DILL SHRIMP WITH RICE RECIPES

2 tbsp. mustard (any kind)
20 sm. shrimp, peeled & deveined
3 sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1/2 c. wine (chablis or sherry)
1/4 c. cream

Cooked rice
Pinch of garlic
Saute shrimp with mushrooms and dill and garlic until shrimp is done on one side. Turn the shrimp over, and add wine and mustard. Cook 2 minutes. Add cream, cook 1 minute. Put over hot cooked rice

SCALLOPED OYSTERS & SCALLOPS RECIPES

1 qt. oysters
1 pt. scallops
1 c. sour cream
2 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. melted butter (not oleo)

Mix melted butter and bread crumbs together and put a thin layer in the bottom of a buttered baking dish. Cover with oysters and seasonings, add some cream. Add layer of scallops, seasonings and layer of crumbs. Repeat. Top with buttered crumbs and bake in hot oven (400 degrees) for 30 minutes

G.R.I.L.L.- the Other Clunkers Program

Maybe you have traded in your gas-guzzling clunker for a more fuel efficient model or maybe you are sick of government give-aways. Either way, there is a new clunker program that won't raise your taxes or increase the deficit sponsored by Laura's Lean Beef. I only recently heard of this company that produces hormone-free, humanely-raised beef, but have been really impressed with their commitment to sustainable farming.

Their Grill Replacement Initiative from Laura's Lean (G.R.I.L.L.) invites website visitors, Facebook fans and Twitter followers to submit pictures and descriptions of their rusty, old, last-gasp grills for a chance to win brand new, stainless-steel, propane-powered replacements. Over three weeks, August 19 through September 8, LLB will be giving away three new grills. Contest details are available at www.laurasleanbeef.com/grill, and while you are there, you can check out tips and recipes that will make the most of your food dollar. If you want to see the competition, look at LLB's Facebook site where they will be posting the entries. It might even inspire you to use that broken down grill!

 

The contest made me think about what you need to have to make a good grill- is it charcoal, is it gas? Do you need a rotisserie or a side burner? What about smokers- do you need one of those too? What would your dream grill be?

Get those spider nests out of your grill and send Laura your pictures-maybe she will make your dreams come true!!

Zense Restaurant, Bangkok

I read about Zense from Bangkok Tatler just before I went to Bangkok. It's new, it's hip and sounding rather enticing, I thought we should pop by to check it out. Went over on our last night in Bangkok, we wanted to pamper ourselves with a nice, long relaxing dinner before we leave ;)

Zense is located on the 17th floor of Zen Shopping Centre, right in the heart of the city. When the lift doors opened, we were greeted immediately by it's trendy interior..

It was very spacious, techno music filled the air and we thought we stepped into a club instead.hehe. Quick look around, we saw the inside bar, lots of beds, large beanies seats... and we finally saw some elegant dining area but we were only drawn to have our dinner alfresco. It was a balmy, breezy night..we should be dining alfresco, dont you think?

The alfresco area was wide and spread along the building, with different corners for your choice of dining pleasure- you can choose the cushioned rattan with dining height tables, have dinner in bed, sink into a large beanie cushion with low jap style tables or at the high bar area. Take your pick :)

Zense serves 4 cuisines- Thai, Italian, Japanese and Indian. Hmmm, tough choice but we went for italian since we OD-ed on thai for that many days..haha

We ordered a few stuff to try, since we have been eating the whole day- we were not that hungry :p

Started with fresh bread with lemon butter and our order of Grissini Parmaham (RM27)

We enjoyed the bread and the grissini parmaham was warm and crisp. The parmaham saltiness goes well with the grissini..nice to nibble while we chatted.

Though Zense looks chic and expensive, it's actually affordable classy dining but the waiters didnt really followed the serving rules here.. mains were served before we finished our starters :(

The Ravioli Neri (RM39) looked dark and mysterious..

This was absolutely scrumptious! The filling of chopped lobster was aromatic, the squid ink ravioli were meltingly smooth and the accompanying sauce was velvetly rich, but not cloying. Loved it.

Risotto Scoglio (RM43)

This risotto needs time to really enjoy its full flavours. The rice was still grainy and feels compact- the sauce slowly seeps deeper into the rice with every mouthful I took. The seafood aroma was evident in the rice- I could just eat the rice without the seafood. Delicious.

Alas, I wondered if we spent too much time enjoying the first 2 mains that we totally forgotten about our Pizza Diavola (RM29)..

We were happily cam whoring (or was that just dragon girl? :p), taking in the panaromic view and drinking...and we finally decided to have the pizza. We ordered an italian sausage pizza.. but was suprised that it looked like meatballs instead. Closer inspection confirmed that it was baby meat balls. The pizza was rather chewy at the base and the meat balls were salty. The girls were not impress, this was just mediocre at best. Oh well.

The cheeky bartender offered a pose without us requesting...

Panaromic skyline of Bangkok- though not as high as Sirocco's and Vertigo's

What a lovely way to unwind and to end our last night in Bangkok- with the soft jazz at the back ground and the cooling breeze brushing my skin. I know I will be back yet again. Wait for me Bangkok :)

Zense is located at Zen Shopping Centre, Rajadamri Road, Bangkok. For more information and much better pictures, click here. Thanks EL for the pictures!

Senjyu Sushi, Cineleisure Damansara

Just a short post today to start off this hectic week :)

Went to Senjyu some time back on a rainy evening- I wanted somewhere not too pack and can grab a bite quickly. Well, the interesting many-green-bottles-hanging-on-the-wall interior got my attention and sorta pulled me in too :p

Bollywood Queen who was with me at that time royally declared that she was not hungry as she had a lots of food during tea time, so the food choice was just mine. Though platters of sushis were readily available on the conveyer belt, I decided to order mine- I like 'em freshly made.

Had the cod and unagi sushi (RM6)

This fared pretty well. The cod and unagi bits were springy and fatty; drizzled with some teriyaki sauce- it goes well with the rice base. Looks so enticing that BQ took a piece of it.

The spider maki (RM8)

Fully expecting the spider crab being wrapped in the rice, it was served on top of the sushi instead. Freshly fried, the spider crab was still warm and crisp. Senjyu serves grated wasabi paste, which goes well with this maki. BQ tried a piece of this too. Hmmm, I thought she was not hungry??

Since BQ had an appetite after all, we ordered the day's special, Chicken Katsu Don (RM6)

Special not because it's the best seller, but special for the day as it was on promotion- ie, cheaper. By now, BQ was eating like she was the hungry one. Quite decent, the chicken pieces were moist and was enveloped with half cooked eggy bits. Lots of onions to give that sweet crunch to the combo. But a tiny bowl though, well, I guess that's why it's RM6 :p

Since it was raining, I wanted something to warm me up...Beef sukiyaki seems to be a nice choice (RM18.90)

I thought the serving was rather petite and we had to wait quite a fair bit for the food to cook. We waited just to get disappointed. I did not like Senjyu's version. The soup was waaayyyyy too sweet..like sickeningly sweet. Can't even drink it to warm my belly. :-(

Senjyu Sushi is located at LotG2&G3 Ground Floor, Cineleisure Damansara. There's also a branch at Sunway Pyramid.

Scrappin Mondaze: Daddy and Marianna

This is my entry for this week. My beloved husband and daughter, after the longest time are now together. It has been almost 8 mos before Daddy was able to hold her princess again. Every moment is worth the wait.

Hubby is Here !!!

Im a week late in my postings. Hubby is already here. He arrived last monday, Aug 17. As expected, umiyak ang anak ko at ayaw sumama sa daddy nya. Mega emote pa nga at naka talikod sa daddy nya habang kinukutkot yung balot ng pinto ng sasakyan. Pero nung umuwi na kami, ok na sya. Siguro medyo nag topak lang at mainit sa airport habang hinihintay namin si Mark. I'll start to catch up with my postings here as soon as I gather some of our pictures. Kapagod din kasi at nag lipat pa kami ng bahay at syempre isang linggo din akong nag silbe sa aking mahal na asawa, he he.

Lek Seafood, Bangkok

I read about Lek online, a couple of years back when I was about to visit Bangkok then. Always, it'll be slotted as part of my eating itinerary, but somehow, we never did managed to try it. This trip, I was determined indeed...well, partly we were just in Bangkok for shopping, and secondly, my friends left all the planning of the food crawl places to me :p

It not hard to get to Lek Seafood at all, just take the BTS to Chong Nonsi station. Lek is just next to the station(ground level)

It was rather packed when we reached, and we chose our noisy corner. Filled with only local customers, I really hope for a good meal..

Since we have been trying out different cuisines before that, we went for the ubiquitous Tom Yum Goong(RM15)..

Lek's version was scrumptious! The soup was rich, yet not too sour nor overly spicy. You can actually enjoy the fragrance of this soup. And a generous amount of prawns and mushrooms helps too! However, if you are looking for those tom yum that burns your tongue, losing sensation for a few minutes, then this soup is not for you.

And those yummy grilled fresh water prawns (RM20). How can I miss it right? :p

These were super huge, the length of the head was about the size of my palm. The prawns were cooked to perfection; the meat was just cooked, absorbing the smokiness of the charcoal while the roe in the prawns heads were still runny..we were drinking sweet, creamy roe soup..*slurps*

Some local vegetables..Water minosa (RM7)

Looks like kangkung, though center was not hollow. Texture wise, it's similar to paku-pakis, but slightly more fibrous and sweeter. Takes longer to chew, enjoyable nonetheless.

We saw many tables having hot plates.. and we ordered too..

Sliced pork on hot plate (RM12)

Not what other tables had :(. Their's were very dark looking meat. Most probably ostrich meat. Ok, this dish was not bad at all, tasted like a typical chinese stir fried pork slices with bean paste. Pork was tender with some fatty strips.

Our last dish was steamed fish in lime soup (RM30)

Quite a large portion for the 3 of us after the other dishes we had, the slow burning charcoal keeps the soup simmering and the fish, warm. As the fish was kept simmering throughout the meal, the soup gets thicker and sweeter (though the base was still very sour and spicy). Rather addictive, alas we were too full to have the soup refills.hahaha.

Lek Seafood is located at 156 Soi Phiphat, Narathiwatrachanakharin Road, Silom, Bangruk, Bangkok. Just next to Chong Nonsi BTS station.

Ole Ole Bali, Solaris KL

We planned a lazy Sunday lunch. A girls lunch to catch up on gossips and just yak away :)

I never like venturing to Solaris though, it's always packed, but with the exception of sunday mornings. Parking is almost a breeze :p

Ole Ole serves predominantly balinese food and also a selection of western food. Our focus were solely on the balinese food though.

Amy was pleased that they served Avocado Shake (RM10) here; something that she took aplenty when she was in Bali. Me on the other hand? I decided to have the Ice blended Pulut Hitam (RM9)

Amy's Avocado shake was creamy and smooth. Taste very much like vanilla milk shake with slight hint of avocado. Very nice. My Pulut Hitam tasted like the bubur pulut hitam blended with gula melaka and coconut milk. Lovely too, just a tad sweet.

The new MC decided that she should be adventurous, so she ordered Cucumber with Passion fruit cooler (RM11)

It was way too sour for my liking. MC seems to find it ok. Jun said it tasted like cough syrup :p

The Sop Buntut (RM14) was very rich..

More like beef stew, this balinese version of oxtail soup was very heavy in flavour. The beef was tender, and served with nasi impit- this bowl of soup could easily be a main meal for a light eater.

Our salad was Tipak Cantuk (RM13)

Is that another name for Gado Gado? I'm not sure but the ingredients do seemed very similar. All of us find it mediocre as the peanut sauce was too sweet and reek strong tamarind taste.

We all preferred the second salad better- Grilled squid salad (RM14)

Huge portion, this salad had generous amount of grilled cumi cumi (squids) and greens. The dressing was tangy yet refreshing- hence complemented the sweet vegetables wonderfully. The grilled squids had a subtle smoky aroma that goes well with the salad. My only gripe was the very hard keropok.

We were all captivated by the Ole Ole Trio platter (RM38)

The platter was generous and the colours were so pretty. A combo of sate lilit, cumi cumi goreng and grilled chicken wings. The sate lilit was juicy and well marinated, and goes very well with the sambal and herb sauce. Jun liked with deep fried squids- crunchy batter with softer squids. The grilled chicken was good too; it was smoky and a wee bit dry- tasted like those I had in Bali.

The Nasi Kambing Bumbu (RM26)..

The mutton was served with yellow rice and kangkung. The mutton was cooked dry in their spices and sauce- I liked this too. The slices of capsicums and caramelised onions balanced the meat perfectly. The rice and vegetables were nothing to shout about though.

Overall a satisfying experience at Ole Ole Bali. The food here does remind me of the food I had in Bali- ie, it's more on the dry cooking style, not much gravy and the balinese sambal is readily available. Though the sambal served here was not that fiery. Oh, and they dont serve bebek and babi guling (for obvious reason :p)

Ole Ole Bali is located at J-0G-15 & J0G-16, Soho KL, Solaris Mont Kiara, 2-J, Solaris KL.

Restoran Yat Mun, Puchong

I am guilty.

Guilty of not clearing my very old post on time and wasted Gary's effort on introducing Yat Mun to me. Sorry ya, dude!

But Yat Mun's business is brisk, and sure it's still bustling with business now :p

It was already rather packed by the time we reached there, lucky us, we managed to get a table fast. Ordering was a little harder though, the waiters were all busy running about, and to get one's attention takes quite a while!

Left the ordering to Gary instead, since he knows the what's famous here :)

First dish, kam heong fish head (RM20)

Looks like a main favourite, many tables had this. The fish head was deep fried until crunchy and stir fried with kam heong sauce until dry. I was afraid that the strong flavour may mask the sweetness of the fish head, but surprisingly it didnt. The fish meat was still juicy and quite smooth at some parts.

We also had steam fish with ginger sauce(RM15)..

The fish was fresh, but slightly over steam. Lots of ginger sauce, you can almost drink it.

An alternative to sharksfin soup? Have the beancurd soup instead (RM12)

Smooth beancurd slivers in thicken broth. Add a dash of vinegar and it warms up a hungry belly anytime.

My favourite? The stir fried eggplant with long beans.

Absolutely scrumptious, the vegetables were full of wok hei and so very fragrant. The eggplant had a slight crisp while the long beans was crunchy still (not those dead withered type). Delicious.

Order some meat from the BBQ section..

Char Siew (RM12)

Pretty ok. Solid, non fatty type. Not overly sweet too.

The roasted duck (RM15) was average too.

Would have tasted better if the skin was crisp and the meat warm. Taste wise, it's quite nice(for a cold duck :p).

Restoran Yat Mun is located at No47, 49-3 Jalan Puteri, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong.

Scrappin Mondaze : Me and My One and Only

This shot was one of my favorites among our pre-nup pictures.

Feeling ko, hangang ngayon, it is as if we're still boy friend and girl friend kasi he never forgets to be sweet. Hay ... speaking of my sweetie, he'll be home soon. Mommy and Marianna is very happy to be with Daddy again.

Kane Mochi, Siam Square, Bangkok

We stumbled upon Kane Mochi when we were on our way for some claypot vermicelli fresh water prawns.

My original plan was to have lunch and later for some cakes and pastries for tea. Most unfortunately, shopping twarted my plans :p and we decided to stop by Kane Mochi instead.

A japanese franchise, Kane Mochi serves mochi ice cream. Yup, just that- have it plain or with toppings/ sauces.

The courteous staff were nice and gave us some samples..we decided order some in the end :)

Quite a number of flavours to choose from...

We finally settled for Strawberry, Blueberry, Green Tea and Coffee (RM8.90)

I was pleasantly surprise from this very lovely dessert. The mochi (skin) was soft and melts quickly with the ice cream. As for the ice cream- it was not too creamy, but the flavours were nice..I like the green tea flavour the best; it was slightly bitter and had azuki aftertaste.

Definitely a place to pop by to hide from the sweltering heat and a quick reprieve for those tired legs :)

Kane Mochi is loated at Soi 3, Siam Square, Bangkok, Thailand.

Waiting for my Birthday Present!

There is an old adage that one should not buy a woman a gift that plugs in or that she can't wear in public. Well that might be true for some women, but there are some things that are exceptions that prove the rule. Luxury items, things that are out of the day to day budget or represent the best of the best are that for me. My husband will tell you that some of my favorite gifts are my Dyson vacuum, and my Wagner steamer(I know that sounds lame!), and my Bahama blue LG front-loading washer and dryer.

As a foodie, and a mom, I cook a lot and have a lot of food on hand, and we have had an old fridge in our garage that holds our waters, and extra perishables since it seems our fridge is always bursting at the seams. Finally, the poor thing died, and after looking at possible replacements, I talked my husband into getting a new fridge for the kitchen and moving our current fridge which works great but is over ten years old to the garage... and so the search began. We agreed that we would get what we want, rather than just what we needed and it would count as my birthday present - I was cool with that since I had my eye on one of the new french door models to replace my existing side by side.

What were the features I was looking for? I wanted space and shelving that is flexible to hold extra tall things as well as jugs of tea, and juice, and milk that we never have room for. Probably like a lot of you - my fridge seems to be overrun with condiments and ethnic ingredients that must be refrigerated- 4 kinds of mustard, kim chee, 3 kinds of olives, plus assorted cheeses, salad dressings, pickles, black bean sauce, marinated artichokes and sundried tomatoes in oil from Costco-leaving no room for actual fresh food !! While it is a luxury, ice and water on the door was a feature we wanted because my family is a bunch of ice fiends, and we save money by using filtered water instead of bottled. I want spillproof shelves (because someone is always spilling something), and I want shelves and bins that are strong and supported from underneath since we are always filling our bins full of lettuce, cabbage, or 20 containers of yogurt that I got on sale, which caused the plastic tracks of our current fridge to crack and break,and cost $30 per track to replace. The other thing that Iwas looking for was the accessibilityof the water filter, since our existing fridge had to be moved in order to change the filter.

I love my LG washer and dryer and so we started there, but my husband wanted to look at the Samsungs since we had heard a lot of good things about them. Seriously, when we opened the new Samsung, I thought a choir of angels should sing- the energy-saving LED lights came on gradually just like stage lights in a theatre. It had all the features we wanted...and and extra ice maker in the bottom freezer to boot!! We were sold... but our new fridge is backordered, so I have to wait between 7 and 21 days to out it to the test. Happy birthday to me!!

What do you think? What about your fridge do you love... or hate?

I love Sweets :-D

I love, love sweets. And here's my entry for this weeks'
This is my meal when our company celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Manila Peninsula.

It was last April but still I can't forget the feeling of reaching a different level of happiness having to go back and forth of the dessert buffet. :-D

Happy eating everyone. Have a great weekend.

Seasoned Oysters

2 lb. box oyster crackers or 2 sm. bags
1 c. oil
2-3 tbsp. dill weed
Garlic powder to taste

1 env. dry Ranch dressing
Combine above ingredients in bowl and enjoy!

Sea food Chowder

Cook slowly in kettle until fat begins to fry out: 4 tbsp. finely cut pork or bacon Add and cook over low heat until yellow: 4 tbsp. minced onion Add: Liquor from 2 (7 oz.) cans minced or whole clams, lobster or other seafood 2 c. finely diced potatoes 1/2 c. boiling water Cook until potatoes are tender, 10 minutes (If potatoes are ooked, omit water). Just before serving, add: Clams or other seafood from 2 (7 oz.) cans 2 c. milk 1 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. pepper Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings. Note: butter may be used in place of pork or bacon.

Fuji Japanese Restaurant, Bangkok

It's always fantastic if you get to travel with a group of friends with the same intention and interests. And when it comes to Bangkok, it's always for shopping and food with girlfriends. Yes, I go shop crazy when I'm there with the gals, and I usually shed a couple of pounds with all that walking during shopping! hahaha

And hence, this trip, all my eating places revolves around the shopping areas- for convenience :p

But hey, convenience dont mean comprimising on good food...and in this case, I took J2kfm's recommendation.

We ate at Fuji, a popular japanese chain that you can find in most of the shopping places in Bangkok. In our case, we ate at Siam Paragon.

It was very late lunch, so no waiting was required, we were led to our seats immediately. J2kfm did mentioned that the food here is very affordable and comparative to the Jap food chains in Malaysia, Fuji's food is better.

A rather extensive menu to choose from, we decided to have..

Salmon Tataki (RM18)

Somewhat localised, this was like a salmon som tum. Sour, spicy but refreshing. Goes well with the raw salmon slices.

Some grilled mussels with garlic (RM11)

Rather puny pieces, the garlic was absolutely aromatic but I thought the mussels were a tad over grilled. Some parts were rather chewy. Served with 3 types of dipping sauce.

Avocado Pork Roll (RM12)

We lurve this to bits. Creamy, smooth avocado melts into the still warm,tender pork slices. Nice texture and flavours.

Ordered some set meals too..

The Roll sushi set (RM25)

3 types of maki in this set- california, spider crab and ebi maki. The first 2 types were delicious; the serving was plump and fresh. But the ebi fell short- it was very average.

Kuro Buta Steak set (RM20)

We were satisfied with this set too. The pork steak was juicy and meat was springy. The thick sauce was addictive too. Goes very well with rice.

If you are shopping around Bangkok city center, you can find Fuji Japanese restaurant at Siam Centre, Siam Paragon, Central World and Platinum.