Fancy western dinner at a posh hotel in Doha

the boyfriend had a posh dinner last night [wish i were there!!]. so they DO have good food in Qatar.. but you have to be willing to fork out QR300 for this meal [an equivalent of RM 285]

here's wat he had:
For starters.... an "ocean salad" with what looks like smoked salmon with dill, shrimp scampi, mussels and a mixed mesclun salad with toasted brioche on top.

Then some roasted chicken with gravy, steamed veggies and what looks like potatoes anna. or an egg fritatta.

next is this chocolate thingy with an unpronouncable name.

this dessert platter looks absolutely luscious

I love kueh teow th'ng.
it's the best thing about penang i think. wonder why it isnt as good here in KL. why cant the KL kueh teow soup sellers do it like the penangites? over here all u get are a few measly shreds of boiled chicken, a fishball or two, a shrimp or two and spring onions. and the soup's ussually quite bland. but this penang kueh teow th'ng was so fragrant with its porky soup [I suppose it had been boiled with pork bones for very long? I might be wrong but anyway it's super porky] and flavourful pork mince floating around...sliced fish cake and pork balls and shrimp and bean sprouts. it's just so yummy! and it's my idea of comfort food [steaming hot...]

Another thing that's famous in Penang is the assam laksa. this particular one was from a stall near the "kek lok si" temple up in the mountains. Kavern says it's the best on the island. I say it's very fishy. [a good thing]

some roti canai at the side of the road but i dont remember where.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- back to subang jaya.............last night magdalene and I went to the pasar malam and bought lotsa food. we stopped at the lok-lok stall to eat....i had some mini quail century eggs -i love these!!! and she had a boiled cockle [sea-harm] kebab. the boyfriend loves those lok lok stalls too and everytime he sees one he has to have his boiled pork kidney and liver kebabs. [gross] of course some people say that cockles are gross/disgusting [but I do like them...] or that century eggs are disgusting [i suppose the black colour might put you off but perhaps it's an acquired taste.

Lok lok in cantonese means to "scald scald" i think!! i might be wrong. but it does sound like "scald scald" right???? anyway that makes the most sense to me since everything's "scalded" like this in boiling hot bubbling broth before eating.

on to OUG.........there's a kopitiam near the market called "yang kee" that's famous for beef noodles. you can choose watever noodle you like, and the "kon low" [dry ones] comes with some minced beef in dark soy sauce and some blanced choy sum with a side bowl of beef broth and beefballs. they're tasty and all but their prices are a lil on the high side for a non air conditioned kopitiam.

Anzac Biscuits [ozzy ozzy ozzyyy ]


Advance Australia Fair!!
haha... I've always wanted to try making my own Anzac cookies....an Aussie favourite..these are not only chewy and yummy but healthy too with lotsa fibre from the oats.
These are right up there with the meat pies, pavlovas and vegemite I think!


I'm so patriotic for Australia but not for Malaysia.

Bawang Merah in SS12

For tea today we went to Bawang Merah in SS12 [same row as the Windmill/Shun/taj curry house/domino's pizza] this malay place is quite popular and famous so finding a parking spot is always a challenge. their "kuih" disappears really fast too so whenever you see the waitress coming out of the kitchen with a plate of fresh "pisang goreng" you'd better rush for it!

This sugary sweetpotato doughnut was quite agreeable. crispy with a creamy soft inside.

this deep fried prawn fritter was delicuios too but then again..what isnt when it's deep fried?

it had a really nice flavour and because it was just hot off the pan it was extra good.

I also had the curry puff which was yummy too [it disappears really really fast] -crispy crust and hot potato curry filling with onions. [yum]

the woo tau koh was nice too although it isn't a typical malay thing.

Mag had the fatt koh which she said was nice [those colourful steamed cupcakes]

the other items on offer were boiled tapioca [I've never had it before], cucur pisang, pisang goreng, kuih lapis, those green round things with gula melaka inside and coated with grated coconut and nasi lemak and lotsa other malay kuihs whichs names I dont know.

The pisang goreng [deep fried battered banana] wasnt that good this time though...the banana they used wasnt sweet enough but the batter was nice and crispy.

I suppose another reason for its popularity are its reasonable pricing. each piece of kuih is
53 cents and drinks are around RM1.40 for a cuppa teh tarik.

Banana and Cinnamon Muffins

Somehow i JUST CAN'T get a good picture of my muffin. is it because it's hard to focus on the little crumbs inside it?
This is the first attempt i've made to bake muffins. I never knew what a muffin really was actually. was it a cupcake? but healthy? but those commercially made ones arent that healthy...they're like...600 calories each! what's the difference? perhaps muffins are less oily? or they dont have frosting? or...cupcakes are a dessert but muffins are a snack? but that doesnt explain how muffins and cupcakes are different in their composition and texture.

I tried to be smart and "tampered" with the recipe and substituted oats for wheat germ. i think it would've turned out ok if i had added more milk [tip from yuen ching: just add more milk when substituting wholemeal flour/oats in baking to make it more moist] but i didnt think of that so they turned out slightly dry [i suppose anything that's good for you/healthy always has the potential to make things taste bad]. but my friends still liked it so all in all I think this is a good recipe and would've been very good if i hadnt added oats =)
use very ripe bananas for best results and banana packed flavour.

Here's the recipe [the original, untampered one]

Banana Cinnamon Muffins

3 mashed very ripe bananas
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 180C.
In mixer bowl add bananas, brown sugar and butter. Beat until smooth and light. Beat in egg and vanilla.
Add the sifted flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and milk. Mix lightly, just enough to moisten.
Spoon into muffin tins that have been greased or lined with paper muffin cups.
Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon together, and sprinkle over top of muffins.
Bake for 20 minutes.
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We went to swensen's last night coz it was earthquake discount day [every Tuesday in Malaysia]. 8 scoops for RM16 [regular] and the 3 of us actually ate it all up!! we painstakingly chose 8 flavours [all chocolatey/butterscotch/nutty, none of them were fruity! so girly. i read somewhere that guys tend to chose fruity flavours and girls like those creamy types] and waiter broght us the wrong flavours! we only noticed after taking a few bites. so we brought it to his attention and got another one. everything was in such a mess thugh so I couldnt quite tell which was which..except for the pistachio since it was green.

For lunch today we went to Wong Soon Kee in SS14. in the daytime they have stalls around selling chap fan, porridge, pan meen, beef/pork noodles, rojak, stuffed deep fried taufoo and wantan mee. at night they have "tai chow" where they sell the usual stuff like hokkien meen, kung fu chou and rice with dishes.

here's what dad ordered from the wanton mee shop and it comes with a bowl of wantons in soup but it's a different kind of noodle...to order this u've to ask for "choh meen" which means this thicker flatter noodle. [instead of the usual thin wantan meen kinda noodle] it's nice and porky with all the minced pork on top. I managed to snap a pic although dad was getting impatient.

The plight of the poor red snappers [or are they tilapias?] in the restaurant's tank ........they'll be tonight's steamed fish, assam fish or sweet sour fish. somehow though..they look blur. perhaps they dont have any emotions. or they feel fear/dismay/sadness but they can't express it?

there are 3 things i look for in a restaurant.

1. good food

2. air conditioned and comfortable

3. cheap

unfortunately most establishments only satisfy two of the above criteria. [good service is not in the list bcoz im malaysian]
and those that do.... often close down too soon! like that don place in SS15 i used to love going to...it was run by a japanese lady and her son and they had many types of "don" and it was a very nice cheerful comfortable place with a huge aquirium...but for some weird reason it didnt attract that many customers...why!!????????

the food was SO good. i loved their oyakodon.

it's so easy finding a place that satisfies only 2 of the above criteria. of cousre, it's easy to think of places that serve good food in a nice ambiance but burn a huge hole in your pocket. equally easy enough to find a place that serves up a good black pepper kueh teow at RM5 but is crowded, hot and grubby so u wouldnt linger after your meal [that's the whole point anyway!]

or...u can even find a place that's comfortable and cheap but the food is no better than a typical 18 yr old boy who's just moved outa home [like "Old Town coffee" serves...maggi mee with ONE sprig of bokchoy and a thin slice of luncheon meat!!] but if u want someplace where u can linger for good conversation..it's so hard!

so if any of you find a place that satisfies all 3 of my requirements, I'd be very happy to hear about it!

I had a really really really bad nyonya laksa today at "Souk" in SS15. perhaps they were understaffed [there were 20 of us at our table alone and only ONE waitress for the entire establishment!] our food took SO long to come, felt like half an hour! anyway the laksa was so bad that i could only eat a few bites [coz i was really hungry as i didnt have breakfast before church] it was just so horrible. but i hear their nasi minyak and fried rice are pretty good.

We went to "Hock Hin" in ss19 for dinner tonight [opposite 7/11] and we had this "lai lui ha" [mantis prawn] kung pau style with dried chillis and cashews. it was crispy but i'd rather the sauce be less sweet.

the marmite chicken drummets were really good though. nice and crispy with a really nice flavour.

and my favourite "choy tam" [what's it called in english ? baby cos lettuce? or brussel sprouts?]

this one's for the boyfriend. porky pau! hhehehe. A "sang yuk" pau i had for a snack.

the poor thing..he cant get any pork at all in qatar coz it's illegal. so he makes sure he gets his fill of it when back here for a holiday.