Saturday, April 30, 2011

Savadika!

Thai food! One of my favourites, which I had quite a bit for the past week. With simple pictures (again due to my conscious self), the pictures must still describe the thousand words I have inside about this place. =)

So here are pictures of a simple meal which led to a great catch up session.

 Phad Kra Prow Talay   Stir fried king prawns, squid and mussel with fresh basil
I meant to order a plate of noodles but my friend has stopped me with a comment "The noodles here are so expensive, its not worth it!" Despite the simple stirfry, we both loved the freshness of basil.
Light battered fish stirfry in roasted chilli paste
This is one of the special specials and not the Chef's specials. Nevertheless, I loved this dish despite the slight coconut milk in it. It was definitely my friend's favourite dish of all times, its her must order dish! We also ordered steamed rice to go with our dishes and surprisingly I finished my portion! No space for coffee and dessert however. =( 

Good deal for good food, the meal costs under $45.

Parade Thai
128 The Parade
Norwood 5067 SA

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Where will I meet you?

The best way to celebrate another public holiday is a day out with girls, with food and shopping. =D Although I have to say, I can only shop for the necessities now.

As if oily goodness of crumbly flaky egg tarts and fried salt and pepper squid weren't sufficient, we adjourned for coffee and sweets after a good dimsum brunch.

Sorry for the horrible picture, but I was a bit self-conscious while taking the picture. And The Coffee Club has always been so popular among the locals, goodness knows why. Well, they do promote themselves as ''Good food, great service, excellent coffee"
On top of all the cappucino and lattes we ordered, we had a blueberry chessecake which I personally found it 'pretty-looking'. I am still contemplating if I liked the idea of them cutting the cheesecake into half but it definitely made my photo presentation here easier. It irritates me when waiting staff in the restaurants 'destroys' an almost perfect looking object or to be exact, I was irritated when a staff flattened my portion of rice in a restaurant I dined not too long ago.
This is the chocolate brownie I ordered. The chocolate topping smelt so heavenly when it arrived at the table. Having said that, the brownie was a bit dry.
And the german cheesecake. I never knew the difference between cheesecakes, or at least between a normal cheesecake and a german one. But a german cheesecake is meant to be lighter, so I believe its TIME to read more on cheesecakes. =D Haha, not a big fan of cheesecake but the comment on this cheesecake was ''It's good"

With that, my awesome long Easter weekend has just ended and its back to work tomorrow.

The Coffee Club
100 Rundle Mall
Adelaide SA 5000

Easter-->Bunny-->Carrot?

If there was ever a perfect excuse for a guilt-free weekend, mine has been "But its Easter!" Having said that, the weekend is over and its back to the 'Lets get healthy' routine.
So the decision was to bake carrot walnut muffins for breakfast before work! MUFFINS, but I never realised they were CUPCAKES till I took it out of the oven and go "Hey, these are not muffins. They are cupcakes!" Blame the holiday brain...
Here's the recipe to a buttery carrot and walnut cupcake recipe. AND it was the title written in my recipe book, I must be blind if my brain was functioning right.

Makes 1 1/2 dozen
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
225 self-raising flour
4 eggs
1 tsp mixed spice
100g chopped walnuts
150g freshly grated carrots
2 tbsp sultanas (which i just did a handful)
I also added some toasted flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 175C. Place baking cases in muffin tins. Combine butter, sugar, flour and eggs in large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and spoon batter into the cases. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove tins from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. 
No longer muffins for breakfast, but cupcakes for tea! They were good, although a bit too buttery for my liking because I am just not a big fan of butter.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Resurrection Sunday

Happy Easter! Just as much as Easter isn't about chocolates, eggs, and chocolate eggs, I have been giving myself much allowance since Easter Friday. My excuse was and still is ''But its Easter". So yes, Easter Sunday is really about the resurrection of Jesus since his death three days ago.  
Back to eggs. I have been spending way too much and it is about time I get really creative with food, instead of whipping up instant food. This recipe was a adaptation of Margaret Fulton's recipe, however I only remembered briefly of the actual recipe. I was even confused whether I was sort of poaching the egg or steaming it.
First, fry shredded turkey ham briefly (or if you have bacon!) and place them into a ramekin.
Then, crack an egg into the ramekin.
Place the ramekin into a pan/pot with water filled halfway up the ramekin and allow it to cook for 5-6 minutes.
Just as much as I wanted to have this great breakkie on Easter Friday, I postponed it! So with a warm chocolate chip hot cross bun (heat them in the oven- if you didn't already know that) and a cup of morning coffee, I have the energy to hit the gym again!



Saturday, April 23, 2011

More pork bits ...

I certainly did not expect McDonalds to be known as McThai in Thailand obviously. Having said that, its like terming McDonalds around the world differently, McAustralia (which we fondly call Mackers) or McMalaysia (McD). note: McDonalds in Australia and Msia are definitely not termed as McAustralia/ McMalaysia.
But the joy of McThai is the Samurai Pork Burger. I had to order it, without a thought.
The sauce which coated the meat was sweet and yummy (sorry for my lack of description-but it was indeed yummy). Just loved it-novelty is the great parent of pleasure. And the pleasure was definitely all mine =)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Let's go 'Ah Balling'!

After a night of sightseeing, my cousin and her friends took me to one of those hawker centres for supper. Ok, it was more like dessert for me.

The 'Ah Balling' stall sells 'tang yuan' (i.e. glutinous rice balls) served in peanut soup. Each bowl of 'Ah Balling' (no idea why it's called that) consists of four balls *only!* so I decided to try one of each of the four fillings - yam, red bean, peanut and black sesame.


My bowl of 'tang yuan'!


The yam filling which I was disappointed with. I couldn't even tell it was yam!

Traditional red bean. It was ok. I didn't get excited over it.


Peanut-filled 'tang yuan'. Yummilicious! Will eat this again.


The black sesame. Super liked this! It is on my 'must eat' list.

Ah Balling Peanut Soup
Blk 85 Bedok North St 4

#01-259 Fengshan Market and Food Centre

Friday, April 15, 2011

Khor- thod a.k.a Sorry

A way outdated post, I have to apologise (even if it is to my team members). As my faithful comrades, they do know that my world has been spun around so much in the last 5 weeks. That has been how long since I've been back in the Land down under.

Anyway, picture tells a thousand words. Get ready for my many thousand words on my Hatyai trip. =)
'Áncient Ice-cream'. With such an interesting name, I just had to try it.
 Look at the rainbow coloured blocks.
Chocolate sauce wasn't the best thing to put on every single flavoured icecream. But they were just like ice cream potong, what else am I expecting?
 Wonton noodles? I am quite sure it wasn't just wonton noodles.
Pork trotters which I barely touched. Had them with the wonton noodles, and the sauce/ gravy was really good.
Tomyum bihun noodles. I could find better tomyum noodles elsewhere, but the bihun was meant to be Thailand's specialty.
Cute little kuehs that I had during our buffet dinner in Lee Gardens. RM10/Aud$3 for a buffet dinner!
Beef soup noodles, with the best chillis. Fish sauce and chilli powder is awesome!
Roasted coconut, I totally adore coconut juice despite possible allergy issues. By the way, I hate coconut cream/milk!  
Pork satays! Everywhere in Thailand, you get pork pork and more pork. A holiday so different from Malaysia.
More coconut juice, just a more luxurious version. =D Expensive little coconut.
Pretty maize but totally deceiving. I bought it as it reminded me of some childhood memories, however it tasted nothing like I remembered. They boiled the maize till its cooked and left the best in that pot of water.
Half boiled eggs, apparently they have better eggs than Malaysia too! Higher in Omega 3, so I've heard.
Kampung chicken rice, awesome!

It was a short 3 days 2 nights trip, but I've definitely enjoyed myself and the company. Hate to feel sickish at my last day though when I missed out on more food. Nevertheless, I can never stop thinking of more holidays or even Bangkok in the future!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Best Chicken Rice Ever!


What does an Asian girl residing overseas crave the most? CHICKEN RICE! Seriously, I was deprived of proper Hainanese chicken rice for such a long time as they do not make tasty chicken rice over here (or I haven't come across anything authentic as yet).

When I visited my cousin in Singapore recently, she was a bit speechless when I requested for chicken rice but she took me to the so-called #1 chicken rice hawker stall in Singapore nonetheless. I was a bit sceptical at first and even more so when I was told that only steamed chicken was served. Growing up with roasted chicken rice, steamed chicken did not have the same appeal. But how wrong was I?!

The Tong Fong Fatt Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice at the Golden Shoe Foodcourt is absolutely amazing. The rice, drizzled with dark soya sauce, was complemented with the boneless chicken in yummy gravy. It also came with a bowl of clear soup and ginger and chilli sauces (but of course!). It was really the yummiest chicken rice I have had in ages. Trust me. That plate of chicken rice even made a fussy eater like me enjoy the meal tremendously.


If you are planning a holiday in Singapore, I recommend you to stop by. There are many other local delights at the foodcourt, but I still urge you to give this chicken rice stall a try. The foodcourt is flooded with customers during lunchtime so if you do decide to try it out, remember to visit just before or just after the peak lunch hour!

Tong Fong Fatt Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice
Golden Shoe Carpark
50 Market Street
#02-26