Lily's Vegetarian Kitchen

The night before I arrive in Penang(which was a while ago), my friend texted me to ask what I would like for dinner. I replied, "Anything, something different!"



True enough, the dinner was indeed something different. Vegetarian food! *shrugs* It was my virgin experience eating a vegetarian dinner and I was quite excited even though I have been worshiping meat my whole life. Lol.



I am quite indecisive when it comes to eating and I particularly hate it when the waiter is standing beside me while I'm looking at the menu so I appreciate it a lot when restaurants have this paper "where you can tick what ever you want" and they'll just collect it when you signal them.

However, I didn't like the idea of us paying before getting our meal. In a way, I find myself less appreciated as a customer.



I had the beef steak. It tasted a lot like the beef patties we have in our Ramly burgers. Very much like eating a "naked burger". The gravy though, was a tad bland but since they have a restricted list of ingredients, this could be the best they can come up with.



The friend had chicken chop. Again, the "meat" taste very much like the burger patties. But I find both the chicken "meat" and gravy a little mild on the flavor. The beef steak is better.



My friend's other half had Bak Kut Teh. I was quite surprised it tasted almost identical to the real bak kut teh. Minus the meat. :P



The couple also ordered an extra chicken burger. I think it was a little miscommunication between the two and obviously they couldn't finish it and had to have it take away. Hehe.



What really peeved me (other than the payment part) was that our deserts are served at the same time as our meal. It's a little harsh but I find that rather stupid.

By the time we finish our food, there was already a pool of melted ice cream surrounding the sundae cup. Ish.



The almond jelly would have tasted a lot better if the ice didn't melt and made it fit for a diabetic patient.

The drinks was nothing much to write about. I was actually struggling to finish my drink as I was stuffed from the steak. Vegetarian food are all carb, remember? :)

Overall, I find eating in a vegetarian shop quite exciting. You anxiously take a bite when your food arrive and then gauge how close it taste to the "real thing." I wouldn't mind visiting another one (anytime!), but of course if I was given a choice, I'll definitely go for the real huge fat-squirting slab of steak. Medium rare please. :D

I know I hardly put pictures of myself nor my friends here, but this is a picture of my friend and her Mr.bf.



Thanks for the accomodation! Sorry, you had to be deprived from your "activities" for a week. hehe. :D

How to make Chinese Dumpling ("wo tie")

I seem to be featuring a lot of Western and Fusion recipes, so today we'll get a little in touch with my traditional side. :)

To make the skin you'll need :



Ingredients A:
125g flour
70g water

Ingredients B:
150g flour
80g boiled water

Knead both A and B individually first and when they form a dough, combine it. Then set aside for 30 minutes.

After that, roll the divided dough(like the one pictured above) into thin pieces like this.



If you don't want to go through all the trouble, you can easily buy the ready made skin from the market.

The fillings are very much based on your own liking. You can put anything inside but I chose to put mince pork and prawns. Add in spring onion and seasonings to taste.



Wrap in fillings and mould it into the shape of dumpling. Mine is quite ugly since this is the first time I wrap dumplings :P



Heat up some oil on the already arranged dumplings. Leave it for a couple of minutes and next, add in some water. Cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer till fully cooked.



When the skin of the dumpling is starting to be transparent (not the see through kind la. ;p) and have a little oily surface, the dumpling is done! :)



It's best (obligatory for me!) to dip the dumpling in the ginger + balsamic vinegar.



Close up shot! Omm nom nom.



To all my loyal readers, Happy New Year! Hope the year 2010 will be a great year for everyone. :)

Christmas Eve Dinner 2009

The annual family Christmas Eve dinner was always something I look forward to ever since I was young. I would be anxiously helping in the kitchen and for many, many years I have always been the one "behind the scene". This year however was different. I was very much involved in preparing the dishes itself!

For the appetizer, we had Norwegian Smoked Salmon with wasabi creme on canape. It takes no more than 15 minutes to prepare, but it is also one of the most delicious appetizer!



Roasted turkey with stuffing was our entree for the night. It was only the three of us (me and my parents) so we didn't have any other mains. The big bird itself was rather filling!



To fulfill the vegetable quota, we had a bowl of garden salad with wholemeal garlic croutons.



The dressings was home whipped - we basically just add a small dollop of mayonaise, lemon and black pepper together with the bottled Kraft dressing.



This was my plate for the first round! My mom also made espagnole sauce using the turkey stock (turkey goodness from the roasting!). It was heavenly!



For desert, we had pannetone. It's a sweet Italian Christmas bread with almond flakes, raisins and fruit peels.



I also splurged on a pint of Ben and Jerry's! It is a lil pricey but I can assure you it's worth every penny! Chunk of goodness and extremely rich! Chubby Hubby had the fudge covered peanut butter filled pretzels that makes it very hard to mould it nicely using the ice cream scoop tho.

To make it even more sinful, we had it with bits of Snickers! If you ask me to describe Ben and Jerry's taste in two words it shall be : sex and orgasm. :D



And finally, what is celebration without some booze? I bought some mildly infused vodka drinks (It was only 5.6%. Lol). The green (lime) was good. The tangy flavor of lime has always paired well with vodka.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I certainly did have a great time with my family! :)

Leaving on a jetplane

Good times has to end they say. and more often than not, they seem to end quicker.



I'm in KLIA now (Cafe Marche to be precise), waiting to board my next flight.



The sky was gloomy early this morning. Exactly how i feel now. :(

Winter Solstice - Dong Zhi

It's my favourite Chinese festival of the year.



I'm alone this year so I just got the ready made one from the hypermarket. I still prefer the traditional one. ;p



I just had mine, how bout you all? Had yours yet? :)

Birthday Greetings!

Today is my dad's birthday and I went to get my dad two slices of cake from Hilton.I wanted to get a whole cake but since my dad is not very much into cakes and I'm not exactly blessed with a body to binge on fattening creamy cakes at the moment, i decided to just get two slices.

I think it's quite safe for me to say that Hilton is the only place in Kuching that serve quality cakes. It's a pity that the drinks in Caffe Cino sucks and the service is not up to par with their 5 star image.

Anyway, Happy birthday, father bear. :)

Nuffnang Payout

It has been a while, but to follow the tradition in the blogosphere, I'll just post it up. :p

Thank you Nuffnang! :)

Where to go for Sarawak Laksa

My hometown- Kuching has always been very close to my heart and it always made my day to read about how people enjoy (and realize that we don't live on trees) their visits to Kuching. Just one thing that disappoint me - They go to the wrong place for Sarawak Laksa. I know, it's ridiculous but hey, Sarawak Laksa reflects Kuching, ok?

All over the blogosphere and travel webs, they will be recommending a place called "Chong Choon." I may have nothing against them, but seriously, for Kuching standard, their laksa is probably the worse. The last time(have been boycotting them for sometime but decided to give them another chance) I was there, I left more than half of it untouched. It was tasteless and watery and I went there at 7.30 am! I wonder how the laksa is gonna taste at 9am!

So, to do my part as a proud Kuching-nite, here is the list of places that you can go to taste the authentic Sarawak Laksa.

Madam Tang's (RM 5.20)


They have two branches in town and one in The Spring but it might be easier for tourists to drop by the one The Spring food court. For the locals who can't wake up early (the rule of thumb to eat laksa in Sarawak is to go as early as possible) , this is the place you can go. For tourists, this is also the easiest place to go since it is in a shopping mall.


Ah Yew's (RM4.50)


Again, they also have two branches - Sekama and Hui Sing(Sing Garden). I usually go to the one in Hui Sing since it's just five minutes from where I stay. It's a little out of the way from all the tourists spot, but here's the map.


They have excellent service as well but the laidback is that they seems to be off on no specific day.

Tabuan Jaya (RM4.50)


It is directly opposite Sweet Memory (a famous stationery shop in Kuching). The portion is really little tho' but the presentation is unbeatable.

If you have not tasted any of the Sarawak Laksa in these places, you have not tasted Sarawak Laksa.

** Just so you know, Sarawak Laksa is served with prawns. It's just that most of the visits was with my parents, which also means it is ordered by my dad, and he almost never eats prawns outside cause he is sceptical of the freshness.

YO! Sushi

YO! Sushi is a British food chain, serving Japanese food located in The Gardens. Now I know this place is no stranger to most of the foodies, so i'll skip the history and introduction ok? :)



I've always love the interior. It's not the open kitchen concept that I love but rather the combination of black and bright colors.



Since it is slightly more expensive than some of the Japanese restaurants, I was expecting a top notch service from the hostess. But what I got was the opposite. The hostess persuaded (though I really believe force is the more appropriate adjective here) us to have their set lunch and we got irritated and obliged.



She was emphasizing so much on "free miso soup and green tea. Unlimited refills." Truth was, we got no refills and no one came to check whether we finish our green tea or miso soup or not. Hmmmphf.

The set lunch came with your choice of meal and we chose firecracker fried rice and chicken katsu don. The portion was really something to laugh. They were using the exact plate to place the sushi-s at the kaiten belt! So if you're a fast eater, you can finish it in less than 5 minutes?



However, credit goes to the taste. They used the authentic and better quality Japanese rice and it was really well fried.



It was my first time tasting chicken katsu don so I can't compare with any other places. I thought it was good but I have to say Japanese curry is more of an acquired taste for Malaysians because it has this sweet after taste that I believe not many would be fond of.

While waiting for my ordered food, I took a plate of chuka iidako from the kaiten belt. It was of smaller servings, and not to mention more expensive too. Taste wise was just ok.



We also had the stir fry mushrooms as a side dish. While it was cooked perfectly in terms of flavor and texture, it is really nothing to rave about.



It costed us close to RM 50 for this meal. Not very worth it lah. :P