Getting my Korean freak on!

Last week my BFF have a a huge tub of homemade Kimchi. Made by her mommy:) how sweet is that? I just love receiving homemade treats because not only will it definitely be yummy but healthy too!:) for those who have not been exposed to the Korean cuisine, Kimchi is not only the main staple in Korean diet, it is superbly yummy when done right. It is basically veges (cabbage, carrots etc) marinated in chilli, garlic and other yummy goodness.
Koreans traditionally make this during summer (as cabbage is a summer veg) and consumed during winter (as the spice from the chili warms their bodies).
Enough yabbing, here are some pictures! As well as a picture of me and my BFF:)

Girl on the go!

I am currently waiting in line at the post office so I thought I'd put in an entry on my home made dinner the other night. The menu was : honey marinated salmon with lemon and garlic dressed salad.
It somehow turned out amaze balls even though I just whacked everything in. I guess gut instincts deserve more credit:)
First I marinated my atlantic salmon steaks in honey, salt and pepper for about 3 hours. Then I pan sealed in till it was a bit golden on the outside, usually takes about 10 minutes. Then I placed it in an oven proof bowl and splashed some lemon juice in in, a few cloves of garlic and chuck it in the oven for about another 10 minutes or until the salmon is cooked to your liking.
I then took out my oven roasted garlic and mixed it in with my dressing. In my dressing besides the garlic there was lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
Then assemble it all on top of your salad bowl. I made a baby spring leave mix and avocado. Also I made lemon dressing to go with it because avocado and salmon are both quite 'fatty' so something sharp in taste to cut through it would work out perfectly. For example, in this case, lemon. Or balsamic vinegar:)
Okay enough talk now for some pictures! :D

Hungry Hippo!

This is the first post I am doing from my iPhone. And I must say this official Blogger application makes things so much easier! Before this I didn't see the point in posting a short entry coz there's just so much hassle but now look! I can just do it from my phone!
So last night the boyfriend and I decided to go to Hippos Creek for dinner! Hippos creek is this amazing African Grill restaurant. They do the best meats! Not to mention authentic! We are not frequent customers as the price is pretty steep but it is a good celebratory restaurant:)
As usual we already knew what we wanted to order. I had the Hunters Assagai and my boyfriend had the ribs:) for my dish you could choose between 350gms and 500gms while for the ribs you have a choice of 500 gms or 1kg:) I think coz ribs ate just mainly bones that's why they give more weight haha!
So basically my Hunters Assagai is pieces of rib eyed steak on a skewer with garlic butter dripping from the top down to a bowl of fresh chips! Yummy doesnt that make you hungry already?? I always order for my steak to be medium rare coz I think getting it medium done is a waste as it usually is too dry but your preference really:)
The branch we went to yesterday was the one at Hillary's boat harbor and not need to say the view was spectacular:) we got a window seat overlooking the port and we could watch the sunset. Ahhh romance was in the air:)
The atmosphere in the restaurant was also very pleasant, I especially likes the high ceiling:) I thought it was really nice alongside the ceiling to floor glass panels:)
My dish was urberly yummy and I could tell it was already pre marinates in seasoning buy having that garlic butter drip on it while being served was just icing on the cake. Not to mention you get flavored chips as well!:)
A restaurant we highly highly recommend! We have been back quite a few times ourselves!:)

Little Miss Muffin

Yesterday I bought 2 punnets of fresh strawberries for $3! And after a while I realised that I had to do something with it before it went bad. And so I came up with the idea of Strawberry Ricotta muffins! That alone sounds yummy already.

Strawberries were not the only thing I bought (evil smile). I have been eying this heart shaped measuring cups months ago but they only brought it in yesterday. It is the pretties little things I have ever seen not to mention useful as well!

Here are the ingredients to make a basic muffin mixture. The only difference is you fold in the strawberries and ricotta cheese at the end. Same concept applies for blueberry, apple or whatever muffins you decide to make.

Ingredients:
~ 2 ½ cups self raising flour
~ 2/3 cup caster sugar
~ 2 eggs
~ Pinch ofcinnamon
~ 3 table spoons butter, melted
~ 1 cup milk
~ 1 cup ricotta cheese
~ 1 punnet strawberries, washed and diced
~ Icing sugar

To make your very own strawberry and ricotta muffin, preheat your oven to a 180 degrees. Get all your ingredients ready and make sure it is a clean working bench! Also remember to grease your muffin tray if you are not using muffin cup paper. When baking muffins or cupcakes there will always be 2 bowls needed. A "Dry Bowl" and a "Wet Bowl". It just means each bowl consist of wet and dry ingredients each. So lets get cracking!

In your "Dry Bowl", sift your flour and cinnamon into a large bowl then add your caster sugar and mix thoroughly.

Made wih Love, literally hehe

While in your "Wet Bowl" whisk your eggs, milk and melted butter until well combined.

The combine the both. Do that by making a well in your dry ingredients and pour your wet ingredients in. Mix well.

Lastly, fold in your strawberries and ricotta cheese. Annnndddddd you're done! :)

Finally spoon in your mixture into your muffin tray and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown.

I usually just poke a skewer right to the bottom and if it comes out clean, it's done!

Just in case you want the original copy of the recipe, you can find it here
http://www.iga.net.au/igafresh/index.cfm?page_id=2662

Thats all for now peeps, happy baking and be kind to one another! :)

Deliciously good

I know this restaurant is nothing new or exciting but because I love it so much I have decided to blog about it. Just a heads up, there pictures are my collection over the times I have been to Delicious. So do not find it weird that there are some pictures taken in the afternoon and some at night. We didn’t stay there all day eating just to clarify!

We have been faithful customers of Delicious for as long as I can remember. I am not bragging but we found this place WAY before it became the “It place”. We first started dining when it first opened in Bangsar Village 2. They used to be one located inside Mércato in Bangsar Village 2. They subsequently they branched out to Ampang Duo Residency , the other Bangsar Village 2 Branch, Midvalley shopping mall, One Utama as well as Marc Residence.

We go back to Delicious often because not only is the price very reasonable but they serve one of the best pastas in town. You will see for yourself in a moment. Delicious not only serve a huge range of pasta but also Asian food. They have a pretty extensive range of drinks too. My favourite being the butterscotch milkshake. Yes, whenever we visit Delicious, we go all out!

Although there are 5 restaurants across town, you can expect them to look exactly the same. We having visited all 5 outlets can proudly confirm this. I love the interior in the restaurant; it gives you an outdoor garden feel although you are sitting inside the restaurant. All outlets have a floor to ceiling glass windows and the inside is decorated with trees and bird cages. It has this fabulously vintage feeling which I love. I love everything vintage! And also if you decide to check out the outlet in Ampang Duo Residency, it has a live band that plays every Friday. Perfect place to let your hair down after work with friends and enjoy a drink or two!

Upon entering Delicious, you can bet your bottom dolla that you will be greeted by huge glass case of dessert. Ranging from Tiramisu in a Cup to cakes to cupcakes. You will be spoilt for choice. I have come to learn that looking at the dessert selection before ordering your main will only temp you to eat your dessert first.

One of our family favourites at Delicious is the Crabmeat Linguine and Chicken Caesar salad. The Crabmeat Linguini is tossed with roasted tomatoes and Arugula and sprinkled with Pinenuts. If you are a seafood lover, this is a must try! I tried it once and never went back.

As for the Caesar Salad it is tossed with Anchovies (my ultimate favourite!) , crispy crispy turkey bacon, Poached Egg and Parmesan cheese. You can decide if you want any of the add ons which consist of Chargrilled Chicken or Smoked Salmon. I usually get the chicken one.

Doesn't that look delicious??? Oh my I could have one right now! :)

One visit, my sister was feeling adventurous and decided to try out the Seafood Linguine tossed in Homemade Sundries Tomato Pesto. Also the other day my mom ordered Green Curry Chicken from the Delieast Menu. It was served with steamed Kaffir rice and Pomelo Salad. It was our first Asian dish at Delicious and it was surprisingly good. We loved it and everyone was eating her share of dinner haha poor mommy

Also a picture of the 4 cheese Macaroni. It was too cheesy, if that is possible. But I didn't quite enjoy it as it was too rich. Looked pretty though!

Some golden shoestring fried to get you going?

A picture of our Tiramisu Glass. Honestly, we never have enough room for desserts. So this dessert was shared between the 4 of us! haha

Finally, a really old picture of my sister and I :) Good times! :) Must go back to Delicious when I am back in KL! :)

More information on Delicious can be found at the following site:
http://www.thedeliciousgroup.com/#about

Perfect little snack

Since I have been absent from the blogging atmosphere I have decided to tingle y'alls tastebuds with TWO entries! Must be your lucky day :) This is just a short entry compared to the last one. It was just a little snack I made over the weekend. It is something I have always enjoyed as an entree at restaurants. The best I ever had would be at Villa Danielle at the Sheraton Hotel.

This dish is as simple as it can get but the flavours are just perfect with combined. It is a cheese, tomato and basil entree. Ta dahhhh :)

All I did was toss a bit of fresh mozzarella, basil and a combination of roma and tuss tomatoes :)You can use any combination of tomatoes you want, even cherry tomatoes. The mozzarella has to be fresh, those you get in a tub of water. It is a simple, easy, no fuss refreshing dish, perfect for summer! I am feeling good today so I shall take you through step by step :)

Step 1.
Dice up your tomatoes. I sliced mine. See? no fuss :)
Step 2.
Tomatoes love salt! So sprinkle with sea salt. and plot on a few dallops of cheese on top. Also tear in some fresh basil.
Step 3.
Finally round up all the flavours with a dose of olive oil.

There! wasn't that easy? You can thank me later :)

This is our half eaten dish and of course I had to heat up some fresh sourdough bread. I always go the extra mile because my mentality is that I would rather have too much food on the table then not enough food and have guests leaving hungry.

Now isn't that the perfect summer salad? :)
Until next time! Be kind to one another!

2nd and counting

So as I promised centuries ago, I would post a surprise post. This was on the 8th of August 2011 :) We headed to the Must Winebar at Mount Lawley. Just a little sneaky celebration of our anniversary :) I come across this restaurant/bar by coincidence while looking for a good place we have not yet tried for the night. And the reviews had many good things to say about this place so I thought why not.

The place is actually pretty easy to miss as it it just a small cozy restaurant by the corner. But upon entering it is everything I thought it might be. When entering it is very obvious that restaurant is separated into two parts, left and right respectively. This is done by placing a floor to ceiling wine shelf down right in the middle of the restaurant. This way, on the right hand side is the wine bar while the sit down restaurant is on the left.

The wine bar serves only wine, like literally. From Rosѐ to Vintage and much much more. We just zipped right ahead as firstly we are not quite the wine people and secondly we were really hungry and so keen on trying out the food :) Although if you guys decided to start out first on the wine bar the staff will most happily bring your drinks over when your table is ready. They even pour your wine out to breath so you can enjoy it with your dinner. How lovely is that :)

For entree, the boyfriend and I decided to share a warm chicken and cashew mix wrapped in a savory crѐpe. It was plopped on a bed of sweet sauce which was a brilliant idea as it added another level of flavor and it also cut through the richness of the dish. It was of course served with a side of vinaigrette rocket salad. it was a lovely start to our meal, I can just feel it in my belly!

For my main I opted for one of the main special of the day. I knew they changed this everyday as they type out the date and the specials on the leaflet. It is such a simple gesture but made me think they put an effort into it. So anyways, for my main I ordered a pan grilled Red Emperor on a bed of truffle risotto. Doesn't that alone make you salivate already? The fish was cooked to perfection and I loved every bit of it's silky yet firm texture. The truffle risotto was definitely the highlight of the night for me. I personally have never seen a chef grate in so much of that ridiculously expensive mushroom into a dish before. All my past experience, the chef either uses "truffle scented" on pasta, which I think is just a cover up for the chef being too cheapskate to use the real thing. Or they say they use truffles but you don't actually see it even after you reach the bottom of your dish! But my main tonight was everything but that. In my risotto I could actually see those stringy finely grated truffles in my risotto. That actually impressed my a lot. And I have never actually tasted actual grated truffles before. (side note, truffle scented salad do not count). And just to sum it up, truffles actually have a really strong intense smell. And smell is all there is it. The smell is so strong and pungent it smells like a spoonful of garlic but the magical thing is as soon as it touches your lips, it vanishes.

For my boyfriends' main, he got the lamb plate. It is on the daily menu and it is basically lamb cooked three ways. In this lamb plate it consists of Seared Loin, Shank Pie, Neck Croquette served with white bean purée and mint pisou.

I couldn't say much for the dish as I am not in a place to do so. But I did have a bite here and there and I can tell you it was lovely. The roast lamb was done to perfection, we could actually see the middle part a bit pink and the outside was marinate well with salt and herb. The dish was quite lovely but not something I would personally order as I am not much of a meat person. But for meat lovers out there I am sure it will be delicious :)

The restaurant also serves warm french bread and butter while waiting for your meals. This adds a lovely little touch to it. I love this restaurant!!

I hope you enjoyed this little blog :) And just to remind you who wrote this blog :p

Must Wineabar
Site: http://www.must.com.au/must_highgate/index.html
Opening Hours : 12 noon to 12 midnight, 7 days a week
Phone : (08) 9328 8255

Oh my love

Has anyone noticed that it is strawberry season again?
I can only remember as if it was yesterday that a friend of mine and me were frantically buying these luscious strawberries. It is probably as big as your face and sweet as a candy. How is this possible. We say perfection is rare but this, this is in it's own little strawberry league. Enough said, pictures!

and just to show you how big it is comparatively. Yes it is almost as big as your face ;) and sweet as :)

Please stay tune for the next blog entry. It is on something really personal and special. And of course yummylicious food.

Brennir ™

People who know me would understand what this mean or if they are an avid fan of Scrubs.
Brennir ™ - Breakfast for dinner. As simple as that :)
Sometimes for me anyways, breakfast is the best dinner. I would crave good breakfast food anytime of any day. Who doesn't like fluffy scrambled eggs, smoked Sienna sausage, crispy toast, buttery fresh mushrooms and a good cuppa for a meal? It doesn't matter if it is breakfast, lunch or dinner. So one night we decided to whip up the best and most extensive Brennir ™  you can find :)

 

This is what a hearty helping of Brennir ™ or breakfast should look like. We did indeed go overboard with the elements but what the heck, it was such a satisfying orgasmic meal that I don't think any of us complained. As you can see from the picture above we made

~ 5 pieces of toast (what? my boyfriend eats heaps, don't judge! :p)

~ Baked beans

~ Hash brown

~ Bacon

~ Buttered mushrooms (majorly buttered, as I like them.)

~ Green peppers and onion fluffy scrambled eggs

~ An extra just for me, smoked dutch cheese. (boyfriend doesn't like them. Poooh!)

~ Oh! and a cuppa!

 

This is the close up picture :) Now get cracking on those eggs and make yourself a nice good helping of Brennir ™

Little Penang Trip, Part 2

The entry before was before we reached Penang. This one is for those who were waiting for the Penang post. Everytime when we go to Penang, there are a few must stops. First up is the Prawn Mee, runner up, Char Qwey Teow and lastly Chendol! And yes all in one day!

This trip we did not quite managed to eat the same Prawn Mee as we always do but this restaurant came quite close. The newly found Prawn Mee shop is called the T & T shop. I do not know what both the T's stand for but feel free to find out and let me know ;) After trying this one out I actually prefer this one better then the normal stall we go to. You will understand why in a minute or two.

This is how the outside of the store looks like. Looks can be deceiving let me tell you that. In this case, VERY deceiving.

This is how the inside looks like. I personally really like the setting. It looks as if it was set back in the 70s where the older generation come by in the morning and have their morning coffee. And I appreciate that they kept the original structure.

This was where we sat. I love marble tables, it just give out an authentic feel.

This was my bowl of Prawn Mee. Why I prefer the ones served here than other place is because of the soup. Any expert Prawn Mee customer will also confirm this to you which is the soup makes all the difference. It is in the soup where you taste the hours of boiling and amount of herbs and ingredients they put in, not to mention time. I really enjoyed this as you can see, the soup base is dark brown. They used pork ribs and prawns as the stock base. Saying the soup is flavorful does not do it justice. The flavor is so intense and flavorful that you can't help but to finish the soup! Well, at least I did!

Oh before I forget, thie T & T restaurant is located at...

Next stop, Char Quey Teow!! My all time favourite!!!

This has been my ALL time favorite restaurant! I really do not know where it is but if you ask any local, it is the only restaurant/stall that used duck egg for the dish. I have now concluded that for a CharQuey Teow to be lipsmakingly good, all it needs is for it to be piping hot when consumed. And this theory has been proven right time and time again. But this is still the best stall :p

Final stop, dessert. The famous Chendol. It's just along Lebug Keng Kwee. If you find this road, the stall is pretty hard to miss. You will see a crowd around the store and have to literally push your way in to place an order. But it takes just second for your dessert to be served.

The very famous Chendol. Chendol (which is the green stuff) is made out of gelatine and herbal remedies. This dish is made up of Chendol and Gula Melacca ( Palm Sugar) and coconut milk. This is the best dessert you can get I promise you. The palm sugar is so rich and thick that when it melts and mixes with the coconut milk it is like heaven in your mouth.

 The lady owner who serves customers at the lightning speed. No really she does.

That pretty much puts an end to my little Penang food trip. Hope you guys had as much fun as I did! Until next time!