Winter Solstice - 冬至

My granny used to say that the Winter Solstice is a bigger celebration than Chinese New Year ( 冬至大过新年). She would knead and prepare the dough (glutinous rice dough) with different color and we would help her to shape the tiny dough into round shape. There are two types of Tang Yuen, sweet and savoury. The sweet one is with the sugar syrup and the savoury one is cooked with meat, pig's liver, fish ball and garnished with lots of chopped green onion and Chinese celery.


But nowadays, Tang Yuen is eaten in many different ways. Some with fillings inside such as red bean, black sesame, peanut. Some cooked with Gula Melaka instead of white sugar syrup. My son's nanny adds sliced jack fruit into the Gula Melaka syrup Tang Yuen, like some kind of Thai dessert to me. Some eat dry like 'Mua Chi', just mix with ground peanut, sesame seed and sugar. As for myself, this year I made the simplest Tang Yuen, just eat plain with sugar syrup.

My 'not so round' Tang Yuen. The red one is coloring, not the beetroot juice but the green one is from pure Pandan Juice. The round Tang Yuen must be placed on a piece of Mahjung paper to absorb extra water from the dough so that it tastes 'Q' when it is cooked.


Boil brown sugar syrup with some Pandan Leaves to make it more fragrant. The Tang Yuen and the syrup should be made one night earlier. The syrup should be cold when cooked Tang Yuen is poured into it. Taste better this way.

Next morning, on the Big Day, Granny would wake up early to cook the Tang Yuen before serving some on the praying altar and later to all her grandchildren. I woke up early this morning to cook the Tang Yuen before going to work.

The Tang Yuen floated above means it is cooked. Some would( 飞水)wash quickly in cold running water the Tang Yuen to make it "Q" but mine is simple, just add the cooked Tang Yuen in the cold syrup I made a night earlier. It tastes "Q" too!

I pack some to work and left half a pot at home for Kevin, my youngest son. Sean, the big one is away holidaying in Spore, he must be missing my home made Tang Yuen too. Both of them love Tang Yuen so much that they want me to make them on normal days too!

Winter Solstice is being celebrated in different parts of the world by different people of different race and religion. I have got to know this from here :

http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice
http://http//www.farmersalmanac.com/astronomy/a/winter-solstice-longest-night-of-the-year

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Indonesia Layer Cake

My Aunt Susie of Penang used to make this delicious Indonesia Layer Cake for us many years ago. Actually there was one very famous bakery called Sunshine in Penang selling this layer cake. I remember in those days the cake was not cheap and Aunt Susie decided to learn to make this cake on her own. The Sunshine Bakery/Cake House that specialised in Layer Cake even had a branch in Setapak, KL but closed down already.

Last month like a pregnant woman, I kind of crave for specific kind of food before my menses, I bumped into this www.myvanillapod.com when i was drooling for some good Indonesia Layer.

They claim only Australian Butter is used in their cakes, not plastic margarine.

It costs me RM58 for this 1kg of cake.

I like Layer Cake because of the texture. It must be tedious work to bake this cake.

The cake should be cut in small and thin piece instead of a big chunk as it is a very rich and slightly oily cake. It goes well with Tea or Coffee Kosong or Kurang Manis. This Layer Cake was delicious but I prefer more cinnamon powder to be added as I like it be more aromatic. I love anything cinnamon......Cinnamon Roll, dash of cinnamon in my Cappuccino etc.

Check out their website, they have other cakes, pastry, pie and puff. I don't know if they deliver your order because I collected the cake myself. The packing is not impressive. They are operating from home in Danau Kota, Setapak, KL.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Restoran Krua Thai - KL

My hubby suggested we go to this Thai restaurant recommended by his friend T, I was more than happy to agree as it had been a long time I have Thai food. This restaurant is located in Metro Prima Kepong. Actually there are two Thai restaurants within the same row of shophouses, this one being not so well decorated and more like a coffeeshop. But according to our friend T , this is better.



The front entrance of the restaurant :

The name card and the location map:

They serves steamed rice individually:

There are few types of Tom Yam ; Red Hot Spicy, White Clear Soup and Tom Yam with coconut milk. We had White Clear Soup Tom Yam which tasted spicy and full of flavour.

Everyone's favourite : Fried Pandan Leaves Chicken.........the meat was well marinated, very yummy.

My sons ordered this Stir Fried La-la which taste average and normal.

This Kerabu Chicken Feet was very good.....fresh, crunchy and tangy.

Stir Fried Sayur Paku.........full of 'wok hei'.

Pan fried Fish Cake........fish paste mixed with herbs, very aromatic.

I find the menu here is quite limited. They do not have my favourite 'Miem Kam' (wrapped daun kaduk with various condiments) but overall the food is delicious, the price is reasonable and the service is fast. The restaurant is run by Thais. We definitely will come back again.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Genting Highlands - Marrybrown and Hou Mei

My two school going children had 10 days Raya holiday last month and I took them to Genting Highlands for a day trip. Actually it was a last minute plan and that's why we could not get any hotel room even though we wanted to spend a night there.

It was Thursday, we reached there about 11.30am and the place was quite crowded. After paying the entrance fees, we went in for our fun rides. There were such a long queue everywhere. My sons' gotta wait for about 30minutes - 45minutes for a ride. Lucky it was cooling, otherwise it would be very unpleasant.



Kevin got down from his seat after the ride, looking happy!

Waited about an hour for this one!!

I could hear people screamed their hearts out up there!

More scream...... more fun!

I had a cup of Nescafe (RM4.00) while waiting for my children.

We had lunch at the Marrybrown, located near the entrance. I had a Chicken A-delicious with Mushroom Sauce (RM15.50). The chicken was crispy but quite salty. Normal fast food. nothing special. 10% discount for Genting card holder.

The Genting Indoor Themed Park was packed like sardine too. My sons did not play any game as they were quite impatience with the long queue. But they wanted to go the Snow House where they will let people go in session by session. So after buying the tickets for the 7.30pm session, we went for dinner.

This was my first time eating at Hou Mei, located at the First World Hotel indoor themed park, next to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

I had Hou Mei Special Noodles Soup (RM14.00), tasteless and bland. I only ate the ham, egg and some shredded chicken and little noodles with some cut chilies in soy sauce. I almost leave the noodles untouched. The soup base was like tap water.

Kevin had Kai See Hor Fun Soup (RM14.00), he told me it was tasteless too and he kept adding soy sauce.

Sean had Roasted Chicken Rice (RM13.50) which he said it was good. Maybe because of the chilies sauce provided.

Kevin had a Mango Pudding (RM5.00) and he said it was yummy.

The total bill was RM68.15 inclusive of one hot Chinese Tea(RM2.00), one Iced Mocha RM5.80) and one Iced Lemon Tea (RM4.95). Will I come back to this place again?? Definitely NO. The menu is limited and the food is so lousy. I should have gone to Hai Nan Cafe just a few doors away (in front of Coffee Bean), where the food taste much better and have more selection of food. Otherwise the buffet at The Garden Terrace in Genting Hotel is also a very good choice.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Mid Autumn Festival 中秋节

Tomorrow is Mid Autumn Festival and I have received about 7 boxes of mooncakes from my husband's clients.

2 boxes of this Shanghai Mooncakes from client and friend from Kluang, Johor claimed to be very popular there. You are not able to eat the yolk unless you take the centre part of the mooncake. The pastry is thick and buttery and it is filled with lotus paste.


This is the name of the shop and hopefully you could see the address printed on it.


2 boxes of Tai Thong Mooncakes of various flavours from clients.


1 box of Agar-Agar Mooncake from the same client that gave us the Tai Thong Mooncake. It is homemade but look at the artificial colouring.


2 boxes of homemade Mooncakes from my sister in law. The green one is made of Avacado and the brown one of course is from chocolate.


The other box is Agar-Agar Mooncakes, less attractive without artificial colouring but safe to eat.


It was her first attempt to make these mooncakes. Thumb up Ann, it is very tasty.


It has lotus paste mixed with black sesame seed inside.


This is from my beloved Auntie Susie from Butterworth, we called this 'Kong Cai Pheng' . The one with melon seed is plain one and the other one is with coconut filling.



Actually I have a box of Snow Skin （冰皮）Mooncakes from another client. I think she bought from someone who made them at home because the packing was not attractive but they were very yummy. The mooncakes were quite small and filled with red bean paste and lotus paste, the yummy part was these mooncakes were filled with a lot of melon seeds. We finished before I could take any picture of it.

There are many type of mooncakes of various flavours in the market but being an old fashion and traditional person, I still like traditional mooncakes , that is baked Lotus Mooncakes with just single yolk (double yolk if I am younger!). The only shop I will buy my mooncakes every year is called Tong Wah Confectionery located at 92, Jalan Tuba Off Jalan Kampong Attap, 50460 Kuala Lumpur. Tel : 03-22736278.



This is Nut with Melon Seeds Mooncakes, one of my favourite too!


This is baked Lotus Paste Mooncake with single yolk. Ahem.....I took the piece with the most yolk!
I don't know what is this called in English but we call them ' Ling Kok' (菱角）. Just boil them like hard boiled egg but add some salt in the water to make them tastier.

These small tiny yams are also part of the food we serve during Mid Autumn Festival. I remember my grandmother used to clean the yam and dried it under the hot sun. She said this will make the yam creamier. To cook these is like cooking the 'Ling Kok'. Just boil them or you can steam them. Both these yam and 'ling kok' are seasonal and only available during the Mid Autumn.

Lastly, the fruit that is common during this time is Tambun Pomelo, hubby has gone to Ipoh today for business and he will be back on the same day and I have asked him to buy from there.

So with the Mooncakes, 'Ling Kok', Yam, Pomelo, Groundnut and a pot of Chinese Tea, sitting outside of our house watching the stars and the Moon above us (hopefully no rain).......I am going to let my children experience the Mid Autumn I used to have with my parents and siblings during the good old days. Oops, not forgetting the lanterns (the traditional one, folded type) and lots of candles too!

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

My Penang Trip and Food

I have taken many pictures during my recent Penang trip. Having a hard time to locate and remembering them. But I manage to have them download and sum up everything here in this blog.

Kedai Kopi New Cathay located in Jalan Burmah, opposite Bellisa Row is a corner lot coffee shop. It is always packed especially in the morning. These are what we ate :

Prawn Mee or Hokkien Mee not good as compared to Kedai Kopi Swee Kong located further down the same road (opposite Pulau Tikus Police Station). I hate eating Prawn Mee without Sayur Kangkung. I wonder why they don't add Sayur Kangkung as this vegetable is common and not expensive here.

This Apom was not good either compared to the one in Kedai Kopi Swee Kong. Disappointing.

Ahaa.....this is what I like Popiah (the wet type). My other family members find it a bit bland but I think it is very tasty.

This Curry Mee was delicious too. Full of curry aroma and the amount of coconut milk was just right not too thick or watery.

This Mee Rebus was so so only.

We had Penang Chee Cheong Fun too (the one with prawn paste 'ha ko' and sweet sauce) and it was very delicious. I saw many people had Fried Cantonese Fried. I think it must be tasty. The coffee and tea here are good too. This place is not bad as it has many varieties of food. Definitely will come back again next time.

Go Penang must eat Fried Koay Teow and the one we had was Sister's Char Koay Teow in Macalister Road.

We had Otak-Otak which taste average.

Does this picture make you drool..............? I think they wanted to close shop as we reached there about 4.30pm because this Fried Koay Teow was not good, lack of 'wok hei' and no Koay Teow aroma (不够香).

During our 4days 3 nights trip in Penang, we went to Kedai Kopi Swee Kong in Pulau Tikus 2 times for breakfast because my sister loves the Indian Apom there. The Apom was made using traditional Indian claypot and it costs about 50 sen each. The business is very good, usually they finish everything by 9.30am. There are two other stalls in Kedai Kopi Swee Kong which are also very good business, ie the Wantan Mee and the Hokkien Mee stall. Both are very tasty but I love Hokkien Mee more so I usually eat Hokkien Mee whenever I go there. But the coffee and milk tea here are not good. The Kedai Kopi New Cathay was better.

We bring our own container to store the Apom we bought at Kedai Kopi Swee Kong. This way the Apom won't stick and crumble together.

We went to Penang Hill but it was raining heavily and we end up having tea at the David Brown's.

My coffee RM8.00 , full of coffee aroma.

Scones with fresh cream and home made strawberry jam.........very yummy.

This trip was more like a family get together for us ( my sibblings live in three different countries) and we had a chance to meet with our relatives in Penang too. I look forward to more family trip like this.

P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!