Hakka Rang Restaurant, Kota Damansara

First noticed this restaurant when we drove pass the main road, and saw the eye catching lime green signboard. Though I have limited chinese words vocab, I could understand that 3 words on the sign board..and I know it's a place for hakka dishes.

Just before I came to try the food, Hochiak did an episode on it....recommending some must try dishes..

And of course I tried the yam abacus seeds(RM10.80)..

Those fellas in Hochiak were raving about the Q-ness, Q-ness and more QQ (springy). Never never place your hopes up so high. It was an ok dish, it was not that Q. It was a decent suen pun ji, but I didnt like the scattering of peanuts on it. Sort of distorts the flavour.

The deep fried pork with ear wood fungus(RM12)..

A standard hakka dish. Hakka Rang did a pretty good version of it. The sauce was pretty thick as the fried dough from the pork had mixed into the sauce. Small portion though.

Some fried bitter gourd with salted egg(RM13)..

Medicore version. But hey, we need our veggies..

Their beancurd(RM12)..

Rather than the usual deep fried tau foo, this version was quite light. Gary found it too salty; I was ok with it. Sauce was sort of like a diluted version of sharks fin soup.

Overall was an ok meal, just not something I'll madly rave about.

Hakka Rang is located at 13-1, Jalan PJU 5/18, Dataran Sunway, 47810 Kota Damansara, PJ.

Mea Culpa to Readers and Country Bob!

I have no idea how it got to be May and over a month since my last post. It is not like I stopped either cooking or eating, but the stimulus money and glut of proposal deadlines has taken up every free moment (and there weren't that many to begin with!) of my non-working time.

I will try to catch you up, and make a real effort to be a better citizen of the blogosphere despite my other commitments. So, here is a brief summary of what has been going on in my culinary (and otherwise) life:

• We had a wonderful St.Patrick's Day complete with lots of family,lots of corned beef, and of course, the delicious corned beef hash the next day (my favorite part!)
• For the past several months I have been preparing to officially become a Catholic. That journey culminated at the Easter Vigil when I celebrated the sacraments of initiation. My entire family was there except for my son Gavin, making it really special (it would have been perfect if he had been there too!). It was really an amazing experience, complete with a celebratory reception and champagne punch. The team at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel helped to make this process meaningful, providing opportunity for fellowship, introspection, and celebration.
  
• I have been cooking a lot with just quick and easy in mind since I am in the middle of grant season, particularly with the stimulus funds out there. But I do have some good pictures on my camera and recipes up my sleeve due some other friends and family and their culinary inspiration. And I promise not to be away so long again...
• One of things I love about being a foodblogger is getting products to try and blog about, but I have to admit that sometimes life overwhelms me and I am a little slower than I should be and such is the case with Country Bob's who sent me two bottles of their all-purpose sauce to try and blog about. While the sauce tasted great, it took me awhile to figure out how best to use it.I was in the mindset of a steak sauce, and for me a good steak really doesn't need any steak sauce.But recently, I had some beef short ribs and I though maybe Country Bob's would be great for cooking those ribs in. The result...ribs with meat falling off the bone,perfectly seasoned in a way that highlighted the flavor of the meat, not the sauce. My success led to numerous other uses of Country Bob's as an ingredient. I have used it in ground beef when I made burgers, and it was terrific. So even if you are not a steak sauce fan like me, you can find a place for Country Bob's in your pantry (at least as long as it lasts!)

Fall off the Bone Country Bob's Short Ribs

3 lbs bone in or boneless beef short ribs
1 bottle or can of any kind of beer
1 large onion cut in large dice
1 tsp salt
1 beef boullion cube
ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce

I shook my ribs with a little sprinkle of unflavored meat tenderizer. I then heated the oil in a heavy pan and browned the onions.I then added the ribs in batches, making sure each side was browned (otherwise you have ribs that are a kind of blah brown rather than a dark mahogany color).Once all the ribs were browned I added them back to the pot and added the rest of the ingredients. Then I simmered the ribs covered, checking the fluid level for about 2 and 1/2 hours. I wish I had a picture of these, but they went so fast, if I had set up a picture I would've missed my chance to actually eat one!! This would also be a great way to cook a chuck roast in the crockpot.

Scrappin Mondaze: Mommy and Baby Moments

This is my entry for Mommy and Daughter theme for this week.

These pictures were taken this weekend when i get to have one on one momment with

my baby when her yaya took her day off. he he. Sa totoo lang, masaya ko pag day off ng yaya nya. Solong solo ko kasi pag aalaga ko sa kanya. She even fell asleep in my arms.

Ang sarap sarap ng feeling. I dont feel the time passing by when im with my precious daughter .

Food4Thot is 3!

Oh yes, Food4Thot is 3!

Surviving 1095 days, 26 280 hours... and many more meals to come :)

Happy feasting, have a good eat ahead! :)

Popular Southern Briyani, KL

Attended a training recently and a fellow participant (azman) told me about this delicious nasi briyani that he used to have when he was working nearby.

Sarirah was with me during the training and she knew which stall he was talking about.. and we were there the very next week :)

Popular Southern Briyani is located inside a small alley.. easily missed, until you are near and you'll noticed the queue at the lane.

There's 2 briyani stalls in the lane, Popular is the inner stall, further from the entrance. And why I had Popular rather than the first stall? Both Azman and Sarirah agreed this is better, so I took their recommendation :)

There were quite a number of dishes to choose from, but I was aiming for the deep fried chicken (ayam rempah) that was puportedly very nice to go with the nasi.

And I guess the star was ; what else? The nasi briyani of course!

I was there before 12 noon and look at the humongous briyani pot? It's already half empty. They do catering hence some are packed and delivered before lunch time.

The lane is tight and very warm, with just a slim table to eat. So, most customers just pack and go.

Here's what I got...
Nasi briyani with fried chicken (RM5). The default side dish would be the pickled cucumber and fried ginger-spices bits from the chicken. I was given 2 types of sauces (to go); the curry and sweet spicy sauce. I drenched my nasi with the curry and took a bite. This was so delicious! The rice was rich, thick with aroma yet fluffy. I could just eat this rice without any dishes, it's really addictive and tasty. The chicken was juicy and huge; though easily overshadowed by the simple nasi briyani.

Popular Southern Briyani is located at Lorong Bandar 13, Jalan Tun HS Lee, KL. Tel 017-3995033, 012-3650880 (Rahman) for catering services. As the lane might be easily missed, here's what you can see at the main road. The lane is just opposite of K.M Mohamed Yusuf Money Changer.

Scrappin Mondaze : Our Pride and Joy

This is my entry for this week. Ganito pala feeling ng isang mommy. I miss my daughter everytime i leave her for work and I think of her constantly. Hay.... I hope and pray that she'll always be safe. She is my reason to be thankful everyday.

Or-Ju Korean Restaurant, Kepong

It was a joint birthday celebration for WF and LH, and we were figuring where to have their celebration dinner. The birthday boy decided to take charge, he'll decide on where to eat.

Hence, that's how we ended at Or-Ju..

Or-Ju is a 2 storey restaurant; ground floor serves the buffet spread while we went up stairs for ala carte..

We took sometime ordering; the menu was predominantly korean, while a number of japanese dishes too.

Once ordering was done, the complimentary side dishes was served almost immediately..

There were about 5-6 side dishes, I cant really recall. Not that many :p

I liked the clams and their salad (with vinegared dressing); the rest were forgettable.

Jeremy had ordered his own main as he was not too well to take spicy/ grilled food..

His Dori Katsudon had a generous serving of eggs, onions, fried pork chop and over-generous amount of sauce. The taste was fine, but jeremy finds his rice bowl too "wet'..the sauce was over soaking the rice; felt like porridge at the bottom of the rice bowl.

We ordered some grilled pork belly (RM48.90 for 2 person set, this was one serve)..

It was quite nice; having it with lettuce, garlic and the korean spicy beanpaste sauce. But most of the grilled pork belly was very oily (some were dripping with it); which was rather unappetising after a while. Oh, and it's grilled in the kitchen, so you dont get to have all the grilling 'action' live at the table.

The grilled black pork was better (RM52.90 for 2 person set, this was one of the serve)..

The meat was nicely charred and very juicy. The marination was on the sweet side, reminded me of charsiew actually.

We had some spicy kimchi soup..

I didnt really enjoy this as I find the soup too thick and sour for me. And the red was a tad shocking.

Something from the japanese menu, fried soft shell crabs (RM18.90)

It was crunchy to the bite, but the batter was very thick and oily. Could not really taste the soft shell crab flavour.

I wanted some Bibimbap, LH decided to order that with grilled pork (RM13.90). Yes, my friends just love pork... :p

This was a tasty bowl of rice, but I wont say it bibimbap-ish..Sure, the bowl was hot and gave the rice a nice burnt flavour, but the sauce was more teriyaki sweet than spicy. The amount of grilled pork chunks were generous and all were well marinated.

Or-Ju pancake(RM16.90)

Their pancake was quite a favourite as the flour base was quite thin but loaded with ingredients. The pancake was nicely browned and crisp on the exterior; a nice contrast to the fluffy ingredients.

Lastly, we had the Octopus noodles (RM25)

Cold noodles served with chopped octopus, vegetables in sweet spicy sauce. Mixed it well and oh my, it was very tasty indeed! The noodles were ultra smooth, we could slurp it down so quickly (and rather loudly by some of the guys too). It gets spicier with every mouthful, but as it was also highly addictive, we didnt stop eating this.

Overall, I find most of the food have been slightly localised (although the restaurant was run by koreans), which at some point of time, I thought I was eating chinese food.

Total bill was RM221.45

Or-Ju Korean Restaurant is located at 68, Jalan Metro Perdana Barat 3, Taman Usahawan Kepong, 52100, Kepong Utara, KL.

Our Stick Family Figure Picture

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Tried this through Peachy. Kakatuwa. Ganyan talaga buhok ni Mark. Ako naman nag iilusyon na kahit sa drawing mag ka boobs. Si Marianna nakakatayo na dyan pero ngayon, upo at gapang pa lang sya .

Shopping for Native Cookies

Di ako nakapasok kahapon, nag pa check up ako sa Dr. sa Concepcion malabon.

Tapos may nakita ko na bakery na puro native cookies tinda, N. Juance Orig. Bakery. Ang saya ko. Nag turo ako ng nag turo sa tindera. Ayan ang nabili ko, worth Php 120.00 lahat. Clockwise: Mini camachille - crunchy mini cookies shaped like the vegie camachile, pacencia - crunchy round cookies, mini camachille ulit, camachile, pianono - mamon na nakarolyo na parang may yema o leche flan sa gitna (dalawa yan nakain ko na yung isa agad, he he), mamon tostado - crunchy mamon, lengua de gato - flat milk cookies tska puto seco - round white cookies yung nasa gitna. Pinaka gusto ko? yung pianono. Yun yata specialty nila dun. Naalala ko tuloy nabanggit ng papa ko na dun sya bumibili ng pianono na binibigay nya kay mama nung nanliligaw pa daw sya. Masarap daw kasi talaga dun.

Fresh Seafood Delivered to Your Door

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There is a family that you can count on to deliver your seafood needs to your door the very next day. Not only can you trust the delivery of your order but you can take advantage of wonderful recipes, helpful menus for planning those special dinner parties, blogs that are full of wonderful advice from individuals just like you, wine and beverage suggestions, as well as helpful tips for the care and preparation of your seafood. Select cuts ofwonderful fish and a variety of perfect shellfish are what you will experience when you trust your seafood needs to a company that has specialized in serving fresh top quality seafood to the USA. Now you can experience their products no matter where you may live.

Shipping prices and wonderful rates make your seafood needs a reality, but there is no need to stop at the seafood when you can select from wonderful sauces and marinades as well as requesting fish cut a certain way. Your needs are their concern and shipping you the wonderful seafood they provide is their top priority. Never leave yourself with a menu or dinner that is without seafood when you trust all your seafood needs to the experts. Rely on the ones who eat, sleep, and breathe seafood just to satisfy your seafood desires. Knowing seafood and the quality it offers is what you can count on when your shipment arrives and with the next day deliver you can trust you are getting fresh seafood.

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Four Seasons Restaurant, Cap Square

Went to Four Seasons a while back (and I mean a while back :p) for dinner and finally decided to do a post on it. No rush I guess, I've read so many review and I can take my time? kekeke

Having dinner at Cap Square was a very quiet affair, and i mean pin drop you could hear quiet. So obviously we were given very attentive service, there were only our table and another to serve. Ordering was prompt...

The famed roasted duck (RM25)..
Looks pretty good. Jeremy thinks it's delicious. Elaine, WF and me find it just mediocre. The skin was ok, not as crisp as I would like, and the meat was solid. At some parts, a tad dry. Maybe my expectations was way too high..


The roasted pork (RM16)

This was pretty good. Skin was popping crunchy, the meat texture was just nice, though not melt in mouth (since it was rather cold)..

Ah, something piping hot..Beancurd with mixed veggies (RM33)

Gravy goes well with the rice, had a lovely tinge of salted fish flavour.

The spareribs peking style (RM18) was.....

Surprising small in portion. There were 5 of us and they served 5 pieces. The piece I had was rather tough and the taste, well, very similar to sweet sour spare ribs. Average dish.

The Baked spare ribs with salt and pepper (RM18) fared better..

In portion and taste :p. The meat was tender and fragrant; garlicky, salt and pepper bits came with every bite. I like this dish, very tasty indeed.

Stir fried brinjal with cabbage (RM24)..

Something that was not in the menu, it was recommended by the manager. To be honest, the first impression when I saw this dish was it's a mix of whatever veggies that was left. Nonetheless, it tasted quite good. I love brinjal and cooking it with dried shrimps and mince meat cant go too wrong, right?

Overall an average experience, I find the pricing rather steep for the portions.

Four Seasons Restaurant is located at Lot G16-17, Capital Square Center, No 7, Persiaran Capital Square, Capital Square, KL.

My Marianna can do that

I receive regular emails from the "Welcome baby Home site". I registered then as soon as I found out that i was pregnant. Their site is http://www.welcomebabyhome.com/. I just received a email just now telling that my baby is 6.5 months (26 weeks old) and should be doing these things. Lets see if my Marianna does any of these things already.

By now your baby should:

* Be able to sit unaided for a short time

- Happy to say my Marianna already does. She plays in her crib sitting down and sitting back on her round pillow.

* Be learning about cause and effect by repeating actions again and again

- She has this butterfly alphabet toy that she bangs in her hand over and over again. And she seems to press on letter "E" and "Y". Probably she likes hearing the sound an Elephant makes and wants to learn how to spell "yoyo" . Also this past week when I got the privelege of taking care of her because of the holy week vacation, i taught her how to use her training cup. After a few tries, she can hold the cup through the handle by herself. Im very proud of her.

Ayan ang anak ko. Holding her Training cup. Tuwang tuwa ako sa kanya, I praise her as i teach her how to use her cup. As i tell her how bright she is, she even looks at me as she uses the cup by herself.

Im very proud of her.

* Show some understanding of object permanence

- I think my Marianna does this already. She has this caterpillar toy placed on the right side of her crib and always plays with it. Tapos may spongebob na toy na nakasabit. When we watch "Spongebob square pants", she always look at her spongebob toy then balik tingin sa tv. he he.

* Reach out for objects more accurately

- As a crawling practice, I always place things for her to reach para bumilis sya gumapang .

* Anticipate being lifted up by holding up her arms or head

- In our playtime, i lay her down sa kama and kinikiliti. She has her hands open in an embracing position anticipating that i'll be tickling her. Tapos, pag angat ko, basa na din ako ng laway kasi nang kikiss na sya.

* Smile at own face in mirror

- Eto she does this kahit nung mag 4 months pa lang yata sya. Kasi minsan when we play around, lagi ko sya hinaharap sa salamin. She watches herself giggle from the mirror and even look at me from the mirror when she's on her crib.

By now your baby probably will:

* Be shy with strangers and even exhibit fear

- Ngayon, nangigilala na kasi sya kaya pag ibang tao nakita, umiiyak.

* Bang things on the floor or high chair to make a noise

- My Marianna does bang her hand on her butterfly alphabet toy and makes noise.

* Continue to practice pre - crawling movements

- My Marianna always crawl whether on her crib or placed in the bed.

* Drink from a cup or beaker, with spills

- Eto di ko pa nasubukan. Pero i'll bet my Marianna can do that already.

* Look at strangers seriously instead of with open smiles

- My Marianna does when i sometimes bring her with me outside our house.

By now your baby may even:

* Use index finger to poke at things

Ayan po ang anak ko. Nakaturo. he he

* Give you hugs and kisses

- My Marianna already does during our playtime .

* Laugh out loud during playtime

- Ang lakas tumawa ng Marianna ko. Tingnan ko lang, tumatawa na. Babaw ng kaligayahan .

* Look around briefly for a dropped object.

- My Marianna does this already. Minsan kasi pag binuhat ko sya from her crib, laging may dala dala. Laruan, pamunas nya o kay unan. Then malalaglag, nakatingin din sya dun sa hawak nya na nalaglag.

* Show interest in adults, childen and other babies

- My Marianna shows interest on people, specially babies like her even in her early months.

Namimintana yan and loves looking at the playing kids sa labas namin. Then she watches tv

attentively lalo na pag commercial. She loves yung commercial ng ice cream with the line "Si

Daddy" tska yung 3 in 1 plus one dance ni Vhong Navarro with kids .

* Enjoy finger foods




Ayan po sya .... Kumakain ng baby biscuits .

Restoran BKT Kim Tek, Kepong

When it comes to Bak Kut Teh, there is always something distinct in a particular shop's recipe that always draws one back for more.

Maybe it's the thick, bitter soup? Or the lighter version? All those bak (meat)? Or maybe even the fried crullers that soaks up the soup?

With so many different combo, it's not surprising I never have a favourite BKT shop. Just quite a number to choose from, dont you think?

Kim Tek is Lily's favourite, a surprising choice for someone who grew up in Klang/ Shah Alam..

What's the draw for Lily? It's the soup. She loves the thick, gelatinous soup. For me, it would have been better if it was slightly more bitter and a lil less oily. The meat on the other, was cooked to wonderful melting texture, especially the lean meat chunks. Usually, these lean meat are coarser; drier in texture and bland in taste (which will be the last in the pot), but Kim Tek's version was just delicious. Juicy, melt in mouth and fully absorbed the BKT flavours.

And of course, what complements BKT better than dunking in yau zhar kuai into the soup and sipping hot chinese tea?

Lovely way to start a lazy weekend, dont you think?

Restoran BKT Kim Tek is located at 26, Jalan 3/1A, Kepong Indah, 52100 Kepong, KL.