Pimping Time....Not That They Need It, and Grapefruit Sorbet

Siapa ini hot chick? None other than our very own Bangsar Babe.... featured here in NST on Monday morning. Anyway, she aspires to be a TV Food Host... with looks like that, the battle is already 50% won, I'd say.

Another blog that I recently got addicted to, because of its deadpan but spoton humor, is A Lil Fat Monkey. One of the few food blogs, if not the ONLY one, that takes on a comic format, it is absolutely hilarious. I owe the man a debt of gratitude, for designing a very cute logo for me, AND for propelling me into the world of high class cosmetics.... (not that I use them, and I have kept this fact conveniently hushed from the wife). Alas, he updates his blog with the regularity of a lady's ahem.... yeah, about once a month.... okaylah, maybe twice...

Ever since the February Daring Baker's Challenge, which required making home made ice cream, I have rekindled the flame, ..or should I say, I've refrozen the ice, for making homemade ice cream. With haagen daz at RM31 a tub, (it used to be RM17 or so when they first appeared on our 3rd world shores), it makes sense to explore making your own.

After I started churning again, my mother suggested I try making Grapefruit and Orange Sorbet, which she tried in Oz recently.

Anyway, I tried this recipe, and its not bad. Omit the zest if you dont like that bitter taste mingling with the tangy juice.

2 cups of grapefruit juice - 500ml (I did the math, its cheaper to buy fresh grapefruit at RM2 each, rather than buy a carton of juice at RM23 /litre)
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice

Zest from 2 grapefruit and one orange
1 cup sugar

Boil part of the mixture with the sugar, to dissolve the sugar...perhaps 1 cups of juice...
Cool in fridge
Use ice cream maker and follow instructions, or, freeze for about 6 hours, then blend or use electric beaters to break up the ice crystals, and freeze again. What the ice cream maker does is freeze it while breaking up the ice crystals, hence obviating the need for using a blender later on.






Highly refreshing, but a tad bitter, so I might omit the grapefruit zest the next time. Possibly it could have been the pith that made it bitter as well...but there was very little pith.

M ..... Malacca

Mesmerizing? Mysterious? Maddening? So many adjectives to describe Malacca.



The iconic landmark that defines Malacca, I feel. A trip to Malacca without seeing it is like a trip to Bangkok without seeing a stripper. Hmmm, on second thoughts, that's not a very apt comparison. Okay, it's like going to London and not landing in Heathrow. Poor flers flying Air Asia. Where the heck is Stansted? So yeah, the iconic red building to me, symbolises the heart of Melaka. Afterall, it is on all the postcards. The last time I came to this historic city was in 1992, I think. The river cruise had more charm, and debris... there were large water lizards parading up and down, like buff chappies in the gym...showing off their chiselled taufu bodies.

Organised by one of the girls in our cell group, it was to be a family outing, with an itinerary that makes a 42km marathon seem like a stroll in the park. It was so tight, a mosquito could not fly through.

We had been booked into the Puri Hotel, a charming old world clan house, that spans 4 shophouses, and is so utterly peranakanly quaint, it makes you feel like reenacting Emily of Emerald Hill.

To get some me time, away from the brood of kids, (not only mine, but the others too...and sans maid), I took a walk along the road of our hotel, Jln Tun Tan Cheng Lock, which is parallel to the famous Jonker St.

As I strolled down the pasar malam on jonker street, the music was blaring soooo loudly, Hang Tuah might've turned in his grave. Anyway, guess WHAT song was playing, by looking at the two pics below?

prize is one free scone.

Ladies & gentlemen, we now come to the culinary part of our tour. There are more chendol stalls along the streets of Melaka than there are bridges in Putrajaya. Everywhere you turn, unless you were blind, you'd see the ubiquitous "NYONYA CHENDOL" signs everywhere.

The kids were gleefully excited at the thought of eating chicken rice balls, so our first stop was Famosa Chicken Rice, for lack of any local knowledge where else to go.


The chendol here was nothing to shout about.


I prefer normal chicken rice to rice balls. Not bad, RM4.30 for drumstick rice. Rice was tasty, and fluffy...


Nice springy fish balls and wantans...


Tofu for the kids...



The famous chicken rice balls...kids loved it. I dont like the texture AT ALL, and don't see what the fuss is. I thought balls were only served to the dead on ancestral altars....but obviously there's a whole niche market of rice ball fans out there. I reckon there must have been some practical reason why the rice was rolled into balls. Probably for easy eating for the peasants who didnt have time to wash their hands. Can prob just tilt their tupperware and plop, the ball will roll into their mouths. Chinese are such practical people. Unlike western food, that needs a whole array of surgical equipment to consume.

The next day, the group had on the itinerary (the tight one) lunch at FAMOSA again! (Actually, the 1st day, I didnt read the itinerary, and went there by ourselves, not knowing it was in the plan)...so wife and I broke away, like the Protestants did from the Catholic Church during the Reformation, from the main group, and went foraging for some other food. We found, next to the famous 88 Jonker St Desserts place, number 86 Jonker St, a non descript kopitiam, that didnt have the queues of 88....which was surprisingly good.

Rather delectable nyonya laksa.


And THIS chendol was the clincher. Smooth silken ice, like freshly fallen snow, and caramelised gula melaka that was good enough to eat just like that. Mmmmm.....this was my highlight as far as food was concerned.

We had dinner at the Peranakan Place, a stone's throw from the hotel. Nothing to shout about.... the chicken pong teh was decent, the rendang quite good, the cincalok egg tasty....and we were too hungry that I forgot to photograph the other dishes.

Some stuff from the pasar malam. So colorful hor!


So yeah, in 24 hours, we got slaughtered by trishaws, went up the revolving tower of Melaka, walked the pasar malam in Jonker St, visited the Chan clan house museum, went on the river cruise, had a Sunday devotion and worship, ......

I wonder why I'm exhausted!

No Money To Go Overseas?

It has been YEARSSSSSS since I stepped into Overseas Jln Imbi. Were it not for the fact that our foreign guests were residing in Marriot, we probably wouldn't have ventured to this area at all. Afterall, there are many other Overseas outlets that are much more accessible. One good thing is they do have a fairly efficient, and reasonably priced, jockey service.

The place looks like its been stuck in a time warp. Not much difference from 20 years ago. Ventilation in the place leaves a bit to be desired, but it was crowded, nevertheless, a testimony of its culinary appeal.

The charsiu tou (head?) has always been one of my favourites. Indeed, the standards have been maintained, and it makes for a fabulous starter. A combo of lean, with lean & fat meats, the caramelized marinade and char makes it rank as one of the char siu greats.


Peking Duck. First, they plonked the platter of skin in front of us, with no pancakes, or sliced shallots....so we weren't sure if it was meant to be eaten like that. My hungry daughter lunged at it as if we've been keeping her imprisoned on bread and water for the last week..... had to restrain her and tell her to let the adults have their share first. Kids these days!!!! Anyway, after asking the blur waitress, if pancakes etc were part of the package (she wasn't sure), it finally came. I am always suspicious of places that serve you Peking Duck without showing you the whole duck first, and carving it in front of you. I mentally tried to piece together the pieces of skin, like a duck jigsaw puzzle to see if they made up the surface area of an average duck...... not to sure, actually. Taste wise, it was delicious. A big redeeming factor, of course. Alas, I only got one piece. I guess it's about right, for 11 pax to get 1 piece each, with some lucky ones getting two.

Not in sequence, but this was the duck meat in fried noodles. Tasted very good, consistent with the high standards expected of Overseas. The texture of the noodles were just how I liked it. Song, (what's the english equivalent of "song"? Some say crunchy, but its not quite)....

Tau Fu Tau Kan. Beancurd with beancurd skin. A perennial favourite, you cant really go wrong. I have yet to try a bad version of this dish, anywhere.

Lovely plump prawns fried with salted egg yolk. At first, in a moment of temporary blurness, I thought the roe was from the prawn. Anyway, the prawns were rather large, and tasty. And fresh.

Assam tilapia. Tilapias are a bit of a hit and miss, as you sometimes get that muddy estuarine taste, but this one had tender yet firm flesh, with no hint of the aforementioned shortcomings. The assam sauce was screaming out for rice, and what a heavenly combination they made.

Brinjals and long beans, and I think it was meant to come with 4 angled bean too, which was out of stock.

Overall, a rather pleasant dining experience, with a bill totalling approx RM55 per head. A bit on the pricy side, I feel, cos apart from the prawns, and maybe the duck, the other dishes weren't exactly high ticket items. Oh, our guest did have 2 beers, but how much can THAT cost right!

I did miss their signature ham yue fah lam pou....(belly pork with salted fish in claypot).

A Lunch That Was Just Heavenly

A few weeks ago, famed master bakers, Nigel and Allan of Just Heavenly Pleasures, sent out an invite for a home cooked brunch, from 11am to 11pm..... gosh, parties are getting longer these days, to a select eclectic group of very blessed and honored people.

The celebrities had been approached by FLAVOURS magazine to feature FOOD FROM OUR MOTHERS, (not your usual colostrum and breastmilk ice cream kinda thing....food as in COOKED FOOD), and we were the privileged few to get a sampling of the foods these celebrities grew up with.







Ta dah......

Well, you always know a great party from the post mortem photographs. When everyone seems to be laughing, and basking in the genuine warmth of friendship and fellowship, when people dare to strip their masks and be themselves, and letting the shutterbugs capture their every expression without fear or favour, when people leave, and come back for more, ( I myself came twice, and was tempted to come a third time, were it not for the rain and late hour)...So yeah, this was such a party.




Anyway, as the Flavours photographer, Nicholas, proceeded to do his job, together with Goddess of Food Blogging, Boolicious of Masak Masak, we laughed, cackled, made inappropriate remarks, ....while some of the more beautiful ones amongst us were approached to be hand models, eating models, and what other models have you. Orcs such as myself are politely told to look away....

The model table of the non-orcs...


Watching the master chef fry chicken for inchi kabin kinda reminded me of my grandmother, (not him la), because of the selamba-ness and dexterity in which he executed the entire thing. To me, deep frying is about as scary as bungee jumping....I always admire people who can nonchalantly drop entire chunks of chicken into a hot wok without squawking....


Inchi Kabin with a divinely tangy sauce infused with kaffir lime juice and zest.....As this was the first dish to be served, it was polished with the speed of lions consuming a dead zebra on the Kalahari...

You know how it is when you eat with food bloggers right, you have to wait your turn, drool at the food and wait patiently till all the foodarazzi have finished with their photography...well, since this was a feature for FLAVOURS, you can imagine, the food is under scrutiny like a catwalk model, with backdrops in place, etc etc, while we gaze longingly, almost lustfully, at the mouth watering Mother Dishes.... some more we skipped breakfast!

This satay chicken (that's what its called, though its not satay per se), is ABSOLUTELY divine, and is my favourite. It was screaming to be eaten with rice, and mmmmm, so flavourful, and so complex and palate tingling. Kudos to the mother who made this.



Then there was the Devil Curry, which sadly for Splashie Boy, was not halal, and it had lovely sticks of porkie frankfurters, mixed with chicken ...almost like a curry. You know la, these fancy eurasian/peranakan dishes. Mere mortals like me dont have the culinacabulary (culinary vocabulary) to aptly and adequately describe them.



Shepherd's Pie with a tinge of spiciness. A great staple food, a perennial favourite.





Check out the cross section of the shepherd's pie against the scarlet backdrop. Any guesses what that backdrop is? One free scone for whoever can guess.


The famous FooChow Red Wine Chicken, with mee sua imported all the way from Kg Koh, Sitiawan. The meat was fall of the bone, and the soup, perfect. I am neither a fan of this dish, nor mee sua, but I found this one VERY palatable. Food DOES taste better when you're with great company!



Mee tomato, made by Ann, the other business partner in JHP. Also yummy, and full of goodies. By this time though, we were kinda like bursting at the seams on all that food!



Such a dazzling kaleidescope of colors for a dish of vegetables. Makes me feel as though its Christmas all over again.



Otak otak. Hmm, master chefs unsure if it was threadfin or grouper, but either way, it tasted great. The individually wrapped ones are for photography, while the large serving in the tray was for the scavengers.



And finally desserts. There were four pieces of kueh kaya, that delectable nyonya (I think) thingie. but since there were 4 of them, and like 20 of us, we only got a small morsel to sample.



Chinese donuts....I wondered what they were. Did they have slitty holes, instead of round ones? Or were they yellow? Anyway, mystery solved..... heck, they're delicious!








Basically chinese donuts are deep fried choux pastry... embellished with chicken lard....tossed in castor sugar....not loving them is like not loving a newborn puppy....

And to kill us all, VODKA JELLY!!!!!!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOH, absolutely divine. There went my vows of temperance, as I sank my teeth into these bits of gelatinized alcohol..... it somehow doesn't seem as evil when its in jelly form.



Finally, a tribute to the master chef..... who never ceases to AMAZE me with his countless and priceless facial expressions...



THANKS SO MUCH, NIGEL, ALLAN AND ANN FOR A FABULOUS SPREAD, and a lovely way to spend Sunday (I still wished it were SATURDAY) afternoon......

Hugs.

Community Service Announcement: BUY YOUR COPY OF "HER WORLD" NOW!

Why?

Because.........

No NO NOOOO....not coz of HER,

but because of ..............

HER!!!!

Muttering a silent prayer of thanksgiving, that I am able to hobnob with such culinary glitterati....

Postscript:
Lest any of you wondered what I was doing buying a copy of "HER WORLD", actually it was Bald Eagle who bought it and beaming with pride, showed it to us....