merdeka breakfast 2010

we did not go watch the parade in esplanade nor did we watch it on the TV. we woke up late, went to the market and came home to have a nice family breakfast. bran loves his "nasi mamak" and so does ry. we got this at the roadside corner stall opp supertanker. its sold by a really nice indian lady. there are many varieties to her nasi lemak but i like the telur gravy the best. this was the chee cheong fun from the old lipsin market. supposedly stuffed with char siew. it was just really weird for me.. we did not finish this.

also from the old lip sin market is this jawa mee. pretty tasty. sweet, sour and quite spicy too. just the way i like it.

surprise tea finish: cream puffs...

eem...actually, its the cream puff pastry with chocolate ganache and topped with chocolate rice and with no cream filling.

sinful enough already.

actually baked stuff are supposed to be here: http://www.bake3.blogspot.com/

oi elpea, pls update leh...

afternoon tea @ the suffolk house aka "a slow food afternoon"

It was a pleasant weekday afternoon and it was just nice for English tea. eating sandwiches, pastries, pies, scones and sipping a cuppa tea.

it was a real "slow food" afternoon for me, sitting in the shade of an olde english mansion enjoying the cool breeze as we savour the flavours of the food.

welcome to the Suffolk house,

tucked away behind the hustle and bustle of busy jalan dato keramat, right behind the noisy Methodist boys school.

we arrived there around 300pm and it was raining. by the way, you cant drive in, you have to park outside and walk in about 100meters to the mansion.

it was a weekday so there wasn't much people around, we were part of 3 tables that were occupied for afternoon tea.

the afternoon tea menu...

a normal set is for 2pax but since we were 5, we took 2 1/2.

the set comes with a pot of tea and set of pastries and sandwiches etc. you can choose from an assortment of teas available.

we chose 3 types of teas, the "earl grey", which is what capt picard drinks :) , the "morgentau" and the "mint and fresh".

the first tea to arrive was the "mint and fresh". i do not drink minty drinks so this was a no-no. my sis and the rest found it refreshing. I'll take their word for it.

the morgentau had a fruity flavour, which did not appeal to me. the rest of them liked it though.. yes, i know, i'm picky... (heeey, i drink iced lemon tea, right...? :-) uncultured swine....)

the morgentau comes in a much smaller tea pot, but we refilled it with hot water..

hey, its tea maah..

aah, finally, the earl grey..

the assorted pastries... raisin biscuit - its a raisin biscuit laah ( but i must admit you could taste the richness)

almond biscuit - its an almond biscuit laah (same comment on the richness) chocolate cake - it was so sweet, it was bitter. not sure it if was intended that way. hated it.

apple crumble tarts - these were good. bite sized and topped with a slice of strawberry

the accompaniments for the scones: pineapple jam - my favourite.

tomato jam - eem not so favourite.. c'mon, its tomato...!! ok, i exaggerate, it was not so bad. apple jam - another yummy choice.

strawberry jam -was good as well.

butter - skipped this.

clotted cream - i skipped because i thought it was bland. reminded me of yogurt and i hate it.

one thing to note is that the jams had pieces of the actual fruit in them. how cool is that? i found that to be really nice touch.

the other thing to note (which i failed to remember) was that the jams were actually "fusion" of fruit and spice.. if i remember correctly, it was apple and chili, pineapple and ginger...and sadly i cant remember the other 2. but the thing was the fruit+spice fusion worked very well together.

you get an explosion of flavours in your mouth when you bite into that scone and that bit of jam.

the "mains" were made up of sandwiches, scones and pies.

cucumber sandwiches - it was ok.. tasted so-so . salmon sandwiches - this one was very nice and tasty.

the really lovely scones, crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.

we ate these really slowly and spooned the various jams on with every bite. i enjoyed all the jams except for the butter and cream. the cream tasted bland to me and i preferred a "sweet" taste rather than buttery taste when eating the scones.

we underestimated the scones. they looked small but were actually quite filling as well. we struggled to finish them. really scrumptious, i say again.

the chicken and mushroom pies.. they were quite filling and bursting with meat and flavour

my "cuppa tea" pose with my pinky extended... earl grey of course... "make it so"

this is the back part of the mansion which was where we had our tea. there's actually a river behind the mansion. those colonials really like mansions next to rivers.

i think once in a while we just need to take a step back and look at the world with "slower" lenses.

things pass us by so fast these days that we hardly take the time to appreciate things or even to "taste".

i think i will come back for afternoon English tea one of these days and i'll bring elpea with me...

fyi on some history of the mansion, if you're interested..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_House,_Penang

new world park ice kacang

one of my favourite desserts is ice kacang but i try to stay away from all the bastardized versions that are being flaunted around. i just like it plain and simple. shaved ice with syrup, beans, corn and a scoop of ice cream. this time around i gave in to the bananas. :-)

birthday food

another year, another birthday.. this time around we optioned for the not so tiring approach. we bought food from a few different places... and we ended with a cake for dessert.

roasted wings and drumsticks from super tanker

hor fun from sg nibong the pickled sliced chilli for the horfun the chilli sauce for the roasted chicken i actually skipped this because the chicken already taste great by itself. the black forest that elpea made

breakfast@starbucks

we seem to be going to starbucks for breakfast quite often.. maybe its because of the free coupons we have :-) anyway, these are the few things we seem to be eating.. the curry chicken roll... nice and spicy.. the cinnamon roll is only so-so

the chocolate eclair is not too bad.

LMP

i had to wait a really long time for this but she finally made it.. lemon meringue pie it was worth the wait........

sweet tangy lemon filling,

on a sweet tart crust,

topped with a light sugary egg white burnt meringue

i'm still dreaming of it..

i'm not sure what elpea can make/bake to top this....

more more more more

More MOre MORe

MORE MORE MORE MOREEEEEEEEE..................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ipoh hainanese bean sprout chicken rice

we were in ipoh for a day trip and decided to wander into town for the famous hainanese bean sprout chicken rice. everything seemed to be focus on a single crossroad. there were more than 4 restaurants selling the same thing plus two others and a bike stall selling salted chicken which we ended up not buying. i googled up "ipoh hainan chicken rice" when we were on the way there and so we went to the 1st result listed which was also the most packed. we ordered: 2bowls of chicken rice for ry and elpea, a bowl of noodles for me. an order of white chicken for 2 adults/2 kids and a huge plate of beansprout. service was super fast. everything was delivered to the table in like 30seconds. really..!!

the serving for the chicken was quite huge and we didnt manage to finish it. taste wise its definitely much better than anything i've tasted in pg and the texture of the chicken was really smooth and tender.

the bean sprout was really really really good as well. nicely, tastefully seasoned and most importantly, crunchy. i wish i had more time and stomach space to enjoy it.

i kind of regret ordering the noodles. it did not really suit my palate. it just tasted weird to me. elpea and ry had this and they said it was very good. overall, it was a great meal and i would definitely go back there again.

this time around it was a pretty rushed meal so i dont think we enjoyed the food 100%.

the next time we go back, we need to go with more people to enjoy the food, as well as, take more time to savour the flavours more thoroughly.

next time....

gtcttww: durian cream puff

good things come to those who wait. AWESOME....!!! durian cream puffs.. be amazed.. the durian cream is made from non-dairy whipping cream blended with real "creamed" durian. yummilicious...!!

anti-rice campaign #2: full metal jacket potato

this time around, its fruits and vegetable.. salad made from diced red and green apples, diced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and held together with thousand island dressing and for the main course a huge jacket potato.. made with russet potato, of course. boiled first then split in the middle and baked with garlic butter, then stuffed with more butter and leftover bolognaise sauce, sprinkled with cheese and salami bits then grilled again to melt the cheese... and finished with a dash of cayenne pepper. the salad.... the jacket potato

the pasta sauce complemented the baked potato nicely in terms of flavours and to have the melted cheese together with the salami bits in each bite was the highlight..

the "piece the resistance".

my compliments to the chef.. sprinkled with cayenne.. which gave it an extra "zing"

and, i was pleasantly surprised that the potato was quite filling

a simple and yet satisfying meal.

anti-rice campaign #1: the anatomy of a burger

some days you just seem to get sick of rice, dont you? well, i do... this was one of those days...and as fate would have it, it was "build your own burger day" yaay..!!! things you need: gardenia burger buns grilled ramly burger and grilled salami sliced cucumber, sliced onions and sliced tomatoes garlic butter, mustard, mayo, tomato/chili sauce, coarse black pepper. looking at the grand scheme of things.. the staging ground.. step #1 slather both sides of the bun with garlic butter and layer the bottom part with the sliced cucumber. actually i think the buns could have been bigger :-) step #2 generously apply mustard on both sides

step #3

place the salami on top of the cucumber slices, apply chilli sauce and cover with the onions

step #4

top with the grilled burger and tomato and sprinkle on some pepper

=and "taa-daaaaaah"...

there you have it, a burger ready to eat..

we actually forgot to put the cheese...

well, i made and ate 2, by the way...

:-D

and ry had fun assembling the burger.. his way...

Lor Mee & Hokkien Mee

Had breakfast at the shop opposite Tesco (a terrace house turned c0ffee shop). RM2.50 for each bowl. That is very cheap. Taste wise no bad. We will be going back for the wan tan mee and koay teow tng.

The shop owner was very polite.. thanked us when we were leaving. Hmmm good customer service.