3 in 1 Green Tea Latte

I spotted this 3 in 1 Green Tea Latte when I tapau my breakfast this morning.  The coffee shop is selling RM2.00 for a packet.  This instant drink is new to me.  Anyone has tried it before?

I am trying to avoid drinking 3 in 1 instant drink but allowing myself to try this new thing. 

Upon opening up the packet, there is an aroma of green tea.  The tea is thick and nice.  Green tea lovers would definitely like it.  

I checked on the ingredients right after coming out from the shop, there is hydrogenated ingredients in it like many other food and drinks.  My lunch for today is Green Tea Latte and a few slices of plain cracker biscuits.  

*Disclaimer : The above is purely my own opinions, no intention to offend any parties.   

Pork Burgers

Pork burger is quite a new thing here.  There are a number of stalls suddenly emerged in selling pork burgers in areas slightly outside Kota Kinabalu City.  Most of them are small operators started their businesses along the road sides within their kampungs.  Just like one of our nephews who has joined business venture with his friends selling pork burgers.  

With the agreements from our girls, we decided to have pork burgers as dinner one evening.  We tapau 4 sets of pork burger from our nephew's stall, our gestures of support in his business.  

The burgers look ordinary, the patty makes the difference. 

Feeling full after having the whole burger for myself

The most important meal of the day

On the way sending my girls to school this morning, my stomach started rumbling.  My mind started to search for a place to get my breakfast, and still the most convenient place is a little shop under the staircase in the complex where my office is, I could also get a parking space easily at the early hour.

I grabbed a packet of fried meehoon and a box of nasi lemak. Usually I would eat one and leave one for my lunch.  But not today, I finished both during breakfast. so I started my day with heavy breakfast today and soon I am feeling sleepy on my work desk, yet another sleepy day at work.

I am wondering why am I so hungry these few days?  Could it be due to the additional vitamins I started to consume recently?

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I really do not mind having heavy breakfast, preferably a healthier ones, and a lighter lunch.  

Online food ordering and home delivery service

After a long and tiring day at work, we are basically out of idea of what to serve for dinner each day.  I can only come out with only 1 -2 simple dishes in less than half and hour.  My kids have started to complain about the similar food that I serve them each time.  My cooking is always prepared in the shortest time possible just to fill up our hungry stomach and allow time for me to do the cleaning up after meals, and thereafter do the laundry, check on my girls homework and other house chaos within 2-3 hours time before rushing my girls to bed.  

I told my friend that she is lucky to have her dinner readily served by their parents or house helper, and have time to put up their legs to enjoy a good series of drama after dinner.  

Eating out could be an alternative but it is costly to dine out nowadays not to mention the queue.  I am very much prefer to enjoy a nice dinner at home.  

Recently I came across a brilliant website which offer online food delivery service to homes, Foodpanda, orders can be made online or by phone for food to be delivered in and around Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang and many more areas.  I am very disappointed that their services have not extended to Kota Kinabalu.  We would definitely be their regular customers if their delivery service is available here.

After further check on their website here you could find more than 300 restaurants offering international cuisines, besides our local Malaysian food.  All can be conveniently ordered through online and delivered to your home or office.  This kind of food delivery service will help to cease the burden of working class mum a great deal. 

Breakfast Time

I enjoy having to start my days with nice breakfasts.   How I wish I can take my sweet time to enjoy my breakfasts.
Most of the time, after sending our girls to school,  Clet will always asks me what breakfast I prefer. He knows very well that I can't decide, because deep down in my heart,  my preferred choice would be a nice buffet breakfast.  Since we can't have my preferred choice due to time and price, I always try to be adventurous to look for variety of breakfast choices. 

Here's what I had for breakfast that I remember to take photos.  I do not always take photos of what we eat. I am a moderate food blogger..:) But I enjoy food very much.

Breakfast at KFC

We've just realised that KFC is also offering breakfast menus.

We went to one of the popular kopitiam at Bandaran Berjaya in the city for my favourite fish meehoon soup this morning. After I have ordered, Clet was trying to pick what he wanted to add on for his kon lou mein, he spotted one baby crocroach running about in the fried fishes, he immediately cancelled our order and off we out from this kopitiam. 

While driving off, I spotted the KFC's breakfast menus. We have had McDonald breakfast several times but never at KFC. KFC serves Nasi Lemak as additional choice over McDonald.   Both have free flow of coffee too.  To me, the coffee is thicker at McDonald.   I took away my leftover coffee from KFC this morning but the design of the cup lid is some how not good enough to keep the liquid. My coffee started dripping from the lid on my way to the office.

I had porridge and clet had pancakes for breakfast.  Clet said one thing for sure fast food chains like KFC and McDonald,  they have better quality control on the food they serve.

Private Functions at Hoffbrau Steaks

We were having a bit of a hard time trying to decide where to hold Pearl's birthday party recently.  Initially we decided to have a dinner among ourselves, only the four of us in the family, and buy Pearl a birthday present of her choice, but she has grown another year older and wiser, she wants to invite her cousins and friends to her birthday party.  Without discussing with us, she took the liberty to invite her classmates to her birthday party.  I got to know about it when one of her classmates' mother came to ask me where is Pearl's birthday party going to be because Pearl has invited her daughter to the party. 

We started to look for a suitable place in town to have the party, it was not easy.  We need a place where is suitable for kids and adults,  most importantly with a special menu for kids.  As we all know feeding the kids at the party can sometimes be a challenge to parents. The kids can just refuse to eat if the food are not suitable for them.  

If we were in Texas area, we will definitely choose the Hoffbrau Steaks as our venue for the birthday party.   It is one of the restaurants in Dallas tx to have special room for private functions, they also have got kid's menu to top it all.  The price is very reasonable.  There are 6 types of set meals to choose from the kid's menu,  they are, Chicken Strips, Hoffbrau Mac N'Cheese, Grilled Cheese, Hamburger, Cheeseburger and Corn Dogs, all these meals are served with steak fries or steamed broccoli, and a beverage.   With so much choices, the kids would be happily place their order for the meals they want.  

Hoffbrau Steaks is one of the best restaurants in Dallas for dine in and catering.  If you are Dallas, check out their restaurant at the following address:

7601, Campbell Rd,

#725 Dallas,

TX75248

Tel:972-735-0800

Mexican Cuisine at Mattitos

Most of the restaurants were crowded with people over the last weekend for the Father's Day celebration.  Many of you would agree with me that it was hard to find a cozy place to have a nice meal with our Father on this day because most of the restaurants have been fully booked well in advance and too crowded to have a comfortable meal..

I am the type of person who like to try varieties of food from the international cuisine.  We could easily cooked Chinese meals at home; Malay, Indonesian and Indian Food are in abundance here. There are many restaurants that serve Japanese, Korean, Thai, Philippines and Italian food in city. So far I have not come across any Mexican restaurant in town,  I have tried to google search but could not find any.  Some of the restaurants may serve bit and pieces of Mexican food but not the full-fledged and authentic Mexican cuisine. 

If you are in Texas area and prefer to have a nice Mexican meal at a cosy restaurant, I would recommend you to try the Mattitos.  At Mattitos, they serve one of its kind Mexican cuisine with very reasonable price.  They have got 5 restaurant outlets in Texas alone, one of them is the Mexican Food Frisco.

At Mattitos, meals are served throughout the day till dinner. I particularly like the idea of them providing kid's menu come with a reduced price.  Buffet is served for Sundry Brunch, the award winning Sunday brunch that no one could resist to have a try.  It is only $16.99 for adult and $6.99 for children under the age of 12.  The price is reasonably cheap.

Besides eating in, they also offer outside catering for all types of events, and hold special banquet for private functions like wedding receptions, corporation events, birthday parties.  So if you want to have the feel of the Mexican tradition way of celebration, it has to be at Mattitos.

Mattitos at Frisco, Texas

Fine Dining venue at the Republic of Texas

The month of December till Chinese New Year is the season to be jolly, thanks giving and to welcome the brand new year. Celebrations would not be complete without good food, and gathering with families and friends. 

During these festive season period, many restaurants are offering special menus to cater for those who prefer to dine out. Many working class mothers are too busy to prepare a set of complete meals for their families. Not to mention the time to shop for the ingredients, time to prepare and cook and clear up the mess after the meals. As a working mother, thinking of all these tasks is enough to make me tired. 

Being a busy business lady, a friend of mine who lives in Texas was telling me that they had a wonderful Christmas meal at the Republic of Texas, its banquet restaurant Dallas with her families and friends, a truly fine dining experience. Its Republic of Texas Company Store also offer over 100 gourmet Texas made products and fine foods. Of the Republic of Texas Foods, the gourmet smoked meat looks particularly delicious to me. It is also a good place to get hold of Texas wine, there are wide varieties of wine to choose from, a toss for a good year ahead. 

Those who love Mexican food, you could try out its Mexican Cuisine too. I also noticed on their website that a 10% discount will be given for all orders till 31st March. If you are thinking of holding parties at home, try find out from them on the catering menu or the party delivery menu, they cater for groups as small as 10 to as big as over 1000 guests. Let them handle the tedious part of any functions, that is, the preparation of food and drinks. 

I have told my friend that if I visit Texas, please bring me to the Banquet Restaurant Dallas for a taste of its gourmet smoked meat dishes!! :D

Into the Fifth day of Detox and Rejuvenation Program

Just an update on how I am doing with my annual Detoxification and Rejuvenation Program (DRP).

I am now into my fifth day of Detoxification & Rejuvenation Program (DRP) today, I decided to do just 5 days this time, that means today is the last day of my Detox. One would ask whether I feel any difference after the fifth day of strict fruits & vegetable diet supplemented with vitamins in the package. I would say YES. I feel much lighter, not only slimmer, I also feel much relieve on the neck strain and headache problem that I have been suffering all this while, and I wake up more refreshing even with lesser hours of sleep.

I am more at ease in following this program as compare to last year (which I completed the course of 7 days). Probably I know what to do and what to expect in this time round.

Do I crave for food?? YES, definitely, but my will power is strong enough to resist those food placed in front of me while having dinners together with my family for the last 4 days. Craving for food is always the biggest challenge in carrying out the DRP.

If you have gone through a strict diet like what I do, I am sure you will crave for your favourite food. I can tell you that there is one food that I crave the most in these 5 days. I have told my hubby and he will bring me there after I am done with my DRP, hopefully tomorrow.

I am really craving for this Fish Soup with Rice Vermicelli that I used to have for breakfast at one of the famous eatery in town.

Let me show you what I really craving to have….

Is this mixed fish meat and fish balls soup with rice vermicelli, dip with the mixture of light soy sauce, chillie padi and calamansi juice. Yummy…I am droolling now!!!!

This is the coffee shop in Bandaran Berjaya, Kota Kinabalu, famous for its Mixed Fish Soup

Similar article here : http://notecook.com/soup/fish-soup-with-rice-vermicelli-to-satisfy-my-crave/#ixzz1fC6jtEOm

Buka Puasa stalls

We were in darkness when the power cut at around 4pm on Tuesday. Couldn't stand the stuffiness and darkness in the office anymore, we thought of a place to go, that's the nearby buka puasa stalls. The sun was so bright and very smokey. After a walk around the stalls, bought what we wanted, we couldn't stand that heat any longer.

the stalls, very smokey, I find myself smell of babeque chicken wings when I got back to the office. gosh...

A big tong of Nasi Briyani. RM2.90 nasi briyani is considered quite cheap. But I did not buy...not into it that day.

Honey Chicken made simple

To save time on preparing and cooking , especially on working days, I usually think of the simplest way to serve dinner on the table before our girls start digging the fridge for food. It will tend to spoil their appetite if they have some snacks just before dinner time, to avoid that I have to prepare our dinner superly fast.

One way to do it is to use ready packed paste whereby I just need to add in chicken or meat or fish and some vegetable to the sauce, usually only requires few steps to come out with a dish.

I used the Maggi Honey Chicken Paste, it is a little spicy. I posted my version of the recipe here.

Mango season is here..

The mango season is here again. We have got such a privilege to have a mango tree at my house backyard. I can hear the ripe mangoes start falling down on the ground anytime of the day. It is exciting to check how many mango I can picked up in the morning. I grew up with two mango trees at the backyard of my parents' house, I could not explain why I still get excited in finding magoes on the ground!!! I remember my brother used to bring one bag after another of mangoes to us before the house was sold.

This mango tree does not bear big mango fruits but it sure can supply us mangoes without having us to buy from the market during this fruiting season. My mum can not resist to have a taste of the mango that she asked the maid to get some mango off the tree to make marinated mango with belacan. Very appetising....will show a picture of marinated mango with belacan soon. I have given my mum some mangoes again this morning for her to marinate.

Instant Soy Milk

We did some shopping the other day to replace our diminishing groceries supplies in the kitchen cupboard, I still can find some of them in the cupboard. Can you guess which is the most fast moving item? Yes, is the one below. It's gone within a few days. The Family Soy Plus is a new product to me and I was eager to try it out, the taste is pretty good. Is an ideal drink for tea breaks in the office and at home, it is not a bad idea to serve Soy Plus to the guests too.

Weekend Dessert

Only during weekends (best with a holiday Monday) that I have got the mood and time to cook something extra for my family. Today I boiled a big pot of Green Bean soup and share half of it with my neighbour, that's my parents and brother's family.

Pearl likes the soup very much but not Crystal. Green Beans are known to have a good cooling effect to our bodies and have other health benefits too. The Green Beans soup is very simple to make and faster to boil than the red beans. Here's what I mixed in the soup:

1. Green Beans;
2. a handful of rice;
3. rock sugar to taste;
4. a handful of sago;
5. 3-5 pieces of "honey dates"

Actually I wanted to mix some dried tangerine peel/skin but it's nowhere to be found in the fridge, it's just no there any more wonder where has it gone to???

The Eve of the Year of OX

On the eve of every Chinese New Year, it's a tradition for most of the Chinese family to shower with the water of Pomelo leaves before dinner to wash away the misfortune to start a brand new year. We did the same every year without failed.

We also placed some food on the dinning table to welcome an abundance of food into our home in the coming years.

We had a simple family dinner with my parents and my eldest brother's family this new year's eve. Me and mum did the cooking together. Mum boiled chicken soup in advance and it smelled so nice when I arrived.

Fish is a most for us

Chinese potatos with Chinese sausage (lap zhong)

Sea cucumber, chinese mushrooms, abalone, "hou see" and beans

plain boiled chicken

Yoghurt Making

I started making yoghurt at home about two months back and have since enjoying it almost everyday.

I was trying to make yoghurt using yoghurt starter but failed to achieve the desired texture and taste, sometimes even turn bad after a few hours into the fermentation process. After exhausting the whole box (6 sachets in a box) of yoghurt mix and I concluded that I needed a yoghurt maker which I am not ready to buy one just yet. Glad that my colleagues shared some tips and I started to try making it using ready made yoghurt with milk powder. It works.

Here are a few simple steps:

(1) Add 8 heap table spoons of Milk Powder (I use Organic Low Fat Milk Powder) to 600ml of water (the amount of milk powder and water can be varied to suite the consistency you desired). Mix well. a shaker can be used for the mixing process.

(2) Pour and sieve the milk into a air tight container to separate the undissolved milk solids. Do not throw away the undissolved milk solids instead use a spoon to press them through the strainer into the milk solution.

(3) Pour or scoop 1/2 a rice bowl of ready made yoghurt into the milk solution.

(4) Mix well with a spoon or egg beater.

(4) Remove the bubbles from the surface of the mixture so that the surface of the yoghurt is smooth after it is formed.

(5) Put the lid on the air tight container and leave it in room temperature undisturbed for more than 8 hours for the yoghurt to ferment. You can check the yoghurt by the smell or the taste of it. Transfer into the fridge only after it is successfully fermented.

(6) My yoghurt is ready to be served








(7) A simple recipe - Papaya yoghurt with flaxseed oil (honey can be added to give some sweetness to it).

Papaya Soup

While shopping for food and groceries at the supermarket on last Saturday, I saw papayas at the fruits section, all of them are still raw; I said to myself, why not try papaya soup today so I bought two raw papayas, one for soup and one for dessert when it's ripened.  Here's my papaya soup with pork and red dates.  The last time I had papaya soup was during my confinement after giving birth to Pearl, to induce more breast milk, however, this formular did not work on me.  Many people have been telling me that papaya soup is also good for health that would be good for the kids too. 

I marinated the remaining papaya using apple cider vinegar, salt and sugar.  Very appetising and it is ideal for cooking of sweet and sour dishes or eat on its own.  I feel like having some before my dinner though.

Happy Mooncake Festival

It's Mooncake Festival today. It's the 15th day of August in the Chinese Lunar calendar.

HAPPY MOONCAKE FESTIVAL TO ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS!!

A wrapped mooncake just took out from the fridge, very misty.

This is a sugar free, low calorie, suitable for diabetic multiseed spirulina mooncake, one of the moon cakes given free by the company that I work for (in appreciation of my effort of selling mooncakes). Nowadays many of us are very cautious about our health but cannot resist the temptations of tasting the delicious mooncakes. Right? Me too.

It's great that having been given free ones, we did not have to buy any this year. The pricing of moon cakes are ever increasing, you could find a mooncake priced at RM40.00 per piece apparently made in Hong Kong. Incredibly delicious I assumed !?

Yummy Fish & Chips

I love to eat (unfortunately nice and delicious food are mostly not as healthy). I would like to share my fish & Chips (sorry picture only) that we "tapau/take away" few days ago. It was simply yummy, a big serving of fish, some fries, baked beans, pineapple, with some mayonnaise. To compensate what is missing in this meal, I added some tomatoes and organic lettuce. Next time we will add on dinner buns and butter to go with it and of course with plenty of salad.