Yellow Mountain' or 'Huangshan' [黄山], is the most beautiful mountain i ever seen. It has become hot tourist spot in China. We started the climbing from the cable car station at about 11.30am, you may choose to take cable car right up to the top but you probably will miss all the beautiful sceneries.So amazing to see the real scenery with my own eyes. Lots of Pine trees and the sea of clouds everywhere. The tour leader told us an interesting story about a man who over excited when reached the top of mountain and showed a 'flying posture' for a friend to capture a photo was then blown away by the strong wind that comes suddenly, apprently he was trapped on top of a huge pine tree and being saved but was in coma. Well, we ddn't know whether he was trying to make up a story to scare us but everyone seemed enjoyed the story. We took 7-8 hours to reach the hotel located on the top of mountain. No five-star hotels, only 2-3 stars hotels were available. It was pretty scary in the climbing but it was a most rewarded trip. We truly enjoyed the climbing although I was quite afraid of falling off the mountain, sweat and stressed up to the maximum to get to the hotel. We had our dinner at the hotel Chinese restaurant, well, food was good or maybe we were too hungry.We woke up early in the morning around 4am, we walked half an hour to catch the sunrise. Rising time was 5.17am, worth getting up so early! It was beautiful. After the breakfast we continued our climbing where we need another few more hours to get down to the foot of the mountain.