Travel and Food: Delights of my life

Garlic Knots

2011-02-15T15:58:00.003+08:00

A day after Valentine day, I wanted to make something nice and simple for my GF, so I bring out the flour, sugar, yeast and all to bake some Garlic Knots...

Here's the recipe i got from here...http://www.foodmayhem.com/2009/08/garlic-knots.html

Well, it turns out quite good.

It was a bit too salty for me, note to myself..less salt.

I served it with Pan-seared Asparagus and Poached-egg.

For Pan-seared Asparagus, easy:
Remove the woody part of the asparagus.
heat up a pan, add some Butter.
Chop some garlic, brown it in the hot pan for a minute.
Add in the Asparagus and sear it for 3 minute.
And done!

For the Poached-Egg:
I think it takes a lot of practice to make a prefect Poached-Egg. Well, it sure does for me. Haha

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add in some vinegar ( 2tablespoons), stir the water so that you create a swirl in the water, immediately bring down the heat and crack the egg in the middle of the swirling hot water.

Poach for 3~4 minute.

A prefect Poached Egg

Horse Gram Fritter with Red Onion and Cilantro

2010-05-23T16:30:00.004+08:00

I have some soaked, then boiled and drained
Horse Gram left over from my attempt to whip up some delicious Hummus- about I.5 cup of it. Not wanting to throw them away, I used them to make some Fritter.

Here's my version of the Horse Gram Fritter with the ingredients that I can find in my kitchen:

1.5 cup horse Gram bean, soaked and boiled to soften it.

1 big red Onion, chopped coarsely.

1 potatoes, chopped finely.

2 stalks Cilantro. Chopped coarsely.

1 tsp of ground Cumin Seed

1tsp of Salt

Dash of Pepper

1 tbsp of Plain Yogurt

Blend the Horse Gram bean into a paste/ batter. Add some water if it is too dry.

Mix all the other ingredients into the batter, evenly.

I tried to deep fried 1 tablespoon of the batter to see how it turns out. The batter won't hold and just fall apart.

To fix the batter, I added half a cup of shifted Wheat Flour and 2 egg white.

Now I think the batter will hold.

Note the actual recipe has more ingredients such as Baby Spinach, chopped chillies and chaat masala powder. I just used what I have in my kitchen and cross my fingers and hope for the best.

I served it with some sweet chillies sauce and cold yogurt sauce.

The cold yogurt sauce will tame the Oily-ness a bit, IMHO.

Yogurt sauce:
Mix Yogurt with come chopped cilantro and some lemon zest. Put inside the fridge to cool it.

I am painting again...

2010-04-22T00:43:00.004+08:00

I was really busy with works nowadays, with work, work and work... and I didn't find much time to cook anymore...

Last 2 weeks I fell down and cut my achillies tendon; had a surgery and now I am on a long 2 months rest at home.

Not able to walk really sucks!

So, I paint again... always love painting...

This is work in progress. :)

Aglio Olio with Sun Dried Tomatoes

2010-01-11T16:41:00.003+08:00

Today woke up feeling a bit under the weather. So I stay home...
For lunch, I cook a simple Aglio Olio..

Ingredients

Angel Hair Pasta
extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbs garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbs Italian Mix Herbs
1 Tbs of chopped Fresh chilies (I use Cili Padi, remove the seeds if you want to tune down the spiciness)
Sun dried Tomatoes - 5 pcs
Fresh Cherry Tomatoes - 4 -pcs

Directions

Boil water, add in fresh tomatoes, cook for a minute and transfer them to ice cold water, remove skin.

Cook pasta until al dente.

Heat up olive oil over medium heat, saute chopped garlic and chillies.

Add in Sun Dried Tomatoes.

Stir fry for 2 minutes.

Add in pasta, tomatoes , stir fry for 1 minute, add a dash of italian herbs.

For taste, season with salts and pepper.

Done!

Back from a hiatus from blogging and cooking...

2008-06-08T19:04:00.004+08:00

I am taking a hiatus from both blogging and cooking for quite some time already. Been very busy last two months- quit my job and went back working for my previous employer. Nothing particular interesting happened except the petrol price increase which will significantly impacted the life style of many Malaysian- which I already started to feel the pinch~ ouch!

Now that I have settled down with my new "old" company, I hope I have time to resume my favorite activites-cooking! haha...

Hong Kong Style Egg Tart

2008-03-25T00:03:00.004+08:00

I've been searching the internet for the hong kong style egg tart recipe.
After going through about 10 different versions, well I've chosen one that I think has the highest chance to succeed ( basically it means it uses the least ingredients and least steps). Because I do not like my tart to be too sweet, I adjusted the ingredients so my tarts would be healthier and at the same time taste great.

My last baking experience was a failure ( chocolate cookies ), so I am bit worry if my egg tart will fail again. Guess what? It turns out fantastic!

Ingredients for the dough

* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 2 cups wheat flour
* 1 cup self-raising flour
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter
* 1 egg, beaten

Ingredient for the egg filling
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1.5 cup low-fat milk
* 4 eggs, beaten
* 1 dash vanilla extract

To make the dough:
Mix the wheat flour and self-raising flour.
Mix in the sugar.
Mix in the butter and egg.
Mix into a dough. The dough should be bit moist, not to dry or greasy. Adjust with flour or butter accordingly.
Take some of the dough,press the dough on the center of the egg tart mold. Press it so it covers the bottom and up to the side of the mold. Trim off all the extra dough from the top.

To make the egg filling:
Mix the eggs with milk. Add in sugar. Add in vanilla extract.
Beat the mixture until the sugar dissolve completely. Strain the mixture.

Fill the tart mold with the mixture.

Bake the tarts in a preheated oven at 220 degree Celsius for 20~30 minutes or until the tart shell turns brownish and the egg filling raises a bit.

Yield 10 yummy egg tarts.

Note:
The tart filling got good feedback. I got the taste and texture right, but the tart shell on the other hand is a bit too soft.
I kinda bake this tart at 12 mid night because I couldn't sleep. hehe
I did not have any all-purpose flour so I use my own concoction of flours.
Here is another egg tart shell recipe I found on the net, you might want to try it..

1 cup sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
1 dash vanilla extract

This weekend I am gonna give it another try and this time I hope to get the tart shell right!

Gong Bao Chicken

2008-03-20T18:55:00.004+08:00

I never really measure my seasoning ingredients. Well, you use as much as you think the dish needs. Haha

Here's a recipe for Gong Bao Chicken.

Ingredients:
300 gm of chicken breast, cut into 3~5 cm cube.
1 big Bombay Onion. (Red color big onion). Cut into 8 sections.
30 g of Cashew Nuts.

10 stalks of dried chillies, soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes. Don't cut the chillies. leave it intact. You don't want the seeds all over the dish.

3 cloves garlic, finely sliced.
4cm Fresh Ginger, peeled, and finely slice.
1 egg white.
Corn Flour.

Seasoning ingredients:
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce.
1.5 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
1 tablespoon of minced tauchu
1 tablespoon of Ketchup.

Marinating ingredients:
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce.
1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine.

Marinate chickens with the marinating ingredients at least 30 minutes.

Prepare the cashew nut: Roast cashew nut until brownish, set aside.

Heat enough oil to fry the chicken.
Before fry the chicken, coat the chicken with egg white.
Then coat the chicken again with corn flour. Don't use too much corn flour. Just enough to lightly coat the chicken.

Fry the chicken in hot oil until the chicken turn brownish, about 5 minutes. Strain the excess oil and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoon of Peanut oil in the wok.
Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 2~3 minutes until garlic turn bit brownish.
Add in dried chilies.
Stir-fry for another 2 minutes and add in Onion.
Stir fry for another 2 minutes.
Add in chicken and Seasoning ingredients.
Add 3 tablespoon of water.
Stir-fry for 2 minutes minutes.
Add cashew nuts. Add enough salt to taste. and stir-fry for another 2 minute.
Serve!

Fried Chicken

2008-03-20T18:41:00.004+08:00

Here's a recipe for fried chicken with an oriental touch.

Ingredients:

3 chicken tights.
Wheat flour.

Marinating ingredients:

dash of salt.
dash of pepper.
1 tablespoon juice of a fresh ginger.
1 tablespoon of soya sauce.
1 teaspoon brown sugar.
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce.

Marinate the chicken with the marinating ingredients for at least 1 hour.
Heat up enough oil for deep frying.
Coat the chicken with flour before deep fry.
Should take around 6~8 minutes for the chicken to cook.

Serve on a bed of fresh lettuce.

Roasted Pork Belly (Siu Yuk)

2008-02-17T00:19:00.008+08:00

Gong Xi Fat Chai!!
Last year was simply fantastic, I had a great year. My luck was extremely good- I landed a job with a MNC, I flew to Ireland and stayed there for 3 months, I visited London, I bought a new bike- my very own American Classic Chopper.

This year, according to the Chinese Astrology, I am looking toward another round of GREAT YEAR! :) I wish you have a great year ahead too.

Ok.. following is the recipe for Siu Yuk.
To make a good Siu Yuk , you must get a Pork Belly meat with equal portion of fat and meat. You know why.

Ingredients:
One big slab of Pork Belly
Salt
Five Spice Powder
Dash of sugar

Methods:
Use a sharp utensil, poke a lot of tiny hole all over the Pork Belly Skin. Try to poke as much holes as you can, cover the whole skin area.
Rub some salt all over the skin surface. Not too much salt, or it will turn too salty.

Mix 3 part of Spice Powder and 1 part of salt with a dash of sugar.
Use this mixture and rub the bottom of your pork belly meat. Take note, bottom only, not side.

Turn your oven to maximum heat and cook you Siu Yuk for 45 minutes to 1 hour. It is important to monitor your Siu Yuk after 40 minutes, do not over cooked it. You know it is done when you see the skin becomes bubble like texture.

Use a cleaver to chop it to 1 cm thick and serve!

Hainanese Chicken Rice

2008-01-09T17:58:00.000+08:00

I stir-fry, steam, braised, boiled but never baked before. For the past 2 weeks, I try to bake Chocolate Cookies. Three attempts, the 1st two failed miserably, the last attempts came out quite delicious but a bit too soft. Argghh... the frustration.

After 3 straight failures, I need a "success" to boast my confident before I give up cooking completely, so I decided to cook the oh-so-delicious Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Ingredients for Chicken:
1 whole chicken, cleaned.
4 inch fresh ginger, peeled, bruised.
6 cloves garlic, bruised.
1 stalk of local parsley.
1 tablespoon of salt.
Sesame oil.

Method to cook chicken:
Stuff ginger, garlic, parsley into the chicken cavity.
Boiled enough water in a large pot. Submerge chicken into the water, breast side down. Make sure water is enough to cover the chicken. Cover the pot lid, turn down the fire and let it simmers for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, prepare another pot with cold water, take out the chicken and immediately submerge the chicken into the cold water, this is to stop the cooking process immediately. Submerge in the cold water for 2~4 minute, and take out the chicken.
Immediately you rub the whole chicken with plenty of sesame oil.
This step is very important, the sesame oil will give extra flavor to the chicken and stop the chicken skin from turning dry and black color. Skip this step and your chicken will look unappetizing.
Ta da! You have cooked the chicken! IMPORTANT: Do not throw away the chicken stock, we need it to cook the rice and prepare the sauces.

Ingredient for Rice:
3 cups of white rice, washed.
4 shallots, finely chopped.
4 cloves of garlic, minced.
2 inch of fresh ginger, peeled, and minced.
2 inch of fresh ginger knob, peeled.

Heat 2 tablespoon of peanut oil in wok, add shallots, minced garlic and minced ginger, fry until fragrant or the mixture turn slightly brownish. Add in the rice, stir-fry until the rice mixture mix evenly for 6 minute.
Transfer rice into a rice cooker, add enough chicken stock to cook the rice. Add in the ginger knob and cook the rice.

Ingredients for Chilies sauce:
8 fresh chillies
2 cm of ginger, peeled, minced.
4 cloves of garlic.
Salt to taste.
3 limes, juice only.
4 tablespoon of Chicken stock.

Method: Blend all the ingredient!

Garnish with parsley and serve with cucumber.
Serve!

Chinese Dumpling / Gyoza

2007-12-23T21:05:00.000+08:00

餃子/ Gyoza

Ingredient A (dumpling filling):

250gm ground pork, minced
½ cup chopped cabbage
1 Ear fungus mushroom (Mok Yee), soaked and chopped
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 Spring Onion, chopped
3 teaspoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon of salt
2 dash of white pepper
1 chives, chopped

Mix all ingredients A, set aside.

Dumpling skin:
I use ready made dumpling skin that you can easily buy from supermarket. You can make your own, easy; just mix wheat flour with water, but it is labors intensive and time consuming.

How to make the dumpling:
Wet the dumpling skin edges with plain water. Place about 1 teaspoon of filling in the middle. To fold the dumpling, start with the left side, pinch together, then make a small pleat, fold it and pinch together. It takes about 4 pleats to close the dumpling. Pinch the edges to seal the dumpling.

How to cook the dumpling:

Method 1: Place the dumpling in a boiling water and lets it boils for 5 minutes. Serve!

Method 2: Pan fried the bottom and then steams it, this kind of dumpling is also known as the Japanese Gyoza. I love this method; it makes the dumpling really delicious.

First, heat up 2 tablespoon of oil in your pan.

Arrange the dumpling on the pan. Lets it cooks in the pan for 2 minute in medium heat, no need to stir it; we just want to brown the dumpling bottom.

Add enough water to cover ¼ the height of the dumpling. Turn up the heat and close the lid and lets it steams for 5 minutes.

Use a spatula to scope up the dumpling, careful not to tear the skin.

Serve with dumpling sauce.

Dumpling sauce:

2 tablespoon of soya sauce.
1.5 tablespoon of vinegar.
¼ teaspoon of sesame oil.
1 teaspoon of chillies oil.
Mix ingredients.

Eat up! Yuuummmmmmmyyyy!!

Tom Yum Goong

2007-12-13T20:00:00.000+08:00

Ingredients:
16 prawns (medium size)
1/4 cups of tamarind concentrate
1/3 cups of lime juice
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1.5 tablespoon of brown sugar
6 button mushroom, cut into half
10 Chillies Padi
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
6 kaffir lime leaves
1/4 cup of coriander leaves
5 cm of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
4 cm of Galangal, thinly sliced
2 lemongrass, white part only, bruised and thinly sliced
2 stalks of Sping onion, diagonally and thinly sliced
5 shallots, finely chopped
Remove the heads and shells of the prawn, but keep the tail intact. De vein the prawn, set aside. Reserve the prawn heads and shells- we need this to make the soup base.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in wok. Add the prawn heads and shells , stir-fry until shells and heads turn orange color. This will bring out all the delicious taste and smell of the prawn.

Add about 1.5 liter water ( I fill my medium size pot half full). Add the prawn heads and shells in and bring to boil, and simmer for a good 15 minute.

Add in lemongrass, ginger, galangal,lime leaves, chilies padi. Bring soup to boil and further simmer for another 20 minute.

Strain the soup to remove all the ginger, galangal, prawn heads, prawn shells and lemongrass.Reserve part of the lemongrass in the soup.

Return soup to pot, add in tomatoes, shallots, spring onion, lime juice,tamarind concentrate,fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring to boil. Cook for 3 minute.

Add prawn in and further cook for 3 minutes.

Adjust the taste with sugar and fish sauce according to your taste.

Stir in the coriander leaves just before serve.

Lemongrass Chicken with Potatoes

2007-11-29T20:01:00.000+08:00

I like the smell and taste of lemongrass, I like it both in food and in drinks.
Recently I was introduced to a drink made from Lemongrass, it's a real thirst-quencher. I had it in Bumbu Bali, a Bali-themed restaurant in Puchong.

I would appreciate if anyone could give me the recipe of this lemongrass thirst-quencher. :)

Here's a recipe of Lemongrass Chicken that I cooked for today's dinner:

Ingredients A:
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
1 teaspoon of curry powder
4 teaspoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of sea salt
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 stalks of lemongrass, tender white part only, near the root
3 dashes of pepper
2 stalks of spring onion, cut into 2 inch length

Other ingredients:
400 gm of chicken, I used 3 chicken drumsticks, hacked into half
2 tablespoons of oil
1/2 cup water

Main ingredients: Chicken and Lemongrass. Marinated chicken meat.

Methods:
Use only the tender part of the lemongrass , bruise with cleaver back and then chopped finely.
Marinate the chicken with ingredients A, refrigerate for 1.5 hour.

Optional:
I like potatoes and I thought it will goes well with this dish, so I added them in. It turned out delicious. Peeled 3 medium size potatoes and cut them into cubes. Deep-fry them until cooked.

Potatoes- Peeled, cubed and deep fried.

Heat oil in wok. Add in marinated chicken and stir-fry for 5 minute. (Add in potatoes, stir-fry for another 2 minute)
Add in water, bring to boil, stir-fry for another 15 minute until the meat is cooked and the gravy thicken. Garnish with lemongrass. Serve!

Potato Fish Cake with Ritz Biscuit Crumbs

2007-11-27T19:53:00.000+08:00

This recipe is inspired by Nigella Lawson’s chicken nugget recipe, in which Nigella uses Ritz Biscuit Crumbs instead of the traditional bread crumbs to coat the chicken meat. Personally, I think this is brilliant as the Ritz cream cracker itself will lend a crunchier texture to the food.

Ingredients:

200gm of Dory Fish Fillet, chopped into smalls cubes
3 medium size potatoes, I use Holland’s potatoes
½ teaspoon of salt
2 stalk of Coriander, finely chopped
1 stalk of spring onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cm of finely grated fresh ginger
Ritz Cream Cracker, crushed into biscuit crumbs

SOme of the ingredients: Fish Fillet, Coriander, Ginger, Potatoes and Ritz Cream Cracker.Finely chopped garlic, grated fresh ginger, chopped spring onion and coriander.

Turn biscuit into crumbs.Potatoes fish cake coated with biscuit crumbs.

Boil potatoes for 6~8 minute until potatoes are soften. Peel and mash the potatoes.
Combine and mix mashed potatoes with coriander, spring onion, ginger,garlic, fish and salt.
Divide the mixture into 6~8 balls.
Coat the ball with Ritz biscuit crumbs.
Heat enough oil for deep-fry Potato Fish Cake. Flatten the ball to about 2cm thick before deep-fry. Deep-fry about 4~5 minute or until Potato Fish Cake turn brown color.Garnish with Coriander. Serve! Yummy!

Claypot Rice (Sah Puh Fan)

2007-11-26T08:01:00.000+08:00

Today I cooked my very own Sah Puh Fan (Claypot rice).

Ingredients:

1 Lap Cheong (Chinese sweet sausage) Get the fatty one instead of the lean one – diagonally sliced
150gm lean pork meat, minced
1 stalk of shallot, chopped
Ginger juice-1.5 cm of ginger, peeled and grated, pressed for juice
2 salted eggs, yolk separated from egg white
Dash of pepper
1 tablespoon of soy sauce

Sauce (for 2 pots):

2 tablespoon of Soy sauce
2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
2 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of olive oil

Mix minced pork meat with chopped shallots, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce. Dash of pepper and ginger juice. Add in 1 tablespoon of salted egg white. Mix well. Set aside
Use a claypot, put 1/2 cup rice with 1.5 cup water to cook the rice. Bring the water to boil, and then cook in slow fire.

About 10 minute, when the rice is about to cooked (you can see the rice forming but still watery), add in Lap Cheong, Pork mixture and salted egg yolk on top. Arrange them all around the rice surface. Mix the sauce ingredient well, pours on top of the rice. Pour 1 tablespoon of salted egg white all around the surface of the rice.
Close the lid and let it cooks for another 5~10 minute or until the rice and meat is cooked.

The fat from the lap Cheong and juice from the meat will sip down and flavor the rice.Serve!

I hope you like this Sah Puh Fan. I choose a fatty Lap Cheong because I want the fat from the Lap Cheong to flavor the rice.

Important Note: the recipe above makes 2 small pot of claypot rice. So divide the ingredients accordingly :)

Mui Choy with Pork Belly

2007-11-23T14:18:00.000+08:00

If you love to eat pork, you will love this dish. Mui Choy is actually Chinese preserved vegetable. This dish goes well with a bowl of white rice.

Here's my recipe for Mui Choy Kau Yuk. :)

The ingredients:
400gm Pork Belly
300gm of Mui Choy,
5 cloves of garlic,chopped
2 tablespoons of Dark Soy Sauce (thick)

Sauce:
2 rice bowls of water
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of Yellow Wine.

Prepare the Mui-Choy:
Clean and soaked Mui-Choy in water for at least 1 hour. Change the water at least 3 times. After soaked for 1 hour, rinse and cut muychoy into small pieces.

Prepare the pork:
Remove all the hair from the pork belly skin.
Boil the pork in a boiling water for 10 minute. (Whole pork,do not cut the pork at this point). Remove the pork from the water. Use a fork to pork holes all over the pork belly skin. Brush with dark soy sauce. Marinate for 2 minute.

Deep-fry pork in hot oil for 3~4 minute until the pork becomes brown.Remove from oil and rinse pork with cold water.

Slice the pork into 0.5cm thick, set aside.

Boiled > Deep fried > Sliced

Prepare the sauce:
Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in hot wok. Add garlic, fry until fragrant. Add mui-choy, continue to fry for 1 minute. Add the sauce ingredients, stir to mix well and bring to boil.
Pour the sauce over the pork, steam for 1.5 hour.

Optional steps:
After steam for 1.5 hour, the pork is tender enough to eat. You can serve it as it is. Personally, I prefer the sauce to bit a bit thicken. So following steps is optional...
Scope the pork out, arrange nicely on the plate. Pour the remaining mui-choy sauce in a pan. Bring to boil. Add a corn flour mixture* into the sauce, stir constantly. This will thicken the sauce. Pour the sauce over the pork and serve!

*Dilute 1.5 tablespoon of corn flour with 1/2 cup of water.

This dish is sinfully delicious! Must hit the gym. :)

Hope you like it as much as I do.

Potato Rosti

2007-11-19T21:33:00.000+08:00

Here's the recipe of really simple Potato Rosti.

Ingredients:
4 medium size potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated.
1 teaspoon of salt
Dash of pepper
2 tablespoon of flour

Grated potato.

Peel potato and coarsely grate potato using hand grater. Use your hand to squeeze all the water out of the potato.
Mix flour, salt, pepper and potato. The flour is use to hold the potato together.

Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a non-stick fry pan. I prefer to use butter over olive oil, simply because it taste delicious.

Divide the potato into two even portion. This recipe makes 2 servings.

It takes around 4-5 minutes to cook each side of the Rosti. Cook until golden brown.

Egg Fried Rice

2007-11-16T13:50:00.000+08:00

I've some left over cooked rice that I kept in my fridge overnight. Well, to prevent wastage, I guess I will use it for fried rice.

Tips: It is important to keep your rice in fridge for at least 3 to 4 hours; else if you use freshly cooked rice, most probably your fried rice will end up too sticky. This is not the texture we are looking for in fried-rice.

The ingredients for 2 servings:
2 small bowls of cooked rice.
1/2 Lap Cheong. Chinese sweet pork sausage, finely sliced and then chopped into small pieces.
*60g small prawn/shrimps. de-veined and de-shelled
1/3 cup frozen green pea, unfrozen
1/2 Big Onion, Finely sliced
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
2 eggs,beaten

1/2 tablespoons of sugar.The ingredients: Green Pea, Eggs, Lean Pork and Laap Cheong.

(Note: I ran out of prawn, I used lean Pork instead for this recipe, it still turned out delicious.
To prepare the pork: Cut into small strips, marinade with 1/2 teaspoon of light soy sauce, a dash of white pepper and a dash of sesame oil.)

Prepare the Omelette:
Whisk the eggs. Add 2 tablespoons of oil into hot wok. Wait until the oil is hot enough, add the beaten eggs in. Stir constantly. You want the omelette to be just cooked. It should take less than 1 minute. Set omelette aside.

Omelette.

Now in the empty wok, heat up two tablespoons of oil. Add in the garlic, stir-fry for 30 second. Add in Onion. Stir-fry 1 minute. Add in sugar, stir-fry for another 1 minute.
Add in Laap Cheoung and Prawn/Pork, stir fry until Prawn/Pork is cooked. Add in green pea. Stir-fry for another 2 minute.
Add the rice and omelette in. Stir-fry for 2 minute until all the ingredients mix well.
Add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt and dash of white pepper.

Stir-fry for another 2 minute.
Serve!

Strir-Fried Broccoli with Chinese Mushroom

2007-11-15T19:28:00.000+08:00

Here's a recipe which is really simple to cook.

1 large head broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 cup chicken stock*
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
6 chinese mushroom, soaked and stem removed
Enoki mushroom, cleaned, root removed. (Kam Cham Ku)
1 teaspoons cornstarch
Pre-fried beancurb skin roll, fu chuk (Optional, I put this in because I like fu chuk, however, this is optional)

*I dissolved 1 Knorr Chicken stock Cube with 1/2 cup of hot water to make the chicken stock.

Soak Chinese mushroom with water for about 40 minute. Now the mushroom should be soft enough for you to remove the stems.

The ingredients: Soaked Chinese Mushroom, Broccoli, Knorr Chicken Stock Cube and Enoki Mushroom.
Optional : Fried Fu Chuk.

To make the mushroom more eye-pleasing, cut the mushroom like this. :)

Heat the wok, add 2 tablespoon of oil. Add garlic in, fry until garlic fragrant or started to brown.
Add in broccoli, stir-fry for 2 minute. Add in Enoki mushroom and Chinese mushroom. Stir-fry for another 2 minute. Add in Chicken broth . Add the bean curb skin (fu chuk).Bring to boil.
To thicken the sauce, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1/3 cup of cold water. Add this mixture into wok, stir constantly and the sauce will thicken. Serve!

Recipe: Cha Choy Pork (Stir-fried Lean Pork with Preserved Szechuan Vegetable)

2007-11-14T18:47:00.000+08:00

Here's another really simple everyday chinese dish that you won't see in big chinese restaurant - the Char Choy Pork or Stir-fried Lean Pork with Preserved Vegetable.

Char Choy is actually chinese pickled mustard root, it is also known as Szechuan Preserved Vegetable.

The ingredients:
250 g of Lean Pork, sliced thinly.
1 Char Choy, sliced into long thin strips. ( Wash and soak it with water).
7 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped.
1/2 cup of water.
2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce.

Heat the wok, add 3 tablespoons of oil. Put the garlic in and saute until the garlic started to turn brown.
Add the pork in, stir-fry for 3 minute.

Add the Char Choy in. Stir-fry for another 2 minutes. Add in the soy sauce. Stir-fry another 2 minute. Add in water, stir-fry until the sauce thicken. For this dish, I usually thicken the sauce with a bit of corn flour mix with water. (1/2 tablesponn of corn flour mix with 1/4 cup of water).

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do.

Recipe: Yakitori Glazed Fish

2007-11-13T18:27:00.000+08:00

Here's another simple yet delicious recipe- Yakitori Glazed Fish.

1 big fillet of fish, Salmon or Dory Fish, I use Dory Fish here.
5 tablespoons of soy sauce.
1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.
2 tablespoons of Chinese cooking rice wine.

To make the yakitori sauce:
Mix soy sauce, sugar and rice wine, stir the mixture under slow fire until all the sugar dissolve.
Continue to simmer until the sauce thicken.

Heat the non-stick grill pan. Add 1 tablespoon of oil in. Make sure your pan is hot enough, put your fish in. Basting regularly with your Yakitori fish, till cooked. 4 minute per side.

Be gentle on the amount of Yakitori sauce you add in, this is a pretty strong sauce, you don't want to add too much.

I serve it with Salad leafs and cherry tomatoes. Bon Appétit!

Knowing your root: Deformity in my toenail.

2007-11-11T22:26:00.001+08:00

I am a Chinese, a Malaysian Chinese.

If you are born in America, you are known as an ABC - American Born Chinese, but do you really know which ethnic group you belong to?

92% of the population of China is Han, which roughly translated to more than 1 billion Han. Han Chinese has ruled over China for thousand of years, but the last dynasty that ruled china was not Han, but a minority group, the Manchu.

The Manchu rule was over. Now, we have communist.

There are 53 other minority ethnic groups in China. I belong to the Han ethnic group. Which ethnic groups you belong to?

Someone once told me that you can tell if you are a Han Chinese by looking at the fifth toenail at your either left or right foot. It was said that only Han Chinese toenail has an extra toenail growth (that additional nail that grow out). It is some genetic flaw of the Han Chinese or something.

Don't believe me? If you are a Chinese, look at your fifth toenail now. Surprise?

Doesn't everybody have it?

Ask around; ask your Indian friends, your Caucasian friends, your African friends. If you are not Chinese, but you have that extra toenail, you should check your family tree, you might have Han blood.

Usually I will post a photo, but I acknowledge that i haven't got the prettiest foot around, I post my Ms-Paint drawing instead. But if you have a nice foot that you wanted to be on my blog, send it to me via email and I will post it :)

Recipe: Oyster Sauce Cucumber

2007-11-11T19:08:00.000+08:00

This is a really easy recipe.

1 cucumber, peeled and cut into 1cm thick.
4 shallots, finely sliced.

I use two tablespoon of olive oil to fry the shallot until golden brown.
Arrange the cucumber in your serving plate, pour oyster sauce over the cucumber. About 3 tablespoons.
Pour the shallot with the oil you use to fry the shallots on top the cucumber. Serve.

Simple and delicious.

Recipe: Chicken Pong Teh

2007-11-11T14:42:00.000+08:00

Here's the recipe of Pong Teh that my Mom taught me. My grandma is a Melaka Nyonya, so this recipe is supposedly from her. Authentic recipe!

I use chicken here; this dish will taste much better if you use pork belly meat.

400 g pork belly or chicken, cut into cube.
30 shallots (or 1 cup), peeled and finely pounded. If you are lazy, blend it with your blender.
1 tablespoon of finely pounded garlic, again, you can use your blender.
10 soaked, dried Chinese mushroom.
3 large potatoes.
1 tablespoon preserved soy bean. Finely chopped.
Fu Chuk (Dried bean curd skin), soaked and cut into 5cm length

seasoning:
2 tablespoons light soy sauce.
2 tablespoon dark soy sauce.
1 1/2 tablespoonss of sugar.

The ingredients: Preserved Soy Bean (Tau Chu), soaked mushrooms, soaked Fu Chuk, Peeled potatoes, shallots, garlic and chicken.

Use enough oil (4 tablespoons) to fry shallots and garlic until fragrant.
Add soy bean, sauté until fragrant or oil surface. Do not burn it. It takes about 3~4 minute in a slow fire.

Add chicken and mushroom. (In the photo, I used very little mushrooms; it was because I forget to buy them)
Stir fry until mix well, about 3 minutes.

Add 4 cups (i used 4 rice bowls of water), bring to boil.

(At this time, the smell of this dish should have fill your whole kitchen, and you know that you are on the right track!)
Add potatoes.

Seasons with light, dark soy sauce and sugar.
Lower heat, add fu chuk in and Simmer for 30 minutes.

Fu Chuck, dried bean curb skin, I love this stuff!

Pong Teh taste even better if you eat it a day later. :)

Valentia Island - Paradise Island of Ireland

2007-11-07T08:42:00.000+08:00

When we were doing the Ring of Kerry drive, we managed to drove off the course and went to Valentia Island. We were glad that we stopped by this small island, as this island was breath-taking beautiful.

I’ve never seen an ocean as clear and as blue as Valentia’s. It was a paradise on earth. Valentia is located at the westernmost of Ireland, off county Kerry. It is joined by a bridge to the mainland.

Valentia, is located at the westernmost part of Ireland.

This is the first time I see a sea with water so clear and so blue. It was really beautiful.

The main bridge that link Valentia with the mainland.

Kayaking, fun fun fun!

Ho,Yaohan, me, David, Jessie, Ying Koon, Fan, Chris and Chiew Hooi.

The water was so clear, here's a Jelly fish.

...another group photo.

David didn't want to leave Valentia. :)

Because it was an unplanned stop, I did not have the opportunity to do many things in Valentia, except enjoying the breath-taking scenery.

If I have the chance, I will definitely visit Valentia again, being a city dweller, I definitely appreciate the serenity and beauty that this place has to offer. I want to eat my morning peanut butter toast and sip my dark coffee with the cold sea breeze blowing against my skin. Read the newspaper and maybe put on my Ipod, doing nothing but enjoying the view of the clear blue Atlantic sea.

Wiki Valentia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentia_Island

Galway

2007-11-06T10:20:00.000+08:00

One of the best cities in Ireland is got to be Galway. Galway is located at the west coast of Ireland and has plenty to offer to tourists like you and me. My experience in Galway is tremendously fun.

Galway is often considered to be the 'Cultural Capital of Ireland', and is world renowned for its vibrant lifestyle and numerous festivals, celebrations and events.

I drove up from Limerick to Galway. It took me around 1 hr 38 min for the distant of 108.96 KM. Woa! How do I know the time and distant so accurately? Thanks to http://www.aaroadwatch.ie/routes/route.asp.In this web site you can use the Route Planner to plan almost every journey possible in Ireland. What a great web site! The instructions given by this website is fool-proof. :)

Architecture
For me, the most prominent buidling in Galway, is the Galway Cathedral.
With the jade green doom, it stands majestically in the city of Galway.

Ying Koon, Chris and Yvonne.

Me, Ying Koon and Chris with a statue outside the Cathedral.

Galway Cathedral is also knowns as The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas. How cool is that!

St. Nicholas' Church
Not as big as the Galway Cathedral, St. Nicholas' Chruch is an interesting place to visit as well. This church is one of the oldest parish churches in Ireland. It has been a place of worship since the 14th Century!

What interested me is not the building but what inside the building. Apart from a worship place, this church is apparently used for many other activities as well. When I was there, I was lucky enough to see an ART exhibition.

Two of the beautiful art piece inside St. Nicholas.

Take a visit to St.Nicholas, you won't regret it. Make it on a Sunday, b'coz Galway busiest market is just outside St.Nicholas gate.

Scenic Galway Port & River Corrib

Yvonne and Ying Koon in front of River Corrib.

Ships in front of Dock Road.

Galway city center:

I like the Galway city center, it is fun and vibrant and packed with people!

Guides:

http://www.galway1.ie/sights/index.html

Food review: Claypot Fish Head Curry & Fried Chicken

2007-11-04T15:33:00.000+08:00

Claypot Fish Head Curry.

Yesterday I went to Good Neighbour Kopi Tiam in Equine Park, Sri Kembangan. I tried the Claypot Fish Head Curry.

Rating: 5/5 (Really good, no joke, one of the best around!)
Price: RM 14.00 for a small pot with 2 white rice, enough for 2 persons.

The curry was cooked to perfection, the gravy was superd, not too powdery. Most of the Curry Fish Head failed at this, they tend to be too powdery.

It was raining yesterday, so this pot of curry fish head was deliciously yummy and good to keep the body warm :)

Highly recommended.

Uncle Bob's Fried Chicken.

The last time I were in this kopitiam, I noticed a good number of the customers were enjoying fried chicken. It was served in brown paper bag, which is quite uncommon in Malaysia. So I was really curious and wanted to try the fried chicken myself and on yesterday,I finally did.

Price : RM 4.80
Rating: 3/5 (Above average, you won't regret eating this)

My friend said that it is a bit too salty.

How to get there?

Dublin and Grafton Street

2007-11-03T09:41:00.001+08:00

Dublin
When I was in Ireland, I visited Dublin twice. Both time, Dublin never failed to deliver. Being the capital of Ireland, Dublin is the biggest city in Ireland, with great buildings and a good mix of people from around the world.

Where to stay?
In summer, I learnt that a lot of universities in Europe rent out their vacated students’ accommodation. In Limerick, I stay in Brookfield Studio Apartment in Castletroy, which is a fantastic place to stay. In Dublin, I rented another student apartment, the students’ accommodation of Dublin City University (DCU).

DCU: http://www.summeraccommodation.dcu.ie/

Description: These rooms are compact and functional. They are perfect for those looking for ensuite bedrooms at affordable prices. There is a choice between single and double rooms. All of the rooms are ensuite and all guests can avail of the shared kitchen/living areas.
Price: €43 for one person B&B in a single ensuite room (full breakfast incl.)
€81 for two people B&B in a double ensuite room (full breakfast incl.)
Room-only option: €34.50 for a single ensuite & €65 for a double ensuite.
Not a 5 stars hotel, but it is nice and affordable.
There are many other places you can rent, well, it depends on how much you willing to spend. Being a budget traveler, I choose the one that give the most value out of my hard-earned money. 

Transportation is not a problem. There are a good number of Buses.

Grafton Street- must visit
Grafton Street is the most famous shopping street in Ireland. It is a shopping heaven, from street peddlers to Gucci; you can find almost anything in Grafton Street.

Street performers at Grafton Street.

Human Statues at Grafton Street.

My friends and I with the friendly Dublin's Bus driver. :)

Staying Young

2007-11-02T10:07:00.000+08:00

When we were small, we always pretend to be adult. We put on our father’s jacket when he’s not around. We mimic the way he talks. We went “hehem..hehem..” as if your throat is always blocked and we have to constantly clear it.

Now that I have become an adult, I realized that staying young has nothing to do with your actual age. It is how you live it. Here are my rules of staying young:

Be fit, exercise – make it a habit to go to gym at least once a week. I was 78kg when I was in my fattest stage in my life. My blood pressure was in the borderline of being unhealthy. I felt like 10 years older than my actual age and I actually look older. Now that I have exercise regularly, my health is in superb condition and (sometime) I look younger than my age :) haha

Are you overweight? Calculate your BMI.
BMI = WEIGHT (kg) /HEiGHT2 (m2)
BMI Categories: Underweight = <18.5 weight =" 18.5-24.9" overweight =" 25-29.9" obesity =" BMI">

Eat sensibly - As you aged, your body metabolism rate goes down, your body no longer burn fat as fast as it used to be. Do you realize how easy it is for you to put on weight now than when you were 18? As we grow older, everything has become slower. Adults move less, adults don’t jump around.

Less Movement = Less Fat Burned = More food turn into FAT = so eat sensibly

Fat Brad, anyone?

Stay hip – look around, see what’s the most popular guy is wearing. Turn on E! Channel, see how the beautiful people dress.

Be healthy and fit, not freaky!

Drink water – Drink a lot of water! 7 glass a day.
Go Green – I mean, eat your veggie and fruits.

20 Minutes Sardine Curry

2007-11-01T17:51:00.000+08:00

Mix 1 packet Tean's Gourmet chicken curry paste with 3 medium potatoes cut into pieces to fry over high heat for 3 minutes.

Add 500 ml water to simmer for 15 minute, this will cooked the potatoes just right. Stir occasionally.

Add in 1 can of Sardine in tomato paste.
Add in coconut milk, stir well, simmer for another 2 minute. Serve!

The ingredients:

You can use chicken meat instead of Sardine, both will taste delicious, but that existing tomato sauce in Sardine gives the curry an extra flavor!

Get yourself a Tean's Curry Paste today. :P

Beehon (Vermicelli) Soup

2007-10-31T18:23:00.000+08:00

Still feeling full of this afternoon lunch, I plan to cook something light for dinner instead.
So here's a recipe for a really light vermicelli (Beehun) soup.

1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh ginger
2 tablespoon of chopped spring onion
2 cups of water
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
3 tablespoon of sliced, soaked chinese mushroom
8 fish balls.
Any leafy vege, I prefer Choy Sam.
50g of chicken breast meat, sliced
1 big piece of dried bean curb skin (fu chuk), soaked then cut into smaller pieces
Vermicelli (Beehon) soaked

The ingredients that you need.

Stir-fry the chopped spring onions, garlic and ginger.

Cook the soup:
Heat a tablespoon of oil in wok,then sauté the garlic, shallot and ginger until fragnant. Add in mushroom, continue to stir-fry for 10 seconds, then add in chicken.
Stir-fry for another 10 seconds.

Add in water, and bring to boil.
Add in soy sauce and pepper.
Add in fish balls.

Add in bean curb skins and boil for another 2-3 minute.
Add salt, adjust to taste.

Done, the soup is prepared. Easy? haha

Voila, the soup is done!

To serve with vermicelli (Beehun):

Bring the soup back to boil. Add in vege (Cho Sam).
Cook for about 2 minutes.
Add in vermicelli and continue cook for 2 minutes.

Garnish with chopped coriander sprigs.

I hope you like it. :)

Hakka Char Yoke

2007-10-30T17:12:00.000+08:00

I always like this dish, especially when it serves with "kon lou" wantan mee.
Here's the recipe for two person:

Pork belly , about 300 g, cut into 1.5 cm thick
Ear fungus mushroom (Mok Yee), soaked it for 1 hour

Nam yue, about 4 pieces
2 teaspoon of Oyster Sauce.
2 teaspoon of sugar.
1 tablespoon of flour.
1 tablespoon of corn flour.
1 egg.
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper.
2 teaspoon of chopped Garllic
2 teaspoon of chopped shallots
2 teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger

This is Nam Yue (preserved red bean curd)

Prepare the sauce:

Heat up the wok, I used pan, but that make no different.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil. Sauté the garlic, shallot and ginger until fragnant.
Add 1/2 cup of water.
Add the Nam Yue in.
Mash the Nam Yue and stir to boil. Add the sugar and oyster sauce. Boil it until the sauce thicken.

Let's the sauce to cool down.

Marinate the pork:

Mix 5 tablespoon of the sauce that you prepared earlier, an egg, the flour and corn flour, pepper to marinate the pork for a good 2 hours. Here's how it look like. :)

Yummy Char Yoke:
After a good 2 hours, the pork is ready for deep fry!

Use enough oil to deep fry the pork!
What you'll get is a delicious Char yoke, which is good to eat by itself. YUMMY~
But since we are making Hakka Char Yoke, few more steps to go...

To stew the Hakka Char Yoke:
I used a bigger pan, put my char yoke in, add two cup of water or enough water to cover the char yoke. Add in the ear fungus mushroom.
(remember to cut off the woody part of the mushroom first!)

Add in 2 tablespoon of the Nam Yue sauce that you've prepared earlier.
Bring it to boil and then lower the heat to let it simmer for a good 30 minutes or until the pork in tender to your likeness.

Add enough salt to taste.

Home Sweet Home

2007-09-14T12:51:00.000+08:00

When I was in Ireland, I love every seconds I spent there. There is always something to do, never a boring day. Every week we are looking forward to weekend because we always planned to go somewhere every weekend. I think we visited most of the Ireland tourist places than most Irish do. :)

I misses Malaysian foods when I was there. For me, guailow foods is, well, guailow foods. Now that I am back in KL, needless to say, I eat and eat and eat. Haha.. putting on few extra kilos.

Got to hit the Gym soon.

Having some free time, I try my hand on photoshop.haha

London - Part 2

2007-09-09T11:32:00.000+08:00

ah... I've been very busy in London.

From discussing the black hole teory with Stephen Hawking....

... addressing world leaders on world crisis that we are facing...

... to meeting Nicolas Cage..

haha....

:) What a wonderful time...

London

2007-08-31T07:14:00.000+08:00

31st August 2007

20kg - that's the weight limit of the baggage allowed to check in for Aer Lingus flight.
25 kg - that's what the weight of my bag. Excess of 5 kg!

Not wanting to pay any extra charges for the extra kg, I did the only thing I could - I left my stuffs behind. :(

1 charger, few t-shirts, 2 jeans and few gifts that I bought. 21.7 kg- that's the weight of my baggage after I threw these things out!!

Arrived at Shannon Airport at 1 pm.

Returned the Mazda to Hertz. The flight to London was at 5.15 pm. I arrived at London at 7 p.m. Went to MAS Counter to get my new ticket, take the Underground to London. The tube journey tooks 1.5 hours. Reached Queen University of London at 11 pm!!! Tired? yes. But everything is worth it when I saw the accomodation. It is fantastic!

The gift of the Gab

2007-08-29T21:25:00.000+08:00

"You must kiss the Blarney Stone when you visit Ireland", so said Paul Senior in on of the episode of American Chopper.

So this was always in my "have to do" list.

Last Saturday, I went to Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney Stone.

SO why it is important to kiss that stone? Believe it or not, it will give you the Gift of the Gab.
Blarney is celebrated the world over for a stone on the parapet that is said to endow whoever kisses it with the eternal gift of eloquence (in Irish 'solabharthact') - the 'Gift of the Gab'

It cost me Eur 8, a small price for such a magical gift! haha

Pimp my ride - fuyoooo..

2007-08-29T19:05:00.000+08:00

My ride here was actually changed from Skoda to a Mazda 6!!
Yessssszzz!!! You hear me ride, a Mazda 6! Complete with sun roof...wooo...

Bye Bye P.MacD

2007-08-28T21:28:00.000+08:00

Last Friday there was a small gathering (about 50 people) in a Pub in Limerick City to send both Paul (my boss) and Sarah Madden off. Paul is set to go to KL with us to spend a year there as our manager while Sarah will be taking a year off!!

Ho, Paul and Chris.

Karen and Alex Vachenko with the rest of us.

Alex, Sarah, Karen,Chris, Jessie, Radha and Ho.

The guys...

the Russians...

.. and the Lesbo.

Before heading back KL

2007-08-28T21:01:00.000+08:00

I've already booked my accomodation and passess...soon I will be visiting one of the greatest city on earth.. a hint of where I am going..

Type Face

2007-08-28T17:02:00.000+08:00

I stumbled into a very cool web site where you can do this !

Cool~ http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic/

A taste of Ireland weather

2007-08-24T16:57:00.000+08:00

24 August 2007 05:12

Today
Mostly dry today, but cloudy and misty in many areas at first, with patches of drizzle and fog. A little hazy sunshine will develop, chiefly in parts of the East and South. However, dull and misty conditions may persist along north and northwest coasts. Maximum temperatures 17 to 23 Celsius, with mostly light southwesterly winds, the winds moderate to fresh in the north and northwest.

Tonight
Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with patches of mist, drizzle and fog. More persistent rain and drizzle will develop in north and northwest coastal areas. Mild and humid. Minimum temperatures 12 to 14 Celsius.

7 days to go and bye bye Ireland

2007-08-24T16:39:00.000+08:00

Only 7 more days!

There are so many places in Ireland that I have yet to visit. Well, I kinda visited most places than the Irish themselves but i have yet to set foot on Northern Ireland.

Next Thursday, I will be going to London before heading back to KL. :)
London Bridge, Madam Taussad, Beckingham Palaces,.... hahaha

My company is going to send people to Porland,hmm...could it be me?

Kilrush - Dolphins watching (12 Aug 07)

2007-08-24T16:24:00.000+08:00

TraI went to Kilrush with my usual car members (Chris, Ho, Ying Koon and Yvonne) to watch dolphin.
Our earlier plan to watch Whales did not happened, no thanks to Ireland's always-raining weather.

Yvonne,Chris,Ho and me.

Ying Koon, Chris, Ho and me.

Kilrush!

Blogging keeps you sane

2007-08-23T23:15:00.000+08:00

Hokkien Songs

2007-08-23T00:05:00.000+08:00

Our team, Factory Content, is a really fun fun bunch of people!
Our latest craze is listening to Hokkien Song. And when no one is around we sing a long! haha

Title: Ji Ba Pan (One Million dollar)

Nah sih gua uh ji pa ban, ji pa ban,
Gua uh ji pa ban, jit si lang tio khin san,

Bo khong bo lang jai, kong tio chin pai seh,
Chiak kak hia nih tua hanh. ko mm pat je puey kee,

Pah piah hua chuey ni, bo chia bo chu ko bo ai lin,
Kua lang chua bo ko chuey sing di, wu jii ko wu seng,

Nah si gua wu ji pa ban, wa beh je puey kee,
Wa beh ew seh kai, ha wa ee sai dai yang,Lit pun chiak su shi (Wa chia li chiak su shi)

Nah si gua wu ji pa ban, wa beh buey chia buey chu,
sang ting ka hai bi, siang lang ka ho kih,
lai hor wa cho bo

Nah sih gua uh ji pa ban, ji pa ban,
Nah sih li wu kiam eng jii, khui chui bien keh khi,

Bo khong bo lang jai, kong tio chin pai seh,
Chiak kak hia nih tua hanh. ko mm pat je puey kee,

Pah piah hua chuey ni, bo chia bo chu ko bo ai lin,
Kua lang chua bo ko chuey sing di, wu jii ko wu seng,

Nah si gua wu ji pa ban, wa beh je puey kee,
Wa beh ew seh kai, ee tah li lim ko pi,
Loh pi chiak speh ge ti (Loh pi chiak speh ge ti)

Nah si gua wu ji pa ban, wa beh buey chia buey chu,
Buey tiam lai siu chor, eng eng bien cho kang,
Chua kow ki san por,

Nah sih gua uh ji pa ban, ji pa ban,
Nah sih li wu kiam eng jii, khui chui bien keh khi,

Nah sih gua uh ji pa ban, ji pa ban,
Chap cheng puay cheng teh ki eng,bien huan ma boh bun tuey (huan chien pu se wen ti)

Nah sih gua uh ji pa ban, ji pa ban…Wei, peng yu eh, li siong ji pa ban, chin chuay ah?

This song is basically singing about the stuffs he would like to do when he has 1 million dollar.
hahah.. this song is very funny.

More on Killarney

2007-08-22T23:41:00.000+08:00

Killarney is so beautiful. I have more photos now and so another posting.

There is a lake inside Killarney National Park. The view is breath-taking. I wish I have more time there.

Our jaunting car ride is wonderful. It start from the Mukross house, go around the big lake, into the woods where we find a cold but beautiful waterfall.
Cost us Eur 30 per car.

Chris was sitting behind the horse's ass which stain with horse's shit.

What a grand time it was. (Maybe not for Chris).

David, Bee Hong, Jessie, Me, Chris, Ying Koon and Farah. Infront of Muckross House.

Muckross House was built for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, the watercolourist Mary Balfour Herbert. This was actually the fourth house that successive generations of the Herbert family had occupied at Muckross over a period of almost two hundred years. William Burn, the well-known Scottish architect, was the designer. Building commenced in 1839 and was completed in 1843.

Chris and Ying Koon - staring lovingly into each other eyes?

After Killarney, we went to Ring of Kerry. Above was the most beautiful lake I ever seen. The water was so calm it , it was unnatural.

Fun Fun FunFair

2007-08-22T18:48:00.000+08:00

I know, most of my posting titles suck. "Fun Fun FunFair"? haha..

On 28 July 07, we went to Killarney and visited Killarney National Park. Evening came, we spent some time in the town and the FunFair was happened to be there!

I visited many funfair during my childhoods in KL, this the first guailow's fun fair. Any different?
YES!! the rides they have there is much much better!!

Ho, Ying Koon, Yvonne and Chris.

Me alone :(

I took these photos with my LG mobile! haha.. Aren't you impressed with the quality?

12 Aug 07 - Adare - the picture postcard village

2007-08-21T17:14:00.000+08:00

Adare is tiny.

With thatched roof cottages and Tudor style houses, beautiful gardens and ivy clad medieval churches in beautiful surroundings on both sides of the street beside the river Maigue, this tiny town is conveniently worth a visit. So I did visit the town and had my lunch there.Just 17 KM from Limerick, it just a short drive away.

Ride upgraded

2007-08-21T16:51:00.000+08:00

The Avensis was returned to Hertz after 28 days. Rent another car, this time a Skoda Otivia! Wuuhuuu...bigger and more porwerful machine.

Was very happy with the car, much heavier than the Avensis, so when I drive 140KM on the road, it was smoothhhhh...

The only bad thing about this car is that it has no Air-Cond!!!! I complained to Hertz, and they asked me why I need Air-Cond in a cool country?

Blog at 3.05 a.m

2007-08-18T10:04:00.000+08:00

I am writing this entry at 3.05 a.m. Really have nothing much to write.
I am working from 7.30 om to now..3.05 a.m..still working...
Still well awake...
What an experience.

Lehinch - the cold cold beach

2007-08-17T05:15:00.000+08:00

I guess in europe, summer is a luxury, esspecially here in Ireland which you can expect rain in every two days, yes, even during summer.

On 29 July 07, I decided to check out one of the beaches in Ireland - I drove up to to Lehinch with Chee Lim, Alex, Chris, Ying Koon, Ho and Yvonne.

Unlike Malaysia, the beach here is freaking cold! I could never guess that I would wear a sweater down to beach. haha. The beach here is not as good as back home, but they have wave surfing here!

Me, Ying Koon, Chris, Ho, Chee Lim and Alex.

Killarney - enchanted

2007-07-31T21:59:00.000+08:00

Killarney can easily be one of the most beautiful place in Ireland. As in most towns in Ireland, Killarney town center is charming with pubs everywhere and most of the Irish we met are friendly and warm.

Killarney hosts one of the most beautiful forest in Ireland- Killarney National Park.

This park is so picture-perfect, it looks like some magical forest that you can only see in some fairy tale movies.

If you close your eyes and listen, you can actually hear the trees talks. :)

Don't be fooled by the inviting water flow of this waterfall, the water is freezing cold. Well, it explains why nobody swim here.

I won a soccer bet - legally

2007-07-31T21:51:00.000+08:00

One of the best thing in Ireland is its betting shop Ladbroke.
Yupe, you hear me right- legal betting shop. You can bet at almost any sport here!
From horse racing, dog racing, soccer match to hurling matches. haha

As predicted, I tried my luck last week on a soccer match. I bet 1-0 Spain to win. The odd was 5/1.

I won!

Muhahah

Yvonne and Ho wanted to join in, so they chipped in Eur 1 each. I bet Eur 3 myself.

Eur 5 * (5/1 + 1) = EUR 30 payout!

Yeah!!!! Lucky me.

Galway @ 21 Jul 2007

2007-07-31T16:10:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday Chris, Ying Koon, Yvonne and I went to Galway for a 1-day trip. Galway is a beautiful place to visit. Its city center is vibrant and alive with activities.

Me and my yatch... haha.. I wish.

My hair is getting longer and unmanageble... thinking of getting a hair cut here.

Eur 40 ~ RM 200... what should I do?

After Galway, we went to Cliffden, another sea-side town further up.

Dublin - again

2007-07-31T00:59:00.000+08:00

I visited Dublin again. This time all 23 of us in 5 cars drove down all the way from Limerick to Dublin. 220 Km one way from Limerick to Dublin.

I never really like to visit a place twice in such a short notice but this time I go with a bigger crowd and that make the trip worth while.

I guess different crowd, different experience.

Human statues @ Dublin

2007-07-31T00:47:00.000+08:00

There are many street performers in Grafton Street, Dublin. They range from musician, dancers to human statues.

These human statues really amaze me. The amount of make-up and costumes they put on in order to achieve statue-like is mind blowing. I can’t even sit still for minutes but these people could stand still without moving for hours!!

Being a sucker, I paid Eur 2 for this statue to move and touch my head.

College life all over again

2007-07-25T18:17:00.000+08:00

I never thought I can experience another round of my Uni life again, but over here in Limerick the Uni life revisited, only much better.

(L to R : David, Me, Chris, Alex, Jessie and Ying Koon)

Something similar to back at home - Indian's food!

Gwailow is Vladimer.
We were having dinner at Vladimer's apt.

Dublin - Part 2

2007-07-13T16:37:00.000+08:00

I guess I have come to this stage where I have become lazy to blog. Haha

My trip to Dublin last two weeks was really fun. Dublin to me is like KL, a bustling city with a lot of tourists.

Me with my backpack, I look distinctively tourist.

Dublin has a lot of handsome looking buildings. They were built in such a way, that it virtually shouts "hey, you are in europe now!".

When you are in Dublin, there are few places that you must visit.

One of them is the Trinity College. Why visit Trinity?

1.The buildings is really really awesome.

2. It's free.

3. It is historically significant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College,_Dublin

Inside Trinity.

My Ride

2007-07-13T16:23:00.000+08:00

Thing has just got a lot better these days! I found myself grinning whole days, well that's what my colleague said. Guess I can't help feeling great with all the great things happening. :)

My employer was kind enough to provide us with a car while we are at Limerick, Ireland. haha..

Yupe, you hear me, we were given cars! Not any car, but a Toyota Avensis!

Compare with what I am driving back home, this car is much, much better.

With the new found ride, and a new Zara shirt I bought, Ireland, here I come. Haha..

buy 4D 1660 50 big 50 small. hahha

A reminder...

2007-07-04T05:24:00.001+08:00

"...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."
- The Road Not Taken [Robert Frost]

Dublin

2007-07-04T04:41:00.000+08:00

Chris, Michael, Ying Koon and I went to Dublin on last Friday.
We started our journey at Limerick Bus Station. Took the 8.30 a.m bus.

The journey from Limerick to Dublin tooks 3 and a half hours of bus ride!
The bus went through many towns along the way and after 1 hour of journey,we had our first break.

As to feed our curiosity, I asked a young Irish man what's the place's name.

me:"hello, can you tell me what's the name of this place?"
Smoking Irish : "what?"
me: "The name?"
Smoking Irish : "SHIT HOLE"
me: "SHIT HOLE? Err... thanks."

me: ?????

hahhaa...

"Borris-In-Ossory" - the actual name.

My bag, Ying Koon, Michael Tsipes and Chris.
I took this picture with my hand phone.

The journey continued and after another 2 and a half hour journey, we finally arrived in Dublin. The biggest city and capital of Ireland.

Dublin's most prominent monument, the O'Connell Monument.

Pork Shop

2007-06-25T21:15:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, I went to the town to do some shopping. The summer sale is on!

I went to Debenhem. Bought something to some of you guys. hehe

Then I came across this Pork Shop. It was beautiful and I couldn't resist to take a picture.
It was BOLD.

See, malaysian should do the same, sell pork with pride!

Wooo... girls

2007-06-25T21:09:00.000+08:00

Some of u have asked me about the girls in Ireland.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, hot chicks of Ireland.

Sunday - boring

2007-06-25T20:45:00.000+08:00

Yesterday Ying Koon, Alex, Chris, David and I went to Super Quinn Mall, Casteltroy.
Bought a Meteor Sim Card. The package was not bad. It allow me to call one of the Meteor No. for free and also sms free to other Meteors numbers.

Why a meteor sim?
No thanks to the lousy phone system in Brookfield Student Apartment. It has been a week already that none of the phone in Brookfield can make any phone call. Damn!

Lottery.
Yeah! I won Eur 4 on my first scratch lottery! Beginner luck?
Banking on my luck I subsequently buy another 5 lottery.
Each lottery ticket costs me Eur 2.
Guess luck doesn't stay long, none of the 5 lottery tickets is a winning ticket.

Food
Have money can buy you food? Not here in Limerick.
Sunday is a real let down.

Two restaurants had chased us away because we only wanted to order some appertizers and drinks.

"No main course?, sorry, I can't cover my table cost. "

What????

Only in Ireland.

Typical Irish's breakfast: Egg, Bacons, Sausages, Black and White Pudding.
Yummy~ :)

Speak Irish's English

2007-06-22T20:35:00.000+08:00

Irish's english : How are ye?
English : How are you all?

ye= you all.

It tooks me 1 week to know what "ye" means.

Fav. Irish greeting:
Q:How are you?
A:Grand!

Q:How abt u?
A:Brilliant!

uh?

Pizza Hut

2007-06-22T19:08:00.000+08:00

I dined at Pizza Hut yesterday.
I choose the Feast for one. Come with a 9 inch pizza.!! 9 inch! In Malaysia, Pizza Hut's pizza for one is only 6 inch! Everything in Europe seems bigger.

At Eur 11.90 we get a 9 inch pizza with two topping of your choice.
I choosed Spicy Beef, Anchovy and with additional Eur 0.99 I add pineapple as well. Delicious.

For starter I choosed Garlic Bread with Cheese.
For the desert, a Banoffee Pie. It looks awesome. (Pic above).

For the taste part, a bit too sweet for me.

Based on my 3 weeks in Ireland, I found that
1. The Irish eat a lot of SALT!!!
2. The serving is twice the size of ours.
3. The food is well presented.
4. The food is cheaper than us.

Big Canon

2007-06-21T20:43:00.000+08:00

The big canon of limerick.
This canon is in front of the entrance of King John's castle.

The Cliff of Moher

2007-06-17T07:23:00.000+08:00

Before I came to Ireland, I was surfing the net to check out what are the must visit places in Ireland. Then I came across this picture of "The Cliff of Moher" and I decided to visit the place. A plan was in place and today it was executed flawlessly. :)

I engaged Barrat Tour to take us to this magnificient Cliff of Moher.

9.30 a.m the Barrat Bus came to Brookfield Apartment to pick us up.

The first stop of our tour is The Burren.
The Burren is a very unique landscape created at the end of the ice age over 10,000 years ago!!

David, Chris, Me and Alex... cold

Radha and Mahathir look on as Farah lands a punch on Jessie.
Ouch~

Pavement of lime stone all over- interesting.

Time for group photo.
Left to right : Wan, Wong,Alex, Mah, Radha, Jessie, Farah, Ying Koon, Chris, Randeep, Amir, Vick, Me and Mahathir.

Behind us is the ancient burial tomb which dated few thousand years ago- the Poulnabrone Tomb.

After The Burren, we made our way to Galway Bay and Black Head. We had a brief stop.
The view was simply stunning.

Chris and me. Behind us is Atlantic Ocean.

After Galway Bay, we stopped for lunch break before we continue our journey to Cliff opf Moher.

I decided to try on Irish traditional food - Bacon and Gabbage.
Hmmm... porky.

With a full stomach we headed to Cliff of Moher.

Magnificient!

Ireland is beautiful.

Teams assigned

2007-06-13T00:48:00.000+08:00

Today Paul annouced which functional areas we are assigned to.
I got into Factory Content team.

So my new team members will be Chris,Farah, Yin Koon, Wong,Jessie and a girl named Hong Fan.
Tomorrow we will work side-by-side with the existing EMEA team. Well can't wait for the on-the-job training!

Beautiful Limerick

2007-06-12T04:36:00.000+08:00

I do not know the name of this bridge. I took this pic inside city center.

The bridge over Shannon River to King John's Castle.

What a view!

Interesting adult stuff

2007-06-12T03:46:00.000+08:00

A picture is worth more than a thousands words. Need I say more? Hehe

Sunday 10 June 07

2007-06-12T03:32:00.000+08:00

It costs me EUR 8.50 for the admission fee to King John's castle!!!!

It is about RM 40!!!

Inside St. Mary Cathedral:

Jessie unleashed her "Ah Soh" side at this flea market:

Walk walk , see see, snap snap

2007-06-10T05:27:00.000+08:00

This is King John's castle. I took this pic from Author's Park.
King John’s Castle is a fortified 13th century Castle on ‘King’s Island’ in the heart of medieval Limerick.

Haha... I think this is a testament of Irish's drinking reputation.

Rows of Pubs.

Shannon River. You can see King John's castle behind.

Inside St. Mary Cathedral.

1st visit to Limerick City Center

2007-06-10T05:11:00.000+08:00

Finally the long awaited weekend is finally here.

This morning, the 15 of us went to the city center for the first time. We have to walk about 10 minute to the nearest bus station.

It is not a very big city, but I found the city - charming.

Al fresco style dinning.

This donut looks delicious and it taste really good too. Yummy :P~

15 of us

2007-06-10T05:06:00.000+08:00

15 Malaysian in Limerick.

The weather is really good here. This is my 4th day in Ireland, so far no rain- surprise.

Brookfield Apartment

2007-06-10T04:55:00.001+08:00

My manager, Paul MacDarby, has arranged us to stay in Brookfield Student Apartment for the next three months.

Fully furnished apartment. Well, I am actually quite pleased with it.

So far so good.

I met an Irish

2007-04-14T10:56:00.000+08:00

Ireland is on my head these days. I surf the net for more info on Ireland. I check out Lonely Planet web site. I found out the famous Guinness Stout is brewed by the Irish.

Can't hide my excitement.

Carmel, the consultant from Deloitte, is officially the first Irish I knew.She said Ireland is a place of many footballers and singers.

Countdown to Ireland ~40 days

2007-04-13T23:51:00.000+08:00

About 1 and a half month from now, I will be in Limerick, Ireland.
Dell is going to send me there for 2~4 months trainning.

I found out that the temperature in Ireland is about 16 degree celcius. Average in Malaysia is about 32 degree celcius. I need to shop for some new clothes.