In the Term of Food

It was after my work hours yesterday, but I was still at office at that time surfing through the net to de-stress by reading about, what else, food. Then I came across one of my all-time favourite blog, Traveler’s Lunchbox, she mentioned in regards to the term of food-loving people calling themselves foodie. Ah, such is the wonder of human, where terms are formed to describe what usual words cannot. But when it started the common usage of it by everyone, ironically, it might be entirely differently for each of them who expresses it.

A quick search through my 2 year old blog and I found that I had subconsciously used the term in two entries. Well at that time, the term is hot, I read it everywhere, I coined the meaning in my own terms to my vocabulary, and it just spilled off to my writings. What did I meant at that time when I used that term? I certainly do not mean that I’m a food-snob for sure, far from it in fact.

Then later on, in so many posts, how did I manage to describe myself then without using the political term foodie? A quick self-reflection and I found that I had indeed found the term to call myself for someone who loves to cook and experiment in bringing tastes together, thrilled at the thought of seeking good food, revel in reading food stories and recipes, excited when trying out new myriad of tastes, eyes lit up in sight of food, and loves to tuck in to good food. I had this term right at the birth of this blog itself, yes the term, tham jiak. Although it might not encompass all the above mentioned attributes, true hokkien linguist might say, but to me it somehow does. Let me quote now “term lies in the heart of the speaker”.

The term tham jiak, as per the anonymous comment in my self-introduction post, he/she mentioned that it actually means a person who greedily wants to eat. That would not be wrong, but it certainly does not mean just that. We call someone tham jiak, when he/she springs to food stalls, eye looking greedily but not necessarily eats it. We call another tham jiak, when his/her eyes lit up when we bring them food gifts, but not necessarily eats it all greedily but instead shares good food around. We call another tham jiak, when the person discusses about food excitedly, promotes where and where to eat, as well as seeks out more information on where to get good food next. We call one tham jiak, if he/she reads about a food, not knowing where to get it, but literally wants to taste it, and goes all the way out just to make it so that able to try it and then definitely, if good, shares it with loved ones. I would say Remy in Ratatouille, is a tham jiak rat, as how he defines food in such a way, but of course with talent to boot. It’s like how one would go all the way out just for food, in any way. Just look at his picture above, the ultimate tham jiak face, as one of my friend once said.

After the inception of my blog, where I start to be more open of my tham jiak-ness, yet though many acquaintances of mine still do not know I am the writer behind this blog, I had somehow been coined with the term tham jiak. It is like self fulfilling prophecy I might say. Anyhow, I am proud to be tham jiak, I would still religiously keep adding recipes in my ever piling up to-do list, hoping someday I would have the time and place to try it all out while having loved ones appreciating it with me. I would still keep on continue searching for good food out here in Malaysia and beyond as well, traveling to many places, trying out food as the locals eat it. Faling in love with new dish as well as learning to cook in new ways. Ah, what a life that would be for a tham jiak girl.

J Birthday: Short but Sweet Celebration

This is one birthday post after another. What does this represents? On flip side it meant I am slacking in my post, on the other good side is that my life has been real rich, full of celebration and happiness.

Before this I was in a midst of writing a heavily-emotion-laden post, but I got a writer’s block. I could not seem to convey all my feeling into the post as I used to always can. Has something gotten into me? Or is it just writer’s block? Or is it an occasion blockage due to overdose of changing, celebrating life and dreams that are piling high?

Anyway, since my brain is clogged, I shoved that post aside to draft and instead post up event instead. I would keep this post simple as well as fun as how it should be for it is a birthday post for J. Yes, it was a year since my bake out for J, and as a quote runs dry due to too many usages, I would still say that this time I am too busy to actually cook or bake anything. Thus I make a mental note for myself; I can and should cook regardless of the occasion whenever I had the chance.

Anyway, J treated his family to a lovely dinner at Tai Thong, where we filled our tummy to our hearts’ content.

First up was the stir-fried vegetable (I forgot the Chinese name, what more it’s English’s) with belacan. It was up to par with the usual Chinese eateries out there but the price was a tad bit ridiculous, above even meats.

Then it was the wu tau kau yok (braised pork belly with yam slices). What makes this dish special is the presents of nam yue (fermented red bean curd). I can’t seem to find more description of it, but let’s just say, it has an unique taste and it gives dishes pink hues. This wu tau kau yok is a dish where either you love it or you hate it. For me I used to dislike it, but now, the taste had somehow hooked on and thus, become a favourite of mine. The version here in Tai Thong was good, really home-cooked type. I’m not too sure though the origin of this dish, not Cantonese I suppose as my Ah Ma did not cook it, certainly don’t have those criterias. This dish is definitely not light literally or in spices term.

Anyway, next up was the yu pin chow keong (stir-fried fish slices with ginger). This was my favourite dish, as I love ginger (maybe unconsciously had cheered on due to fact it’s expelling air properties, which was usually what I need most). Besides, the fish slices was smooth and sweet, the ginger was just enough with the spring onions. Absolutely delish.

Then it was we also ordered claypot taufu with minced pork, nothing too spectacular but still delicious.

Besides this we also had nam yue pai kuat (fried pork ribs coated with fermented red bean curd). Nam yue again, you might ask, but it was nowhere similar to the wu tau kau yok, still with nam yue taste but definitely more prominent and just that. I had this dish elsewhere which was better and crispier. We also ordered Mooncake at the end as our dessert, as now mooncake is full of varieties due to research and development here, this one was a twist from the traditional flavour, snow skin beans with mashed egg yolk. I forgot to take picture for it, thus I took the liberty to cut out the picture from the website, please do not sue me. This mooncake was good, smooth filling, not too sweet and just enough flavouring. This is also the ping-pei type (chilled soft skin), in oppose to the baked ones.

Overall, I would say Tai Thong offered worth the money for the food and the atmosphere, but they seriously lack in their service part. So if they buck up on this area, it would be a really good place for family celebration or gatherings.

Summer Palace Chinese Restaurant (Damansara Utama)
101, Ground Floor, Wisma Dijaya
Jalan SS20/1, Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
03 7726 8616
Mon - Sat
11.30am - 2.30pm
6.30pm - 10.30pm
Sun & Public Holidays
9.00am - 2.30pm
6.30pm - 10.30pm

Anyway, back to J. It is after all his birthday. This time, as I had said, I did not cook or bake. So where is the cake? Well, I wanted to get a special cake (as well I confessed that it fits well with my last minute buying), so I bought these cakes, yes cakes, from Secret Recipe (a well known cake house and café in Malaysia, more to that next time).

Isn’t it lovely? Well now everyone can taste a bit of everything, I tried to get all cheese cakes for it was J’s favourite, but I sneaked in a chocolate one (think of the love affair) as I could not resist and also not to forget it’s famous Chocolate Banana Cake, which J also likes very much.

I thought I said this would be a short post, well I guess my (tham jiak) brain start working again when it got to food. Nontheless, with tummies filled and sweet teeth satisfied, overall it was a good celebration, wouldn’t you agree?

My Birthday: Prolonged Celebration

My birthday came and went, not in a fast food fashion but instead in a motion of a candlelight dinner that seems to last forever (or till the restaurant closed). It had stretched from the day before my birthday till even a week and more after it, which I had still been celebrating, with food of course. When it comes to celebration, it would inadvertently mean food. What more for this Tham Jiak girl, it would definitely be food, more food and good food at that.

As this year, unlike my last year celebration where I baked a cake for myself, sis and cousin, I had instead sit back and relax (or in more truthful term: lazy), and enjoyed all there is to eating out. Even the cake is store bought at the very last minute. Then the rest are bought by my lovely friends, which coincidently bought cakes from the same bakery but only different flavours. They did had the better choice than me as the cake I got was not really up to par, even my overdue-cheesecake could have been better.

After a year since my previous birthday celebration it was not all that different, I still had the same trio of celebration with the same families sitting together for a lovely dinner, but somehow it is different. I still had party with my bunch of friends, only this time in two separate occasions (of two separate groups) and all eating out. But why I feel that it is different? Is it because I have matured another year? Is it because I am no longer a carefree student enjoying until the few-last-24 hours torture prior to each exam? Is it because this time I am paying instead of my daddy? Is it because I am now facing self sustenance and not anymore the family’s baby (though I never have been one anyway)?

Looking back, this year had been a new phase of life for me. After throwing the mortar, I am now running the rat-race like most people just because we are all finding for a piece of cheese, or a slice of it or just more cheese. How was it? It was really different. Again. Yes, different again. It is a dog-eat-dog world out there, not surprising to me as I have been warned way before I stepped into it. But in the usual law of the nature, where there are blacks because there are whites, then where there are some who are not-too-good-to-mention-what people, there are also many who are helpful, sincere, genuine and simply nice.

Anyway, back to the topic of my birthday, or else I would start preaching. It seems funny how people take the extra efforts on birthday to catch up with each other, a reason to be all loopy and cheery and also an occasion to splurge without worries. Well, I am one who falls into this cliché category. After the celebration with my families who I had only seen on and off for quite a while ago, I had finally catch up with my universities friends as well, which guilty as charge, I must say it had been a year since I met them. It was really cool to catch up and listens to many stories of jumping ships as well as smooth sailing ones and not to mention rocky and ready to sink ones as well. Then by next weekend, I then arranged a gathering for my high school 1984 buddies at Chillis One Utama. It had been ages since we all meet up (all 10 except 1 who is in Taiping), and it was amazing how we can actually all get together for a designated time, with our separate busy routines. Well, as my good friend L says, “it just takes someone to organize, and somehow everyone will try to make it”. Then it was the week thereafter that I celebrated with my ex and current colleagues. Didn’t I warn you early on that my birthday had been like a prolong candlelight dinner where the restaurant seems to open 24 hours?

Besides the many celebrations that I had, with friends and family, last but definitely not least, I must talk about one that every tham jiak (food-lover) goes weak at the knee for. Yes, it’s definitely the act of filling one’s tummy with as much delicious food as one can from savouries to sweet endings. J, as I had said, a true partner any tham jiak girl can ever ask for, took me to an Italian buffet lunch at Avanti, Sunway Hotel. Oh boy, what a feast we had.

First I had numerous rounds at the raw sort-of-Japanese section where I took as many sashimis as I can devour and thoroughly enjoyed it. The raw salmon and tuna was fresh, the raw oyster, with freshly squeezed lemon on it was simply lovely.


Then I head on to the main dishes. There was not too many selections, but most of them are well thought out and made with care. Thought the chicken breast was bit too dry and hard, the rest was delicious. There were many fishes such as salmon, cod and a few more which was cooked tenderly and each accompanied by complementary sauces. For a fish lover like me, it was heaven. Then there was the beef and lamb, which was tender and just right. The cheesy lasagna was also great, but I stopped myself from taking more in order not to fill up.

I missed the appetizer section earlier on, thus I had it after my mains. It was great, but I forgot to take pictures. I built my own cheese platter from the selections, enjoying it with candied nuts and fruits. There were also the well roasted zucchinis and tomatoes. The miss here was the brushetta-like bread topped with beans and tomatoes, it was quite bland.


Finally, the moment came for me to enjoy what every girl would enjoy most in a buffet, the dessert section! I eagerly filled up my plate with a little of everything. Once again it was hit and misses, but sadly mostly misses. The desserts here were not up to par as I had expected it to be, which I might set too high. Just like how one goes in to watch a movie with great expectation and somehow ended up not enjoying as much as he would if he had not expected it in the first place. Among all, I would say the tiramisu was good, though not your classic type but still good in its own fusion way. The mini chocolate fondue where a dipped marshmallows and strawberry was nice, for a chocolate lover this is a bias review.


As it is my birthday, Avanti had his chef going around singing birthday songs to the babies of the day. Turns out there were about 5 other kids who are having the same birthday as me. Anyway, the chef came and sang me a really cool rendition of birthday song, accompanied by violin as well as two of the sous-chef (I guess) singing along. They brought this ‘cake’ when they sang for me. The chef certainly has a good vocal, what a talent for both cooking and singing.


That marks the end of my gluttonous brunch, it seems like I ate all the meals of the day in one seating. I was more of satiated then bloated, so it was a really satisfied meal, albeit at the end of the full scale. Every table was set with a clean white sheet and a glass of crayons for scribblings to accompany the meal (note the background of the food pictures). We did end up filling the paper to our own amusement. It was a nice touch to the overall ambience here.

Well not to get too lengthy like my over-celebrated birthday, I would end my birthday post with a note to self:

The best birthdays of all are those that haven't arrived yet. – Robert Orben

Avanti, Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel
Persiaran Lagoon, Bandar Sunway,
46150 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
(603) 7492 8000

Bangkok: Cooking School

I finally succumbed to it. I went for a cooking course in Bangkok. The idea had flit through my mind on and off, whenever I read through a blog, browsed through a food site or flipped through a magazine. I would be not fair to myself and my blog readers if I do not go and learn the secrets of Thai Cooking right?

I researched the net for the cooking school that would suit me, finally settling for Silom Cooking School because it has the most reasonable price with good review as well. Extra bonus is that it includes local market shopping beforehand.

My cooking instructor, N, a really sweet guy, guided me to his place and paid for the fare as well as he could not pick me from my busy hotel at Sukhumvit road.Once there, I joined up with a family from Hong Kong, a lady with her husband, daughter of six and mother (or in-law, I’m not sure). They are really a nice bunch and it was great fun learning cooking with them.

The first session was we head straight to a small local market near N’s place. First thing we bought is freshly grated coconut for our curries. Then N proceeds to explain the various kinds of curry paste used in Thai cooking. He says that there are 3 common curry pastes: green, red and yellow. All are nearly the same except that green paste is made from fresh green chillies while the red paste is from dried red chillies and the yellow paste added with turmeric for color. It does sound simple the way he said it.


Then we head out to the vegetable stall, where it seems like N’s usual place to go for the students as the lady at the stall knows what to get for him straight away. She was also oblivious to N poking at her vegetables while explaining to us about it. N explained various Thai herbs to various gingers as well as various eggplants.


Each of us had a little basket to do our market shopping. Here is my bountiful basket herbs and spices:


After that we lug our basket of treasures back to his place. I was impressed by the beautiful cooking place setup.


Everything was nicely plan, with one room for wet preparation, such as pressing coconut juice included with a place to wash the vegetables.


Another room was for the dry preparations such as cutting, pounding and so on. At the dry preparation, we are all rationed from the tray with what is needed to cook our one-portion dish. Then N showed us what to do with it.

Then we head out with our tray and do some cooking. Here is my final own cooked version of Tom Kha Gai (coconut milk chicken). It is my first time eating this dish so I can’t judge with the authentic ones out there, but this soup is definitely a filling one. I could not finish the coconut milk.


Next I dished up another one-person portion of Gai Pad Med Mamuang (Fried Cashew Nut with Chicken).


Then N explained on various Thai rice and how each is cooked and consumed. Then he proceeds to show how they traditionally steam the sticky rice.


Next N showed us how to make Yam Wun Sen (Spicy Mungbean Noodle Salad). It is served nicely presented with the now-cooked sticky rice.


Next we shared make Thod Mun Pla (Fried Fish Cakes). The process was a bit messy but the finish product, once again nicely presented by N, was definitely a delicious sight and delicious to eat as well. We also get to make the Thai Sweet Chilly Sauce to accompanied it ourselves.


Next we prepare the red curry paste and then dished up Kang Phet Gai (Red Curry Chicken).


Finally, courtesy from N as I requested, he taught me how to make Som Tam. How can I missed this beloved dish right? I get to pok-pok the salad together. Turn out it is really simple, now I am going to go against what I preach, and make one for myself at home soon.


So that’s the end of my experience in Silom Cooking School. I had tremendous fun and would like to thank N for the wonderful dishes and expanded waistline. N also gave us his own compiled recipes before we leave, how thoughtful. So what is the secret of Thai cooking? The secret lies in fresh local ingredients. That’s all really. Everything else is really simple and easy, especially if you know Asian way of cooking. Now when am I going to make these dishes at home as I promised to J?

Som Tam: How much do I love thee?

This much:

Som tam (Thai/Isan ส้มตำ) is a spicy papaya salad originating in Laos and the Isan region of northeastern Thailand. Som (ส้ม) in Isan and Lao means "sour," and tam (ตำ) means "pounded." - wikipedia

There is so much to say about this simple wonder salad. The Isaan region tends to have quite a number of wondrous food and this is definitely the cream of their crop. I never know about how good Som Tam can be until I tasted one myself in Thailand. I can eat this everyday as a staple diet if needed. Maybe then I will be as slim as most of the Thai people here. There is just something in their food which a generally slim society even when sugar are consume in excess. Don’t get me ranting on that, maybe in the next post, now it is all about Som Tam.

Unfortunately, I know that it is near impossible to replicate this dish anywhere else outside of Thailand unless you have all the ingredients air flown to you fresh and you somehow learn the art of making Som Tam. Here are the reasons:

Young papaya:
First, the freshly grated papaya is important. Grated is not exactly the word as I see the Thai chefs skillfully chopped the whole papaya in their hands, and then slice them nicely, where all the papaya falls miraculously into same-sized strips. Believe me, they do it way better than any grater or food processor can ever do. I always stand there in fascination when they prepare it. So maybe if you do it in a machine, it will never be as authentic. Maybe if I’m lucky I can learn up the skill, without losing a few fingers. But first to get hold of these huge green young papayas.

Sauce
Then the important lime juice in the sauce, using Thai rounded green limes that seem to be only found here is an extreme point in the sauce key tanginess. The sauce also uses palm sugar, fish sauce and thai chillies.

Peanuts
Plus to me, a Som Tam is never complete without its freshly fried peanuts, where I found is way much better than the varieties in Malaysia. Here they have these not too big and light peanut that they had roasted to perfection. Slight hint of black spot ones are the most fragrant.

Everything else
It is also important to have the baby tomatoes, halved added into the Som Tam. I also usually call the most general version of Som Tam which adds in dried shrimps for taste.

Raw vegetables
Well this one I guess you can get it here in Malaysia, generally we eat with raw cabbages and winged beans, sometimes with basil leaves and spring onions. It is really fun eating raw vegetables dipping in som tam sauces.

Utensils
Oh and not to forget one must have the Thai mortar to ‘pok pok’ your som tam together. It is essential indeed for the authentic taste. This mortar is not to be confused with our Chinese mortar and pestle, as the mortar is made of ceramic and the pestle made of wood. It is much deeper to fill in all the som tam ingredients. But if you insist, or you are desperate (I might someday), I found a few recipes which seemed promising:

Real Thai Recipes
Blue Elephant Recipe
Thai Info-net

For the love of Som Tam, I must have it every time I am in Bangkok. If I have a choice, I would have it for every meal even. As far as my love for Som Tam goes, I will stuff my mouth with it as much as possible before my chances of having the authentic ones in Bangkok itself ran out. This is definitely one dish I would miss.

Bangkok: Sneaky Lunch Post

You know, as good writer you have to be able to write under any circumstances, under any amount of time and under any environment. I want to test my that ability. (psst, this is an excuse to blog in the middle of my working time, amidst all my clients, right after lunch). Yes, I am on assignment in BKK, had a great lunch, a nice short walk across a mini-market near the office and just had to the urge to write. Boss if you so happen to read this, please pardon my form of stress releasing therapy.

I had Kanom Jeen for lunch. You can read all about it here in Eating Asia, where Robyn did a great justice to it. For me I am ‘suppose’ to be doing a quick post here. My time now is still ‘paid’, and not to write for sure.

This lovely spicy noodle came with arrays of fresh veggies (very good for a health freak like me). Fresh vegetables are ubiquitous here in Bangkok, the total opposite of Malaysia.

After the lunch, which is located in the market, we had a walk past the stalls selling various foods. My eyes feasted greedily from here to there, mouth watering and hands firmly holding my camera. The locals there must be confused, as I usually look like a local, and pretend like one most of the time, mumbling few Thai words as if it is my mother tongue.

My colleague got intrigued with this stall and ask for two ‘balls’ which was then pick up, smashed up and mixed with everything else and then passed to my bewildered colleague. This is her two fried balls, now a smashed ‘rojak’.

Anyway, as we are about to leave, we got called on by a lady to buy her sweets (I checked with my Thai friend here, it is called Ka Lak Meh, made of rice flour and sugar). She look so cute, marketing non-stop on her sweets, smiling so innocently, it got right to my heart. These are people who make me feel soft at the heart, and to know that not everybody has comfortable life. I told my colleague, how much can she get selling 1baht (10 cents) per piece of sweet, she need to sell at least 20 sweets to get a kanom jeen for lunch. With chance, I will surely go back there again and buy more from her.

Our Favourite Breakfast Place

How did my blog got into maintanence state? Thanks to Zoto for sure. They decided that they no longer offer free picture storage and then lock me from assessing my pictures. Worst, they decide to rip it off the face of the internet. Yes I am venting in anger here. It cause my whole blog to feature gray flowers as food! Besides, they do not allow retrieval of pictures, and asked to fill in form for pictures to be send back to you (which till now is no where in sight). Anyhow, I would urge everyone out there to never pay money for Zoto’s irresponsible services. I also found out that to republish post with pictures are painstakingly taking up my time. Sigh. I only manage to republish my Bangkok posts. The rest will have to come in batches (especially my favourite penang posts! Sobs).

Anyway, anger aside, I hope everyone here will welcome me back, despite the absence. Where have I been? Let’s just say it is the usual excuses so I’ll spare you. Let me now get on with food.

One of the main meal of everyday that J and I never (almost) misses are breakfast! We just had to have it before the start of our day. Everyday, before heading to work, we would stop by one of our usual haunts. Though there are a few places that we usually go to, one place is where we always would preferred. This place is just right on the way to our workplace, no crowd and ample parking spaces. Best yet, it has the best Wan Tan Mee in town (claimed so by J). But I myself (hail from Taiping with its own reknown Wan Tan Mee) must say this one is definitely good. Entirely different from the ones in my hometown, this one is sweet with the char siew (roast pork) sauce and the char siew is really succulent and delish!

We’ve been here so many times, the young girl who works here will automatically bring my favourite ‘Cham’ nga lat (coffee-mix-tea-mix-milk drink – big).

Then usually I would call the old-style breakfast of toast bread and half boiled egg (that I mentioned before I love so much), this time at much less the cost.

Tear the bread, use it to soak up the eggs and munch away. Remaining bread can be dipped into the ‘Cham’ and devour or eat plain. Your call! Any of the way is my favourite.

I am really reluctant to introduce this place, as I love the not too many people atmosphere and I love the sure-to-have parking spaces. Few doors away there was also opened an Indian restaurant that serves mean Indian breakfast (will feature it soon). But how can I keep this gem to myself only? Good food (in this case plus good place) is meant to be shared. I came near lunch time before and found that it is usually crowded by people who are here for the chicken rice (which only opens for lunch). I am not being selfish here but I really do not know the address, but it is so easy to find a little direction will do (and shame on me to forget the name of the restaurant). I will return with the address and the name, I promise!

Restaurant Yat Yeh Hing
SS4D/5, 47301 PJ
Left of LDP (heading towards Puchong tol)
First corner shop,right opposite Kampung Cempaka

Update: On sad note, the Wan Tan Mee stall has closed, thus depriving J and I of our usual breakfast fix. We have yet to find one good enough to replace it yet. :(

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