Otak-Otak

I have been yearning for this special nyonya Otak-Otak since I last ate it . It is a very delicious steamed delicacy made of fish fillets marinated in some special spicy paste wrapped in banana leaves . Originated by the nyonya people, it can be eaten with plain rice or alone by itself. The last time I had this was in September last year when I attended a seminar in Penang. A lady came to us while we were having our breakfast in one of the coffee shop in McCaslister Road , asking us to try her Otak-Otak . She was so persuasive and being a person who likes nyonya dishes , I bought two packets from her. She even gave us her business card. She told us that her regular customers are from all over Malaysia and people from as far as Singapore will order from her. That’s how famous she is…but we thought that it was just a business sale talk. We did not quite buy her story then till we tasted it later in the evening.

We did not try it there and then becoz we were late for the seminar . We carried the two packets of otak-otak with us to the seminar. (",) When we reached our hotel after the seminar ended , the first thing we did was…attacked the otak-otak…wow , to our surprise it was the best Otak-Otak ever. Fantastic !!! We wanted to order some to take back to Ipoh for our families, but we forgot which coffee shop we went that morning. Haha …so we missed the opportunity to take home some for our families. Since then, I have been yearning for this special otak-otak . Last December, my piggies, Ernest and I went to Penang to celebrate Christmas there. The first thing on our mind was to order some to take home after Christmas but sad to say , they were closed for Christmas . :(

And today , Ernest managed to buy this special Otak-Otak from the same lady from McCalister Road. Asked him how he managed to tracked this nyonya lady…and guess what he said ? " A secret…………" . Hmmmmph…. who cares how he got it as long as I get to taste it after all this time (",)

Of course…he has not forgotten me…the Momsie whose hobby is eating and eating (",) and her yearning for this special Otak-Otak. A big **THANK YOU ** to ERNEST for being so thoughtful and caring. A satisfied dinner for me and Piggy gal. And to Daddy and Piggy boy " You guys missed this. I am sure you can’t get this in New Jersey..…can you? "

This is the famous Otak-Otak from McCaslister Road, Penang

Unveiled for your eyes only...
the smooth texture of the spicy paste
enveloped the silky fish slices ...yummz
banana leaves gives out a nice fragrance when steamed
thus further enhanced the taste .

Note: Here is Mummy Fang's h/p no: 016-4710430 if you want to place an order for the Otak-Otak.

Yummilicious Yam Cake

Today I spend the whole day in the kitchen happily cooking away….the kitchen had become my sanctuary for the day , a place where I can create recipes and doing research on how to better the cooking method. To my sheer delight …the food that I cooked turned out fantastic. Guess who was my guest of honor to try out the food ….none other than Sen Loong ( more or less forced to eat (",) ) . Erm... Ernest not around otherwise he too will be forced to eat what I cooked today. ( Ernest,you escaped this time.....but you may not be lucky the next time !)

The chicken corn soup came out fantastic and delicious. The corns made the soup naturally sweet and it was very tasty and yummy. This was the first time trying out this soup recipe. While the soup was boiling on low fire , I went on with the next recipe…that was Yam Cake. A lot of time spent preparing it but I loved doing the preparation and seeing the end result was the best reward for the time taken to prepare this delicacy. Heehee..never felt so happy before . It took me 3 hours to get this delicacy done and it turned out good (",) One hour of steaming...haha and we had to wait for the cake to cool down before we can cut and devour it! That's why we kept it for super.

Next, I went on to prepare a simple pizza for high tea. The pizza turned out not so nice and the pics I took was blur ( so I did not post it up ) …the pizza dough was okay but the toppings were a bit dry especially the chicken pieces . Guess I was a bit tired and have overbake it . But my father- in- law loved it. Haha , this is the first time he praised my cooking to my surprise ;)

We had the chicken corn soup and pizza for high tea, the sea clams for dinner and yam cake for supper. Haha ..only piggies can eat such lotz of food and eating is our hobby. (",)

I had a wonderful day and the best thing was seeing Piggy gal enjoying the food . She knows that I will always pamper her with food. :)

Chicken Corn Soup

Ingredients: 1/2 a chicken, 1 carrot, 3 corns, a tsp of 'kei zhi' , 5 chinese red dates, a few slices of' yok chok' and 1.5 litres of water. Boiled under low fire for 3 hours. Salt to taste

The Yummilicious Yam Cake

Close-up of a cut section of a piece of the yam cake

Ingredients: 1 kg of sea clams aka 'Lala', chillies, garlic,

fermented bean paste aka ' tau cheong', 1/2 tsp of sugar for taste

Method: Sauteed the cut chillies,garlic and fermented bean paste

till fragrant, add in the 'Lala'and covered with the kuali cover

for 15 mins. When the shells are open , it is ready for dish-up.

Add in the thickening and a bit of sugar. Served hot.

Food Quote For The Day

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.

~~~ Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright ~~~

Fragrance Of A Rose

Hah…it is not only Spring in New Jersey but it is spring here in my very own garden. See these beautiful roses….yup they are from my garden. The only rose plant left and it is blooming once again. And this time it has more buds. A beautiful sight to behold….. emmmm reminds me of a beautiful quote by Margaret Brownley.

As a rose fills a room with its fragrance,
So will God’s love fill our lives.

Spring Roll/Popiah

Popiah is a local name for this yummy delicacy. It is a special type of spring roll with vegetables filling. The filling is made up bean sprouts ,shredded turnips, shredded french beans, tofu , finely cut omelette, shredded carrots and some crunchy fritters. Wrapped up into a roll with the popiah skin . Brush some sweet sauce and chilli sauce on the spring roll and add a few dried shrimps as deco….yummy. I had this for dinner tonite. Bought from the outside coffee shop…two pieces for RM3.20. Quite pricey though ..haha but becoz I have a yearning for it…. as the saying goes … cure the stomach first and satisfy the yearning. If not , I will be thinking of this spring roll the whole nite through. (",)

Popiah / Spring Roll with vegetable filling

Close up



Food Quote For the Day:

" To eat is a necessity but to eat intelligently ia an art "
La Rochefoucauld

Update on the Piggies in NJ - Part 4

These two piggies are really enjoying themselves over there. Last weekend ,my brother took them to New York, where they visited Manhattan Town and NY Chinatown and cruised the Hudson River and therefore they get to see the Statue of Liberty from afar. Lucky lucky Piggy boy….. "let’s exchange places…want? " (",)

I spotted among one of the shots taken ,the piggies were standing outside the Trump Tower where the TV series ' Apprentice ' took place….Piggy boy admired Donald Trump lotz so he must have felt good to be able to take a picture outside Trump Tower….Donald Trump is the man who inspired Piggy boy to take up Business studies…..He will never miss any episodes of the TV show ' Apprentice'.

Travelling through the underwater tunnel must be one great experience for Piggy boy. This smart tunnel was what our former Prime Minister, Tun Dr.Mahathir wanted to build in Penang . But I guess it was too expensive so the idea was scraped off. I noticed that the

piggies have put on weight…guess food portions are double so they eat double… (",)

The gateway to Holland Tunnel, it starts to go under

water from here ... pretty cool, somewhat like the Smart Tunnel

in KL but this one is under water ......

Tun Dr. Mahathir's dream for Penang

Okay, this is the exciting part, where they start to enter the tunnel

to go under water,there are huge ships on top of them

sailing along the Hudson River about 300 miles of waterway.

Into the tunnel, and the air is constantly

monitored every 90 seconds for dangerous levels

of carbon monoxide and there are security cameras all the way.

Out of the tunnel and this IS NEW YORK !!

Daddy and Piggy boy on Pier16 just before going on board The Zephr

The view of The Brooklyn Bridge from Pier 16, In the back ground yet another Bridge built somewhere in the 18?? (missed out the yr it was built) still standing today.

In contrast, this is a familiar Water Taxi .... New York Water Taxi.

Piggy boy, his Uncle and Aunty .... on the top most deck of the Zephyr

Piggy boy and Daddy with the Statue of Liberty in the background

Piggy boy and his Uncle with Statue of Liberty in the background

The Statue of Liberty .... freedom for all Americans

Horse drawn carriage rides at Central Park, New York

Looking at his expression ....will tell you the hot dogs are yummz!

Rockerfeller Centre in Manhattan.

Shopping in New York Chinatown.....

Trump Tower .... this is where the TV series is taken on Apprentice

A pretty busy road in Manhattan, lots of people walking about

and its a Sunday, can you imagine what it would be like on Monday?

A picture taken in front of the New York City Park,

Piggy boy looks like he has put on some weight (",)

people skating down below where they are standing.

Beautiful spring blooms....

Egg Tarts

Baking fever is back again and the urge to bake is so great that I just have to bake something tonite. So I look up for a nice egg tart recipe on the internet and I found it on Aunty Yochana’s blog. The recipe she shared looks nice and tempting. So after dinner tonite, I tried my hands at it. Here is the outcome of the egg tarts. Wow..for once it came out nice. Thanks to Aunty Yochana for sharing such a nice egg tarts recipe. The egg custard is perfect. The sweetness is just nice and the tart pastry is crispy .

just out from oven

Cooled it first before taking it out from the pie casing

Yummilicious

I am satisfied with the outcome...thanks Aunty Yochana

Note: Bear bear was the first to taste this yummilicious tart and barked for more

and I noticed that she has sweet tooth... (",)

Have You Had Any Yet...?

It’s DURIAN SEASON again…..YAP YAPPETY YAP….. This thorny fruit is one of the many fruits that God created on earth which I have no complain whatsoever and guess what….it is one of the BEST fruit I have ever eaten in my life. God sure is a genius for having created this wonderful fruit. He protected the fruit with a thorny husk otherwise man won’t get to eat it at all. The squirrels and other fruit eating animals would have eaten it before it can drop on the ground. God is smart :) Tigers loves durians too!

My dad introduced this fruit to me when I was a young girl and it has become my favourite fruit since. I know of many people who do not like this thorny fruit becos of it strong unique odour . Haizz…to those of you who do not like durians…you do not know what you have missed all this while . ^ ^

But I am a big fan of this King fruit. Nowadays people use durian as flavour in ice-cream, cakes, tarts, puddings and lately in cream puffs too. So , we get to taste durian all the year round… :) Hmmm….yummy yummilicious. But of course it is best eaten fresh as a fruit itself. Especially when the teeth sinks into the thick flesh....it's heaven. The sweet and bitterish ones are my favourite specie. I remembered once , my colleague and I bought 4 big durians for lunch and we had a small ‘durian party ’ at her house . It was the best lunch I had so far. After that , we had a hard time closing our mouth when we burped. To eat durians during lunch time on a working day is the most stupidest thing to do….the whole world will know you have just taken durians.

Now, I can’t wait to do it again since it is the season again…. * eyes rolling **

* Pictures stolen from Ernest's handphone * (",)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Link

The durian is the fruit of trees of the genus Durio belonging to the Malvaceae, a large family which includes hibiscus, okra, cotton, mallows and linden trees. Widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the "King of Fruits," the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown, and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on the species. The hard outer husk is covered with sharp, prickly thorns, while the edible flesh within emits a distinctive odour, which is regarded as either fragrant or overpowering and offensive. Even when the husk of the fruit is still intact, the odour of the ripe fruit is very strong and penetrating. This unusual odour has prompted many people to formulate evocative descriptions, with views ranging from those of deep appreciation to intense disgust.

The flesh of the durian, famously described by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace as "a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds", can be consumed at various stages of ripeness, and is used to flavour a wide variety of savoury and sweet edibles in Southeast Asian cuisines. The seeds can also be eaten when cooked. The name durian comes from the Malay word duri (thorn) together with the suffix -an (for building a noun in Malay). There are 30 recognised Durio species, all native to Southeast Asia and at least nine of which produce edible fruit. Durio zibethinus is the only species available in the international market; other species are sold in their local region. There are hundreds of durian cultivars, and most of them have both a common name and also a code number starting with "D". Many consumers express preferences for specific cultivars, which fetch higher prices in the market.

One Word......AWESOME

I have never felt so carefree and happy walking alone from the bus station to my work place at such early hour of the day...one word to describe the feeling.... AWESOME!

The early morning air was refreshing and cool and the surrounding was tranquil, not many people go to work early so there were not many vehicles on the road. Unlike in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, people will leave their house very early to avoid being caught in traffic jam. But here in Ipoh, people do not need to rush to work for there is no traffic jam here. I took the opportunity to admire and appreciate the beauty of british architecture of some prominent buildings as I walked passed them. The breaking of daylight, streaks of purplish and pinkish rays splashed across the sky..... the sight was magical and it was breathtaking for a few seconds. I couldn't resist the impulse to capture this magical picturesque with my digi cam. For in another 1/2 an hour time, this magical sight will vanished, for the sound of vehicles passing by breaks the tranquil atmosphere.

I have here, some of the colonial government buildings pictures taken at daybreak. I had never had the opportunity to witness awesome sight before, as I travelled to work daily by car most of the time. Becos Daddy is in the States now, my handicap of not being able to drive has forced me to take the public transport to work . As such, I have to leave the house earlier so as not to be late for work. The walk from the bus station to my place of work takes about 20 mins. The inconvenience caused has turned it into a blessing for me :) It is indeed a BLISS for me to be able to drink in the beauty of daybreak as I walk to work each day. And the most blessed thing is , I realised I am not walking alone, GOD IS WALKING TOGETHER WITH ME throughout the short journey to work. :)

Spotted this lovely flowers as I walked along the way....beautiful isn't it

God the great artist....he can paint such a lovely pink!

Partial front view of the Ipoh railway station

Side view of the City Hall

Front view of the City Hall

The Ipoh High Court

The beautiful fountain infront of the Ipoh Library

Partial view of the Ipoh Library

St John Church

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father

for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5 :19-20 NIV

Fantabulous Yummilious Fried Vermicelli <>

I have been wanting to try this dish , fried vermicelli , .... but was afraid that it might turn out soggy coz vermicelli is difficult to fry. It cooks fast and overcooking it will become soggy . But tonite, I took up the challenge and tried it out and surprisingly it turned out fantabulous and yummlicious. (",) The texture is like rice vermicelli ( meehoon ). Not soggy at all!!! The next time I fry this dish, I must reduce the oil. It is a bit oily though.

Fried Vermicelli with bitter gourd and egg
Top View ^^

Close-up ^^

Note to Piggy gal: This is what I had for dinner tonite (",)

Momsie will cook this for you on ur next trip back.

Quote of the day:

There is no love more sincerer than the love of food ~ George Bernard Shaw