Thursday, June 11, 2009

Eco-cooking!



Ok I know that Earth day was somewhat history to many of us. But today, I’ve decided to let my stomach take a rest from all those pan mee, and talk about being GREEN. Not too long ago, we were all hyped out about being super environmental-friendly to the Earth, like using paper bags instead of plastic bags and stuff like that.

I’m thinking of eco-cooking. Alright, I admit that I do not cook much, and in a month; I prolly cook about 4 times. But think about it, every one of you cook almost everyday right? We all eat, and we talk about eating well and healthy, and believe me, it’s not just the ingredients that make us healthy, but the way we cook as well.

# 1
Ever heard of energy efficiency? The choice of kitchenware is very important.

Induction cooker waste electricity (a big example is me!) I’m not proud of it, which is why I cook 4 times a month now! :P My electric bill made a 110% jump when I used the induction cooker (that time I cook for 2+ weeks).

Try these kitchenware instead!
• Copper-based pans help reduce cook time.
• Glass and ceramic work best in an oven - save time and retain heat.
• Crock pot - slow cooking reduces wastage of energy.

# 2
Use bio-gas! The biogas plants provide clean fuel for cooking and even help prevent environmental degradation!

# 3
Don’t waste water. Think of the dry lands when you’re using water! Leave all the pots, pans, plates, etc to last minutes washing. Wash everything at one go, it’s easier and you save water. Remember to off the tap as well when you are scrubbing those plates!

# 4
I use the plant-based detergent to wash my kitchenware. The price difference from other known brands? Less than 40 cents.

# 5
Recycle. I have a few mini bins at home. One for plastic, one for glass, one for paper and another for everything organic (food for example).

And you know what? Being GREEN begins with purchasing. When you buy something, reject the use of plastic bags. You’ve got hands with fingers, use them, or bring a reusable bag instead!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

"Oi Sum" pan mee

I LOVE PAN MEE's very own "Oi Sum" (Love) pan mee. Wow! I amaze myself sometimes. Simply because I never really cook, but when I did cook, I will sure miss out an ingredient or two... and that's the oil missing the other day.

Hmmm... my friends said that this is the most important ingredient in cooking, it's like washing your hair without shampoo. And yes, I did not add in oil when I made that teriyaki chicken some time ago. The best part was I didn't even realise until I took a bite. But it's better than Sotong Hoon's fried fish (which she had fried for 2 hours, seriously).

I even made my very own pan mee noodles!


Er... the measurement for each ingredient... I simply one. Trust your instincts :P



You're supposed to beat the eggs and flour with a blender and then um... knead the dough. But since I don't have a blender, I simply used my hands. This is how it looks in the end:


Cover the dough with a piece of wet cloth for 1 hour (according to some internet info).


I purposely bought this RM4+ rolling pin for my "Oi Sum" dough.


Ta daa... my very own "Oi Sum" pan mee :D



Got chilli also.


I put in a whole lot of ingredients for the soup: Chicken bones, chicken meat, anchovies, wolfberries, white pepper, black pepper, salt, ajinomoto, sliced mushrooms, a bit of "mui choy" (salted vege) and "bak choy" (forgot english name).

Why did I add in salted vege? Interesting yea? Because I thought that was "char choy" (forgot english name too). Hey, my very own pan mee is not bad you know, I like the soup very much! :D

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Little Ben Cafe

Taa daa... Little Ben Cafe a.k.a. "Siu Dong Ka" at Kota Kemuning!


And here's Brandom, the cafe manager :D Um... you can always ask him what "Siu Dong Ka" means, cos I'm not telling :P


The first thing he told me was... "Wahhhh u're fat now!" Interesting greeting though. I expected the OMG why did you cut your hair sorta remark. But right after I said "You look slimmer now", he began telling me the pan mee's top secret ingredients.


Hmmm... this modern + Asian contemporary cafe is totally porkless, and what's unique is that they serve healthy* food here. (*meaning that it's not 100% healthy, but at least around 80 - 90% healthy).


Guess what? This is something interesting - CURRY PAN MEE! It's called Curry Sailor Mee and the curry is made of 10% santan and 80% yogurt + low fat milk! So don't expect a really rich curry flavour because it's "healthy food" remember? But I like the taste! :D


Brandom: WHY DIDN'T YOU ORDER THE ORIGINAL SAILOR MEE??? THAT'S OUR SIGNATURE PAN MEE!!! "Er... because I ate that the last time I was here?" Truth is, I'm not a fan of clear soup noodles. I prefer spicy or "kon-lo" (dried) stuff, so I opt for the Dried Sailor Mee this time. It's a bit dry though, so there's a complimentary soup too.





All Sailor Pan Mee come in a set, with complimentary lemongrass drink + fruits + fried anchovies + chilli. Plus, the pan mee's hand-pulled in water!


Chilli's not bad too.


I always drink this "Grape her up" - grape juice when I'm here. Comes with 1 FREE cake. You're seeing 2 cakes in the pic because the other cake belongs to the black coffee. (I don't know how to shoot black coffee. LOL.)


Look! It has real grapes inside!



Cafe's surrounded by greenery. I like!


Outdoor chairs - it's nice to hang out here if it's not too hot.


Cool place indoor.



And Little Ben Cafe is located in Herbaline: A place for facial, massage, nails, hair, yoga and food.


If you are living in Kota Kemuning and you're too lazy to go out, there's always DELIVERY! Just call 1-800-Little Ben Cafe and order! (Nah... I'm kidding, for delivery, you'll have to call 03-5121 0151.)


There are 3 roundabouts - 1st one: 12 o'clock, 2nd one: 9 o'clock and 3rd one: 3 o'clock. By the way, the cafe closes at 5pm, so be there early!


Price for a bowl of dried sailor pan mee: RM7.90 (set)
Price for a bowl of curry sailor pan mee: RM8.90 (set)
I love pan mee's rating: 4.1 / 5 star

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Bao Bao Restaurant

Lunch was indeed fun with all my BFFs! :D And guess what, I'm gonna make this brief.

I ordered the "Traditional pan mee" and it's actually the clear soup pan mee. You can have the option of hand-shredded, thin or thick noodles - I chose the hand-shredded one. Ingredients include: sliced mushrooms, pork dices, potato leaves, fried anchovies and "muk yue" (chinese black fungus).

At first glance, I thought that this will be a tough shot as the soup was much, much more than the noodles. So I rearranged the anchovies and scooped up more noodles from the bottom to the top. The soup wasn't bad itself cos I kinda like it (no wonder they gave a lot of soup! LOL) Anyway, I tried to take a few pics of my pan mee but sobs, tak jadi! My BFFs were more concern for my camera and they were waiting for it to drop into the soup. Look how my pics turned out:


The hand-shredded pan mee was a bit hard to eat though - cos too big piece! No good no good. My mouth so small... :S


Then Backseat Radio's pan mee came and I kidnapped his bowl for more interesting pics! His pan mee was definitely much, much better than mine.


The service... um, can't comment much cos it was lunch time, so be sure to know what you wanna eat and order yours ASAP to avoid waiting too long. They did however forgot Starwarsilike's "kon-lo" pan mee, so he waited quite long.

Finally, I can eat my pan mee! So happy... then I munch munch munch... and suddenly I saw something black. I thought how come got burnt pan mee one? Upon closer inspection, I saw a big head and legs!!! Aha! New ingredient! So I called the waiter and asked him "Why my pan mee so interesting today one? Tuesday specials?" He immediately apologised and took the bowl back. Um... after 2 minutes, my pan mee came back! Wow, suddenly so fast service and I happy again. But Starwarsilike's pan mee was lost in the galaxy somewhere I think, he was still waiting. The force just wasn't with him.



And this is a MUST-HAVE! Fried er... hmmm... fish something. (Must ask Starwarsilike - his fav!). It's crispy and crunchy and tasty. Don't ever forget this ultimate dish!



Here are some random pics at Bao Bao:
Er... poster! The 2 separate pics are supposed to be a 1-piece poster, but I don't take vertical pictures.



Colourful menus!


Red spoons, black chopsticks - classic!


Thank you chilli! You are so red and you taste sooooooo good!


This is chilli padi. I didn't eat but I'm sure it's spicy.


Last but not least, gu-lou-yuk association caught on camera slurping pan mee sedap!


So... if you're at Aman Suria, give the fried fish something a try, I'm serious. It's good. Here's the map:


Price for a bowl of pan mee: RM6.20 (set meal)
I love pan mee's rating: 2.9 / 5 stars

Pan mee took a backseat 2day

Pan mee was not on the menu unfortunately.
But, I have 2 MUST-WATCH here:

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA


Star Wars: The Old Republic (game trailer)
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-star-wars/49937?type=flv

Monday, June 1, 2009

We're BFFs


Here at the office, we tend to be quite close to each other - so almost everyone is called a BFF (best f@$%ing friend or best friends forever). However, today my BFFFFF (best f@$%ing friends forever falalalala falalala), Sotong Hoon, said:

Sotong Hoon: I dun feel like eating pan mee, u guys go.
I love pan mee: Why? Are u sick? U're BFFFFF wo. Pan mee will lack a taste if u don't come.
Sotong Hoon: Hoho... i dun think i have so much influence.
I love pan mee: It will lack a friendship taste. Then the sedap-ness will kurang 20%.
Sotong Hoon: U think of me when u eat.
I love pan mee: I'm not good in visualising... u know la... later i visualise the cow dung pic u sent me.
Sotong Hoon: Then ur pan mee will taste better.
I love pan mee: Then later i update my blog tell ppl the pan mee taste like cow dung... sei lor.
Sotong Hoon: Haha... then ur blog's page view sure will increase by 100%.

Honestly, the thought of eating a bowl of pan mee makes me feel really good, but today, my pan mee will definitely lack a certain taste - the friendship taste. Make sure that you always have your bowl of pan mee with your BFFs or loved ones. And luckily, I still have other BFFs that will be joining me for pan mee sedaps later! :)

Pan mee + Coca-Cola


Well, almost everyone that I've ever kerja bersama / berkerjasama before knows that I love pan mee and Coke. These 2 are a MUST. When you eat pan mee and drink Coke together, the feeling's like rolling down the green hills with well... Coca-Cola and pan mee! Sooooooo sedap! :D