Thursday, June 30, 2011

Sneak peek into my dinner tonight

I am having homecooked meal tonight; and NO, I am NOT the cook (how many times do I have to mention that I don't cook?)

I have the fortune to be treated to a homecooked meal; and yeah, don't be jealous:)

Stir fried broccoli and mixed vegetables
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My favorite vegetable; and if it is with cauliflowers, awww, that's the most heavenly combination:)

FISH in the spicy and sour tamarind soup (Asam in Malay)
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This is appetizing, trust me:)
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I won't have photos of dinner tonight, as my camera batteries are in charging mode at the moment, but I know this is what I am going to have tonight:)
Yeah, I am psychic;)

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A homey Chinese meal

Alright, I have to confess that I did not take notice of the restaurant's name when I was there or when I left the place and I only realized it when I was editing my photos.
I would love to recommend the place, although it was not an easy to find as it is tucked away behind rows of shophouses in a housing estate between Sg Long and Mahkota Cheras.
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(Usually they have the name of the restaurant above the fridge, but somehow, no such luck here too)

We ordered a few dishes to go with white rice (usual Chinese style dinner), and the soup was on the house.

Soup of the day: Soup with Lotus roots, nuts and lean pork meat
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Stir-fried mixed vegetables Loh Hon style (translated as the monk's style) -RM8
In Chinese, this is known as 'Loh Hon Chye'
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Stir fried potato leaves -RM7
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Fried mantis prawns kungpow style (with dried chilies and onions)-RM10
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Steamed red tilapia fish with assam (tamarind) sauce -RM20
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The sourish taste and the okra just made this all the more appetizing!!

Food was not bad, in general, and the prices were quite reasonable, except for the fish which I find slightly on the higher side for this species.
I am really sorry for not being able to provide the name of the restaurant, but I will be going back, hopefully soon?:)

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Father's Day Lunch @ Jack's Place, 1U

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A belated post on my Father's Day celebration, which we only did over the weeekend :)
It didn't really matter to my Daddy, as we loved him every day of the year anyway, and the best part about celebrations is the family gathering; besides the food, of course.

Mum and Dad loved this place; Jack's Place since we came here to try their awesome and value-worthy set lunches more than five years ago, and this is always the place on their minds whenever we mentioned lunch at 1 Utama.
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We were a little late when we reached the restaurant, with the traffic and the quest to find a parking space (it is always hard to find a parking space in shopping malls in KL on weekends!)
Set Lunches are served from 11am - 2.30pm, and choices were limited when we arrived.

All of us ordered set lunches from the menu; yeah, the choices were still quite okay. They used to only offer two sets for the set lunches, and nowadays, they have like, almost 6 types of sets for you to choose from.

Garlic bread for starters
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Soup of the day; Pumpkin Soup
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I don't like pumpkin, but everyone else sure does!:)
According to Mummy, the soup was a thick and rich creamy concoction and tasted of pumpkin with every sip.

Another way to have the pumpkin soup or the garlic bread; dip it into the soup
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I heard the raves from the family about how this tasted, though I didn't try it myself:p

The set lunches:
Set 1: Roasted Boneless Chicken Thigh
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The chicken meat was seasoned beforehand and was tender with the taste of the slightly spicy seasoning sauce.
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Served with green peas and boiled carrots, the dish filled one up with the generous portion.

They have run out of the grilled fish, but I ordered the baked salmon instead.
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It has seriously been a long time since I have had salmon, and I have to tell you that I missed them!
The salmon fillet was a generous thick portion and was juicy and succulent in taste!
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I didn't like the taste of the creamy sauce though; kinda reminded me of something I don't want to think or talk about :p

Chicken spaghetti
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Generous portion of chicken thigh meat served with thick spaghetti and cream sauce.
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Dessert comes with the set too; Mango pudding
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So does coffee or tea
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Each set starts from RM15 (~USD$5) - RM24 (USD$8) per pax.
It is indeed a very nice place to dine in; with the environment and the food and it is no wonder we are always back:)

Friday, June 24, 2011

Fresh Mango Cake

I am quite surprised with the overwhelming response whenever I post on vegetarian food, because like Charles, I thought most folks actually preferred meaty stuffs or seafood. (maybe that's why my blog is not that popular, since I prefer seafood and vegetables:)
Anyway, the responses made me feel more motivated to post more on my favorite vegetarian meals! I will...soon, surprise you guys again, and thanks for your comments, I've always loved reading them:)

Now, back to the title, this is from a birthday celebration (not mine, again), but the grandpa this time (not my grandpa either).
Remember the previous chocolate cake for the grandma's birthday with the cute birthday cards?
Well, this time, it's the grandpa...and the kids are back with their cards again!

The fresh mango cake was bought from the same nearby bakery; and no, I did NOT bake it, I went along to buy the cake for the occasion and that's ALL I did, oh, and sing and take photos :p
(I do not bake, I am not even a cook...LOL:)

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The cake was recommended as we did not want anything sweet for the grandpa, and the baker recommended this Fresh Mango with sponge flan cake.

I kinda like the bright and cheerful yellow color of the cake; sans the cream :P
(Yellow's one of my favorite color too!)
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The kids are back with their birthday cards too!
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Look, this time, they got the spelling for Grandpa right, smart kids:)

They even built a cake model with their Lego bricks for dear old grandpa! How sweet!
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Hmmmm, seems like Grandpa gets more privileges than grandma yeah?

Now, I mentioned Fresh Mango Cake for a reason.
Usually when you buy or hear about mango cakes, you imagine bite-sized chunks, slices of mangoes or maybe just plain flavoring essence with the cake, right?

This one surprised us all with the huge slices of real mangoes in between the layers of the cake, and they were fresh mangoes too!
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That, was just a sneak peek...

Here's the real thing, look at the SLICES of MANGOES
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How about that? :)

TGIF Folks, and have a smashin' weekend!! :D

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Delicious vegetarian with rice @ Sweet Root Vegetarian Restaurant

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This is probably my third or fourth visit to this restaurant which has won the hearts of my family members, with their variety, good tasting food and reasonable prices.

Instead of the usual dishes we order to share, we tried their ala carte individual rice sets, priced at RM5-9 per set and they were good, yeah, I liked it :)

I am a vegetarian food lover, really, something that I can't live without having it once in a while:)
(I am sure you noticed it from the number of vegetarian posts that pop up once in a while, or sometimes quite frequently too!)

(I heard the vegetarian lovers/bloggers/readers saying, "Ah, finally, a vegetarian post again....too much seafood stuffs! :p )

Assam Fish with rice
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Assam is a type of sourish and spicy soup made with tamarind juice and seriously, my favorite with fish or almost anything:)
I love the okra and long beans, perfect company!
The vegetarian mock fish is made of soy sheets and seaweed.

Sweet and sour vegetarian pork ribs
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Awesome taste with the rich sauce, with light touch of cornstarch and the pineapples, my favorites!:)

Closer shot of the mock pork ribs; made of gluten wheat flour
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Really great taste, trust me!;)

Mummy saw someone having the vegetarian claypot chicken rice, and she just simply had to have one!
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For the first time, Mummy ordered the most expensive set amongst us (she's always a saver, and we loved her for that:)
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It tasted good, no disappointment, and although it was higher in price compared to our normal rice sets, it was because of the portion it came in.
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Mock chicken meat made with soy and gluten wheat flour.

Braised vegetarian fish with fermented bean curd sauce and mixed vegetables
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Something lighter and non-spicy, compared to most of the dishes above, but still a good one.

Bittergourd with chicken rice
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Of all, I didn't really taste this as I am not a fan of bittergourd, seriously!
It looked good (ignoring the bittergourd), and I am sure it tasted good too (ignoring the bittergourd again) :p

Maybe someday, I will learn to try the bittergourd...or, maybe that can wait...yeah, someday :p

I like the food and the environment here, and the reasonable pricing and my love for vegetarian food will definitely see me returning for more!~

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Dim Sum for Dinner

While most people would associate dim sum with breakfast, I am fortunate enough to be able to enjoy dim sum in the evening for dinner too.
I have known this old time coffee shop located along Cintra Street; Tai Thong (not to be confused with the Tai Thong group) which is a popular spot among locals and tourists for dim sum and noodles.

It is always crowded; especially the later in the evening it gets.
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It is not my first time here, and I have posted on this more than three times (check my posts under the tag dim sum)

I come here fairly often, especially when I crave for dim sum (I am fan of dim sum:)
My favorites here?
Squid balls on japanese tofu with light egg white batter
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Steamed squid ball dumplings
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The wrap is probably made of some green vegetables; and I am not sure whether they are organic or not or are they just pure coloring.
I am not a food expert here :)

This time I did not order their fishballs or prawn dumplings, but they were pretty good too.

Sometimes we would order their stir-fried fish fillets served with onions, ginger and spring onions.
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The fish fillets are fried beforehand.
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I love fish fillets; they are easier as you don't have to worry about the fish bones!

Occasionally we would order their egg tarts.
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The good old-fashioned egg tarts with rich egg custard filling and flaky crusts.
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I love chrysanthemum tea, although I could not drink much to avoid any disruption to my sleep at night.
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(Chinese tea contains caffeine too, and I am highly reactive to caffeine where I can lose sleep over it)
So, sometimes I would prefer to order chrysanthemum drink without the tea in it:)

I like the idea of having dim sum for dinner, where I can choose food from breakfast to have for my dinner.
Do you have anywhere in your place which serves dim sum throughout the day too?

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Stir-fried silver needle noodles from home

Who doesn't think their Mum's cooking is the best?
The amazing part is that it always seemed to have improved by a hundred fold once you have been away from home...or was it just me?

Mum whipped up a simple dish of stir-fried noodles; using the unique Silver Needle Noodles, or also known as short rice noodles.
In Chinese, it is fondly known as the Lo Shu Fun (Cantonese) or Lao Shu Fen(Mandarin) -銀針粉.
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For those of you who know Chinese, you know what the name directly translates to, but for those who do not, let me translate it for you.
The name, in direct translation from Chinese, means 'Rat Tail Noodles'.

Quirky eh?
Before you puke your guts out, don't you worry because it has nothing to do with the rat tail being made as a food as it is only due to the appearance of the noodles which resemble a rat's tail.
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Do you think so?

These noodles are made from ground rice flour, and sometimes, as according to Wikipedia, cornstarch may be added to strengthen the texture of the noodles so that it does not break easily when it is fried or cooked.

I am not huge on these noodles, which resemble somewhat of a tail or even a needle; a really fat one, in my opinion.
Mum only cooks them occasionally, just for fun, although Dad loves them and she stir-fries the noodles with eggs, onions, and usually accompanied with lots of fish cakes, for my benefit:)
The noodles were also seasoned with light soy sauce to give it its flavor.

Besides noodles, I get a special treat of fish and this time, it is the steamed black pomfret with homemade fermented bean sauce.

Top it with plenty of spring onions, ginger, and onions for garnishing with perfect timing for the steaming process, and this keeps me happy throughout the meal!:)
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A meal is never complete without vegetables and every Mummy knows that; and one of my favorites:
Stir-fried cabbage with carrots
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Crunchy, sweet and juicy, this is the best and I prefer the lightest possibly way of stir-frying to maintain the crunchiness in the vegetables, the way I like with most of my vegetables!:)

A wholesome family meal; with a unique introduction of the silver needle noodles (no idea where the notion of silver came from, maybe the color? It's white though)
Do you like the sight of the noodles? (That's a trick question :p )
Would you give it a try, if you do not know the name..or even if you do know?:)