Archive | Food & Drinks RSS feed for this section

My Friends Can Cook, Part 2

21 Dec

Friends are the best thing next to family. Friends who can cook for you are even better! It was a simple Moroccan Chicken Stew, home-cooked that was just heavenly. Coupled with the wine I brought, catching up with friends in the comforts of the home is good for the heart and soul. There were fruits after the meal to sweeten the chatter and laughter.

I could get used to this – more catch up sessions with girlfriends from yesteryears. Perhaps the coming new year will be apt to continue this.

IMG_6441

 

IMG_6442

A sweet combination of longan, strawberries and persimmons

IMG_6437

Cab choice blended well with the chicken!

Tags: ,

My Friends Can Cook

20 Dec

Recently a girlfriend cooked Chicken and Lamb Briyani Rice for us, complete with side dishes and lovely garnishing. Hubby and I really enjoyed the meal and the company. It has been awhile since we had this dish, what more home-cooked. And this brought back memories of my first encounter with Basmathi rice when I was at college, the rice being the trigger here.

Over the Summer during the dinosaur era, I had a Pakistani housemate who took over the room from my previous housemates. It was a tad complicated as we were in between housemates but eventually, the living arrangements worked out.

Now during that time, the grad student would cook the one and only thing he knew, Basmathi rice and Curry Chicken. He had great skills cooking the Basmathi rice in a pot over the stove, with the rice always coming out fluffy and not burnt, and very yummy after tossing it in butter. But it’s the preparation of the chicken that I can still remember vividly until today.

He would cut the whole chicken to just eight pieces, no more no less. I asked why and he reasoned that it has to last him four days because he simply does not have the time to cook daily with his busy Summer schedule. With the chunky pieces rationed to one piece per meal for two meals a day, I thought it was the most convenient planning ever!

Compare that method to the preparation taken by the girlfriend on the meal she cooked for us, everything was bite size, flavored with exotic spices and very detailed in presentation. I’m not complaining but just marvelling at the efforts taken by her to ensure that the end results are perfect.

Whether the meal was cooked in simplicity for a hectic Summer schedule or meticulously for an afternoon leisurely lunch, both methods resulted in awesome tastes and I feel privileged to have friends who can cook for me.

Tonight another girlfriend will be cooking for me and I am so looking forward to the occasion and catching up with her on life.

IMG_6148

The final presentation complete with raisins, nuts and quail eggs

9895bb5a-9fa7-4d9d-b96c-071c215837af-1

Vege side dish

ab16e996-8b3c-4490-9751-9e679e307734-1

Raita side dish

0b637a0f-1992-41ca-9101-a0753ad7931c-1

Papadum side dish

58703780-89c4-4776-9add-502ee87f7653-1

Dhal with lamb side dish

Tags: , , , , , , ,

One Last Taste and Sight

16 Dec

We checked out and left Golden Sands Resort way before noon and much earlier than we normally would from a resort. For a change, it felt good not to rush.

We then detoured to visit hubby’s sister before we all made our way to Batu Lanchang Food Market. Finally we had our Char Kueh Teow along with other local fare (more Pasembur, Carrot Cake, Roast Pork, Otak-Otak and Fried Oysters).

After brunch, a quick visit to the Wet Market to buy fruits and experience some sights and smell before we bid Penang goodbye.

I pointed out to M2 the conventional way of how coconut milk is extracted, something teenagers these days do not get to see. I was equally amazed at the fruit stall selling bananas. So many variants!

By 2.00pm, we hit the new bridge and were on our way home.

Tags: , , ,

Know Your Breakfast Hours, Part 2

16 Dec

Today is our last day in Penang. Despite saying the night before that we will wake up early to have breakfast and a final round of sun and swim, we changed our minds this morning. As it is, the sky looked gloomy when we woke up. So we went back to sleep! But the sun did come out when we finally woke up. Oh well.

I think breakfast at this point is not important, doing what you like is better, which is to sleep in and not be in a hurry. Also I don’t think we can get an extension for a late check out if time was not on our side.

Imagine breakfast during the heavy traffic sector, I wouldn’t relax and might probably end up with an indigestion. There might not even be a table available and we would waste precious time waiting for one. Then getting a sun tan can’t get any faster because you can’t hurry the sun to burn you quicker. You know what I mean?

With the Resort’s occupancy at full capacity, they would want us to check out by noon and get the room ready for their next guest. Can’t blame them, it’s the holiday season.

So we took our time to pack, and will be having brunch instead at Batu Lanchang savoring local street food delicacies.

Goodbye Golden Sands, we had a good time. It will be some time before we come back again to experience your hospitality.

Tags: , , ,

Where Shall We Eat?

15 Dec

We all felt so lazy after the rain and just lazed in bed in the room until dinner time. And when it was time to go out, we decided to venture to the same area across the road from the resort opting for Chinese food this time.

It was simple choices of Assam Prawns, Mixed Vege, Sweet & Sour Pork and Steamed Clams. Sounds a lot for us with four dishes when we would normally order just three but I must say the portions were small.

The Clams had a tomyum oomph to it, laden with chili padi and enough flavors to tickle the tastebuds. And it was so strong that it overpowered the rest of the choices. Perhaps we ordered the others wrongly?

We were surprised to discover after the meal that the restaurant has Trip Advisor certificates! The certs were displayed proudly on the pillar in the middle of the place.

Put it this way, I certainly wasn’t impressed with the 30 minutes wait before our food was served. Hmm… we will have to give it another chance the next time I guess. Until then this experience aside, I must say we have had a fun and relaxing time this trip.

Tags: , ,

A Lovely Morning

15 Dec

It was indeed a lovely morning after breakfast. The sun was bright and hot and I got toasted a wee bit while working on Codewords on the book instead of the phone, my dying iPhone5S.

An occasional dip in the sea then the pool, we couldn’t ask for more. By lunchtime, automatically our tummies were rumbling and we opted for sandwiches and a Tandoori pizza by the poolside.

Unfortunately, the beer that I intended to drink did not materialized as the mocktail Margarita concoction on the menu sounded very tempting, so we had a jug of it. It was very good and refreshing.

Feeling contented and with a light breeze blowing, the setup was perfect for a snooze! And we almost did but decided to go for another dip in the sea after resting long enough for the food to digest.

Soon after, our Penang friends dropped by the resort to catch up with us and it was nice to see them again. Amidst our chatter, the sky turned dark and cloudy again. Yes it rained.

Thank goodness I managed to work on my tan earlier in the morning. Let’s hope tomorrow, being our last day (how quickly time went by), I can still catch a bit more sun in the morning before we check out and leave for home.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Know Your Breakfast Hours

15 Dec

I saw the signage the day before and decided that we should all wake up earlier than normal for an early breakfast before the crowd. It wasn’t easy because being on holiday, the tendency to sleep in is very strong.

We got there slightly before 8.30am and managed to get a table for a leisurely paced breakfast despite the noise and people building up. And the best part, the sun is out! Yay.

Needless to say, we will be lounging and doing nothing for the next few hours… I love Penang.

Tags: , , , ,

Cloudy and Gloomy

14 Dec

The weather had other ideas for us, staying cloudy and gloomy. There was no sight of the sun. But that didn’t bother us too much as we still have the weekend.

And I, being old school and also having major battery problems with my iPhone5S resorted to a physical copy of Codewords whilst hubby napped and M2 was on her iPhone6. Eventually it did rain and we went back to the room to chill before deciding what to eat for dinner.

When technology fails you, a hard copy is best!

We opted to walk across the street from the resort to check out the street food stalls and was pleasantly satisfied with our choices. Spicy, generous in portions and very cheap, dinner was just as satisfying as our lunch earlier.

Pasembur Special (top), Assam Laksa with Egg (bottom left) & Ayam Penyet Special (bottom right)

All in all, despite the weather, it’s a good start. Let’s hope tomorrow the sun will be out for me to work on that tan.

Tags: , , , , ,

A Much Needed Break

14 Dec

We go off for our much needed break today! This year, M1 is not coming back for Christmas so the year-end family trip will just be the three of us.

Hopefully traffic won’t be heavy but we’re in no hurry. And it’ll be nice if the drive is a leisurely one without stress to Penang. We will of course detour to some favorite places along the way for food before we get to the island state.

I am really looking forward to spending my time lounging by the poolside, with a cold beer and hopefully, catch some sun to get a nice tan!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Whale of a Time

19 Nov

Sometimes doing the same thing over and over again can be quite mundane. I am not saying Citizens, Monuments and Gnomes are getting boring but once in a while, I’d like to do something different for variety.

That’s why there are Superheroes, Dinky the dinosaur, Halloween Owl, giant Citizens, a couple of Gnome Homes, an Apeach and whales in the collection. My latest challenge was carving another whale but a much larger one than the four that I have carved.

Larger because it will double up as a smart phone holder as well. The idea came about after a dim sum meal with a girlfriend. I totally had a whale of a time (pun intended) carving this new baby on a glued two-piece Meranti. So much so, I started another one in between some other efforts.

img_5903

img_5886

Hubby’s Samsung A6+ sitting on the whale

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →