Hello from Sabah~

This is my second work trip in about four months time, and my second visit to Kota Kinabalu in nine months time.
I definitely didn't expect myself to step foot onto the land of... What do they call KK? Anywayz, yea KK so soon. Like I said earlier, I didn't really enjoy my trip in KK, but ah well, this is a work trip, I'm paid to fly over and get the hell out of the politics, gossips, egos and dumb people-filled office. So, I should shut-up.
While my roommate a.k.a colleague, whom I'm not even close to is out transforming herself at the cinema, I'm sitting right here in the hotel room thinking how would it be sleeping next to her tonight? Imagine when my eyes meet her eyes on the bed... Aiyer~~~!
Damn... Weird...
Anywayz, for now let's just hope that she gives me some respect and not smoke in the room anymore (I figured she already did before I came, the room smells like she had)!
Till then, let's hope for a fruitful work trip this time around!

Are we having seafood tonight??? I'M HUNGRY!!!

X-Men: First Class

I was googling the movie and I even typed 'X Men: World Class'! That's how unfamiliar I am about this urm... Superhero sort of movie. Like I always say, the only comic-turn-superhero movie I really watched was Spiderman! And so, since Deardo is interested and since I've heard some good reviews, I watched X-Men: First Class (ah now I got it right, ahem...).
So apparently, this is a movie talking about X-Men and the gang when they were younger (yea I didn't watch the other X-Man movies). Well at least I prefer watching these young actors than those uncles and aunties... :p It talks about these supernatural people got together to helped the government in fighting some other evil supernatural creatures but turned out the government themselves cannot accept them as part of the community and blah blah blah... I think the storyline was not too bad really. It's just that I think the movie was a bit draggy half way through and it took too long to finally see these people training for the real battle. I mean, to me yea it was a bit too draggy there but Deardo said it was ok to explain stuff. So I guess not all will think the same. The movie wasn't too cheesy, nothing like dying for a girl that kinda stupid stuff so yea I kinda like the movie as a whole actually.
Cast wise, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones and Lucas Till made up an eye-candy lovable superhero group. I personally like Michael Fassbender the most and I think Jennifer Lawrence is gorgeous! And not to worry, I think they can act too!
Another surprisingly good movie! According to Deardo, it's better than the last one! So yea, enough said.

Tom Yam Fried Bihun

Although I have never been to Thailand (yea and recent plan to go to Bangkok under the company's staff outing also tak jadi), I've always been a fan of Thai food. Tom Yam, green curry and even the BBQ Plaza... By mentioning them I'm already salivating! *slurp~~~*
One dish that Mamo and Deardo's mum both love to cook is Tom Yam Fried Bihun. I'm not sure whether or not it's originally a Thai dish or it's just something the Malaysians have created, but both Deardo and I love the dish a lot! So I decided to cook that one day. Combining Mamo and Deardo's mum recipes, the bihun was a true success! Yay~!

So here's what you need:Bihun soaked in water until soften (not in picture because Deardo was being lazy :p), Tom Yam paste (don't be stingy with the amount), chopped garlic, sliced onions, sliced lime leaves, chicken fillet marinated with soya sauce, pepper and cornflour, cabbage cut into strips, 2-3 well beaten eggs, some lime.

What to do:
For the egg:
1) In a hot wok (yes, thanks to Deardo Wong, I know we can make this without a single drop of oil), pour the eggs in and sort of fry the egg. Make sure it's very thin.2) When it's done, remove from wok and cut it into strips. Set aside.
For the Bihun:
1) Heat up some oil in a wok.
2) Then simmer the garlic, onion and lime leaves until the garlic and onion turn brownish.3) Now add in the chicken and continue to stir-fry them a bit.4) When the chicken are almost cooked, add in the Tom Yam paste (stir the paste with water beforehand). Make sure the amount of Tom Yam paste is enough for your Bihun. This will decide the entire taste of the dish! Continue to stir-fry everything.5) Add in the cabbage. 6) Add in the Bihun and stir them around to make sure the Tom Yam paste are spread evenly.Yea, that's Deardo's hands.... I'm really bad in frying big amount of noodles so he always help.
7) Done! Serve the Tom Yam Bihun with the fried-egg strips on top and squeeze the lime juice over for an extra kick.

I would say my recipe is slightly closer to Deardo's mum's recipe, which is simpler. Mamo's one will have Bunga Kantan, black fungi and she will normally use prawns rather than chicken for the dish. I do prefer Mamo's one more but hey I think mine was not bad too! :p
I think the secret to a yummy Tom Yam Fried Bihun are the lime leaves, Bunga Kantan (which I didn't put) and the lime. These ingredients will surely give the dish some extra nice scent and taste.
Yumzzz~~~~

Overloaded Steamed Egg

Deardo and I are trying very hard to eat healthily and not to consume too much of meat recently. Hence, that one night I decided to make some healthy steamed egg. Unfortunately, what supposed to be a light meal became a heavy one, just because I decided to dump a lot of stuff in the steamed egg. That is why I named it 'Overloaded Steamed Egg'.

What you need: Well beaten eggs with soya sauce and pepper (add in water at least two times the amount of the eggs), minced pork marinated with soya sauce and pepper, sliced Chinese sausages, Shitake mushrooms cut into slices, potato cut into thin slices, Fu Chuk cut into small pieces, wolfberries.
What to do:
1) In a ceramic or metal bowl, spread the minced pork evenly at the bottom as the base.2) Now lay layers of potatoes and Chinese Sausages over the minced pork. *Yes, by now I already realised I might have been a bit too greedy...~~~*3) Then, lay the Fu Chuk and mushrooms.4) Pour the eggs, and sprinkle the wolfberries on top of everything.5) Pre-heat some water in a wok, and then put the bowl to steam for about 10-15 minutes and you are done!
Despite the fact that there were too much of ingredients in the dish, most of the stuff actually turned out alright. We especially thought the Chinese Sausages went well with the eggs, whereas the potatoes was a no-no as they weren't soft enough. Our so-called healthy dinner turned out too be not-too-healthy because once again, I over-cooked the amount of everything, except for the rice! *Burp~~~*
Yea it was a bit too ambitious to have so much of stuff together but well, it actually tastes not too bad and we did finish the dish! Next time around you and me (ha, if you are going to try doing this) should just skip the potatoes and this nutritious dish will be perfect! :p

Supper @ 槟华潮州粥, Old Klang Road
Since I only took very little pictures, I've decided to put it together with this post.
That was one night that we went out for supper after a long long while. We wanted something really light and not too filling and it was a very last minute decision to stop by this shop as we cruised past Old Klang Road for some Teochew porridge! Oh yeah, Teochew porridge, FINALLY!!!Since we are trying very hard to be healthy, we only took three dishes, with only one of them being meat. I absolutely love the steamed pork! The Muey Choi also was pretty good without the pork. It was very tasteful yet not oily at all! But I think most importantly, the porridge was not as watery as the normal Teochew porridge you find in most restaurants. Yet, it wasn't too thick like the Cantonese porridge. So I would say the porridge was really really good!I AM SATISFIED!!! YUMZZZ...
Together with two bowls of porridge, the bill came up to RM10, which is reasonable to me! And judging by the quality of food and price, this is definitely way better than the one I had at Pudu! I think we might be visiting this shop more often whenever we want some healthy supper! :)

Not bad lunch @ Taiping Mali, Puchong

We were in Puchong the other day for some official matters and decided to give this restaurant a try.Honestly, coming from Taiping myself, I don't have much confidence with the food served in the restaurant. It's like you'll never really find a stall in KL selling Penang Fried Koay Teow as good as the real ones in Penang! So to be on the safe side, I ordered a normal Fried Bihun with Curry Chicken while Deardo ordered the Mee Rebus. I also ordered the Otak-otak to try.We call this 'Hu Bao' in Taiping!
Taiping-styled Mee Rebus.
Fried Bihun with Curry Chicken.
Unfortunately, I made the wrong choice. The Fried Bihun was just so-s0 and oh gosh, the portion was just too big for me! To my surprise, the Mee Rebus was nice! I mean, it really tastes quite the same as the one we have at Larut Matang! Totally unbelievable! I thought I can never find the same Mee Rebus anywhere else! Thumb-up for that! Well of course, the crispy crackers weren't as good as the one at Larut Matang! The Otak-otak was actually quite worth the price (sorry I forgot how much was it, probably around RM3.50) with quite some fish and prawn meat in it. But texture wise, can be improved! Oh man I missed Super Ah Ma's Otak-otak!!! :(Trying VERY HARD to finish my meal...
Taiping Mali also serve the Kunyit Glutinous Rice with Curry Chicken which I really missed but yea, control!!! I think the food at the restaurant are generally good, but the restaurant needs some hype to bring more customers!

Check out my earlier post on yummy food in Taiping!

Patriotic Dinner @ Sao Nam, Empire Subang

It's a new restaurant at Empire but apparently it has been around for quite some time in Bukit Bintang! I'm so outdated!Anywayz, Sao Nam is not only a very high-end-looking fine-dining Vietnamese restaurant, to me I would label it as the most patriotic Vietnamese restaurant. Look around the restaurant, it has the star on the Vietnamese flag all over the place, including the wall and the t-shirt! And if I'm not mistaken, they put Ho Chih Minh's face all over the place too! They are very catchy and I'm loving the entire concept!I wouldn't mind if they offer me the t-shirt! LOL!
I'm so in love with the wall!!!
Enough of the design, here comes the food...It's a must for me to try the Vietnamese Rolls!
Deardo's sis had the Vietnamese Beef Noodles.
Deardo's Dried Noodles with Shrimp Soup.
My Curry Chicken Noodles.
The Vietnamese Rolls have very well-done skin and fresh ingredients. The only thing is, the leaves and mint leaves in the rolls were just too much it was a bit like eating grass. The sauces were good too! Deardo's dried noodles was not too bad too, I especially love the shrimp soup that comes with it. The beef noodles that Deardo's sis had was unique compared to other Vietnamese Beef Noodles I had before this. The soup is a lil' spicy and appetizing but I reckon it is not as good as the one at Pho Hua. I had the Curry Chicken Noodles which tasted more like a Singaporean Curry Laksa. Not too bad but nothing fantastic.
The bill came up to around RM85 plus for a meal for three persons. I would say the restaurant serves very interesting Vietnamese food, perhaps a little commercialised lar. I might go back for their other dishes just because they sound interesting. But taste and price wise, I still prefer Pho Hua.

Homemade Brickfields Indian Chickpeas

Few years ago when I was still working with a daily newspaper (oh and I miss all my uncle colleagues dearly!), I used to take a bus to Brickfields and make a transit to the office. Most of the time I couldn't help but always give business to this little corner stall, buying its very special chickpeas. And ever since I left the job, and ever since they sort of beautified that place, I can't seem to find that stall anymore and that is very sad... :(
So... One fine Sunday I decided to make the chickpeas myself, according to my memory of what are used to make it.

What you need: Chickpeas, dried chili, curry leaves, Indian spice seeds which I still haven't figured out what are they called, oil and salt... Isn't that very little??? *grins~~*

What to do:
1) For the chickpeas, soak in water overnight to soften them. Then to cook them, boil in salt water for about 30 minutes or until you can see some cracks on the chickpeas. Remove and drain the water off.2) Next thing, heat up a wok with some oil, mine was olive oil and it was definitely less than the one I got from Brickfields. :)
3) Simmer the curry leaves and dried chili in the hot oil.
4) As you can smell the the curry leaves and dried chili, quickly add in the spice seeds and stir-fry them a bit.5) Next, pour all chickpeas in and stir fry under medium fire. Add some salt to taste.6) Until you can see the chickpeas are covered by the oil and spices, you are done! Serve the dish warm.

Now, isn't that easy???
With a scent of the curry leaves, spice seeds and dried chili, the chickpeas of course taste like some Indian food but they really smell and taste fantastic!
I think this dish is just perfect as TV snacks or even for parties. It's definitely healthier than potato chips! If you want to make sure it is always warm, just keep them in the rice cooker and turn it to 'keep warm'!Simple recipe which turned out to be VERY GOOD! Even Deardo Wong loves it and I'm very proud of my first try!:)

生气！

普通人看了都会觉得生气，更何况是我，我这个粉丝！！！
身为前媒体工作者，我清楚明白记者或许也是为了饭碗才作出这些无良、不道德的东西。但是我也知道什么叫尊重别人的私隐！
虽然很爱看八卦杂志，但我决定永远不买这本杂志（我的天啊，你看他们用的字眼，什么“扑火”、“含春”的，有够讨人厌的）！
胡杏儿、黄宗泽，you guys have my support!!! *捶胸~~~*

Oh by the way, Myolie有份主演的《怒火街头》剧情紧张、搞笑，超好看的！:)

Simple Cabbage Pork Balls Soup

Unlike some Cantonese families, my family sometimes have soup that are not completely made out of real boiled chicken or pork broth. Super Ah Ma and Mamo make awesome red leaves vege soup, black fungus with fried egg soup, mint leaves with fried egg soup and minced meat with fried egg soup that I've cooked before. These soup to me, are yummy and easy-to-make (well not too easy but at least it doesn't need to be boiled for 2-3 hours), plus brings back my kids time memory!
The other day I made another simple soup I named it Cabbage Pork Balls Soup.I simply boiled some water with some preserved cabbage (冬菜）(okay, I cheated a bit this time, I added the prawn shells to boil too :p), then dumped pork balls which I did myself with some minced pork and prawns (marinated with soya sauce, pepper and cornflour for at least 2 hours beforehand) into it. Let it boil for at least 20-30 minutes. Add in cabbage and sliced carrots and boil for 5-10 minutes and you are done!
Because of the preserved cabbage and the soya sauce and pepper in the pork balls, you shouldn't even need to add any more salt into the soup! The soup will get all the saltiness and sweetness from the ingredients itself!

Though Deardo Wong isn't a fan of this soup, I thought my try was a very successful one~! :) Try this easy, yummy and nutritious soup too! :)

Great movies!

I just watched two fantastic movies over the weekend! One very new and one quite old... I'm excited to share! :)

Super 8
I shall say we watched this movie accidentally (since tickets for the movie we wanted to watch were all sold out), without having any idea what is it all about. It turned out to be a pretty cool movie and apparently it has just finished top in the U.S. Blockbuster!
From the poster we thought it would be some alien and kids movie. It didn't impress me even though there are names like J. J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg.... True, it has kids as the main characters, and yes it is something to do with some creature from outer space. The thing is, knowing that I'm not a fan of kids and alien movies, I love this movie!
Using some kids who are into making short film about zombie (yea, why does it have to be zombie, right?) as the background, the movie brought them into 'trouble' when they found something that they shouldn't know.
If you are looking at nice action-packed alien movie, then this is probably not your cup of tea. But this movie has brilliant creative ideas in terms of storyline, flow of the story, and most importantly humour! Even the movie title itself has nothing to do with alien, which I really think is damn cool! Honestly, I love almost every bit of it!
And gosh those kids really can act man!!!
If you ask me, I'd say this is a MUST WATCH! And... Make sure you stay back for the ending credit, I'm sure you will be entertained! Kekekeke...

The King's Speech
I've been dying to watch this movie ever since it became a hot favourite and won quite some awards at the Oscars.
I knew from the beginning that this is not going to be some random commercialised movie=MAY BE BORING. Well, honestly, I don't think it is THAT BORING lar... Though it was shot in quite an artsy patsy way, especially the way they angled their shots, and the fact that they have minimal background music, it was quite a funny, encouraging and sometimes kan-zheong (yea, every time you see Colin Firth starts to give a speech you'll be so worry for him!) movie. I especially found this movie very inspiring, for someone like me, who enjoy presentations and public speaking but still not very good at it. And honestly I love the entire costume and set design, even the artsy patsy angle!
Needless to say, I love the actors! Colin Firth has transformed from the charming guy in Bridget Jones Diary to this low self-esteem king and I totally think he did it so well and he so deserved the Oscar!!! And Geoffrey Rush! Gosh I love him! I think thanks to the original character and the script, his character as Lionel was so cool and lovable! And Helena Bonham Carter finally playing a somehow normal role, pulled it off too! That was just simply a fantastic cast!
Great one! Another MUST WATCH!!!

Kung Fu Panda 2

You know what? I just found out I actually watched the Cantonese version of the first Kung Fu Panda!
Anywayz, I watched the English version this time around, without remembering the storyline of the first one.... Sorry! Come on, I didn't even remember I watched the Cantonese version one, what do you expect? :p
So this time around I think the storyline a bit more serious and sophisticated, which is to me, quite cool. Although it was quite boring half way through the movie, I do think the climax was really good. The action, the animation, the funny script were all cool. Only if they could make it not so boring in between, the movie would be perfect! I also love the fact that they put in Po and his 'father' Mr. Ping's relationship and made it so cute and touching! :)
Voice wise, I'm just very excited to hear Michelle Yeoh! I'm pretty sure you can recognise her voice easily, just like I did!
Overall, great entertainment and good messages!

(Failed) Braised Yee Mee

Hi guys! I'm back again! This time to share another recipe I recently tried. 'Failed' might be a bit too heavy but yea it didn't turn out to be what I wanted it to be...What you need: Chopped garlic, prawn (I was hard working enough this time to remove everything including the shit but excluding the tails), chicken thigh strips marinated with soya sauce and pepper, Shitake Mushroom, cabbage, Yee Mee soaked in water for about 2 minutes.

What to do:
1. In a wok, heat up some oil, then simmer the garlic.2. When the garlic turn a little brownish, dump the chicken, prawn and mushroom. Stir fry them a bit.
3. Add in generous amount of water, I also added in the water from the bowl of water I used to soak the mushrooms. It gives you some added flavour you see.4. When the chicken and prawns are cooked, add in the cabbage and fry them evenly.5. Next, add in the Yee Mee. Quickly also add in some dark soya sauce and light soya sauce.6. Add more water and cover lit to braise the noodles.7. You can have a taste check before you serve your yummy noodles!

I got the idea of making this noodles because I've tried and am very much in love with Braised Yee Mee with Bai Kuat (pork ribs). It's just that for a first try, I used chicken in stead of pork. Well, it was edible but it wasn't what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be a bit wet, with some yummy gravy but perhaps because I used too much of noodles so it all went wrong lar. I will definitely take note of this and make sure the next time it will be a better one! Still looks pretty good lar, isn't it???

Wait! That's not all!
I have more food to share!
Few weeks back, before 4e and Uncle Mike went off to Germany (Uncle Mike's home country), we had a mini Popiah Gathering with Ah Ma's Special Popiah...Please give up counting how many ingredients were there in the popiah!
It was really the first time I tried her Popiah! Regardless of anything, the amount of stuff to be stuffed into that popiah was already good enough for me to say "BRILLIANT"! Our host of the day... 4e! She might be sipping her cup noodles in Germany now... :p
I think I had more than 10 rolls in the end of the day and yet I didn't feel bad at all! I just thought the Popiah was yummy but healthy! Love it! And imagine all the hard work of preparing those ingredients came from an 80-plus Ah Ma who recently had a heart-attack! Hat-off for my Super Ah Ma. You see, I don't simply call her 'Super Ah Ma' for no reason. :pSome people are surely envy of how lovely and close we are as a family!

Oh by the way I finally tried the porridge at Soong Kee! Remember the place for yummy beef noodles? There is always a stall outside selling porridge and I've been missing it because every time I visit that place the stall is either closed (they only open for dinner and their stuff got sold out very early) or it wasn't even open for business. Look at the amount of spare parts!!! Woo~Hoo~!!!
I was really excited and proud to be their last few customers that night before the closed. I ordered a pork innards porridge to try. Although the porridge itself was a bit too salty for me, but whatever served with the porridge were all fantastic. And oh my they were sooooooo generous with the spare parts! Oooopsss... I know they are bad but oh well how often do you see me eating them??? :p
I think everyone should give this a try! :)