Grandma Cooks Best

Is it true that grandmas always cook better than your mum? Is it due to fact that they had longer experience, more trial and errors with perfected dishes, as well as the whim and confidence of a seasoned cook? Or is it just because for my generation, our grandmas are the one who had been through real hardships in life, where in the end they persevered and channel their strength and love through food to their children, and their children’s children?

Both my grandmas, Ah Ma and Pho Pho, which I have so fondly talked about all the time, have gone through hardships in their own way. I had told a really extensive story before of Ah Ma, of how she a princess when she was young, thrown to hardship during the war times and then got into marriage and ended up raising 11 kids. For my Pho Pho is a whole new hardship of life, a whole new tale to spin. Ah well, that would be another post of another day, where I would be featuring a dish especially by her. A look at how she always put up a feast for every Chinese New Year shows what an experienced great cook she is. She just needs the morning, waking up at wee hours of 4am and then has the entire 10 course meal ready by lunch time for all. On the other hand, my Ah Ma cooks with her due time, cleaning every inch of the food, slicing everything to perfection and cooking each to the right time. Therefore Ah Ma need at least a day to laboriously churn out good food for the night. Both are entirely different, with entirely different taste of food, where my Ah Ma’s is usually simple and light Cantonese dishes while Pho Pho’s is thick, in depth and full of complex flavours Hakka dishes. For me Ah Ma’s food should always be for the no-nonsense everyday fare while Pho Pho’s food is for the elaborate all-out special occasions fare.

Anyway, far away from home, and lack of good grandma’s home-cooked food, I had to make do with outside food. Though it has been quite sometime since J and I went out in venture for food, due to work as well as more laidback life and cutback on our calories resolution, we found ourselves driving out one day in search of food without a direction. J had just got rewarded with Baskin Robbins (which is one of my icy treats indulgence) voucher for being a good employee, such a nice company right, and so we decided to head to Uptown where I know there is an independent BR outlet there. So we decided to have our dinner around that area and cruise around for the right shop to eat. Suddenly J spotted a restaurant, boasting of home cook food and dim sum choices. On the first trip we had really good dishes that even J, the renown food critic (only to me ha-ha) praises it. So promptly on that weekend itself, I met up with dad and uncle at the same restaurant for dinner, of course base on recommendation from J and me. The second trip was a bit of hit and miss, but overall it is still good enough for me to return for more tryouts.

First we had to have our fix of siu long bao, which came in 5 dumplings for one basket. For this I would say the skin was a little too thick for my liking, especially in compare to the Hong Kong ones I tried (look at the nearly translucent skin), yes I know it is unfair to compare, but the upside was the soup are all sealed in well here and was really well flavoured. For J, THE food critic, said this was even better than Dragon I’s as the one we had there last time leaked out all the wonderful soup, where from then he swore never to have it again at Dragon I, yes a really adamant critic. This one to his delight, when he bit into it, the juices shot out and got to me, luckily just my hands, yes, it was THAT soupy, so J gave it the thumbs up. Too bad they ran out of the big version where KY had, else we would really enjoy the ‘soup’ in the pao. Oh well, maybe next time.

Next up was the main dishes. J was already really hungry thus the bias review, but to me it was good as well, really with the home-cooked feel of grandma’s cooking. One I immediately have to call for was the Jiu Hu Char (stir fried yam bean with cuttlefish), which I say my Pho Pho makes a mean one, but this one was more of the lighter version, which my Ah Ma does cook minus the jiu hu (dried shredded cuttlefish) which we called chau mang kuang (stir fried yam bean), so this was like a cross version of my Ah Ma’s and Pho Pho’s, all the better. I am really missing them now. I found a recipe of this dish here, if any of you are brave enough to try.


Then J had to have his fix of egg, which was one of his favourite must-haves, he ordered the foo yong tan (fried egg with onion slices), which came like just out of a Chinese home kitchen. We love the simplicity!


Of course we then need meat in our fare, so J took the liberty and ordered butter curry leaves chicken. It was special, not really an everyday fare of grandma’s kitchen, but it was good. The chicken was first deep fried then poured on with butter and curry leaves thick sauce. Just describing it makes me want to eat again.


On the separate occasion with dad, we ordered chicken rendang, which came in Chinese-fied version, which tasted quite good as well. It reminds me of my Pho Pho’s curry chicken which was not too spicy yet very flavourful, but this one the drier version, hence rendang, which is cooked till dried.


Since twice our visit, the waitress recommended us to try the assam fish, therefore we give in on this time. Turn out, it was not so good. The fish was not so fresh, definitely a no-no in both my grandma’s kitchens, as well as it is not ‘assam’ (sour) enough and the soup was just bit too thick. Even my version of it was way better.


Last dish which we had different from our first trip was the lou tau foo (braised tofu in soy sauce) and eggs. This is a typical home cooked food, where it is a simple dish of braising the tofu and egg together with soy sauce, sugar and herbs.


Though we had a miss with the assam fish, we would definitely return again to have the thick-skin but soupy siu long bao, the cross version of both my grandmother’s jiu hu char and other dishes that I had noted down to try. I kept the receipt so that I have the address but somehow it got lost somewhere during my writing and finally my publishing of this post. Luckily, I found that KY did a review as well, so I just copied the address from his, thanks KY! As for the prices, it was really affordable, somewhere just smaller portion with same price as the usual Chinese cookout restaurants, but with a home cook taste.

Restoran Grandma Kitchen Cafe
6, Jalan SS21/39, D.U.,
PJ, 47400 Selangor
03-7722 1886

P/S: This review appeared in The Star (Malaysia leading English newspaper) Sundaymetro! I'm so happy, so if you're readers from there, welcome! The link is here (though I don't know how long before it will be archived).

Icy Treats

Living in Malaysia, where the whether is hot and humid, icy treats are a necessity to us, especially when we were kids. I remember, those times when I was still in my Primary school, a good friend and I used to buy the ice tube of frozen-flavoured-water, usually orange flavour. It is a crude and cheap treat for us then, costing only 10sen per tube, where I remember vividly which the uncle, who is really old but will stand diligently everyday at our school gate selling his home-made creations, will snip the knot at the top off for us. Then we would take it and pour into our mouth the sweet water that has melted and then proceed to suck on the ice. Ah, I remember feeling really cool and happy every time after the treat, and not to forget the frozen little fingers for holding on to the tube.

Then we got on to our secondary, and then it was those days of ice-cream on the stick, where there is one of my favourite, which has vanilla ice cream wrapped with very-green lime frozen ice. Definitely not the usual combination one would hear of but one that is loved by many of us. That is also when the emergence of more processed ice-creams in oppose to these home-made versions of yesteryears. Then there was also the occasional treat of McDonald’s sundae cone on top of the Value Meal, where every Saturday, after our society meet, we 1984s would walk there from our school.

Soon I came to KL, where eventually, my spending power increases bit by bit till I got into the rat race. So it is now more of indulgence in terms of calories and money for me, where I go for ice creams in Baskin Robbins. There was once, Y and I chance upon its 31% off promotion for every 31st of the month, where we both got a pint each and sat down on a bench nearby and finish it all in one sitting! Ah, those were our uni carefree indulgence days. Then I also go to Swensens’ a couple of times for their earthquake promotion only on Tuesdays, consisting of 8 scoops of ice cream of your choice, where J and I had managed to go a few times. Nowadays, when J and I just want a quick fix of icy treats, we will drop by Macdonald’s drive-thru’ and get ourselves the McFlurry sundae.

So since my histories and currents of ice creams or its like in my life, one of the special additions was my ice cream maker. It had been such a long time since my last post of my own-home-made icy treats. As I mentioned, I had tried many attempts before I fell in love with THE Chocolate Gelato, oh so smooth. Just quite-sometime-ago, I got struck again with the churning bug and churned out some really deceptively and surprisingly delicious


Banana Fro-yo
Inspired by Jaden’s Coconut Frozen Yoghurt

Jaden’s post of suggesting churning Greek yoghurt (strained yoghurt, hence more cheesy-like) to turn into one deceptively healthy icy treat got me really interested. I have been looking out for Greek yoghurt since then, and since I have been working at KLCC for the past few weeks, I had a chance upon it in Cold Storage supermarket, but was definitely put off by the price! It cost nearly four times more than the regular yoghurt! Oh well, it was never ‘cheaper’ for making one’s own ice cream/gelato/sorbet but it is definitely ‘healthier’ in the sense that you can choose what you put in it. If you ever have the time to read into those ice cream ingredients, I bet you can find hydrogenated oil as the main as well as much you-can’t-even-identify stuff even after all the science classes we put ourselves through high-school. Besides we can make all sorts of exotic flavours by harvesting on our local tropical fruits for various concoctions. Anyway, back to yoghurt, so since the Greek yoghurt is crazily expensive here, I decided to get the regular one and since I do not have the patience to strain it, I thought that banana would be a very good ‘thickener’. So I got a bunch of ripe-to-blacken banana that the seller is happily to let off for just RM1! Now we are talking ‘cheap’ and healthy!

300ml plain yoghurt (mine was slightly sweetened)
1 bunch of bananas (bout 6-8), sliced
1 tbsp of sugar (only needed if your banana is not sweet enough)
1 tbsp honey, melted

Blend the yoghurt and sliced bananas together till smooth.
Add in the sugar if needed and blend till incorporated.
Pour into a container and chill overnight. This part is crucial for the flavours to meld and develop, as well as for the banana to ‘thicken’ the yoghurt.

Next day, pour the thick ‘banana-yoghurt’ into an ice cream maker and churn for 40-45mins (or according to manufacturer’s instructions).
Then scoop, yes scoop because it will be very thick (looked like the mess in picture above) and level into a freezer-proof container.

Can be serve soft immediately (J’s sister and I had a huge spoonful each) or store in the freezer.
Before serving from the freezer, take it out for bout 5-10mins in room temperature or bout 30mins in the refrigerator.

Yields: approximately 1 quart

One-nine-eight-four: Ra-ta-too-ee

Have I tell you about 1984? Oh I have, many times it seems. How have we been? I would say we have our ups and downs, our disparities and commonness, but still till now we are as we are, always 1984. I’m sure you readers now have your hair standing, ha-ha.

1984 is the year we are all born in. It is the year of the Golden Rat, for the Chinese. All of us actually got together during our teens, when somehow we find commonness among ourselves. As my grandmother taught me long time ago when I was just a little kid, “birds of a feather, flock together”; I did not know then that this quote would apply to me personally as well as anywhere in this world (read the news and you know what I’m talking about) so well. But after we graduated from high school, we all started to grow different feathers, inevitably moving towards very different directions. Out of sentiments I guess, up till now, we are all still trying our very best to keep in touch, maybe once a while flock together.

I had just deleted a paragraph that I wrote about us, our timelines and so forth. Why? I feel that it would bore you readers with too much detail. Then I remembered a story I written quite long ago, at the time when we were in the midst of nearly breaking apart, to metaphorically describe 1984’s and my journey thus far:

The One Behind

Walking down the road, she turned and stared at the distant. She shields her eyes from the glaring sun. She squinted to see it. She knew that it is there. After some time, her eyes adjusted, and she can see the beautiful house, seemingly shining among the sky. Her eyes watered from the strained, yet she continues to stare. Giving a final look, she turned and went on her way.

The road in front of her would be long. It would be certainly different from the comfort life in the house. But she knew she had to move on. She had to walk this path, in order to fulfill her destiny. It is inevitably part of her life’s scheme. But yet she knew the life she once had in the house will always be in her heart.

As she moved along the road, her perspective of it seemed to change. When she left the house, the road seems narrow, rocky and steep. It seemed really hard to tread it. Yet now as days go by, the road seems bigger, wider, leveled and smoother. Her feet, once dragging on had begun to start walking. As she walked on, it started to skip along. The road now seems very enjoyable.

As she was walking down the road, the house is still in sight right behind her. It is always there for if ever once, she stumbled and fell, and she can always turn back and see that support is there, just within reach. Once a while, she did tripped and she did fumbled on the rocks on the road. And every time, with knees and hands on the floor she would look back and be reassured by the sight of the house and then with renewed strength, she would once again stand up and resumed her walk.

As days goes by, she learnt to skip the rocks, she learn to look for holes and she learn to tread with care. She had found walking the road so much easier. Along the way, she found more things to do, other sights to behold, flowers to be picked, sceneries to be enjoyed and wonderful breeze to revel in. Thus, she was so caught up with all these pleasures in walking down the road, the house seemed like a distant fading picture.

But soon she realizes something is missing. She enjoyed the sights. She loved the smell of the flowers. She stood in awe of the sceneries and she got swept away by the cooling breeze. Yet she knows she would not be here enjoying all these if it wasn’t for the house. So she stopped in her tracks; and once again turn back to look at the house, this time not for assurance, but just because.

She smiled, as the house still stood looming there, shining before the bright sky. This time, the sun did not even seem to bother her. With the image in her mind, etched deep in her memories, she returns to continue down her path. This time, there is even more spring in her steps.

Alright, now this post is getting a little heavy for a food blog. I thank you for your patience if you are still reading, so let’s move on to the food! Recently, one 1984 had a housewarming, and we decided to have steamboat along with a side dish (definitely my idea), which I volunteered to cook up ratatouille for them. Why ratatouille? Besides the fact that this dish had just won the hearts of many in the famed movie featuring the tham jiak Remy, it is also the fact that the movie had at one point of the show that I felt most compelling is the part where the once tried Remy’s ratatouille, the cynic Anton Ego was snapped right back to his childhood where he came home to a dish of ratatouille lovingly prepared by his mum. That scene got right to my heart. This is how the best food should be appreciated. This is how I had tried very hard to describe my Ah Ma’s cooking long time ago. This is how no matter where we go, how far we traveled, how many food we taste, it is always back to the basics, the most simple and humble dish churn out lovingly by someone especially for you. So this is why I chose ratatouille, to churn out this dish with my heart for my fellow 1984s, after such a long time that we finally reconcile in a home, so that when many years down the road, if they ever taste one nice (let’s just assume mine is good now) ratatouille, they would be snapped back right to that night where all of us sat together at the table laughing and eating good food.

Ratatouille (ra-ta-too-ee)
Adapted from Flavours (Sept-Oct 07 Issue)

Since I was privileged as a cook, I had my friend to do the grocery shopping for me. I had sent them the needed ingredients prior to this. Imagine, halfway between their shopping they called me up and ask me what the heck is zucchini? I laughed and told them to skip it then if they can’t find it. They also asked where to get rosemary (I was thinking of the vacuum-packed fresh ones), I tried to explain where to get it in Tesco but finally they end up buying me bottled dried rosemary. Then besides, they overlook the ingredient of canned tomato puree which is essential to this recipe. Oh well, I have to make do with what I have and improvise.

Therefore I ration some of the fresh tomatoes out and made my own tomato puree. I found that do not need to simmer for 1 hour (as per original recipe) as I see that everything is well cooked and the eggplant is starting to turn black and soft. Maybe because I altered the amount of tomato puree, I’m not sure why though. So use your own judgment when you cook it. The recipes also states that it will develop taste overnight but we can’t wait eh, we are having party! It tastes great nevertheless, with convictions from my friends.

2 long purple eggplant
salt for sprinkling
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, cut into cubes
1 red capsicum, seeded and cubed
1 green capsicum, seeded and cubed
3 cloves garlic, chopped

150g tomatoes, peeled and cubed
1-2 tbsp dried rosemary
sugar to taste
salt

handful of black olives, seeded and chopped

Tomato puree:
50g tomatoes chopped finely
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
3 tbsp of tomato sauce
Mixed herbs

Preparation:
Split the eggplant lengthwise and sprinkle with salt to draw out bitterness. Set aside for 30 minutes, drain and cut into 2cm cubes
Prepare the rest of the ingredients as per above
For the tomato puree:
Sauté the tomatoes till soft, adding in salt and sugar to taste.
Smash the tomatoes while cooking it.
Then add in tomato sauce and sprinkle liberally with mixed herbs
Cooked till semi-dry and remove from pan then set aside
For ratatouille:
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed or cast iron pan. Add the eggplant and cook until lightly browned. Remove and set aside.
In the same pan, cook the onion (add more oil if necessary) until translucent. Add the red and green capsicums and cook until tender; add garlic, eggplant, zucchini, tomato and tomato puree. Cook for 1 minute.
Sprinkle in the dried rosemary liberally as well. Then add in the olives.
Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
Season to taste with sugar and salt, but I find it unnecessary since my home-made tomato puree is already very well seasoned.

Serve immediately to a table of 10 hungry girls

When life gives you Monday

you take it as a reason to pigged out. Now listen to me, if your wonderful weekend has just whiz passed you, if you had just started to go into the fun drive but got the handbrake pulled instead and if the week ahead looks like a long road down to Alabama (from where I don’t know, it just sounds good), you go out there and get yourself satiated, no make it bloated. I am serious. Forget the doctor, forget the therapist, forget the depression pills, all you need is a good chow down on what your body craves or whatever possibilities of food that you saw that appeals to you in a zealous successful advertising way.

Anyway, last Monday, my good fren L, if you remember my dearest guest blogger, who once made quite a few reviews of food in Penang, is now working in KL, which gave us more chances to food hunt, thus she called on me to rescue her blue day. Monday had somehow always been a killer, thus coined with Monday Blues. I don’t know how that term (again) comes about but I just know once a while it does take over the day and everything seems bit gloomy and nothing seems to go right. So L, she called me at the end of the day, telling me that once again, she have some certain cravings, this time for chocolate cake to comfort her mood. Oh well, would this tham jiak resist her best friend invitation? Of course not, this tham jiak can have a chance to dig into food while being a good friend, it is like killing two birds with one stone.

Anyway, once L arrives in KLCC (the current new place that I work in, more on that in another post), we went out in search of chocolate cake, as L does not want to go to the usual norm of Secret Recipe. So I came up with the idea to go Chilis, which does have a chocolate molten cake on the menu, serving a tham jiak’s memory of it, but I have yet to try it before. The idea came as I wanted to eat their bottomless tostadas chips (evil, evil moriesh stuff, will write up on this) as well as the one salad that I always crave for. When we got there, the man in front who decides who get fed and who are condemned to eternity of hunger, told us the place is full (we totally forgot that it is Buka Puasa time), and ask us to return only after 8! This is definitely outrageous for two girls on high with food cravings. We could have took out our high heels and start whacking him but, as a victim of conformity to the social world we would hold ourselves back, thus our eyes and nose start searching for alternatives.

So naturally, when we saw the Vienna Bagels stall, right opposite of Chillis, we got attracted straightaway. L asked me what bagel is and out of my food blogs surfing and recipes reading (yes I am that food crazy), I told her roughly how it is done. A bagel is first boiled and then baked, much healthier than its look-alike doughnut, fluffy due to the boiling of the dough and crunchy outer crust due to finishing with baking. Perfecto!

Since we both have yet to try this specialty, we quickly go over to the cute little stall and bought the set of 3, for only RM7.50. Then, like two school-girls with bunch of sweets, we chuckle in delight and took our box of bagels down to KLCC Park to feast on it, all to ourselves.

We sat down at the steps opposite a lovely view of fountain; sorry we are too busy digging into the bagels to take picture of the fountain, so back to the limelight - bagels. We bought three flavours, and thanks to the picture of the menu by Teckiee, I am able to name all the bagels correctly. From far left is Mexitaliano Bagel (boo’s favourite), the most common tried and true Sour Cream and Onion and finally for our sweet cravings, Dark Flakes, the best seller dark chocolate sprinkled with almond flakes bagel, my favourite, bias as I am a chocolate and almond lover.

Since dear L have not been writing on my food blog for quite some time, I decided to get her to give a short review on each of the yummy bagels:

Mexitaliano
L: surprises me with the little tinge of spiciness. It will be a great savory if you want to escape having something sweet

Sour Cream
L: is always the classic. It is absolutely delicious and it will not fail you

Chocolate Flakes
L: For the chocolate enthusiastic, the almond flaked bagel with dark chocolate is also very satisfying. I was literally licking my fingers clean!

I don’t know if this is the best bagel ever as both of us never had any before this. As babe reviewed, it is too dense and chewy to be like bagel (not fluffy as should be for boiled) and it is more like pretzels, which we found quite true. L also commented on the similiarity to Auntie Anne’s bagel when she first bit into it, and so I did a quick research on the difference and found that pretzel are first dipped in warm lye water for 15 – 30 seconds and then bake in oppose to bagels boil in medium hot water for bout 1 minute before baking. Oh well, not to bore you with all these techniques (unless I planned to make them, which someday I sure hope I will, but not in this post anyway), all in all it was good eats for L and me. It certainly did solve our kicking hormones and drove away the Monday blues.

Vienna Soft Fresh Bagels
Lot K35, Third Floor
Suria KLCC
Kuala Lumpur
03-9200 4933

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?