The Apple never falls far from the Tree

Further proof of the old adage "The Apple never falls far from the Tree" ....

(Obviously, she is the apple of our eyes)

1. One day after picking her up from nursery, I had the same conversation I would have with her regarding what she did at school. She tells me about what they had for snack that day :

"Mummy, we had an orange colour(ed) soup today in school."
"Oh, you mean pumpkin soup?" (I know this because I saw the nursery teachers harvesting the pumpkins from the garden few days ago - very impressive and on this morning when I send SW off to school, the teachers, helped by the kids, were cutting up pumpkins)
"Yes. But i don't nike (like) it at all! It's yucky"
"Why don't you like it?"
"It doesn't taste good"
"Aww, then what soup do you like?"
"I like lin-ngau (lotus root) soup! It's my favourite!"

Heh. So you see, lotus root soup is her ultimate favourite! And like her daddy (haha), she isn't too adventurous in her food. Malaysian food is the way to go, it seems.


2. Another snack time conversation went like this :

"We had rice and honey and yoghurt today"
"Wow! Did you like it?"
"No, not at all! I don't nike (like) it at all. I don't nike the honey on my rice. I told teacher no honey & yoghurt on my rice please." (I have to admit it sounded abit ... strange for me too)
"So, what did you have then?"
"I eat my rice ONLY"

(Her teacher actually reported to me earlier that SW only ate her rice alone - without honey & yoghurt on it, which is how they eat it in the nursery. Beats me, I wonder why on earth would someone eat brown rice with honey & yoghurt. Very strange!)

Shean Wenn also likes her rice alot.


3. Few hours before dinner.

"Mummy, can I have sambau (sambal) with rice later?"

She is, a Malaysian through and through!

Malaysian food in UK

The past 2 weeks, we have been going to Malaysian restaurants in UK, something we rarely do! (Rarely here means probably once a year) I cook everyday during the weekdays and on weekends we usually eat out (chinese, ie HK-style or Italian/Brit) but we seldom ever do Malaysia, I guess we don't have much craving for M'sian food (I only crave for Asam Laksa, something I could NEVER cook). But 2 weeks ago, Meng's colleague booked a place for us in Awana "The finest Malaysian restaurant in London SW3". She booked via toptable, where we get 50% off the total food bill.



I had been craving for satays because the ones on its website look so tantalising! The decor of the place is what you'd expect from a posh restaurant - immaculate & tastefully designed interior reflecting the Traditional Kampung-style Teak-house and alot of dark wood with some traditional malay furniture/instruments dotting the restaurants : Gongs, silk panels along the windows, etc.

It was a party of 6 adults with 1 baby (guess who?). We ordered generously, except for Amy who shared the main course with her husband. Food portion was ok, albeit very small for satay (I ordered corn-fed chicken : 4 skewers for £8). Staff were attentive but yet not intrusive (you know sometimes some waitress/waiters can be a little too enthusiastc and come around every few 10mins to asks if everything's fine? Well, I find it a little intrusive). If I remember correctly, everyone ordered coke (except Amy who had plain water and me who ordered an alcoholic drink). The bill came up to £120 including drinks - imagine if we had to pay full price for it! Nevertheless, the food was reasonably good.

The week after, SIL Alicia asked us for lunch and she recommended Japanese but a quick check and it seems the restaurant she recommended (I read alot of rave reviews about it) isn't open for business on Sundays. She suggested an alternative - Satay House which is located near to her apartment.



We picked her up on the Sunday and headed towards the restaurant, got an off-street parking relatively easy nearby and went in. We were seated downstairs which is good because it was pretty packed upstairs and SW wouldn't have much space to create havoc stretch her legs.

Again we ordered generously from their menu : Satay (this time more servings than Awana), their Ayam Goreng Berlada (SPICY! Yummy), a squid, a fish, Kangkung Belacan (can't do without this eh?) and rice. Our only qualm : The rice serving which, at £4/bowl which you probably need 2 bowls for the 3 adults is HEFTY! Just too expensive for a bowl of plain rice to go with your dishes. I would suggest to them to charge fairly because afterall, what is M'sian eating (ordering dishes to be shared) without rice? Overall, the food is pretty good (Authentic Malay cooking here) and price is very reasonable. We would probably return if we ever crave for M'sian food.

Two weekends in a row having M'sian food. Hmmm... what's next??

Reminiscing Summer : BBQ & Jewellery Fair

The hub's friends - a couple who live near us, invited us over for BBQ one weekend (one of the last few summer weekends available). It was a perfect Summer Day, especially for a BBQ in your backyard with LOADS of good food and drinks. Our second this summer! (Very hot and sunny day - remember your sunnies)


(Shean Wenn was fascinated by the flowers in their well-manicured garden, exclaiming "Fwawa fwawa!")

SW eyeing the BBQ pit - "When can I get my BBQ stingray with belacan sauce???!"

The couple - actually the husband - did all the cooking. He's got belacan sauce for dipping, a whole assortment of BBQ stuff - stingray, salmon, the usual chicken wings and etc, all very delicious! The wife did a mean Pimms-mix (ice lemon tea?).

SW - "Too warm, let's go into the house...." See how she makes this like her own home, she even wore her shoes running around inside.

There was one other toddler amongst the group of friends, Joshua who is almost 2 years old. At first both of them didn't acknowledge each other but after warming up to each other, both of them were chasing each other aorund the house. At one point, their favourite activity was climbing up (and down) the stairs. Of course, little Joshua is a confident and expert climber (and he can go down the stairs), but they both enjoyed the race, anyway.

Later, after she was tired of running around the house, or of climbing the stairs, she decided to go out to the garden again. She loved the water feature and dipped her hands into it despite me telling her not to. Can't take NO for an answer now, this lady!

Rolling around the grass! How lady-like!

*****

I have also came to know an asian family (from Hong Kong) from around the neighbourhood. They have a little girl, Karmen who is more than 1 month older than SW. Michelle, Karmen's mom had tickets to the International Jewellery London and asked me to go along. We made the journey to Earl's Court that day and both the little girls enjoyed it immensely! Since both of them have been seeing each other so often, Shean Wenn has become very sociable around Karmen. Karmen, on the other hand, has always been a sociable and friendly baby.

See the two little future diamond traders in action!

(What do you think of this lot of items, Karmen?)

("Well, they look ok, but look here, I see some speck of impurities on the pearl...")

Miso-madness!

I've gone miso-mad! Last week I was browsing recipes online and read a few recipes using the japanese miso paste. So during the weekend, which is when we do our grocery shopping, I bought myself the ingredients needed to cook a few dishes with the miso paste.

I couldn't wait for Monday to come (because Sunday we had dinner plans with friends) to cook my miso dishes!

For lunch, I cooked this simple recipe which I read from petite fleur's blog - The Spicy Miso Ramen with Char Siew (Original recipe from Rasa Malaysia). I substituted Ramen with Udon because I am an udon person (I can eat udon everyday and not get bored with it!). There are a few ingredients that I didn't put in because I didnt have it in my fridge/cupboard - The char siew, the fish cake and chili oil (I used the chinese version of chilli oil instead, which is something that I am hooked on anyway!!).

The result was ok because I believe I did not put enough Miso paste into it (I basically copied down by writing instead of printing because hub's laptop is not connected to the PC and missed out on the measurements).

For dinner, I scoured around for a pork dish. I found one which I thought is interesting in YongFook's "Open Source Food" website. The recipe was prepared by this guy who doesn't look japanese! But, I still thought it looks pretty interesting (and simple!) - he called it Twice-cooked meat. Recipe here.

Another picture-less post brought to you by Tsu Lin.

Tried Recipe : Pan fried Chicken with Mango

I have been wanting to try this recipe since reading it (and salivating looking at her foodie photos) from this blog I frequent - Rojak Rendezvous. She was featuring this simple recipe : "Pan Fried Chicken with Mango".

I substituted a few of the ingredients as I had fogotten to get them from the shops (Olive oil to substitute butter and dried Parsley for the fresh ones)! We chose a relatively good white wine to cook this as it could also be used as an accompaniment to the chicken. Also, instead of using chicken with skin and bones, I used skinless and boneless chicken.

Verdict : Easy to prepare and cook. Tastes delicious - the mango added a nice tanginess to the white wine, which would have otherwise be a little bitter. I would definitely make this if they continue to sell those mangoes as sweet as the ones I got! I believe if I had used butter and used the chicken with skin, this dish would be even more flavourful.

Nonetheless, it was yummy yummy in my tummy!

(The photo does not do justice to the dish)