Chow Times

New Chowtimes Site Now On The Air!!

2006-03-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hi All:

We have completed the migration to our new site. We will no longer update this site. Going forward please go to:

http://chowtimes.com

Suanne and Ben

Egg Custard Tarts

2006-02-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

Thai Son Restaurant on No 3 Road

2006-02-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them ~ Unknown

It was cold and rainy today. Just the type of weather for a hot bowl of noodle soup. We went to the Thai Son Restaurant on No 3 Road. Is just across the road from the Richmond Centre.

The Thai Son Restaurant is owned by a Vietnamese couple. Although the name Thai Son appears to be a Thai restaurant, it is not ... it is a purely Vietnamese restaurant. Thai Son has a restaurant too under the same name in East Broadway in Vancouver.

Apparently, this restaurant was very popular back in the 1990's among the Hong Konger crowd. There are a number of photos hanging on the wall of some old Hong Kong movie stars in the restaurant who emigrated to Vancouver prior to the 1997 handover to China.

As in all Vietnamese restaurants, they always serve first the complementary bean sprout. Thai Son serves the bean sprouts blanched and warm.

Suanne ordered the Rice Noodle in Special Vietnamese Stew. The stew was not thick and the beef chunks were tender. Marcus shared this with his mum.

Norman ordered a large Beef Ball noodles. He finished the entire large bowl. We are glad to see him eat the whole bowl because he normally does not eat much and is underweight for his height. Norman likes to add lots of teriyaki sauce to his noodle.

I ordered the Rice Noodle in Spicy Soup. It was quiet spicy and with the hot soup, I worked out quite a bit of sweat ... just right for a cold and rainy night.

Crescendo Rising Crust Pizza

2006-02-26T14:43:00.000-08:00

We live in a society where pizza gets to your house before the police. ~ Unknown

We stayed in and watched the closing ceremony of the Turin Olympics and did not go out for lunch as we normally do on the weekends. We were actually more interested in the 8 minutes segment of the Vancouver's "Come Play With Us" presentation and seeing our mayor receive the Olympic flag -- don't you think it's cool having none other than Sam Sullivan receiving it. I think it speaks volume of what Vancouver is about. We are all pretty excited about the Olympics coming to Vancouver in 2010.

This box of pizza must have been in our freezer for about, what, 4 weeks? We bought it but never got down to baking it. The pizza we made today is the Crescendo Rising Crust Pizza brand with the Roasted Chicken Deluxe flavour.

The pizza was layered with with rich mozzarella cheese, lots of it. The chunks of chicken pieces were quite big too. Other toppings were onions and green and red peppers.

You can either bake the pizza to a soft crust or crisp crust. We always prefer the crispy crust. The baking took about 20 minutes in the oven.

To me, the best part of the pizza is the crispy and crunchy crust. Small meal but just great for an afternoon in front of the TV.

All-You-Can-Eat Sushi

2006-02-25T23:40:00.000-08:00

A glutton is never satisfied. ~ Namibian Proverb

It's been a while since we had sushi and the boys wanted sushi for lunch too. Suanne also wanted to try the Top Gun Sushi I went to a few weeks ago. So, we made our way to the Top Gun Sushi at the New West Quay.

The all-you-can-eat is more expensive on the weekends. It costs about $11 for adults and $7 for kids age 6-9. He he he ... the waiters thought the boys were below 9 years and we kept quiet ... don't ask, don't tell, right?

All-you-can-eat Shashimi is $2 extra for adults. Norman can just eat shashimi alone. We ordered 28 pieces in all. The pieces are small but rather fresh.

Suanne started off with cold noodles from the salad bar. I don't know what that means when Suanne said they were "refreshing". :-) It's had a bit of lemon and is sourish.

I scooped some fried noodles from the salad bar too. They do look nice and I especially like it that they are not greasy.

We also ordered a lot of nigiri's. We ordered a few of each types. At the background (kind of blurred) was the fried smelt. They don't look good but tastes great.

Suanne's favourite is the motoyaki. She had quite of few of the salmon motoyaki and oyster motoyaki's.

We ordered the beef teriyaki and ginger pork. It would have been better if they are served with rice. Eating them alone does not seem right. We also ordered the grilled salmon belly and cheek.

And finally, tofu and fried chicken wings.

I am full ... no dinner tonight.

Korean Style BBQ Beef on Dried Shrimp Pancake

2006-02-24T23:02:00.000-08:00

When the big fish fight the shrimps must lie low. ~ Creole Proverb

The Richmond Community Kitchen, coincidentally, showed Korean BBQ beef for the session this week. The lesson today was led by Tanni Lee. I like Tanni because she is soooo cheerful and have a smile all the time for everyone.

Tanni made two separate dishes that complements each other. The Korean Style BBQ Beef goes very well with the dried shrimp pancake. For garnishing, she used kiwi fruit. She also used the kiwi fruit juice to marinate and tenderize the beef.

Korean Style BBQ Beef

Ingredients:

1.5 lb Beef
1.5 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon kiwi juice
1.5 tablespoon green onions
2.5 tablespoon korean soya sauce
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 tablespoon chopped ginger
2 teaspoon dark soy
1.5 tablespoon sesame oil

The marinate includes all the ingredients above.

We need to marinate for a at least 3 hours but preferably overnight.

Fry the marinated beef with a bit of cooking oil.

Frying process is very quick because the beef is thinly sliced.

Dried Shrimp Pancake

Ingredients:

1.5 cup flour
1.5 tablespoon dried shrimp
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon green onion
1 cup milk
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Stir all the ingredients together until you get a smooth batter. You then just pan fry them with a little oil at low heat.

The frying take just a little while. Do so until you get a nice golden brown.

Tanni, thanks for the time taken to show all of us this dish.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2006-02-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

Mutual gifts cement friendship. ~ Ivorian Proverb

I made a Sour Cream Coffee Cake before I went over to Allie's for her Bulgogi lunch. It has been a while since I made this cake. Since I still have a cup of sour cream in the fridge, I thought I should use it. This goes well with coffee.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350F and grease a 6-cup tube pan. Mix walnuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon to make topping and set aside. Stir or sift flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt until dry ingredients are well combined. Cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture in alternate thirds with the sour cream,beating well after each addition. Spoon half the batter into the pan and sprinkle with half the topping, then add remaining batter and sprinkle on the rest of the topping. Bake for 40 minutes without opening the oven, then test fordoneness (a toothpick should come out clean). It may need another 5 to 10 minutes of baking.

Allie's Bulgogi Lunch

2006-02-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

Aim high in your career but stay humble in your heart. ~ Korean Proverb

Allie invited Helen and I to her place for lunch. It's her way of thanking both of us for helping her move to her new place earlier. Since she is Korean, she showed us how Bulgogi is eaten the right way ... using hands. :-)

Bulgogi is a popular Korean beef dish, a kind of Korean barbecue. It is made from marinated steak that is cut into thin strips before cooking. Bulgogi is a specialty dish served when guests visit or eaten in restaurants. The dish is also often served to non-Koreans as a first taste of Korean cuisine.

Instead of barbequing it, Allie pan fried the sliced beef strips. She pan fried it with lots of slices onions, green onions and garlic. The cooking smelt good.

Koreans loves kimchi and have that as a side dish in almost every meal. So, Allie made two types of kimchis. The traditional kimchi (fermented cabbage) was made by her mother-in-law. Even the cabbage was grown on their own. Many Korean households made their own kimchis and I was told that many households too have a separate fridge just to store the kimchis! I will try to ask Allie to show me how to make them once her batch is finished.

Did you know that early forms of kimchi consisted mainly of salted greens as chili peppers and were introduced to Korea only in the 16th century by Portuguese traders coming from Japan? The introduction of cabbage in making kimchi probably did not occur until the 19th century before that, kimchi was made from indigenous vegetables.

Allie made another type of kimchi from cucumber and carrot. I have never tried this type before. Taste a lot like the cabbage kimchi but it a lot more crunchier. I like it.

She also bought some dumplings and fried them for the kids. She fried it so well ... looks yummy right?

Thanks a lot Allie for the lunch.

Steam Jah Jan Ramen

2006-02-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

I have money, you have money; so we are friends. ~ Chinese Proverb

Panos came over to play with Norman and Marcus the other day. Panos is Norm's best friend. Since Panos wanted to stay over for dinner and I thought I make instant noodles for the boys.

Unlike most other single serving packets of instant noodles, the Steam Jah Jan Ramen comes in a pack for servings of four. This is just the right size for a quick lunch for our whole family. Opening it up, it's just like any other noodles with a twin packets of seasonings. The first packet was the oil and other other is the "jah jan". Jah Jan is basically made of fried pork fats, lean pork and soy bean paste.

We found the instructions on the wrapping funny. It's common to see broken English used in Made in China products. The instructions reads "After 4 minutes scooped spice of oil to stir. Then you can enjoy the delicious ramen".

Marcus loves instant noodles, especially the dry type, not the soup type. Here he is pulling a face because mum is not making it fast enough ... look at the speed of my hands!

I added a slice of yesterday's meat loaf to go with the noodles.

Panos likes it too. Finished it off double quick time.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

2006-02-20T08:11:00.000-08:00

He who goes to bed hungry dreams of pancakes. ~ Maltese Proverb

I made Cinnamon Coffee Cake today. I normally make cakes at least once a week for breakfast and snacks for the boys. Ben likes cakes with coffee in the mornings too. It goes very well with coffee.

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10-15 m tall native to Sri Lanka and Southern India. The bark is widely used as a spice. It is principally employed in cookery as a condiment and flavouring material, being largely used in the preparation of some kinds of desserts, chocolate and spicy candies and liqueurs. In the Middle East, it is often used in savory dishes of chicken and lamb. In North America, cinnamon and sugar are often used to flavor cereals and fruits, especially apples.

To prepare the cinnamon coffee cake, I use the following ingredients:

2 cups flour (if using self-rising, eliminate next 2 ingredients)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans if you prefer)
1 stick margarine or butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Stir in walnuts.

In other bowl, beat butter or margarine and sugar, by hand, until smooth. Mix eggs, vanilla and sour cream into butter/sugar mixture.

Pour the mixture all at one time into dry mix and stir until well mixed. Pour into a greased 9" baking pan.

For the toppings, I used the following ingredients:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 2 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons butter or margarine cut into small pieces 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

Rub with fingers until texture resembles cornmeal. Sprinkle crumble topping evenly on cake mixture. Lightly swirl knife through mixture.

Bake 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Celcius or until cake pulls away from side of pan.

Beef Rendang

2006-02-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

All is not butter that comes from the cow. ~ Italian Proverb

Rendang is a dish from Malaysia which in some ways resembles a purely meat curry. In Malaysia, it is prepared by the Malay community during festive occassions.

Rendang is often served with a ketupat (a compressed rice cake) and lemang (glutinous rice barbecued in bamboo tubes). However, it goes equally as great with steamed rice, or even bread. It is not very spicy hot but is very heavily flavoured in spices.

Rendang is normally made from beef (or occassionally chicken or mutton) slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until almost all the liquid is gone, leaving the meat coated in the spicy condiments. The spices may include ginger, galangal, turmeric, lemon grass and chillies. The slow cooking process allows the meat to absorb all the spices and to become tender. That sounds daunting, right?

Things are much more easier these days because we can just buy all the ingredients mixed in a box.

We bought the Claypot brand Beef Rendang Mix (see box above). To prepare this dish, we only need 750g (1.5 lb) of cubed beef. The stuff you see in the two bowls and measuring cup are prepared out from the box.

The box contained three sachets of ingredients: (1) the curry paste, (2) powder coconut milk, and (3) toasted coconut. Well, it's high cholestorol with coconut -- remember that.

Heat cooking oil in wok over low flame. Add curry paste and fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until fragrant.

Add beef, adjust flame to medium and stir fry.

Add coconut milk (a little at a time). Bring to boil.

Cover and simmer for 60 minutes. Stir occasionally. When cooked, add toasted coconut. Stir well and serve.

There you go. We love this a lot. We sometimes buy rotis (even pita bread) and dunk it into the curry.

Hon's on No 3 Road

2006-02-18T16:49:00.000-08:00

Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible. ~ Cantonese saying

Hon's Wun-Tun House (or better known as just Hon's) is noted for it's Chinese "comfort food". The restaurant serves primarily cantonese style food and has been a favourite chinese restaurant in Vancouver for many years. Hons is well regarded for its wonton and noodle dishes, pot sticker dumplings (fried or steamed), and barbecued beef. More than 300 dishes are featured on the extensive menu!

Meals are prepared in an open kitchen as diners look on. Although this concept is pretty common in Asia, it is a novelty in Canada. The restaurant started 25 years ago as a lone restaurant and has since opened many outlets throughout the Lower Mainland. We visited the outlet in Richmond's No 3 Road recently.

Although there were so many dishes on the menu, Norman and Marcus always wanted only two dishes -- all the time the same dishes, without fail! One of the favourite is the Chicken and Salted Fish Fried Rice (ham yee gai lap chow fan). All the servings are huge in Hon's. The one dish is enough for two people or more. The fried rice costs about $8-$9.

The other dish the boys love is the Eefu Noodle with Shredded Chicken Meat. The Eefu noodle are prepared together with bean sprout but since the boys don't like it, we asked that the cook leave that out. This dish too costs about less than $10.

Chinese Sponge Cake

2006-02-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

Let them eat cake! ~ Marie Antoinette

To the chinese, cakes are normally steamed rather than baked. Today, I steamed a very simple chinese sponge cake made primarily from eggs. Total time taken to prepare this cake is less than an hour with 25 minutes for steaming.

Here are the ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon almond extract (can substitute vanilla if desired)
1/2 cup evaporated milk (can substitute regular milk if desired)
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Here are the directions:

The baking powder and flour are mixed together.

They are then sifted and set aside.

Mix the evaporated milk with the melted butter first. Then add the baking soda to it. Again, set it aside.

You will need four eggs. Crack it into a mixing bowl.

Beat the eggs.

Mix in the sugar and the almond extract. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved.

You then mix in the milk/baking soda/butter mixture to the eggs/sugar. Blend thoroughly using a whisk.

You gradually mix in the flour mixture and blend.

Whisk until smooth and completely blended.

Pour the mixture into a greased cake pan. I use a pie dish about 9-inch.

Bring the water to boil.

Place the cake into the pan with boiling water.

Cover and steam for 25-30 minutes. Use a toothpick to check when the cake is done.

Remove the cake from the pan and slice. Best served when warm. Enjoy!

Bak Kut Teh Instant Noodles

2006-02-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

Not the place where I was born but where I hang my hat is home. ~ African Proverb

We found Bah Kut Teh instant noodles in the shops not too long ago. Although BKT is a common dish in Malaysia served with steamed rice but we have never come across a BKT flavoured instant noodles.

The instant noodles BKT costs 69 centes -- not cheap as far as instant noodles goes. Unless you read chinese, you will simply miss this on the store shelves. I mean, BKT should show a simmering pot on pork, shouldn't it?

There were two packets of seasonings. The bigger packet contained the spices which gives the BKT flavour. For some reason, the packaging also included a packet of chilli powder. The BKT soup has never been cooked with chilli and is not supposed to be spicy, so this comes across to me a strange.

This A1 brand noodles is made in Singapore. Although BKT originated from Malaysia, I don't think any Malaysian companies will manufacture BKT instant noodles because of its association with pork. :-)

The noodle was not too bad except that I can detect the spicyness. The spicyness spoils it for me. The smell sure smells like BKT.

Crystal Mall's Food Court

2006-02-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

Govern a family as you would cook a small fish -- very gently. ~ Chinese Proverb

We went to the Food Court in Crystal Mall for lunch on Saturday because the boys wanted Char Koay Teow. The Crystall Mall is a Chinese Mall located along Kingsway with Willingdon in Burnaby. It was always crowded when we go there during the weekend -- it was just as crowded today. In Canadian standards, the parking was hard to get.

Norm does not normally like spicy food but he says that he only makes an exception for char koay toew. The char koay teow was good -- we find that it is one of the best we could find in Vancouver. We ALWAYS order char koay teow when we eat at this food court. The char koay teow from the Curry King stall costs $5.50.

Marc wanted Shashimi and opted for the tuna shashimi from the Ebi King stall. The dish consists of 5 pieces of average slices and costs $4.95. It did not look particularly fresh but Marc did gobble them all down in quick time. I guess he must have liked them.

Norm has been gaining a big appetite lately. Apparently the char koay teow was not enough and he ordered another serving of sushi. He ordered the 18 piece combo ($5.95) which consists of california rolls, salmon maki and cucumber maki. The pieces are quite large -- Norm did not manage to eat them all and we brought some home.

Suanne ordered Grilled Pork combo from the Korean Taste of Yongs stall. It was a rice dish served in two styrofoam boxes -- it was a lot of food for $5.50. In one box was steam rice with kimchi, bean sprout and topped with a fried egg. The other box contained grilled pork served on glass noodles with some brocolli. This stall seems very popular because we see a lot of people eating it. It sure was great deal for the money.

For me, I knew I could just pick from the other's dishes. Suanne bought about one pound of roast pork from the chinese market downstairs from the food court. That costs about $8. It was pretty good but not really perfect. There were a fair bit bones and the skin was not was crispy/crunchy as I like it to be. The good part is that it does not taste salty at all.

Gosh, we were so full ... I think I will skip dinner again.

America West Airlines' Phoenix Philly

2006-02-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

A kiss without a moustache is like beef without mustard. ~ Italian Proverb

Hello all. We are back blogging again! It had been a busy week for us with me having to travel again. Last week I travelled via the America West Airline with a stopover in Phoenix, Arizona. So, for the blog I decided to get some Phoenix food.

Unlike other airlines, America West offer hot food on their In-Flight Cafe menu. I ordered the Phoenix Philly which costs $5 USD each.

The food came warm and wrapped in foil and a small packet of Horseradish. I did not care for the horseradish and did not touch it.

The Phoenix Philly is basically shaved roast beef served on Tuscan baquette. Phillies are originally made popular in the Philadelphia region by the Italian American community. The real secret of a great Philly is the long roll. Their crust has a medium texture, midway between the hard crust of a baguette and the wimpy crust of a packaged supermarket roll. And, the interior is soft, with a wonderful yeasty taste.

The Philly is topped with melted Swiss cheese and is served warm with dijonnaise. I opened up the sandwich and found that the roast beef is prepared just the way I like it -- the middle is still pink and is medium rare.

It was a good meal. This sure beats the snack boxes from United Airlines.

Nasi Lemak

2006-02-13T21:37:00.000-08:00

Only the man who is not hungry says the coconut has a hard shell. ~ Ethiopian Proverb

We can never go wrong serving the ever favourite Malaysian Nasi Lemak. Nasi Lemak is a favourite rice meal normally eaten for breakfast. It is the closest to being the official national dish of Malaysia. Directly translated from Malay, nasi lemak means "rice in cream". Nasi lemak is spicy.

When I was in Malaysia, I remember that we line up to buy the dish from the hawkers even before they get a chance to setup their stalls. Good Nasi Lemak is hard to come by now in Vancouver. I love the sotongs (cuttlefish) and cangkerang (cockles) for side dish ... sigh.

Suanne made Nasi Lemak for dinner recently. The most important ingredient is the sambal which gives the dish the signature spicyness. Polly gave us some Malaysian-style fried anchovies which we have not found in Vancouver (thanks Polly!). The fried anchovies and fried peanuts gives the dish the crunchiness.

The nasi lemak rice must be cooked in coconut milk (otherwise, it will not be called nasi lemak, wouldn't it?). Suanne put in some sliced ginger for flavouring.

While the rice cooks, Suanne prepared the all important sambal. There are several ways to prepare the sambal but it typically is cooked with onions and anchovies. We prefer the anchovies crunchy and so Suanne just cook the sambal with onions. Making the sambal is a lot of work and does make the whole house smells sambal for a week -- Suanne just uses those bought from the stores.

Making peanuts is well, peanuts. Suanne just pan-fry it for about 10 minutes. Added some salt and once it's all dark brown, it's done.

It's common to have eggs served with nasi lemak. They are served with either hard-boiled or sunny-side up. We prefer the sunny-side up ones because the soft yolk goes really well with the rice.

Chinese New Year Pot Luck

2006-02-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Time flies when you are among friends. ~ Basque Proverb

Today is Chap Goh Meh, which is the final day of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration. A few of our friends from Malaysia and Singapore met together at Eric and Sabrina's new home. We last met together last summer -- it's good to meet again to celebrate the Chinese New Year together.

Eric made three main dishes. He made a fried bee hoon, yam cakes and pineapple tarts. He always impresses us with his cooking. Sabrina is such a lucky girl.

Polly made curry chicken and potato. She thoughtfully made two versions: one spicy one and another milder one for the kids. It was rich and thick -- very nice. It never goes wrong to have spicy dishes for our group. Polly uses the Prima Taste brand.

Xiao Qin made the ever popular fried rice. Kids always like fried rice. It also goes so well with the curry gravy.

Josephine made a huge pot of mee goreng. Yuuuuumy! We finished the entire pot. You see, spicy stuff is always popular. Good stuff Josephine ... send Suanne your recipe.

Suanne made two dishes, chicken sticky rice and fried lo bak go (the ones that Polly and Suanne made two days ago).

Jessica came late with the dessert but it was well worth the wait. The dessert were awesome. I wish I had more room in my tummy for more! Jessica prepare a Tiramisu, kueh ubi kayu, kueh lapis and a cake I don't know it's called (looks like a flattened log cake but tastes awesome).

Thanks guys for a great time today.

Lee's Fried Chicken on Kingsway

2006-02-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

A chicken with beautiful plumage does not sit in a corner. ~ African Proverb

Our boys love fried chicken. They normally wants this for lunch after their chinese classes on Saturdays. Although, the most common fried chicken places in Vancouver is KFC and Church's Chicken, we don't really fancy them.

Instead, we like this rather unknown place called Lee's Fried Chicken. We tried it once out of curiosity some years back and has since been going there quite regularly. It is located along Kingsway between Royal Oak and Nelson. BTW, although this place serves primarily fried chicken, they also serve Korean and Japanese food like sushi, noodles, etc during weekdays.

The husband-wife owners of this outlet are Koreans. Since we were such regulars over the years, we get very good service from the owners -- they give us real plates and cutlery instead of styrofoam and plastic ones!

The boys love the fries the most. It's always served hot and is crispy on the outside and soft on the insides -- made perfectly. It also has the right touch of salt. Norman always says that it has good texture and great taste. The serving is large enough for the four of us.

We always ordered the 10-piece fried chicken combo. It costs $17.11, after taxes. If you try this, you must order it with "extra crispy and spicy" option. You will like the crispiness. Like the fries, they are always served piping hot. The skin is crunchy and underneath it, the meat is moist. Perfecto!

The combo includes the fries and chicken gravy. The gravy is nothing to shout about. We normally do not finish all 10 pieces and bring whatever we can't finish for dinner at home.

I know a lot of the readers of our blog work or church around this area. So, I highly recommend you to at least try this place out. I think you will find that Lee's Chicken beats KFC and Church's Chicken. Tell the owner Chowtimes sent you. :-)

Lo Bak Go (Chinese Turnip Cake)

2006-02-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

The only unsinkable ship is friendship. ~ Jeff Sczpanski

Polly came over and helped me make Lo Bak Go. I am glad she came over because it's a lot of work making this. I learned this from a previous Community Kitchen class.

Lo bak go (蘿蔔糕 lo bak go, 萝卜糕 luóbogāo) are savory cakes are made from grated daikon radishes. The daikons are mixed with bits of dried shrimp and chinese sausages that are steamed and then cut into slices and pan-fried. Chinese people normally make Lo Bak Go in the Chinese New Year.

As the name implies, the main ingredient is the daikon radish, which is also known as chinese turnip (or lo bak). The rice flour and corn starch is used to hold the cake together. The other ingredients such as chinese sausage, mushrooms, shallots and dried shrimp are used for flavouring.

Here is how Polly and I make the dish:

We started off grating the daikon. It was easy with the food processor.

We then cooked the daikon with some water for 20 minutes. This will soften the daikon.

While waiting for the Daikon to cook, we chopped the flavouring ingredients into small pieces. This is really hard work. I am not sure if I should use the food processor for this because the ingredients are pretty hard.

We then fried the ingredients at the same time until they are fragrant. We forgot to add in the seasonings, like salt, pepper and sugar!!

We mixed the corn starch and rice flour in water before we pour it over the fried ingredients together with the cooked daikon.

We need to stir the mixture until it turns into paste. This is a difficult part because we need a lot of arm strength to stir through the thick mixture.

After this, we steamed the mixture for one hour.

The lo bak go could be served warm or if you chose to freeze it, you need to fry it before serving. It is best eaten with sweet chilli sauce (lat jiu jeong) or sweet sauce (tim jeong).

We are bringing this dish to our little Chinese New Year gathering this weekend at Sabrina and Eric's new house. Thanks Polly for coming over today. Let me know how your kids like it.

Korean Pancake

2006-02-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

He who goes to bed hungry dreams of pancakes. ~ Maltese Proverb I prepared Korean Pancakes for a light dinner tonight. It is a batter with vegetables and meat. For meat, I used luncheon meat. Pancakes are apparently popular in the Korean culture. There are many types but the one I prepared tonight is the vegetable pancake. The pancake mix costs about $2-$3. Other ingredients used are carrot, suey choy, cilantro and luncheon meat. You may substitude the luncheon meat with other meat like prawns, baby oysters, etc.

Here is how I prepare it:

I first grate the ingredients into small pieces.

I then mix the batter with same amount of water and the mix. I whisk the batter until it is not lumpy.

The chopped ingredients goes in at the same time -- and mixed well.

I put a ladle of mixture into the pan -- and pan fried each side for two minutes

I then turn the pancake over after two minutes to fry the other side. I serve it in hoi-sin (seafood) sauce.

This is a quick and healthy meal. It just took me about 20 minutes to prepare the meal.

Richmond Community Kitchen

2006-02-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead I started going to the Richmond Community Kitchen not too long ago. I found it from the community pages of the Richmond News and decided to check it out. They are organized by the Family Services of Greater Vancouver (FSGV). Check out their website here: http://www.fsgv.ca/ The Cooking Club (known as the Richmond Community Kitchen) typically meets once every two weeks. The schedule of meeting differs from location to location. I attend the one at the South Arm Community Centre which meets every 2nd and 4th Wednesday mornings.

I enjoy going to the meetings. I not only get to learn new recipes but it also allow me to meet new people. The people are friendly, supportive and encouraging. Most of the attendees are regulars.

The meetings normally lasts about two hours. We take turns sharing recipes. We pay a share for buying the ingredients which goes to the person who does the demonstration of the day. Today's meeting is just $1.50 -- and you get to taste the food at the end. We normally finish off the food before we go home. Jean S shared with us two recipes this week: Cinnamon Bun and Beef Filled Buns.

Jean's Cinnamon Buns

Jean demonstrated how to make the dough by hand, unlike how I used the bread machine to do it. This is new to me and learned how to proof the yeast and how to knead the dough by hand. The manual method took almost four hours. I think I will stick to the bread machine.

Jean's Beef Filled Buns

At the end of this week's session, Jean was really pleased when Vanessa got everyone to applause her for the demonstration. It was a lot of work, especially kneading the dough manually for so long. Great work, Jean ... appreciate your effort and we all had fun and the buns were great.

So, Richmond ladies who read my blog, if you can find time to join us, give me (Suanne) a call.

OK, since this blog is about buns and dough, here is something hilarous sent to us courtesy of Eugene ... enjoy it.

Singapore Restaurant on Broadway

2006-02-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

Coarse rice for food, water to drink, and the bended arm for a pillow - happiness may be enjoyed even in these. ~ Confucius

After six years, we still crave good old Malaysian food. We tried to locate the Cafe De Light restaurant this weekend but for some reason we just can't find it. Oh well, we were pretty hungry and just picked the Singapore Restaurant which is located along the same street, Broadway.

We've been to this place once before.

The parking was plentiful seeing that it was a weekend. The restaurant was quite empty too. The owner of the restaurant told us that they get very busy on weekdays but is slow on weekends. I can understand that seeing that Broadway lies smack between office buildings.

The owner was from Indonesia, looks like chinese Indonesian to us. He told us he came over 28 years ago and has since owned this restaurant. I find that amazing because I always thought that restaurants that lasts so many years are rare.

We were not particularly adventurous and stuck with the normal Malaysian fare. We chose from the "lunch special" menu where the price of each dish ranges from $5 to $6.

The lunch special comes with free bowl of chicken broth and spring rolls. The spring rolls are really nice and was served pipping hot and with plum dipping sauce.

Ben ordered the Nasi Lemak. The curry chicken was OK but the sambal was not. I always felt that real nasi lemak much have sambal ikan bilis but this dish comes with plain sambal bawang. It was not spicy. Also, the kacang and ikan bilis goreng was immersed in the chicken curry ... losing its "crunchy-ness".

Suanne tried the Assam Chicken. The serving was really plain -- just rice and a bowl of assam chicken ... no garnishing at all. Presentation-wise, this is really bad. In the taste department, it was very much like the normal curry chicken without coconut milk ... and has a bit of tanginess to it because of the assam (tamarind).

Marcus chose the Hainanese Chicken Rice. There is nothing really special to this. The serving was adequate for a full meal. Marcus finished off the rice first before touching the chicken -- the rice must be really good. BTW, Norman was away camping (yeah, in the snow!!) and did not join us.

The meal ended with a bowl each of bubur char-char. Suanne loves this a lot. Other than the lack of "ubi" (yam), it was perfect. Sweet and rich!

The total bill, including taxes and tips, came up to $22. Not a bad meal. Recommended if you have never tried this restaurant before. Good value for money, if you ask me.

Laksa

2006-02-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

There is no love sincerer than the love of food ~ Geoffrey Neighor Rachel gave us a box of Laksa paste and premixes which they brought for us all the way from Singapore. This was what is rightfully called Laksa Lemak because there are many varieties of Laksa. This version of Laksa is of Peranakan origin, that is, born of the intermarriage of Chinese and Malay cultures. Laksa lemak, also known as nonya laksa, is a type of laksa served in a rich coconut gravy. The presence of the coconut cream (the pressed "milk" of the grated flesh of a fresh coconut) which adds a distinctive richness to the dish. Laksa is traditionally garnished with laksa leaf, also known as Vietnamese coriander or Vietnamese mint. Here are the ingredients we use to prepare the Laksa for lunch.

The Laksa box contained four pouches: (1) the Laksa Premix, (2) the Laksa Paste, (3) Sambal Chili and (4) Dried Laksa Leaves.

For noodles, we use the shanghai thin noodles.

We also had some fried beancurd (tofu-pok).

For meat, we use fishballs and prawns. Cilantro is used to garnish the dish.

The Laksa can be used to make two-three servings.

The premix is basically dehydrated coconut milk powder which is added to water.

The premix is stirred until they are all dissolved.

The Laksa Paste is then added. The Laksa Paste is which give the taste of fresh herbs and spices.

Suanne used a whisk to make sure that the paste are completely mixed evenly.

It's ready to be boiled over high heat. Suanne did not cover the pot so that it does not boil over.

The fried bean curd is cut into triangles so that it absorbs the gravy better.

After adding the fried bean curd and fishballs, the boiling takes another 5 minutes before the prawns are added last.

The Laksa is then scooped into bowls of noodles.

Here is what it looks like before garnishing.

To serve, Suanne added the Sambal chilli which gives the dish the spicyness and the dried Laksa Leaves. The Cilantro is added for garnishing.

Orville Redenbacher's Popcorns

2006-02-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

The truly rich are those who enjoy what they have. ~ Yiddish Proverb It's hockey night today. Marcus wanted to watch the Canucks game against our arch-rival, the Flames. He made popcorns for snack for the game. The popcorn we bought was a mouthful -- it's called the Orville Redenbacher's Ultimate Theatre Style Butter Flavour Popcorn. Each box costs $2.99 and comes with four separate packs.

This brand is different from many other popcorns in that it comes with a separate pour-over flavour pouch. The flavour is made from real butter. That's why they call it the Ultimate Theatre Style.

It's the normal microwaveable popcorn. Very simple to make but got to be careful because it's very hot after the popping.

It just takes 2-4 minutes. You know it's done once the popping stops.

Marcus then poured the flavour over the popcorn.

We also have some popcorn seasoning. Our favourite is the Sour Cream and Onion. The darker bottle is the All Dressed flavour.

Oh yeah, we beat the Flames 3-1 tonight despite being outshot. We're back on top of the Northwest Division. Go-Canucks-Go!

United Airlines Snackbox

2006-02-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

A good meal ought to begin with hunger. ~ French Proverb On my flight to Atlanta, I thought I try out United Airlines' Snack Box even though Suanne packed some snack for me. It has been a while since most airlines had discontinued free inflight meals even for long haul flights. On United's flight over 3.5 hrs, one could purchase United's snack boxes for USD $5 each -- they accept only cash. United has choice of four different types of snack boxes. Click here for their selection. I wanted something a bit salty and cheesey. I opted for the Mini Meal Snack Box. The boxes were shrink wrapped. I was pretty surprised by the content. It was packed pretty tight and had a very good selection.

I started off with the Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies. There are two in a pack and sandwiched a layer of chocolate. As with most cookies I was particularly concern about crumbs since I was sitting in such cramped space with my bulky camera by my side, but it does not crumble much. Made just right for a flight.

I always get so dehydrated on flights. I took the apple sauce next. It's a Granny Smith apple sauce from Mott's. I like it because it is unsweetened.

There are seven of Hommel Hard Beef Salami slices in the pack. It was exactly what I wanted ... a little bit of salt and meat.

Next was the Parmesan Cheese spread on stoned wheat crackers.

I did not particularly care for potato chips and kept it aside for snacks later.

I like this item. It is called the Hiya Peppermint. Instead of the normal peppermint drops, these peppermint is liquid filled capsule. It releases the mint instantaneously. Good thing to share with people.

It was a good thing I had a window seat on the last row on the plane. It was not easy to escape people's attention when I took my time to arrange my food for the shots. Luckily, the person who sat next to me was sleeping all the way. Some people did notice and must have thought I was a village bum flying for the first time and taking shots of every little thing I came across. :-)

Chicago Style Hot Dog

2006-02-03T21:40:00.000-08:00

The heart of a man may be compared to a sausage; no one can tell exactly what's inside. ~ Yiddish Proverb I was delayed at the Chicago O'Hare Airport for four hours just a few days ago. At least United Airlines gave me a meal voucher so that I could have a wee bite while waiting. My tummy was growling then. Since I was in Chicago, I thought I should try something native to Chicago. Seems like Chicago'ians (?) are pretty proud of the Chicago Style Hot Dog which is served very consistently the same way. Here is what it looks like:

What I learn is a Chicago style hot dog is almost always:

a beef hot dog
a poppy seed bun
yellow mustard
sweet relish
chopped raw onion
a dill pickle spear
tomato slices
celery salt
AND NO KETCHUP

I don't know why no ketchup. I find it strange because I have always wanted ketchup on hot dogs. It is a perfect meal with a little meat, vegetables, spicy peppers, cool tomato and a zing of celery salt. I also got myself a bottle of Tropicana Orange Juice.

How much did it costs? It's slightly less than $7 (USD) including the drink -- all paid for by United Airlines. Thanks a bunch for making me wait in the airport for four hours (NOT!).

DQ's Chocolate Dilly Bars

2006-02-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

Life is like a box of chocolate ... ~ Forest Gump Believe it or not, last week I bought a total of 72 Dilly Bars! It is a good thing that Dairy Queen had a BOGO (buy-one-get-one) promotion or else it would have costs me quite a bit. I bought them as a treat for all the people in Best Buy who had so kindly paid for my farewell lunches. I think they all liked it.

This is my blog on the famous Dilly Bar from DQ.

The Dilly Bar is a delicious vanilla ice milk dipped in chocolate flavoured coating. Did you know that the Dilly is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year. Yup, it was first made in the year 1955.

Each box of Dilly Bars come with twelve 100ml bars. A box normally costs $16 (tax included). Effectively, with the BOGO, each box is about only $8. It's a good thing they have a promotion at this time!

Most people does not know this but the Dilly Bars are made on the premises of each Dairy Queen. That sort of explains the twirlly deal on each bar. It's the twirlly deal that makes the Dilly Bar so famous.

Oh, all this blogging is making me want one. Bye for now ... gotta to get one from the fridge!

NUTRITIONAL FACTS

Serving Size: 3.0 oz. Calories: 210 Calories from Fat: 120 Total Fat: 13 grams Saturated Fat: 7 grams Cholesterol: 10 milligrams Sodium: 75 milligrams Carbohydrates: 21 grams Fiber: 0 grams Sugars: 17 grams Protein: 3 grams

Peanut Butter Pita Bread

2006-02-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

Qn: What is the only food that does not spoil? An: Honey Hello all. After eating out the past week, we're blogging again about food at home. This is my (Suanne's) creation -- I call this PBPB, the Peanut Butter Pita Bread. I am preparing this as a snack for Ben's flight to Atlanta today. The PBPB is a very simple snack, filling and easy to carry (i.e. it does not get squished like sandwiches does). I made this for all the guys at home. All of them like it very much. We buy the Pita Pockets from the Superstore about once every two weeks. Each pack comes with 18 pita pockets and costs $4.19. About 23 cents each ... it is cheap.

The main ingredients are peanut butter and frosted cornflakes.

I normally microwave the pita for 10 seconds to soften it up. That makes it easier to open up the pocket as they tend to stick together on the insides. Here I have cut the pita in half and is opening up the pocket.

I then spread a generous helping of peanut butter. Ben likes it with a lot of peanut butter. Norman and Marcus likes it with Nutella spread. You can experiment with all kinds of spread but then you cannot call it a PBPB anymore, right? The frosted cornflakes goes in next.

Here it is ... the Peanut Butter Pita Bread, PBPB. If you try it out at home, let me know how the people at home likes it.

Deluxe Lunch from The Hub

2006-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything. It's the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it. ~ Trey Parker and Matt Stone Today is my last day of work and I have one last lunch -- this time with the folks of my Genco project. We normally celebrate project closeouts by eating out but opted this time to have the food catered from our cafeteria, The Hub. See that handsome chap below? He's the employee of the month because of his effort on the Genco project -- helped the company eliminated a bunch of unproductive work. This guy is a genius, I kid you not.

Jackson (our Iron Chef) specially prepared Asian food because most of the team members are Asians. Jackson and his team prepared what he called the Deluxe Lunch with an Asian Twist. The costs were just $11.95 per head. This is what we got for a dozen loonies:

For starters we had egg rolls, or is it spring rolls? The folks are adamant that it's called egg rolls even though I can't find any evidence of eggs on them. Well, I was told that the eggs were used to make the skin/wrappper. What do you think it should be called? Yum-yum.

This seems like the favourite among the folks. It's called pancit (pronounced as pan-sit). This is apparently a Filipino type noodle. Pancit means long-life and is a must-have during birthdays. Nice.

We had a lot of Sticky Rice leftover. It tastes nice but it's just that it does not look appetizing. I like the dried prawns (Cantonese har-mai, Filipino hibi) and the mushrooms in it. So-so.

The meat platter has Thai Curry Chicken Breast and Pork Chop. The Curry Chicken breast is not really spicy. The pork chops were huge -- I saw a piece that measured 8" by 6"!! Everyone liked the chicken breast. Thumbs-up!

This platter consists of Vegeterian Samosa and Fried Kalamari Rings. The Samosa was much bigger than the ones we buy outside -- probably explains why most stayed away from it. Jackson should make them smaller. Not Bad.

Here is the usual fruit platter consisting of grapes, watermelon, strawberry and honey dew. Sweet.

We had a lot of food leftover and brought it down to IT to share. I sent out an *itall notification and the food magically disappears in just two minutes -- it always does, amazing. Apparently, the two words "free" and "food" are the best words to have on email headers if you want people to read it.

Well, this is the last of the series of lunches at Best Buy. To everyone in BBYC who reads my blog, I want you to know that I had a blast the past six years. I am really proud of being associated with all the good work you have done. Remember this ... to me, you all are the BEST, Numero Uno, Second to None.

Keep in touch through chowtimes. Love you all!!

Alright now, I have a bunch of name cards in mint condition, never used ... any takers?

He he he ... I just logged onto Pluto. My ID still works ... amazing! :-)

Farewell Merienda and Balut

2006-01-30T19:21:00.000-08:00

A brave man will face a situation no matter how dreadful. ~ Filipino Proverb I learn new things everyday. Today, I learn of two new words - merienda and balut. Merienda

Some of the folks in IT threw a little merienda for Alex and I. Our last day at work is tomorrow. I have never heard of the word merienda before. Well, I was enlightened that merienda is a spanish word that means snacks. I like the Spanish -- they did give the world the idea of siesta, right? Isn't it nice -- having a siesta after a meal and then waking up to a merienda? Anyway here are the folks who threw a farewell merienda for Alex and I at The Hub (the company cafetaria).

Balut (Duck Egg)

Balut is a Filipino delicacy. Zimrie made them for brave souls in the farewell merienda. This is how Balut tastes like ... gross!

Balut is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in a shell. He he he ... it is considered aphrodisiac and considered a hearty snack. The filipino and filipinas in the group educated me on how to eat this:

I started off by cracking a small opening at the base of the egg. The base of the egg is the rounder end of the egg (know what I mean?). I looked in ... and man! It sure look nasty ... yucks! I can see the feathers! He he he ... Mark walked away because he can't stand the discussion on this ... "thing".

The first part to savor (!?) is the broth surrounding the embryo. Arturo showed me that the broth is to be sipped. I closed my eyes and sipped the broth ... it tastes weird. Gosh, the things I do for a blog. Got some broth on my fingers, it sure smells.

The next part is the yolk and the young chick inside (!?!). I tried not to look at it when I eat it. It doesn't taste too bad ... it's just that the thought of it is revolting. It tastes like ... hard boiled eggs left in the sun for three days.

This is the part where I gave up. I gathered up some courage and looked at the insides ... was looking at it curiously and tried to figure out which part of the chicken it was supposed to be. It looks ugly. Click on this picture and take a closer look. Let me know what you think!

Seriously, guys and gals, I had great fun today. Thanks for taking the time and bring along the goodies.

Vietnamese Coffee

2006-01-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

Coffee should be black as Hell, strong as death, and sweet as love. ~ Turkish Proverb It is cold and rainy today. I did not sleep too well last night and as such it's a great time for coffee to keep me awake. Suanne made me Vietnamese Coffee which is also known as Cafe Sua Nong. Vietnamese Coffee is normally served in ice but I like it warm on a cold day like today.

Vietnames coffee can be made simply by mixing black coffee with a lot of condensed milk. It is traditionally made by brewing the coffee with a small drip percolator into a cup containing condensed milk. We bought the percolator some time back from the T&T Supermarket. We can't recall exactly how much it costs but it's pretty cheap ... something like $5 or so.

We use whole coffee beans and like to grind it just before we use it to ensure freshness. Coffee once ground deteriorates fast. Ignore the Folgers can on the picture below ... we just used the can to store our coffee beans.

This is how we made our Vietnamese Coffee:

Normally, Vietnamese uses a lot more condensed milk (from 1/4 cup to half a cup!). That is too much for me. Suanne used two tablespoon instead.

Suanne placed the perculator on the glass and the fine ground coffee in it. She then packs it in slightly and screws on the metal lid to compress the coffee further. This will give the coffee the thick tar-like drips.

Suanne then pours hot, boiling water and set it aside.

The tighter the metal lid is screwed the slower the drip goes resulting in thick drips. It takes quite a while for the coffee to drip through.

This is how it looks like. We normally fills the perculator after the first round drips through ... two rounds of drip will fill the glass we use.

So, here it is ... a cup of warm, black, strong and sweet coffee. Just what I needed for this blog. Enjoy!

Horizons on Burnaby Mountain

2006-01-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

The horizon will not disappear as you run towards it. ~ Bantu Proverb Last night Suanne and I had a timeout from the boys and we went to a fine dining restaurant called Horizons on Burnaby Mountain. The restaurant is nestled in the beautiful Burnaby Mountain Park and overlooks the bright city lights of Vancouver below.

We had a reservation for 5pm. At this time of the year, it's just in time to see the sunset and the bright and yellow city lights turn on. While waiting for the restaurant to open we had a quick walk around the park in the crisp chilly weather ... the city looks so beautiful from here. This place is also referred to as The Playground of the Gods because of the many Japanese wooden sculptures on the park. We were seated by the windows and had a panoramic and spectacular view of the city and the Burrard Inlet. Already we knew this would be an enjoyable night. We see people starting to come in for dinner -- many dressed in their finest. Suanne too was stunning -- with her new leather jacket and all!

The menu is largely inspire by West Coast cuisine with grilled steaks and seafood over open flame. The setting is elegant with a warm ambiance. It's really a great and romantic place. We opted for a 3-course selection. I know it's supposed to be an elegant setting but I brought along my camera ... he he he, I must have attracted a lot of attention when my flash fired throughout the night. Note: Click on the pictures below to enlarge.

The night started off with the usual basket of warm bread and butter. It was OK, not too much of a flavour that we expect ... you know, we expect garlic-flavoured bread or so but it is just plain bread.

For appetizer, I opted for the Gulf Island Mussels. It is cooked with white wine, bacon and cream. The serving comes with seven large mussels. I like it very much. They were fresh and succulent. A very good start.

Suanne had the Roasted Tomato Soup for appetizers. The soup was prepared with fennel and garlic. It's not thick and rich -- just right. It was just warm for the cold winter weather. Truly an appetizer to start off the main course.

I chose the Grilled Beef Tenderloin for the main course and had a skewer of grilled prawns for sides. What makes this distinctive from the normal steak is that it is topped with blue cheese butter and served in red wine. I like my steak rare and it was prepared just exactly the way I like. I noticed that the plate was very hot -- I guess it's to keep the steak warm longer. The blue cheese butter makes this a 5 out of 5.

Suanne had the Herb Roasted Game Hen for her main course. It is served with Fondantes potatoes and served in apple sage jus. It was not bad except that it would be better if it comes with more juice -- it is a tad too dry for Suanne's liking. Well, it's also a bit clumsy because of the chicken is served whole, bones and all. The chicken is tender ... a 4 out of 5.

Suanne's desert was the Chocolate Mousse Cappucino. We like the way it was served with a sugar tuile made to look like fire out of the cup. This was excellent with three layers of distinct flavour -- the bottom was a layer of chocolate, the middle is the cappucino mousse and topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Yum-yum!

I had the Warm Apple Brioche Pudding. The best part of this is the butterscotch rum sauce it was served on. I really like this a lot. A definite 5 of 5. Just the right touch of sweetness and a great dessert to end the night.

We both ordered a cup of coffee as we sat there chatted and looked over the now bright city lights. We felt that life is good.

As we walked back to the car, we stopped briefly in the light rain and looked at the bright lights. I took the last picture ... it did not turn out quite right, I wish I had my tripod with me. We will do this again -- it was a great way to end a hectic week.

Top Gun Sushi at the Quay

2006-01-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

If you find no fish, you have to eat bread. ~ Ghanaian Proverb The folks in the Service and R&R Project teams went to an all-you-can-eat sushi. They selected the one which is called Top Gun Sushi at the Quay. It is located on the second floor of the Public Market at the New Westminster Quay. I have never been there before but I have heard so much about Top Gun Sushi. Although it has ala carte but it is famous for it's all-you-can-eat.

We went early and arrived at 11:30am to make sure we have a table. It was a great idea because the place was really packed, especially so because it's a Friday afternoon. We had a great table by the window which overlooks the Fraser river.

The sushi was good, the selection was similar to the many all-you-can-eat sushis in the city. The prices are pretty cheap compared to some other places I went to. Here are the prices:

Adult: $9.95 weekday and $10.95 weekend Child (4-9 years old): $5.95 weekday and $6.95 weekend All-you-can-eat Salmon and Tuna Sashimi is just $2 extra -- pretty good deal.

Here are some of the items we ordered (CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR A LARGER VIEW):

So thanks a bunch for buying this lunch and for being such great project team members. I want to say that you are the reasons that our projects has consistently been successful. We delivered a lot didn't we?

Cactus Club Cafe on Kingsway

2006-01-26T18:18:00.000-08:00

Work like a slave and eat like a gentleman. ~ Albanian Proverb I have farewell lunches everyday right until my last day at work next week. Already I have gained 1kg since last week. I am not going to weigh myself anymore until all these lunches are over. Today's lunch is the "official" farewell lunch which is organized by the PMO. We went to the Cactus Club Cafe on Kingsway. The Cactus Club offers casual fine dining and has a very global menu. This place is one of the favourite lunch places the people in the company goes to because of the menu caters to every palate. The menu includes items such as dim sum, quesadillas, steak, burgers, pasta, ribs, and fajitas. Check out their menu and prices. I ordered the grilled salmon which if I recall correctly, costs $10.

The salmon is served with rice and green beans. The sauce used to cook the salmon is pretty spicy. I like the green beans which has a touch of saltiness. It was a big serving.

My boss paid for my lunch. Oh, I should have ordered the Ultimate Mushroom Deliglace at $31 ... just kidding boss!

It was a good gathering and felt appreciated because the PM team showed up along with many members of my projects. We did not talk about work at all, which is a good thing. We just ... chatted.

It has been a pleasure working with them all.

Grand Pacific Buffet in New Westminster

2006-01-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

"I heard" is good; "I saw" is better; "I tasted" is best. ~ Ben Yap The chinese employees at my workplace organized a Chinese New Year lunch celebration today. We do that every year. This year, they have graciously invited Suanne too for the lunch because they wanted to also make this a farewell lunch for me. For the first time, the organizer decided that we go to a buffet for a change. We went to the Grand Pacific Buffet in New Westminster. The Grand Pacific Buffet is a buffet with Western, Chinese and Japanese food with predominantly chinese food.

There were a lot of varieties. The food is so-so but then it's not fair to compare buffets to the normal restaurants. I was wary of MSG with the tell-tale thirstiness after the meal but nope, it was not at all. Suanne and I went for two full rounds and ended up sharing the dessert. The photos below does not tell much but anyway, these are our second round plates. It's about $8 for a weekday lunch.

Good food goes best with good company. These people are not co-workers but has been friends to me for a long time. I was always the odd one out with this group because I do not understand their brand of Mandarin. It does not matter, as long as the food is good -- they are the SME's (Best Buy's overused term for Subject Matter Experts) in Chinese food around Burnaby.

I have worked directly and indirectly with most of them on some of my projects. They are all awesome and great to have them in the team. I must say that one of the primary reasons that many of my projects were successful were because of these people. I will miss being around the office with them.

We raised our cups but I didn't know what they were toasting (remember, I don't understand their brand of Mandarin or for that matter, any brand of Mandarin?). But to me, my toast is for a great chinese new year ahead, success in their careers and may all their dearest dreams come true. Best friends deserve the best wishes!

So, here we are -- Ben and Suanne smilling from ear to ear. It's because we did not have to pay! Thanks buddies, for the treat. Oh ... remember to invite me for the chinese new year lunch next year ... this time I'll pay ... for my own, not everyone's!

I'm bringing Dilly Bars for everyone tomorrow.

My Commute

2006-01-24T20:01:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a thousand plans, but this morning I went my old way. ~ Chinese Proverb OK, I know this is not about food but I thought I have a break and blog about something I love to do very much -- biking. Well, many of you already know that I am leaving Best Buy. It's been a long six years and my last day at work is next week. Today is about the only day I could bike to work and so I thought I make a change and blog about my commute to work. My new place of work will be further and worse, I will have to navigate two killer hills. I guess it'll be a while before I get the chance to bike again.

I took it easy and stopped at various points to take pictures. Here is what my commute was like:

	I started off at 7am, much later than my usual commute. I mean, I am no longer in a hurry to get to work early. I always enjoyed this short part of the commute ... the South Arm Park
	The snow fell at the North Shore mountains again the past weeks. I find this is the beautiful side of Vancouver and am always awed by the mountains, particularly in winter.
	I looked east while biking along Garden City and saw the silhouette of Mount Baker. I tried to catch it on camera but the clouds obscured it somewhat. Anyway, the sun rise was beautiful. It's a beautiful day for a ride.
	I cross over to Vancouver thru the Oak St Bridge. Heavy traffic over the bridge as usual but there's an advantage on this stretch on a bike.
	Once in Vancouver, it's on the Kent Bike Route all the way to the office in Burnaby. I will miss this route having travelled countless times and do seem to know every part of the route.
	I stopped by the Fraser River side and saw someone working on a log boom. As I took the picture, I saw the pilot stared at me. I quickly put away the camera and biked on.
	I normally don't bike on this trail and stay on the asphalt. For today, I thought I take the more scenic route. I like this way because I get to greet people along the way. This is the friendly route.
	Ah, spent 6 years in this company. Saw it grew from strength to strength and today we have no peers in North America. Great people from who I learnt so much.
	Back to the desk. See that piece of pita? Well, it's Suanne's creation. I'll tell you about it next time.

Buns, Buns, Buns and Buns

2006-01-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

Warm food, warm friendships. ~ Czech Proverb Polly and Xiao Qin came by this morning to make the buns Ben & I blogged earlier. We made two batches of buns and experimented with four different type of fillings. Polly brought her own (stir-fried) minced pork and Xiao Qin brought some peanut butter. I still had some pulled pork leftover and I also bought some lotus paste from the Great One Supermarket.

I had the dough prepared the night before. So, we started off immediate filling the dough. Polly and Xiao Qin did the filling for almost all the buns while I played paparazzi. It was pretty hard work as it took almost 1 hour to fill 24 buns. We baked the buns in two different batches.

While waiting for the buns to rise and bake, we had a good time chatting about the upcoming Chinese New Year, and about our kids growing up in Canada. We also discussed techniques of disciplining our kids. :-) We had a good laugh.

All of us, both kids and mums, had the buns for lunch. The kids enjoyed Polly's minced pork bun while the mums had the spicy version.

Thanks for coming by and sharing your time with me, Polly and Xiao Qin. What did the rest of your family say of the buns? I hope they like it.

I had a great time. Let's do this more often.

Green Lemongrass Vietnamese Cuisine

2006-01-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

A good name is better than good habits. ~ Vietnamese Proverb We went to a Vietnamese restaurant today for lunch. There are a lot of vietnamese restaurant serving Pho' in Vancouver. The Green Lemongrass Vietnamese Cuisine restaurant we went to is apparently new because we have never noticed it before. If we remember correctly, I think it used to be a Greek restaurant. It is located in 8180 Westminster Hwy, just next to the Richmond Public Market. Click here for the Google Map of this location. We ordered three dishes to share among the four of us because vietnamese noodles always comes in very big bowl. All Vietnamese restaurants served the traditional Vietnamese noodles called pho -- noodles in clear beef broth. Norman always ordered either the Beef Ball Noodles or the ubiquitous No 1 Special. This time he ordered the No 1 Special which comes with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket), tendon, tripe and meatballs. Since Marcus liked spicy food, Suanne ordered the spicy version -- Pork & Beef in Hot & Spicy Soup. The large No 1 Special costs $5.95 while the Hot & Spicy version is $6.95. I ordered the Curry Chicken which costs $9.50. It was the first time I see that curry chicken is served in a claypot. The presentation was pretty good and come together with pieces of butter/garlic bread. The bread was very good and is eaten by dunking it into the curry gravy. We had lots of gravy left over and ordered extra servings of steamed rice. It was a good meal.

Richmond Public Market (1)

2006-01-21T22:08:00.000-08:00

If you buy cheap meat, you'll smell what you have saved when it boils. ~ Arabian Proverb Suanne and I had a break from the boys today. Not knowing where to go for lunch, we ended up in the Richmond Public Market. The Public Market is located along the Wesminster Highway and is another great place for authentic and cheap chinese food. The food court, located at the upper level, are always very busy. Because of the many food stalls in the public market, we are naming this blog the Richmond Public Market. Here is the first of the series: Zin Jiang Delicious Food

Suanne went to the Xin Jiang Delicious Food. Xin Jiang is a remote province in north western China and is the province with a large muslim community. We just learnt that the people in Xin Jiang prefer to refer themselves as the Chinese Turkestan. That is why you see that there's a Halal symbol on the signboard above. Suanne opted for a dish we have never tried before. It is called the Xin Jiang Flak Crystal and is serve is rectangular pieces. The owner told us that it is made from mung bean powder. Mung bean is better known as green beans or "kacang hijau" in Malay. The Flak Crystal is perhaps prepared the same way like the transparent noodle such as Tung Fun (cantonese) but that it's made into a cake and cut into pieces for cooking.

The dish is very spicy and we felt it is also a thad too salty for our taste. The price is $7.25 for a large serving.

Beijing Shanghai Delicacy

According to my chinese friends, this stall is the famous siow lung pau stall. However, I opted for a dish called Deep Fried Oyster Cake which is very similar to the Penang Or Jian (oyster omelette). The ingredients looks the same except that this is deep fried unlike the Penang version that is lightly cooked with somewhat raw oysters.

Having gotten to used to the Penang version, we didn't particularly like this a lot. It seems too starchy and "stretchy" (you know what I mean?). Not too bad, would say that it's a three thumbs rating. The dish costs $4.50.

The Beijing Shanghai Delicacy is also famous for their Fu Zhou Style Fish Ball in Soup. While waiting for my order to be prepared, a lot of people came by and bought their fish balls by the pounds to cook at home. Anyway, we just order three fish balls to try -- costs $2.50.

Although this is called Fish Balls, the fish ball is filled with beef inside it. We find that the fish ball is "mild and light" -- i.e. not salty, very faint taste of fish and beef. It's something that you would eat and eat without realizing how much you have already taken.

Roast Chicken

2006-01-20T20:45:00.000-08:00

Finally! As promised, a blog on chicken. Suanne roasted a pair of chicken for dinner today. We normally buy roasted chicken from the deli section in places like Safeway, Superstore or Save-on-Foods. We used to buy them for dinners and when Suanne does not feel like cooking. The boys particularly liked the chicken and the fries that comes along with it. It was a good deal for about $11 which also includes two sides and buns.

Just prior to Christmas, we found a really cheap roasting pan from Linen-n-Things. It was only $15 after rebates and it comes with a free 4-piece gourmet carving set. Since then we have roasted our own chicken.

The roasting pan is big enough for a large turkey. It's also too large to roast just one chicken. So, we roast a pair each time ... eat one of the them for dinner and keep the other for making dishes like curry laksa, chicken noodle soup, etc for the rest of the week. The pair of chicken below costs about $12-$13.

Suanne uses thyme, lemon, onions and garlic (not in picture) for flavouring. The butter is used to crisp the chicken skin. For taste, the usual salt and pepper are applied.

The baking takes 1.5 hours. We usually roast a few potatoes together too. According to the recipe, Suanne wanted to make gravy from the drippings but the onion at the bottom of the pan always get burnt out. Any idea how you could prevent this?

Anyway, here you go ... a chicken dish ... as promised. :-)

S&W Pepper House in Crystal Mall

2006-01-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

Life is an onion that you peel crying. ~ French Proverb Suanne came by my office today during lunch time while on an errand. We decided to go out to lunch together nearby my office in Burnaby and landed up in the Crystal Mall along Kingsway. Crystal Mall is an Asian Mall and is a great place to get really good and cheap food. He he he ... Crystal Mall is also known as MSG City! We wanted to try a new place and chance upon this small place called S&W Pepper House. We decided to go in because we saw a few people having noodles eating out from a huge bowl.

The S&W Pepper House is a mainland chinese type of joint with almost everyone speaking in Mandarin. It's not a big place, with seating for about 30-35 people max. You could easily give it a miss. If you are the adventrous type and liked trying new and authentic mainland chinese food, you simply MUST try it out. S&W Pepper House in located on the ground floor.

Suanne ordered the "Guo Qiao" Rice Noodle in Special Soup. "Guo Qiao" meant Crossing Bridges in Mandarin. This $6.75 dish is served in four different portions. The main part is the soup in which we were told we need to put the ingredients in order and eat from the large bowl of soup. The raw quail eggs, sliced meat and prawns goes in first. This is followed by mixed vegetables and finally the noodles.

Suanne told me that there's a story behind "Guo Qiao" in old China. The story goes that there was once a very poor scholar who need to study for the provincial exam in a place far away from his home. His wife had to bring him lunch everyday over long distance and needing to cross many bridges to get to him. The food got cold by the time she brought the food over. So, she had an idea to keep the food warm by keeping the ingredients separate and keeping the soup piping hot in a separate container. The soup has a layer of oil to conserve the heat. Anyone heard of this story before?

We looked around and saw that people picked up small amount of noodles and dunked it into the soup and eat from there. We think it is a better idea eating that way so that the noodles are loosened and we don't get noodles packed at the bottom of the soup base.

I ordered the Fried Lamb with Cumin on Steamed Rice. Scanning the lunch menu, this was the most expensive dish on the list and I thought this might be good. The dish costs $7.50. It turned out pretty well. I liked the strong spice and the light gravy goes very well with the rice.

The servings were HUGE. I think even if Norman and Marcus is around, the two dishes we ordered would have been enough for the four of us. We got so full that Suanne and I skipped dinner today.

Try out S&W Pepper House if you are in Crystal Mall. I am very sure you will not regret it.

Naan Pizza

2006-01-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

Cheese and bread make the cheeks red. ~ German Proverb This is Suanne's invention -- a good one I must say. Suanne always had a problem making thin crust pizza, you know, the type that is crispy and crunchy. Until today she has not managed to get the dough just right. So, she substituted the dough with Naan bread. Here is what her Naan Pizza looks like:

The beauty of this pizza is that it's very fast to make and it taste just great-n-crispy. Most important of all, there are no dishes to wash. This takes only 20 minutes to make. Suanne makes this for breakfast every now and then. You may want to consider making this for lunch with more toppings like pepperoni, roasted chicken, etc.

To make this you need the following five items: Naan bread, pizza sauce, shredded mozarella chesse, parmesan cheese and some herbs. We buy all these from the Real Canadian Superstore and does not cost much.

The Naan bread costs about $3.59 for a pack of 12 pieces. For the herbs, we use Mrs Dash for flavouring. We like Mrs Dash and used that with eggs, spaghetti, etc. It's healthier than using seasoning salt in our opinion. We estimated that it will costs about $1.25 to make each piece. The most expensive ingredient is the mozarella (about 2/3 of the total costs).

The steps are very simple. First you spread the pizza sauce on the naan bread. You then sprinkle the herbs and parmesan cheese over the sauce. Lastly, layer a generous helping of shredded mozarella cheese and you're set for the oven. You need to pre-heat the oven to 400C. The pizza is baked for 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

You absolutely must try to make it at home. Chances are the folks at home will love it. It smells great, and is very crispy. One tip: this might trigger the smoke alarm as it did this morning at our home! So, make sure the kitchen is ventilated well.

It's best served with coffee!

If you try to make this, please let us know what your family says of it. Also, if you have any ideas on making it better, please post a comment and share your ideas.

Sticky Rice

2006-01-17T19:47:00.000-08:00

All happiness depends upon a leisurely breakfast. ~ John Gunther We had sticky rice for dinner today. Both Norman and Marcus said that they love this a lot because it's tasty. I think that it not only tastes good, it looks good too.

The main ingredients for this dish are glutinous rice, chinese sausage, shitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, shallots and garlic. Suanne got this recipe originally from her younger sister. Here are the before and after preparation shots of the ingredients:

Suanne starts off by frying all the ingredients until they are fragrant for about 5 minutes or so. You will know that it's ready for the next step when you can, well, smell the fragrance of the ingredients.

The (uncooked) glutinous rice and the seasonings are then added in to the ingredients. Before this, the glutinous rice need to be soaked overnight. The seasonings consists of oyster sauce, light and dark soy. Suanne fries the rice together until the rice are well coated.

The glutinous rice are then transfered into a steamer. The steaming process will take about 40 minutes. Every 10 minutes, you stir the rice and add a few tablespoon of water. This is done so that you don't get the sticky rice that is too soggy at the bottom and too dry at the top.

That's it. It's a simple dish to prepare and I think it's a favourite with kids. To serve, you can add some chopped green onions and some fried shallots.

Here are our ratings:

äääää Marcus äääää Norman äääää Ben äääää Suanne (Self)

Tom Yum Noodle Soup

2006-01-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

Eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. ~ Mark Twain A quick blog today on a recent Tom Yum noodle soup that we tried. This is so far the best tom yum noodle soup we have come across. It's at the swanky new Food Court in Metrotown, Burnaby. The stall is called Thai "something" ... can't remember what it's called exactly. Anyway, there is only one stall which serves Thai food. Here is what it looks like:

Looks delicious right? I especially liked the big prawns and the fried tofu. The soup is not very spicy but with just the right sourness. Suanne and I normally share just one bowl and she always insists that I leave the soup alone for her. I tak-tahan, because she always sapu all the soup.

Pretty authentic, I must say. If you like spicy food and especially tom yum, you absolutely must try this out. It's $5.62, inclusive of tax.

Dine Out Vancouver 2006

2006-01-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star. ~ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin The Vancouver Dine Out event is back again. This year the event will run from January 20th to February 2nd. It was a great success each year with most popular restaurants selling out. This event lets one enjoy a three-course dinner at 144 of Vancouver's hottest restaurants for $15, $25 or $35 per person. Check out further details at www.tourismvancouver.com. Here is the link to a nice video on this event put together by Tourism Vancouver ... you should check it out: Click Here for the video. Most of the restaurants booking is still open but if you are interested you better act on it fast as the best restaurants are expected to sellout pretty fast. We wanted so much to go to the Lumiere but it was sold out. Lumiere is the restaurant of Rob Feenie, one of the Iron Chef America! So, Suanne and I have booked a dinner at the Horizons on Burnaby Mountain for 5pm at the end of this month. We think the timing will be perfect because we can watch the sunset from the top of Burnaby Mountain. It'll be one spectacular view of the mountains ... I hope we can get a window table! He he he ... we have already sort of decided what we'll order for the dinner. I am going to have the Gulf Island Mussels for appetizers, Grilled Tenderloin with blue cheese butter, red wine demi and Yukon gold mashed for the main course. For deserts, I think I will go with the Warm Apple Brioche Pudding. Suanne is opting for Roasted Tomato Soup with fennel & garlic for starters. For the main course, she thinks she will go for the Herb Roasted Game Hen with Fondates potato and apple sage jus. She will probably end up with Chocolate Mousse Cappucino with sugar tuile. This is making me hungry! Anyway, it'll be fun to also go out with friends and so if you are interested, call me or Suanne and we can go together. It is $25 per person, and that does not include wine, taxes and gratuities. BTW, we are not bringing the boys along. We'll try to blog the dinner.

Malaysian Hut Restaurant

2006-01-14T23:01:00.000-08:00

Man shall not live by bread alone ... ~ Moses Today, we were invited by Bernie and his family to try out a Malaysian restaurant in Surrey. Bernie hails from the Pearl of the Orient, Penang. The restaurant we went to is called Malaysian Hut and is managed by Irene Chang, a baba-nyonya, from Sibu, Sawarak. Irene is a very friendly person who came out and chatted briefly with us. The restaurant has been operating at the 108th Avenue for more than five years. They have a mini website at http://www.malaysianhut.ca/ and was featured twice recently in The Province. Anyway, Irene is the tall one in the picture below.

We decided to order different types of dishes for sharing so that we all get the chance to try out varieties. So, we ordered Char Koay Teow, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Curry Laksa and Asam Laksa. The servings were pretty generous. Of all the dishes, the Char Koay Teow and the Hainanese Chicken Rice are the most popular. We ordered an extra serving of rice because there were more chicken leftover.

Norman and Marcus rated the Char Koay Teow a "five". For me, I will rate the Char Koay Teow a little lower. It is because that dish does not have the two MOST important ingredients: crispy fried lard (gee yow jar) and cockles. Anyway, I have not come across Char Koay Teow so far in Vancouver that has these two ingredients. It is perhaps because Vancouverites are just plain afraid of Hepatitis and clogged arteries! :-) I will grudgingly give it a 4.5.

The best Char Koay Teow I have tasted was the stall behind the Selangor Emporium in Jalan TAR ... I wonder if that stall is still around. Let me know your favourite place for Char Koay Teow, especially one that has "gee yow jar" and raw cockles!

The Curry Laksa is OK but I think it will be much better if it is spicier. Curry Laksa is supposed to be so spicy that you sweat eating it. I must say that the Asam Laksa is pretty disappointing. I guess it's because the lai fun was substituted with thin vermicelli. Also, we normally expect Asam Laksa to have shredded cucumber, pineapple, onion, asam paste and sardines.

Thanks to Bernie, Janice, Ignatius and Cornelius for buying this lunch. It was great meeting up with you all again.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2006-01-13T18:31:00.000-08:00

Friends are chocolate chips in the cookie of life! Believe it or not ... Suanne's chocolate chip cookies were so good that her recipe has landed into the Richmond School Board's Grade 5/6 curriculum. He he he ... not exactly ... but this is how things happened: Just before Christmas, Suanne baked some chocolate chip cookies and gave some to Norman and Marcus' teachers. Ms Tobin, Norman's class teacher, liked it so much that she told Norman she rationed herself to just one a day. She also asked Suanne for the recipe and decided to organize a class baking project using Suanne's recipe. Well, the project was carried out today by Norman's class in the staff room and the gym's kitchen. The class was divided into two groups: the boys vs the girls. Here is a picture of the boys' cookies:

The two teams were given the written recipe and were expected to make the cookies all by themselves. They are to learn how to read instructions very carefully. Suanne supervised the boys team while Ms Tobin supervised the girls.

Suanne can't be at two places at a time and so she just took pictures of the boys in action. They had a great time and everyone took active part. Everyone wanted a hand in every step of the process that they did the math and divided the tasks equally between themselves. For example, when the recipe called for 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract, the boys divided the task into 8 half-teaspoon so that each of them had a chance to pour it into the mix. That is teamwork!!

Here are the pictures of them in action, starting with creaming the butter and sugar in the picture above. They then added in vanilla extract, flour, baking soda, oats, chocolate chips and shredded coconut. They had great fun ...

After all the mixing, they're all ready to be placed on the cookie sheet. They rolled the dough into a ball and then flatten them with a fork ... some used to flatten them with their hands ... and some ate the dough just like that!

They are then ready to go into the oven -- even though they are not round. The baking takes 10 minutes. Strangely, the boys did not fool around the kitchen but just waited patiently. I think this project has domesticated the boys!! That's Steven and Steven with Norman below -- domesticated and all. What bliss!

So, here it is. All done by the 5th/6th Graders. It was a great job by both the boys and girls team.

And finally the hardest part of the chocolate chip cookie baking project ... the cleaning up. Trust me, savor this picture of Steven and Steven because it's a rare sight. The other boys all disappeared from the kitchen to the class just in the nick of time. Norman coyly volunteered to bring the cookies back to the class for his group. He he he ... that's my boy!

Norman said that the cookies tastes just as good as mum's. So, cookie baking duties in the family has successfully been transitioned to Norm!!

Email Norman if you want the recipe! :-) Don't email Suanne.

Spicy Pulled Pork Bun

2006-01-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

The four food groups: Fast, Frozen, Instant, and Chocolate. ~ ahajokes.com OK, OK ... I know, I know, I know ... it's another PORK dish! Sorry-lah bruder! Before you pass any judgement, just take a look at it ... mouth-watering, right? Well, it's another of Suanne's fave. It's a bun filled with spicy pulled pork.

Suanne uses a bread-machine to prepare the dough. It takes two hours for the bread-machine to prepare the dough -- that includes rising time. I guess you could also manually knead it but it won't be easy. Suanne knows of people who uses food processor or standing mixer to prepare the dough.

It is easy using the bread-machine because you just dump all the ingredients into the pan and set it to dough-cycle. The mixing, kneading and rising process is all done in the machine. You just got to wait for two hours. Ingredients includes milk, egg, flour, sugar, margarine, salt and yeast.

At the end of the two hours, you get a nicely risen dough ... all ready for the filling steps. The dough is enough to make twelve buns.

The dough is divided into twelve pieces. Each piece is flatten with the palm and then rolled into 3 inch circles. Put in the filling and then fold and crimp the edges tightly. Of course you may substitute the pulled pork filling with other fillings such as char siew, lotus paste, kaya and others.

Line a piece of parchment on the baking pan. Arrange the prepare buns two inches apart. This is because you will need to let the buns rise for a further 40 minutes.

After allowing the bun to rise for 40 minutes, you will then brush the bun with egg wash (basically egg yolks plus water). This will make the bun looks brown, shiny and delicious.

It is now ready for baking. Preheat the oven to 350C before you put in the baking pan. The baking process will take just 10 minutes. Here is the before and after shot.

To the ladies in Richmond, if you want to make this together, call me (Suanne, not Ben) and we can make the buns together. He he he ... I will also include your pictures in my food blog ... sounds good?

Cheers! I promise, chicken next week! :-)

The Yap-O-Meter Rating:

äääää Marcus
äääää Norman
äääää Ben
äääää Suanne (Self)

Chocolate Coated Korean Snack

2006-01-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

Qn: Why did the student eat his homework? Ans: Because the teacher told him it's a piece of cake. Hi all again. Wanted to show everyone what Auntie Allie and her two boys (Luke and Chris) gave us, all the way from Korea. They brought some snacks for Norman and Marcus ... some chocolate coated cake. Here is how the chocolate coated cake looks like:

Can't read Korean but the only English words on the packaging says Well-Being. The above pack is the last pack which belongs to Marcus but Marc lets his brother have it because, well, he's not well the past two days and don't feel like eating.

The snack is really soft and light. You really have to carefully tear open the packaging or you'll squished it. It's basically a soft cake under the coating.

Asked Norman to describe it and all he says is that it is "GOOD" -- he don't know why it's good, it's just good.

This blog is dedicated to Chris and Luke Yun, classmates of Marcus and Norman ... Thanks a lot, bud!

Casserole Sausage Rice

2006-01-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

Everything has an end -- except for a sausage which has two. ~ Danish Proverb This was what Suanne made for dinner yesterday. She found the recipe from the internet. It has been one of the more frequently made dish at home. Suanne says that she likes to make this dish is because this is the only way she can make Marcus eat carrots. Here is how it looks like:

It's quite an easy meal to make. It will take about 1.5 hrs in all, including baking and preparation time. It's has everything one needs for nutrition ... vegetables, meat, carbohidrates ... all in one pot. Cleaning is also easy because it's just one casserole and dry plates to wash. Email Suanne if you want the recipe.

Richmond Sushi

2006-01-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

Health food makes me sick. ~ Calvin Trillian (1935 - ) Today is our anniversary as new Canadians. Coincidentally, this week is also the week we landed in Canada. We decided to celebrate these two special occasions by eating out somewhere more than our regular budget -- as we always do every year. I wanted to try out this new Malaysian restaurant (called Cafe D'light) along West Broadway which was featured in the local papers but Norcus both wanted sushi, all-you-can-eat sushi! We had all-you-can-eat sushi last year in Sui Sha Ya but we decided this year to go to Richmond Sushi in Union Square along Capstan Way. We have been to Richmond Sushi once before -- it was decent and not too expensive. There are a lot of nice restaurants in Union Square.

Well, this place has both ala-carte and all-you-can-eat. We opted for all-you-can-eat. We asked for a pick list and left the first round selection to Suanne. Of course, both Norcus wanted to weigh in on what is chosen.

Norman asked for a total of 12 salmon sushi! Norman loves raw salmon and can eat just that and nothing else. The all-you-can-eat menu does not have shashimi for lunch and so the next best thing for Norman is the salmon sushi. Here he is picking off the salmon pieces first:

Marcus will eat just about anything except for green peas. Marcus started off with his beef udon. His favourite was the spicy tuna rolls. He had quite a lot of that.

Here are some of the pictures of the other selections we made. I wish I could have taken more pictures. The first picture of the teriyaki salmon below is surprisingly good. Other items we selected were miso soup, motoyaki (Suanne's favourite!), fried smelt, fried rice, yaki soba, grilled salmon head, gyoza and some tofu.

As always, we ended up stuffing ourselves too full. Norman was the first one to give up and to our surprise, Marcus was the sole survivor! We had quite a bit left over. Suanne left this eye from her grilled salmon head. Here it is looking at you ...

Overall damage was $53 (that is inclusive of taxes and tips). We had a walk around the block after the heavy meal. We went also to the chinese market next door and bought some globe grapes (Ben's favourite). Here are our ratings ... from a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the best):

Norman: 5 Marcus: 5 Mum: 4 Dad: 3.8796

Myojo Ramen Char Mee 100

2006-01-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not eaten well. ~ Virginia Woolf This is our favourite instant noodle -- we call it the Myojo Pedas 100. No other instant noodles comes close in comparison and it has no peers in the spicy-ness department. Although we have found some other Myojo instant noodles in many shops we have not come across this specific type. So, everytime we hear someone coming over from Malaysia or Singapore, we would go on the carpet begging friends or family to bring over some. This latest consignment comes courtesy of Rachel, little Angela and little Gabriel ... specially imported from Singapore. [Rachel, Angela and Gabriel, we dedicate this blog to you!] We now have precious 15 packets -- got to ration really closely because it'll be a long while before we get our next replenishment! BTW, this is a dry noodle and not the normal soup type. This is how it looks like:

Of all the in family, Marcus is the one that goes ga-ga over this the most. For a small guy, he can really take spicy food. So, the honor of eating the first pack goes to him. He has kindly consented to showing the world how he prepares the noodle. KIDS, DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF AT HOME. ALWAYS REMEMBER, SAFETY FIRST AND GET AN ADULT TO SUPERVISE YOU.

[Dad]: Over to you Marcus.

[Marcus]: Ahem. Hello everyone. You MUST first of all make sure you have all the utensils you need. You don't want to start looking for it midway cooking or you might rush and cause little accidents. This is what you need: a plate, pair of chopsticks, a small cooking pot with cover, and a sieve.

Make sure you have a safe environment while cooking. For a little man like me, I use an Ikea stool so that I can safely see over the inside of the pot.

You must boil the water. Turn the heat to very hot and put the cover over the pot. This will make the water boils faster. You will know it's ready when the water bubbles.

The Myojo Pedas 100 come with two small sachets of spicy seasoning and oil. I think the oil is a kind of chilli oil that gives the noodles the spicy-ness and extra kick!

Once the water is boiled, carefully put the noodles into the pot. I know it is hot around the boiling pot but don't throw in the noodles or else the hot water might splash out of the pot. Don't put the contents of the sachets into the pot at this point.

Stir the noodles until it is soft. Do it very gently and carefully.

The next step should be done with the supervision of an adult. I have my very beautiful mum to help me here. We want to drain the water from the noodle. Remember this is a dry noodle? Pour the softened noodle into your plate and add both the contents of the sachets on the noodle. After this step, the dangerous part of the cooking is over. REMEMBER TO SWITCH OFF THE STOVE.

Stir the noodles until the seasoning is evenly mixed. For some reason, this seasoning tends to clump together, so you need to break them up with your chopstick.

So, world, here it is ... the BESTEST instant noodle in the world. One packet down, fourteen more to go. ENJOY!

Char Siew Wonton Noodle (Without the Wonton)

2006-01-06T00:48:00.000-08:00

My mother's menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it. ~ Buddy Hackett Suanne and I had a big debate over how to name this dish. I mean, how can one call this a wonton noodle where there is no wonton. Anyway, it's her dish and she gets to call it what she wants. The star of this simple dinner is the CHAR SIEW (roasted red pork). Suanne made the Char Siew herself. To make perfect char siew, you need pork shoulder butt. Suanne used some Thai made seasoning mix. She can't recall where she bought it but should be in one of the many Asian market along Kingsway or Metrotown area (we hang around that place a lot because there is where I work, Norcus' chinese school and our church). Here is the picture of the Roast Red Pork Seasoning Mix:

Anyway, to cut to the chase (i.e. without showing you the whole roasting process because we did not take pictures), below is what the char siew looks like. I really like it a bit charred but trust me, it taste really GREAT.

Now, hear this. You do NOT eat char siew like STEAK! They are to be sliced in bite size, like below. Here is a secret from Suanne ... leave the slicing until the end or else everyone in the family will munch it all before the noodles is ready. Go, jot it down.

Now, this is what the fuss is about ... the packaging says wonton noodle. I think it should be called egg noodle.

Like spaghetti, you need to cook it to soften it ... but NOT THAT LONG! Spaghetti takes 7-8 minutes but you only cook wonton (egg) noodle in boiling water for just 2 minutes, just enough to soften them.

For some reason, Suanne's late mum always says that after boiling the noodles for two minutes, they should be scooped up and run under cold water before dipping it AGAIN into the boiling water for a split second. No one knows why this step is necessary ... do you know why people do that?

For seasoning, Suanne uses a mix of sesame seed oil, soya sauce and thick/dark soya sauce.

After a good stir and a bit of choy sum for color ... here it is: Char Siew Wonton Noodle (without the Wonton)!

Steamboat

2006-01-06T00:10:00.000-08:00

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are. ~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755 - 1826) ~ French gourmet & lawyer Suanne's favourite show ... oh, I mean to say, Suanne's OTHER favourite show is the Iron Chef. She roots for Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. The Iron Chef show always starts with the above quote. So, with the words "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are", here is Suanne's first presentation. Suanne prepared a steamboat (better known as Hot Pot in Canada) for our January 1st, 2006 dinner. Her thoughts is only with Marcus and Norman and prepared what they like best (meatballs!). Here are the stuff she prepared for the pot: Marinated thinly sliced pork. Suanne says that her marinate is very complicated and cannot be described on the internet.

This is Norman and Marcus' favourites consisting of artificial crab stick, fish balls and pork balls:

This one is for the resident daddy: fried tofu puff (tofu pok?) and inoki mushrooms.

Then we have the staples: Suey Choy, and Vermicelli

The most important part of a great hot pot is the sauce. Suanne used the Bull Head BBQ Sauce mixed with Soya Sauce and some chilli sauce. Also some parsley and ginger. Here is how it looks like:

We use one of those divided pots that people used to prepare two separate types of broth. Suanne bought some "buatan Malaysia" Tom Yam powder but it was not really good (no taste at all). I mean, tom yam are meant to be really spicy right?

Lepas itu, appoint a very patient flame watcher:

And finally ... Ta da!!

Enjoy!

Hello World!

2006-01-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

Food is an important part of a balanced diet. ~ Fran Lebowitz (1950 - )

Hi World:

Got this idea to blog from Jon Ban, a great pal from my old school days. I am blogging primarily on the food Suanne makes. Suanne has never cooked before we came to Canada but has learned very fast out of necessity initially and then fine-tuned her art from Martha Stewart. BTW, she thinks Martha Stewart should NOT have been sent to jail.

To start off let me show you what we have in our fridge today:

So, here we come ...