Cooking Adventures

1) Fishball noodles as good as those at the hawker centres!
2) Ma Po toufu (lee kum kee sauce wasn't very nice) + sambal kangkong

3) Beansprouts w/ salted fish + steamed herbal chicken
4) Dried mee pok

5) Claypotless claypot chicken rice. HUGE success! Thanks to a special (& simple) recipe provided by S' friend Angel
6) Chinese-style braised lamb

7) Char kway teow w/ cockles (using Prima Taste which didn't taste as good as I'd expected)
8) Seared scallops w/ white asparagus & special sauce. Prepared as an entrée for a special occasion. Main course was normal so didn't take photo.

By the way, if you need recipes of any food I've posted here, just drop me a msg via the shoutout box on the right and kindly leave your email. Thks.

Chinese new year is arriving! Needless to say, there isn't much atmosphere here except maybe erm supermarket promotions on Asian groceries. Ha ha. I'm looking forward to our reunion dinner nonetheless. Gonna prepare a big feast. The celebration won't be complete without lao-ing 'yu sheng' though.. If only I can find it somewhere...

4D3N itinerary Amsterdam Jan11

20/1/11
1025-1345: Thalys train from Paris 'Gard du Nord' to Amsterdam 'Centraal'. Easiest mode of transport in my opinion and cheap bcos of early-bird promotion (70€ pp return).

1430: Check-in at Convent Hotel. Great location, clean, decent service. I consider the tram (& our legs) the best way to travel arnd Ams, hence having the tram stop right at our doorstep was a big plus. Enjoyed their early-bird promotion as well. Aft 50% off = 65€ a night.

1545-1700: Anne Frank house. A must-visit. Left the place heavy-hearted.. Helps to have read her book before our visit. Expected a huge crowd but it wasn't so, perhaps because it was low season for tourists. Anyhow, I bought tickets online beforehand to avoid queueing and I highly recommend doing so since it only costs an extra 0.50€ per tix! Same goes for Van Gogh Museum and any other museums for that matter. Only downside in AF's case is that u need to choose a fixed time & date.

1730: Japanese buffet dinner! Great quality with a good balance of cold and hot dishes. More ex than lunch but worth it since the dinner menu includes more premium dishes. Love everything we ordered except their 'tako'.

Name: Genroku B.V.

Location: Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 115, 1012 RH Amsterdam, Netherlands

Expenditure: 25€ pp

21/01/11
1200: Light lunch at somewhere near Anne Frank's house. Recommend the salmon salad - generous portion. Burger was ok. Don't really fancy the traditional Dutch's pea soup. Reservations aren't needed during the day.

Name: Werck

Location: Prinsengracht 277, 1016 GW Grachtengordel-West, Netherlands

Expenditure: ~30€ incl. 2  glasses of wine

1315: Amsterdam in WWII Walking Tour (#1 attraction on tripadvisor). Only 4 of us in the group that day. The walks are organized by a guy named Peter and a lady named Michelle. Michelle was our guide and she brought us around while giving explanations of buildings and sites at various stops (which focused mainly around the Jews of course). Took abt 2 hrs. Not bad except that we thought the 17€ pp price tag was a tad steep.

1530: Red Light District. A MUST-visit. Like everyone said, you have to be there to believe. An eye-opener really. Just walk up and down and around all the small streets and look at the (mostly pretty!) window girls. =) Not allowed to take photos of them..heard they might get violent & snatch your cam away!

2000: Dinner at a lovely place. Portions a bit small but just enough for the both of us. Great recommendation by S' friend who stayed in Amsterdam for about 4 years.

Name: Le Zinc et les Autres

Location: Prinsengracht 999, 1017 KM Amsterdam, Netherlands

Expenditure: 88€ incl. one bottle of wine

22/01/11
1100: Shopping in the 9 streets (9 straatjes). Love all the small local designer boutiques. Fresh and unique! Much better than going to shopping centres which almost always carry the same brands.. You can find more info here. Just to get your bearings, the 3 streets that run across are: Prinsengracht, Keizersgracht & Herengracht.

1230: Indonesian lunch. Again a friend's recommendation. Surprised to see quite a few tourists though. Anyway, order their rijsttafel premium/special menu and you're all set! Very satisfying meal.

Name: Kantjil & De Tijger

Location: Spuistraat 291-293, 1012 VS Amsterdam, Netherlands

Expenditure: 40€ incl. 1 carafe of wine

R&R in the afternoon...

1930: Headed to a wine place with nice bar food to compliment the wines. We each had a tasting flight of 3 champagnes, a glass of red, and lots of bar snacks.. Wouldn't have been so expensive if we'd chosen a bottle of wine instead. So don't be put off by the price :)

Name: Vyne

Location: Prinsengracht 411, 1016 HM Grachtengordel-West, Netherlands

Expenditure: ~80€

23/01/11
1030: Can't leave Ams without a visit to the Van Gogh Museum. As advised by others on the internet, go early if you want to enjoy the paintings without much disruption.

1200: Brunch at a random café.

1415: Train departs.

All in all, we loved Amsterdam. A very pretty, clean and intriguing city. People are really friendly and service staffs have good attitude. Thumbs up. I wasn't going to comment on the "coffeeshops" but erm.. try Barney's! Don't forget the space brownies too ;) Two other activities that you might like to do is to ride on their canal cruises and go to the Rijksmuseum.

Credits go to Juelin as well for her recs!

Cooking Adventures

Home-made bubble tea! Who cares about 'koi' and 'kung cha'...muahaha. Easy process: throw the dried solid pearls (see packaging below) into boiling water, swirl around slowly, and cover for 5 mins. Should be done when they start floating. If you want them to be really soft, boil a little longer. Remove from water. Since I didn't find them tasty enough, I added some honey. Sugar will do too. Next, make any milk tea you want. Perhaps Lipton tea with condense milk added? I used 'Royal Milk Tea' powder (courtesy of miss hx loo for bringing it back from Japan and zhang hui for introducing it to me). Apparently you can get it in Meiji supermarket at Liang Court Singapore. I diluted it to 25% sweetness. Heh.

Erm, just a point to note (and this is what I call lack of forethought) - My bbt fell short of perfect because I forgot to buy those fat straws -_-

Love cooking on weekends because having 2 pairs of hands at work makes it much faster and more enjoyable.
Left: Tamago egg & uni (sea urchin) sushi. Our first attempt so not very pretty but still tasty. Pass =D
Right: Our very successful Hokkien Mee, using the prawn stock mix from Prima Taste.

A car's predicaments

Smartypants had a really bad start to the year 2011. Just yesterday, I lost him at my residential carpark! You should have seen the horror and confusion on my face. Was walking happily to get it when I realized another car replaced him at the exact same spot. I panicked. "Did I really park here yesterday? Did I forget to lock the car again? Did someone break in & drive it away? Was my car parked at such an ideal lot to be taken away easily??" Goodness gracious. At this point you can imagine why I was crossing my fingers and hoping: "Did it get towed away?"

S then found out from her colleagues that there's definitely more chance of it being towed away than stolen. (Phew) So I set out to find my precious. But, damn the unfriendliness of French websites, it took us abt an hr to find a number I could call/a place I could go! Finally managed to track it down at a non-discreet dodgy underground carpark below the Avenue Foch park. (The fourrière, where it's being towed to, depends on the arrondissement where you parked. Hence you need to do some checking.)

Turns out I unknowingly parked at a towing zone. The signs weren't clear and I was misled because I parked there quite a few times without any biggie. Other cars were parked there too but I suppose the French are smart enough to know when the traffic police comes. So I guess given my ignorance this would have happened sooner or later. Paid 136€ to retrieve it.

Not to mention that smartypants' battery died on me on New Year's Eve! Just because I left a tiny interior light (not even the headlights) on overnight. -_- Again, I got mad at the inefficiency of the French system. After several phone calls back & forth for half a day, nobody wanted to take responsibility for fixing it (although still under warranty). Had to call an independent repairman to settle it for 80€. Easy money for him since it took him like 2 mins to jump start the car!

Plus the fact that it got "broken into" before. What foul luck smartypants has! Maybe because I haven't cleaned it before since the day I bought it (Aug last year). Will bring it for a nice bath this weekend to wash away all the bad luck. Tsk.

Malacca/KL 10-12Dec10

Malaysia driving trip together with S' parents

Great hotel recommendation by a friend: Holiday Inn Melaka. Clean & spacious. Only downside is it being slightly out of the way. Not a big problem if you're driving but it'll take about 20-30 mins on foot to get to the city center (Jonker Street area). Nice sea view while taking a stroll near the hotel as it is situated right next to the Malacca Strait.

Small night market opposite the hotel selling usual souvenirs, clothes, 'pasar malam' food and exotic animals (like rabbits, geckos, guinea pigs, and baby porcupines!).

Poh San Teng (Bao Shan Ting) temple. Seemed rather popular among tourists, as evident from the bustling business at the fruit stalls outside. Bought some really sweet mangoes and mangosteens.

Colorful city center. Enjoyable to walk around, notwithstanding the sun. In the 2nd photo you can see 2 fearless ladies posing with a snake! And there's an OTT trishaw. Walk further down and you'll find yourself at the start of Jonker Street, where a famous chicken rice ball stall can be spotted (super obvious from the long queue). Didn't want to suffer under the hot sun so we settled for some durian chendol just opposite.

It can get rather packed on weekends so just follow the crowd and walk around the streets to soak in the atmosphere. If by any chance you manage to spot a shop called Christina's, GET THEIR PINEAPPLE TARTS. Just the ones with the pineapple wrapped inside a soft squarish crust.

Didn't take any photos in Kuala Lumpur since we were too busy shopping and eating. But I do recommend you to have a meal at Restoran Oversea.

Bali 20-23Dec10

Stayed at the Westin Resort at Nusa Dua - a nice and quiet beachfront hotel albeit a tad out of the way from the city center. These 3 days were the most relaxing ones in December.. Murking around doing nothing never felt more enjoyable!

Dinner just a few mins' drive from our hotel (free pickup service if you stay nearby so call to enquire). Great traditional Balinese cuisine. Definitely recommend you to order their Rijsttafel dinner menu as it offers a huge variety. Take note that one order is enough for 2 people. We couldn't even finish it. Reasonable corkage fee as well.

Name: Bumbu Bali

Location: Benoa, Kuta, Indonesia

Expenditure: US$60 including corkage

Another awesome dinner place recommended by friends. Located near the famous Ku De Ta but more exclusive in our opinion. Less crowded, more romantic and closer to the sea. Superb dining experience especially with the sound of crashing waves right next to you.. Love it. Food wise: below-average oysters, excellent prawns spaghetti and not-bad beef steak. Expensive corkage but still worth it given the horrible alcohol prices in Bali. Overall it was more the ambience than the food that blew us away.

Name: Breeze

Location: Jl. Laksmana, Seminyak Beach 80361, Indonesia
Expenditure: US$150 including corkage

On the last day we joined a cooking class (organized by a husband and wife team) that's highly rated on Tripadvisor. There were 12 of us in the group, mostly Australians. It began with a tour around the Ubud market with Puspa, our lady host, giving explanations along the way.

All the cooking ingredients were bought by the hosts beforehand hence there wasn't much for us to do except to take pictures and taste some Balinese goodies. Next, Wayan (the hubby) took us to their family-owned padi fields and gave us some insights to Balinese traditions and culture.

After which we were driven to their house to start cooking! 8 dishes on the menu. Hence the only way possible to accomplish the mission was to share the load instead of having our own work station. Smart thinking on the hosts' part as we ended up just doing some chopping, grinding, mixing, frying etc. Easy peasy! In the photos below there's me mixing ingredients using the traditional mortar & S molding satays. Overall a really unique travel activity and also a fun way to experience Balinese life.

Name: Paon Bali Cooking Class

Expenditure: US$30 pp