Claypot Chicken Rice - Koon Kee, Damansara Jaya

Ate Claypot Chicken Rice at Koon Kee, Damansara Jaya the other night. Had eaten there before but didn't take my camera with me then. Let's just say, this time around, I've promised the lady not to write too much about the tasty claypot rice. It's about having too much business till it's hard to handle. Hee Hee...She told me that it's okay to write a bit. So, here it is....just a bit. Plus a bit from the first paragraph of my first visit there.

Be patient...claypot chicken rice cooked over charcoal stove. Nice! Go eat...Will let the photo do the talking!

I bought a talking refrigerator that said "Oink" every time I opened the door. It made me hungry for pork chops. ~Marie Mott

Engrish - Are You The Wanted?

When I saw this I was trying to make out exactly what the sign was trying to say. I think it was meant to be specific in a certain way or even trying to be funny??? After reading it, I had no idea who I was for awhile as my brain went dead for a couple of seconds! LOL....

An expert is a man who tells you a simple thing in a confused way in such a fashion as to make you think the confusion is your own fault. ~ Willaim Castle

Seoul , Korea - Part 1

Arrived Incheon Airport, Seoul and was pleasantly surprised to see the authorities there so thoughtful as to provide glasses for the elderly (aged 50, 60 and 70) who might have trouble reading and filling in the immigration/custom forms. Instead of chained pens, you have chained spectacles!

Arriving in the morning, we were whisked off for a Seagull Cruise. None landed on me, apparently if one did, you would have an abundance of blessings. Hee hee....maybe I already have an abundance of blessings, God has been kind to me. Thanks.

I then had my first Korean lunch which was Chicken cooked with some black sauce over a pan placed on the table. I felt a bit uneasy seeing chunks of raw chicken meat being drenched in black sauce and cooking slowly. It was mediocre, where I enjoyed the kimchi and the anchovies more than the main dish itself.
We then headed for a visit to MBC Studio where they filmed the famous Korean series "Jewel In The Palace". Apparently, some extra still had a role to play after the filming ended. ;o) Never really having fully watched the show, I could not fully appreciate being around the location nor share the excitement with the rest. I didn't hang around the area and took interest in other things, watching the people and taking snapshots of other non-series related things.

I came across what seems to be a see-saw but this one is played not by sitting but by jumping on it . Pretty low to the ground but these adults seem to be enjoying it. Nowadays, it's hard for most people to be able to derived such simple and pure joy from simple activities like these.
There were several nice statues around and this was one of them. However, being on my own, I don't know the story behind it. Are there 3 giants who are behind MBC (hence the small chair) or is this a parody of some sort, seeing the third man partially hiding and sniggering (or is that a "gasp" of surprise?).

There were several stalls around but we didn't get the chance to try out the food as we were only given a relatively short period of time at each venue. We spent more time on the road travelling from point A to point B (sometimes up to an hour or so!) as traffic is quite heavy in Seoul. At every given opportunity, we made sure we emptied our bladders as we didn't want to be caught in a situation of having to answer nature's call in the bus itself! Ha ha...Anyway, this particular stall at MBC Studio's grounds looks quite traditional, having its own rustic charm.
At night, we did a bit of shopping at Dongdaemun Market. There were so many things that were calling out to me but I was pretty good, only bought two pendants. These grape brooches were very nice too, Czar bought one. In the pic, the blue brooch in the middle looks like a face actually, or my imagination could be running wild (uh, even wilder, I mean).
We went back to our hotel shortly despite earlier plans to shop till we drop there (the place closes at 5am!) as we were all tired from the flight. Tomorrow's morning call of 6.30 am also somewhat curtailed us.

To be continued ...

Restaurant Melaka Street, SS2

When Mrs Pitt and Zahara were here visiting, we had gone to Melaka Street restaurant in SS2 (located along the same row as Nam Heong) for dinner. At that time, the place had been in operation for about half a year. It just wasn't pulling in the crowd; only 3 tables were filled.

We ordered noodles and surprisingly, the food was nice, reasonably priced and portions were quite big. Mrs Pitt told me that I should take some photos the next time I'm there so that I can post it on my blog and do my little part with some promotion. However, to my surprise when I showed up 2 weeks later, the place was packed and we had to wait for a table.
While waiting, I realised why the change when I saw an article displayed on the board. There was a food review done on Melaka Street in the newspaper. I was indeed happy for them that this place finally made itself known. Since there were four of us, we opted for dishes (they serve noodles too) and rice.
The crabmeat tofu was lovely and we also had the marmite chicken which was good too (I didn't take a pic of that as it was black and would probably turn up looking like a big black blob of food. We also ordered spicy prawns and fried king noodles which were quite delightful.
Of course, we still wanted our desserts and ordered an ABC ice kacang to be shared by the four of us. It was a sweet ending to a good dinner with good company.

No road is long with good company. ~Turkish Proverb

Mid Autumn Festival

I was in Jusco today and they were having a Mid Autumn Festival celebration at the concourse area. Continuing on my post on mooncakes, here are some photos I took (before I was told by a security guard to stop-I could never understand as to why certain things are restricted in this sense. I thought the more publicity the better. After all, it's free advertisement).
The area was filled with stalls and stalls selling mooncakes. There was this particular stall, Secret Garden, which was selling some novelty snow skin mooncakes that were shaped like an orange, apple, one with a fresh strawberry in the centre, tiramisu and durian filling. While it was a refreshing change, the mooncake lost its identity when it's shaped differently. However, it was indeed cute and I ended up buying them! Hah!
A little while later, there was a display of dough sculpting from this Chinese man who was seated near the stage, surrounded by a small crowd. He was skillfully sculpting all sorts of animals in a matter of seconds.
The mc asked what sort of other animals we would like to see him make. I asked whether he could make a monkey....and this was what he did. Ha ha ha...

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~ Albert Camus

Mooncakes from Chynna

Just got back tonight from Korea. Will blog on that once I download my photos. Meanwhile, here's a short post on Chynna's (KL Hilton) mooncakes. I had the good fortune to taste their assorted miniature mooncakes. Read about the origin of mooncakes here.

I was impressed with the packaging; it was a long rectangle wooden box with an old fashion metal lock. To open, one had to slide out a metal flat pin before the lock can be flipped open.
Once opened, there are 8 miniature mooncakes packed in individual boxes (oh, Chynna has normal size moon cakes too). Since I was already taking photos of it, I decided to open each of the boxes to take a shot of how it looked liked. The pack comprised of 4 baked and 4 snow skin mooncakes. I use to like eating baked mooncakes but as I got older, I seem to have been "weaned" off and now just prefer an occasional one or two snow skinned ones. I tried the Snow Skin with Chocolate, Sunflower Seeds and Bailey's Centre. It was yummy! I have not tried the others yet though but this particular mooncake and the packaging are enough reasons for anyone (who loves boxes! Ha Ha ha....) to get themselves one. Just look at it!
Anyway, I had kept two other mooncake boxes from the past. Mooncakes nowadays are not only marketed with samples given out but also through it's packaging which evolved from a simple cardboard box till more elaborate ones today. Here are the two; Shangri-La's and Eu Yan Sang's (which I now use to store my knick knacks).

I guess it's the same with people, you gotta dress up to get noticed - wmw

Malacca - Part 4

Polly wants lots of crackers!

After a scorching 2nd day in Malacca, we hoped for a cooler morning when we decided to visit the nearby zoo on our 3rd and last day there. Since the Malacca Zoo was just right next to us, we decided not to go into town at all. We were pretty surprised to see that it was a rather large one. I haven't been to Zoo Negara for ages and can't recall how big or small it is. But I was impressed with the Malacca Zoo. We left for home after spending about a good 3 hours there (missing certain areas of it). It was an enjoyable trip and we plan to visit Malacca again since I'm more familiar with the roads now (or at least I think I am! Ha ha ha...) Here are some pics of the trip to the Malacca Zoo....

Happy kids!

Stop looking at our behinds!
A Red Lory having lunch
Monkeying around...

My fave shot....I like how the tiger on the ground is looking up

By the way, I will be off to Korea and will be back on Tuesday. So, there won't be any postings till then...Take care my friends! See you all soon...

Recaps : -
Part 3
Part 2
Part 1

Lots of people talk to animals.... Not very many listen, though. That's the problem.
~ Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

Goldrain & Hailstones

Went to see Goldrain & Hailstones with Czar and hubby the other night. I made my way there earlier as I was going to be driving slowly due to my bad eyesight and ended up reaching there around 8pm (play starts at 8.30). As I drove into Sentul Park, the sales office that was illuminated with blue lights caught my eye. I drove into the empty carpark or so I thought, 4 policemen on their motorbikes (lights off) stared at me. I quickly took a shot of the building and drove out of the area, I didn't want to start explaining what I was doing there.
It was a lovely drive heading towards KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre) once I turned into Sentul Park. Felt like I was heading towards my own Southfork Ranch to retire for the night after a day of rounding up some horses. Ha ha ha...I soon snapped back to reality when I saw the KLPAC building.
Anyway, with Goldrain & Hailstones running till 17 Sept, I shan't give away too much of the storyline. Let's just say it was an interesting play with just a cast of two, Jit Murad and Lin Jaafar who both played a myriad of characters.
Directed by Zahim Albakri, it covers almost all aspects of life; culture, infidelity, friendship, prostitution(I sometimes refer it to "prostiTUITION" as some young boys get their sexual education this way! LOL), motherhood, homosexuality, love, marriage and lots more in this 2 1/2 hours of dialogue. Watch it and you'll start thinking about your life and the people in it; past, present and future.

Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
~ John F. Kennedy

Yu Tiao - Chinese Dough Sticks, Cheow Yang

One of my favourite stall for snacks is located a few shoplots away from the Cheow Yang coffeeshop. It's well known for its fried dough snacks like yu tiao (the locals call it Yau Char Gwai) and Ham Chin Peang. I was out with the Mahs when WH decided to take a drive there to see if we could get some of the snacks.
It opens around 8 pm onwards (off on Mondays) and closes when they sell out which could just be in 2 or 3 hours depending on the crowd. We were fortunate enough to still get some snacks when we arrived around 10.30 pm. Usually, there will be a long line and orders are taken down and written on a exercise book. The customers will wait patiently for their orders or one can place the order first, have a drink at the coffeeshop and then come back to pick the order up.
It's a family business here. The husband kneads the dough, the wife and another lady handles the big wok while their son takes the order and collects the money. My favourite is the Hoong Tau Ham Chin Peang (dough with red bean filling).
The reason why this stall is a favourite of many is because of the special dough. The Ham Chin Paeng is soft and fluffy, even when it's left overnight and eaten as breakfast the next morning! Of course, it would taste even better if you warm it up in the microwave. It was my lucky night, as I not only got to eat my favourite Ham Chin Paeng but had a chance to chat with the family and got to know them a bit more (and even took pictures!). They are usually too busy to talk with the neverending orders to deliver.

"If I had to lose weight, I would have to move away from Malaysia. There is just too much of good food around!" - wmw

Malacca - Part 3

After better planning on my 2nd day, we made our way to A Famosa. Who would have thought when this place was built that it would one day become a tourist attraction? I still have hope for charging an entrance fee in the future when folks come into my house to see my "memorabilia". Mrs Pitt will beg to differ and say that they're rubbish. Whaddaya mean rubbish? Bah! Rubbish! Oops, got derailed...Ok, back on track. It was a scorching afternoon and after climbing the stairs, we were perspiring like crazy. So thank goodness, we had some cool breeze when we reached the top. Apart from the peddlers (selling t-shirts, key-chain, water...), there were a lot of students scattered across A Famosa, doing their sketches.

See what I mean by scorching ???

And here's what he was drawing....

It was an interesting journey through time and this is one of those time I felt is about the closest I can get to be a part of history. Well, after spending about an hour here, we then left as our stomach was beckoning us for food! Having had brunch earlier, we looked for some tea time food. I drove to Jalan Bunga Raya to look for some food but had problem finding for a place to eat. Most stalls were either closed at this time (around 3) or haven't opened! Sigh, we walked around and chanced upon Mei Sin Cafe which is your conventional coffeeshop with food stalls. We ordered satay and on seeing something that I haven't come across in KL/PJ (the closest would be lobak), I ordered a plate of assorted snacks.
The snacks were pretty average and the satay too. The satay was only very lightly marinated and it's saving grace was the peanut gravy. It has a hint of pineapple (a guess), making it tangy. Something different but nice. Wonder where I can find such satay sauce here in KL/PJ.

At this point mom was saying that we should most probably pack some food back and eat in, not wanting to risk getting lost again at night. It's a shame to stay indoors but with my bad eyesight, I didn't have much of a choice. We went to look for the famous popiah (fresh spring roll) located in front of Madam King's departmental store. I found it when I saw a stall surrounded by customers. I had to wait a while as there was a lady who ordered about 20 pieces! A regular size costs RM2 whereas big (huge enough to be a meal itself) costs RM2.50. Here, the filling's chunky and there's a magic ingredient that makes it taste so good. What magic ingredient? It's crispy lard! Not to be missed if ever you're in Malacca! Err...unless you don't like crispy lard.
We then went into Italy Bakery shop and bought some buns and I picked up a Pineapple Cupcake. I have not seen any Pineapple Cupcake like the ones here. Topped with pineapple pieces and with added raisins, it looked so nice. I just had to try it and luckily, it tasted as good as it looked. All was good that night. Ha ha ha....What was planned for the next morning? The Malacca Zoo awaits...

To be continued ...

Sarawak Laksa, Gembira Restoran

After reading about masak-masak posting on Sarawak Laksa in Bangsar, I was reminded to try the other stall in Taman Megah at Restoran Gembira (Happy Restaurant). KA and I decided to eat breakfast there as we drove pass the area one morning.

The lady cook dons fancy hats, fashionable yet hygienic. Hee Hee...She is helped out by her husband (I think). However, they are not friendly people though they are operating from "Happy" Restaurant. They are not rude, is just that they are not smiley people. Smiley people are always in my good books (unless they are the sinister kind! LOL) Anyway, they also have Sarawak kolo mee apart from Sarawak Laksa. We both ordered the Laksa.
As compared to the one in Bangsar, I found the Sarawak Laksa here was served in a "rough" manner. I can't seem to find the right word for it. Rough as the shredded egg were in large pieces and the vermicelli was also quite thick. It was less refined than Nam Chuan's, to put it another way. However, the soup tasted better here. It's slightly thicker than Nam Chuan's. So, plus points for that. Well at RM4 a bowl, one can't expect a lot. I'm not sure which is the original style, less or more refine?

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. ~ John Gunther

Orisinal.com - Unwind Here!

Feeling stressed? Life a little too hectic of late? Feeling down? Or simply killing time? Go visit "Orisinal", you will find a cure here! Believe it or not, it was Zahara who told me about this site. Having some time to myself tonight, I decided to check it out and found myself thoroughly entertained. Some of you might know of it as it has been around since 2001. I took a couple of screenshots from the website to post here.
Orisinal is actually a flash game site but it's a completely different kind of game site that one normally comes across. It's art! Games here are designed in mostly pastel shades with soothing background music. If one needs to wind down, this is the online place to do it while having some fun playing games. Like the cute "These Little Pigs" for example, it has Canon in D Major playing in the background (those piggies are so darn cute!). The games may come across as kid stuff to some but most of the games appeal to adults too. I am so in love with this site and amazed at the simple yet addictive games available here. I have yet to go through all the games (57 in all) but my favourite right now is Midnight Serenade. Here, you are playing the guitar and serenading your love one. You are to collect as many roses as you can while avoiding the vases, bricks and bottles that are being thrown by your neighbours (for making all that ruckus! Why else?)

Two other cute games are "Cranky Crabs" and "The Three Monkeys". In the former, you have been bitten by the cranky crabs once too many time and it's time for revenge. The objective of the game is to hit the crabs with your yo-yo while avoiding beach balls and coconuts that roll across your path. In the latter game, you click on the monkeys to either catch or duck the fruits and bombs that rains on them respectively. Fun stuff! There have been no updates since November 2005 and I only hope that it means there are more games being developed.

Look around and you'll find an online store where you can buy all the cute characters that are printed on clocks, mugs, apparels, boxes and bags. Click around the other buttons and you'll find that Ferry Halim has created a page called "Raindrops" depicting rain. Apparently he loves the sound of rain, so do I. Then there is another button to send e-flowers to your friends. Here you "pick" the flowers and "arrange" them yourselves before you send them off. Wow! Games and all these? I felt refreshed after checking out this website. Of course, there are wallpapers for one to download too.

The only area where you will find "louder" music is in Trailer where there is a short intro of Ferry Halim's work. However, the cutest button of all has to be the guestbook. Here you can leave messages but you have a choice of an avatar from 8 types of animated characters, 60 shade of colours and 8 types of facial expressions to choose from. After submission, move your mouse over the character and your message will appear.
Gosh! The site is so beautiful that not only am I in love with it but I could possibly be in love with this Ferry Halim, the creator! LOL....I'm not a programmer but I can truly imagine the time and effort spent on such details. I can only see one bad thing arising from this website. What you may ask? The danger of spending all your waking and free hours here and ending up being some sort of a Rip Van Winkle before you know it! Ha ha ha.....I better stop waxing lyrically about Orisinal. I'm really in amazement and awe. Check it out and you'll know what I mean (but don't blame me if you end up spending your entire lifetime there! he he he...).

I do believe in love at first sight. Who? Bah! It's Orisinal!!!- wmw