Dinner @ Soup Spoon

Its been more than 6 months since i last caught up with Shanice, Brigitte & Bernice. We met up for dinner at Cityhall last evening, for some latest gossips as well. I was reali happy to know that i'm able to hear their wedding bells ring soon. Wow...so great!
We had dinner at Soup Spoon & desserts at Ben & Jerry's. Erm...tis's my 1st time having soup spoon & its great. The serving was huge & its being served wif a small bun at the side.

Shanice had Cream Of Mushroom.

Brigitte had a Minestrone Soup.

Bernice & i ordered a Tomato Soup each.

Oh ya, we ordered a Mushroom Pesto Sandwich as well.
Its reali so filling that i could hardly walk after our meals. But...but...comes to dessert wise, the gals can reali find space in their tummy ya, we proceed to ben & jerry's for ICE CREAM......yeah....

Hmm...not cheap ya, $15.90 for 3 small pathetic scoops. We had mango sorbet,cookies & cream, coffee & hazelnut flavour.I find them ok nia, afterall still prefers swensens. haha....

Shark Steak in Spicy Sour Sauce

Wat to do wif a piece of shark steak? Fry with salted veggie or garlic chili? Hmm....well, since its a whole pc of steak by itself, how bout 1 being cooked in spicy sour sauce? The thought of it makes mi drool! Especially serve with some crackers!
Shark fishes aren't too expensive. For less than $3.00, i'm able to get a huge piece like tis.Hmm...its onli the preparations & cooking which r tedious! haha....afterall, its worth it! Yummy.....

Ingredients;
1 pc shark steak
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 chili padi, thinly sliced
50ml concentrated assam water
¾ tbsp sugar
Juice from 1 lime
Coriander leaves
Oil for shallow frying
Hot boiling water
Salt
Vegetable crackers

Chili mixture;
1 red chili, minced
5 shallots, minced
3 chili padi, minced
½ tbsp oil
Pinch of salt
½ tbsp sugar
1 tbsp chili paste

Method;
-Prepare chili mixture by frying shallots in hot oil till lightly brown.
-Add chili, continue to fry for another 20mins over low heat.
-Stir in chili paste, season with salt & sugar.
-Wash & clean shark steak, rub & season with salt for 5 mins b4 washing off.
-Pat dry steak with kitchen towel to remove excess water.
-Heat enough oil in a wok, shallow fry shark steak 5 mins on each side till golden brown.
-Remove fried steak, set aside for later use.
-Leaving about 2 tsp oil in the wok, fry onions & chili till fragrant.
-Add chili mixture, assam concentrate, salt, sugar & water.
-Bring to boil, return shark steak to wok.
-Simmer till mixture thickens & serve.
-Drizzle lime juice over steak, garnish with coriander leaves.
-Serve with some vegetable crackers.
-Enjoy!

*Chili mixture can be prepared few days in advance, simply store them in the fridge.

*Add more water if gravy is too dry.

Sprout Salad

I'm a "recent" crazy fan of beansprouts & tis craze had been going on for almost 2 wks.I dunno reali y but all the while i dun reali fancy them except when they r being cooked together with fried beehoon or noodle soup, adding a crunch to the entire dish.

Beansprouts haf a very beautiful name called 银芽in chinese, which means silver sprouts.When cooked, they are silvery white with smooth & clear texture.Hmm...lovely, crunchy, yummy!
Tis dish can be eaten as a salad, side dish or to serve with rice for us chinese.It a common dish where its easily available at any hawker centers which sells chicken rice.

Ingredients;
80g beansprouts
500ml water
Pinch of salt
1-2 drops oil
Chopped corriander leaves
Fried shallots
Cherry tomatoes

Sauce;
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil

Method,
-Bring water to boil, add salt & oil.
-Add in beansprouts & blanch till cooked, drained.
-Mix ingredients for sauce & drizzle over beansprouts.
-Sprinkle corriander leaves & fried shallots over.
-Garnish with cherry tomatoes & serve immediately.
-Enjoy!

Stir-fry Salted Vegetables with Pork Belly Strips

Wah...salted vegetables are not cheap these days! 1 kg cost $4.50, even more ex than fresh vegetables. Oops.....how come i sound so much like a calculative housewife?!?! haha......
I find that salted veggie goes well with plain porridge, otherwise if wanna goes with plain rice, its best serve with some braised egg or beancurd, and plenty of the sauce.Yummy.... Oh well, those were some serving suggestions but i find it reali nice!

Ingredients;
½ head salted vegetable
200g pork belly
2 clove garlic, chopped
3 chili padi, chopped
Pinch of salt & msg
Oil for frying

Method;
-Soak salted vegetable in water for about 10mins.
-Drained & cut into strips.
-Cut pork belly into thin strips.
-On a heated wok, fry chopped garlic & chili with 1 tbsp oil till fragrant.
-Add in the pork belly & fry till 70% cooked.
-Squeeze out excess water from the salted vegetables, add them into the wok.
-Continue to stir fry for about 8 mins till meat is cooked.
-Serve with plain porridge.
-Enjoy!

Easy Steamed Egg

The sat last week i'm still enjoying myself in genting. Back fm my holiday since monday & life had resume back to normal fm tues onwards. But i'm still having the holiday feel, being so relax.
Even when comes to cooking, wanna cook some fast & easy dishes. Tis easy steamed egg is sooo.... easy, simple yet delicious.
During my childhood days, mum would steamed eggs with minced pork as a dish for us to go with plain rice. However, i still prefer steamed eggs.

Simply;
-Beat 2 eggs with 50ml chicken stock & 1/2 tsp vegetable oil.

-Steam over medium heat for 10mins.

-Sprinkle chopped spring onions & fried shallots over.

-Enjoy!

4 Days Malaysia Trip ---JB/KL/Genting Highland cum Malacca

Its been almost a week since i last blogged, well cuz i was actually looking forward to my 4 days trip to malaysia.I've always love to travel especially when driving to different parts of malaysia.

Tis time round, i travelled with tabby's family,aunty roza family, aunty ber's family. Each family drove their own car, together we set off in 3 different cars.

We left singapore on 19th(fri) at about 2.40pm, cleared jb custom & reached Restoran Teck Sing for a meal at about 3.20pm. We ate hurriedly as we were afriad tt we might be caught in a jam. Based on calculation, by time we reaches KL willbe quite late at nite.

After a delightful meal, we set off b4 5pm & reaches our 1st toll in malaysia.

Along the way, i caught sight of some beautiful sceneries.

The thing i love to do most when travelling is to snap photos of the surroundings, especially scenes like clouds, sunset etc...

The sun was about to set & it was a nice timing for mi to keep a lookout for the beautiful sunset.

As all these photos were being snapped fm our moving vehicle, angles tends to be different. Hmm...i displayed the photos accordingly to the order which they were being took.
See, the sun was slowing setting behind a tree fm far.

Tis is 1 of my best & favourite photos. I'm currently using it as my PC wallpaper. Feels great to see this pic whenever i on my pc :-P

Tis pic is oso nice, especially the ruby grapefruit colour sun, the sad thing is --even the lamp posts were being snapped as well! haiz... :-(

I tot malaysia has few lamp posts?!?! I always seen onli a few in JB, but dunno how come whenever i wanna capture a beautiful scence, there will always be hinder.

Isn't tis cool?

And this as well!

With all the sight seeing along the way, soon nite began to fall & without realising, its already 9plus & finally we reached KL. Tis is my 1st time in KL & i'm reali so excited, wanna explore the capital of malaysia in my quickest pace.

1st nite in KL- Checking into Hotel Royale Bintang

While waiting to check in, val is in charge of looking after all our baggages. haha... That's an important job being assigned to her! :-P

Ours was a family suite where there's a single bed in the living rm...

And a king size bed in the bedroom.

We didn't reali check the rooms as we were all hungry. After putting all our things aside, we went to the nearby Jalan Alor for supper.

Jalan Alor is a street full of restaurants, selling local delights, sze char etc...

We ordered plenty of food like pork liver mee sua, bbq chicken wings, satay, curry fish head etc....
After a heavy supper, we proceed back to hotel. Intended to wash up 1st b4 exploring the nite life of the city.

Disappointing services provided by---Hotel Royale Bintang

There were so many issues which made us so furious & disappointed.

*1stly,the stupid aircon in our room was faulty. We requested hotel staff to check it out. Waited for bout 20 mins b4 a guy came knocking on our door to service the aircon. After checking, he said there's no problem with the aircon, onli tt its very slow & not cold.

Lame rite? Its an understood that when an aircon is not cold its spoil,he still can tell us its working. We insist on having it repair & was told he can only do so the next day as its already late in the nite.

No choice, we request to change to another room.

*2ndly, having changed to another room, we tot we can finally get settled down. Who noes its the begining of another nitemare.The shower facilities in the bathroom is totally not working. The shower head was dismantled, even the hose & screws were being thrown inside the bathtub. We were all very fedup by tis time. Called up asking them how to bathe under tis kind of conditions? The counter staff replied "tis suite is for special guests" M replied "special guests no need to bathe izzit?" We insist on changing to another room. Counter staff said she need to check on available rms & will revert shortly. We waited a long long time till passed midnite, called 4 times & still waiting for a room.

I was soooo... angry, wanna go down to the counter on the ground floor to lodge a complain.Juz when i opened the door, found a key to another room is being placed on the floor outside our room.

Stupid rite? the coconut which delivered the key didn't even knock on the door to inform us, didn't even bother to slip the key into our room, the best thing is tt the counter staff say will revert & didn't even bother to inform us that the key is being delivered to our rm, make us "gong gong" wait till so late.Wat kind of stupid & lousy service they have.

*3rdly, when in another room where they arranged for us,its a super suite

with bigger rooms but smaller bed. There's onli 1 queen size bed. How to sleep like tt? Previous rooms were all king size beds with additional single bed.Wah...by tis time i'm reali so sianz....dun think i wanna go out to explore the city le.We requested for an additional single bed was told tt they will delivered within 15mins. It's already 1am & i'm feeling so tired.Everyone dozed off while waiting for the delivery. I'm fedup for the 2nd time. Dampened my spirits of exploring KL, comes to think of it, dun think its a gd place huh?! I called the counter staff & told him tt he dun expect mi to wait for the delivery till 2am rite? Their so called "15mins" is rubber time! Again, i was given lame & stupid excuses....they gotto find a bed,bed spread,blankets & most of all muz locate their staffs to deliver the bed. Wah lau, i'm there to enjoy my holiday, not to put up with all these nonsense.

When the 2 indian staffs finally deliver the bed at 1.40am, they showed a very black face & were grumbling having to deliver bed late in the nite.Come on, i was the 1 in the suffering state man! Wonder wat's wrong with all these pple in the service line!

Tis is the WORST hotel i've ever stayed. Tabby's mum suggested we should go genting highlands instead as she assured she can get better rooms. We checked out at 10plus am early next morning

Day 2- Genting Highlands

In less than 45mins journey, we reached genting highlands. Wow...cooling weather is wat i love most about genting.

Look, its so foggy!
While waiting to checked in, wee sisiters posed for a snap.

We saw a cute mascot walking in the hotel lobby & dunno where tis little boy comes from & he insist aunt roza to carry him to pose for a pic with the mascot. Cute rite? The cuter part about tis boy boy is tt he onli approaced aunt roza & mi to carry him, whereas he refuses to let tabby & aunty ber to carry.

haha...tis led to some sour grapes conversations among us. Tabby said tt the little boy has no taste, onli wan "nerdy" pple carry. I fight back & praised that the little is so clever & has high taste cuz he onli wanna be carried by beauties. :-P

We decided to have our lunch at mushroom farm lst while waiting for our rooms to be prepared.

Here we are....

Well, tis isn't my 1st visit. I've came once about 2 years ago. Everything still looks the same.

Including these mushrooms benches.

Looks like tabby is reali hungry! haha....

A walk around the farm & they actually planted some veggies. Hmm...looks like xiao bai cai ya?!

Another kind of vegetables growing on another few plots of soil.

As we entered the rooms where the mushrooms are being reproduce, there were so many different types, there's even a signboard to state their benefits.

Monkey head mushroom-believe in curing gastric problems.

Lingzhi-1 of the most expensive type of fungus, knowned to reduce blood pressure, clear blood & remove toxic from body.

Chestnut mushroom....hmm, dunno how come its uses are not being stated!

Black Fungus~oh tis wan i noe. It can reduce chorolestrol & helps to lose weight. haha... muz take more ya! :-P

Brown oyster mushrooms.

White oyster mushrooms.

After exploring round the farm, its time for food. Oh i'm sooo...... hungry! Didn't had breakfast, so tis is my 1st meal of the day!

1st dish~Assorted Stir-fry Mushrooms

Sweet & Sour Pork.

Herbal Bak Kut Teh....gosh tis soup is so shiok, especially when drank in a cold weather like genting!

Cereal Prawns~the all time favourite among the chan family.

Curry Fish Head~another shiok dish!

Wa Dan Hor~somehow or rather i finds that hor fun in malaysia are very nice to eat.The thick kway teow are being fried over high flame till slightly burnt, serve with tasty gravy. Unlike those from the sze char stalls in
singapore, kway teow onli stir fry with abit of dark soy sauce, no burnt smell at all.

Stir fry french beans with dried shrimps.

Fu Rong Omelette~Crispy on the outside, fluffy & full of flavours inside.

Hotplate Tofu~ordered specially for the kids.

Crispy Pork Knuckle served with special sauce.

After a wonderful meal, time to check into our Executive Suite in genting hotel.This is the 1st time all of us are staying in tis hotel, we used to stay in highland hotel instead.

Upon entering the suite, all of us were so excited & so "sua ku". Everything we see we go "wow....wow...wow..." until aunt magaret scold us "pls lah all of u, dun act untill so sua ku, throw my face onli" haha....wat to do, all of us 1st time mah. :-P

Other than a giant cosy bed,

We have a super big bath tub big enough for 2 person to soak inside.

Even the toilet bowl has a spraying system, juz like those in japan.

And an execuite working area. See, our secretary uncle bren is attending to boss tabby. haha....

I'm dun fancy theme park nor casino, the best lazy afternoon treat for mi is to enjoy a cup of hot tea & reading some magazines.

I reali love tis scene from the mag, its a scene in the tea plantation in cameron highlands. I haven been there, but isn't it wonderful to have tea with some scones in the tea plantation?! hmm...it will be so romantic especially when its with ur other half.

After reading, i did a DIY decorations for tabby's hp.

And crystals decoration on the sides as well.

Hmm...no show to watch on tv, maybe its time to go out for a walk. The kids are already at the theme park enjoying themselves.

Out for a walk, enjoying the scene & views.Tis is the overall view of the outdoor theme park.

The indoor theme park at 1st world.

There's a vietnam fair going on at the atrium of 1st world.

We had some quick bites at the BK, tabby loves the cheestick. And.....we had a cheesestick challenge among tab & nat.

At the count of 3, both of them gotto pull slowly & see who can pull the melted cheese longest without breaking.

And the winner goes to natalie wee......congrats! yeah yeah....

Its already 12.40am & mel is still posing for photo shoots with the toy which she won at the theme park today.

See...wif her pink dolphin.

And disturbing her sis.

Oh, finally caught natalie's attention.

Its cold to sleep without feet warmers, luckily we got ours from marks & spencer sometimes back.

After spending a nite in genting, the other group members are grumbling they've not done any shoppings in KL, the best thing about driving there is we can check out & proceed to any destination at anytime.

We checked out at around 1130hrs in the morning & went downhill.

We decided to had our 1st meal of the day at a restaurant at the foot of highlands. Nat can't stand hunger, she was bz munching onto a bread which she bought from a cafe b4 our journey began.

Bidding goodbye to my favourite genting...i will be back somedays.

Passing through a temple which i never been to.It makes mi wonder,will they be pple whom go all the way there to make offerings?

Look at the foggy scence, i will miss genting! :-(

Here we are, at a restaurant for lunch.H

The custom which caught my attention is that be it watever food is being ordered, there will be chopped garlic & green chilis to be serve in thick dark soy sauce.
We bought some roasted chestnuts from the vendor next door, well, this is our appertiser.

Tabby ordered a Ginseng Luohan Herbal Drink for mi.

Sambal Sweet Potato Leaves.

Wan Dan Hor AGAIN.For tis trip, we had hor fun everyday.haha...but its worth it as they are reali very nice!

Di Wang Miao with chili paste.

Yuan Yang Cod Fish. I love this dish...steam & fried cod fish served in light soy sauce gravy.

Oh, tis is nice too. Its Cpispy Pork fry with onions. Yummy!

Curry Wild Boar Meat~requested by Tabby.

Spicy Black Pepper Lala.

Day 3-Back to KL

Here we are, back in KL again, wah....Twin Tower neh....

Went in serch of hotels as we didn't want another nightmares in royale bintang. Tis inn is cool ya, but too bad there's no wifi & no lifts in it. NEXT.....

Finally we decided on Swiss Garden Hotel. Not too bad, at least its better than royale bintang. After checking in, time to explore the city.

We went to pavilion, KlCC and and and its time for my coffee. I didn't had a single sip of coffee during tis trip. Woah...iced mocha is shiok. Proceed to bukit bintang plaza for shopping till late. Actually we were searching for sungei wang instead.

See their public toilet, some sort like those in japan.But if u r having a tummyache & will take more than 15mins, its not advisable to use as u can onli be in there for 10mins. After that, be it u r done not, the door will auto open! haha...

I dun reali like tis street performer. He's making use of the poor little monkey to earn a living. It was told to climb into the black bag where there's a snake in it.The old man will den zip the bag up for sometimes b4 releasing the monkey.

So eveil, when the monkey refuse to do so, it got whack & the old man pulled the money by the metal chain which was chaining to its neck.Feeling pain, the monkey will do as told.I hate tis way of treating animals, its so evil.

I'm hungry....onli 4 hrs after my mcdonalds dinner, we had KFC for supper.B4 coming to Kl, i've heard pple mention that malaysia kfc's chicken taste much more better than singapore cuz they uses fresh chicken, unlike ours frozen chicken.

Yummy...its tender & juicy, u can taste the sweetness of the chicken in every bite.

The next morning, b4 we set off for malacca, we had a quick breakfast at Jalan Alor.

The wanton mee is not that fantastic, i prefer those in singapore.

Day 4- Malacca & JB

Time to set off for malacca, we reaches the toll to malacca.

Soon, we saw tis "Welcome to Melaka" sign.

Tis place is quite big, wif a zoo, botanical garden, reptile park etc...should we join a heritage city tour to explore more about malacca? Better not, its better to stay in the airconditioned car & tour around on our own.

Look, tt's the mega mall~Palawan. Erm.....its a pity we didn't get to do some shopping in it.

Doesn't tis looks like a mini "borders" like the mall in wheelock place? haha....

Actually they do have quite a number of shopping malls in malacca ya, tis is another wan~Melaka Mall.

I'm keeping a lookout for Makota Shopping Mall. Heard tt its a new mega mall but i can't seem to find it. Doesn't matter cuz we are hungry again....time to look for jonker street cuz we are heading there for their famous chicken rice.

There...look at their street sign, so high tech ya, unlike those "green board with white wording" signs. keke.....

Wow...so nice, reminds mi of chinatown during CNY in singapore.

Our destination~Restoran Chicken Rice Ball.

Their menu....

The famous chicken rice balls with roasted chicken.

We ordered another type of chicken as well.

Some other dishes like char siew, bean sprouts & otah.Hmm... i love the otah, especially when its being drizzled with some freshly squeezed limes.

Some roasted pork belly & braised chicken claws.

Wished we had more time in malacca as i reali hope to explore more on tis lovely place. Malacca is a place worth looking into due to its historic backgrounds. They were under portuguese,british,dutch 's influence b4. Now there were malays, nonyas, chinese.

I like the vintage designs & carvings on tis building.

And tis as well.

Tabby posing for a snap shot wif aunt roza & melanie.

Look at these, i tot they were red wine ornaments. In actual fact, they are umbrellas. Cute rite? So interesting.

Oh, there's even a Hainan Assn.

Hmm...a chendol shop, but i'm too full to try any desserts.

Wow....tt's called "Eye of Malaysia". There's a london eye & here's a malaysia eye. haha....

Time to bid farewell to malacca, its getting late.Based on estimation, by time we reach JB will be bout 8pm.

Along the way to jb, i spotted tis duck shaped alike clouds. Isn't it cool?!

True enough, we reached jb at bout 8.20pm, sent all our cars for a snow wash & proceed to New Lucky Seafood Restaurant for dinner.

We ordered their Speciality Tofu.

Yuan Yang Cod Fish AGAIN.

Kumpong Chicken.

AGAIN its Wan Dan Hor.

Natty's special request~French Beans. Gosh...its so salty!

Tabby's all time favourite~Cheesy Mayo Prawns.

We were on our way to customs hoping that we won't get stuck in a jam. Thank god, we were back in singapore safe & sound at 9plus.

Home sweet home at 10pm & these were my boughts for the past few days. Reali nothing much.....erm i mean as compared to those i bought during my trips to HK & BKK.haha.......