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An Interesting Day

27 Dec

I dozed off in the van during the hour and a half journey because traffic was heavy even on the highway. Eventually we arrived.

And we had quite a morning at the Mekong River. The first stop was at the Eco Bee Farm and we sampled some honey. And had some fruits while being serenaded by the local singers at the second stop before we took the sampan.

Walking along the path on the island, there were many vendors selling local fruits and crafts. We strolled along, stopping at the Coconut Candy-making attraction. The coconut ice cream was very refreshing!

 

At the jetty

  

Waiting for Boat #9

  

Safety first with life vests buckled on

  

Our tourguide showing us the bees

  

The bees sure are friendly

  

A closer look

  

Sampling the honey with some titbits

  

The mixture of honey, pollen, lime and tea

 
 

Mango, Papaya, Dragon fruit, Watermelon & Pineapple

 

   

This colorful fruits are cocoa

    
    
   

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The Food Kept Coming

26 Dec

Our arranged dinner was very impressive. The minute we sat down, the food was served immediately and kept coming. We all felt like such gluttons! We just had to eat and eat.

It was also rather challenging and the waiter had to show us how to build some of the more complicated ones together.

We didn’t know when the food was going to stop coming out until the watermelon was served. Thank goodness, anymore I think I would burst.
Delicious is all I can say, along with a big burp…

   

We started with this, just add fish sauce

  

Then it was this, dip in fish sauce too

  

This had to be built with lots of greens

  

The pork had to be stuffed into the square

  

This salad goes onto the cracker

  

The cracker

  

The finished presentation

  

Thankfully this can be eaten as is, just add fish sauce!

  

This goes onto some greens

  

Lettuce, mint, starfruit, cucumber and something unriped

  

The end presentation

  

Pork pho

  
  

Finally the end

 

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Being a Tourist, Part 2

26 Dec

The morning sight-seeing and shopping stops were less than 2,000 steps and about 1.1km but I feel so tired despite the interesting stops and good deal purchases. So much history and choices but the lack of sleep could be the reason for the tiredness. Then again, I am not a shopping person. Maybe also because this morning, I heard the news of the passing of George Michael, one of my favorite singers. Not the way to start the day. Sigh…

Our itinerary today includes a buffet lunch at Hoang Yen Buffet before we make our way to Cu Chi Tunnel. Hubby tried the Balut and thinks I shouldn’t. So I didn’t. The rest of the spread was pretty good. A little bit of everything, it was enough to get us going for the rest of the day.

Sated after the meal, a nice snooze in the van during the hour long or more journey would be just nice!

   
    
 

   

That’s a Balut on the lil’ plate

 

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Familiar Grounds

25 Dec

I didn’t realize until our van stopped in front of Sunrise Central, our hotel that it was right next to Grand Silverland, the hotel I stayed at in June! I thought it was several doors away but nope, right next to it. When I checked on Google maps, it looked further apart but I am not complaining.

What this means is that walking over to the Street Food Market is closer than I thought. Yay!

Dinner was really nice with an array of choices. After dinner we walked the night market street a little bit to work off the dinner. By nine, we headed back to the hotel to rest so that tomorrow we will be ready for the long adventurous day ahead.

What an interesting Christmas Day this year. Sure beats being a couch potato year in year out.

   
    
  

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Merry Christmas

25 Dec

I don’t normally post on a Sunday but since it’s a special festive occasion, I decided to… Merry Christmas people! 

This Christmas we decided to travel instead of staying home like we always do, year in year out and we are definitely looking forward to it. 

Last night’s family Christmas Eve dinner was sumptuous and satisfying because everything on the table (save for the drinks) was homemade – from the turkey right down to the cranberry sauce and everything in between. Everyone contributed and was very good.

Still feeling full from the dinner, we are flying off to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this afternoon! The girls are excited, hubby’s looking forward to the break and I am eager to take them to the places that I visited six months ago when I was there for golf.

A much deserved break and time together for the family.

   
 

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Having A Party

12 Dec

I don’t normally cook but I do enjoy the task occasionally. Over the weekend, we hosted a birthday dinner (for hubby) and had a dozen friends over. Normally with numbers like these, we would just have a BBQ but the constant wet weather made it impossible to have an outdoor cookout. So I cooked.

I wouldn’t say it was tiring because I had help from hubby, M2 and the maid. Everyone played a role; it was good planning and timing that resulted in the tasks going smoothly without a hitch. 

And the Saturday evening turned out very enjoyable. Lots of alcohol (beer, tequila cocktails, whiskey, Riesling, Chandon Brut and more whiskey), laughter and of course food. Lots of food that was, in my opinion very balanced – covering all the basic food groups: carbo (pasta and garlic bread), fibre (salad), fruits (there were grapes and pineapples in the hor d’oeuvres), milk/cheese (ice cream and cake) and protein (ribs and chicken).

Even the weather was cooperative. It drizzled for a short while and the wind was rather strong, creating a really cool and windy night. Sitting out at the terrace was just wonderful.

The star of the night was the ribs. I searched the internet high and low and found this ‘Easy Fall-off-the-Bone Oven Baked Ribs‘ recipe from inspiredtaste.net the easiest to do. But time was of the essence when baking the ribs. I decided–to save time–to also boil a second batch of ribs (with just garlic, salt and pepper) and doused it with ready BBQ sauce to bake so that everything was ready by the time all the guests arrived. Both recipes turned out excellent, complementing the balanced basic food group menu.

We did good and had a great time playing hosts. Having said that, I wouldn’t mind hosting a party and baking some ribs again.

Top tray was first batch, bottom tray the second batch

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New Flavors, Part 2

9 Dec

Dissatisfied with the new coffee that I am on to now, I was on a mission to buy something nice for my morning cuppa. I recalled awhile back someone told me that we can now buy the Vietnamese coffee, G7 here at the local supermarket. Oohh… how enticing!

G7 is the super nice and fragrant coffee that I bought from my Ho Chi Minh trip a few months back. Obviously my regular grocer does not carry it. So we went out of the way to that particular supermarket and lo and behold, G7 was in abundance on the shelves. Yay…

I was conservative and just grabbed two boxes and a bag of 3-in-1 as I should finish consuming the bottle of Columbian that I have currently. Also now that I know where to get good coffee, I don’t really need to stash an abundance of supply away.

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Sweet Tooth

8 Dec

Lately I have been eating a lot of candies. For someone who drinks her coffee black, this is bad. Everyday in the office, I would reach for my candy containers and pop one or two, sometimes even three of these temptations to chew on.

This has been happening for a few weeks now. And this had to stop. Like now. Or until I finish them…

  

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A Case of Two Breakfasts

15 Nov

It seems to be a pattern that every time we are away on local escapades or road trips, there is this need to eat twice for breakfast. We did this in Ipoh two weeks ago and again in Penang on Saturday, the morning after the wedding dinner. 

For breakfast #1, we had an array of local delights: Char Kueh Teow, Lobak and some Kueh Chap innards minus the Kueh Chap at the coffee shop on Lebuh Carnarvon. Then we traversed to Jalan Gottlieb for the second breakfast of Assam Laksa. The coffee shop is located right smack opposite Penang Chinese Girls School. All these before noon, that’s why it’s two breakfasts. 

This pattern is only doable when there is no fixed agenda for the day. With a free and easy schedule and basically a mission to eat, the other adventure here is following the GPS to the coffee shops, then driving around to look for parking and thereafter, hope for an available table to reap the effort.

I must admit I am not a breakfast person. My usual fare would be just a cup of coffee and something light. So having two breakfasts is worrying. The pants become subconsciously tighter than before and guilt sets in, so standing on my bathroom scale is a definite no-no for the time being. Guess there won’t be breakfast, let alone two breakfasts for now until the next road trip or escapade comes around!

 

Char Kueh Teow with duck egg tastes better!

  

Penang Lobak is just so yummy

  

Porky innards. Not for the faint hearted

  

This Assam Laksa tastes as good as it looks

 

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Road Trip Again

14 Nov

We enjoy road trips every now and then. Four years ago, we went on our most epic road trip and what I called ‘The Great Adventure Road Trip‘. It was a 21-day trip that covered three states and a driving distance of 2,285 miles of the West Coast of the USA, flying distance not inclusive.

We started off from Phoenix getting in from LAX with Southwest Airlines. From Phoenix, we picked up the keys to our rented MPV and headed off to Chandler, Flagstaff (to visit my college), the Grand Canyon, Henderson, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

It wasn’t so much to eat but rather to see old friends, places and do things; to share with my family places that I’ve experienced and to enjoy new sights together. Aahh… What an adventure we had and I would do it again if the opportunity came around.

It sure is nice to reminisce and while we don’t do such lengthy road trips anymore, it is equally nice to go on one, albeit shorter. And of late, the short local trips taken focuses more on food. 

Over the weekend, we took a 3D/2N trip to Penang to attend a cousin’s wedding, skipping work and school on Friday. And while we were there, the local Penang food was top most on our mind. This gave us an opportunity to compare the flavors of Penang with Ipoh, which we visited two weeks ago.

I must say there is a difference and conclude that the Char Kueh Teow, Lobak and Assam Laksa in Penang are simple mouth watering while the Loh Shi Fun and Chicken Rice with Beansprouts in Ipoh are tops. So be sure to have these items at the top of your checklist of must-eat before you try anything else.

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