Happy New Year 2009! No Underwear Party Still On?

HAPPY New Year 2009!

Wish you all the best!

It was reported in the local newspaper that a ’no underwear' New Year Party is being organised by a group of people to be held at a remote resort in Johor Bahru............

The Lang Ting Tang Man (Chinese Story Teller with a Guitar like Musical Instrument)

The Lang Ting Tang Man, olden days busker!

It has been a very long time since I last saw a Lang Ting Tang Man (name in Penang Hokkien dialect) singing on the street. These Chinese story tellers wander around the country telling stories, normally Chinese classics using song and playing music from a guitar like instrument (looks like a banjo). The normal stories were from the era of Romance of The Three Kingdom, Chinese Romeo & Juliet (Butterfly Lovers), Water Margin (my favourite) and many more which I cannot recall anymore. Some of the stories were funny. I think I saw the last of this Lang Ting Tang Man in my hometown when I was a boy. The guy at my hometown in Butterworth has a few pieces of long metal plates with Chinese characters attached to the end of his guitar. He used the metal plates for fortune telling by charging a small fee for it. He will start by singing some old Chinese songs and then ask the customer to choose a piece of metal plate for him to interpret. There is a picture of a Lang Ting Tang Man in the Penang Museum and I actually highlighted it to my kids when we were there 3 weeks ago. To my surprise, last week I saw this octogenarian (80 years old) Lang Ting Tang Man at the Kepong Baru Wet market, sitting under the hot morning sun singing away. His little guitar is a bit more of a modern type as it has an output to a loudspeaker without any casing. Other than singing, I don’t think this guy read fortune for customers. Sadly, not many people really paid attention to this poor old aged entertainer from a long gone era. He was at this location in front of a music record shop for one week in a row already, giving them some sort of a competition. I couldn’t resist giving him a little donation, a small token that I can afford!

Nasi Lemak and Teh Tarik Breakfast at RM2.00, Kepong Baru Wet Market Mamak Stall

The Kepong Baru wet market were bustling with activities last week during the Chinese Winter Solstice festival. Housewife and also maybe “househusbands” were busy buying goodies and raw ingredients to prepare a feast for the family to celebrate this festival. The mamak stall that is located on the same building as the Royal House Restaurant, were packed with patrons, having their early morning breakfast. This Mamak stall share the same corner as a Chinese mee (noodle) stall, so you have a choice of Mamak fare or Chinese food. As I was rushing home to cook after my marketing rounds at the market, I decided to have a quick breakfast of pre packed nasi lemak and a small cup of teh tarik. The nasi lemak is of a spicy one, not the sweet type. The sambal (chili with shrimp paste) is not thick but taste quite good as it has been absorbed into the creamy nasi lemak rice. The nasi lemak accompanied by anchovies, roasted peanuts and a quarter hard boil egg cost RM1.00 per packed. I down every bits of the nasi lemak with a cup of refreshing hot teh tarik (milk tea) that cost me RM1.00. So, total bill came up to be RM2.00. Simple, good and cheap morning breakfast!

The scene at the restaurant....................................My nasi lemak and teh tarik.

Map showing the location of the Mamak Stall in the same building as Royal House Restaurant, Kepong Baru Wet Market.

Related Posts

1 http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/06/hawker-foodnv-kepong-baru-morning-wet.html

2 http://peteformation.blogspot.com/search/label/kueh%20kark

3 http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/rm-180-breakfast-at-kepong-baru-wet.html

4) http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/07/can-you-buy-packet-of-popcorn-for-rm1.html

Restoran Penang Nyonya Kari Kepala Ikan Tanjung Bunga, SS2, PJ

Restoran Nyonya Kari Kepala Ikan Tanjung Bunga has been around for quite some time and it is well known among the locals as a place to go for their famous Perut Ikan, Nasi Ulam, Inchi Kabin Chicken, Jui Hu Char, Coffee Pork Ribs and many other Nyonya fares. The son has taken over the business for his father, a Datuk with a penchant for cooking and good food.

My friend and his family were in town recently and I decided to take them there to savour all the nice dishes this restaurant has to offer. We ordered Perut Ikan(wild vegetable, mengkaduk, spices, other vegetables cooked with fermented fish guts, small RM10), Coffee Pork Ribs (RM15, medium), Inchi Kabin Chicken (RM15, medium), Sayu Paku (Fern) Masak Lemak (Creamy spicy sauce, RM12), Jui Hoo Char (Turnips, RM10), Hung Siew Tofu (RM12) and Fu Yong Egg (egg with shrimps, RM10) for the kids. One think I like about this restaurant is they serve small/medium size dishes at very reasonable price so that you can actually order many type of dishes. I love the pungent Perut Ikan from this restaurant. The gravy is thick and full of flavour. Thumbs up! I can’t really smell the coffee smell in the Coffee Ribs, but the thick black sauce taste nice and the ribs are tender. Inchi Kabin Chicken is one of the restaurant signature dishes and it was well marinated, fried until very crispy. Sayu paku in the spicy creamy coconut milk sauce is tasty as well. The Jui Hu Char here is different from what you can find in other restaurant. It is a bit darker, well fried and has a tinge of ‘wok hei’ smell. It taste great if eaten with the green vegetable provide and sambal. The Hung Siew tofu has a generous amount of other ingredients, kids love it.

The total bill plus drinks for 6 adults and 4 kids came out to be RM111.50.

Hung Siew Tofu........................................................Perut Ikan, Tasty!

Jui Hoo Char....................................................................Sayur Paku

Inchi Kabin Chicken, crispy!..................................Coffee Pork Ribs

Fu Yong Egg for the kids!......................................All the dishes.

The Tanjung Bunga Curry Fish Head Restaurant at Cheow Yang, SS2,

PJ Address: Restoran Penang Nyonya Kari Kepala Ikan Tanjung Bunga No 117, Jalan SS2/6, 47300, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: 03 78774531

Business Hours: Mon – Sun 11.30 am to 3 pm 6pm to 10 pm
Closed every Thursday

Map To Restoran Penang Nyonya Kari Kepala Ikan Tanjung Bunga, SS2, PJ

Related Post On Nyonya Food :

http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/06/saturday-night-dinner-at-home-cook.html

Kedai Kopi Ijok, Setia Alam, Bak Kut Teh (Chinese Herbal Pork Soup)

NOTE : As at 25/2/11, I noticed that Ijok Coffee shop location has been replaced by another food operator. Somehow, one morning I ended up in Setia Alam, Shah Alam for an early appointment. The meeting ended at 11 am and I decided to check out some of the restaurants around this area. The commercial area here which used to be very quiet is now bustling with activities because many shops had opened for business. I went into Kedai Kopi Ijok and immediately noticed the Bak Kut Teh stall. It has been quite some time I had a good Bak Kut Teh. The stall must be new, judging from the pots and utensils the owner is using. I ordered a bowl of clay pot bak kut teh with lean meat and pork ribs only. The Bak Kut Teh tasted real good, a little bit of a home cook one and had a strong Chinese herbal aroma; the way I like it. The fu chuk soaked up all the bak kut teh soup sweetness and I love to every bit of it. The BKT has generous portion of pork ribs and lean meat. Nothing beats a morning brunch of Bak Kut Teh and a glass of Kopi Peng (Iced Coffee). The price I paid for the Bak Kut Teh was RM9.40 and Iced Coffee, RM 1.40. Yummy, yummy Bak Kut Teh! Kedai Kopi Ijok, Setia Alam, Shah Alam.....................All "habis", nothing left! Address : 2-1-2 Jln Setia Prima B, U13/B, Setia Alam, Seksyen U13, 40170, Shah Alam Map to Kedai Kopi Ijok, Setia Alam, Bak Kut Teh

Related post about Bak Kut Teh

Related Post on Bak Kut Teh http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/09/bak-kut-teh-recipe-pork-herbal-soup-non.html http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/09/chick-kut-teh-recipe-chicken-herbal.html http://veganformation.blogspot.com/2008/09/simple-recipe-veg-kut-teh-vkt.html

http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/06/food-dry-bak-kut-teh-restaurant-shun.html http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/08/food-foodwork-marathon-in-olympic-mood.html http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/06/seng-lee-claypot-bak-kut-teh-bukit.html

KIRC Fishing Competition at Pusat Rekreasi Memancing Seri Bayu Tekala, Semenyih| Assam Pedas Belida Fish.

Last month, I participated in the KIRC Fishing Competition at Pusat Rekreasi Memancing Seri Bayu Tekala at Semenyih. I woke up very early but was late for the competition because my little baby tagged along with my family for this event; took some time to pack the baby stuff. It was quite a long drive to this fishing location that passed through the Nirvana Memorial Park and also the Sungai Tekala waterfall. When I reached the place, many contestants had already hooked up some big fishes. Sigh, I can’t wait to get my fishing rod ready for my first cast! The night before the competition, I tried to make my special top secret ‘dedak’ (fishing flour made from chicken feed), by adding some stuff from my kitchen. However, later I found out that the fishes here are fed with the common dedak and they are more familiar to this type of food. Since the competition was not over yet and not too late for me to ask for some common ‘hong dedak’ from my friends for me to try it out. I have brought along some life freshwater prawns with the intention of catching the pacu fish but I didn’t know that this pond was filled with belida fishes as well. My first hooked up was a small belida, around 8” in length. The dedak I used manage to grab the attention of a very big fish which nearly pulled my fishing rod into the water. Luckily I managed to grab my fishing rod on time. If not I have to say bye bye to my new Daiwa fishing gears! However, the fish managed to break my 30pound lead line and got away. As I was also using live prawns, which is belida fish favourite food, I managed to catch 4 belida but the fifth one got away when I was about to land it. The first prize winner for biggest catch category caught a patin fish that weight 7.3kg and for the most catch category winner caught 12 fishes. I would like to thank the KIRC organising committee for organising such a wonderful event. I will be back again next year, this time I am very sure I can win the first prize! Nice fishing pond.......................................................My first belida catch!

Another belida fish again!

The heaviest catch contestant in action, tying to land his patin

Weighing the biggest catch...................................The winner posing with his patin fish!

What did I do with the belida that I caught at Pusat Rekreasi Memancing Seri Bayu Tekala? I cook them in nice assam pedas soup. Taste very good with scalded bihun (rice vermicelli) or steamed rice. Yummy!

Assam Pedas Ikan Belida, spicy and tasty!

The Legend of Bruce Lee – Episode 50 (Final) – Jeet Kune Do, A Great Martial Art Philosophy

I have been following Bruce Lee The Legend series in TV8 for the last few weeks. The show ended today as most of us already know with the death of the great martial artist. Danny Chan Kwok Kuen and Michelle Lang, the stars of the show, were excellent in playing the part of Bruce Lee and Linda Lee Cadwell. Bruce Lee incorporated all the useful moves of a few type of martial arts like Wushu, Jujitsu, Karate, Teakwando, boxing and many others to form his own martial art, Jeet Kune Do. Every moves in any type of martial art have its’ own pro and con. Any move that is redundant or not practical is removed by Bruce to form this new type of martial art. This concept enables Bruce to counter attack and react very fast against his opponent. Many of his opponents that think the martial they practice are the best and look down on other martial art lost to him. This great philosophy teaches us one thing, in real life, no matter what you believe in or practice, no one is always wrong or always right. Try to follow whatever that is right and you think is good. Don’t be too proud of what you believe in or think that you are always right! Approach everything you encounter in life with an open mind.

This is...........errrrr, Bruce Lim, yours truly Ha Ha!........ picture taken by my daughter!

How To Make Mua Chee from Leftover Tong Yuan (Glutinous Rice Balls)

Tang Yuan before I turned them in to Mua Chee. My Tang Yuan Mua Chee, yummy! I have some leftover Tong Yuan that have already absorbed most of the sugar syrup and are a little bit soggy. Since I have in hand some salted peanuts that I bought last week, I decided to make mua chee (a glutinous rice dessert with roasted peanuts, see my post on mua chee, http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2008/12/penang-kek-lok-si-temple-and-dinner-at.html) out of them. First, I pound the salted peanuts finely. Then I added some sugar to the peanuts. I removed all the sugar syrup from the Tang Yuan by placing them on a sieve. After that, I sprinkled the grounded peanut and sugar over the Tang Yuan. Tang Yuan has the same texture as mua chee, so it tastes like the original mua chee when mixed with grounded peanut. The salted peanut gave my Tang Yuan Mua Chee a little bit extra taste! Love every bits of it!

Chinese Winter Solstice Festival (Tang Chek, Dong Zhi) – Making Tang Yuan (Glutinous Rice Balls) From Produce (Dragon Fruit, Sweet potato, screwpine)

How time flies, I started blogging since June 08 and now it is Chinese Winter Solstice (Tang Chek, Dong Zhi) festival again. The actual day for this festival falls on 21 Dec 2008. Chinese families around the world will gather on the eve to make Tang Yuan, round glutinous rice balls which are then boiled in sugar syrup with screw pine (pandan) in it. Tang Yuan, in Chinese sounds like reunion and “yuan” for round represent perfection. So when you have all the family members making this sweet dessert, it is like a perfect reunion! In China during the olden days, this celebration marks the start of winter. This year I tried to do something different. Instead of using off the shelf artificial food colourings, I used purple and orange sweet potato as natural colouring. For green I used screw pine leaves (pandan) juice and for red I used Dragon Fruit. My mom started using these ingredients not long ago and natural alternative to artificial colouring is better for health. I went to the Kepong wet market early. There was a lot of people already there, many crowding around the roast pork stall. I bought a packet of glutinous flour, sweet potato, and dragon fruit for the Tang Yuan colouring. First I knead the glutinous flour using very little water. For the sweet potato type, I steamed the sweet potato first and remove the skin. Then I add the sweet potato to the glutinous dough and knead until it was well mixed. For the Dragon Fruit Tang Yuan, I squashed some of the Dragon Fruit flesh and sieve it to get the pure juice. For the screw pine tang yuan, I pound some pandan leaves and squeeze out the natural juice. Here are the pictures of my Sweet Naturally Caloured Tang Yuen. Dragon fruit for the pink colour and sweet potato for purple and orange colour. Dough all ready to be rolled................................Various coloured Tang Yuan

Tang Yuan ready to be boiled.................................A bowl of nice Tang Yuan!

Penang Kek Lok Si (极乐寺)Temple and Dinner at Gurney Drive Hawker Centre

My old college friend was in Penang when I was back there recently, so I took his family to visit some of the famous place in Penang. Among the places we visited is the famous Penang Kek Lok Si Temple in Ayer Itam (In Hokkien it means Supreme Bliss Temple). This temple was built in 1890 and today through the generous donation of devotees the temple has been renovated extensively. Traders with zinc roof stall lined the original walkway on both side and you can window shop for things like souvenirs to nunchaku martial art weapon, made famous by the late Bruce Lee. Thinking of nunchaku, I found out recently that my dad threw away 2 of my favourite nunchakus I kept in my hometown house. Sigh, so sad! I wanted to show it off to my kids! LOL. Coming back to my visit to Kek Lok Si, it is best to visit this place during Chinese New Year, where you will see lots of lantern decorating the place. Good for your photo shot. Here are some of the random photos I took. Tortoise! Lots of tortoise. I used to buy a whole gunny sack of water convulvulus (kang kung) from the wet market in Butterworth when I was a student, ride a motorbike all the way to Penang with my elder brother and feed them to these tortoise. The middle section of Kek Lok Si entrance to the carpark. Nice flowers line the compound of the Ten Thousand Buddha Pagoda Nice view from the first floor a smaller pagoda A nice Bonsai Tree and kumquat plant already fruiting before Chinese New Year! Many types of lotus plant in one section of the temple that was closed to public and another nice bonsai tree. A new big prayer hall with impressive design. Look at the patterns on the ceiling! Nice paintings on the prayer hall. Stones and granite carvings. I love these granite fine artwork. Nice carvings! Cute elephants carvings! Lion and dragon carvings! The carvings look so alive! Stairs to the first floor of a smaller pagoda.......The famous Thai Four Face Buddha. Rows of Buddha statue........................................View of the Ten Thousand Buddha Pagoda Crane, symbol of long life and the guardian lion. View of Penang Komtar from Kek Lok Si and view of the surrounding hilly areas! By the time we came down from Kek Lok Si, it was late afternoon and the famous Ayer Itam Laksa already habis (close shop). We decided to try the food at the first coffee shop at the foothill of Kek Lok Si Temple. We ordered Char Kueh Teow, Assam Laksa and Hokkien Mee. The Hokkien Mee tasted ok, so so only for Penang standard. The laksa is normal, nothing to shout about. Well, I guess for this steep price is meant for visiting tourist. The Char Kueh Teow is rather expensive, RM 4 per plate, does not taste nice. RM4 Char Kueh Teow at the restaurant at foothill of Kek Lok Si. The Assam Laksa From Kek Lok Si we headed towards Gurney Drive. It was low tide and no sea breeze during that time. I love the sea breeze and the sound of waves pounding the rocks. It was quite hard looking for parking here, so we park at Gurney Plaza and walked over to the hawker centre. I actually don’t fancy eating here because this place is always packed and the food is not very tasty for Penang standard. We managed to get a seat at the end corner near the Gurney Drive roundabout. The Hokkien mee we ordered fail to impress our taste bud. The assam laksa was ok only. However, the Mua Chee is nice, not too sweet just nice. The lady at the Mua Chee stall is very skillful and fast in cutting the Mua Chee! Chop, chop, and chop, wow, real fast! My friend loves the Ice Kacang. Gurney Drive Mua Chee.........................................View of Gurney Drive at night

Gurney Drive Ice Kacang......................................Gurney Drive Assam Laksa!