Travel Notice

After a month plus of traveling hiatus, I will leave for Japan on 22 May 2007. This time, I will be going to Tokyo (again! - will get some macarons from Pierre Herme or Joel Robuchon if I can squeeze in the time), Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Kobe. It does sound crazy for a 6-day trip but c'est la vie (at least for me)!

I do like Japan a lot, with their emphasis on quality and service, the Japanese are so meticulous. Oh, I remember the superb quality of Belgian chocolates which tasted better than those in Belgium - I won't mention names.

I have made up my mind to stay in a ryokan in Kyoto, maybe go for a dip at the onsen if time permits.... So much to do, so little time....

Next, Bintan Island 18-20 June 2007 for regional meeting and I have not decided if I would go to Europe before June ends since I will definitely be going this September and again in November. I am looking forward to the trip in November for a symposium which will end with gala night/grand dinner at Clos Vougeot, a chateau near Dijon, France. But, I will not and cannot get drunk despite the famous wines which will be making their appearances since I am my big customers' chaperone.

In addition, we are going to Langkawi again in July with friends.

And there will be the usual short trips within Asia now and then.

Hope to write about Kyoto when back.

P/S : I was frantically trying to book stay at ryokan even with help from the Japanese partners (cos a lot of them speak no English) to no avail - 2 of those I called said that to get a ryokan for 1 person is very, very difficult.

P/P/S : On macarons, I didn't manage to get them this trip as I had to go Kyoto/Osaka area but will do so next as I believe I would have more time in Tokyo then. I was very disappointed with myself nonetheless.

Oil Painting

In March, I wrote about going back to painting and look what Barry got me!! A kickass oil painting starter kit above - it has oil colours, canvas, brushes, palette and even an easel!! (Poodle not included).

The easel also functions as storage for the colours, brushes and palette - so, can organise better. It's so cool!

I had been talking a lot about doing oil painting just weeks before that and because I have only done watercolours, he even got me a step-by-step to oil painting book!

I have even found the perfect spot to do painting - on the patio, with soft music from our trusty little black Bose soundock.

Now, I just need to get some solvent and linseed oil and to find that print suitable for a beginner and I am all set to paint!

My dream is to one day paint a scene from Venice like below in oil :

Outing - Telawi Street Bistro

We went out and had a blast of an evening last Saturday at Telawi Street Bistro, Bangsar. It was organised by Elsa to surprise Sai (whose actual birthday was one week before that) with a birthday cake.
Mike, Elsa and birthday boy, Sai
It was really fun, I had a peach bellini, danced a bit, chatted with people, watched funny antics of people liberated in the presence of good company and possibly drinks.... birthday boy was enjoying himself.
Sai posing for the camera.....
Me, Beth, Dian, Mark

S.W.E.L.L.

Mother's Day Cake for Me!!

Aren't these lovely? Barry's biz partner came by and look what they brought me for mom's day (cos I am mommy to Claudia, the toy poodle and Barry)! LOOOOL!!!

2 slices of beautiful, rich, dark chocolate cake lightly dusted with a bit of confectioner's sugar and topped with zig-zags of white chocolate and strawberry halves! They were from Kuala Lumpur Renaissance Hotel's bakery.

Though not a fan of cakes and sweet stuffs, I wiped clean a full slice as these were just amazing!

Almond Shortbread Cookies

I love shortbread cookies - especially those with nuts (as I have said before, I am nuts about nuts!). So, this morning I made a batch of almond shortbread cookies adapted from this recipe from Joy of Baking.

Ingredients:
125 grams salted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (90 grams) + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (30 grams) + 1 tbsp almond flour (meal)
2 tablespoons (15 grams) rice flour

Method:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line baking pan with parchment paper (I use Glad Bake).

In the bowl of your electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl whisk together the flours (all purpose, almond, and rice). Add this mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Press the shortbread dough evenly into the baking pan to form an even circle of about 8mm thick. Prick the surface of the shortbread with a fork to prevent the shortbread from puffing up. Using a sharp knife, score (make shallow lines) the top of the shortbread into 8 even pieces.

Place in preheated oven and bake until it is nicely browned (biscuit color), about one hour 15 minutes. Transfer shortbread to rack and cool for five minutes before cutting into 8 wedges (along the lines scored) on a cutting board. Cool completely on a wire rack.

The cookies were light with the almond flour adding a subtle nutty aroma to it.

The recipe allows a choice between rice flour or cornflour - the next time I would try with cornflour for a more delicate texture.

I would think drizzling some melted dark chocolate on the surface after cookies are cooled would be decadent.

Delicious with a pot of coffee or tea as tea-time treat. Or hot chocolate.....

Happy Mother's Day : Lunch at New Harvest Restaurant

For mom's day, we (her 5 kids and family) would usually organise a meal together. Actually, hanging out with mom is something which we do all the time and especially for mom's day, there is no exception.

Mom loves going out with us, loves seeing her kids doing stuffs together - the more, the merrier! But sometimes, we have to do it separately, this year for example.

We (my 2nd sis' family & I) had a lovely lunch with my mom yesterday for an early mom's day celebration. She will have dinner tonight with my 2nd bro and subsequently some outings with another bro and sis over the next few days.

For lunch yesterday, my bro-in-law made reservation at New Harvest Restaurant in Klang. The below are some of the dishes we had :

Crabmeat and Pine Nuts Wrap - I was very surprised to see the generous amount of toasted pine nuts (expensive stuff) atop the crabmeat, eggs and turnip (for crunch) combo which we wrapped in crisp, fresh lettuce. Delicious with the chilli sauce that came with it.

Next, came the sharksfin soup - I didn't take any picture as sharksfin soup being sharksfin soup, they do not usually differ much in the looks factor. Nothing extraordinary. Crispy Grouper Slices in Butter Sauce - I don't normally like "saucy" dishes but I simpley loved this one because the slices of grouper fish were simply crispy and the fragrant sauce really complemented the fish well (can tell fish were fresh - no fishy smell at all!).
Noodles dish is a must for every of our celebration as it symbolises longevity. We had river prawns noodles. Again, freshness of the seafood was detected. The broth was just right in consistency and deliciously flavoured by the prawns.
Mushrooms and Broccoli Vegetarian Combo - A nice, light addition to our meal to fulfill our veg. intake requirements.
My favourites : black sesame glutinous rice balls - we ordered 2 variants, dry and in ginger soup version. Personally, I prefer these balls in soup though at New Harvest, the soup was not made with brown sugar which I prefer. There was a slight hint of bitter taste to the balls dry version which I believe came from the skin of ground almonds used to coat the balls. Nonetheless, the balls themselves were great.

We had a very good dining experience at New Harvest. Definitely great food at very reasonable prices. And most importantly, mom enjoyed it!

New Harvest Restaurant Sdn Bhd

19 Jalan Goh Hock Huat, 41400 Klang, Selangor DE (In front of Court's Mammoth)

Tel : 03-3345 2288

HAPPY MOM'S DAY!!!

My Favourite Places Re-visited.......... Many Times Over....

On days when I am feeling less adventurous and am seeking comfort food AND familiar faces, I would go to these places......

Tempura Moriawase - Zen, Sunway Pyramid - this time I didn't go for my favourites kani chawanmushi (crab egg custard), avocado tempura maki, stamina roll (unagi roll) and grilled beef with ponzu sauce. I bring people to Zen all the time - at one point, once or twice a week even, for weeks ....
Char Koay Teow - Little Penang Cafe, Midvalley Megamall - every now and then I crave this... would pop over to Midvalley at lunch just to get a fix. I almost drooled thinking about the soft, silky flat rice noodles accompanied by soft eggs, crunchy beansprouts and chives, cockles (haha!!) and 2 big shrimps served with lots of cut chilli padi in soya sauce... so shiok!!! Second only to making a trip to Penang for its famous fried koay teow. The other stuffs offered are generally good.

Dragon Willow Stirfry and Hot and Spicy Chicken Wings

To be honest, washing leafy vegetables does scare me a little - am always paranoid about not cleaning them enough and would spend hours soaking and rinsing and soaking and rinsing.... my mom used to tease that if I cook leafy vegetables, the whole family would go hungry because not only would I spend ages washing them but I would also throw away a lot of "imperfect" leaves.

I saw this "dragon willow" veg at pasar malam the other day and I made a mental note to try it out some time because they looked like they have less dirt on them compared to most other leafy vegs. Didnt know it was called "dragon willow" until a visit to Jaya Jusco yesterday where stuffs are labeled unlike pasar malams.

I thought dried shrimps would go with it but checked with an elderly lady who was arranging the vegs then. I was told that garlic would do fine but if want extra kick, some belacan would do the trick. Now, the idea of belacan is great for me but I don't think it will go well with my other half. So, the solution was to stick to dried shrimps and garlic.

And she added that it's good to be eaten when having stomach upsets as it has soothing effects - this I have to study a little before believing. However, I had no luck when I tried to Google "dragon willow". The search produced results related to alchemy and magic and I didn't really have the patience to do further research. So, any info on this is most welcomed by a very ignorant-about-leafy-veg me.

I soaked the whole bunch and washed them well before breaking them into 1.5 inch lengths. I made sure that they were well-drained and separated the stems from the curly beard-like tendrils/shoots (I think).

Chopped up some garlic and soaked some dried shrimps before washing and draining water off the shrimps.Then, I proceeded to heat up some corn oil in the pan before frying the garlic and dried shrimp till fragrant. Added in the stems. Increased the heat and stirfry for a little while before finally adding the tendrils of the "dragon willow". Gave a few shakes of salt.

I liked the stems a lot - for some reason, the tendrils were very much crunchier than the stems even though it went into the pan not too long after the stems. Overall, delicious with steamed rice or porridge.

Summary of ingredients for "dragon willow" stirfry :
"dragon willow"
corn, canola or any cooking oil
garlic
dried shrimps
salt

On a different subject, I also made some hot and spicy chicken wings just because it's weekend and we were craving wings.

The most important thing about making wings is to ensure that they are patted real dry... so that the skin won't be gooey when grilled. Mine weren't THAT dry cos I was in a hurry (as usual).

The wings were then rubbed with some olive oil and seasoned with chopped garlic, paprika, Tabasco sauce (darn, makes the chicken wet again...it was supposed to be chilli flakes but I have been hunting for chilli flakes for months and the nearest I could lay my hands on was chilli powder which I do not like), dried oregano, freshly ground sea salt (more would be better) and black pepper. I left the seasoned chicken in a sealed container overnight. Give it a little shake or two.

BBQ them wings after. Or you can grill them in the oven (with a drip pan below to catch the fat - watching the fat dripped down made me less guilty about eating wings) at approx. 220 deg C for 25 to 30mins or until they are golden. Watch the wing tips though - they burn fast - seal with aluminium foil if needed.

Summary of ingredients for wings :
chicken wings
olive oil
paprika
Tabasco or chilli flakes
dried oregano
salt
black pepper
garlic

Too bad I didn't make any dip (I like blue cheese dip, yum!!!)

Puppy and New Blankie.....

Barry brought back an ultra soft blanket from Canada and Claudia has completely taken it over. The moment he unfurled the blankie, she hopped on it and has been sleeping on it since.

Its even her colour!!!

Oh well, I will settle for Laura Secord dark chocolate almond bar and chocolate mint fudge. Been stuffing myself silly with high carbs past few days - totally craving them which is very unusual. Must be stress.

Stuffed Chicken

I love stuffed food.... both making and eating them. I like the fact that I can keep the side dish hidden within the main meal itself until the last moment and the flavours merge. It can also be a surprise for the person you are making them for.

Tonight, I made stuffed chicken - a little bit different from my usual way of rolling the stuffing in the meat. This time, I made a slit each on the breast meat and push the stuffing in.

Most veggies can go in as stuffing... even a different meat or seafood. Taste and preferences dictate what goes in. Also, what is available in the fridge, I guess.

The stuffing for the stuffed chicken pictured here is a combo of diced bell pepper, red onion, white button mushroom, canned tomato and just a wee bit of its juice, a little bit of shrimp (I think wihout would be better), chopped garlic and grated Parmesan cheese.

I would suggest cooking them slightly so that there is no need to cook the chicken too long in the oven. Heat some olive oil and then fry the chopped garlic till fragrant but not brown. Add in the onion and then the rest of the ingredients except cheese. Stand to cool before mixing in the Parmesan cheese.

In the meantime, pat dry chicken breasts and make a narrow deep slit with sharp knife - a paring knife would do the job. Fill the pockets with the cooled stuffing and ensure it is compact. Secure with toothpicks which have been soaked in water for about 15 mins at least.

Season well with freshly gound sea salt and black pepper. Brush with a bit of olive oil. Place extra stuffing on top of chicken, if available so as not to waste. Bake in a preheated 200 deg C oven for about 20 to 30 minutes (depending on how thick the meat is). Spoon the pan juices over chicken halfway through cooking.

If like, you can serve with some greens like haricot vert (green beans), honey beans, broccoli etc which can be cooked in the pan juices about 5 to 10 minutes before end of cooking time depending on the size of veggies and your preference.

Try it - it is not as daunting as it looks!