South American Things

Shadow box kit from China, you have to make this scenery inside a tin box the size of an iPhone. There is even a battery operated light (Christmas lights) you have to install inside. Will get to it in time.

Royce chocolates are one of my favorite food gifts. This one is Mojito white choc that is actually quite bitter but the choc is still good. Alcohol is not bitter and it has to be added in, not sure why the F&B industry keeps this tradition alive.

Craftholic handphone stand that is super soft, its like a baby's rattle coz you can grip the teddy bear and there are beans inside the bag.

Silicone ultrasonic face cleanser that is supposed to be like the Clarisonic ones. Its quite fun to use coz the base lights up and its waterproof.

Chateraise ice-cream pack of their most popular flavors, mostly vanilla/chocolate/matcha. The almond jelly with nata de coco is pretty good.

 Chicken chop that is surprisingly good, I thought the colour was a little pale. Also had more of those creamy mussels.

Homemade Beer Cheese Soup, the cheese burns easily and needs to stirred constantly. Other than that, everyone loves this dish coz it tastes of beer and cheese. 

Homemade Chinese - style Tacos

Braised pulled pork with chinese bao and coriander, that's the chinese-style tacos that has replaced popiah in our regular meals. I love those fluffy white buns that can be deep fried or eaten on its own.

I wanted to say the coriander makes all the difference, but the pickles add a really fresh high to this dish.

Dinner with family @ Kopitiam Swissotel, its same-same-but-different foods.

The same sweet & nutty sauce is used in Rojak & Tauhu Telur. The veges inside the rojak are chopped finely and the deep fried tauhu is very crunchy.

Salted egg calamari is actually squid meatballs.

Nice Indian spices inside the fishhead curry.

Lean meat used in the satay, full of flavor with no oily fat.

Big plump juicy oysters.

Goreng pisang really hit the spot for dessert, all its missing is cinnamon dust.

Homemade Pen Cai (Bowl of Prosperity)

My mom usually makes this dish but this time around I decided to try it out on my own.

Meat : Pork, Scallops, Abalone

Vegetables : Mushroom, Bamboo Shoots, Daikon, Winter Melon, Preserved Lettuce, Broccoli

Soup : 3 types of Chinese Herbs, Chicken stock, Oyster Sauce, Hua Tiao

A lot of prep work goes in before cooking this dish, soaking/chopping/peeling. I bought only one of each type of gourd to put in, as it turns out its enough for 2 pots of pencai.

The pork belly was pre-sliced, making my life easier. Each item has to be cooked individually then assembled into a cooking pot to be simmered on low heat for an hour. Served hot with rice. 

Drinks, Instant Noodles, Chips...

I spent my ang pow money on re-stocking my pantry with essentials like soft drinks, coffee, instant noodles, chips and prepped food. All delivered directly to my place. That's 50kg of rice, usually it comes in a gunny sack but at the supermarkets its 2x25kg packets.

Fresh box of 35 macarons, I've seen this in the frozen section of the supermarket before but this is really extravagant coz I only buy 1 or 2 at a time.

2x500gm ribs in tomato and black pepper sauce, one cooked and one frozen from BBQ Chef.

8 packets of Muar Otah in classic fish that tastes the best, but they also sell it in clam/squid/prawn. The same place sells chinese style buns (mantou) and fresh fruit mochi. This time around its durian and mango.

3x200gm cans of Kelly luncheon meats in premium flavors of truffle and iberico ham. Had to try these even though the classic spam is still the best.

6x40gm packets of Jim Beam potato crisps. I always want to order more crisps but its not always available for delivery, they have to pack it loosely in cardboard boxes so it doesn't get crushed.

More local coffee and I also got the UCC percolator versions that is placed on top of the coffee cup.

24 slim cans of Coca-Cola and 5x12 Korean mini cans of drinks that are supposed to be fruit juice but there is cinnamon punch (Sujeonggwa) and rice punch (Sikhye).

Most of the instant noodles I ordered are Konjac noodles that is like jelly but not really. In cup version (regular price $10 each, discounted price $5 each) and in packet version (regular price $5 each, discounted price $2 each).

I also got one each of Kim's instant noodles. Everyone keeps telling me this is the premium noodles that is QQ and tasty on its own so the seasonings provided in the packet are very light in taste for cooks to add their own toppings & soup in a restaurant setting.