Mock Sharkfin Soup with Sausage Strips and Tong Fun (Glass Noodles, Mung Bean Vermicelli, cellophane noodles)

I like to cook soup for supper especially during rainy nights. Soup is great to warm up the body and it is easily digested too. My son loves shark fin soup but since I do not have real shark fin in stock I substitute it with Tong Fun (Glass Vermicelli). Then I used smoked sausage cut into strips in place of ham and made do with whatever ingredients that I have in the fridge. The final result turns out quite good!

Ingredients
Water, 4 bowls (the soup will taste better if chicken stock is used)
Smoked Sausage, cut into strips
Cabbage, 3 leaves, cut into small strips
Mixed frozen vegetables, (carrots, corn and green beans), ½ cup
Glass noodles (tong fun), 1 bunch, soak in room temperature water until soft
Black Vinegar, 2 to 3 table spoons
Light Soya sauce, 3 table spoons
Dark Soya Sauce, ½ teaspoon
Oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
Prawn meat, from around 4 medium prawns, cut into chunks
Sesame oil, 1 teaspoon
Corn flour, 2 table spoons, mixed with a little water Egg, 1 pc, slightly beaten
Shou Xing Chiew (Chinese cooking wine), 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
 A dash of pepper or more

Put water in a bowl and bring to a boil. Add in the cabbage and boil for a while. Put in the smoked sausage, mixed frozen vegetables, black vinegar, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, oyster sauce, prawn meat, sesame oil, shou xing chiew, pepper and salt to taste. Add in the glass noodle and thicken the soup with corn flour water mixture. Add in the eggs while stirring the soup so that it will form small strands. Add more corn flour water mixture if the soup is not thick enough.

Installing a New Bookshelf from Ikea.....plus my little supper meal.

I rarely buy my furniture from Ikea because of their DIY concept. I prefer to have my furniture delivered to me in complete form so that I will save some time and hassle. Books are pilling up at my house and my daughter was complaining that there is not enough space for her to put her books. Somehow I ended up shopping at IKEA and found a suitable bookshelf (202cmx80cm) that fit in to the little corner in my house. I like the design and white colour, something that is quite hard to find in the local furniture shop. I started installing the bookshelf around 11pm at night after my little toddler slept so that I can concentrate on my work. My son helped me to put up the book shelf but I asked him to go to sleep around fifteen minutes passed midnight because I can see that he was already very tired. So, I was left alone to get the job done. While I was installing the bookshelf, my daughter woke up and told me that she is hungry. Actually my own stomach was growling too! It is time to hit the kitchen to cook up some food. I fried some sausages and cooked a packet of Maggi Curry Instant Noodle. After that I continued working on the bookshelf. It was not easy installing the rather heavy glass door alone! It took me some time to figure out how I can do it without getting another person to help out. By the time I finished and took a bath, it was already 2.30pm.

Ahhhh, my favourite 'weapon' (tools), the drill! He he he, watchout concrete wall, here I come! (used to fix the bracket on the wall)

Some of the loose pieces of the shelf

Halfway through.........

Almost done...........

Alamak, daughter woke up, hungry, asking me to 'masak' (cook). Actually daddy very hungry too! LOL! Then daddy cooked yummy maggi curry mee and fried smoked sausage! Continue working after a satistying meal, fixing bracket on the wall to hold the book shelf so that it will not topple over.

Mission accomplised! A completed bookshelf with glass door. It was a little tricky to install the glass door alone.

Mickey Mouse Pizza

Mickey mouse pizza before and after baking in oven

Regular pizza befor and after baking in oven

Remember the Disney show with the song M.I.C.K.E.Y M.O.U.S.E...........? I used to watch this show every week when I was a kid. I guess all the kids in this old show must be in late thirties or forties by now! I decided to sidetrack a little bit when I was making a regular pizza my kids to eat. I reserved a little extra dough and shaped them into Mickey face. It will not turn out nice if I fill up the whole face with pizza filling so I rub some butter over it so that it will still taste good. I used green beans as to for the eyes, smoked sausage for the nose & mouth and sprinkled some oregano to add some earthiness flavour to the pizza. These are alien Mickey mouse with green eyes....ha ha ha! Somehow, my little toddler seems to like the Mickey Mouse shape pizza much more than regular pizza. He and his elder sister ate all of them! Their cute reaction when they first saw these pizzas hot out from the oven will remain as a sweet memory forever! What is your favourite Disney character?

For pizza recipe check out my previous post below
1) http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/10/papa-peteformation-cheesy-crust-pizza.html
2) http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/05/super-longhey-what-is-that-pizza-recipe.html
3) http://veganformation.blogspot.com/2009/06/spicy-thin-crust-vegetarian-tom-yam.html

The Owl – Owl, Owl, Owl, Michael Jackson Favorite Word in his Singing?

An owl photo taken in Power Centre during the exhibition by KL Bird Park

Every time I see a university professor wearing a mortar board and graduation gown, I would think of a wise looking owl with round rim glasses. If I am not mistaken, I think there was some stationery or school shoe white paint has such owl logo. There are two family of owls, the barn owl (Tytonidae) and typical owl (Strigidae). Below this family tree, there are around 200 species of owl. The owl has binocular vision but since its’ eyes are fixed to the socket; they have to turn their head to change views (up to an amazing angle of 135 Deg in both direction, a total of 270 Deg view). They are also long sighted, so they cannot see things that are very near to their eyes. I wonder how an owl will react if I correct its’ vision with glasses? Ha ha ha! This nocturnal stealth creature which swallow their prey whole have been associated with many myths and mythologies. Some society believes that owl as positive symbol but some associate it with negativity. Anyway, to me it is just a bird and a very useful in controlling pest in plantation. Probably the owl was the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson favourite word in his song lyrics......owl, owl, owl!

The Chicken Rice Shop, Tesco Mutiara, PJ

Initially, I wanted to drop by in Atria, Parklin vegetarian stall but somehow I would not find a place to park and then remembered that I have to buy some groceries, so I ended up in Tesco Mutiara instead. I couldn’t make up my mind of what I should have for lunch when I reached there. Anyway, I ended up having my meal in The Chicken Rice Shop. This chicken rice restaurant chain was started by a daughter and mother team. I used to frequent their outlet and HQ in Dataran Prima, PJ near my previous work place. My favourite dish is the braised chicken. I ordered a single braised chicken with rice and a glass of iced Chinese tea. The braised chicken was very flavourful, tender and nicely marinated with soya sauce. The total bill came up to be RM9.60. I guess you pay more for the ambient restaurant environment and also the consistency in the quality of food served. Do you think our home grown restaurant chain have a good chance of expanding their franchise network overseas?

RM10 Durians – Buah masih baikkah? (Is the fruit good?) – A Lesson in Life

I went to the wet market rather late during the weekend a fortnight ago. Most of the vendors there are already packing up their stuff and were ready to go back home. One durian vendors saw me and offered to sell all the leftover durians for RM10. I was skeptical at first but he managed to convinced me when he said, “80% sek tak” (80% good). Somehow it seems like a good bargain and since he is a regular vendor in the Kepong Baru Wet market, I bought all the durians from him for RM10. I immediately opened up the fruits when I reached home. The flesh of the durians is very nice although the outer skin of the fruit were a bit damaged, which I think must have been sustained when they fall from the tree high above the ground. At last I ended up with three containers full of durians. I separated one half ripe fruit into a container. So, one half ripe small containers of durians out of three containers is not too bad. True to the vendor word, 80 % sek tak! (80% good) So the customers did not pick up these durians because they have damaged and ugly outer skin. But deep inside the damaged and ugly skin lays nice succulent creamy flesh. Sometime in life we tend to pass judgment based on someone appearance. A good looking and smooth talker might not have good intention inside them but they can be very popular among the peers. It is always the case when help is needed, someone quiet and simple would be the one that extend a helping hand eagerly! True?

I ate these durian with my homecooked Tomyam prawns, soya sauce potato and rice. Taste real good! ha ha ha!

Pandan in the Chicken Butt Recipe (“Opps Sorry for my Language, I should have used “Rear Opening”)

It will take some time to roast a whole chicken but since I was rushing to cook for my kids I side tracked a little from my initial plan for this recipe. I was supposed to wrap the chicken with the pandan leaves (screw pines) but find it a little tedious so I just stick them into the chicken rear opening! It was a blessing in disguised, the chicken turns out nice and the skin was very flavourful with a slight tinge of pandan aroma.
Ingredients
Chicken, 1 whole (around 1.8 kg)
Salt to taste (ok to use a little more for a whole chicken)
Honey, 3 table spoons
Soya Sauce, 3 table spoons
Turmeric, 1 teaspoon
A dash of pepper
Pandan leaves (screw pines), 5 leaves

Rub the soya sauce, salt, pepper and turmeric mixture on the chicken skin and also the interior cavity. Put the pandan leaves in the posterior cavity. Roast the chicken in preheated oven at 180 Dec C for one hour. Take a look at the chicken in the oven from time to time to make sure that the skin is not burned. Rotisserie roasting would be ideal. Glaze the chicken with honey after about 45 minutes in the oven and continue roasting for around 10 to 20 minutes.

Cheese Egg Tart Recipe

Instead of making the usual egg filling like ordinary egg tart, I added in some cream cheese to see how the taste turns out to be. I made a mistake of adding biscuits crumbs on top of the pastry. I thought that by pressing the crumbs into the soft pastry should hold them in place but when I pour in the fillings all the crumbs floated on to the surface. Therefore the surface of the Cheese Egg Tart was not smooth. However the cream crackers biscuits that I added gave the Cheese Egg Tart additional crunchy flavour. Check this recipe out!

Pie Pastry
Flour, 4cups
Butter, 150gms
Salt to taste
Castor Sugar to taste (around ¼ cup) Iced cold water
Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon
Baking powder, 1 teaspoon

Fillings (All mixed together)
Cream Cheese, 100gms
Sugar ½ cup
Fresh milk, ½ cup 3 eggs
Vanilla essence, 1 teaspoon

Mix flour and butter until they form a granule like mixture. Add a little salt, sugar, baking powder and vanilla essence. Slowly pour in the iced cold water and mix well. Put the pie pastry in the fridge for half and hour. Flatten the pastry and put into a pie pan. Bake for around 15 to 20 minute in a preheated oven at 180 Deg C. Take out the baked pie pastry and let it cool down a little. Pour in the fillings and bake the pie in oven at 180 Dec C for 20 minutes.

Harry Potter latest Broom Model Super Lidi 2000 Series!

I remember when I was a kid, the lidi (stick) from coconut fronds are used to hold the satay(skewered bbq meat) meat. Nowadays, everyone uses bamboo stick imported from China as a replacement for the lidi..

These nice satay that I ate at Matahari Kopitiam recently used bamboo sticks!

The lidi broom is very useful for sweeping on uneven surfaces and it was a cheap alternative to plastic types of broom. I was looking for a lidi broom for my garden and came across this modern type of lidi broom in a hypermarket. It came with a colourful plastic handle which hold all the coconut frond sticks together. In the olden days, they were held together by a rotan (cane) ring. We have to tap the top part of the lidi broom on the ground a few times to put all of them in place again to continue using it. Ahhhh, Harry Potter would be glad to have this Super Lidi 2000 series to fly around for a game of Quidditch. A great Malaysian made broom for catching the Golden Snitch Ball!......ha ha ha!

Super Lidi with Green Plastic Handle!

Sisters Char Kueh Teow (Fried Flat Rice Vermicelli), USJ 16/2G Subang Jaya, Selangor

A friend of mine told me about this 10 months old restaurant. It is not related to the famous Penang sisters char kueh teow but the lady boss, Mrs Cheng told me that she is from Penang. Before venturing into this restaurant business, she was actually running a minimarket in the same location. She decided to call it quit when low price SpeedMart open just a few shoplots away. I went to Subang Jaya to meet up with a client last week and I decided to look for this restaurant. I was not very sure of the actual location because my friend just gave me a rough direction to the place. After a few turns around the housing area, I found Sisters Char Kueh Teow coffee shop (kopitiam). It is located next to Ah Pek Kopitiam. I went in the restaurant and immediately ordered a plate of char kueh teow (RM4.00) with a glass of kopi peng (iced coffee with milk, RM1.50). The char kueh teow is a little bit more of a cross between Penang style and KL wet type. It tastes quite good, actually! The wok hei (hot wok fire smell) gave it an extra flavour. This restaurant also serves Penang Curry Mee, Chee Cheong Fun, Kueh Teow soup, Yong Tau Foo, wantan mee, fried rice and Penang Style Hokkian Char.

Address Sisters Char Kueh Teow 11, USJ16/2G, Subang Jaya, Selangor Map to Sisters Char Kueh Teow Coffee Shop (Kopitiam)

Cum on the Drink List?

I was having my meal in a coffee shop during tea time when I noticed this drink price list on the board above the cashier counter. I wanted to laugh out loudly but then on second thought I better not because the people around me might think that I am crazy! Well, they have written Cham as Cum. Cham a drink mixture, consisting of coffee and tea with milk. Who want cum? Takeaway (bungkus) and iced (Ais) cum available! RM1.70 only! Ha ha ha!

Post Number Four Hundred and One – Thank You For Your Support!

I have been blogging for around one year and four months. This is my post number four hundred and one. Apart from being able to share my experience in cooking, eating out, jokes and many more things, I have made lots of nice Cyber friends. I would like to sincerely thank you all for your support! This is a list of my favourite posts. 1) Recipes Penang Curry Mee Recipe, Penang Hokkien Mee Recipe 2) Jokes My American Friend Got Chased Out From A Restaurant

3) Dessert Thab Thim Krab

4) Remedy Natural Cure For Cough Using Betel Nut (Pinang) 5) Restaurant Chaw Choon Dim Sum 6) Hawker Food Good Hokkien Mee in Bdr Sri Damansara 7) Family Outing Haruan Hunting and Siput Digging 8) Travel Memories from Korea 9) Festival Kow Ong Yah (Nine Emperor Gods)

10) Animals Papaya Bird. This one is also Cleffairy’s favourite. She always think of this post and laugh!

11) Ghost Story Real Ghost Story

12) Childhood Memories Preparing My Daughter for RLC Champs Concert

Cheers and have a nice day ahead!

Keropok (Prawn Cracker) from Perniagaan Ikan Masin Lock Siew Moy, Kuala Selangor

The keropok on the left is raw and the one of the left after frying. A plate full of tasty keropok! My brother in law gave me a packet of raw keropok (prawn cracker) that he bought from one of his trip to Kuala Selangor area. My first reaction was it looks quite expensive for RM18 per packet. However my perception changed when after I fried them. Boy, they sure can expand! The raw keropok expanded more than 6 times when I deep fried them in hot vegetable oil. They were very crispy and tasted quite good. So, I guess paying RM18 for this packet of raw keropok is ok! After frying around 8 pieces, my large metal plate was already full. I still have two third of a packet left in my fridge. I might want to check out this place on my next visit to Kuala Selangor. This is the address I took from the plastic package. Address: Perniagaan Ikan Masin Lock Siew Moy (Lock Siew Moy Salted Fish Enterprise) Pakar Dalam Perniagaan Hasil Laut, Ikan Masin, Udang Kering......(Expert in Dried Seafood, salted fish, dried prawns) No. 100 Pasir Penambang, 45000, Kuala Selangor, Selangor Tel : 03 32892119, 019 3395680, 012 6692639 Related Post on Keropok 1) http://peteformation.blogspot.com/2009/07/keropok-ikan-parang-kedai-hasan-fish.html

The Making of Telur Bungkus, Opps Sudah Jadi Telur Gulung! (Egg Omelet Malay Style) – Recipe

Telur Bungkus (egg omelet) is one of the popular dishes that you can find in Malay stalls. I like to order both egg omelet and tomyam soup to eat with steamed rice. Both these dishes make a good combination for a satisfying meal. I have some leftovers roast beef in my fridge so I thought it would be good idea to turn it into telur bungkus. I made too much fillings and my telur bungkus ended up as eggroll (telur gulung). LOL!

Ingredients
Beef or Chicken, 100gms, minced
Onions, 1pc, chopped finely
Tomato sauce, 3 table spoons (use chilly sauce if you want the dish to be spicy)
Frozen carrot, corn and green beans mix, ½ cup
Eggs, 3 pcs to wrap the fillings

Heat up wok and add a little vegetable oil. Sautéed onions until fragrant and then add in the beef or chicken. Fry until the meat caramelizes a little. Pour in the tomato sauce and frozen vegetable mix. Add a little salt to taste. Put the fillings aside. Use a non-stick wok to fry the eggs to wrap the fillings. Make the fried egg diameter as big as possible so that it will be easier to wrap the fillings. Pour the filling onto the fried eggs and wrap it up into a square shape. Opps, too much fillings, so I made telur gulung (eggroll) instead! ha ha ha!