SoFtBuNnY

Bunny's Next Step In Life

2011-09-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

Another reason why my blog has been neglected is also because Hunny Bunny has tied the knot, planning for the wedding ceremonies, bought a new condo together and changed to new jobs.

Here's a preview of my prewedding photos...

I had a fun time photographing with my close friends at Cameron Highlands :)

Then this one was taken at Frasers Hill...Love the feel there! Wished my Hunny was more cooperative though...

Wedding Dress by Vows nWhite .
Makeup at Cameron Highlands by Grace Wang
Makeup at Frasers Hill by Leric Yap

Bunny Enjoys Sri Paandi @ Section 12

2011-09-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

My Hunny brought me to eat delicious Indian food at Sri Paandi this year and their stuff are really delicious!

Their Banana Leaf rice is really yummy. Instead of plates, a banana leaf is used. Freshly cooked rice is scooped on the leaf, followed by the a mixture of vegetables. Banana Leaf Rice is primarily a vegetarian meal and meat is optional. I am not sure what is the name of the dry chicken curry but it is really tasty! It is spicy, salty and the usage of spices fills your tastebuds satiated even though 30 mins after I eat...I can still taste the spices.

Another visit to Sri Paandi, I ate their Poori Set....Poori is an unleavened Indian bread made from wheat flour like Atta and a lil salt and then deep fried in Ghee and it puffs up to a small ball. It is really really delicious is often served with potato curry side dishes. This too is served on a banana leaf.

Home Cook Series - Noodles (Part 1)

2011-09-24T00:48:00.000-07:00

Besides Rice and side dishes, I do indulge in noodles or pasta once in a while...

Bi Hun, Salted Vege Soup with Tomato, Lean pork meat and Greens

Dry Style Pan Mee with Cabbage and Boneless Roast Duck

Taiwanese Dumplings, Pan Mee, Fried Kampung Egg and Blanched Long Cabbage

The same for the next day but with lettuce...hehehe

My Fav...Fish paste balls, Udon, Cabbage in Ikan Bilis Broth

Home Cooked Wantan Mee, Choy Sum and Prepacked Shrimp Dumplings

Pure indulgence - Cheesey Pasta with Brocolli

Pure comfort food - Blanched Cabbage, Chicken, Mushroom cooked with sesame oil and Pasta

Home Cook Series - Rice

2011-09-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

I always cook my own lunch from home as I grow sick of eating the same food around my office and also at my current work place, there isn't much choice of food to eat...

Normally, I'd have rice and at least 2 side dishes...

Blanched Pork Belly with Xiao Bai Cai and Basmati Rice

Plain Porridge with steamed pumpkin and Xiao Bai Cai

Salted Cabbage soup, Minced Pork and Sinful Calrose Rice

Blanched Spinach seasoned with Sesame Oil and Soy Sauce

Sai Tou Fish Paste Omelette Roll, Blanched Spinach and rice

Steamed Half Salmon Fish Head with Ginger and Rice

Mum's stewed Chicken, Blanched Cos Lettuce and Rice

Many Grain Brown Rice with young Okra, Pea Sprouts and Steamed Spare Ribs

One of my favourites - Steamed pumpkin, Xiao Bai Cai, Stewed pork belly and Rice

Unpolished Brown Rice, Steamed Pumpkin, Greens and Tumeric Chicken

Unpolished Brown Rice, Steamed Pomfret

Quick and Easy Meal - Rice, Canned Sardine and Mixed Veges

Mixed Grain Rice, Fried Kampung Egg, Cai Xin, Fish Paste Dumplings

Curry Chicken, Kai Lan and 10 Grain Rice

Mushroom, Chicken, Ginger, Xiao Bai Cai and Rice

Delicious Salted Fish, lean pork meat with carrots, blanched Kai Lan and Rice

Noms Noms Home Cooked Food....

Jan 2011 Ipoh Trip

2011-09-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

I organised an Ipoh Trip by tour van load to Ipoh back in January 2011 and had a blast there. We visited the beansprount farm, Ipoh Old Town, ghost town Papan, Tin Mine Dredge and had yummylicious food at Tg Tualang.

What do you normally do in Ipoh? Eat? Visit old temples? After a few visits of the same things, I got bored and was very lucky to have Winky (an Ipoh hometown outgoing guy) to bring us around. We started by going to his brother's Restoran Kaki Bukit at Menglembu for breakfast. As I forgot to charge my camera, I was conserving battery and didn't take much photos. I really love their homemade kaya...thick, fragrant with pandan, egg n coconut...very delicious with toast!

Next, we went to the beansprout farm in Buntong. It is a cottage industry which runs on a 24 hour schedule as the water soaking the beans/sprouts had to be changed every 3 hours! The mung beans are from Thailand and they are soaked in underground mineral water (I tasted the water and it was clear and had a lightly sweetened taste). During the first stage of soaking till it starts to sprout is very critical and must be handled carefully....no dirty hands must touch it or the beans will not sprout. Once they sprout, the best is found on the top layer and usually each plastic blue tong has 5 to 7 layers (qualities) of beansprouts. Once the sprouts are ready to be harvested, it is sprayed with high volumes of water and then washed to loosen the skin from the beansprouts heads.

Loads of sprouts here...

The biggest and fattest beansprout layer is the 1st layer which is sold to Ipoh's famous chicken rice shops. The 2nd layer is sold to Kuay Teow T'ng and Char Kuay Teow sellers, the 3rd, 4th, 5th layers are to the wet markets and normal customers, the final and last layers will be used as feed to livestocks.

The photo shows what a 2nd layer fatty beansprouts look like...this is to be sold to the kuay teow soup and fried kuay teow hawkers...so nice, so fat, so crunchy, so sweet!!!!

Next, we went to Kong Heng at Ipoh Old Town for lunch and I had my all time favourite Pork Satay and extra special kuay teow soup...

RM0.60/stick...delicious lean pork meat, pork coagulated blood and intestine...super duper yummy fragrant peanut sauce....

Extra ingredients for the Kuay Teow Soup at RM7/bowl....smooth slippery kuay teow noodles, rich tasty prawn and chicken broth with some chives, smooth chicken flesh...really worth the steep price *slurrrps*

After lunch, we adjourned to the Tanjung Tualang Tin Dredge a.k.a. Kapal Korek. I first saw the Tin Dredge was when I read Lat's Kampung Boy comics. To see it in actual life took my breath away. As the Perak Government is poor in promoting their tourist spots, not many people know that the tin dredge is actually available for visitors...We paid RM5/person to enter this historical ship

Although it was sinking but I was in total awe when I entered the ship. Only half of us climbed up this half rusting ship. The others chose to stay on the ground. We had to be super careful climbing up the stairs and walking on the platforms as most were rusty and may not support our weight.

Here are some giant scooping bins that was used to scoop the precious metals along with the soilbed to be processed, sifting out the tin ore....

After a hot and sweaty tour of the Tin Dredge, we continued our journey to the last destination - Tanjung Tualang to enjoy our prawns dinner. We ordered 2 types of freshwater prawns, 1 Guinness Stout spare ribs, 1 Yam Ring, 1 Green Vege and 1 Thai Tofu. All these came to RM25 per person Truly satisfying...

Just done nicely. Sticky, not too oily and Meaty

Tangy, Sweet, Crunchy Thai Style Tofu Salad...a refreshing dish

Delicious Yam Ring with a chockful of fresh vegetables

Dry Fried Prawns...fragrant, tasty and delicious

Loads of delicious Nai Yau Prawns....noms....delicious

Woaah....take a look at this roe rich prawn!!! Super delicious....!

What do you think?? It's well worth the RM25/pax for 9 person!

Kekekeke...it's been quite a while....

2011-09-22T15:43:00.001-07:00

Ever since I got"active" in my FB, I have neglected my blog loads...well...I will try to update more often again....

The search for tasty Pan Mee

2010-11-27T14:19:00.000-08:00

Every one of us have our own favourite spots for Pan Mee (pronounced Parn-Mee). Pan Mee are homemade flat noodles using a dough made with flour and water and a little oil. The dough is then kneaded till the gluten / starch is developed so that you get the chewy texture. There are several ways you can enjoy this local dish - Thin strand, thick strand or hand torn pieces in Soup, Dry or Dry with dried chilli paste.

Today, Bunny will take you through 2 places of pan mien, both of which are not really my favourite choice. I have yet to find a chewy soup version of Pan Mee since my TTDI shop closed down.

First one is a hidden gem located off Taman Sri Manja in a little surburb called Taman Seri Sentosa. This little stall under a few big trees is popular amongst the Chinese residences in the apartments nearby. The type of Pan Mee served here is Mushroom and Minced Meat.

The stall which is runned by a family of 3 - Mum cooks, Father prepares the rolling and assembly of noodles and Son who prepares the drinks.

The noodles is something different but It's just not too much to my liking as I found the mushroom minced meat sauce a little too bland and the noodles not chewy enough.

I love their chilli sauce and fried ikan bilis here. Their chilli sauce does pack a hefty oomphh of spiciness. A meal for 2 (1 Big and 1 Small) plus 2 iced herbal tea cost around RM12.00.

Next up, we tried Chilli Pan Mee Shop in Kota Damansara. Over here, I like the texture of the noodles but I don't like the soup base as they didn't use the traditional anchovies / ikan bilis to boil the soup and the overall deco of the shop didn't quite gel with me as it was too modern.

The Menu

My friend and I had the dry version which came with a poached egg to make the noodle taste smoother and richer. I enjoyed the texture of the chewy noodles mixed with the dry chilli paste.

My Hunny had the Curry Pan Mee which he wasn't too satisfied with. It looks good but taste only so-so.

We also ordered a side order of soup dumplings which also turn out to be a disappointment as the minced meat filling was too mushy.

The bill came up to RM35++ for the 3 of us. This is one place whereby I won;t be coming to anymore. Simply too pricey!

Bunny Eats Hokkaido Ice Cream @ Gardens, Mid Valley

2010-11-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, I had lunch with my close gal pal and after that as we were walking in Gardens Mid Valley, we stumbled across this Hokkaido ice cream parlour that was opened by the same chain who runs sushi zanmai. The parlour is located 2 floors above Marks & Spencers.

My friend and I were fascinated by the flavours available there and since we were sharing, we decided on a waffle with 6 scoops of ice cream. I prefer the waffle here over the waffle at A&W.

We had rock melon, mango, apple, vanilla, dark chocolate and black sesame. The dark chocolate, mango and vanilla tasted ordinary but the rest of the flavours were totally awesome! The rock melon was so fragrant, the black sesame was so flavoursome unlike other watered down versions that I have tasted before...and my most favourite was the apple sorbet!

There were bits of black sesame in the the black sesame ice cream and bits of yummy apple in the apple ice cream. It was a tastebud discovery for me.

They also have various other condiments that one can add to their ice cream as well as an ice cream teppanyaki bar whereby those condiments will be "chopped" teppanyaki style with the ice cream flavours of your choice.

The prices are amazingly affordable as this 6 scoops plus the waffle only cost RM28 inclusive tax. If you wish to sit there and enjoy the ice cream, please do dress warmly as there are many open air cond vents there.

Do go and try it out if you are craving for delicious affordable exotic not too sweet ice creams.

Yummylicious Nails @ HRH Nail Studio

2010-11-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

I have been frequenting this new nail parlour called HRH Nail Studio as they offer really great value for money manicure and pedicure services. Currently, they have 3 branches - Section 14, PJ; ss2, PJ and Section 17, PJ.

Their nail art are affordable (starting at RM20 and above for a whole set) and they are willing to draw whatever you want...let's say u saw someone's nails online...all you just have to do is send them a message with your nail art choice a few days before you go in for appointment and they will customise the nail art for you. You can also choose from the many nail art designs in the nail art magazines.

Here are some of the designs that I have done with them recently.

Ultra-Delicious looking, aren't they? The 10 fingers nail arts + manicure + pedicure and 2 more nail arts on my toes cost me around RM120 to RM130.

Bunny Goes to Penang in Aug 2010

2010-11-23T16:55:00.000-08:00

It's time to revive my dead blog...*CPRs* the blog....here I am propped up with a badly twisted ankle...can I only settle down to blog.

The Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival or "Phor Tor" happens around the 7th month of the Chinese Calendar and this is when the gates of Hell opens and the ghosts get a month long holiday to roam around. The peak day happens on the 14th day of the Ghost Festival month. If you go around the neighbourhoods, you will Chinese families praying by the roadside or just outside their house gates. By praying, they usually offer food and joss sticks to feed and appease the hungry ghosts passing by and in a way asking them to not disturb the occupants of their house.

I went on a crazy weekend with a few friends to Penang in August for the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival. It was a 2 day 1 night excursion and the reason being that Penang being a small island and more Chinese-fied is more focused on the dying Chinese arts of celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival. They have schedules of traditional Chinese operas and puppet shows. The shows in KL and PJ mostly show scantily clad babes performing to appease the more modern ghosts and horny human males.

We stopped at Ipoh's Foh San for brunch but I really have to admit that the dimsum standard has gone downhill. This was my favourite...the Chives Prawn Steamed Dumpling.

We reached Penang just in time for lunch and our guide cum driver took us to Penang Street to have the famous Cendol, Assam Laksa, Prawn Mee (Penang Mee) and Char Kuay Teow. I was pleasantly surprised at how they serve the Prawn Mee. Unlike the reddish broth I get in KL/PJ, this was came in a very tasty clear prawn broth. It was so delicious that we ordered another bowl.

1st Bowl....

2nd bowl

Then we tried the Char Kuay Teow....it was yummy also...

Lastly, we finished off with the Asam Laksa which was served in a clear broth as well...it was very delicious as it was just the right tangy sweet salty taste. What I didn't like was the fish was all minced at the top, I would have prefered some bite-able fish pieces as well.

I can't remember how much exactly they cost but they were expensive for the small servings.

After that, we checked in to Tune Hotel. My recommendation is not to stay there. Although they are clean but their walls are so thin and not soundproof at all. We could hear our next door neighbours talking, the people outside walking on the corridors...u get the idea? Being a no-frills hotel and after all our add-ons, I could just paid an extra RM50 more to enjoy more comfort and privacy at Berjaya Penang Hotel instead.

We rested for a while before meeting some Penang photographers for dinner. They took us to Macallister Lane for delicious Kuay Chap. What is Kuay Chap? They are actually internal spare parts of pig and in this case, duck as well cooked in a broth and served with flat rice noodles...."Kuay" is the flat rice noodle simmilar to Kuay Teow...and "Chap" means mixture of stewed organs or spare parts.

It was like tasting heaven...!!! So delicious and well prepared. You must go around 6.45pm to enjoy this dish and they are usually sold out by 8pm!

Please keep an eye out for this stall and his loads of innards....very delicious...

Such a huge bowl of stewed pork intestines...well cleaned too...

A huge bowl of pig ears and snout....yummy.....

My bowl of kuay chap with duck meat and coagulated duck blood....next time i will just call for chap....I was also suprised that the broth was liquid and not starchy like the ones I ate in Singapore. You cannot find Kuay Chap in KL or PJ...or maybe is because I don't know where to look....

My most favourite dish....a plate of sliced pig ears...non fatty and full of collagen

After such a wonderful dinner, we set off to look for some opera sights. It was my 1st time watching an opera close-up and I was so surprised that it was in Cantonese. Usually, the operas in Penang are in Mandarin or Hokkien. The title of the opera was Golden Phoenix, The Lady Bandit. In short, it tells of a righteous lady bandit who steals from the rich and helps the poor. She meets the incognito Emperor of China who has lost power temporary due to his evil relative. The script was very funny as the performers have inserted modern terms into the script as well.

Here are some scenes from the opera...

We didn't stay for the entire show as we were tired. It was an eye opener experience for most of us.

Next day, we had dimsum in Penang but it was only so-so and cannot be as tasty as Foh San in Ipoh. Here are some of the stuff that was offered from the dimsum trolley.

After Breakfast, we went to Khoo Kongsi. It was a meaningful visit. The Khoo clan house praying place was very meaningful. Each decoration on its wall depicts a moral value story. The paintings of deities on the walls are at least a century old. There were also secret compartments on the staircase for luck and fortune. Too bad I don't own a wide angle lens...it was truly a beautiful sight and I hope to visit there once again.

If you looked properly, there are also Gurkha statues within the walls and surroundings of the clan house. This is because back in those days, they already believe the power of Gurkhas in providing safety to their clan house. There are also carvings of many animals admist the clan house with each character giving a different meaning of luck, prosperity, strength and other good values.

Notice anything different of the picture? There are actually swallow heads embedded in the chinese character

This window has the literal meaning of "Wishing You" .... or in cantonese, "Chuk" - Bamboo; "Fook" - Bat

and next to this window was this carving...which carries the meaning of "Peng Onn" or Peace/Safe Life. "Peng" is depicted by the flower vase and "Onn" means stuck on the wall. So the whole meaning is "Wishing you a safe and peaceful life".

We met Bee Yong and her bf (now fiance) and they took us for very delicious fish head curry and other dishes for lunch at YMCA.

After seeing Bee Yong and Fiance off, we went to Spice Garden and Teluk I-forgot-the-name. After that, we left Penang at 4pm...on the way back, we were hungry and stopped by one of Ipoh's oldest restaurant - Hoong Tho for dinner. The deep fried fish wantans were spectacular as usual and we ate heartily.

Freshwater Prawns Yee Mee. The Yee Mee was delicious as it was deep fried in fresh oil and didn't have that aftertaste of rancid oil. The Prawns were fresh and succulent.

Hoong Tho's signature fish paste dumpilings. Light and crisp and bouncy freshwater fish paste was used.

My favourite "Gui Fa" noodles...I prefer the Yee Mee version more though. This dish was using glass noodles. Full of wok-hei....nice :)

After dinner, we headed back to PJ. It was a nice trip but if I were to do it again, I would opt for at least 3 days 2 nights trip instead of weekend trip.

Bunny Eats Bak Kut Teh @ Teluk Pulai, Klang

2010-09-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

After the highway was completed, we finally can eat our favourite BKT again in Teluk Pulai. Yummy!!!

We ordered soup and dry bak kut teh for 1 person portion each. I really love the dry one here as it's so flavoursome and the soup's not bad...but I prefer a herbier tasting soup base.

As usual, when our rice comes, we'll load it up with fried onions and pour a ladleful of soup on it.

A plate of blanched veges to decrease our sinfulness...

It cost us around RM30 for this satisfying meal.

Bunny Eats Steamed Fish @ Lan Jie, Kota Damansara

2010-09-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Hunny's family and I made a visit to Lan Jie (the famous Lan Jie in Rawang)'s branch at Kota Damansara. We arrived there quite early at 11am plus and the 2 shoplot restaurant was half full. We sat down and placed our orders of fried wantons (don't order as all u'll get are deep fried wanton skins!), 3 x 400grams fish, and a plate of veges.

There were 4 of us and by right, we should get a 4th fish but Hunny wasn't a fan of steamed fish and he shared the fish with me. The fish comes in many sizes but my Hunny's sister insisted on the 400g one. She made a good choice.

It took a good hour for our dishes to arrive as apparently, the fishes are only slaughtered when we place an order. By the time our dishes arrived, the restaurant was fully seated with a waiting queue outside!

The steamed fish was delicious. There was no fishy or muddy taste to the fish. The ginger and soy sauce based topping was perfect and the fish was steamed till just right.

After eating this fish, my tummy felt so nice, warm and cozy. Is it worth the wait? Yes, it is! The bill came up to about RM60 plus which was ok as we had other dishes too.

Singapore Fine Dining Part 2 - Kuriya

2010-09-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

We had fine dining Japanese at Kuriya Restaurant in Singapore priced at SGD$150++ per pax. It was my 1st time eating so many dishes at a go.

This is our menu

I enjoyed the sea urchin but not so much on the jelly part...

The sashimi was average and I have tasted better at Kinpachi and Aoyama The Green Room...

The tuna belly was delicious but the seaweed soaked in vinegary sauce was another story...

The Fugu (puffer fish) and vege tempura was delicious...although a lil oily...

The Gindara (cod fish)...hrmmm..I prefer my cod fish steamed...

This is another of my favorite dishes...I love the beancurd skin wrapped thingy and the smoked duck breast..

By the time this was served, I was too stuffed to eat it eventhough they came with my favorite Ikura...awwww...

Delicious Japanese Seasonal Fruits. They were so yummy and the waitress was so kind to accomodate my wishes of wanting to capture the un-cut fruits. The Muskmelon cost around SGD120, the apple cost around SGD20!

It was a good meal overall :)

Singapore Fine Dining Part 1 - Yan Ting @ St Regis Hotel

2010-09-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

I attended the Paramount Dreamworks Asia Pacific Studio last July and I was so lucky in staying in St Regis Hotel, a 5 Star rated hotel, located at the beginning of Orchard Road. The food picked by my SG Marketing Manager was fantastic.

We had fine dining lunch at Yan Ting in St Regis Hotel. Here is our menu for lunch.

The soup in my opinion wasn't clear enough and had a sour after taste due to the pear in it. The koreans seated in my table were not used to the taste.

The 2nd dish was tasty.

The soft shelled crab was light and delicious and MUST be eaten hot or you'd get an oily mass...the crabs were fresh and the flesh was sweet :)

I wished the cod fish was just steamed plainly...the honey glaze totally overpowered the rich taste of the cod...

This dish looked good but it was a lil tasteless...

Dessert was cool and refreshing but I didn't taste too much as I was rushing for a movie preview.

Next up...Kuriya Dinner

Ratha Curry House @ Raub, Pahang

2010-09-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

We could not find any Chinese restaurant and we settled down for Raub's most famous restaurant which is Ratha Curry House. Our bill per person came up rather reasonable at RM12 per person inclusive of drinks.

A healthy dose of cucumber salad

Fresh Water Prawns Curry

Curry Cuttlefish

Fried Chicken

My favourite fish head curry...really yummy and no fishy after taste...

My verdict is this restaurant is worth visiting :)

Tofu Making Factory at Raub, Pahang

2010-09-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

We headed off to the famous beancurd factory not too far away from the Sempalit Peanut Factory. The owner is so friendly and accomodating. He has his own portable microphone and was explaining on how Tau-Poks are made. However, when we arrived at 11am, we missed out on the making of Tau-Poks otherwise known as deep fried tofu cubes.

This is the final part. The compressed tofu slab is divided into half using a fishing string and then using a ruler and a sharp knife, the tofu are cut into cubes.

The cubes are then put into the deep fryer and fried till light and golden brown. The oil is changed daily and the owner boasted that his taupoks are very yummy, doesn't have the rancid smell like other taupoks and is full of tofu unlike some other taupoks which are hollow on the inside. I totally agree with him. His taupoks are very very delicious! I could even just eat them on its own without any sauces!

Before frying and after frying...

The owner only uses imported Canadian soybeans as these beans are larger and gives a richer flavor to his soy products.

Next up, the owner demonstrates the making of Tau-Kwa or also known as compressed beancurd or hard tofu.

The beans are soaked overnight, then grinded and the milk is extracted from the crushed beans. Next, the soya bean milk is boiled over a low fire and then a coagulant is added to the soya milk. The owner then prepares the tofu tray. Each square mould carries the same square shape of 7 x 7 = 49 squares. A piece of muslin cloth is put over it and gently pushed down to fit through the squares and act as a place to hold the soon to be poured in tofu curd in. Each cloth must then be wet in order to enable easy unmoulding of the hard tofu later on.

Next, He switches off the fire and the soya milk starts to solidify. He will scoop off the bubble filled top layer of the coagulated baencurd. After that, he starts scooping the tau-fu-fah (beancurd jelly) like mixture into the wooden tray. Once the tray is filled up, the owner folds the muslin cloth over and covers with a wooden cover and is then placed onto the compress machine. Once the trays piles up, it is then compressed and all excessive liquid gets drained out. After 20 minutes, the tau-kwa is ready. The cloth is removed and the taukwa is sliced into squares and ready for sale.

This is our group photo taken with the owner in front of his factory (cottage industry).

2 vans plus 1 car worth of people~~~~

Bunny goes Raub Outing - Sempalit Peanut Factory

2010-08-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

We got so lost getting to the peanut processing factory. kakakakkaka...the original one that I wanted to go to was not open...in fact, one must call them and go in the bus loads in order to get them to open.

This is where we bought the delicious peanuts. They come in 3 varieties - Salty, Original and Tiger. RM28 for 10pkts and free another 2 packets

(Photo by Henry Au)

Hence we ended up at another peanut processing factory but I forgot the name. The lady explained in Mandarin that the Shan Dong peanuts are imported from China as Malaysia doesn't grow that many peanuts anymore. Shan Dong peanuts are the huge variety which I like.

The sacks of peanuts are soaked in the marinades to flavour the peanuts overnight.

The peanuts are sun dried for 2 to 3 days under hot sun and then brought to the roaster to be roasted.

At a go, the roaster can roast 20 buckets of peanuts at a time.

After roasting, the peanuts are left to cool before selection.

They sell 2 versions...with shell as above and flavored as below with salt or honey chillies. You will need sharp eyes and nimbles fingers for this job.

After selection, the peanuts are packaged using the machine. Each packet will weight approx 120 grams. They have special machines for this packaging which would automatically weigh n seal each packet.

It was a really fun and educational visit to this factory. If you are interested in going, please do drop me a comment and I can help connect you with the right people.

Lynn's Welcome Home Dinner

2010-07-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

My ex-schoolmate Lynn is back in Malaysia for a short 2 week visit with her husband. We took her to Amarin Thai in Mid Valley for a welcome home dinner. The food's pretty good abeit a lil pricy.

We ordered 2 appetizers - Mieng Kam which is a type of leaf is used as a base and you will need to slather some coconut sauce on it before putting the other ingredients on it, wrap it and pop in your mouth. It is not spicy unless you decide to put in the birds eye chillies.

Next up was the platter.

There was Tom Yam and Green Curry but no pictures as we were too busy digging in.

This is the steamed tilapia in lime and chilli broth. Very fresh fish and the appetizing spicy sour sauce was good.

Mixed Vegetables

Prawn Cupcakes? No...these are Otak-Otak...but I prefer the nyonya styled ones more...

It was great meeting Lynn and Shiranee again after all these years.

The bill came up to RM240 something which was ok as we had a total of 7 dishes, rice, 7 desserts and drinks for the 8 of us.

Yummy Food at Ipoh - May 30 Weekend

2010-07-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

During our Kuala Sepetang trip, we stopped by Ipoh to have breakfast at Paris Restaurant. They are famous for their Hakka Mee. What exactly is Hakka Mee? It is handmade egg noodles that are chewy (does not have alkaline) served dry style with a tablespoon of minced pork meat on it.

This noodles is accompanied with stuffed tofu, meatballs, fishballs, "sar kok" (deep fried turnip), and stuffed fish paste bean curd skin.

I totally love the pork balls as there are bits of dried cuttlefish in it and it makes the ball ultra delicious and more appetizing! Those pork balls are the ones with the brown bits on them...I am drooling already...!

After Kuala Sepetang, I wanted to try their famous Mee Udang but the weather was so hot and I was afraid of food poisoning.Hence, we went back to Ipoh for lunch. We settled for Kong Heng and ordered our favourite pork satay and "Gai See Hor Fun" or Shredded Chicken meat with flat rice noodles. The soup is not just made with chicken bones, it is made from prawn head and shells giving it the rich and sweet flavour that makes it so unique.

The pork satay is finally open after 4 failed attempts previously to taste the satay. There is the option of pork fillet, pork intestine and pork coagulated blood cubes. I don't like pork coagulated blood cubes when they are served with congee as it has that gelatinuous texture but when it's been grilled, it tastes exactly like liver and tastes real good!

The peanut sauce is different from the ones you would get in Malacca as the one here is purely roasted peanut sauce whereas the one in Malacca has pineapple puree added in it. The concept of pork satay here is different. The owner and his son will go around topping up the sticks of satay but you will only pay for the sticks that you have eaten. They are very smart.

At night, we had Hakka Mee and beef noodles again but this time at Wilson's relative's shop. The beef tendon balls were so delicious! I enjoyed the white radish soup although I'd prefer the white radish more tender :)

On the next day, we went to try Ming Court Dim Sum located opposite Foh San. Whilst the rest went there first, Hunny and I set off to Simee Market to buy the famous egg tarts at 6.45am.

My supplier from Eastern Decorater when I was still with Tesco as an Asst Buyer many years back used to bring a box of these scrumptious goodies each time he comes to my office. The pastry is many crisp layers with a wobbly eggy custard. Tastes better than Cockman Street's and Tong Kee Egg Tarts in my opinion. Beware though, there are other egg tarts in Simee Market. Don't buy the wrong ones! Hunny and I nearly bought the wrong ones but luckily we bought one and I had a taste and was very sure it wasn't the right one. So off we went to google for the correct egg tart brand and thank heavens for Hunny's maxis internet on his phone, we located the corrected one. Please find the signboard CHOY KEE.

The egg tarts weren't ready yet but we were very lucky that we were there early and I placed my order for 36 egg tarts before the usual crowd poured in. My Hunny kept teasing me on how I deprieved the old timers (regulars) of their usual breakfast of an egg tart and another pastry to go with their coffee. The egg tarts will come per tray of 40 pieces and since I have ordered 36 pieces and there were 2 customers in front of me, there were only 2 left and we could see the disappointed faces on the rest of the customers as this would mean they would have to wait another 15 to 20 minutes before the next tray of egg tarts will appear.

After getting this precious purchase, we went to Ming Court to meet up with the rest. The dimsum there were daintier and more $$$ than Foh San.

It was totally unsatisfying for us hearty eaters and we soon packed up and hopped across to Foh San for heartier pieces.

Yummy Foh San Dimsum!!!

Siu Mai!! So big and appetizing~~~~

Har Gow (Prawn Dumplings). At least 2 and half big prawns in each dumpling!

vs. Ming Court's Dainty morsel??

No more Ming Court Dim Sum for us. Foh San Dim Sum rocks! After dim sum, we went back to the hotel and pack up before coming back to PJ.

Bunny Visits Kuala Sepetang Charcoal Factory - May 30th 2010

2010-07-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

Bunny and Friends visited Ipoh and also Kuala Sepetang during the final weekend of May. We didn't have exact directions to get here and once we reached Kuala Sepetang, we headed towards town only to almost overshot the charcoal factory but luckily I saw the charcoal factory signboard. We had to reverse to get in there. Mr. Chuah's factory is the first one on the road. It was so "ulu" as we had no Maxis signal there.

There are 3 charcoal factories on that stretch of road. Please be warned not to take any photos in the 2nd charcoal factory (which is sandwiched in between Mr. Chuah's and the 3rd charcoal factory). The Malay owner is very rude and does not like photos to be taken in his premises. You might get a charcoal chunk thrown at u if you persist in taking photos there.

An overview of the factory on the inside

We arrived at 9am. It was not too hot but alas...it was low tide. Best time for tourists to get there will be around 1.30pm when the water canal flows in on high tide and tourists will also get a chance to go on a river cruise through the mangrove forests nearby at the tourist center.

Mr. Chuah is a jolly owner of the Chuah's Charcoal factory. There are many charcoal factories located in Kuala Sepetang itself! Each factory there is allocated a certain amount of land in hectares for a year to harvest the mangrove trees to turn them into charcoal. Everything is controlled by the govt to avoid over logging.

Mr. Chuah explained further that mangrove trees are important to the ecosystem and helps protect the land from being hit by tsunamis like the huge one that happened a few years back. Now, India, Indonesia, China have also started planting mangrove trees to help block any untoward incidences involving tsunamis. Besides that, the mangrove trees also provide a protective shelter for fish and shell fishes. Each mangrove tree can only be harvested after they turn 28 years old! Each factory owner is allocated a lot of land but that does not mean that there will be ready stock of wood to be harvested. The wood pile stocks are everywhere. The wood must be sun dried for a few days before they enter the kilns. My..My...28 year old mangrove trees are still so skinny..!!

After the logs are fully sun dried, the worker will remove the bark off the trees. If left on, the ash dust will be alot.

The barks are not wasted and they go into a fire pile to be turned into ashes for plant fertilizers.

Each oven kiln is handmade by a kiln sifu who uses no set paper plan to build it. Each kiln is built from years of experience by the estimation theory. Each kiln is built from 22,000 pieces of RED bricks and is held together by clay.

The kilns are used to smoke and dry and turn the live wood into charcoal. The process takes 28 days starting with heavy fire burning from outside 24 hours a day and gradually the fire will turn smaller after the sifu detects that the wood is almost ready. The wood will need a further 3 to 5 days to cool down before they can be taken out of the kiln as the temperature is very very high. The logs are arranged systematically so as to be able to fit more in the kiln. 1 kiln can hold 10 tons of mangrove wood and after 28 days of continuous burning and evaporation, the end product only weights 1 ton =.=

There are 6 outlets at the sides of the kiln to let the water vapour out from the mangrove logs and is collected in barrels. According to Mr. Chuah, the evaporated water has many beneficials and is exported out to Japan to beauty product companies as an ingredient to make skin care products. The water is actually blood red in color as this type of Mangrove trees used are red wood.

Nothing is wasted here. The tree barks that has been removed will be burnt to ashes and packed as healthy fertilizer for plants. Wood chips will also be turned into charcoal bits and are a vital ingredient for orchid farming.

Here is the finished product. This lorry load is going to be sent to Europe. The customers who buy the charcoal include orders from Europe, China and Japan.

There are plenty of mangy friendly dogs at the charcoal factories and some of the puppies are so cute! They crunched up my store bought dehydrated deer liver pieces in no time and came running to me for more.

It was a truly enjoyable trip there and although it was so hot outside, it was surprisingly kind of cool in the charcoal factory except those areas near the kiln.

I wouldn't mind coming back here when the tide is high and I would love to take a mangrove river cruise one day. Enjoy my photos. I made the mistake of taking most photos in sepia mode....should have taken in full color and convert the color modes mannually.

Nambawan - June 2010

2010-07-05T15:25:00.000-07:00

Oops...didn't blog for month of June...oops...

We went to Nambawan after long hiatus and sat down for a scrumptious lunch. The roast pork belly has increased by RM1 to RM13.90 which is justifiable considering pork price has increased 5 to 6 times since last year!

I had really yummy slow cooked lamb shank (RM25.90) that was marinated in red wine marinade for a day before being slow roasted in the oven for 5 to 6 years. The meat was so tender and smooth and flavoursome....i really miss eating it now. This is not a regular on the menu dish...it's only available on certain weekends. Best is to call and ask for the weekend specials...same goes to the Roast Pork Belly as well.

Hunny had Roast Pork Belly but he found it a lil too fatty as he prefers the leaner cut but all the same, still tasty and check out that huge portion. RM13.90

I really enjoyed the lamb shank...I even sucked the marrow out...yums!

Well done Nambawan! Another satisfying meal once again :)

Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Bentong and Chamang Waterfall

2010-05-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

After finishing off at Mr. Loo's sawmill, we went to the waterfall highly recommended by Mr. Loo which was located in Bentong. He only gave us the nickname and not the actual name. Luckily, wasabi managed to google the name and it was Chamang Waterfalls. Surprisingly, it wasn't in my GPS...in fact when we got there, I was unable get a GPS signal...so scary...I forgot to check if my phone had signal or not.

We headed towards Bentong town looking for the famous tau foo fah but we were unable to locate it. Then, I remembered reading some blogs regarding old school ice cream that is runned by a family for a few generations. We reached Restaurant Kow Po and walked in.

They were packed with families and couples. We ordered home made ice cream that came in flavours like coconut, peanut, sweet corn, etc...they were yummy, creamy and not too sweet. They were a steal at only RM2.50 a scoop. Many tables were ordering the Ice Kacang but we were all in the mood for ice cream. However, I felt that the ice cream wasn't that cold which was rather weird and I actually licked up all the melted ice cream as it wasn't too sweet.

This is mine - banana and coconut. I love the banana ice cream...so fragrant...RM5

After ice cream, we followed Shaolin Tiger's instructions to Chamang Waterfalls. Just follow the Raub signboard in Bentong Town and along the way look out for the "Air Terjun Chamang" signboard...once we turn left at the direction pointing to Chamang Waterfalls, we went through a very windy, curvy, sharp bendy road to get to the waterfalls....abt 8km from the main road...some bends were so sharp that wasabi had to horn to alert any cars travelling in the opposite direction. Once we reached there, luckily many families were leaving already and we were amazed by the pristine clean conditions that greeted us. We parked at the parking lot and we didn't have to walk too far to get to the waterfalls.

Clear and clean looking running river water...

They even built this platform whereby people can sit or stand and pose for photos with the waterfall in the background...

Group pic with waterfall in the background and after that we went back to Desa Park City and back home. It was a truly enjoyable trip! Thanks Roger, Sun Shan, Samantha and Fung for coming!

We will plan for a Chamang Waterfall outing soon!

Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Sawmill Plant

2010-05-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Mr. Loo was kind enough to bring us for an educational visit to his saw mill. He has about 2000 tons of timber and logs at his plant and his plant is just one of the hundreds in Malaysia. Can you imagine how much trees have been cut down??

Timber is the term used for trees that have been cut down whereas logs means a processed version of the timber whereby the tree's skin has been removed and the heart has been removed. The heart of the tree is worthless as it's too soft and not sturdy enough.

Tree bark...

This is the biggest timber that Mr. Loo has on his plant now. It's a total of 59 inches in circumference...almost 5 ft wide! The white marker actually reads 59 inches.

The timber is as tall as Samantha..!

My failed attempt at trying to climb to the 59 inch timber...got scared halfway...

Mr. Loo and Sun Shan. Thanks Sun Shan and Mr. Loo!

We past by this interested structure on the way to Mr. Loo's storage area. This is an abandoned drying oven which was used in the olden days to smoke dry the timbers that were transported using rivers back in the olden days. The timber would go in there for a few days in order to be completely dried before being processed. I love the colors of the bricks.

A section of the logs after being cut by machine. Sun pointed this out that there was one which was excatly a half half in color.

The crab pincer tractor that is used to transport timber from the storage to the cutting machines to produce logs. Mr. Loo has two...this is the smaller one.

As Mr. Loo's plant has many tractors, lorries, forklifts that uses diesel, he has his own diesel tank supply.

Mr. Loo brought us to attention with his green colored wood which was actually chemically treated to prevent termites, ants and other insects from eating it. This is done by request of their customers.

Once it dries completely, Mr. Loo will paint the wood according to the customers preferences.

Wooden separators are used to enable easier transportation of the planks and easier to pack according to order.

I bet this would look even more interesting if I had cropped it...

A very big thank you to Mr. Loo for treating us lunch and a visit to your sawmill. Next up, Bentong ice cream and Chamang Waterfalls.

Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Lunch at Mentakab

2010-05-16T21:39:00.000-07:00

After Deer Land, none of us were keen to go back to the Elephant Park due to the huge crowd of people and luckily Sun Shan managed to call one of her suppliers in Mentakab which was about 25 mins drive from Lanchang.

We went to a local restaurant called Fook Kee to have lunch. We were famished and waited patiently for the food to come. We have Dou Miu (a type of bean sprout), golden tofu pillows, spare ribs, hot plate prawns and an ultra delicious wild river patin whose flesh was firm and sweet without any muddy taste at all.

Golden Tofu Pillows with crispy anchovies...and really fat beansprouts underneath

The healthy crunch to our meal...

The succulent pork ribs...very nicely done...still retaining its juices and meat falling off bones...unlike other places that I tasted whereby the meat is stuck stubbornly on the bones....

Hot Plate Prawns...

My most favourite dish...the river patin!

Thanks to Mr. Loo for the lunch! Next up is Mr. Loo's saw mill.

Bunny Goes Pahang Outing - Elephant Park and Deer Land Park

2010-05-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we finally went to on a outing. Hunny was grumpy and didn't go as he hates the sun and heat. Met up with SDC and Samantha at BK, Mutiara D'sara and drove to DPC's Waterfront to meet up with SunShan and Wasabi at 7.45am.

We then followed GPS and drove to Genting Sempah for breakfast...only have Mc D and malay stalls open. Word of advice is that you may want to tabao other styles of food from home. We drove in Karak Highway till we saw the Lanchang exit and followed the GPS (which had a few malfunctioning errors along the way) till we reached signboards that said Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservatory Park. We were a lil unlucky as we were stuck behind a bus load of tourists heading the same way too.

Once we reached there, the park has lost its charm from the first time I was there 2 years ago( you can read it here and here). The little quaint village has been commercialised. The aboriginal village has been modernized and they no longer lived in their traditional handmade houses and were instead living in generic concrete homes. The park itself has also been modernized and is halfway building a grand concrete entrance...why couldn't they have designed something more nature looking and made from natural trees n plants?

We got our passes from the reception counter. Please note that the reason why we were there so early (we reached at 10am) was that visitor passes only limited to 120 people a day of which I think only 50 passes were available for participation of elephant rides and activities. The activities will only start at 2pm. Entrance is FREE but you can donate money too to further improve the center and its elephants. Activities include feeding the elephants, riding and bathing with the elephants.

We were disappointed when we couldn't get 5 riding passes due to the busload of people who were in front of us. We only managed to get 3 riding passes. Then, we were informed that there was no bathing activity as the river was overflowing due to heavy rains. We then went off in search of the elephants. We found them swaying happily to the malay music being played on.

After a while, they brought out 2 baby elephants. This is Langsat and she is a playful elephant who loves sugarcane,

This is Sam and I posing with the larger elephants.

After abt 1 hour there, we were feeling bored and decided to explore Deer Land which was a few KM from Kuala Gandah Elephant Park. I wasn't expecting much but deers but oh boy..was I so wrong...

We paid RM6 for ticket fees...no extra charges for cameras (unlike some throat cutting parks and zoos in Kuala Lumpur). We went in and were pleased by the clealiness and organized manner of the trails in the parks. Our first stop was the deer park. The deer were so friendly and gentle and what we didn't expect was that we were allowed in the deer park together with the deer. They were so tame that they stood still whilst we photographed them.

The caretaker of the deer was very friendly and informative. He taught us to hold the basket high and put the food up at a height for the deer to stand and eat the food (strips of veges).

This is wasabi and gf with the deer reaching out to the food...

Some deer would get so desperate and tug at the shirts in order to get your attention on them to feed them..lol...

This deer is partially blind in a eye due to cataract and is very twitchy. The caretaker always feed her lots as she cannot fight with the other deer for the food.

This is a funny bull deer who tasted his own pee and hated the taste. The caretaker said that deer often taste their own urine to check their hormonal levels.

This is he drenching his mouth and surroundings with own drool to cleanse away the disgusting taste...

Wasabi suddenly noticed that this stud male's lil bro was bleeding and we were informed by the caretaker that the male stud had an hormonal imbalance causing him to be "hard" for a long time and went on a sexcapade till he bled there. The lil bro was also "jammed" and couldn't withdraw and they had to give him a jab to soften so that it can withdraw...poor thing...

Then off we went to see the other animals. There were rabbits, quails, birds, ferrets, chinchillas, python and we finally reached the Sun Bear's pen. As usual, the caretaker there opened the gate and let us in and we went in warily as we were scared of the bear. The bear was so cute and obedient. The bear sat patiently at its log and let people pose with it whilst snacking on peanuts. This is Samantha posing with the bear...

So cute when he's being treated with condensed milk....

This Sun Bear is 11 years old. Nice, right? This concludes part 1 of my visit to Pahang. Next up is Mentakab.

Bunny Eats @ Sushi Zen, Gardens MV

2010-05-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Last month I have been in MV and Gardens so many times as my Hunny was in fashion show shooting fever. As i was walking around, I felt peckish and decided to eat at Sushi Zen located on LG floor of Gardens.

I decided to order 2 types of sashimi - Sweet Prawn and Scallop whilst reminiscing of the ones I had at Kinpachi. I was disappointed as the quality didn't match up to the ones at Kinpachi although it was slightly cheaper than Kinpachi. The freshness wasn't there...*sigh*...and it was served slightly warm to me...I prefer my sashimi chilled next time please.

I love Ikura which are marinated salmon eggs. The bright orangey sacs which are bigger than ebikko (shrimp eggs) are a pleasure to bite with each release of the salty liquid encased within. So I ordered the Ikura Chawan Mushi.

My richly cholesterol laiden steamed egg...

In it, there were several surprises - A whole prawn, gingko nut, fishcake slice and mushroom

This meal wasn't cheap. It came up to RM50++ with a glass of refillable green tea. I won't be going back there anytime soon as I prefer Yuzu and Kikura Zakura's quality over this Sushi Zen's quality anytime.

Bunny Eats @ New Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant, MV Boulevard

2010-05-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

There are so many things that we can eat in MV and Gardens and decisions on where to eat is such a difficult choice. On this day, we wanted something wholesome and Chinese, off we trotted to try the New Ipoh Chicken Rice Restaurant at The Boulevard MV (the row of shoplots sandwiched in between Gardens and MV) which is a branch of the huge Ipoh chicken rice restaurant located at Jalan Gasing.

This restaurant is newly opened.

The decor is very modern with fake garden beds on the wall. To me, somehow, the food and environment don't gel.

Here's some of the dishes we ordered....

L-R : Chicken gizzards and Liver, Thai Styled Chicken Feet Skin, Pork Platter

The chicken Gizzards and Liver were cooked just right...not overcooked at all, there was pleasant crunch to the gizzards and the liver was melt in the mouth texture. Yummy! Thumbs Up!

The Thai Styled Chicken Feet Skin Salad was another thumbs up. The skin was nice and collagen-ny crunchy and was served in a light sweet and sour slightly spicy sauce...very refreshing. Another Thumbs Up! This was my Hunny and I's favourite dish there.

The beansprouts were authentic Ipoh beansprouts. Can you see how short and fat they are? After tasting Ipoh beansprouts, I stopped eating our local long skinny beansprouts. However, they must have overcooked the sprouts as I prefer my sprouts lightly blanched to retain its crunch.

The most disappointing dish was the pork platter...we ordered a mixture of Roast Pork and Char Siew. The Roast Pork's cut was inferior with rough meat and really fatty bits. The Char Siew was too lean and it had the stinkiest porky smell to eat...yucks...! It really spoilt the mood of the whole meal. It also taught me a lesson that when in a chicken speciality restaurant, NEVER ORDER PORK!

Overall, it was a good meal. Just remember to order chicken based dishes and have their hor-fun in soup. Hunny and I had our Hor Fun in dry and curry flavour. We regretted now ordering it in the soup version as we tasted the soup and it was heavenly sweet with many hours of boiling the chicken bones and carcasses.

Bunny Eats At Kinpachi in ss17, Subang Jaya

2010-03-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

Hunny brought Bunny for our belated Valentines Day Dinner at Kinpachi Japanese Restaurant in ss17, Subang Jaya. It's located at the turn off road to the Shell and Esso station opposite the Wisma Consplant (next to Subang Parade). I have seen that place since i studied in a college in Subang Jaya many years ago and it has survived all through these years.

Hunny ordered a Hokkai Sashimi Moriase Set which came with 3 slices of fresh salmon, fresh sweet succulent scallop and 2 roe rich prawns with sweeet sweeeet flesh...very yummy ...RM58.00

Hunny then recommended the porkchop or tonkatsu as he said it don't taste like local pork...RM30. It came looking non oily...it was crisp on the outside and succulently tender on the inside and it most certainly did not have that tell-tale porky smell...I wonder wat they did to it....

Hunny's Maki Set came....it was a huge portion and real sushi grade rice was used...some Japanese restaurants like Kiku Zakura uses normal rice but charge exhorbidant prices...Hunny was full after finishing this.

Next came my Nabeyaki Udon noodles. I wasn't expecting such a huge claypot of noodles as other places serve smaller portions for that price or even more expensive...! This cost RM17. The broth was clear and tasty and came with a chockful of veges, some chicken meat and a tempura prawn. The udon noodles are freshly made as the texture was different and it absorbed the broth it was soaked in. The soup was still steaming hot even after 30 mins!

We paid RM153 for this meal but it was worth it. I wished they had Uni (Sea Urchin) as I miss it very much. Thank You Hunny for bringing me to such a cosy restaurant!

Bunny Eats At Yuzu in Gardens Mid Valley

2010-03-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

After reading countless reviews of Yuzu at The Gardens, I was really lucky that LK decided to choose this place to celebrate her birthday. I have always wanted to try this place out but my Hunny wasn't really that keen and it also looked very pricy from the outside. Ever since Kiku Zakura increased their prices, I have not been indulging in Japanese meals so often anymore.

We were very surprised to find their bento sets very reasonably priced. LY ordered a King Prawn Bento Set (RM38), LK ordered an Unagi Bento Set, SW ordered an ala carte eggy and chicken chop rice (forgot the name), AT ordered a Gindara bento set and I ordered the Yuzu Bento Set (RM48).

We were pleasantly surprised that at the varieties that came with the bento sets...from soup, salad, appetizer, pickles, chawan mushi and fruits. Portions were just right for all of us too.

LY's King Prawn Bento Set was very impressive...

A close up view of LY's King Prawn Maki

I couldn't take the pic of my whole set...as I was too comfy to move from my place....so here are bits and pieces of it. I love the beef so much...they were so tender n juicy!

The sashimi was also fresh...no fishy smell...

The tempura was light and no oily after taste....

The sushi was nice...love the nicely flavoured rice...not too vinegary...

We weren't too happy with the Chawan Mushi as it tasted rather diluted and was too soft. I prefer an eggier tasting one.

I would love to come back here again to eat but a word of caution, do wear warmer there as the aircon's really cold there.

Bunny Makes Oven Dried Tomatoes - part 2

2010-03-05T16:48:00.000-08:00

My 2nd attempt at making oven dried tomatoes took longer than expected. My 1st time here took 5 hours...whilst this round took me almost 9 hours simply because I forgot to de-seed the tomatoes..grrrr...

Local Roma Tomatoes at RM1.99 for 4pcs from Jaya Jusco 1 Utama that has been cut into wedges and some in slices but I forgot to de-seed the wedges! There is approximately 1.5kgs here

The ingredients to marinate the tomatoes. Please REMEMBER to de-seed them first!

Lay them in a single layer on lined baking pans...dash some more olive oil over them....

Place them in pre-heated oven of 200 degrees Fahrenheight

After 3 hours, they begin to shrivel up...look my sliced ones are almost done...wow...now I know that slices take shorter time to dry...

The slices were done after 4 hours but the wedges took 8 hours!

U can be hardwork and start peeling the skin off the wedges whilst they are still warm or be lazy like me and just left them be. Peeling the skin off does taste better as the tomatoes will be easier to eat and more juicy...whereas I leave them on just to increase more fibre in my diet... After the slices and wedges have cooled down, fill them up in glass jars. Make sure your glass jars are clean and dry. This round yielded close to 900 grams of dried tomatoes.

Once filled up, you can pour in any oil you wish to preserve the tomatoes. You can leave them as they are if you want but u will have to store them in ziplock bags in the freezer. Do not leave them in room temperature in Malaysia as there are no preservatives added to the tomatoes and they will grow mouldy as our weather is hot and humid. I used the rest of my extra virgin olive oil to soak these tomatoes in. You can leave the jars in room temperature BUT you must REMEMBER to use clean utensils to scoop the tomatoes or oil out each time to avoid contamination.

As I made so much this round, I am forecasting that these will last me till May. Hope you will try making these yummy beauties on your own. At least now I don't have to pay RM12.90 to RM15.90 per 100 grams outside to get my fix.

Bunny Eats @ Din Tai Fung, Pavilion

2010-03-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

Hunny and I went for a charity fashion show last Sunday at JW Marriott Hotel organized by SIFE_UNMC. If you are looking for cheap parking at Bukit Bintang area, do park at Starhill Gallery at RM5/entry. Do not park at Pavilion unless you are swimming in pools of money...as rates there are hourly.

We went to watch Book Of Eli starring Denzel Washington. We sat Twin Seats but I don't like Pavilion's Twinseats as the next door seats are placed too close to each other and got no place to put our shopping bags...it's like economy twinseats there....other GSCs like 1U, MV, Tropicana gives ample space in between twinseats for more privacy and roomy feel. Stupid Pavilion seats were also much more expensive! The movie was so-so only..I was surprised the censorship board didn't censor most of the show...violence, f**k words, etc.

After the movie, we decided to eat at Din Tai Fung which took over I think Dainti Hill Restaurant. Hunny and I were hankering for their ultra-licious creamy century egg yolk. We ordered 2 eggs at RM3.90, 1 each for both of us.

Then as we just wanted to fill our tummies a little, we ordered a Prawn Fried Rice at RM14.90 to share. The rice was eggy, fluffy and separate. I found it a lil too oily but Hunny said it was just done right for him.

No visit to Din Tai Fung is complete without a serving of steamed dumplings. We ordered 6 pcs of Pork and Prawn dumplings. They were delicious eaten on their own without the usual vinegar and ginger shreds...the sweetness of the prawns balanced out the gamey-ness of the pork. Hunny made a good choice. Yummy!

Hunny loves deep fried stuff and ordered a Prawn and Pork Deep Fried Dumpling but the taste wasn't as good as the delicious steamed ones.

I can't wait to go to Din Tai Fung next round...just to tabao theor yummy century eggs....nomnomnom :)

p/s : All photos taken by Hunny

Bunny Eats In Malacca

2010-02-01T05:46:00.000-08:00

We were walking down the streets surrounding Jonker Street and we were getting hotter and hotter. Hence, Hunny suggested we go drink cool desserts at a dessert shop near the beaded shoes shop. So here we are enjoying cool desserts.

Uncle Keong's Fresh Fruit & Bird's Nest Dessert Shop

I had that RM6 cold dessert of Lily Bulb, Red Dates, Lotus Seed with White Fungus Sweet Soup Dessert. So refreshing and cooling n not too sweet.

We had lunch at Donald & Lily. I was so surprised we managed to find seats so quickly.

My cendol...disappointed that it was lacking the gula melaka...see...still so white after stirring...

We ordered rice to go with these dishes.

Ayam Pong Teh...the sauce was delicious but was so disappointed when eating the chicken as the sauce wasn't infused into the chicken and the chicken was rather tough...same with the potatos...maybe smaller pieces would have absorbed a little of the flavorsome sauce...it seemed as though the chicken, dried mushroom n potatoes were cooked separately...*disappointed*

The Asam Fish was delicious with just enough sourness well balanced with sweetness and a tinge of spiciness. But best eaten hot...

A side order of rojak...Hunny didn't enjoy it but maybe it's the Malaccan style of rojak sauce.

After a disappointing lunch at Donald and Lily's, we adjourned to Nadefe Cafe at Melaka Raya for some comforting cake. Hunny had the cake and coffee special whilst i shared that slice with an order of Iced Tropical Tea. The Original Mille Crepe was RM8.50 and the long black that came with it was only RM3.00. My Iced Tea cost me RM5.90.

We bought a whole Strawberry Mille Crepe cake back to KL. It was delicious. I had a slice just now, the sourness of the Strawberry jam offset the sweetness and richness of the cake.

Bunny's Window Shopping @ Jonker's Street

2010-02-01T03:03:00.000-08:00

Sigh...being jobless means cash is tight means Bunny cannot indulge in my favourite past time. I wonder why my Hunny no volunteer to buy me those nice shoes...*weeps* longingly...

So nice...!!! Nyonya Beaded Slippers

I tried some on...very comfy....so so colorful!

A pattern being commissioned by a customer for the sifu to sew. The shoes must be ready by 22 February and the sifu told me he'd have to work through Chinese New Year to finish them.

Sifu at Work...

Nice horr....but not cheap. It depends on beads type and patterns. A pair of shoes starts at RM200 onwards...

Next on, we saw many little shops selling pineapple tarts and pastries. All were freshly baked on the spot. I didn't buy any as I have pre-ordered some yummy Eurasian Pineapple Tarts from Elissa's mum. My Hunny looked afraid when he saw me eyeing the tarts as I guess he was remembering the mountains of tarts the last time we were in Malacca...

They may look nice but if they used Margerine as the pastry base, then I won't like it at all...I prefer my pastry base made from butter...100% pure butter please. As for the jam, I liked them spiced with cinnamon, star anise or cardamons.

This is from a nyonya kuih stall that we walked past. Seeing the blue-ness is very appetizing especially when they are not made from artificial colouring but from a flower called "Bunga Telang". This kuih is usually eaten with a dollop of coarse egg kaya. Yummy! I didn't buy any as the weather was really hot and I was afraid the kuih will go off before it reach our mouths.

Hence, these were the stuff that I wanted to buy but did not buy. I was such a good girl yesterday :)

Funny Photos I took at Jonker Street, Malacca

2010-02-01T02:52:00.000-08:00

Here are some funny photos I took at Jonker Street.

A very colorful and eye catching shop

I laughed when I saw the nonsensical wordings on the shop front.

A yellow panty hung up to dry....It may bring bad luck to any male who walks underneath it unknowingly...

Modern Lingerie for the Afterworld residents....

Cute clogs magnets....good as wedding gifts but they are pricy. 1 pair for RM5.90, 2 pairs for RM10.00

Next up, due to being unemployed for the past few weeks, I didn't shop as heavily as I normally do in Malacca. My bf was very relieved. Next up, stuff that I couldn't afford to buy....

Places of Worship @ Jonker Street, Malacca

2010-02-01T02:07:00.000-08:00

Hunny and I and 6 other friends went to Malacca yesterday for a day trip. We were supposed to last till dinner time but by 3.30pm, we were deadbeat and went home instead.

Here are some photos I took of places of worship in Jonker Street and its surrounding streets. Jalan Tukang Emas or Goldsmith Street is the only street I know that houses 3 places of worship together - The Chinese Temple, Indian Temple and Mosque.

Chow kneeling down for the best shot of the well worn out kneeling pad...this is called composition...a photo tells a thousand words of story...

O.o...supermodel....!! check out her heels!!!!

More to come soon...

Homemade Wheat Bran Hot Cakes

2010-02-01T01:22:00.000-08:00

I was getting sick of the usual bread and sandwiches at home and embarked to make some pancakes. As I couldn't find normal flour, I had to make do with self raising flour. Normal flour is used to make pancakes, superfine flour is used to make crepes and self raising flour is used to make hotcakes.

I did this without a set recipe and everything was added due to instinct. Any basic pancake/crepe/hotcake recipe would require milk/water, eggs, butter, flour and sugar with options of fruit or choc chips. It's the amount of liquid and type of flour you use that will have the end result of whether it is a crepe, pancake or hotcake.

Simple rules to follow when making pancakes/crepes/hotcakes ala Bunny Style

1. The flour must be sifted to rid of any impurities and for lightness of the batter and to ensure no lumps.
2. The egg must be beaten/whisked till it becomes light creamy yellow
3. The butter must be melted and cooled before mixing in to the flour
4. Milk will make the hotcake/pancake/crepe taste creamier in my opinion and hence a richer comforting taste.
5. The whisked egg to be added last and mixed evenly so that the batter is light.
6. The pan must be lightly oiled each time before a new pancake batch is poured on it to ensure that nice golden brown color
7. Maintain a low medium heat

This time, I wanted a healthier option and added wheat bran to the batter. Please take note to add more liquids as the bran will absorb the liquid. Too thick a batter may result in heavy hotcakes. I also added in a tablespoon of my mum's expensive milk powder as I didn't have any milk at home and I really like a creamy tasting hotcake...

Do use absorbent paper to absorb any residual oil. I ate my hotcakes with stewed green apples with a touch of cinnamon (this was actually the filling for my apple pie) but you can do so much with serving ideas such as fresh fruit with cream, plain with maple flavored syrup or honey, and etc.

3rd Jan 2010 Chinatown Walkabout Gathering

2010-01-10T05:37:00.000-08:00

I organized a photography walk last weekend with a group of photographers from Shutterasia.com via facebook invitation to Petaling Street which is Kuala Lumpur's version of Chinatown. I chose it to be in the morning as it seems more authentic in the morning rather than in the afternoon and evening as there are more foreigners such as Nepalese, Burmese, Indonesians manning the stalls.

We met up at 7.30am at Hon Kee Porridge stall. No pictures as I forgot to bring my flsh and my camera doesn't take good photos in low light. There were 10 of us in total as LY joined us at last minute.

This was Hon Kee Porridge stall's upstairs level...very old school feel..

After breakfast, we took a stroll to the wet markets. Market transactions were aplenty here.

My photo was overexposed...sigh...

I was told that naughty bunnies who steal will end up with chopped paws like these...*gulps*...

Maybe it was because of shyness, I didn't take that many photos in the market. I wasn't sure if the sellers like their photos being taken or not...

This was taken just outside Madras Lane. Traditional shoplots run down but still intact.

It's Sunday. The parking rules doesn't apply on Sundays and Public Holidays.

Just as luck would have it, I forgot to charge my camera again (1st time was in Sekinchan) and my power was flickering out as we walked to the back to Kwong Siew Temple. Once we reached the temple, there were a couple of beggars waiting outside. Word of caution, give each beggar individually if you wish to be charitable.

They look like siblings, right?

This Taoist temple was built in 1886 and is a temple dedicated to the deity, Kwang Ti.

These were taken from the temple.

This would have been perfect if I had shot this from the bottom-most but Hunny scare me till I didn't dare to stand directly underneath it.

This Dragon Robe was cropped from a robe meant to be burnt to worship the higher ranking deities in the temple.

After the temple, we walked towards Petaling Street for drinks at the foodcourt. We sat directly under the aircond...it was noisy but cooling. That was when Tangachi joined us.

After drinks, we headed towards Central Market and shot around there. EK, a newbie to the forum hurried me over and pointed excitedly at the puddle.

By then, my camera was on high alert on serious shutdown time. I offed my camera and went ahead to visit Central Market. It has been 5 years since I last stepped in to Central Market and was pleasantly surprised how commercially transformed it was. It's really beautiful. We even went to the annexxe and visited the art exhibition there.

After Central Market, we adjoured for lunch. WaiSikMeow led us a big round to Lai Foong Kopitiam. He had gotten it mixed up with Zhing Kong Kopitiam. Lai Foong is famous for their beef noodles but I tried their Freshwater Prawns Yee Mee and was disappointed by the taste as it was so so so bland! It wasn't cheap either at RM13 a portion.

Photo by Hunny

The rest had Char Kuay Teow and Roasted Meat rice whereas Tangachi and WaiSikMeow ate thru 1.5 bowls of beef noodles and just the "liew".

It was a memorable and fun outing. More photos can be viewed at these urls

here
&
here

Thanks to Hunny, Li Lian, WSM, Tangachi, Ah Fai, OM, Eugene, Lee Yin and Kenny for making it to this outing. Hope to see you all at the next outing to Pudu!

Bunny's Smooth Encounter

2009-12-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

After the huff huff puff puff temple climb, we drove back to Ipoh and I told Hunny that I wanted to drink Pang Dai Woon (pennyworth/pegaga) juice. So we went to Loke Wee Koi to drink and I asked Hunny to order me a serving of Ipoh Chee Cheong Fun as my favourite pork tummy soup stall has closed down *weeps*.

It was a refreshing taste of silky smooth chee cheong fun without the sticky aftertaste. They were so so yummy in a light not too salty yet flavoursome mushroom sauce.

I chose the mini shrimp variance. This plate only cost me RM3.00. Very Yummy!

Bunny Visits Cave Temple in Tambun, Perak

2009-12-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

After breakfast and we didn't really had a place to go, Chow invited us to tag along with him to a cave temple on a hill in Tambun. Hunny was really skeptical when Chow said the temple wasn't really high up on the hill and that it was a short climb. Hunny saw that I really wanted to go and gave in and we followed Chow to Tambun.

We saw the temple from afar and we went "Oh My Goodness" as it was located quite high up. No pictures as we were in the car driving. We arrived there but found it desserted and we thought it was closed. Luckily the caretaker came out then and opened the gates for us to go in. Hunny grilled the caretaker on the temple's history and we found out that the temple was built by devoutees just after World War 2. Back in those days where materials and equipment was scarce, the temple was built bit by bit and looked after by the caretakers till today.

Magnificent, isn't it?

There were several little praying huts each housing a different deity along the way up. There were millions of ants on the ground and railings and luckily they were black ants and not fiery red ants.

I like this view, the sky was so clear and blue...

As we climbed up the 139 steps, I was already huffing and puffing due to lack of exercise, Chow gaily skipped his way up like a little lamb.

The view up at the peak was breath taking. The fragipanies were blooming at the tips of the trees.

A nice bright red flower

As we climbed down, another view of the temple.

After the climb down, Chow told us that he was interested in looking for historical sites of where Malaysians lived in caves or on the cave ledge and built rafters to call it home. We walked a bit further down to a Tibetian retreat and saw an example there. Chow said it would have been better without the huge banner there but as it was private land, there was nothing much we could do.

I was glad we made this trip there or else I would have nothing to photograph but food as Hunny was not so adventurous and he didn't know where we can go.

Bunny Eats at Nam Chau Restaurant, Ipoh

2009-12-27T18:32:00.000-08:00

Bunny was feeling off-color but in great need of a holiday. Hunny as usual so kind hearted picked Bunny up at 5.15am and off we went to Ipoh for a short getaway. We had pre-arranged with Chow (a fellow photographer) to meet up at Nam Chau Restaurant around 7.30am.

We arrived there on time. Nam Chau is famous for their dry curry noodles and is one of Ipoh's old brand names (Lo Jiu Pai) for Curry Noodles. It's just a stone's throw away from the famous Thean Chun and Kong Heng restaurants in old town.

Their noodle varieties comes as the picture shown and they are at very reasonable prices. A similar serving like this can cost about RM4.50 upwards.

Hunny and Chow ordered Dry Curry Noodles. Chow ordered a normal one and Hunny ordered the extra with Roasted Pork.

Chow's modest portion

Hunny's Extra Roasted Pork Portion

Both guys commented that the noodles were delicious.

As it was still early morning, I didn't indulge in this luxury curry noodles and opted for "Tan Chi" instead which was medium boiled eggs served on toasted bread. I love the eggs as they were tasty kampung eggs.

Hunny and I ordered water chestnut drink. They were freshly made and was very refreshing.

On Mondays till Fridays for lunch, besides noodles, Nam Chau also serves Lunch Rice Sets. According to Chow, these sets are highly popular with the locals and it's difficult to find a place to sit and enjoy this set during weekdays.

One thing I found disconcerting about this restaurant was its payment system. You will have to pay separately to different people for the noodles, drinks and toast. Perhaps it's time for them to invest in a systematic pay program which will enable them to know how much each food and beverage system has earned per day?

Cream of Carrot Soup at Coffee Ritual

2009-12-24T00:16:00.000-08:00

I love western styled soups. They are so hearty and warming. This was one of Coffee Ritual's daily specials - Cream of Carrot Soup. This is my first time drinking this soup and to my surprise, creamy carrot soup does taste very nice. I also love the wholemeal bun it came with so that I can dip it in the soup.

Yummy heartwarming soup :)

Want to taste some, please visit http://www.gv.com.my/ for more information

Bunny Eats at Din Tai Fung

2009-12-24T00:02:00.000-08:00

This marks my 1st time eating at Din Tai Fung Restaurant located on LG of Gardens Shopping Center. Usually, there is a long queue of people wanting to go and eat there but when Hunny and I reached there, it was still relatively early and the crowd has not build up yet.

Din Tai Fung has an impressive history as it originates from Taiwan and have branches in China, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the USA. They are most famous for their steamed pork dumplings with soup or "xiaoloongbao".

1. The table setting

2. The condiments. I found the vinegar too strong for our liking. Hunny said the vinegar is good quality.

3. Hunny's nose which is like a sniffer dog smelt the century eggs at the entrance of the restaurant and insisted that we order it. It was a good choice. At only RM3.80 or RM3.90, the century egg tasted scrumptious! The wedges were served with a slice of pickled ginger to cleanse the palate and counteract the coolness of the century egg wedges.

4. The whites (or should I say ambers) were jelly like and the centers were oh so creamy! These were so so delicious!!

The Xiao Loong Baos came next. We went for a combi of 6pcs original and 6 pcs pork and vegetables. I like the fact that they used cloth as the base instead of some other places using cabbage or paper of which both do not provide as good ventilation to cook as the cloth one. RM18.90 for 12 pieces

5. The Xiao Loong Baos taste was ok. The skin was just right and it didn't break and waste the precious soup inside when I picked it up while it was still hot. The filling is more natural tasting and not as salty as the other restaurants such as Dragon-i and Jade Crystal Kitchen.

6. The Vegetable and Pork ones tasted a little strange as I couldn't taste what vegetable they used as they were too finely minced up.

7. Our first choice of mango shrimps was not prepared yet and we settled for Prawns coated in Salted Egg. When it came, it looked really strange but tasted good. If only I had a bowl of rice to eat with the prawns. The prawns were big, fresh, crisp yet juicy. RM34 (the most expensive dish and cost us half the bill)

8. Here's a closeup...

All in all (plus drinks and 1 shrimp wanton la mien) cost us close to RM80 which I would say is very pricy and luxurious just for brunch.

I would go back there just for the century eggs...yumyum...!

Bunny makes a BET Sandwich

2009-12-23T02:05:00.000-08:00

This BET (Bacon, Egg and Tomato) sandwich is so yummy and wholesome. The ingredients are simple. You will need 2 slices of bread. In this case, I used Country Herbs Bread from Cold Storage's bakery.

Firstly, drizzle some olive oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes on to the bread. Next, line the 1st layer, that is the oven dried tomatoes.

Next, fry a slice of bacon and an egg. I bought my delicious bacon from Vam. Lay the bacon on top of the tomatoes.

Next lay the sunny fried egg on top and be very careful of the runny yolk. Do cook it a lil more if you can.

Then finish off by topping the 2nd layer of bread on it and press down gently. I broke my yolk but luckily my bread soaked most of it up. It was simply scrumptious - salty, tart, sweet...!

Stay tune for my other ways of using my oven dried tomatoes :)

Bunny Makes Express Dried Tomatoes...

2009-12-23T01:55:00.000-08:00

I really really hearts hearts hearts sun dried tomatoes. They taste so exquisitely flavoursome and the chewy texture really brings the food it's been paired up with to a higher level of blissfulness. The tartness yet caramelized sweetness goes well with sandwiches, pasta, pizza, breads and many more stuff. However, the price for sundried tomatoes in Malaysia is really expensive ranging from minimum RM12.90 onwards for 100 grams!

Luckily I was reading a food blog and came across a recipe for homemade dried tomatoes using the oven. I would like to thank the flogger behind The Hungry Caterpillar for highlighting the recipe out from Flavours Magazine.

I was afraid to buy too many tomatoes just in case the recipe turned into a flop. I bought some plum tomatoes, cut them into half and deseeded them. Other recipes in google highly recommended Roma tomatoes as they are meaty and tastes the best. I will use Roma tomatoes the next time I do these oven dried tomato beauties.

Next, my condiments include Olive Oil, Black Pepper, Mixed Herbs and salt (not shown).

Mix in the olive oil, dried mixed herbs (they provide a more intense flavour than fresh herbs), black pepper and salt. No exact measurements as I used my instincts. The salt is added to help draw out moisture from the tomatoes faster.

Then line the tomatoes on a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 220 degrees fahrenheight or 100 degrees celcius. Put in the oven and start your timer. Smaller tomotoes require about 5 to 6 hours of slow roasting whereas the bigger tomatoes will require 7 to 8 hours in the oven.

After 1 hour in the oven, the tomatoes start to loose its juices and become wrinkley.

After 2 hours, they look like this...

Then disaster struck! My mum thought it was a waste of electricity to use the oven for so long and she decided to help save some time by putting the tray on the top most shelf whereby the heat is the hottest. My poor tomatoes were charred before they lost enought juices... :(

Always maintain the tray in the middle rack whereby the heat is more evenly distributed. My tomatoes were pre-maturedly roasted and I had no choice but to stop roasting them and I took them out...after only 4.5 hours...

Sigh..sigh..sigh...but what is done is already done. The rich smell of roasted tomatoes fill my kitchen. You have a choice of peeling off the skin or leaving them intact. They are easier to peel off when they are still warm. I left some on and peeled the blackened ones off.

Here are some of the ready ones. You can store them away in the freezer as it is or bottle them up in olive oil. I chose the latter as the former have a higher chance of going mouldy due to our humid weather here in Malaysia.

I filled up the jar...it's only a small jar. So my next tryout, I will use triple to quadruple of what I used this first time so that I can make more using the same amount of electricity.

This is after I filled it to the brim with olive oil.

My next attempt, I will add 1 to 2 whole cloves of unpeeled garlic for a more flavoursome oven dried tomatoes saked in olive oil. Stay tune for my yummy BET (Bacon Egg Tomato) sandwich made with herb bread.

Bunny's Holiday Breakfast

2009-12-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since I last cooked myself a wholesome breakfast. I bought these really delicious bacon from Vam via lowyat.net. The bacon was nice and lean with more meat than fat. It was light and smoky and just had enough salt to it. Very worth it to buy from him. Outside the butchers sell bacon like Vams but more pricy and more fats. Yum Yum Yum!!!

I fried some bacon on my non stick pan and got them nice and crisp. Then I boiled my eggs and blanched some veges. I was now missing my carbohydrates and decided to do a grilled cheese toast. As I opened the fridge to get my cheese...ohhh...I have kimchi and decided to add that to my platter too.

Here's a closeup of my goodies...

Oopps...my eggs turned out more cooked than I expected. It's a must for me to use free-range eggs if I boil them as I feel they taste better than normal eggs. Let's hope the yolk's not fully cooked yet...I hate fully cooked boiled yolks. I just don't like its powdery taste. Woohoo~~ still have runny whites inside...*cross* paws...

Aiya...a lil overcooked but still luckily not powdery. I only managed to eat 1 egg as I was too fully.

So what did you have for breakfast?

Bunny Visits Tanjung Sepat

2009-11-29T22:53:00.000-08:00

Hunny Bunny and a couple of photographer friends visited Tanjung Sepat or 21 November for a photograpgy cum makan trip. Tanjung Sepat is famous for their Baos (Steamed Buns with filling) and seafood dishes. My family ordered 30 pieces of baos!

We were supposed to meet up at Kota Kemuning's Mc D at 6.45am but we waited till 7.15am because a car was late and drove to Tanjung Sepat (about 1.5 hours). We reached there at 8.15am and headed straight to the Hainan styled kopitiam only to be disappointed that they already ran out of their famous Hainan Toast and soft boiled eggs. Vixen and Sun then disappeared into the nearby market to purchase some fresh eggs so that the shop owner could make soft boiled eggs for us. Then we had their wantan mee and kuih kak (fried radish cake cubes).

I never really had the stomach for soft boiled eggs as I am more of a med boiled eggs girl. Don't you find this a bit too raw for your liking?

After Hunny mixed it up with some light soya sauce and pepper, it tasted good but I only had a few spoonfuls.

The Fried Radish Cake cubes were lacking in wok hei and wasn't that fantastic but hungry beggars can't be choosers.

Chow advised us to try the Hainan styled Char and we ordered Tea (Char) instead of coffee. Hunny and Roger ordered one each but in actual fact they should have ordered Hainan Coffee instead.

This is the famous Tanjung Sepat Bao Factory and shop signage. Wow! I am so excited. My total order plus some of my hunny's tallied at 42 pieces. I actually called them 2 days before to pre-order my baos and this is a MUST if you are going there on weekends or holidays as the tourists comes in busloads then.

As we walked in the road to get to the coffee processing factory, we passed Hai Yew Heng old kopitiam and their new bao processing factory. My baos could only be collected after 1pm as they make the baos fresh everyday.

You must remember to call the mobile phone number if you wish to purchase more than 5 pieces of the 6 varieties that they offer. They have Sang Yoke Bao (Pork steamed with a wedge of hard boiled egg), Mui Choy Bao (Preserved Vege cooked with a lil minced meat), Red Bean Bao, Kaya Bao, Peanut Bao and Vege Bao. The prices range from RM2.00 to RM1.20 each.

This is the kopitiam where the Baos used to made and sold before the above mini factory was built.

Ahh...as we walked further in, the villagers are an enterprising lot. They grow their own vegetables! There were brinjals, okra, leafy veges and others.

Ahh...after a short distance, we reached the coffee processing factory.

Joo Fa Trading is owned by Sifu Mr. Lim. He processes mainly 2 types of coffee...one is black and the other is white. The heavy scent of roasting coffee hits our nostrils as we step in. He still roasts them using firewood.

Here are the coffee beans in their non roasted and unsorted shapes. So many colors!

The workers will sort out the beans by color and size to make the best quality coffee. This is what they use to standardize the size of the beans. Any smaller or not the correct color will be rejected.

After sorting, here are the sorted beans before they are processed. These are the coffee beans for the black coffee. I forgot to ask what type they are.

Here are the unroasted but processed white coffee beans.

The coffee beans are forever spinning to ensure even roasting. I don't dare stand too near because scared a hot coffee bean pop out n burn me...

We reached there just in time for him to add the 2 secret ingredients to make the coffee fragrant and palateable for our Malaysia tastebuds. Scroll down to see what they are

Yup! It's sugar! Can you see how it mixes in with the coffee?

Now for the next secret ingredient....for the fragrance and creaminess....

It's our good ol' Planta Margerine!

After adding the sugar and planta for a few rounds and mixing them around, it's time to remove from the roasting pan and on to a tray to cool before packing in as beans or grinding them to sell. It really looks like the bittumen used to tar our roads. The scent of the roasted coffee assaulted our nose. As the Sifu spades out the coffee beans, his assistant spreads them out to cool and also with the assistance of the fans.

The coffee cools down very fast within 10 minutes according to Sifu Lee. Enclosed is a link for a video of how they remove the coffee beans from the roasting pan.

Coffee Bean Cooling Process

They also have 2 coffee bean plants at the back of their factory.

What is visiting a coffee factory without sampling their coffees? As I am a non coffee drinker, the others who tasted it said it was very delicious, rich aroma and not sour at all.

Here is their price list for the black coffee.

Next up, we went to the nearby seaside area to the Lovers Bridge & Jetty. It was half concrete and half wooden. Along the long stretch there, boats will dock at the side. I didn't take much photos as my camera died on me just then. My bad, as I forgot to charge it after my Sekinchan trip.

Here are some mudskippers heading towards the sea. They are amphibians as they are half fish but they have legs too. They can live on dry land and in water as well.

A view of the seaside during low tide. Some mangrove trees swaying in the wind.

After that, we left for Sepang Gold Coast about 30 minutes away. It is a beautiful but rather polluted beach. There is currently beautiful villas on sea being developed there and its clubhouse is already up and running. The garden is really beautifully designed. This will be a beautiful place to stay in when it completes.

We made our way back to Tanjung Sepat at 1pm for our seafood bak kut teh but we couldn't get any as they were all sold out. Hence, I went to collect my baos. Luckily I reserved mine as a busload of people just came and bought most of the buns away. I asked the lady manager there how many baos they produced a day and she replied close to 1200 pieces a day! All hand filled by her team of 5 to 8 workers there.

Chow then brought us to have seafood lunch by the Lovers Bridge Jetty. It was a wise choice. We had crabs, fish, lala, oyster omelette, vegetables, tofu soup and I forgot what else and it was very yummy and not as oily as our meal in Sekinchan. I have no pictures to show as we were all too hungry and Chow didn't post the photos up for me to loan and use in my blog. This meal cost us RM15 per person. There were 9 of us.

This was a truly enjoyable trip.

Gao Ren Guan, ss15 Subang Jaya

2009-11-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an uneventful day as I was supposed to meet up for dessert tasting at Rui's Patisserie Artisanal Cafe in Mt. Kiara only to find out that they don't open on Sundays. I was still hankering for a good slice carrot cake and I made Hunny drive to Bon Bon Cafe only to find out that they were closed too! Not willing to give up, Hunny drove me to ss15, Subang Jaya to find my favourite cake cafe, A Taste Boutique, and guess what? They were closed too! By that time, can see thunder clouds misting over Hunny's face and I quickly suggested a place for lunch.

That's when we ended up in Gao Ren Guan. Hunny suggested we try this place a few times but I always resisted as I remembered them to be a pricy establishment serving home cooked food.

We ordered 3 small dishes and rice plus drinks.

Our 1st dish came...it was snake beans fried with roast pork. It looked glisteningly oily but it turned out to be starch sauce. The taste was average.

Next up was the hot and sour vege. The sauce was a little starchy but it packed a punch of sourness and underlying spiciness. Hunny enjoyed this dish greatly as he ordered another bowl of rice. The Kale vege was stewed till tender and no hint of bitterness at all.

My vegies...must make sure I eat enough...

Then the best dish came...Nam Yue Pork Belly (Fermented beancurd marinated pork belly)! Very yummy!

The Nam Yue was not overpowering the meat taste...the meat was encased with fats (not too much or too little) and it provided the best tasting pork ever...My Favourite! Even after it's cold, it was still crisp on the outside. Thumbs Up!

See...so delectable!

It was RM51.90 for these 3 small dishes plus 3 rice plus 2 drinks and 1 rice dumpling for Hunny. The Rice Dumpling alone cost RM8! I will have to ask Hunny later how it tasted. This is a place I'd come back with my family. I won't be surprise if this restaurant is full during peak dining hours.

Lunch at Kuala Selangor - Chai Lee Restaurant

2009-11-15T15:02:00.000-08:00

We adjourned for lunch at Chai Lee Restaurant at 11.30am. The reason why our "tour guide" chose this restaurant was not because of their tasty cooking but was because of the parking space! We were a big group of 30+ members who came in 12 cars.

Our table of 9 people and their DSLRs

We ordered 7 dishes - 5 seafood + 1 Veg and 1 Tofu. We had 100 Plus to cool down and replenish our body salts before drinking iced chinese tea.

The 1st dish was Kung Po Fried Snails. Wow! The snail meat slices were huge! They tasted chewy and wasn't cooked that well as it was lacking in the wok heat taste. The dish was also oily.

Next came the tofu soup that was sta\rchy and when we added vinegar to it, it was really nice and hearty.

Then the best dish in my opinion came - The Claypot Fish Maw Stew....yummy! The fish maw was soaked and cooked nicely. It was tender with some chewiness to it. Really nice and not too salty.

The veggies came next but I was too busy tucking in. The deep fried sotong came next. It tasted good with a hint of salted egg yolk to the rings. Crunchy without too much batter.

The meat crabs came but I didn't eat much of these as I was beginning to feel full. The crabs were smaller, the shell was thin and its flesh was sweet...

Last dish came and it was mantis prawns! It was difficult to eat this as it was deep fried and the shell was stuck on its flesh. Hunny said it'd taste better if it was steamed...

My plate after lunch

We couldn't finish all the dishes as they were quite oily and we did over order...

The spreads not bad for RM20/pax though.

A visit to Sekinchan

2009-11-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hunny and I joined the Shutterasia group for a visit to the paddy fields at Sekinchan. It was a straightforward journey down to Kuala Selangor. However, Hunny would never bring me down to these places as it is too far and may not be as fun as going in a group.

I have never seen or been up, close and personal with paddy fields before. We left almost an hour late due to some members overslept and when we reached Sekinchan, the sun was up high and might in full source.

The paddy fields were vast and stretched for miles. We were there a lil too early for harvesting as the fields are just turning yellow...

Some of the members taking photographs...

The farmers also grow other crops such as Noni, banana, and other fruit trees, veges such as brinjal, gourds, pumpkins, tapiocas to supplement their lifestyle and income.

As we were walking down the long straight road, I saw some beautiful pink color eggs that were clustered around. One of the members confirmed them as snail eggs. Really beautiful color, don't you agree?

My one and only shot taken with my Raynox Macro DCR-250 lens.

I think this spider just had a feast.

A beautiful water lily. I would have loved to get a closer shot but the land surrounding this lil pond was very mushy.

Next, as we were driving, we found this curious sight. At first, Hunny and I thought the trees were struck by lightning but in actual fact, the trees were deliberately set on fire as the villagers believed that the cocout trees housed some evil spirits.

This is the path leading to the haunted coconut trees patch. It was so hot that I retired back to my Hunny's car to wait in the air cond (oops...till the car overheated and the temperature bar was full and blinking).

It was nice coming here but it would have been perfect if it wasn't so hot. Next entry will be on the restaurant where we ate our cheap seafood lunch.

Kanjers Stroopwafels

2009-10-14T00:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I couldn't resist the temptation and decided to try the Kanjers Stroopwafels after being so curious as to why the Hollandse Club in Singapore is selling 2 pieces at SGD6!

This is the regular sized Kanjers Stroopwafels Duopack. I always wondered what was duopack till I opened this packet and found that there are 4 individual packs of 2 pieces stroopwafels each in.

A handy pack of 2s that you can carry around.

Wow...the golden brown color of the Stroopwafel encased in a sealed packet. The wafel is still crisp.

Hunny heating up the stroopwafel over his cup of Sumatra Single Origin Bean Coffee from Coffee Ritual at Sec 14, PJ. Heating it to further liquidise the gooey caramel in between the wafels.

Sorry...we forgot to snap the photos of the after effect as we were both gobbling the delicious stroopwafel...no wonder SG is selling this particular brand so expensive. Fret not, If I do bring this brand in, I will not sell as expensive as Singapore.

Can you spot the ingredients in English? Concentrated Butter....yums! kekekeke..so sinful...!!

My Yummy Dutch Stash

2009-10-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

Please check out my review on Stroopwafels and how to buy them from http://softbunnysales.blogspot.com/ and http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1149758 :)

Pusing Makan Time

2009-09-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

Wooo....look at this piece of crispy roast pork skin...yum yum yum!!!

The full roasted pig...yummmmyy....!!

Inside view of the roasted pig....

Here's RM20 worth of Roasted Pork...to be shared between Wasabi, Shan, Hunny and I. However, I found the roast pork a bit too bland and not salty enough.

Bunny Learns at Jetfynn's Studio in Ipoh

2009-09-16T02:01:00.000-07:00

Wasabi and Vixen wanted their passport photos taken for member and student card purposes and off we trotted to Jetfynn's Studio. Jetfynn is our acquaintance through the local photography forum shutterasia. We normally chat online but most of our friends have never met Jetfynn in real life before.

Jetfynn is currently lecturing at a college in Ipoh on top of his job as a full time photographer. He was kind enough to invite all of us into his studio for an inpromptu lesson in studio photography. He is also very professional in taking all photos as he is not those run of mill photographers who do not take decent photos. Jetfynn always captures poses at its best. Here's some of my shots.

Here is Wasabi posing...

Jetfynn is really an excellent photographer and his rates are affordable. Many couples and families look for him to take their photographs and he is very patient and motivational. Do give him a call if you are interested in getting any event photography done.

Bunny's Ipoh Makan Trip With Friends

2009-09-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hunny took Bunny to Ipoh for a brief breakaway in early September. We were joined by friends from KL and PJ for a eating trip. We started off by having breakfast in Foh San. Foh San is famous for their fresh and tasty old school dimsum and was housed in a very old building (read Breakfast Day 2's entry) but they have shifted to their new premises this year and have lost its charm as well as modernized their menu...*sigh*...another heritage gone. Gone is another era of the old time feel where once we could see old timers bring their birds in cages to show off whilst having a cup of chinese tea and some dim sum.

I didn't take too many photos but you are welcomed to see another friend's blog on Foh San as he took the most pictures.

This is one of the modern dim sums which is made from bitter gourd and minced pork. I like it as it has a hint of bitterness paired with fatty saltiness. A some what healthy steamed dumpling.

The steamed fish balls. My Hunny said it tasted nice and fresh.

The Yam and Pork Deep Fried Dumpling (Wu Kok). Char Siu like pork encased in yam, battered and deep fried...not too oily and it's yummy.

The Char Siu Bao...fragrant with a mixture of fatty lean meat.

The Big Bao (Tai Bao) is often eaten as a meal of it's own due to its big size. You can smell the fragrance of the ingredients and chinese wine when it is served.

The interior....WOW!!! A hard boiled egg and marinated chicken meat and some preserved sausage cooked with chinese rice wine. I only ate the skin...not the filling...

Another view of the Big Bao.

Here is a full table shot of what we had.

All the enthusiatic photographers taking a shot of the dimsum.

The Dim Sum meal for 7 of us cost RM85. We were saving our tummies for more food.

Next up, we went to Ching Han Guan which i visited last year and they were busy making mooncakes. All the mooncakes are still handmade and not mass produced by machines like the other brands in the market. They are sold out on certain types everyday and hence need to make alot to cover the market demand.

Here you can see the sifu (skilled master) working non-stop flattening the dough, filling it and shaping it into little balls filled with the yam paste.

The balls are then pushed into the wooden block moulds to create the square mini mooncakes that will be baked.

6 pieces for RM8.80. Very nice and not too sweet. I love the yam paste filled mini mooncakes. Yummy!

Next up, we went to Kek Lok Tong to walk walk and shoot some photos. We then went to Loke Wee Koi and Kong Heng of which I left the photo taking to WaiSekMeow as he has not eaten at these places before. We had ice cream soda float and pang dai woon juice (Pennyworts/daun pegaga besar) and shared some Gai Geok Bao (Chicken feet skin wrapped with chicken liver and gizzard which is then roasted and marinated with a char siu like sauce)

Next up, Roger wanted to get his passport photo taken and off we trotted to Jetfynn's studio. Jetfynn is another photo member of shutterasia.com of whom we are of acquaintance with. I will blog about him in another entry.

After that, we drove about 60km from Kampar to Tg Tualang not knowing that it could have been accessible from Batu Gajah's way. Tg Tualang is famous for their freshwater prawns. We had 2 types of freshwater prawns and that cost us RM155 for that 2 dishes. Freshwater prawns in my opinion tastes best if cooked like Sang Har Meen (egg sauce noodle) style. Hunny don't fancy them as they lack the prawny taste that sea prawns have. Please read WaiSekMeow's blog for a full review.

After the prawns, we drove back to Kampar for their famous charcoal claypot chicken rice. When we reached there, my mood was spoilt by my Sales Manager who called to scold me for the absence of my Sales Promoter and that really marred my mood. I was so angry that I couldn't take any steady photos or even enjoy the claypot chicken rice. From now on, if I am on holiday, I will make it a point not to pick up my phone if it's work related. As usual, do read WSM for full review.

From what I have eaten, I felt it was nice because it had the nice charcoal heat taste but other than that...it tasted normal. My Hunny enjoyed the "Farn Jiu" (crispy rice pieces) that are usually found at the bottom of the claypot.

That concludes my Ipoh makan trip with friends and all that we ate came up to roughly RM48 per person. Some foods were hits and misses but it was the company that we enjoyed the most. I can hardly wait for the next trip. It was fun going out with this group :)

Bunny eats at Busy Corner, D'sara Jaya again

2009-09-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

We were hungry after our movie in Tropicana City Shopping Mall but we didn't want to eat there. We weren't sure if Busy Corner at Damansara Jaya was open as we normally go there for dinner but we still swung by there to check. We were lucky that they were open for lunch.

We ordered the Prawn Claypot Rice (RM22) for 2 person serving. See those yummy big juicy prawns!! Well worth our RM22 although we wished the prawns could be fresher.

We also ordered their steamed soup and both of us had the peanut and lotus root soup. In the afternoon, it is not as nice as dinner time's soup as we felt it has not been steamed long enough. Hunny commented that the peanuts were not soft enough whereas I felt the soup was not too sweet enough compared with the last time we drank it at night. RM4.50

Altogether, our meal cost us RM31.50 because Hunny had a cup of Iced Chinese Tea.

Bunny's Stroopwafels Affair

2009-09-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

My love for Stroopwafles began when my 3rd sis (Haruki's Mama) was always travelling to Europe for business and leisure trips and came back with a few rolls of these goodies. Stroopwafles originate from Nederlands and is a flat waffle sandwiched with a rich buttery spiced syrup.

The Dutch enjoys the Stroopwafles with their tea, coffee, ice cream, desserts or even on its own. My friend, sdg (a SQ air stewardess) managed to buy 3 rolls back for me during one of her flight routes. I really enjoyed them so much that now I import them in to so that I could continue to enjoy them.

Here's my friend enjoying her stroopwafle with a cup of delicious single bean original coffee from Coffee Ritual (at Section 14, PJ).

Firstly, take a piece of Stroopwafle out and place it over the cup of steaming black coffee. This is to let the syrup in between the sandwiched wafle heat up a little whilst absorbing the fragrant coffee steam.

Next up, you can now consume the stroopwafle with your hot coffee or tea. Make sure your coffee or tea is unsweetened or lightly sweetened as the stroopwafle is rather sweet on its own already. I normally like to tear my stroopwafle apart to see the gooey syrup come out...yummy!

I am currently bringing in more fresh stroopwafles and if you are interested in purchasing a roll or 2 or 3, please drop me a comment at this blog with your email and I will advise you on the pricing. The Stroopwafles are flown in using air freight as they have a short shelf life of 2 to 3 months in room temperature and up to 1 year in the freezer.

For Singaporeans, sdg can bring in some Stroopwafles if you want to but you gotto drop her an email at her website.

Bunny Eats at Onn Kei, Ipoh

2009-09-15T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hunny brought Bunny down to Ipoh for a brief getaway in early September. We only arrived at night as I had to work on that day. As I have not eaten any of Ipoh's Chicken Rice / Hor Fun, Hunny brought me to Onn Kei (located at the corner diagonally across from the famous Lou Wong and no air cond restaurant).

We both had hor fun. The smooth flat rice noodles with just the right bite to it. KL cannot find these quality noodles. Hunny had soup version whereas I had dried version.

We had chicken for 2 person serving. The chicken was not fantastic as the meat was not as smooth as a Hainanese chicken should be. I miss my ss4 chicken rice...*weeps*

Wooo....so fat the beansprout...that's another thing you cannot find in KL...I was so surprised that there was no raw bean taste to the sprouts! The KL ones are long and skinny and had that yucky bean-ish taste to it. The ones here were sweet, fresh n crunchy. Yummy! No wonder my friend, Phoebe, refuses to eat beansprouts unless she is in Ipoh.

Wow...this one was yummy...chicken spare parts! My 1st time eating chicken intestines. I normally have the rubbery gizzard and the powdery liver. The intestines were slightly rubbery yet so tender...yummy!

I can't really remember how much this cost but I think it's around RM17 for 2 of us plus two cha suet (iced chinese tea).

My next visit to Ipoh, I wanna try the daytime chicken rice at the shop lots behind Loke Wee Koi. Their Gai Geok Pao (Chicken Feet Skin stuffed with liver and gizzard) tasted fantastic!

Haruki Adventures - Haruki's 1st Birthday Party

2009-08-31T05:45:00.000-07:00

Haruki celebrated his 1st birthday belatedly last Saturday as his Mama was away holidaying with his god mamas. We went to tabao buka puasa food from the ss5 stalls for the humans to eat whilst Haruki had a surprise awaiting him.

1. Haruki's special Barkery Special Meatloaf Cupcakes - Speciallay ordered from The Bark-ery. Its ingredients includes Minced Beef, herbs, wholemeal bread, eggs, egg shells and other good wholesome products. RM30 for 12 pieces.

Haruki's cupcakes stacked up for better photography purposes. Looks like for human consumption if not for the crushed egg shells in it for calcium...

The Birthday boy posing patiently whilst waiting to eat his treats...

Posing with Mama and my 2 sexy God Mamas

With my 2 sexy God Mamas - Mama Hana and Mama Bea

Would have been the best family portrait but Mama Bea accidentally blinked...

Posing with The Barkery baker, Aunty Meen, who baked me these lovely goodies...

Haruki's a happy doggy but I should have shifted my position to snap the dog's pic...

Mama loves Haruki so much.

It was a great timing to shoot this but my hand shook...

Haruki snitched a piece and wanted more....aww...look at him pout...

Final shot of the Birthday Boy....

Haruki Adventures - Haruki Does A Marley at Bukit Gasing

2009-08-31T00:02:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, my sis and I brought Haruki for his virgin trip out of the housing area to Bukit Gasing for a fun walk. What my sister and I imagined didn't materialize as Haruki turned in a Marley when we got there!

Haruki was restless as we were travelling on the highway as I guessed it didn't smell good and the noise levels were pretty bad for Ruki's ears. The moment we turned at Raju's, Haruki suddenly turned very alert and was sniffing the air with great interest. My sis usually leaves one window down for her son (the dog) to stick his head up to enjoy the scenery and air.

The Park Entrance...

Haruki getting down from the car looking bewildered at the new surroundings...

Walking in through the entrance, Haruki got really excited with all the new surroundings and scents and was tugging my sister to hurry up...

Haruki does his 1st Marley move....running after 2 dogs with my sis trying desperately to cling on to the leash in which she drops the leash eventually due to Haruki's body force being too much for her to handle...
==in the backdrop, some walkers were shaking their heads in disapproval and some were smiling bemusedly==

As we were getting admonished for bringing in an uncontrollable dog in, we got negative feedback that made my sister decide to turn back and leave instead. As we couldn't turn back, my sister had to walk till the end and do a U-Turn to the next lane.

However, Ruki didn't seem to wanna go back and continued to tug...

Finally, my sis managed to turn back towards the entrance. I think we only managed to go in about 200m...*lol*....

Luckily, we did meet some kind people who own dogs and in particular this uncle who said he had 2 labradors of which one was a chocolate brown labrador - My sis's dream dog. So they stood at the entrance discussing doggy tips.

As we were walking back to the car, there was a rotweiller puppy standing next to his master and Haruki wanted to go and make friends. My sis pulled Haruki back fearing that the Rotweiller may attack her silly son. Suddenly we spotted this great dane lookalike dog. To me, the dog reminded me of Scooby Doo and reminded my sister of the cartoon character Mamaduke. The owner, Leon, was very friendly and brought his dog over to make friends with Haruki.

Surprisingly, Leon's dog (I forgot his name) is only 1 year old and was not a great dane as I originally thought it was. He is a mixed breed of Doberman and Bull Mastiff. He had a really nice coat of shiny milk chocolate color. He is very friendly but people are intimidated by its size. He's only 1 year old and so big already. My sis said that her son looks like a gal next to this dog.

Aww....so cute..!! The 3 dog owners step in to discuss and share more doggy tips. Leon's dog was trained strictly by the textbook. No fancy classes for him. The secret lays with the firmness and consistency of the owner.

Leon was surprised that Haruki walks with his nose stuck sniffing on the ground instead of walking with its head upright to be alert of the surroundings and to protect his owner if needs be. He advised to train Ruki using a haltee. He also said that the choker leash is not suitable for jungle treks and that a harness would be more suitable and easier to control. We went back to Leon's car as we didn't know what a haltee was and Leon demo-ed it to us using his dog's haltee on Haruki.

Haruki, the innocent dog, had no idea what he was getting himself into and was willing to let Leon slip the haltee on.

Leon then continues to advise us on how the haltee is to be used....

We saw the magic of the haltee...each time the dog bends down to sniff, one must jerk the haltee up...repeat if necessary. Soon the dog will learn not to sniff too much.

Leon's last imparting advice was that my sis is the master / BOSS whereas Haruki is the slave / PET.

Moral of The Story

- Choker not recommended for jungle treks. Harness recommended.

- Must train Haruki to be more calm as some walkers didn't like Haruki as a wild dog

- Must show Haruki that Mama is boss and not Haruki is boss

- Must make time and sacrifices in order to bring up a fitter dog.

Bunny Eats Dim Sum in Sg. Buloh

2009-08-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Hunny and I went to Sg Buloh for Dinner Tonight. We decided to have dimsum as we were too lazy to drive out to Nambawan for dinner.

1. This is the shop front of the Dim Sum Restaurant and it's well known for serving dimsum at nights.

2. The lady boss recommended us to try the Thai Style Deep Fried Tofu Salad. It was nice and refreshing however at RM5.xx, it's a bit too pricy.

3. The Kau Choy Gao or the Chinese Chives Steamed Dumplings at RM4.50. Hunny loved it as the chives didn't over power the taste of the prawns. I also enjoyed it as it wasn't oily and the prawns were crunchy but lacking the fresh prawn taste though.

4. The Steamed Pork Ribs which were not too fatty but Hunny found it bland as he was used to heavier tasting dishes. RM3.00

5. The 2 shellfish dimsums that we tried.

6. Lala Dimsum with fish paste topping. Mediocore at RM2.60

7. Mussels and pork paste served in salty egg sauce. It was different but I prefer a dryer more intense salty egg yolk taste. RM4.50

8. Siu Mai. We didn't like it as it was rather plain compared to the earlier fancy dimsums that we tasted. RM2.60

9. My favourite! The Har Mai (Prawn with Pork Paste Steamed Dumplings). RM4.50

10. Look at its prawns!! So generous! As generous as Ipoh's Foh San. It was a delight biting thru the thin skin and crunchy prawns but it was lacking the prawny taste though.

11. Dessert of Deep Fried Lotus Yam Paste Balls. I forgot to ask the price though. Hunny enjoyed it and it came in servings of 5 balls.

12. Look at the smooth not too sweet filling...Hunny enjoyed all 5 balls as I was too full to eat and I still had porridge to eat.

13. My bowl of century egg lean pork congee. Very traditional congee with pei dan and I did think the pork tasted more like chicken strips though...

14. Hunny asked if there were any other special dimsums that the shop had and the lady boss recommended Keong Yong Tao Bao (Ginger Garlic Beancurd Skin Roll)

15. Hunny enjoyed it as the whole combi worked. The Ginger Garlic topping was not too spicy but was really fragrant. Even I enjoyed the topping. Combined that with my congee, my tummy felt so nice and warm.

16. The contact card for the restaurant. They are open from 10am till 2pm and 7pm till late. Best to call the lady boss to check for further details.

17. The map there.

Hunny and I will definitely go back there with more friends so that we can try more dim sums. Our total bill was RM59.60 (inclusive RM19 worth of takeaway for bfast next day).

My 2nd trip there 2 weeks ago was a not so happy story. We barely ate but yet we were charged RM40! We didn't even call any mussels this time...!

Seafood Porridge at Kam Heong Kopitiam, PJ State (New Town)

2009-08-01T07:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was not feeling very well and Hunny brought me to eat an expensive seafood claypot porridge. Surprisingly, the kopitiam which is usually very packed and busy was not that full and we managed to find good seats.

Hunny ordered a wantan mee (small portion) and a seafood claypot porridge for 2 person. Hunny felt the the wantan mee was not worth its RM4.50 as it was really small and miserable if compared to Section 19's food court which RM4.50 would be for double mee and a bit more char siu. No pictures taken bec I was feeling a lil under the weather at that time.

Our seafood porridge came next...it was huge! Of course-lah...it cost us RM31! Looks really normal on the surface, right?

Last time they used to have many medium sized prawns but this round there were only 2 XL very fresh, sweet and juicy prawns in it...

Fresh Fresh Lala....

Fresh Firm White Fish flesh...no stinky fishy smell...even Hunny enjoyed it...and there were unshelled crab meat in there too...yummy!

Hunny scooping a lil of everything into my bowl...the prawn was really nice...

Yum Yum...my bowl...there were plenty of dried scallops in it too...the rice grains were broken down just the way I like my porridge...you can taste a light dash of rice wine was added to it. The ginger slices were very nice and hot...

Don't underestimate this claypot of porridge...I was full after eating it. RM31 is pretty steep price to pay but once in a while is ok-lah..

Coffee Ritual @ Sec 14, PJ

2009-07-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hunny has always enjoyed a good cup of coffee daily but he loves his non-asian roasted coffees the best. According to Hunny, Asian coffees tend to be roasted with sugar whereas other regions of coffees aren't. Hunny normally goes to Starbucks for his coffee fix but eversince we discovered Coffee Ritual, he has become a number 1 fan of this cafe.

I read about Coffee Ritual from The Star newspapers early this year and suggested Hunny to go try the place but Hunny was very skeptical and we didn't try this place till 2 weeks ago. This is a review of our past 2 visits. I have enclosed a map to get to this cafe.

What makes this place so special is the way they brew the coffee. They store their coffee beans in special vacumned air tight containers and they only grind the beans when someone places an order for those particular brew. Next are the equipment used to bew the coffee. Very special!

Firstly, a glass pot of filtered water is placed over a burner. You can see the barrister lighting the burner in the picture below. The red machine in the foreground is the coffee bean grinder.

Freshly grinded beans are placed in the container with a spout in the glass pot of boiling water. As the water boil, it'll create a suction and suck the heated water up to brew the freshly grounded coffee beans.

The grounded coffee is given a stir with the boiling water to mix up for even flavouring.

The coffee and boiling water are left to brew for 2 minutes...I find it so miraculous that the boiling water has been sucked up to the jar above it but it's all scientific methods. You can begin to smell the coffee frangrance as it releases its flavors.

The burners below are removed and the coffee mixture is given a final stir.

As the liquid cools, it is filtered as it flows downwards again. A heavenly coffee fragrance permeats the surroundings.

The coffee is ready to be served.

This was Hunny's cup of freshly brewed Arabica Coffee that gotten him exclaiming " OMG! This is GOOD coffee!" as he was sipping the coffee with a dash of milk. According to him, it was very smooth and pleasant to drink.

This is my banana smoothie from my 2nd visit. The smoothie was really nice. Not too sweet with the pleasant taste of pisang berangan (a local fragrant banana popularly used for cakes).

This is the breakfast set from our 1st visit. Hunny had scrambled eggs and toast and an additional order of 2 hash browns. RM3.20 + (RM1.80 x 2) = RM6.80

I had a combo set of Mushroom Crepe which came with 1 hot coffee (I think it was about RM12.90 which Hunny ordered Arabica Coffee) and a glass of Mango Low Fat Yogurt Drink (RM5.50) as I wasn't much of a coffee drinker.

A creamy black pepper sauce poured over a light savory crepe encased with sauteed mushrooms and melted mozarella cheese served with a side of salad. I enjoyed this very much.

This has been listed as our current favourite place to visit. Yummy! They do get crowded on weekends during meal times. Do call to reserve a place if you plan to go in big groups.

Bat Kut Teh @ Telok Pulai, Klang

2009-07-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

A nice plate of steamed rice with a generous sprinkling of fried shallots...such an appetizing start for a Sunday lunch....*yums*. Now...where does one eat rice this style? Bak Kut Teh, of course!

Our 2 claypots (1 person serving) of 1 soup and 1 dry BKT with half fatty half lean meat. Next time the dry one..we should ask for lean meat instead.

Some vegies to reduce the sinfullness of these dishes...

The fragrant dried cuttlefish fried on high heat with BKT sauce, dried chillies makes this porky claypot so so so so heavenly.

My plate pilled with yummy meat and a fried beancurd....and a few pork intestines...chewy n nicely cleaned...

My plate again with more porky internal goodies...

The meal cost was RM33.00 inclusive 2 chinese teas. Pork has indeed increased price but once in a while consumption is ok. Yums!

Bunny eats takeaway durians @ ss2 Durians Stall

2009-06-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

I had a craving for durians over the weekend and told my Hunny that I wanted some. I wanted to opt for just the cheap normal durians from the kampung (villages) but my Hunny wanted to introduce me to gourmet durians instead. So we had a light dinner at Restoran Busy Corner and went off in search of gourmet durians in ss2, Petaling Jaya. There were a few stalls there offering both gourmet and kampung durians. The kampung durians were sold via buffet RM9.90 eat-all-u-can promotion.

This is one of the oldest and famous durian stalls in ss2. They even have a website! http://www.durianss2.com/

This is their ala-carte menu. Hunny wanted to order the most expensive durian on the list which is the Raja Kunyit (Mao San Wong in Cantonese) at RM22/kg for me whereby the durian flesh is really rich and creamy and sweet. Hunny wanted a bittersweet variety for himself and was recommended the San Chuk Variety at RM13/kg.

This is my Raja Kunyit durian which the stall helper picked out for me. Do not be deceived by the small size of this beauty. It weighs at 1.4kg and was priced at RM35!!! Pretty steep for a durian but Hunny said it's normal. This durian sells out fast irregardless of its hefty price tag. There were only about 4 to 5 Raja Kunyit durians left when we were there at 7.30pm.

Fu-Yoh!!! The stall helper split the durian a little and look at its flesh!!! Such a rich golden color and chockful of flesh encased within!!!

This is the stall helper opening my Hunny's San Chuk durian. Its flesh is pale white and it will taste initially bitter and ends on a creamy sweet note. RM15 for Hunny's durian.

Now, it's my durian's turn! So much flesh encased in the durian husks. The stall helper guaranteed that each seed will be shrunken indicating it as a premium durian. A premium durian will have really sharp thorns, thin skin husks with plenty of flesh encased inside and shrunken seeds. If you don't know what is shrunken seeds, do scroll down to see what I mean.

The stall helper still extracting the yummylicious durian into the plastic container....

The last bits of the Raja Kunyit durian being put in the plastic container....

That's it! Sealing my RM35 container of durian.

Here are what I mean by shrunken seeds. Each seed instead of being round and full...is flat and shrunken denoting more flesh than seed. The common varieties are usually lesser flesh and big round seeds. I had 5 pieces and Hunny had 1 piece of my Raja Kunyit Durian. Altogether, there were about 18 pieces in that small Raja Kunyit durian.

Here are the details on how to get to the durian stall. Do pay them a visit. You will get quality durians at reasonable prices there. We were told by the stall helper that durians in July will be even better as we had a long drought in month of May. This will make the durians drier and more concentrated in flavour.

P/S : Hunny and I will be returning for more durians next weekend....yummy and addictive but Hunny requested me to go for a cheaper durian variety this round. Hence, I would like to try the Udang Merah variety then.

Bunny Eats @ Busy Corner Claypot Restaurant, D'sara Jaya

2009-06-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Last Nite, Hunny and I went to Restoran Busy Corner for our dinner because I felt like drinking soup as it rained in the evening. This restaurant is famous for their claypot rice and is very packed during its peak hours of 7pm till 8pm. Hunny and I reached there at 6.30pm. Parking was a breeze. The restaurant is located near KDU college and is at the shoplots behind the Petronas Station. We ordered claypot rice for 1 pax and a bowl of double boiled soup for each of us.

This is their menu. We ordered claypot Prawn Hoisin Rice for 1 pax and 2 soups.

This is Hunny's hearty soup of peanuts with dried cuttlefish and chicken feet. Hunny enjoyed the soup very much as he sucked and nibbled the skin and cartillege off the chicken feet. RM4.50 for this bowl.

This is my soup. Old cucumber soup is for cooling down the body. It was delicious as it wasn't oily at all. RM4.50 for this bowl.

Our Prawn Hoisin Sauce claypot came. Luckily, we ordered for 1 person as it was rather huge and if we ordered for 2, we may not have had room for our special dessert later on.

The prawns were really nice...freshly crunchy and juicy. I found the hoisin sauce a bit too sweet for my liking. Next time, we should order the tomyam prawns claypot instead. RM13 for this claypot due to the many prawns they gave us.

Our bill came up to RM22.50 as Hunny also had a glass of iced chinese tea.

Bunny Eats Pork Noodles @ ss15, Subang

2009-06-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

Hunny was craving for ss15's Pork Noodles and off we went there after my workday was over. It was still crowded when we got there although it was like 2pm++. I ordered 2 bowls bihun and hor fun (Vermicilli and Flat Rice Noodles) mixture. As there was a minimum 25 minutes waiting time, I asked the roasted meat stall next to the busy pork noodles stall to chop me a plate of roast pork belly for 2.

The plate of roast pork belly was not fantastic as the meat was rough and slightly overcooked. The saving grace was the crispy crunchy skin. This plate cost RM10.

After waiting around 20 minutes, our noodles came. The soup has improved from our last visit. Our last visit, the soup had so much MSG and was yucky. This round, we could taste the sweetness of many hours of the soup being boiled. No MSG this round. The intestines tasted clean this round too...but I was disappointed as they only gave me 2 tiny pieces of liver whilst Hunny had bigger pieces...no fair!!!

The 2 bowls of noodles cost RM9.60 which I find it rather weird as that would mean each bowl costs RM4.65. I am not too sure if that is the price or the stall helper jacked up the price to make some profit of her own...

Bunny's Encounter With Godiva

2009-06-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Bunny's colleague gave out a piece of precious Godiva chocolates as Bunny has never eaten Godiva before. Bunny's experience of luxury chocolates stops only at Royce Japanese Nama Chocolates...

This chocolate has 85% Cocoa and belongs to the dark chocolate range. Luxurious feel when seeing this chocolate...

The back of the chocolate

After unwrapping, the scent of pure chocolates hits my nostrils as I take a bite out of it. The clear snap and the chocolate slowly melts in my mouth creating a rich smooth velvety chocolate taste and no cloying aftertaste left behind.

It was nice but I would like to try the milk chocolate ones from this brand. Anyone wanna sponsor me a piece or two???

Bunny eats Satay Celup @ Malacca

2009-06-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

Bunny went on a market visit in early June to Malacca and Johor. This is one of the restaurants that I really wanna try but each time I come here...there are always loads of people lining up to eat at this Restaurant Capitol.

Even on a Monday evening, there are people lining up although it's not as bad as weekends. We started lining up at 6.45pm and we managed to secure a table by 7.30pm. There is no sharing of tables allowed here as it's only 1 pot per table.

Satay Celup is based on steamboat style but instead of soup or porridge, we get the lovely fragrant thick gooey peanutty sauce to dip our meat, vegetables, seafood, fishballs, etc in.

This is our assortment of goodies.

The sauce in the pot has to be mixed with more ground peanuts in order to be more gooey and hearty.

The Kangkung vegetable dipped in the satay sauce was very heavenly! So so so delicious!! Then we had our favourite liver skewers, followed by my favourite prawns and each table will get some razor clams (i think it is razor clams) and tiger prawns skewers. Each stick cost RM0.70. Our bill plus drinks cost RM54.00 for the 3 of us. Yummy!!!

Bunny eats @ Section 17, PJ

2009-06-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

Hunny brought Bunny here to eat on the early stages of dating. It's the row of shops opposite Diethlem and Jaya One. This restaurant is a chinese restaurant with loads of diners. Sorry but I don't have the name...just know how to get there.

We normally have their "harm yue fah lam bo" (salted fish pork belly slices claypot) followed by 1 greens and tonight we decided to order "seong thong lala" (clams steamed in superior stock). It was a wise decision. Everything was absolutely fresh!!!

The yummy lala..so big and fresh...sorry abt the half eaten serving platter...dug in before taking pics...very fresh and yummy...RM10 only.

The fresh HK Kailan was nice and crisp...RM8

The pork belly claypot (RM10) that night was average as there wasn't enough salted fish in it. Usually it has more salted fish taste to make it very nice to go with white rice...total bill was RM32 plus 3 rice and 2 chinese teas. This place is one of our regular dining places.

Bunny Eats @ Otak-Otak Place, 1 U New Wing

2009-06-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Just a 2 shops away from my favourite teochew restaurant in 1U is a cafe called Otak-Otak Place. The cafe's concept is based on my childhood toys and sweets (abt 20+ years ago) and you can even purchase these items from the cafe too.

As the name of the restaurant is Otak-Otak, you can expect to find most of its mains and snacks with otak-otak in it. Otak-otak according to wikipedia...

"Otak-otak (Chinese: 鲤鱼包) is a fish cake found throughout Indonesia. The southern Malaysian town of Muar is a popular destination for it—people from surrounding states often visit to buy the famous otak-otak in bulk. It is also known as otah-otah, otah or otak in Singapore. Otak means brains in Malay and Indonesian, and the name of the dish is derived from the idea that the dish somewhat resembles brains, being on the soft and squishy side.[citation needed]
It can be eaten as a snack or with bread or rice as part of a meal.

Otak-otak is made by mixing fish paste (usually mackerel) with a mixture of spices including chillies, garlic, shallots, turmeric, lemon grass and coconut milk. The mixture is then wrapped in a banana leaf that has been softened by steaming, then grilled or steamed.
While fish otak-otak is most common, otak-otak is also made with prawns, often resulting in a more textured variety. In Muar, you will also be able to find otak-otak made from cuttlefish, fish head and even chicken."

Otak-otak here is made from fish. Although i prefer the otak-otak that comes with chunks of fish flesh instead of minced fish paste, the ones here are tasty and nice. They have menus that look like an exercise book, happy family play cards that denotes the table number that you are sitting on and other stuff to gel in with the whole store's concept.

Hunny and I ordered the set breakfast at RM5.90 if I m not mistaken which comes with a cup of coffee or tea. Hunny ordered the nasi lemak of which he commented that the rice was just nice and the sambal was not bad.

Next, our order of the Otak-Otak Deep Fried Dumplings (RM5.00 for 5 pieces) came. It took some getting used to as we do not normally consume otak-otak this way.

It was delicious and the sambal was really nice! Spicy! Sour! Fragrant! Just not salty enough.

I ordered a toast and kaya and soft boiled eggs set and that took a really long time to arrive. My toast came first and I was too hungry and ate 1 first. The toast was just right...crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Our drinks came. It's so old school. They served it with a flakey cream cracker. My tea with milk was nice. Not too sweet with milky aftertaste. Just right for me...yummy! But my best milk tea experience was from Canton-i.

After waiting close to 25 minutes, then only my soft boiled eggs made an appearence. My actual preference is medium boiled eggs...a more firm texture with a runny yolk...

The bill came to less than RM20 for the above. Not bad. Worth a revisit again which we did the following weekend. Hunny had the same nasi lemak set as he is a creature of habit whilst I had the Otak-Otak Burger (RM8.90) and a cup of hot milk tea. We also ordered a deep fried otak-otak springroll but it was not to our liking.

The otak-otak burger that kept me full from lunch till breakfast the next morning. It took some getting used to but I really enjoyed the bun...tasted really nice.

Do go and try it out. It's located at 1U new wing LG floor.

Lunch Boxes Part 1

2009-06-25T00:36:00.000-07:00

Ever since working in my new company 2 months ago, my lunches are some what restricted as you'll have to drive out for good food. As I don't drive and I don't always follow my colleagues out to eat, I wake up earlier in the mornings to prepare my healthy lunch boxes. Therefore, I do eat somewhat healthier and wholesome foods.

My 1st Lunch Box - Strawberries as dessert/snack...too sour...i no likey >.<

Healthy goodness of steamed yam cake, steamed sweet potatos and okra, and garlic oyster sauce sauteed button mushrooms...

Next up, was an experiment using tomyam green tea instant noodles which was too spicy for my tastebuds...paired with my favourite steamed pumpkin and some blanched greens seasoned with soy sauce...

Then, this is stir fried udon noodles with those korean mushrooms, garlic complemented with blanched greens....

I did many other combos but I always forget to take pics of them. It's nice not spending any money for lunch but the money goes towards my weekend replenishment of stuff to make my lunchboxes for the whole working week.

Bunny eats Yong Tau Fu in Ampang

2009-05-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

Today whilst out for market visit with the Sales Team, we went for lunch in a hidden part of Ampang for Yong Tau Fu (YTF). YTF is fish paste stuffed in tofu or veges. There are 3 shops situated next to each other but my colleague recommended to go to Foong Foong Yong Tau Fu Restaurant.

My colleagues can sure eat loads. They ordered 20 pieces deep fried dumplings and 40 pieces of mixed YTF!!!! My! My! This is the 1st time I have seen so much YTF at a go. That'd mean each of us will have to eat 15 pieces as there were 4 of us and 60 pieces to finish!

The Deep Fried Dumplings came first and they were so delicious!!!

The skin was nice and crispy and stuffed with juicy springy fish paste and crunchy water chestnut pieces. No wonder my colleagues loved them so much.

Next was the platter of mixed YTF...although my mum's YTF tastes better...these YTF were also good.

I was really stuffed after eating about 9 pieces of deep fried dumplings and mixed YTF plus a glass of sugarcane ice. The total bill was RM52.80 making it RM13.20 per person inclusive of drinks. Well worth the meal.

** Pics taken with my Sony Ericsson phone C902.