Hoi Peng Seafood Restaurant, SS2, PJ

Been a while since I last posted..so sorry! Got a special visit by food poisoning, the worst nightmare for foodies :(

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It was a gathering for my high school friends, some we didn't meet for a couple of years already.

They wanted seafood and Jo suggested Hoi Peng for the crabs.

Most unfortunately, Jo was sick on dinner day, so we ordered some dishes recommended by the waitress..

We got some fried lala with wine and ginger.. This was tasty as the wine enhances the sweetness of the lala. The ginger and bits of bird's eye chilli added some heat to this dish too.

Some veggies ...we had fu yu yau mak.. It was alright, crunchy veg, maybe slightly salty sauce..

Some stir fried venison.. Usually, I can take gamey meat, but somehow, this venison tasted so gamey, it's rather a turn off. Sad.

Piping hot squids were next..Cooked spicy and sourish, I liked this. The squids were springy and the tangy assam complements it wonderfully.

And finally, the star of the night...

Sweet spicy flavour..

We had some large crabs which is succulent and juicy.The sauce was thick; sweet and rather spicy hits us at the same time, were lovely with the crabs. And of course, the hot man taus to mop up the sauce..

The salty crabs..

I loved this. Though some of them said it was a tad salty, I find it very fragrant...reminds me of seaside..heh, just exaggerating..But seriously, tasting the salty shells and then biting into those sweet, juicy flesh does bring a smile to my face. Easily satisfied, hoh?

Total bill was RM348. I find it a tad pricey. Crabs were already RM201.

Hoi Peng Seafood Restaurant is located at 30, Jalan SS2/24, 47300 Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-78742199. As it gets rather packed during weekends, it's better to make reservations.

Cafeteria Food at a Nuclear Physics Lab

Most of you who have read this blog for awhile or who have checked out my profile know that my "day job" is working in the Director's Office at Jefferson Lab, a nuclear physics research lab, here in Newport News, Virginia. There is always something fascinating going on at the Lab whether it is the forefront research being conducted by our users, or technology being utilized for medical imaging, or the Upgrade of our accelerator that will help us address what the New York Times called "one of the 10 questions to ponder for the millennium". At a facility with a population of nearly 1000 from 35 states and 27 countries even the hallway conversation is interesting.

Like tech giants Google and Microsoft, we are lucky at JLab to have an onsite cafeteria. While we have to pay for our meals, our Quark Cafe is staffed by a CIA-trained chef Chris Thornhill, and run by the Compass Group, a multinational food service company that runs cafeterias at countless universities, companies and numerous restaurants as well. How can you meet the diverse dietary needs and international tastes of Jefferson Lab's staff, users, and visitors? Chef Chris serves up everything from Southern favorites as sausage gravy and biscuits to handmade sushi rolls to order to meet the needs of his clientele. The Quark Cafe's most used piece of equipment? The espresso machine which is a favorite with our scientists no matter where they are from. The Quark Cafe offers a salad and deli bar every day, two soup choices, and entrees that include cafeteria standards such as meat loaf or chicken divan as well as more exotic falafel and stuffed eggplant.

Every Thursday, besides our regular menu choices, staff and users are invited to the Chef's Table, a special entree made to order by Chef Chris at a special cooking station set up where he can be observed working his culinary magic. Chef's Table entrees always attract a crowd- Chris has featured mussels and clams in wine sauce, salad with beef tenderloin and blue cheese (pictured left, courtesy of JLab photographer Greg Adams), a seafood plate that included crab cake, salmon fillet and shrimp in a light cream sauce, and my personal favorite , made-to-order sushi rolls. Chef's Table gives us the chance to get a restaurant quality meal at about half the price, watch a chef in action and enjoy Chris' easy banter without even leaving the site.

Our cafeteria is more than just a quick place to grab a bite, the staff there is like family to those 15 minutes or 15 hours away from home. We know their names (Gaye, Chris, Dan, Sandra and Dianne) and they know ours. They know who is watching their carbs, who likes liver, and what "the usual" is for their regular customers. It is that atmosphere that is as important to those who dine at the Quark Cafe as the food itself.

The Quark Cafe is so much a part of life at Jefferson Lab, it is hard to imagine what it would be like not to have such a great place to get a good breakfast or lunch right on site. What do you do for lunch? Brown bag it? Go out? Eat at your desk? Or do you have your own cafeteria that you frequent. I invited you to lunch at JLab, now it's your turn to take us along for your lunch break!

Check out My article on the Quark Cafe and get Chef Chris' recipe for Asian Beef Stir Fry at
http://www.dailypress.com/features/dp-taste_jlab_0625jun25,0,619746.story.

Cova, The Gardens, Mid Valley

Was rummaging my photos and I saw the photos I took at Cova. Gosh, so outdated, but then again, Cova's still around and business seems good, so might as well post this :p

Cova's a nice place to chill after work, meeting up with friends..

Some dishes I've tried before..

Duck Confit Vermicelli with garlic and mushrooms..Cova's generous with the duck, loads of it in this dish. Very tasty, with slices of mushroom an asparagus, I thought it'd fared better if it's less oily. Guess they were also generous with the olive oil.

The Honey Grilled Chicken sandwich.. I recalled them using thicker white bread, but when I ordered it again, it's those gardenia type white bread. The grilled chicken slices were very tender and the mango chutney gave a lovely tangy flavour to the sandwich. Oh, and I absolutely love their thick, thick chips! I'm a sucker for anything potatoes and seeing such thick cut chips sent me to seventh heaven :D

The Cod with mash (sorry can't recall the name)

The cod I had was slightly over cook. A waste actually. The mash was ok, not as creamy as I'd love it to be, but mixing in the caramelised baby onion bulbs makes it pretty tasty.

The cheese burger..

The beef patty was overcook, so dry that at one point, felt that I was chewing card board. Such a waste as the beef they used was pretty good, it had the strong gamey flavour that I like. Served with the make-my-knees-weak thick chips..

The only dessert photo I managed to take..The cake that Lily and I have been eyeing since our first visit. In which we finally managed to try..First bite was lovely, almost melt in mouth texture and ends with a sweet crunch of cramelised almonds. But after 5 bites, I had to stop. Was struggling actually. Too rich as the peanut butter and cream was just too much for a full stomach.

I think I prefer their buttermilk scones and warm chocolate cake.

Cova is located at Lot F-226-B, 1st Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

A Tale of Three Fathers

I know that Sunday was Father's Day but I was busy helping my children ensure that their dad had a great Father's Day (and just enjoying the day), but I wanted to share my tribute to three fathers who passed from my life, each in their own way making me the person I am today.

The first is the father of my birth. He died in an industrial accident when I was just a toddler, leaving my Mom a widow with three children under three. I have only very vague memories of him that are more feelings than pictures in my mind, and I have seen him only in black and white photos. But I see him around me in many ways. I inherited his red hair (I used to think I was adopted since I was a fair-skinned redhead, and my brothers all had brown hair and brown eyes and turned mahogany brown in the summer sun!), I see his coloring in my son Gavin who has both his red hair and light brown eyes. He played in his high school band (where he met my mother) and his love of music is part of my daily life, and that of my children who all love music. He loved the outdoors and I guess my enjoyment of camping and being out in nature must come from him,especially since my Mom's idea of roughing it is a hotel with only an outdoor pool! But I am sad that I mainly must rely on other's memories and stories of him.

The second father in my life was my step dad, and for all intents and purposes he was my only dad since he is the one who raised me. Can you say enough about a man who marries a woman and her three young children? I don't think so. I know lots about my stepfather. I know he lied about his age and left school to join the military so he could help support his family.I know that he never wanted his children to have to work in a factory the way he did and he showered every day before he came home from work because he didn't want the smell of the factory on him. I know that he prized education because he knew that would open the way to an easier and better life without the struggles he had had. He took correspondence courses to get his GED and even took some courses late in his life when a lot of people wouldn't have bothered. When my dad came to visit long after I had grown up and started working at Jefferson Lab, he teared up when he saw I had my own office with a secretary. My dad was a rabid Washington Redskins fan, and liked to play horseshoes. He loved Gomer Pyle and Flip Wilson. He came to countless scout meetings, music programs, Little League Games. Even after my half-brother was born, no one could have ever told which children had his DNA and which didn't.

As we kids grew up and moved out, he and my Mom went regularly to the Moose Lodge to dance - we teased him, calling him the Silver Fox because he had a head full of wavy silver-gray hair. I hardly ever remember my dad getting mad, but he could give the "I'm so disappointed..." lecture that would make you feel like you would have to extend your reach to scratch a caterpillar's belly. And his laugh - my dad was a great believer in full out, tears-in-your-eyes belly laughing. I have written before about how his unconditional acceptance (and consumption) of whatever I cooked for him has helped me become a person who is not afraid to play with food. My dad died after his second bout with cancer, a truly loved and beloved man. If I am half the parent to my children as he was to me, I will be a success.

The third father in my life was actually my father in law. He was a formidable man who frightened a lot of people but he accepted me into his family without reservations when my husband and I left college and eloped. I have written about my father in law before on this blog describing the best chicken salad I will never make again. He was known simply as "the Colonel" except to his wife who called him Jack. He had served in WWII, Korea and acted as an advisor in Vietnam. He looked a lot like George C. Scott in Patton, and was one of those men with a crusty exterior and a marshmallow center, particularly when it came to the grandchildren. I have the best memories of him "blowing the bugle" or whistling Gary Owen and bouncing the kids for a horsey ride that would make them squeal, "Again! Again!" I learned from him, that family must come first, don't sweat the small stuff, believe in yourself and don't let others shake your confidence, short -term sacrifice is worth long-term gain.

So while you may read this and think how sad that I had to lose three fathers in my life, think again. So many children grow up and never have even one great father figure in their lives,while me,I was lucky enough in my life to have three men I could call Father.

A happy belated Father's Day to those dads out there, and for the rest of you, take the time to tell your dad how much he means to you.

Restaurant Jin Xuan Hong Kong, Damansara Jaya

Wanna have dim sum near Atria? The new one opened dy..was the sms I recieved from SL..

I could only make it on sunday, and we did meet there, with gary and candy..

We were only 1 minute late, Gary and Candy already got us a table and has started stacking food.. ._."

Guys, guys, slow down! My camera's not out yet!

I was really rushed to take the pictures as their chopsticks were already aimed at the food... hehehe..

They took some fried fishballs..
Should be pretty good, no complaints from Gary and Candy.
The siew mai was extremely fresh

The mince pork was sweet and juicy, the chopped prawns added an extra spring to the siew mai. Delicious.

And that left me wondering, is it that hard to find a place that serves darn good siew mai and har gau?
So their har gau was average..

Skin was too thick, the prawns were rather bland.

We ordered some prawn wantan thingy with enoki mushrooms..

It was gone by the time I was done taking pictures. SL told me the sauce was the sweet type, quite a good dish.
Gary ordered a bowl of century egg congee..Though it was very smooth, we could only see 4 tiny strips of century egg :(
I always liked woo kok, hence I took this...

A fusion version of woo kok? The shrimps were wrapped with cheese and yam paste. Dont think it works as the flavours were not complementing.

We tried another fusion, steamed mussels with prawns, fish paste, cream and cheese.

Luckily, this works well, the seafood was very fresh and juicy, and the cheese complemented it beautifully. Yums.
My compulsory dish, the steamed pork ribs...This must be the worst steamed ribs I've ever tasted. It was bland, bland and bland. phlegh. Fried beancurd sheets with prawns... Just average. The beancurd sheets were rather thick and oily.

Some stuffed chillies with fish paste..
Good as the fish paste was the firm textured type which I like :)

Stuffed aubergines with fish paste. A dish that could hardly go wrong. Guess my only gripe would be the size. A tad small.

Lor mai kai..Too sweet for my taste buds, hence I thought this was mediocre.

SL enjoyed the stir fried carrot cake..Serving size was generous, the carrot cake was soft, but the exterior was crisp.

We didnt expect to see pai guat wong while having dimsums..but the waiter placed the whole tray of it in front of me. The lovely smell wafted over and I could not resist it. We took a plate. This was absolutely scrumptious! The ribs were tender and juicy, fully absorbing the marination and sauce. Lip smacking. It took quite a lot of will power not to take a second plate as we had too much dim sum on our table already.
The prawn chee cheong fun..They gave rather huge prawns with the ccf, but the rice sheets were thick. Quite ok.

We had some steamed cabbage rolls
This was very tasty too. The cabbage was steamed till soft, the chicken meat was very smooth and tender, strips of waxed sausage and mushrooms completes this roll.

Obviously we were freaking stuffed by the time we managed to finish off all the dim sums we ordered. Our total bill was RM89, including drinks. We thought it's pretty reasonable, we wil be back to try their other type of dim sums.

Restaurant Jin Xuan Hong Kong is located at 59, 61 & 63 Jalan SS22/19, Damansara Jaya, 47300 Petaling Jaya. Tel: 03-77296866.

Restoran Hatinie, Shah Alam

Diha wanted to pop over for a swim
Lepas tu, kita makan kat Shah Alam ok?

Makan apa kat situ?
Masakan Kelantan......yang sedap.....

Ok, that make me finished my paddle in the water real fast, I was already hungry just listening to her... :D

We reached early, about 12:15 as it gets rather packed by 1 pm. I walked in and was welcomed by this... So many dishes to choose from and so little stomach space :(.

So I left the mammoth task of choosing dishes on Diha's shoulder, she did grow up in Kelantan, just take your favourite dishes!

So we had some Gulai Kawah The marbled beef chunks was cooked in coconut milk, ketumbar and kunyit. This was very delicious, the meat was tender and the sauce, rich and fragrant, goes well with rice.

Diha's favourite was Masak Daging Kerutup..She told me that this dish is rather hard to prepare as many tend to make this dish taste bitter. The hard part in preparing this dish frying the spices before it's made into powder..over fried it and it's a bitter dish. Hatinie's version is lip smacking, the beef cuts were chunkier and firmer; the sauce was thick and tasted rich in spices. Reminds me of daging masak buah keras, a nyonya dish.

Some kerabu for those fibre that we so needed... This version is light, the vegetables were fresh and I like the fact that the shredded coconut does not over power this dish.

The ayam percik was beckoning me..So I took a piece of it. The sauce was more on the sweet side, dense with coconut milk and spices. The chicken; though I took a piece of chicken breast; was juicy and tender and had a mild smokey flavour from the grill. Pretty good actually.

Before I could say Stop! Diha took the keli bakar..

She was craving for keli..what to do..I rarely take cold ikan bakar (grilled fish) as I like mine hot from the grill. I was pleasantly surprised that the keli was moist and had absorbed the marination wonderfully. Though a tad cold, we cleaned this fish in a jiffy :)

Diha had 2 plates of rice due to her killer sauce concoction with ulam...Budu, with tempoyak (durian with lime and cili padi), more chili padi and lime. I love budu in my nasi kerabu, but this is too pungent for me (really, it's a matter of preference..hehe). Nonetheless, it was a pleasure seeing Diha enjoying this so much.

We were so stuffed and Diha had to ask me about desserts...
Nah, shall give it a miss...
And I had to bite my tongue when I walked past all the kuih muih..
We had some lompat tikam..
Cute name huh?
It's DIY dessert..
So we get this...And we do this..

The green kuih is bland while the rice is slightly savoury..mix with the coconut cream and gula melaka, it's perfect. The combo is tasty, reminds me of seri muka (with sauce).

But my fave would be the pengat pisang..

Banana cooked in santan and gula melaka, this is ultra sweet, hence, do take it in moderation. It's divine taking warm mouthfuls of it, and i love the silky smooth nangka slices in the pengat (which is not so common in pengat pisang)...

Restoran Hatinie is located at Jalan Selendang 10/10, Shah Alam. Located in the middle of a housing area. Turn in from main road Jalan Batik 10/6. Serves Malay Kelantanese (homecook) food.

Hokano Japanese Restaurant, Damansara Utama

It was a long, long day as I was out the whole day.
We finally decided to eat at Hokano, SL ate there before and was happy with the food. We ordered and had to wait for about 30 minutes for our food. When you're hungry, every minute counts..

After stretching my neck as long as a girafe, looking at every table being served......

We got ours...finally...

Chicken Katsu Don (RM11.95)

I think we were freaking hungry as we find this bowl of rice delectable. The rice was warm and inviting, drenched with sauce, loads of sweet sliced onions, mushrooms, a huge slab of fried chicken and topped with egg (the yolk was still runny)..

The Hokano Roll was humongous.. The roll had unagi, prawn tempura, avocado, crab sticks, cucumber all rolled tightly together...topped with shrimp roe and a sprinkling of sesame. I love the explosion of texture and temperatures..warm, cool, crunchy, soft, creamy..all at once. Think this was absolutely satisfying.

We were actually very stuffed, but there was still one more dish to come..

The Eel Cucumber roll (RM6)Simple looking roll, this was packed with (as the name of the dish), unagi, cucumber and seaweed. The unagi was very fatty, the fat almost melting, works beautifully with the warm rice and refreshing cucumber slices.

Though the wait was rather long, I'd say I had a pretty good meal at a reasonable price..Will definitely come back again.

Oh, do note that Hokano is a tiny, half shop lot restaurant that sits only about 40 customers. A cosy eatery, with simple menu, dont expect fantastic ambience. Hokano Japanese Restaurant is located at 74, Jalan SS21/35, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 03-77295325.

What's the Buzz??

In the world of Myspace and Facebook, I guess it was only a matter of time before there was a community just for foodies. You may have noticed that I am now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher. In case you haven't checked it out, Foodbuzz provides a place for both bloggers, and people who love food to check in and check out the latest recipes, blog posts, and reviews. Like Myspace, on Foodbuzz you can make friends, vote for your favorites, and subscribe to feeds. It is a great place to interact with other food-lovers.

One of my favorite features is restaurant reviews. You can review restaurants in your own city or check out restaurants in a city you are travelling to rated by foodies who have eaten there.

So come on over to Foodbuzz and check out the buzz!

Rib Lee's, Desa Sri Hartamas

I really didn't want to post this.

It was in my file for months..
I fear I'll give you guys headache.

Those who went out with me for meals would know by now I hate taking pictures with flash. No matter how dark/ dim the restaurant is, I'll stubbornly refuse to use flash.

Hence, I got this bunch of sucky photos. Must have been the suckiest I've ever taken since I started blogging...so if you cant stand seeing these pictures, feel free to skip this post....

It was WF's birthday and we have been planning to eat at Rib Lee's for some time, we finally did managed to pop by on her birthday. The birthday girl was late, so we took the liberty to order without her :p.

Her timing was perfect, she reached when the first bowl of soup was served..

Some very creamy mushroom soup. Pretty good to warm up our hungry tummies as it was raining outside.

Appetisers were served soon after, we had some smokey rolls... Bacon rolled with prawns, sliced celery and carrots..I must say it's quite tasty, but the prawns seems wasted as the flavour was totally covered by the bacon. Think Elcerdo's bacon with anchovies fared much better..

Nachos..Served hot and it was gone almost immediately..yup we were that hungry..pigs pigs that we are. I find this just slightly above average as I prefer my nachos with beef, rather than pork..

Smoked Duck salad provided some form of fibre before we turned full on carnivorous mode.. As the smoked duck was sliced thinly, it goes well with the salad, not overly salty. Quite refreshing actually.

Had some angel hair pasta (cant recall the full name of this dish)... I might as well call it zhu yau zhar pasta as the whole plate was filled with those artery clogging babies. I think I got OD-ed on this, after a while, I find it too oily and rich for me. Good as a sharing dish nonetheless.

Then it was full speed ahead with pork, pork and pork..

No turning back baby...

All the pork mains were served almost simultaneously..

The St. Louise Style Ribs..Quite a large strip, the meat was juicy, springy and very well marinated. Other than some part which was burnt (rather badly), I thought this was delicious nonetheless.

US Baby Back Ribs..Looks gorgeous hor? Think it sort of ended there. The ribs were dry, the exterior marination was a tad pasty. Pasty + dry ribs = drier ribs.. :(

The Bourbon Glazed Ribs fared better...The ribs were juicy (at some parts) and the sauce was pretty good.

Crispy Pork Belly was basically a slab of siew yuk on mash.. I was rather unfortunate, the cut that I had was chewy, the skin was not crunchy at all. It was so chewy and sticky, some was stuck on my teeth! I was not happy. Some of my friends got the crispy part, so they said it was yummy. Ceh.

Though we were full, we needed the desserts..

Hey, the BD girl needs her cake right?

In which we had a good laugh as WF did not want candles and the waiter had to light the candles numerous times and it was 'extinguished' by WF before the cake managed to hit the table..hahaha

Oreo Cake.. I'd say it's Oreo Ice Cream. It's mediocre, as it's quite a frozen block, needed some time for thawing..

The Chocolate Mud Cake..I expected something moist, sticky, rich and sinful. It tasted more airy, reminds me of those chinese steamed egg cake actually. Having it with the vanilla ice cream was better, at least it got more moist.

Total bill was RM387 (including drinks).

Rib Lee's is located at No. 41-1, Wisma CKL, Jalan 23/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603 6201 0180. Just above Al-Rajhi Bank.