Important Decision

We made a very important decision yesterday (27^th February 2009) and I thought it would be good to note it down to remember this important decision day….

Tofu Pudding (豆腐花) - Take 2

This morning I had this again as breakfast. Instead of the savory version, I made sweet version by adding a table spoon of red sugar on top of the tofu pudding and then heat it up in microwave.

Kusmi Tea@Café Zondag

Today I had a lunch appointment with a friend at Delft, we wanted to have bagels for lunch but the shop is no longer there. We dropped by a café called ‘Zondag’ nearby and what attracted me was the assorted teas they have in this café. The Kumis tea is a Russia and French mixed brand and blend. I ordered this Agothé tea, a blend of green tea with peppermints and seaweed which is quite refreshing and special. What is rather special is I decide on the amount of tea leaves I like.

Overall, good company, good chat and good tea. A rather relaxing way to begin the weekend.

Tofu Pudding (豆腐花) - Take 1

Today Johannes bought a pot of tofu pudding (豆腐花) from Chinese toko. It is made of soy bean, in between the form of soy milk and tofu. Hmmm, I love this but this is only available at certain day of the week, so I don’t always get to buy it.

This afternoon I have savory crave, so I made a savory version.

A few drops of sesame oil

A few drops of soy sauce

A bit of chopped spring onion

A bit of marinated anchovies (from Kyoto)

A bit of shicimi and pepper

Warm it up in microwave and a healthy and light late afternoon snack is on its way.

KL Food: Purple Cane Tea Restaurant (紫藤茶艺)

5th February 2009

The Purple Cane Tea Restaurant (紫藤茶艺) – a healthy eating concept restaurant with a slogan such as ‘Tea brings feelings to life’ and almost all dishes they offer are cooked with tea leave or scented with tea.

We ordered the following:

Purple Cane Tea (紫藤茶) – since tea is their specialty, for a pot of tea we ordered we got two pots, one to brew the tea and one to pour the brewed tea to keep it. This is to prevent the tea from getting too bitter if it is left to steep for too long.

Pan fried egg with Anchovies and tea milli (银鱼煎蛋）- Basically omelets with little Krill (krill is smaller than anchovies). Very thin and crispy without much oil.

Green tea Rice (绿茶饭) - which is slightly brown in color as the rice is cooked in brewed tea. Bits of tea leaves are also found within the fluffy rice grains. Again taste wise, no taste of any tea involved except for the color.

Assorted vegetables (水仙罗汉斋) – a bit disappointed with this dish, as it is a bit too flat in taste and can smell or taste the tea.

Stir Fried black pepper beef in tea sauce (茶香黑椒牛柳) – both of us like this dish, nice bit size of tender beef and powerful black pepper spice up our appetite.

Stir fried bitter gourd with pickled vegetables and tea milli （咸菜凉瓜）- another healthy green dish, the combination of bitter gourd and salted vegetables did balance the taste.

We were there rather early that day as I need to work at night, so the restaurant was rather empty when we start eating. The dishes are very homely, not so much as a feeling of eating at home but the dishes (due to less oil and salt) gave a taste of home cooked food. The overall dining experience is acceptable, not particularly great in term of taste but the concept of healthy eating and healthy living with tea is rather innovative in Malaysia.

KL Food: Penang Fired Kway Tiaw (槟城炒粿條)

Penang fried Kway Tiaw (槟城炒粿條) or fried flat noodles Penang style. This dish could be spicy especially if there is more of the nyonya influence to it. But generally, a common dish we eat for lunch or dinner at the hawker stall. The common ingredients are prawn, Chinese sausage (non-halal stall), bean sprouts, fish cake, egg and clams. They are always oily but who cares when it come to great taste…

KL Food: Roti Canai Telur

Roti Canai, some kind of puffed bread served hot with curry or dhal. You can relate it to the French’s crepes. The people who sell this type of food is called “Mamak”, they are normally referred to the off spring of the intermarriage between the Indians and Malays. There are different types of roti canai, this one that I ordered is called Roti Telur (with egg), if you want the extra oily and flavored one, you can order Roti planta (with extra butter). There are among other variety such as Roti Sardine (with canned sardine), Roti pisang (with banana) and the luxe version is called Mutabak.

KL Food: 1977 Ipoh Chicken Rice

It's lunch time and I am posting some backlog blogs on food again...bear with me...

We ate at Ipoh Chicken Rice restaurant twice. The first time we feast ourselves with half chicken, bean sprouts, fish ball soup and the half chicken apparently to be too much for both of us. Anyway, the chicken was smooth and soft, very delicate. The fish ball is so crunchy that every bite I take, it spring in my mouth and the taste of the fish is so real. The bean sprouts are fat, short and juicy too...

On a different occasion, we learned our lesson and Johannes ordered just normal chicken rice for one person and I had this Ipoh shredded chicken rice stick(怡保鸡丝河玢）. Out of my curiosity, I also ordered this Stewed Pork Belly dish (梅菜扣肉). A rather fat and oily dish which I refrain most of the time, but if I just pick and eat the meat and let go of the fat, it is okay, at least for this home trip. The dish is very nicely done, it is not greasy at all and if you happen to eat the fat, it just melts in your mouth directly.

Down the Memory Lane

I will soon start working on a nostalgic project in my spare time (if I manage to find time to do so), and the first step is to make sure Johannes sprayed this into mat bronze color.

Dutch Carnival

Since the end of last week, the Dutch is entering into a yearly Carnival period, a catholic festive celebration before the Lent in Christian calendar and typically celebrated in January or February. This culture is especially predominate in the southern part of Holland. I got a few photos of children dressing in the fancy dress costumes. The top two photos are Nina in its Snow White costume, celebrating carnival at school in Germany The bottom two are our nephew in its pirates dress code...

Voorjaarsmoeheid – Spring Tiredness

Since the last weekend, I have been feeling extremely tired, no matter how much I sleep I still woke up with heavy tiredness. I am close to the edge of exhaustion really. Is it due to the workload, traffic or long hours conference calls but frankly speaking I am really not overloaded so to speak.

But the physical tiredness is indescribable and this morning I woke up feeling complete helpless and exhausted, where are my energies gone??? Just as I pondering over if I actually caught the so called “voorjaarsmoeheid” (or spring tiredness), the Lord gave me Psalm 139….

2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

This is the psalm of David but it perfectly depicts my moments now… How true my living God is, He know the deepest me so well and comfort me best…. No, I don’t have voorjaarsmoeheid, I am just tired and I will be fine in HIM.

My Lunch Box Today

Instead of my daily bread, which I always packed bread for my lunch at work, I decided to make Onigri (Japanese Rice ball) using the left over rice and salmon from last night. It is very easy to make Onigri especially now that we have the mold to hold/press the shape. Just shred the teriayaki salmon into small pieces and mix it to the rice and spread a bit of black roasted sesames for additional aroma. Then scoop the rice into the Onigri mold, press it down and tighten the rice using the cover provided. Take it out from the mold and wrap it individually with clinging foil if it is not eaten immediately. Take a pack of nori (Japanese seaweed sheet) and put them in my lunch box. DONE!!!

Nyonya Food: Nyonya Colors

26th January 2009

There is this nyonya eatery at Mid Valley that is nicely touched up by green, yellow, blue and vibrant nyonya colors and patterns. Each time I walked passed this place, I told myself or Johannes that surely I will come here and eat as much as I can. We did it one mid morning for brunch. Here is what we ordered….

(1) Nasi Kunyit with Chicken Curry – similar to nasi kuning or tumeric rice but this one is made of sticky glutinous rice. The curry is very lemak, not spicy but yet very rich in term of its aroma and taste.

(2) Cucuk Udang – some small pieces of prawn mixed with flour and various ingredients and then deep fried. Dip it in the sweet chili sauce before eating, Again, good old taste of childhood.

(3) Yum Cake - top with spicy sambal balacan, spice up my palate

(4) Small Nasi lemak Pandan – typical Malaysian breakfast where a simple version of nasi lemak wrapped in banana leaf. The ingredient is also down to earth, bit of rice, bit of sambal, a few peanuts and ikan bilis and half hard boiled egg. That would make my day for a hearty breakfast.

(5) Roti Jala with Chicken Curry – Roti Jala literally means laced bread, it is a rather common Malay and Nyonya dish.

(6) Otak-otak – You get this in many different versions, but this is the nyonya way, the wrapping is banana leave but inside you get this wonderfully done fish paste and cubes of fish meat with a bit of spicy touch and variety of herbs that create a great aroma.

(7) Curry Chee Cheong Fun – it is as if I have not had enough, I ordered this dish and opt for curry sauce instead of the classic sweet soy sauce. Again wonderfully done, the rice flake is nicely done, soft and tender, the dish is garnished with various spices and most importantly some dried prawn

and fried shallot that create the combination of fishy taste at the end. Nice one…

Your WORD is a LAMP to my feet

Over the weekend, we installed a new ceiling lamp in the living room with a hand painted lamp made in India (above), carried all the way from Malaysia to the Netherlands. As a result of that I also decided to inventorize the number of lamps (also to try out different settings of the camera) we have at home… Here are the lamps at our home.

To end, in Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path". May the Word of God guides our paths and our homes.

Counting My Blessings

Yesterday, our elder shared in the Sunday sermon about how he counts his blessings… I also told Johannes that I was not able to relax over the weekend, something bucking me in my mind (work related) and this morning I attempt to count my blessing on my way to work, I started as soon as I start my car engine and till I arrived at work (1 hour) I still haven’t finish counting my blessings (big & small and those we take for granted). Before I realize, I am entering into a complete different mood or spiritual atmosphere that things I worried about over the weekend stopped bothering me any further. As I start counting my life’s blessings and God has transformed my day.

I am going to do this again tomorrow, so start counting your blessings today and you will experience even greater blessings in return....

Taiwanese Chestnut Yokan (栗子羊羹)

In the church today, Joy Lin gave us a pack of Taiwanese chestnut Yokan (栗子羊羹). This is similar to the Japanese Kuri Yokan. Yokan is more or less like a jelly based sweet and usually with the flavor of fruit.

As we arrived home, we decide to have some tea before dinner and so I couldn’t wait but open up the pack and making ourselves some matcha. The yokan goes really well with Matcha as it strikes the palate balance between the sweetness and bitterness.

Thanks Joy for the taste of sweetness.

Home-made Lui Cha 1-2-3

We have been talking so much about this Hakka dish – Lui Cha that I decided to give it a try on Friday. Failing to get the recipe from my uncle, I did a fair bit of research in the internet in English and Chinese, and finally find one that resembles the taste that I could identify in my mind. There were too many versions since they are many sub-clan of Hakka improvised version.

The most difficult part is to prepare the grounded tea which consists of roasted peanut (a lot), pine nuts, sesames (a lot), mint leaves, Thai sweet basil leaves, green tea leaves and etc.

The rest of the vegetables ingredients were rather easy to prepare, but just a lot of cutting and slicing and then sauté each dish individually to taste, a rather time consuming task, but fit me perfectly who is a weekend chef desperately to do something different from my work to relax. With Johannes help we did this in 2 hours on Friday evening.

We ate the Lui Cha in 3 different ways:

(1) Friday night using the special prepared grounded tea

(2) Saturday brunch, Johannes wanted to do it Japanese way by substituting the home-made grounded tea with 2 packs of Matcha (Japanese powdered green tea) and it was really bitter.

(3)I decided to do it the way my mum used to do, i.e. pour oo-long tea over the rice and YES, the taste of childhood re-immersing

Although it is a vegetarian dish, but it was rather heavy as the grounded tea consists of a lot of nuts which is filling Overall, a pat on my shoulder, my first every attempt and it turned out to be a pleasing experience....