Malacca day trip

Overdued post. I went to Malacca last June for a city tour.

The most popular landmark in Malacca is the Melaka Church, situated in Dutch Square.















Other remarkable pix are:
Statue in a Chinese Temple (which I forgot the name)











Jonker Street
(reminds me of my hometown, this is how Binondo looks!)










Trails of Baba and Nonya Musuem
-these are the descendants of Portugese-Chinese. They are known for the beaded handicraft artwork (which by the way is very expensive as they are hand-sewn piece by piece). And also quite known for the Peranakan cuisine, which is as spicy as you can imagine.









Bakery (interestingly named Sha Shu Kong, meaning 3rd uncle)









On the trip back, I was watching Jet Lee's 'Fearless' movie on the bus. It has been so long since a movie has made me teary-eyed (or was it because I was feeling low and down then). Anyway, I was moved by the character of Jet Lee, of how he transformed from an arrogant fighter into understanding the true essence of winning. A lot of things in life are not what they seemed to be.

P.S. Finally back to blogging mode. I was surprised to see thousand+ hits in Adsense (although of course it only has a few cents lol). I'll try to lessen the 'emo' posts in the future :p

Strange Images

There are certain times when you feel like throwing a Vista machine. Waiting for 40,000+days is 100years+. Are humans still alive by then?









Remember the usual puzzled look you'd see on cartoons, like three strips of sweat dripping on the forehead, and some question marks appearing all over the head? This will make you recall that expression. That's why conversing in Mandarin is preferable at times.











Cookies and Creme flavors for ice cream and cakes are certified crowd favorites. However, I never thought of having it on my hair during a hair spa session. Another killer - special bundle of joy? I only see the phrase used by excited parents welcoming their newborns, other than that, this is the first time I've seen it used elsewhere.












P.S. No offense for any sarcasm for the last 2 images. Kasi pinupuno lagi ang mailbox d2 ng flyers. I hope they dont have blogs and dont read blogs. But anyway think of the bright side, this is free online advertisement :D

By the way, I have added one more resto to my previous blog for Best Kept Secrets. Once I have the time, I'll showcase some more foodie trips.

What's Cooking 09

Some serious decoration can help create appetite. Let's have some fancy names this time.

Grilled Chicken Marinated with Basil and Herbs

(finally trying to divert away from the usual Chinese cooking hehe)

Prawn and Squid Ball in Tomato Puree

(in layman terms, leftover from ref :p)

Deep Fried Lapu-lapu fillet

(the secret is simple, marinade)

My Two Way Chicken

Teriyaki Chicken - finally made one without using a ready-made sauce!

Oatmeal Fried Chicken

(theme is sesame seeds :p)

Chicken and Veggie Medley

take note of my flower carvings again

(special mention to this simple dish is that I cooked this last year at home during my vacation, my mom and sister liked it and asked for my recipe! yoohoo success)

P.S. Finally starting to expand my seasonings. The taste of the herb mixes is quite strange at times, even I didnt like it, too strong.

Best Kept Secrets: Food Reco

Yesterday was really an enjoyable day. KTV for 5 hours from new songs to classic 90's genre, followed by an unexpected sumptous meal over Uncle Leong's seafood of which is known for Crab Beehon. My initial reaction was like 'huh? crab sotanghon is ok but having a crab swimming in a bihon soup, that doesnt sound good?'. Yet it was one of the best tasting soup I ever had. To finish off the night, I finally watched G.I. Joe and I enjoyed it, I even think the plot is more interesting than Transformer 2. A much needed relaxing break.

So here goes my urge to share some of the restos that I recently tried and would recommend. The best ones are usually not located inside the malls, it's for you to uncover these best kept secrets. And another important thing, there is definitely a long queue! The longer the queue, the more it arouses my curiosity - anong meron? pila rin tayo. :D

Uncle Leong's
As mentioned, known for crab beehon, an alternative to the usual chilli crab and black pepper crab. If you are not a spice fanatic, this one's for you. The crab is big and the meat is firm. The soup is so tasty. This is just located in a hawker near AMK, not a fancy resto. The other dish is deep fried prawn in salted egg (but I personally still prefer cereal prawn over it).




Vines
I like the ambience of this resto, it's just so homey and it actually resembles some restos in Phil. Light is a little dim, music for chillax, ideal for dates actually and the most important thing is I like their famous BBQ Pork Ribs (which is ranked among top 100 dishes by some orgs) And it's quite cheap. I find the steaks better than Tony Romas and the price is just less than half. There are times when you just want to have a good meal with good company, and you wouldnt really feel like splurging all the way - so this is the best place to be.


Founder Bak Kut Teh
I'm not a huge fan of Bak Kuh Teh, I seldom order it. However so far this is one of the best tasting bak kut tehs that I've had.






Loy Kee
Actually I cant distinguish much what is a 'good' chicken rice :). I just know that this is one of the famous chicken rice restos in town, next to the famous Boon Tong Kee and Wee Nam Kee probably. The chicken is tender and juicy.




Those that didnt quite make it to my fave list:

Ajisen-Ramen
I dont know why there are so many branches of Ajisen-Rames all over Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, HK, China, Macau, etc. I actually didnt find anything outstanding (or probably I'm not ordering correctly?) I find the ramen soup too oily and salty.







Xin Wang Taiwan Cafe
One of the popular Taiwan street food is their breaded chicken chop. This one's really a huggge serving and I finished it. Pair it with milk tea with sago - Perfect







Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe
And the equiv for the staple food in HK is none other than HK baked rice or baked spaghetti. Quite ok, just that usually the cream tends to make the dish too 'nakakaumay'. Pair with nai-cha (milk tea) and it sure's gonna create some sensations in your mouth.





Soup Spoon
For me this is an ideal place to go when you have colds. When you are in your sneezing mode and you feel like drinking a hot healthy soup with veggies (like minestrome or chowder), this is the place to go. A typical order is a soup with a french bread, cost about 12sgd.

Zhou's Kitchen
I saw it in one of the reviews to be great, one of the famous Chinese dimsum in Novena. The best seller is some siomai soup. After tax, each small bowl costs more than 17sgd+. I didnt find it worth the raves.





Updated Aug 13:
Deli Moroccan
The best place for moroccan dishes, try their kebabs. A big serving costs only about 10sgd. You can also try the freshly brewed mint tea, which gives you a strong toothpaste aftertaste - unique. (though I dont feel like consuming it often)

Testing

Wished I bothered to study typing in Chinese before. Composing below lines took me ages.

都已經過了兩個月了,
可我心裏有時還是七上八下的.
怎麽有一種被惩罰的感覺 :-<
這次真的考倒我了 真希望...