Vietnamese Food @ The Mines

Last Sunday, hubby and I left Angel with mom so that we can inspect our new house. After the inspection, we went back to take our bath and decided to head to the Mines Shopping Centre for dinner.

Hubby suggested something which we won't have with Angel around such as spicy food. Hubby wanted Thai but the Thai restaurant that we used to go is no longer operating. Went through the list of eateries on the information board and decided to give Vietnamese a try. We fell in love with Vietnamese food after we traveled to Hanoi 2 years ago.

So sorry cause i forget the name of the restaurant but its opposite the Sushi King at level LG.

What I had? Hot and sour seafood noodle - a substitute of our tom yam.

 

Hubby had rice with BBQ chicken, Vietnamese style.

 

The service is good probably because not many customers. Food is not too bad, we still prefer those we had in Hanoi. Through out our dinner, hubby is listing and describing the food we had in Hanoi. It really make me feel like flying off to Hanoi.

Honey, when???

Dinner at Ulu Yam

The day after I bought my parents to Bagan Hailam, hubby's friends, hubby, Angel and I went to Ulu Yam to have dinner. This is a consolation to our cancelled trip to celebrate K and hubby's birthday - all no thanks to the widespread Influenza AH1N1!

We, all 6 adults + 1 kid, went in C's new Exora. And this is one very affordable and spacious MPV. At last Proton did something right. Its so fun to be able to travel in a group in one vehicle, its merrier. Angel is having fun in the car with aunties and uncles. She keep surprising us with her 'tricks' and make all of us laugh. My baby :)

On our way to Ulu Yam, we passed by this beautiful lake and decided to stop and manage to take some photos. I think we can actually swim in the lake cause later I saw washroom nearby the area we stopped our car.

Fantastic view

We are not sure which restaurant to go to and just stop at the restaurant with most patrons. This shop is at the mainroad of Ulu Yam. I didn't get a photo of the shop and also forget the name.. sorry :( I'm also too busy eating and forget all about taking photos of the food! But we love the food and its much better than those we had at Bagan Hailam.

Angel having fun while we attack the food!

A plate filled with fried chilli crab - HABIS!!!

A plate of crab shell, empty bowls of coconut prawn and loh mee.

Everything FINISH!!

We ordered coconut prawn (tomyam prawn), chilli crab, house specialty steam fish, fried vege and the famous Ulu Yam's loh mee. The meal costs us RM156, cheap right?

Traditional Mooncake: 1st Trial

This year I have the urge to make my own mooncake. I have made some snowskin mooncake and am liking it. Last weekend I tried baking some traditional mooncake based on recipe from Lily of Lily's Wai Sek Hong.

The process is quite tedious as I started with making my own golden syrup as per Lily's recipe. Then a mixture for the dough need to be rest for an hour before mixing with the flour. The dough as per picture below will then be left to rest for 30minutes before it can be used.

The mooncake ready for their 1st bake/broil until brown. After which it needs to be cooled for 10-15 minutes before applying the egg wash and continue for 2nd bake.



The finished product.........

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ta da... my 1st batch of mooncake looks UGLY!!!!!

and I used the Mickey Mouse cutter for some of the dough but then the portion is too small... the Mickey's ears looks like cutted-off!!! Hubby said very creative but gotta try harder!

Mom and dad say the taste is ok but gotta improve on the look. And I promise myself I will.

My second batch look better and is still in the container. As advised by some blogger, baked mooncake taste better 2-3 days after it is baked. So I will wait till tomorrow before I taste my second batch. Will keep you posted ;)

Ondeh-ondeh: My comfort food on a Sunday afternoon

Last Sunday hubby was out meeting some soon-to-be neighbours while I spend the whole afternoon with Angel at home. We share a red bean pau for breakfast with a cup of spirulina cereal drinks. Put some cloths in the washing machine and prepared our lunch - chicken porridge. After putting Angel to her nap, I can't resist the temptation to make myself some kuih as I have not yet visited any pasar ramadhan.

I drove the car out while hubby and Angel are sleeping, just to get some freshly grated coconut to complete my kuih in mind - ondeh-ondeh. Its a kuih made from glutinous rice flour filled with palm sugar/gula melaka. I used a bowl of flour and make some 26 pieces of ondeh-ondeh for myself. Hubby does not like sweet stuff and glutinous is not suitable for kids, so I have all the ondeh-ondeh with a cup of coffee. MMmmmmm...

Clockwise from top: A packet of glutinous rice flour, two uncooked ondeh-ondeh, some cutted dough, a piece of palm sugar on dough (unwrapped) and pieces of palm sugar.

Angel looking at my unfinished task and though mummy is playing Play-doh!!!

My plate of hot ondeh-ondeh coated with fresh grated coconut!

Bagan Hailam Restaurant

My brother suggested to have dinner at Bagan Hailam, somewhere in Klang, last Saturday. Did some research on the net and found a few bloggers recommended this restaurant - Bagan Hailam Restaurant (BHR).

Tried calling a number stated on one of the blogs. The man who pick-up mentioned that he WAS the chef at BHR but now a chef at SK Seafood Restaurant just beside BHR. So, me not knowing whether to believe him or not, booked a table for 7 adults.

On the day, after a long journey from my brother's house in Puchong to Klang (Northport) we arrived at Bagan Hailam. There are a number of seafood restaurants but we decided to follow the bloggers' advice and look for BHR. Once there, we saw SK just next to BHR. The place look like Pulau Ketam but not as smelly.

I will let the pictures tell you the story from here...

A man came back with his catch. Can't see what??

There is a yatch club or something nearby

The place is surrounded by house like above.

The sky getting dark. A nice view my Angel, with my dad, don't wanna miss!

1st dish what else but mee hailam! Almost all the tables order this.
Taste... so so only

Stir fried mix vege Hailam style.
This is something.. :)

House specialty - fried tofu with sweet and sour sauce
Nothing special :(

Fried Bamboo clams with dried chili
Taste ... ok ok

Fried prawn mantis
Not very good :(

House specialty - Steam prawn
Not as nice as recommended.

BBQ Crab
Not bad.

The sky is almost dark when we finish

Happy Angel with daddy

The Kitchen of BHR - a few ladies instead of man

I guess we went with a high expectation and get disappointed with the food. Its not as good as described.

Black Sesame Snow Skin Mooncake

The Lantern Festival is about one and a half month away but supermarkets start selling the mooncake. I have even bought some and made some ;)

Got this simple recipe and try making this snow skin mooncake. The snow skin does not look like snow cause its black in colour. The black colour is due to the ground black sesame. It is delicious, hihihi at least my Angel love them too.

I didn't get a proper mooncake mould so used the angku kuih wooden mould. I used a small mould so the mooncake can be pop into one's mouth :)

Below a mooncake made from a jelly-mooncake mould, not very pretty :(

These are my cute little black sesame mooncake with lotus paste filling. its actually about the size of a 50cents coin. It does not look pretty but its taste is good and also very healthy. Black sesame its good for your health and especially if you want shiny black hair!

Will try other mooncake recipe before the Lantern Festival. If its nice can give-away as festive gifts too. Not a bad idea huh ;)

Stuffed Crab @ Chukai, Terengganu

During our weekend at East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, we took a detour to Chukai to have the famous stuffed crab. The place is very packed and we have to move table twice from a table for 10 to a table for 3. The taukeh really know how to maximize her space.

My verdict - the filling of the stuffed crab (which is mostly crab meat) is very sweet on my first 2 bites. But it is actually very oily cause they fried the stuffed crab and loads of oil is soaked in the filling. Overall, all the dishes are good.

Here are some pictures taken during our detour lunch :)

Steam fish - good

Fried rice - i like it. Saw a few tables ordered this and insist that hubby order too ;)

Stir fried kangkung

And the stuffed crab.

The restaurant is next to the RHB bank in Chukai and its opposite the river.
Below a picture of the river taken from the car park just opposite the restaurant.

The address is Restoran Tong Juan is located at K117, Jalan Sulaimani, Chukai/Kemaman.

Kafe Wawasan, Bandar Mahkota Cheras (2)

I mentioned about this makan place near my housing area earlier but have not got any food picture to share. I was there again last nite with hubby's pal. We try this tomato seafood pasta.




Our verdict - the sauce is sweet and not enough tomato-ish taste. But overall we still enjoy it.

Nong & Jimmy: Thai Seafood BBQ

We celebrated 3 June's babies on Tuesday at this place in Ampang. Its my first time here and was surprised to find the place crowded even on a weekday!

Here are the pictures of the food we had.

A type of Thai fried fritter served with kaya.

BBQ cockerels and its best eaten with the sauce. Even me who don't fancy cockerels enjoy it :)

A clean plate of mango kerabu - not very authentic but good.

Fried rice. Very tasty..

Fried Kangkong belecan

BBQ squid. Very tender

Glass chicken feet. A few of us have not heard of or tried this before.

Tom Yam - not very authentic but does not taste like ready-made :)

Steam fish - too salty.

And, the BBQ crabs.. It look dry and tasteless but its actually yummy...

I have this habit now of taking pictures of the towel packet which always have the address printed. So, i don't need to type the address for you ;)

Total damage RM191.90 and RM25for drinks.

What is a birthday celebration without a cake, so the dessert of the night is mango cake from BreadStory.

And, our June babies.... SYong, JWoo and EOoi

Happy Birthday to you.
Guess whose birthday we will be celebrating next ;)