What could be better than ice cream on a hot day...

Lots of chocolate... chocolate chips, chocolate cookies, and chocolate fudge.

2 scoops of double chocolate chip ice cream coupled with a scoop of belgian chocolate, with crushed oreo's cookies...yummm....

lightly grated orange in cups of chocolate ice cream with layers of whipped cream and raspberry sauce, adding a zesty chocolatey taste to rock your tastebuds...

Hmm, love letters to crunch on, and with each bite, the more i fell in love all over again with my favourite ice cream...
Freshen up those sweet taste buds with a slice of orange to awaken your senses...

All a cooling, melting experience on a hot hot sunny december afternoon.

Crabstick Fried Rice

I was so hungry but there was no food! Thankfully there is leftover rice from lunch and I managed to grab some stuffs from the fridge to make a decent fried rice.

Some restaurants or stalls selling fried rice always have the tendency to serve fried rice with a burnt aroma to it. Eugh. Can't they cook a decent fried rice? You don't have to hit the metal spatula so hard on to the wok that bits of the wok chips in the fried rice as one of the ingredient. Oh, plus burnt charcoal for extra flavour in your fried rice.

So the best way to have it is to make your own, sometimes. What makes a good fried rice, is firstly the cooked rice. It should be well cooked, not under or overcooked. Not too sticky - otherwise you'll end up frying porridge instead. Well, almost porridge rice that is.

:: Ingredients ::
1 bowl cooked jasmine rice
1/2 carrot, thinly chopped
1/2 celery, chopped
1/4 green onion, chopped
4 crabsticks, cut to 4 pieces
1 egg
cooking oil
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablesppon tomato sauce
1 teaspoon Maggi seasoning
salt, pepper and sugar to taste
Coriander for garnish

Making this is very simple and quick, good for times where you're just too hungry to cook up big meals... It' even better when the rice is already cooked - In my case, I had leftover rice from earlier of the day!

All you need to do, is just chop some vege (crisp ones like celery, carrot, green beans, capsicums are best) and if you like, some meat (any from seafood to poultry goes well with fried rice) and just fry them.

Fry the meat and vege first before adding egg, and then the sauces to combine and finally add the bowl of rice and mix. This takes only about less than 10 mins to fry. Transfer to a nice plate or bowl, and garnish with coriander.

Bon apetite!

Move over to see some other interesting simple fried rice:
Indonesian Fried Rice
Egg Fried Rice
Tom Yum Fried Rice

Dinner for Two at TGIF

So I like western food once in a while. Here I go again this weekend: Thank God It's Friday in Penang. Not that Penang is a ghost town but the place seems rather empty on a Saturday nite. Check it out...

Why is TGIF so quiet on a Saturday nite? On Christmas holiday weekend? :-)
Guess people are busy shopping around. Anyways, the other corner of the restaurant was filled with many people and laughter. We sat at the less crowded area so we could enjoy...

This is TGIF in Queensbay Mall, Penang. A nice big shopping mall that is filled with interesting shops and dining that you won't get bored. You can find out more about Queensbay Mall here. Meanwhile, let's talk food...

In TGIF, we chose the 3 course meal for RM39 each. I think it's worth it. Drinks not included in the set, but it's no biggie. For a small price, you can order drinks and, e.g. the soft drinks are refillable. Drink all you want - If you can!

Friday's Buffalo Wings in traditional style. With fresh crisp celery sticks and a doze of Sour Cream sauce. Cool! The wings are flavourful and juicy. All I ever need in chicken wings!

Fried Mac & Cheese. Never knew mac n cheese would come close to being an "appetizer". What a tease! I vote this as my favourite appetizer. Thank you TGIF! I couldn't get enough of this... Well, neither did my guy. We both love Mac n' Cheese, what more this particular one!

Fried Mozarella. So crispy on the outside. So soft and melting cheesy mozarella inside. Yummy! You have to try this one sometimes.

Citrus Chicken Salad. Here you will find grilled TGIF Chicken breasts over a refreshing bed of greens, tomatoes, carrots tossed with oranges in a zesty cilantro lime dressing. Where East meets West... Halfway thru, my tummy felt full already. Thank goodness its just salad for my main course...

Correct me if I'm wrong - This has to be the Parmesan Crusted Chicken. Served with angel hair pasta and marinara sauce. Hmm, the sauce was too garlickee... A simple dish with the Parmesan Chicken being the starlight.

The dessert that I've been waiting for... Mocha Mud Ice Cream Cake! With chocolate sauce all over. This made my dinner complete and filled with satisfaction.

He he... these are some of the deco you will get to see in TGIF. I wonder if its the same from one TGIF to the other... I like it!

We were stuffed but it was an enjoyable dinner. I like the staffs here because they are very friendly and they work fast.

:: Food good. Place cool. Staff great. Recommended! ::

Here is a previous post I had written about TGIF.

Homemade Penang Asam Laksa

They say, women loves asam laksa. Why? I don't get it. Some loves it, some don't. I love it. But not all types of laksa. I go for laksa asam, laksa sarawak or laksa johor. Well, I love soupy dish. There's 2 types of laksa - one with a curry based soup which is more familiar to the western world, and the other - like in the picture below, is with a sour fish soup.

Preparing assam laksa is rather tedious. The fish soup part, that is! But the result is a very yummy dish enjoyed by many many hungry laksa lovers out there... Asam laksa consist of rice vermicelli, a mix of fresh vege (mint, salad, onion, cucumber, torch ginger, lemon juice & chilis), sour fish soup, and commonly shrimp paste. Other suitable toppings are pineapples, boiled eggs and fish balls.

The rice vermicelli for laksa is made from rice flour, and are sold in asian groceries either fresh or dried. The fresh ones are always best, because you get a nice soft texture. Laksa Johor, for example, commonly use spaghetti noodles, while curry laksa uses the normal yellow noodles commonly sold in supermarkets.

Asam Laksa soup takes a lot of time to prepare. Well, you can use fresh fish or canned sardines for this. I prefer fresh fish. The best most common fish used is the Ikan Kembung (Tamarind Indian Mackerel). The fish is cleansed, gutted, poached, and then the fillet are separated from the bones. (This fish is initially boiled as a whole to get all the juice from it). The fillets are then flaked and reboiled in the fish broth, adding tamarinds, lemongrass, lengkuas (galangal), torch ginger, daun kesum (laksa leaf @ Vietnamese coriander), and some chili paste to spice it up. So here you have it - delicious laksa soup!

Looks complicated to eat? Naah! The noodles are topped with bits of the vege as you wish, then the soup is poured to fill up the bowl and a spoonful of shrimp paste and lemon juice is added. Yummy!

This yummy dish is very popular in Penang, where it originates from. 2 versions of asam laksa can be found almost everywhere, from restaurants to street hawkers - Malay and Chinese laksa. I don't think there's much of a difference between the two and they're both delicious. If you have never tasted this before and you are in Penang, this is a must try Penang dish you shouldn't miss! This can cost anywhere between RM2.00 - RM6.00, depending on the size of the bowl. It's normally eaten for lunch or a light evening meal.

For complete asam laksa recipe, you may take a look at this, this, or this. But I call warn you - the taste is not as good if you can't find the right fish & complete ingredients! :-) Come to Penang and taste it!

The Chicken Rice Shop : Chicken me every dish

Pardon me. Zzzzzzz... Whoops! Sorry.. I wuzf jusf fsalling Zzzz....

I never take pictures when I eat at The Chicken Rice Shop. NEVER. Because I think the steamed chicken, in a photo, is such a turn off. Plain dull food. Well, I got a good shot of it today, so you tell me how does it appeal to your eyes.

They have... chicken. Everything with chicken except for one or two fish dish. Mind you, the chicken rice is actually not bad. Served with flavoured rice - chicken rice, basically. It's just yummy - I love the rice here. Close to my mum's version of chicken rice.

And this is the Honey BBQ Chicken Noodles. Served with soup, side dish of steamed vege and chicken wontons. Looks good eh? Not bad either. My only dislike about this dish is, the noodles are rather ... dry. I had to pour some soup in to make it soften.

Hmm. Now I'm getting real sleepy and I better not write crap any further. Maybe tomorrow I'll cook something that I can talk about for real! Writing while I'm dozing off - not so brilliant! - Unless its school assignment that you have to pass up tomorrow morning... hehe...

Zzz...

Stir-Fried Udon With Enoki Mushrooms

It was a stupid, stupid thing to do - taking antibiotics on an empty stomach, right before I went shopping. What the heck was I thinking? That's the thing. I "wasn't" thinking at all. I don't know. It's Sunday morning... my brain don't work well until Tuesday afternoon really.

That's a lesson for me to learn. Never, ever take antibiotics before having food. I thought I'd be ok - afterall I did earlier have 2 cups of milked tea. I was just plain bored before deciding to drive up to the mall. After I arrived, ordered my nice breakfast and the moment I sat down - I felt the urge to puke and see stars circling in front of me. Wow... hang in there girl... The side effects kicking in real fast...

There was nothing I could do - except waste the breakfast I just ordered and ran to the rest room to hide my sick face from the rest of the world. I called my guy (poor sleepy man has to drove all the way to save me) and he picked me up. My life saver. Sigh. What a day. After a small bowl of fresh porridge, some rest and tender loving care, I was back to my normal self soon after that.

I swear I'll never eat those control freaks BEFORE food - EVER AGAIN! :-P

Now. Anyone like Udon noodles?

As I was back to my pretty normal mood, I became hungry again and my idea was to make some Japanese stir fried Udon for my family tonight. Apparently there are many ways to cook Udon - spicy, plain, teriyaki, black pepper, italian, etc etc etc. I could not find a decent recipe that I wanted, so I decided to become experimental with it - afterall, cooking is science! If the stuff you mix ain't right, it ain't gonna taste good.

Actually, most Japanese style Udon are served with warm soup, or cold with salad. I don't see much of fried Udon but being Asian, we come up with many tasty stir-fried noodles, as noodles are good in either way - soup or fried.

So here is what I prepared to cook my Japanese noodles:
1 pack of Udon noodles (serves 4)
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced
1 pack Enoki mushrooms
1 small bowl of bean sprouts
1 cup cabbage, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup chopped chives
Some mix of chicken, squid and prawn - lightly marinated in soy sauce
(cut the chicken and squid into smaller slices)
1 fried tofu, cut into thin slices
Some white sesame seeds for sprinkling

And for the sauce:
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoon chili sauce
Salt, pepper, sugar to taste

Cooking Udon was fairly simple, and the noodles goes well with so many things. So my experiment turned out quite nice, really. My main vege here was Enoki, that delicious fruity flavoured mushroom. Enokis are very flavourful and very healthy. Yummy. And Prawns, because everyone but me loves prawns.

1. Blanch the noodles in hot water (or as instructed on the package)
2. Heat the fryin pan with some cooking oil, fry the garlic and onions until aromatic.
3. Add the chicken, fry till half cook and add the squid and prawns. Fry a while and add the carrots, frying for 5 minutes.
4. Add remaining vege. Pour in the soy sauce, chili sauce, sprinkle some salt, pepper and sugar to taste and stir.
5. Finally add the Udon noodles and mix well.

Transfer the cooked Udon into serving bowls and serve hot. Sprinkle some sesame seed, add some slice of fried tofu, and enjoy!

The result? Honestly, I liked it. The Enoki really goes well in this stir fry Udon. The carrots and bean sprouts add some crunch and the seafood adds some zest to the dish, instead of just having chicken alone. Pretty healthy dish, I'd say - lots of fresh veges, and some lean meat.

I am still in search for a perfect fried Udon recipe, so if you have any, pls do tell me about it. Till then, I think I'll enjoy my Udon. :-)

Japanese Buffet Dinner @ Evergreen Laurel Hotel

If you're wondering where is a good hotel in Penang to have dinner, where it is easy to find, not too far off town, take a walk afterwards - it has to be Evergreen Laurel. My dining experiences here has, so far, never failed me. It's nothing extravagant, but it is worth the price you pay for.

Pic courtesy from tsl

The Laurel Cafe offers an interesting theme each nite, I personally like Saturday nite, as it is the Japanese buffet. Fresh tuna, salmon, and there are fresh choices of seafood as well. There are also fried udon, chicken teriyaki, a mix of tempura, sushis, and those small little Japanese dishes - Miso Soup, Seasoned baby octopus, chawanmushi, california rolls and more.

A bit disappointing was - I felt like it wasn't truly a Japanese dinner - some of it was more western seafood servings... especially the dessert corner. I wish they had green tea ice cream, green tea cake, and pudding. Ah well. But, in my personal opinion, the food was good.

Laurel Cafe, picture from tsl

Overall, the environment at the Cafe is very nice and the staffs were very professional and friendly. Once you finish your food, the plates are taken almost instantly. You will never get thirsty and they fill up your drinks all the time. Food at the buffet are always replenished so it never ends.

The Japanese buffet dinner costs RM69.00 per person for adults. Lunch buffet costs around RM30 per person, and the food is very nice. I also have recommendations from some that said, the fried rice here s excellent. For more information, click here.

:: The Evergreen Laurel Hotel ::
53, Persiaran Gurney, 10250, Penang, Malaysia

Steamed Baby Snapper With Ginger & Light Soy Sauce

One of mum's special dish is her steamed fish. Simple and healthy. Dad love fishing, so having stocks of fresh fish in our home is always good for this dish.

I cannot stand smelly, unfresh fish. Eeuu I wonder who eats them. Once you taste fresh FRESH fish - you'll never want to eat fish that's not fresh. And I rarely eat cooked fish outside. I don't even eat the fish I cook cause they look horrible from me not knowing how to fry them well.

I will not bother cooking fish to show you people my horrible task at it. Let me just salivate you with my mum's steamed fish - with ginger and light soy sauce. This is a very healthy dish for anyone. Fish is low in fat and high in protein. It helps reduces stress... at least that is what people believe.

:: Basic ingredients ::
3 whole baby snapper, well cleaned (fresh freshest fish is best for steaming)
3 tablespoon finely sliced fresh ginger
2 shiitake mushroom, finely sliced
1/2 cup fresh codiander & chinese parsley, chopped
1 fresh red chili, de-seed & finely sliced
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup light soy sauce (I recommend this)
1/2 cup water
1 tablesppon sunflower oil
2 shallots, finely sliced and fried till brown & crispy

:: The Cooking Time... ::
Grease the dish with the sunflower oil, so that the fish won't stick to it.

Place fish in a dish for steaming. Pour water and soy sauce. Place in steamer and cook for 20 mins until fish meat is almost cooked.

Add the ginger, coriander, chinese parsley, chili, carrot and sprinkle them all over the fish. Steam another 5 minutes.

Do ensure you don't over-steam the fish or you will be eating steamed fish that is not as good as it's supposed to.

Lastly, sprinkle the fried shallots and serve while still hot. Best served with jasmine rice.

So if you're hungry, go grab fish and steam 'em now! Hope you enjoyed this steamed fish! :-)

How I Cooked The Eggs for Breakfast This Morning

Waking up to a beautiful Saturday morning - at 10.30a.m. is such a waste. Bright sunny day, clear blue skies, fresh morning air - I could of gone for a walk at the botanical garden. But nope. 10.30a.m. is the time I woke up, shamelessly went in to the kitchen (of course I did brush my teeth and wash me sleepy face!) and - crap. No food??

Opened the fridge to only see that there is not even left over food in it. Hungry - I took out eggs and milk. Here is what I had in mind:

What do you think? Looks good? Breakfast is breakfast for me when there's a combination of bread, eggs and milk. I added some more fresh taste to the eggs and it all came down to:

2 eggs
1/2 cup fresh milk
1 pinch salt
Fresh pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Maggi seasoning
1 teaspoon tomato sauce
3 bread, cut in half
1/2 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 green chili, inly chopped
1/4 carrot, finely sliced

Being creative with food is not difficult - I used whatever I had in the fridge. You can just add what ever vege that you like. I wish I had tomatoes today.

I combined all the ingredients, except the bread, in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until they combine. Then, soak bread in the mixture until it is absorbed.

Then heat up a frying pan with olive oil, lightly fry the soaked bread until slightly browned, flipping it to the other side after about a minute.

Serve it while it's still warm, by itself or with your favourite sauce!

Mmmm I had a good breakfast despite waking up late!

Swensens Fish n Chips, Cheese Steak Meltdown & Ice Cream

Simple meals at Swensens. Not bad... I like the chips here. I don't really like the coleslaw. The fish was nice. Whatever it is, I can't fry fish. Each time I fry they get flaked up or turn black. But of course, that was eon years ago.. hehe. Maybe I should just stick to raw - But I think my guy will run away from me if I do that.

The slices of tomato here don't come with the fish n chips. They're "transferred" from my guy's dish of cheese steak meltdown. I love tomatoes. He - No. So we complement each other good.
Lemon is always my favourite. They complement fish meat so well.

Here is the Cheese Steak Meltdown. Grilled rib eye surrounded by melted cheese. Sounds nice? And look at the cute little USA flag... or is it... a toothpick?

The portion for this is, in my personal opinion, on the smaller side. Very little cheese and the caramelised onion is too (i repeat, TOO) sweet. My guy doesn't like gherkins. Well, neither do I.
The criss-cut potatoes, deep fried looks yummy. Now what is that litlle cubed pineapple doing in the coleslaw?

:: Swensens ::
QueensBay Mall Outlet
2F-50 Queensbay Mall, 100, Persiaran Bayan Indah,
11900 Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang,
Phone for Reservation: 604-6466593

These are the real reason for wanting Swensens... ICE CREAM! Here's Pistachio Nuts and Cookies and cream Sundaes. I also like their Banana Split. This was taken some time ago in the Juru Auto City outlet.

Somehow Strawberries and Chocolate make the best pair - Whereever I go, this is my lovely combo! This picture was taken during one of the trips down to the Juru outlet, and pic courtesy of B3h0ld3r.

Curry Mee and Instant Noodles for Lunch

:: Warning :: Possible Boring Story :: Warning ::

OMG today is like the second most boring day of my life in 2007 with my guy flying thousand of miles away from me to LA. I miss him. My face is so sour even the Tom Yum does not taste that sour. That said, I always hope and pray that he has a safe journey and a happy time there, and back here.

Thankfully, my sister is here to save me from the Valley of Sulk. We went to QueensBay and I really didn't realise we spend a pretty long time there. Even lunch felt like breakfast and the next thing I know it was already 5pm!

I know that Old Town Cafe is famous for its selection of yummy coffees. Now even the food tastes good, and though it is just a Kopitiam, you sometimes need to queue up to be seated! I mean, who would line up to seat in a Kopitiam... but modern kopitiams - be prepared!

The curry mee tastes good, simple but just nice. It has some chicken meat, bean sprouts and bean curd. Not too big, not too small. Just perfect for a quick meal. I enjoyed this... despite being rather sulky... And I definitely almost always bring my camera everywhere I go! Pictures may be "moody" so, heck. I dont care much today!

My sis has the Nissin noodles with chicken ham and fried eggs. Some fresh vege added in - this instant noodle is kinda cool too... I love having noodles anytime... I also like Indo Mi, Maggi and Cintan!

What else is nice here? Quite some choices, I think! They even have a website which is so cool! I wish all restaurants have its own site for us foodies to explore!