I have been tagged!~ Meme: What's Inside my Bag?

I have been tagged!! It's been so long since I was tagged for any memes of any sort; not that I was not thankful anyway:p
It's not that it's not fun but sometimes, it's a little personal..hehe:p
And this round, Lianne decided to tag me...haha, thanks babe...although I still find this meme a tad bit too personal, not to mention kinda personal too.
The Meme was themed "What's Inside my BAG?"

The first time I saw this meme...was in one of the blogs (great, I can't remember whose:p) and I was laughing so hard at the things described.
(Well, now what goes around comes around yeah:p)
I was also saying my prayer of thanks that nobody tagged; at least I was too unnoticeable which is not a bad things in waves of meme sometimes..hehe:)
I was thinking how personal it's gonna be and how am I going to actually tell people what I carry around in my bag.
Guess that was too fast thinking because one dear blogger did not forget about me...haha, (is that a good or bad thing?) and here I am, being tagged!!

I know we are given a choice to pass on this meme if we found it too personal and I did think of that, but since Lianne was such a sweet person and she's personally invited me to join in the fun, well....whatever in the world, I couldn't say no...so here I am...about to reveal to you...some of my personal stuffs in my bag!~
**Drum rolls*

**I am a very personal person and you're gonna have to catch me half-dead if I were to ever reveal my personals to you...but this is for Lianne..hehe**

Now on to the rules

Find a safe quiet place free of significant others, nosey meme makers, priests, nuns, all things religious and men in general. (If you're a guy just reverse this process to male and tell us about your wallet, tool box, briefcase or metro sexual accessory.)

1. Dump the contents of your handbag in a pile
2. Take a photo of your handbag and the contents
3. Be brave and explain to your fellow bloggers what lurks inside the handbag.
4. Tag others who might want to embarrass themselves
5. Answer these questions:

Describe the contents of your handbag.
What's the most important thing in your handbag?
What's the most embarrassing thing in your handbag?
What's the smallest thing in your handbag?
Is there anything illegal in your handbag?

Okay, moving on to Step No.1....
Did I mention I am a personal kind of person? And I don't normally share my personals with others? It's like publishing my diary on the web....oh MY....
Ok, I'm gonna just shut up and here goes..



This is soooooooooooooooo embarassing....I have so much stuffs in my bag that I don't even know I am carrying them most of the time:p

I have.....
1. Car keys with the new silly and noisy alarm recently installed
2. Another set of keys to the gate
3. My coin purse
4. My pink Elle purse I got for my birthday and still love it very much
5. My Mickey hand sanitizer
6. My toy alarm (it goes off really loud!)
7. My good ol' sunnies
8. A packet of tissues
9. A Handkerchief which goes with the color I am wearing each day (oh...I forgot to put it in the picture)
10. A Card holder bag which holds some of the membership cards I don't put in my purse; and also some Handiplasts
11. A little pink essentials bag which carries my Mickey mirror compact with a matching comb and also my lip balm and lipstick and some black hair pins
12. My favorite lip gloss
13. A pink notebook and a big red pen (I can write anything at anytime!~ ^_^)
14. My gastric medicine (you'll never know when you need them)
15. My cell phone of course!~
16. My hair band (could use to tie my hair or in any situation)
17. A Book...yeah, I carry a book with me most of the time....call me a bookworm but I've been doing that since young:p This round, I happen to be reading this Readers' Digest Laughter collection, so it's kinda small and handy for the bag:)
18. The hands-free for my phones which I put into a little purple bag I got from the airways
19. My digital camera....it's not in the picture because I am using it to capture this photo, remember? (LOL)... I never go anywhere without my camera too:p

Ohhh, and I missed out my little adorable Pooh nail clipper which I got from Korea!!~ But since it's so cute, I'd better not display in public:p
Ohh, and sometimes there may be a little small pocket knife as well:)

GOSH....I never did know I had sooooooooooooooooo much stuffs in my bag....how did I carry them around? :O
**I also have lots of pink stuffs, don't I?:p**
No wonder I had to use a medium-sized bag most of the time...


Now, on to the questions:
What's the most important thing in your handbag?
Hmmm....that'll have to be my phone...my purse, my camera, my book, my pen?
Oh Wait...THE most important.....that's tough.....coz they're all important....
So...ermmmmm, maybe it's my cell phone or my purse....you can't leave without your IC right??


What's the most embarrassing thing in your handbag?
My gastric med? My book? My handkerchief? (I mean how many people you know who still carries a little hanky??)
So, hanky...yeah...this goes to the little hanky...chameleon...which I change to match the clothes I wear each day ^_^

What's the smallest thing in your handbag?
The band I used to tie my hair with? Or the 5-cent coin in my coin purse?
Oh waiiiit.....why am I always naming more than 1 item...don't I understand the word THE:p
Since it's handbag.....I will go for the 5-cent coin lar...

Is there anything ILLEGAL in your bag?
I don't recall anything that's remotely dangerous or illegal....I am a law abiding citizen k?
Unless you think sharp objects like pocket knife, nail clipper or perhaps there's any illegal ingredients they used in the making of my gastric med? Oh my....then it's hazardous to my health!:p

Ohhhhhhh..........there goes, I have horribly embarassed myself in front of all of you......gosh, do I need to take a short break from blogging?
Or can I remove this post after the meme's over?
Hahahaa......

Anyway, I felt that I have to mention the person who started the meme....
This meme was started by Mimi, Queen of Memes who thinks up brilliant memes.

It's pretty hilarious, really....and I couldn't help feeling embarassed and yet laughing at myself when I did this:p

Hehehe...and the fun part starts here.....*evil grin*
I have to do the forwarding, don't I, Lianne?:p
And now, I am passing this to the following for your turn to embarass yourselves....ehehehe

1. Christine (how could I not tag someone who has almost the same name as me...hehehe:p)
2. Jun (this will take some time off that crazy psych you've been going through!~)
3. Sc (I'd love to see your bag too...hehe:)
4. Ck Lam (who reads my blog daily (thank you!~)...and the recently awarded blogger...hehe, sorry, but it's gonna be fun to join in this meme!~)
5. Ai Wei (hehe...since I tagged your bestie...you shall join in too:)
6. Cutie (you gotta take some time off cooking and baking and join in the fun yea!~)
7. Little Inbox (come on, join in yea...)

Hehehe...this is getting fun, can I tag some guys too? :p
I want to tag...
*Drum rolls*
8. Jason
9. Nick
10. All the Guys from Backstreet Gluttons (hehehe...)
11. j2kfm
12. Simon Seow
13. Jeromefo

have fun.....and there...did I mention that I am a personal person?
Awww,......don't run away from this meme, k...be a sport:)
I could do it....so could you!~

**I am looking forward to read your blogs!~**

Mummy's Birthday Dinner @ Fatt Kee Restaurant

Usually we will make special arrangements for birthdays but this year, Mummy wanted to choose where she wants to eat and she wanted to recommend me this restaurant.
As a matter of fact, she liked the food here and this happen to be one of their latest finding in the town of Menjalara.
Since the birthday gal specified her choice, we shall have to oblige, don't we?
(Although it was a much more scaled-down affair, but Mummy's choice will be our wish:)

Turns out it was not a bad choice after all; this restaurant was featured in the Star's Metro before (sometime in April 2008 - which was this year)

(They have this piece of cutting on every table)

The chef was a Penangite who picked up cooking skills and soon after, started his own restaurant.
They have outlets in Penang too (now, that I didn't know!)

They offer a few unique and authentic dishes; done in a cross fusion of Nyonya and Penangite cooking style.


We took time selecting our dishes from the menu while enjoying a cup of fragrant and clear tea; brewed from the fine King of Tea (Cha Wong)

I am no expert in tea, but this tea definitely was light in taste and yet soothing when it travels down the throat.

It is definitely one of the choice for my Chinese tea now!

Moving on to the food; which arrived in less than half an hour..
The spare pork ribs braised in special homemade sauce; served in a claypot (RM15)

The ribs were carefully marinated before the cooking process; and the juicy taste of the sauce absorbed into the flesh; making the meat really tender and tasty.

The red talapia fish cooked in their signature Assam style (RM11.80)

The fish was at a special promotional price of RM11.80; but yet, it was really fresh.
Lightly steamed, the texture of the fish was really smooth; perfectly timed when it was taken off the stove.

In fact, the flesh was so succulent and juicy that I almost mistaken it for another fish! (me, the fish lover and expert...aiks)
You know how talapia always had that distinct taste in the flesh and also a slight whiff of mud-like - it is after all a freshwater fish.
But the chef managed to hide that smell with the combination of the spices used in the Assam gravy which included Bunga Kantan, assam boi, and a couple of other ingredients that I'm not sure of.

Suffice to say, this is definitely a must-try if you are ever here; their Assam really rocks!!
**You can choose from other fishes; such as stingray, garoupa, snapper, etc**

With such a fine aroma and juicy bites, this was definitely one appetizing dish!~

Another of their signature dish was the Assam Prawns (RM25)
(Why would you want to order another assam dish when you just had an assam fish?)

I must mention that if you were to miss this dish, you seriously do not know what you're missing!~
The price may be slightly higher but it was worth the size and amount of prawns served and oh, for the way it was cooked!~

This was definitely a different style of assam compared to the fish.
The sauce was a cross between the Oriental sourish Assam sauce and the western style of adding a hint of sweet juice to it.
Add in a few drops of Lea Perrins' sauce and voila, you have this plate of scrumptious Assam prawns which was a clear winner

The taste was clearly something I cannot get out of my mind; and it's definitely a sure thing to be labeled as one of their signature dish.


Our choice of vegetables was the Stir Fried water convulvus (kangkung) in light belacan sauce (RM8)

The vegetables was tossed for a light fry; maintaining the natural sweet taste of the fresh vegetables.

The vegetables were really crunchy and the best part was, it was not oozing with chili or belacan oil like the others I have tasted.


Total damage was RM71.80 for 5 pax but the food was really worth the price~
The service here was really good too; and I have to compliment the chef's cooking and also the fine ingredients used in the cooking process because it clearly did not make our sensitive throats uncomfortable.

I am definitely recommending this restaurant; and I do look forward to visit them again to try their other winning dishes:)

In case you're interested too, this is the direction to get there:

Chan Chan Yong Tau Foo @ Menjalara

Bandar Menjalara is yet another place in Kepong to explore for food.
With the number of restaurants, cafes and eateries here, one is definitely spoilt for choice when you are in this area.
This place used to be known as the Steamboat City due to the list of steamboat restaurants around here but today, the list has expanded to include a variety of eatery options.

Chan Chan Yong Tau Foo, located at the very area is pretty popular and they do offer a unique flavor to the conventional Yong Tau Foo.


I was introduced to this place by my brother and I was told to expect the unexpected from the food offered here. I did not have much expectation and was only looking forward to a new place for lunch and Yong Tau Foo.
How innovative can Yong Tau Foo get anyway right? :)

It was pretty hot in KL during the weekend; therefore a cooling sugar cane drink (RM1.50) is great to soothe my recovering throat.


It seemed that their pork trotters braised in sweet and dark vinegar sauce was one of the most popular dish here and even my parents seemed to like it.

The pork trotters were braised with slow cooking and the vinegar sauce has immersed into the flesh for the sweet and yet sourish taste.

Besides, according to mum, the meat was tender enough to compliment the proportionate amount of sauce used in the cooking process.
Priced at RM10, this bowl was found on almost every table!~
(That's publicity enough eh:)

We ordered an array of fried stuffs; such as fried Sui Kow (dumplings), beancurd sheets (foo chook), and fried beancurd (tau pok).

All the Yong Tau Foo items are priced at Rm1 per piece; which was rather pricey as compared to other places. However, the amount of filling and the size of the item made up for the prices.


I could not understand why they place such a large-sized sauce plates and I thought of sharing my sauce but my brother mentioned that I will understand why when the food is served.
The chili sauce here is slightly different from the normal ones; it had a strong whiff of freshly squeezed lime juice and also finely grinded garlic in it.

(sorry for the blurry pic)
This was definitely the contributing factor to enhance the whole Yong Tau Foo experience over here.

Besides the fried stuffs, we also ordered a bowl of steamed dumplings, stuffed bitter gourd and white bean curd.

It was a big bowl; and as mentioned earlier, the size of the pieces is reasonably big as well.

The soup came with a serving of vegetables (I am not really sure of the name of this vegetable; but it seems that this is often used in Pan Mee. Anyone can tell me, Pan Mee lovers?)

Another bowl of soupy stuff we ordered was this bowl of fish paste.

Do not be misled by the name 'Fish ball' in the menu, because this is definitely more than just fish balls.
It was hand made fish paste cooked in soup with the same vegetables.

Ordering 10 pieces of this, to me, was a mistake, because I found the serving too much but the guys could finish it ^_^


The bowls used to serve all these were really huge!


For 5 pax, the total bill was about RM56.60, so is it worth it?

And I thought we could not finish it?

My Comfort Food (When I was sick the last few days)

For the last few days, I have been sick (and I mean VERY sick). I could barely get out of bed, and well, I tried to sit in front of the computer and I could blog a little but still, the dizziness just got the better of me most of the time.
I've blogged about how sick I was here

It was pathetic, really and I could barely remember when was the last time I was this sick. I couldn't eat much; everything was pretty tasteless to me and my head's spinning so much
Well, I'm happy to say that I'm getting better now - in fact much much better!:)

While I was sick, I had the treat of being served home-cooked food by Auntie who took the trouble to prepare plain and simple dishes for me (Thank you so much!~)
So, shall we go on a short slideshow on what I've put into my empty stomach for the past few days?

Lotus seeds with snow fungus in sweet soup

There were red dates and longan in it too; something to excite or to soothe those bitter taste buds (effect from the medicine)

Of course, good ol' Barley (it's barley again!~)


Fishballs with vegetables in plain soup

It was with white bean curd and cabbages as well; something which you can get from a Yong Tau Foo stall.
It was simple but simply delicious!~ :)


Fish fillets cooked in fermented bean curd sauce with sliced napa cabbage and cabbage

This was my favorite; it was boneless and the fish fillets were so juicy and tender. Really tasty:)

Fish fillets cooked with heavy soy sauce

The fish fillets were lightly fried before dipped into soy sauce to be marinated.
The fish tasted slightly saltish but the combination of the heavy soy sauce added a sweet-taste to the fillets.

Another choice of fish was this steamed white pomfret with plum sauce

It tasted really good; slightly sweet sourish and complimented the silky smooth texture of the pomfret.
The sliced tomatoes, ginger and celeries were a perfect addition to boost the taste of the accompanying gravy for this dish.


For greens, there was this plate of stir-fried kale with carrots


If you noticed, there were all dishes to boost the taste bud system; salty, sweet, sour, bitter (medicine:p)


And all this came from a few simple home-cooked dishes and yet done with thought and passion!~
Now with such pampering food when you're sick, who would mind being sick, right?
OOOOPPS....**Touch Wood**

Pandan Custard Cake

The other day I was at Maxim's Cake House and I was browsing through the cakes when I saw this:


A nicely packed pandan custard cake in a sandwich box and it just brought me some good old memories of my school days when Mummy would buy this cake, cut it into proportionate sizes to be fit into my little lunch box.
Those were the good old days; back then, I didn't really like nor detest this cake so that's why it was a once-in-a-while food-to-bring-to-school for me:)

Looking at it now on the display shelf; and with the tag RM2.50, I thought I'd give it a try (besides, I can share if I can't finish it:)

It's not like the ordinary pandan layer or custard cake; in fact the texture of the cake was so smooth and spongy while the custard was also almost silky smooth.
The whole experience of tasting the cake was really pleasant (besides nostalgic) before I could stop to ponder whether there's coconut milk in it (I have a case of lactose intolerance and coconut milk was one of the restricted items for me)

But, I must say, even if there is, it was really light and faint - pretty good job of making it an excellent and delightful cake for anytime of the day:)


Pandan custard cake, anyone?

Cooking Barley Drink 101

Now before I begin my post and before you start laughing at the title (hehe), let me first begin with my own story.
When I first started out a food blog, I was more interested in the photography and writing part about it rather than the eating part. I don't eat much for you to consider me a true food blogger; in fact, some even compared the way I eat to a bird
"She eats like a bird" (I pick at my food and eat them piece by piece or bite by bite!)
The amount I eat; like Nic said, 'Some children can do better'
Hence the name Pickyeater came to my mind~
So true for my description; and it's no exaggeration.
Believe it or not (well, you'd better believe anyway), the list of things I don't eat is much much longer than the things I do eat.
My mummy had a hard time even since before I was born as I refused to take a lot of things during her pregnancy and after I was born, I still continued my pickyeats.

Now, is there any wonder why I chose the name PickyEater for myself?:)

To the question, "Why you blog about food then?"
Well, as it goes, I love writing and blogging just happened to be a way for me to 'talk' to the world. Besides food, I have a long list of other blogs in which you can experience for yourself my style of writing (some may be very sarcastic!:p)

Food photography was really attractive; even when I don't take those stuffs I snap pics of, because, well, I find it appreciative of the efforts put into the making part of it and, I have to admit, most of the cooking are tastefully done to attract the consumers.

Also, as I may mention, as I go along the way of being a food blogger or some of you say Flogger, I start to become more and more interested in the prospect of trying out new food joints/restaurants just to provide my review (if you can see, I am really rather honest and can be brutal about my review due to my fussy and picky way of eating) but that's just being myself in writing.

At the same time, the fun of getting know other floggers and knowing that all are in the same friendly circle, I became more and more enthusiastic about this activity!~
It was really warm to see that people are so friendly towards each other when they only communicate through cyberspace.
I also started looking forward to those comments as it made me feel that you're all out there to share your opinions and jokes!~
I have all of you nice floggers to thank for - I do not want to mention names as I do not want to miss out on any and that'd be really embarassing! Suffice to say that you guys who have been visiting my blog regularly; you know who you are!~:)

That being said, I am still not a flexible eater :p and still stick to my picky eats but I'm glad that you're all still around to show your support...ALL the time!~
I look forward to floggers' gatherings (if you don't mind having someone who may make special request from the menu recommended - remember, I have a love for fish and seafood and veggie:)

Oh ya, did I mention I can't cook either? I am a brat, yeah, and I know it...well, can't say I didn't enjoy being one when Mummy dearest told me to stay away from the kitchen:)
Inspired by all the cooking around me (floggers), I took interest in recipes.
I still don't cook a lot nor do I bake (unless you want to see me in the headlines - burning the house down), but I took the liberty of trying out some simple cooking (if you even consider that cooking!)

(I'm guessing by now most of you must be heaving a sigh of relief, "she's finally getting to the point")

Barley drink is always my favorite drink; and I love eating the barley grains!~
In some countries in the west, barley was actually the staple diet for their people. Well, it's no wonder since barley is a type of wheat anyway.

Now I know for some of you (or even ALL of you for that fact), have already known how to cook barley and will even tell me that it's as easy as ABC.
No, don't give me that, if I knew, I wouldn't be so proud blogging about my first attempt now:p

Over the weekend, when I was at home and with Dear's help, we took out the barley and of course the pot, sugar and stuffs - prepared to cook our very first barley!

Step 1: Put an estimated amount of barley grains into the pot

Erm, estimated amount - which is equals to how much in ml/mg?
I just poured whatever is remaining or an estimated one cup as I've always seen Mummy done
(It's easier to do Fourier transforms and Differentiation than to work the 'estimated amount' out!~)

Step 2: Are we supposed to wash the barley first?

I thought we do that with rice, right?
So we did, wash the barley grains under the running tap of water
(Now, that's too much like washing rice! I said, rinse, rinse only dear!)


Step 3: Put an estimated amount of water (again, I just filled the water to a safe level - not too high so that it doesn't overflow!)

Step 4: Put the pot on the stove and turn on to medium burning (which we later adjusted to low)

I don't think we're supposed to leave the lid on...

It's finally on the stove...we're cooking it, we're cooking it (such an excitement!~)



Step 5: Where's the sugar?

Ohhh, our newly bought rock sugar...is this right?
Anyway, what's the difference between sugar and rock sugar?
They're both sugar, right?

Step 6: Take a few chunks of rock sugar (estimation again!) and drop it into the boiling water

Leave it to cook for several minutes (or until the sugar melts or dispersed into the water)

Step 7: Turn off the stove and leave it for a few minutes.

Step 8: Take your cup, queue up and voila, ready to serve!!~


My very first cup of my own cooked barley!!

It tasted sweeter and nicer than usual!!
Hmmm.....did I put too much sugar? (it can lead to diabetes)
There's too little barley grains? How much do I need to put next round?

Hahaha...whatever, I've successfully cooked my own barley drink without burning down the kitchen!~
I knew we could conquer it...after all, what could be so hard right?
Next round, I will prepare all my test tubes and measuring jar to measure the right amount and that'd do the trick, right?:)

Oooooohhhhh, I just love barley - drink and grains!
Why don't they have the grains when we buy them from outside? *puzzled*
Hehe, because the grains actually suck the moisture and this could result in only the grains and the barley juice will be gone in no time if they were to maintain the grains inside the pot.

YEAYYYY...my first barley drink!~
(I am so lame, you guys (FBB, etc)
are all baking cakes, souffle and all and I've only learnt to cook barley juice...yearrrrghhh, pathetic girl!
But hey, it's still a baby step, right?:)

**Hope I didn't bore you with this post! **