Cooking a meal

I was watching Jamie Oliver one day at home and thought his recipe for the roast chicken was rather easy. I have been dying to try out his recipe ever since but never really got the chance to. Then one day, was talking to my friend about going to her house for a swim. Talk talk talk and somehow the topic of dinner came up. That was when I had the bright idea of cooking at her place. Since I have not cooked for so long, was not very sure if I wanna ask other friends to come for dinner. But on the other hand, we needed them to come help finish the food. So, called them in the end. Some friends could not make it coz it was so last minute but we still ended up to have five of us and have to "ta pau" (takeaway) for a friend's boyfriend so that's six. Originally, I have only wanted to make one roast chicken and maybe dessert but with six people, there might not be enough.

Tomato Soup

So, I decided to make soup too. Tomato to be exact, thought it will be healthier since I have got no salad. This recipe calls the soup to be puree but I've got no blender so they just have to make do with minestrone-like soup. Heh....actually, the recipe only needs this to be cooked about 20 to 30 minutes but the chinese in me was taking over. I mean, how can soup be nice by just 20 to 30 minutes of cooking? I ended up boiling the soup for about two hours, quite nice though....considering I did not end any salt. Is this call "blowing my own horn"? =P

Roast Chicken with sweet potatoes and potatoes

Next was the roast chicken. The recipe doesn't call for any marination but as I was preparing it, the chinese in me kicked in again. Meat don't marinate where got nice? Sigh.....but it was too late already as it was time to cook the chicken. Turned out the chicken was okay but not as tasty as I thought it would be (because no marinades!). The potatoes and sweet potatoes were really yummy though, I just couldn't get enough of it! Heh heh heh.......blowing my own horn again, so thick skinned!

I have made the instant chocolate mousse from Nigella Lawson's recipe. This is super easy but I have used pure double cream instead of the usual thicken cream so it turned out really thick.....was so bloated after that. I have actually posted the picture too but due to some technical problem, it got deleted and I think it's too damn difficult to try to put it back up again so whatever.

Hot Hot Day!

Baked some cupcakes for sister the other day but my buttercream icing was melting big time! I donno what caused it. My eldest sister once said that my hand is just too warm to hold the icing bag therefore causing it to melt(what to do.......I am a HOT blooded woman!) but this time, I seriously do not think it's my hand. Hmmmm.....maybe it is the heat. It was afterall a very, very hot day when I was doing these.

Yuzu Japanese Restaurant @ Gardens

Went to the Gardens for a movie the other day and decided to have dinner here at Yuzu. Think this is at the Isetan side if you are going. Friend and I have been here once and thought the food is quite good so decided to come try some other selection. Have to say the atmosphere is quite nice and from the outside, you cannot tell that it is rather spacious inside.

Unagi Maki (RM26)

Friend thought he unagi in the picture looked quite appealing so ordered a portion of it. It is quite tasty but I thought the unagi is not as soft as some other places that I have been to.

Soba Gozen (RM38)

Soba gozen is a combination of cold buck wheat and green tea noodles with sushi, tempura and grated mountain yam. Quite a spread for RM38 even though it's mostly noodles. Er......I didn't really try so can't tell you if it's good but my friend loved it so should be quite good. =P

Wagyu Saikoro Don (RM45)

I ordered the wagyu saikoro don which basically is diced beef cubes on rice. Heh.....didn't looked really worth it for RM45 as compared to the soba gozen right? But then, it is WAGYU so obviously it will not be cheap. I fell in love with the first bite as the beef just m....e....l.....t....s........ in my mouth.....aiyoh.....orgasm! Love it love it love it! As you can see from the photo, there is not a lot of cubes so I have to eat it really slowly (at one point I even broke the cubes into half!) to make it last much, MUCH longer........yummy yummy......am drooling now just thinking about it........mmmmmmmm...........

Yuzu Japanese Restaurant
Lot T-236, 3rd Floor
The Gardens Shopping Centre
Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03 - 2284 7663 / 7763


**Disclaimer: Everyone has different taste buds so dun blame me if you want to try based on MY opinion and it is not good. I would also love it if someone pays me to write this review but sadly no, am writing this because I am procrastinating work. =P

In Your Face

Saw this notice at a restaurant, talk about in your face!

Restoran Ho Weng Kee @ SS2

Yau Kai (steamed chicken in oyster sauce)

Sui kow (dumplings)

char siew wonton mee

curry mee

This wonton mee shop has been here for as long as I could remember and my family has always been a big fan. Noodles are fragnant and springy, steamed chicken is super smooth and char siew is roasted to perfection. Think we used to come here at least once a month. Now, I am not sure because my taste buds have changed or that their standards have dropped. The chicken is still smooth but I prefer the ones in Soo Kee. The char siew is only ok and a little too lean for my taste. I think the sui kow is still very good and not "tou kong kam lew" (cheating on ingredients). Both my dad and my sis still love the curry mee. I supposed it is still relatively good as lunch time is packed full with people and there are always people waiting. But for me, I think this will be a place that I will only come if my friends or family wanna go and not, "Hmmm.......I am craving for Ho Weng Kee, let's go!" kind of situation.

Restoran Ho Weng Kee
32, Jalan SS2/66
Petaling Jaya
(same row as Nam Heong Chicken Rice)

Tel: 019 - 215 6555


**Disclaimer: Everyone has different taste buds so dun blame me if you want to try based on MY opinion and it is not good. I would also love it if someone pays me to write this review but sadly no, am writing this because I am procrastinating work. =P

Restoran Tian Tian Lai @ Pudu

Steamed egg with minced meat

Fried Prawns in Wok

Nam Yu Ribs

Fried Brinjal (eggplant) with minced meat

Spininch in Superior Broth

Steamed herbal chicken

My friends and I love to go to this restaurant in Pudu for dinner. The famous "must order" dish here is the steamed eggs....heh.....actually, every time when we come here, we almost always order the exact dishes. As this place is in prime traffic jam area, we don't really come as often as we would like to. Anyway, it was a friend's birthday and she has decided to treat us here.

I have to say, Sunday is not really a good day to come for dinner at all. Firstly, car park space is ultra limited and with the sunday crowd, it is like winning the lottery when we actually found a parking space! Secondly, there are just too many people for dinner. Even though my friend has reserved two tables, we still have to wait for one table and half hour for the other table! Thirdly, which was the worst, is the food is not nice as we usually have. I seriously think it is because of the overwhelming crowd that the kitchen tends to compromise a little bit. Usually, the dishes are excellent and we just couldn't get enough of it but this time round, I have to say it is not quite as perfect. Oh, don't get me wrong, food is still good but compared to the usual times that we had it, it is just not as satisfying. I guess I need to go back again soon to rectify this dissatisfaction!

Restoran Tian Tian Lai
21-F, Jalan Pasar,
Pudu
55100 Kuala Lumpur
(behind the Pudu Post Office)
Non-Halal

Tel: 03 - 012 - 657 5445


**Disclaimer: Everyone has different taste buds so dun blame me if you want to try based on MY opinion and it is not good. I would also love it if someone pays me to write this review but sadly no, am writing this because I am procrastinating work. =P

KTZ Desserts

Mango loh loh

Peanut butter tong sui, Black Glutinous Rice and Wheat Porridge (mak chok)

Sister has wanted to go for loh loh (sago desserts) after her plans fell through so I followed coz I have not had the loh loh for a very long time. In fact, I do not think I have ever been to the SS2 branch. Used to go to Kepong when it was just a shack, now that they have like three to four branches in klang valley. Anyway, all the tong sui was good. The mango loh loh was not too sweet so it was great. Only thing is, I think there is just too much ice on top. For people who are not into mangoes, there are other fruits available as well.

Place was rather crowded in the afternoon and people were just queueing up for tables. Other than desserts, this place serves snacks and noodles as well and it seemed to be quite popular with the patrons too. My nephews ordered the century egg with mince meat porridge and I thought it was rather tasty but portion is really small, sort of like the kind that you ordered for dim sum. Think I shall go back and try the snacks the next time.


KTZ desserts
22 Jalan SS2/63,
Petaling Jaya
non-halal

Tel: 03 - 7877 2499


**Disclaimer: Everyone has different taste buds so dun blame me if you want to try based on MY opinion and it is not good. I would also love it if someone pays me to write this review but sadly no, am writing this because I am procrastinating work. =P

Reunion Chinese Restaurant

Siew yoke

Spinich in superior broth

Fragnant Vegetable Tofu

Cantonese Fried Koey Teow

Took a friend to the Reunion Chinese Restaurant for her birthday but poor girl was not feeling that well. Have wanted to order porridge but they did not have it so we just ordered a few simple dishes of vegetables and tofu. Heh.....the siew yoke and cantonese fried koey teow were more for the greedy friends rather than the birthday girl. Usually, if you come to Reunion, you HAVE to order the hokkien fried noodles because it is one of the best! Super oily but so tasty that you need to have it! As I was saying, it is super oily so did not think it is a good idea to order it this time coz I did not think any of our tummys could take it (we have not been feeling all that well the past few days).

Have to say, everything that we ordered was really tasty even though it was so simple. Reunion does have its standard when it comes to their food. Only problem is, it does not come cheap. Total bill for the above four dishes plus tea comes up to about RM115. Good tasting food does not come cheap sometimes!

Reunion Chinese Restaurant
Lot 2F- 17 & 18, Level 2,
Bangsar Village II
Non-halal

Tel: 03 - 2287 3770

**Disclaimer: Everyone has different taste buds so dun blame me if you want to try based on MY opinion and it is not good. I would also love it if someone pays me to write this review but sadly no, am writing this because I am procrastinating work. =P

HAPPY BIRTHDAY P!

It is my friend, P's birthday today and she loves chocolate cakes so decided to bake these for her. It was quite funny when I was doing this because my oven is still conked so I STILL have to go over to my sister's house to make these. There was actually a problem with the weighing machine and I didn't realise it until I have put in the cocoa powder TOGETHER with the flour. Aiyoh........damn cia latt.....so I have to wing it andslowly get the weight right, albeit wrong proportion of flour to cocoa powder I think. The texture that came out was not as fluffy as how we would normally make it but still good so thank god! At least I did not have to make more because I was quite tired by then already.

By the way, I did have big plans to make one batch of 25 cupcakes so I can rolled the fondant and cut out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" but a lot of my friends are very healthy people and they only eat one or half or sometimes even none of the cupcakes. I always feel very sad when I see a lot of my cupcakes left so I rather not waste it and give less to them and then the rest to other people who will actually finish it. Hmmm.....actually, I donno if they are healthy or they just don't like my cupcakes. Anyway, like I said, I would rather give to other people who love and finish everything! I'm sure anyone who bakes or cooks could relate to what I am saying right?

Oriental Cravings Restaurant

Memories from the good old days

Every time when I go to One Utama Shopping Centre, there are only a very selected few of restaurants that I will go to for makan even though they have tons to offer. But there is one particular restaurant that is almost at the top of my "go to" list whenever I am there; which is the Oriental Cravings Restaurant located on the ground floor in the new wing.

My sister and I love to come here for their noodles because we think that the noodles here are springy, fresh and delicious! If we have a few more people, I love to order the dishes with rice! The bad thing about this place is, they only have square tables so we have to join the tables to make a long rectangle one. A bit inconvenient when you order dishes to share and tables are not very big as well so it was a bit "kalang kaput" when we were eating.

Bak Kut Teh

This is the herbal BKT and I think quite a few people are not really a fan of it as they prefer the klang version. Personally, I think it is very delicious as the herbs are very fragnant. Heh....but I like all kinds of BKT, including the Singapore style! So, only order it if you like herbal bkt.

Golden Beancurd

I love the Golden Beancurd here as the beancurd is super smooth and with the saltiness of the minced pork, the combination is perfect! Even though there is a little bit of spicy taste to it because of the chilli in there, the kids still could not get enough of it! The only complaint is that the portion is not very big so you will have to order two portions if you have more than four people in order to get a good, satisfying piece of it!

Hainanese Assam Fish

I do not know why it is called the Hainanese Assam Fish since assam is assam right? The assam sauce is absolutely delicious. It is is so tasty that I can have rice with just the sauce. Heh...the fish is tasty too but the main draw is the sauce.....sourish and spicy at just the right amount....yum..... I am not even a fan of assam so you can imagine how good it is when I can slurp it all up!

pork with soya sauce

This was the special of the day and the waitress was recommending it so we decided to try it because we heard "fa lam yok" (I think it's pork loin with fats). The meat was marinated and cooked till perfection. Not too salty and meat was uber tender........I only managed to try one piece because it was gone so fast, damn! Oh, they have different specials everyday so it depends on your luck if you wanna order this when you go there.

Honey Chicken Wings

I just realised that I forgot to take a photo of our veggies but then, that was rather standard so picture or no picture, I don't think it made a lot of difference loh. We decided to order the honey chicken wings for the kids.....heh......so called for the kids, everyone has one and it was all gone already so kids could not have more even if they want to! The sauce is quite sweet so very good if you want your kid to eat his chicken, if you know what I mean. My nephews hate veggies and my sister will always make them eat at least some, no matter how unwilling they are. One of my nephews actually dipped his veggies in the honey chicken wings sauce to make the veggies more appealing. I guess anything goes when you want your kid to take their greens......

Longan with sea coconut

The longan with sea coconut has a very refreshing taste and not too sweet, very good and "cooling" in our extremely hot weather. Was super stuffed after eating all the yummilicious dishes, will be quite contended for a while until the next time!


Oriental Cravings Chinese Restaurant
G359, Ground Floor, New Wing
One Utama Shopping Centre
Bandar Utama
(non-halal)

Tel: 03- 7727 2581


**Disclaimer: Everyone has different taste buds so dun blame me if you want to try based on MY opinion and it is not good. I would also love it if someone pays me to write this review but sadly no, am writing this because I am procrastinating work. =P