I am 21

I made a wish on my birthday - secret : )

Thank you mummy for the cake

Heather, Don and Star called to wish me happy birthday. Presents on the way! : )

I had my birthday dinner at Nishiki with my family.

Love, Keshia

Szechuan fried beans with mince

Don't get to blog about vegetable dishes often as they don't photograph very well when cooked. We like this dish very much and this is one dish we always end up ordering if it is offered in the menu. It is also very easy to do at home.

Szechuan fried beans with mince

300 - 400 g french beans

50 - 100 gm minced meat (pork or chicken)

1 tablespoon dried prawns, soaked and chopped coarsely

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 inch ginger, chopped

soy sauce

sugar

sesame oil

szechuan peppercorns, toasted and ground

Oil for deep frying

1. Marinate the mince with light soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil.

2. Nip ends of beans (leave them whole), wash and dry. Heat oil and deep fry beans quickly until just soft. Drain.

3. Leave about 1 T oil in the wok, fry dried prawns until fragrant (I add a pinch of sugar here to caramelise the dried prawn) then dish out.

4. Add some oil to the wok and fry the ginger and garlic.

5. When aromatic, add the mince and fry stirring to break mince to small bits.

6. When meat is cooked, add in the beans and dry prawns and season with some more soy, sugar and peppercorns (optional) to taste.

7. Dish out and serve hot.

Note: As the beans are the main, don't overpowered the dish with the mince but just enough to flavour the veggie.

Jo

Kai Lan Stew

This might not look like much but it is sooo good...

We have my sister Betty to thank for this. She is one fantastic cook who has a palate so fine-tuned that with one taste she can tell exactly what goes into a dish.
When relating the recipe to me she was practically drooling and I was wondering if she has lost it...her taste buds gone haywire or what.. how good can this dish be?
It sounds just like the 'hum choy' soup we get in the 'Kwong Tung Chai' roast duck shop. It is quite similar but the stewed pork ribs give it a different and richer dimension and it is soooo easy to cook.

A dish I have included in my lazy and good one-pot meal list. As the kai lan is certainly the star of this dish, we will call it...Kai lan stew.

It is so good for days that you just don't have the energy to cook and no mood to eat out but still have a whole brood of hungry mouths to feed.

I now keep all the leftover roast duck in the freezer ready to be popped into the pot any time. Also a can or two of the stewed pork ribs in the pantry just for days like this.

Kai Lan Stew

500 gm kai lan (kale) - I put in 1 kg to feed four
1 can stewed pork ribs (400-500gm)

1 bowl of roasted duck (left-overs like the neck, wings and bony parts)

2-3 big chillies, whole

1 cup water

Wash the kai lan, pluck the leaves from the stem and break into halves if too big. Peel the hard stem and cut into 2" length.

Put water in a pot to boil. Add duck and chillies, simmer until the aroma of the roasted duck surface.

Add kai lan and pork ribs, bring to boil and lower heat to simmer. Let cook until veggie becomes very soft. Serve with rice.

Jo

Note: Hi, did anyone here in KK had any problem accessing the blogger dashboard for the past two days like I did? Just managed to log in late afternoon yesterday.

Umai Fine Japanese Cuisine

When Terri has a 4/5 rating for a Japanese restaurant in town, we wasted no time.

Umai it was for the Mid Autumn festival celebration. This was one of those rare times we ate out on a Chinese festival and like Heather, only a Japanese dinner would suffice to drive away the depression. Just any lame excuse to eat Japanese.

It is situated along the Lintas highway, first turning to the left after the Lido traffic junction on the first floor in the same building (D' Junction) as Royal China .

Greeted at the door by this ninja and waitresses in kimono. That got us even more into the nippon spirit.

Sashimi set

Spider maki

Another highly recommended maki, their house specialty (don't remember the name). So yummy.

Teppanyaki Beef set

Unagi Don

We also had tempura, soba and a fried prawns dish which I never got near enough to eat nor shoot.

That was Tuesday evening. We came away very impressed with the maki and don set (the presentation, taste and price) but couldn't say the same for the other dishes.

Came Friday, picked up Keshia and Bryan from school early and Bryan suggested Umai for lunch - another excuse to eat Japanese! This round we went for the maki and don sets only.

Dragon Maki
I wasn't too keen on this because the deep fried prawn in the maki was a tad too hard and salty.

Unagi Maki

This was really good with plenty of fish roe, wrapped in thin unagi slices and topped with a sweet sauce and dried bonito flakes. Truly a mouthful of sensation.

Tori Teri Don

Gyu Don

Salmon Teri Don

All the sets and don sets come with chawan mushi (excellent texture and taste),

Pickles plus miso soup and rice.

The don sets are good value for money (priced between Rm10 to Rm18) but for me, the true star of Umai is the maki. I'll go there next just for the maki.

Jo

Our new jacket

Thanks to Babe in the city and finalsense, we finally took the plunge and changed our blog's outlook. So comfortable with the old coat that it was actually heartbreaking to cut the tie. Had been working with it everyday for the past 4 months!

The new look is a little bare now. Please bear with us. There are still so much tweaking and fine-tuning to be done. That will certainly take a long while because there are so much to learn and we are on a trial and error roller coaster. If there is anyone out there who can help please do drop us a line...

I love Charlie

I am in love.

His name is Charlie.

He's a Gemini.

He's Chinese royalty.

And because of him, I finally believe in love at first sight.

I never thought I could love another after Sam. But Charlie's changed all that now.

We're as different as chalk and cheese, but when we met, it was like kismet.

I can spend all day just talking to him, hugging him, reveling in his company and just enjoying the fact that he makes me laugh. All the time.





Charlie's my Godson. I think I'm gonna get Charlie a Godbrother. Soon. Very soon.

Love,
Heather

Kedai Kopi Dat Seng @ Inanam

Mee Suah, 麺线 Rm 6.50

In a stall in this coffee shop, I found the best Foo Chow mee suah in chicken wine soup.
Everything was right about this bowl of goodness, from the meaty mushroom to the perfectly cooked mee suah.
The aroma of the wine in the soup was intoxicating, yet so light and flavourful.
AND, the best part, I did not get the MSG syndrome like all mee suah eaten outside of home which never fail to give me a dose of heart palpitation and then, the need to drink gallons of water.

Another of my favourite, Foo Chow kon loh mee. This mee was laced with the most fragrant fried shallots and its oil. Very lightly seasoned but perfectly done. The chicken was smooth but too bad not corn-fed. Rm 4

They also serve a herbal chicken soup mee suah which I am dying to try. Next round!

Also in this shop, K found a very good creamy tomyam.
It had all the essential herbs and aroma.
The right balance of sourness, spiciness, heat, flavour and texture which he described as 'smooth'.
The prawns although small in size were very fresh and cooked just right.
For Rm 5.50 only they were very generous with the prawns and fish slices.

They also serve fish head noodle soup with 'ham choy' pickles ... Rm 5

or bitter gourd. Rm 5

This is the dish that brought us to the shop, stewed fish belly and stomach.

Betty told us about this great dish of fish somewhere in Inanam near the new bus terminal but could not remember the name of the shop.

We were at the vicinity one morning and decided to check out the place but found so many coffee shops in that area.

Following my dad's rule of thumb, we sourced out the crowded shops.

Finding it was no problem but getting a seat was, it was full and with a few customers standing waiting for the next available seat. Settled for a roast shop next door that was lacklustre.

Undaunted, we try again few days later and finally, got our long awaited meals in this shop. So many good treats in one shop, no wonder it is always packed.

The coffee shop and the stall open 7 days a week but only for breakfast and lunch until about 3pm.

Jo

A Japanese Mid Autumn Festival

The worst part about being away from home is 'celebrating' the festivities without the family.
So, to minimize the depression this Mooncake Festival, I was determined to have a good dinner.
Here's where Kura Japanese Restaurant at the One World Hotel (next to One Utama) comes in.
The food was AMAZING and my sadness was lifted.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Deep fried chicken cartilage. Very very yummy. (RM15)

Crab stick salad in a miso base, with lots of salmon roe. To die for. (RM30)

Salmon Sashimi

The set we ordered normally comes with both tuna and salmon sashimi. but since i don't like tuna, they were very happy to change it to salmon which was amazingly fresh and tasty.

Mixed Tempura

So delicately crispy. It almost melts in the mouth.
Sashimi and tempura came as part of a set dinner. (RM48)

A very happy me.

And some mooncake, at home. I've finally gained some sort of willpower and stopped eating 3 whole mooncakes at one go.

Zhung Chiew Jie Kuai Le, everyone.

Love,

Heather