Langkawi, Part III - Pahn Thai Restaurant @ Berjaya Langkawi Island Resort

It was dinner time! 

There are 5 restaurants in the resort - Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Beach Restaurant and Dayang Cafe. The most famous and most popular among all is of course the Pahn Thai Restaurant on the sea. 

Dining at the Pahn Thai was not all about the taste, as the food was only average in my opinion. What sets it apart is its romantic ambiance. Having dinner at an open air restaurant above the water, with the sound of wave as background music, breeze of the sea kissing your face, while admiring the beautiful sunset was relaxing and romantic. The live band that plays love songs from table to table adds some extra points to the overall wonderful experience.

Enjoying some quiet moments before dinner

Daddy, please don't throw me into the sea!

Daddy and son

Seafood Tomyam

Green Curry

Stir Fry Prawn

Coconut Milk Tapioca Pearl Dessert

Mango Sticky Rice Dessert

3 Candles

Birthday Cake from Hubby

One day, Fen asked me what is the meaning of life.

She said everyday she is like waiting for something, waiting for the unknown tomorrow, for the future...

This reminds me of myself many years back.

When I had 10 candles on my birthday cake...

I totally had no idea of who I am when I was 10. What other people did, I follow.

Since Anita Mui was everyone's idol, so I comb my hair like her and pretended that I was her; 

When some of my primary school mates started to wear glasses, they told me how cool it was; thinking that it was true, I purposely strained my eyes hoping that one day I will be able to wear glasses like them too; 

When my best friend Ai Sa said we should not befriend or should only "pretend" to befriend some other classmates, because I was one of her "gang member" and I wanted to continue to be in her gang, so we started the culture of "pretend" to befriend those who are not in the gang.

Those were the days when what others said were always right (of course except what my parents said).

Then I had 2 big candles on my cake.

Being the eldest among 4 daughters from a not-so-affluent family, I was a fighter. 

I was constantly fighting - to be better, to achieve something, to find myself, and perhaps to be someone I thought others would want me to be.

I knew what I want, but I was lost and uncertain of who I truely am.

I knew what I was capable of achieving, but I did not know why I want or why I do not want to do it.

I made so many bad decisions in my twenties, that some have permanently changed my life.

After STPM, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. But I was fear of blood, so I scrapped the plan last minute. The truth is, the blood phobia issue was just an excuse, I was just too lost and uncertain to decide for what I want, so I didn't proceed with the plan, and chose something easier instead.

After graduated with fairly good CGPA from local university, I thought I can be a scientist. But life in lab was kinda boring, so I abandoned my PhD plan half way. But actually the main reason was not the job being boring, but me being unsettled & rebellious, and wanting to be adventurous, so I opted for something different.

To the surprise of many, I ended up becoming a sales person, a job which I was totally not proud of in the beginning.

I told myself it's just temporary. It should just be a training ground for me to learn about business, and in the future, I am going to be a successful businesswoman, which actually I was never sure of.

Although I worked very hard in my sales career, I was unhappy and waiting...

So Fen, like you, I was looking forward to something in the future...

Maybe something better, or something great will happen tomorrow, maybe...

This year, I had 3 big candles on my cake. 

I still do not know what is the meaning of life. But I think I have found myself.

Actually the job as a sales person does help in my quest of finding myself. 

I know who I am, I know what makes me happy and what not; I appreciate what I have, and accept what I don't; I have learned to ignore what other people think of me, and concentrate of what I think of myself instead.

Unlike 6 years ago, I have now accepted and started to enjoy my job as a sales person. And I am on my way to becoming a full-blown businesswoman, just like what I told myself many years back.

And if not because of the mistakes that I made which lead me to the path of becoming a sales person, I will not get to know your brother-in-law, my lovely hubby.

Overall, I am a happier person at the age of 30, because I finally come to terms with myself and accept me for who I am.

Other people's things may seem great, but it's still other people's things, not ours; our house may not be big or may be leaking, but at least it's our home, it provides us with shelter and protected us from the sun and rain.

Tomorrow may seem great as there are a lot of maybes and possibilities, but tomorrow is an unknown, only today is within our grasps.

So Fen, perhaps life is a journey for us to find ourselves. As long as you are happy today, why wait for tomorrow?

Be happy always, as we only live once. :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Almond Cake Slice

Birthday Cake from RT Pastry House

Look at my huge hands and round face! I have to wear hubby's T-Shirt to be comfortable nowadays

Christmas Eve Dinner, By Chef Khai Yee & Khai Fen

My sisters - Khai Yee and Khai Fen started preparing for our Christmas Eve Dinner since afternoon.

Preparation took hours of pure efforts.

By the time of dinner around 9pm, we were all starving. And from hungry to filled and full, it only took us a short 10 minutes of gorging. 

Thanks to my sisters that I got to sit, relax, and enjoy this lovely meal of Christmas Eve.

Baked Salmon & Cod Fish with Lemon

Stuffed Squid

Never mind the odd look, this baked mushroom tastes nice

Baked Prawn

Butter Mushroom

Garden Salad

Fen's Plate

Yee's Plate

My plate? In my stomach...yummy!

Celebrating Winter Solstice 冬至快乐！

In Malaysia, it is summer all year round; perhaps our 2 most distinct seasons are the dry and rainy season.

Notwithstanding the fact that we do not have the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, we celebrate winter solstice (冬至) every year by way of preparing and enjoying Tang Yuan (汤圆）.

Tang Yuan (汤圆)

I always like 冬至 since I was young.

Every year on the eve of 冬至, my mom never fail to prepare glutinous rice doughs dyed in different colours: red and white are the most common colours, sometimes with green (colour from pandan juice) and purple (colour from the extract of dried morning glory) doughs as well. After dinner, the parents and kids would gather and start our hours-long journey of rolling the doughs into small balls.

For the kids, it was more like playing with the dough, than the serious task of preparing an offering to the god.

My sisters and I would compete with each other to see who can roll the most number of rice balls on the palms without the balls sticking to each other.

Sometimes accidents happened, and the balls dropped to the floor. With these rejected balls, we would make them into the shape of snake, mouse, chicken etc and have fun with it. My favourite shape is the coiled snake, which sometimes was mistaken as "poo poo" due to its very artistic and crude finish.

Snake? Poo Poo?

In the morning of 冬至, mom always woke up early. She would prepare the salty version of the Tang Yuan (with pork and dried prawn soup) as our breakfast, and the common sweet version Tang Yuan as offering to god.

Sweet version - Tang Yuan in sugar syrup

Salty version - Tang Yuan in pork & dried prawn soup

Mom said each Tang Yuan represents 1 year of age, only after eating a Tang Yuan that we will be 1 year older. So when I was 12, I need to eat at least 12 rice balls for me to be a "true" 12 year-old; now that I am xx years old, I will have to eat A LOT of Tang Yuan to represent my current age. :)

Those were the time in kampung...

Now that my sisters and I are all grown up and are living in the city, only mom and dad are in kampung this year. Mom called last night, said this year she only made tang yuan with one colour - red, as offering to the god, and it took her more than an hour to finish rolling alone. I guess mom and dad must be feeling lonely during this festive season...I wonder when I can save enough money to buy them a house here and invite them to stay nearer with us...

This morning my sisters followed our old tradition of making the salty Tang Yuan as breakfast, and the sweet version for dessert. Hubby said he only want 1 rice ball, but I forced him to have 18 in the end. For myself, I had A LOT, more than my current age for sure! Thanks to my sisters that this year we can enjoy the yummy tang yuan with old time flavour.

I just love Tang Yuan! Don't you?

FREE KFC Double Zinger Burger, Valid Until 15 Jan 2012

UPDATES: 

Due to overwhelming response, KFC has ran out of stocks, and ended the promotion prematurely on 14 Dec 2012.

Promotion ended 14/12/2011.

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KFC E-Voucher: Free Double Zinger Burger Combo

• Promotion until 15 Jan 2012 (not valid during public holidays). 
• Print the E-Voucher for redemption.

KFC for dinner anyone?

I Love Weekend - Yuen Buffet Steamboat, Sunway Mentari

Mr. Amerjit Singh, one of my lecturers suffered from heart attack about 2 months ago, and is recovering from an open heart surgery. I was surprise to know that Mr. Kevin Joshua, another of my lecturer, only in his mid thirties, had heart attack as well last week. I wonder whether it is some kind of work hazard due to the highly stressful and hectic work nature as a lawyer...?

While I am truly concern about their health and recovery, and I truly, really, very much like them as my lecturers...I am kinda "sorrily" happy that this weekend's lectures are cancelled due to shortage of lecturer.

Untung... :p

It's like an early Christmas holidays that falls from the sky! 

Yeah! It will be a long break - 3 days off from Saturday until Monday, time much needed for me to finish up the preparation to welcome BB Cedric and to settle those pending works on hands before the start of my confinement leave.

For the day, it was busy busy busy....tiring tiring tiring....but happy...

For dinner, hubby treated me to Yuen Buffet Steamboat @ Sunway Mentari. It's "Eat All You Can" type of steamboat, where each adult pays only RM24 (exclude drinks) which entitle you to eat as much as you can, and as long as you want. But be prepared to queue for 15 to 30 minutes for a table, especially during peak dinner hours over the weekend.

RM24 for each adult (excluding drinks & tax)

Yuen steamboat was a place I like to go when hubby and I were "pak-tor-ing" (dating). Tonight was the first time we revisited this place since married, and it's sweet that we were coincidently given the same table we used to sit years ago, which reminds me of our old pak tor time...

Overall the taste of food was OK, price was reasonable, variety was good, ingredients were fresh, and cleanliness was acceptable. I especially like the easy and noisy atmosphere, where everyone is relax and casual. This is a place where you can enjoy your food and be yourself. So please feel free to eat using your hands, eat standing up, and eat like a horse, as it is already a common scene there.

 

A good variety of steamboat ingrediants

The seafood

More variety

Soup - chicken and tomyam flavours

One of the must-have food in the restaurant is the Honey BBQ Chicken Wing. I would say it's the signature dish of the restaurant, which everyone fights for when it's served hot and fresh from the kitchen. Usually it will be snapped up clean from the buffet table within minutes after being served, so make sure you keep an alert eye when the waiter brings out the dish from the kitchen, or you will have to wait for another 10-15 minutes for the next round of serving.

Super delicious BBQ chicken wings, coated by a thick sticky layer of caramelized sweet source.

Ice cream to finish off the wonderful day

In conclusion, it was a wonderful dinner, and a wonderful Saturday...

For the Love of Cooking - Onde-Onde (Ondeh-Ondeh)

I made onde-onde (or something I call "pop pop") from my left over home made pandan extract.

Onde-Onde is a popular nyonya kuih (kuih means desserts in Malay language) which is believed to be originated from Malacca. One can taste 3 different textures and flavours in one bite. The outer layer of the kuih is coated with crunchy and slightly salty grated coconut, the middle layer which is made from pandan flavoured glutinous rice dough is quite chewy but neutral in taste, while the inner filling is what gives the ultimate sweet surprise.

I personally like to call it "pop pop" because when you bite on it, this cute little ball will "pop" in your mouth, and its deliciously rich, melted palm sugar filling just oozes out...leaving you a mouthful of sweet satisfaction. Absolutely yummy...!

Onde-Onde

Ingredients:

For Dough:
Glutinous Rice Flour	200 g
Water	150 ml
Home Made Pandan Extract	1 tbsp (or judge from the colour of the dough)
For Filling:
Palm Sugar (Gula Melaka), finely chopped	100 g
For Coating:
Freshly Grated Coconut	50 g (or enough to coat the ball)
Salt	1 pinch

Method:

1. Mix freshly grated coconut with a pinch of salt, steam for 5 minutes, and set aside to cool.

2. Finely chop palm sugar so that the filling will melt more evenly when cook.

3. In a bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, water and pandan extract, and knead lightly into a workable dough. (Feel free to add more water if the dough is too dry, or add more rice flour if it's too moist)

4. Divide the dough into 20-25 smaller pieces (about 15g each).

5. Flatten each small piece of dough into discs of about 2-3 inches in diameter.

6. Fill the center of the flattened dough with palm sugar and make sure the filling is well covered so that it will not leak when cooked. 

7. Slightly roll the stuffed dough in palm of hands to form small balls.

6. Bring a pot of water to boil and cook the glutinous rice balls in the boiling water. 

7. The rice balls will float to the top when cooked. Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes to make sure the palm sugar filling has melted.

8. Remove the balls from boiling water, and coat with a generous layer of steamed coconut.

Notes:

1. Brown sugar can be used as substitution if palm sugar is not available, as they share similarly rich caramel flavor. I personally prefer palm sugar for its smoother and more rounded taste, while brown sugar gives you a stronger and sharper caramel flavor.

Palm sugar is made from sap collected from the buds of coconut/palm tree flowers

Brown sugar is made by adding molasses to refined cane sugar

For the Love of Cooking - Pandan Kaya

Received some Pandan leaves from my in laws yesterday, so I processed the juice into home made pandan extract to be used in a few coming recipes. 

* Home made pandan extract can be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks, and it is rather easy to make, perhaps I can share the methods in coming posts. 

One of the first desserts that I made from this sweet-smelling home made pandan extract was Pandan Kaya. 

Kaya is a rich, smooth and creamy jam/spread made from coconut milk, eggs and sugar, which originated from South East Asia. There are two most popular versions of kaya: pandan kaya is made by adding pandan extract, which gives the kaya its vivid green colour and distinctive aromatic flavour; if caramel is used instead of pandan, then you will get a brow colour caramel kaya.

Pandan Kaya

Ingredients

Eggs	4 (Large) / 5 (Medium)
Sugar	280g
Home Made Pandan Extract	10g (or judge from the colour)
Coconut Milk	400ml
Salt	1 pinch
Butter (optional)	1 tbsp

Method

1. Beat the eggs and sugar together, then mix in the coconut milk.

2. Add pandan extract until the mixture reaches the desired green colour.
3. Prepare a double boiler. Fill the base unit with water and bring to boil.

4. Add kaya mixture to the top unit of the double boiler.

5. Stir every 5-10 minutes for about 1 to 1 1/2 hour, or until the mixture turns into a smooth, thick paste. 

Metal bowl over a pan

Notes: 

i.  Butter is optional. I add it for extra richness and for smoother texture.

ii. Home made pandan extract may vary in concentration and colour, so please feel free to adjust the amount of extract used, by judging the colour of the kaya mixture. If you like a depper colour kaya, use more pandan extract, and vice versa.

iii. The colour of the end product will usually be 1-2 tone greener compared to the initial liquid mixture.

iv. If you don’t have a double boiler, any metal or glass bowl that fits snugly over the top of a saucepan can be used. 

iv. Home made kaya can be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 months.

After 2 hours of hard work, finallly it's time to enjoy the yummy kaya with a piece of bread and a cup of coffee...

For the Love of Cooking - Marble Cake

It was a beautiful Saturday.

Hubby and I woke up in the morning, spent some time fooling around in the bed, then headed to Klang Wai Sek Kai for a Char Kuey Teow brunch. 

With a full stomach, we went to Jusco for some weekend shopping. Hubby bought 2 pairs of pants for me, some BB stuff for BB, and nothing for himself.

Then it’s nap time. Feeling fresh from my quick nap, since hubby still Zzzz, I decided to bake a cake – marble cake. 

Marble Cake

Ingredients:

Butter	115g
Sugar	200g
Salt (after reduced)	3g (1/2 tsp)
Flour	250g
Baking Powder	9g (2tsp)
Egg (A Size)	3
Milk Powder	75g
Water	160ml
Vanilla Essence/Extract	5ml (1tsp)
Cocoa Powder	35g

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Dissolve cocoa powder in a little bit of hot water until well-dissolved into a mud like paste. This is an optional step, I usually do this to eliminate any lumps from the cocoa powder, and to make sure it dissolves well.
3. Dissolve milk powder in 160ml of warm water. Set aside to be used later.
4. Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until pale yellow in colour and fluffy.
5. Add eggs to butter-sugar mixture, one by one, until roughly incorporated.
6. Sift flour and baking powder. Also, this is an optional step, to remove any lumps, loosen up the flour and to mix the baking powder with the flour.
7. Gently stir in 1/3 of the flour to the butter batter, alternate with 1/3 of the milk; continue for 3 rounds until you incorporate all the flour and milk into the batter.
8. Divide the smooth batter into 2 equal portions: 1/2 as vanilla batter, 1/2 as chocolate batter.
9. Add vanilla extract to the vanilla batter, and the dissolved cocoa powder to the chocolate batter.
10. Intersperse globs of vanilla batter with chocolate batter into the baking pan.
11. For the marble effect, use a spatula or chopstick, twirl the batter together in a few figure-eight motions. Do not over stir, or you will get a well-mixed light chocolate batter.
12. Bake in oven at 180°C, for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Voila! In less than an hour time, we got to enjoy a moist marble cake with a strong chocolate flavour!

T had a bite. Oops...It's a bit too salty

I give myself 70% for the cake. The taste of the cake was fine, but I could have used a bit less salt. I think I should reduce the amount of salt from 9g to just 3g next time, as I was using salted Planta margarine instead of unsalted butter required in the original recipe.

I like free and easy Saturday like this one…Happy Saturday = happy family day!

For the Love of Cooking - Carrot Cake

This was my first attempt to bake a carrot cake. Thanks to Mimi's recipe, I would say it is quite an easy cake to make, and taste extremely yummy and moist.

Like usual, I've made some adjustment here and there to the original recipe, eg. adding 1 more egg, cutting the amount of sugar and adding some honey, used almond instead of walnut etc. I always feel that cooking is like an art, we need not to stick to the rule too strictly, just do what you like and enjoy process.

Hubby had 2 slices of the cake and likes it very much. He kept saying yummy yummy...and rewarded me with a "chip" on the cheek. How can I not fall in love with cooking... :)

The Outcome !

Slices of Carrot Cake