E's First Dinner For Us!

Was unable to blog with the recent internet downtime but things are slowly returning to normal. Prayers go out to the Taiwanese earthquake victims and hopefully Johorean flood victims are returning to their normal routines and lives too. You can contribute towards the flood victims via The Malaysian Red Crescent Society. Details here.

I would like to give thanks to God for all his blessings to me. I read this somewhere, "Make the most out of what you have and the least out of what you don't". That is how I stay happy! Well, it's Jan 1, 2007! Hope the world will indeed be a better place and may all have a fantastic New Year ahead. Also to more great tasting food too! Ha ha ha..

Speaking of great tasting food, my nephew, E, decided to cook us dinner last week and I happily made myself available. He wants to be a chef and open his own restaurant one day and this aunt of his here is delighted (hopefully I'll still be around by then!). He just turned 16 and we would be happy with any meal that he will be cooking, no matter how simple it would be. So that fateful day came and what was on the menu was Fried Rice with cherry tomatoes and bits of Peppercorn Vietnamese Ham.

The Vietnamese Ham, wrapped in banana leaves. The little squares on the right are Vietnamese Wedding Cakes (that's what the tour guide said). It's chewy and has bits of desiccated coconut inside. They had also bought the Vietnamese hat as a souvenir!

The Vietnamese Ham (known as Cha-Lua) is authentic as they bought it from Vietnam during the family's recent holiday there. I absolutely love them as they are really yummy! The meat patty is wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. In the States they are usually sold wrapped in an aluminium foil instead (I usually get a roll of them from Little Paris when I'm in San Francisco - they have wonderful french loaf grilled beef sandwiches too!). I wonder if the ham is sold here in Malaysia. I only get to eat some in Vietnam Kitchen, which is better than not having any!

The fried rice was really good and I'm not saying that 'cos he's my nephew. It simply was! Younger nephew, O, helped out with the fried rice too. So, credit is given to him too.
Then came the lobster! It was done more in the style of a lobster thermidor but E said that he didn't really follow all the steps from the recipe book. Before he served it, he squeezed in some lemon juice. The lobster tasted so good.
Whatever style it was, it was lovely! Great job E! Overall, it was a lovely family dinner that night and we even had a bottle of port from Portugal. I'm looking forward to more meals from E! You reading this E???? ;o)

Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~ Author Unknown

Little Paris on Stockton, San Francisco

Now I would like to share with you folks one of the food that I usually eat whenever I'm in San Francisco. I always make it a point to drop by Little Paris to get my BBQ Beef Sandwich.

They actually sell all assortments of Vietnamese food - all ready packed. This eatery is rather small and only has a few tables for patron and does more take out orders. One of my fave pickup is the fried spring rolls with the rice noodles.

One of the other food item I usually get here is the Vietnamese Ham (seen wrapped in aluminium foil). I will usually add it into my salads and noodles whenever I eat in. Also extremely good in preparing fried rice!

Oh, and the main reason for dropping by at Little Paris time and time again? This wonderful BBQ Beef Sandwich (USD3.50). BBQ Pork is also available for those who prefer the "other" white meat! Hahaha...Anyway, what makes this sandwich taste so good is actually a mixture of all the different ingredients. Sliced BBQ Beef on a French loaf with pickled julienned radish, carrots and some raw onions and parsley. I guess the main factor would be the pickled vegetables. It's done spot on, not too sour and still with the "crunch" factor, making this a hit!

Little Paris Restaurant
939 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Tel : (415) 982 6111


USA - To Be Continued...



 

Open 24/7 ! Pho Pasteur - Toronto, Canada

And now we head back to Canada ... after resting a while in the hotel, we were feeling hungry and decided to grab an early dinner so that we can head back to the hotel and have an early night since we did so much traveling that day.  Bro-in-law (BIL) had Googled and did all the homework and soon enough we found our lunch venue (thanks to the GPS!).

Are my eyes THAT bad? 24/7??? Did I read it right?  Gosh, if Pho Pasteur was back in Klang Valley-I think I would have fainted from all the joy that I felt!  Alas, it's not in Klang Valley but in Canada that one can find Vietnamese food round the clock, 24 hours a day!

Restaurant Basilic, Montreal - Pan Asian Goodness

Canada continues ...

We moved on to Montreal and stayed at Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel for the next 2 nights.

Hunger struck! As usual :o). Our first meal in Montreal was at Restaurant Basilic; a "pan-asian" restaurant (as they call themselves) in Chinatown which has a rather mixed menu (there's Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese!) with reasonable prices.  We ordered a mixture of some Vietnamese and Thai items and we enjoyed the fare here, so much so we actually dropped by again on the second day.  So, check Restaurant Basilic out if you ever in Montreal.

Hu Tieu Kho Name Vang $7.95 (Dry noodles with Shrimp & Pork).  Lovely springy noodles and the shrimps were fresh.  It's served with a bowl of soup on the side.

Vietnam Kitchen Revisited

Recently went to have lunch in Vietnam Kitchen in 1Utama. I have been a regular patron of this restaurant since it first opened its doors in SS2; their first outlet (sadly, it's no longer there!). It's prices have been climbing up steadily since then, about 3 to 4 years back. Back then, its prices were reasonable, a bowl of noodles costs about RM6plus.

At present, they recently printed new menus (which usually means prices are hiked up!) and now noodles costs around RM10.90-11.90! Those were the days. The food quality hasn't change much but my gripe is that the cold Vietnamese coffee no longer comes with a small bucket of ice and condensed milk on the side; added according to our own liking after waiting patiently for the coffee to drip into the cup. They now bring the cold coffee to you all mixed! Horrors! That's not how it should be served. So no more orders of Cold Vietnamese Coffee from me here. They still do the drip for the hot coffee though.

Crispy Viet Onions Cake (one of my fave snacks - topped with fish floss!)KCC's fave snack - Mango and Banana Prawn

Beef Ball Noodles
My fave noodles - Lai Fun Sliced HamThe tasty but small portion Seafood Noodles

Though service is fast, the waiters/waitresses that were dashing around (clearing up tables or responding to a customer's call) came across as quite a disturbance to the patrons. They would be clearing the table noisily and one waitress while trying to rush to the front, kicked my chair and gave me a jolt and didn't even apologise. They should be trained properly as to how to go about their duties in a quieter manner. The food is still decent (beggar can't be choosers, as my fave Viet food is in San Francisco, USA!) but with the escalating prices, as my mom said, we won't be eating so often in Vietnam Kitchen. As a matter of fact, I came across another Vietnamese restaurant elsewhere, and I'll be making a visit there soon.

Have food will travel!- wmw