Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Easy Caesar Salad

This is an all-time-favourite salad and it is always at the top list of salad menu in most of the pub & club restaurants

I have modified the recipe a little bit to make it more "user-friendly" as it only requires easy everyday ingredients and the steps are not complicated as compared to the original Western version.

Below is the step-by-step guide:
Crouton = French Loaf + Oil + Garlic

First, you need to have at least half a loaf of a-day-old french loaf to make the crouton.
Cut the loaf into small cubes. Crush 3 cloves of garlic. Heat up 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil or grapeseed oil in the non-stick pan. Heat the oil slowly and turn the garlic occassionally.
When the garlic golden brown and the oil is hot, remove the garlic (before it gets charred)and throw in the bread cube and toss till golden. Drain the bread in paper towel. For a low calories version, reduce the oil, toss the bread well with the garlic oil and brown for 1 to 2 minutes in microwave oven till it gets very cruncy. It is very much your preference either to discard the browned garlic or reserve it as part of the salad mix.
Dressing = Japanese salad dressing + mayonaise + parmesan cheese powder

Japanese salad dressing is available from most of the organic food store. If it is unavailable, you can blend your own version by mixing lemon juice/grapejuice + brown rice vinegar/fruit vinegar +(sugar + salt=> seasoning according to taste)
The amount of mayonaise sauce and parmesan cheese powder to be used is pretty much your own preference. If you don't mind the calories and you like the dressing to be richer, you may add more. Remember not to put too much vinegar or lemon juice or the dressing will be too watery and sourish. You don't want this salad to have too much liquid that eventually your croutons and nuts go soggy and lose their crunchiness.

Go Nutty & fruity = Toasted Almond flakes + dried cranberries

Toast the almond flakes in the oven or fry in slow fire in a pan.
You can also replace almond flakes with toasted pine nuts.
I normally add the cranberries to the dressing first before mixing to soften the fruits. Cranberry is the preferred option then raisins/sultanah as it is softer. You can get it from most major supermarkets in the frozen veggie or organic food section Anyway, just fetch whichever fruit at your convenient.

Caesar salad = Romaine lettuce + Croutons + Dressings + Nuts and Fruits

I used 2 stalks of organic "butterhead" and 2 types of romaine lettuce (green and red). Wash the veggie, tear into small pieces and drain off the water. For this salad, you should do the mixing only before serving. Preferrably store the veggie in a container or salad bowl and leave in the fridge before serving. To serve, combine dressing, browned garlic, olive oil and toss thoroughly so that all the leaves are evenly coated with the dressing. Season with some pepper if necessary. Lastly, stir in almond flakes/nuts, dry fruits, croutons made with french loaf cubes and parmesan cheese.

Monday, 12 January 2009

Recreational Club In The Sky

We received an invitation for a property preview in Mont Kiara. Verve suite, selling at close to RM600 to RM800 psf featuring the hypercube living concept.
As the name suggest, the units are not very big. But all units are fully renovated and tastily furnished. The ID is very stylish and modern, perfect for the yuppies or the double-income-with-no-kids.

There is an unique sky lounge, namely Vertigo Lounge sitting on the top floor (35th floor of the penthouse). All residents can claim to have the panoramic penthouse view regardless of which suite they own. The Vertigo Lounge comprises a sky gym, a theatrette, a pool table, jacuzzi and sauna areas, a BBQ party terrace and fully equipped kitchen with food and beverage facilities. It's as though a recreational club in the sky..Perhaps this is the distinctive feature that differentiate it with the neighbouring projects.

Footpath on the roof terrace
leading towards the bean bags deck









Watch movie by playing your own DVD at the theatrette









State-of-the-art-wash basin












Jacuzzi and sauna with open concept












View of the neighbouring tower from the sky gym










Sky lounge with full kitchen facilities










Sky lounge area with futsal table and pool table










Am wondering whether I have a chance to hold a private linedance party here....

Elgin's First Day of School

Elgin has finally "graduated" from kindie. January 2009 marked an important milestone for him as he will be starting his primary school life at this point onwards. I considered myself lucky for being able to get him into a Chinese Primary school at the vicinity of Desa Parkcity through my uncle's contact. I have heard that it is not easy to get into Chinese schools as the demand is rather high. There are more than 50 students in a class, can you imagine? Despite the medium of instruction, I have heard varying views about the pros and cons of sending kids to Chinese schools. There are some who said that Chinese schools are more serious in their teaching business. But on the other hand it's like a pressure cookers and the average kids may not be able to take the pressure. Anyway, my believe is sooner or later, kids are able to adapt to it. I could be wrong but I think there is no point to bother at this stage. With 2 years of Mandarin tuition, I think Elgin is ready for that school. Kamatei!

Elgin and his new school. Pic was taken when I took him to buy his exercise books and stationery before the school reopening.





Elgin was que-ing up with his newly acquainted classmates to the boys' washroom- one of the key activities during the orientation day.





Recess time- tucking in at the school canteen. He seemed to enjoy his meal.






At the end of period, all the new kids were instructed to wait for their parents.






Elgin broke the rule...
He couldn't wait to reunion with his mom. Hence was instructed to go back to his line immediately until his class teacher release him.




There you are.. waiting impatiently! (Not the son, but the mom :P)





Thursday, 1 January 2009

Japanese Buffet Dinner At The Legend Hotel, KL

This year, we took our family out for a Christmas dinner in Legend Hotel, KL. It was a Japanese buffet-style dinner. As there were six of us, we were given a tatami room.
All the guests were given a party pack in conjunction with the christmas celebration.







Like most of the buffet, there was a huge spread of selections! As I had gone thru a recent episode of food poisoning, no choice but to avoid the raw food sashimi (juz too bad...).
Anyway, I have topped my plate with all the make-to-order dishes from the action stalls. My favourite veggie and salmon cutlet in teppanyaki style. The grilled dishes were called yokitori (grilled chicken in skewers , a bit like sate except that it has more terriyaki sauce taste) . Also not forgetting, the famous Japanese delicacies such as baked unagi (eel) and tiny fish of 'Japanese species' in BBQ style.

Some of rather "Malaysianized" varieties such as honey chicken wings, fried rice, baked oyster with cheese topping, butter prawns, tempura and etc..









Custards pudding and a variety of dessets for drooling!
As it was a Christmas dinner, there were rich fruit cake, stollen (fruity loaf), yule-log and etc served to mark the occasion. Anyway, I found the cakes and desserts are rather too sweet.




Green tea always blend well with red beans. So I have not forgotten to top-up one scoop of red beans to my green tea ice cream!







Relish this icy dessert with a combo of shaved ice, black jelly (cincao) and longan. Umphh...it was a very cooling sensation indeed!

















Ho! Ho! Ho! Father Christmas clad in red and white suit had paid us a surprise visit! Elgin took the opportunity to capture the moment with Santa Claus!

Elgin was "conned" into tying the balloons filled with hallogen gas to his pants.










Posing with style!
























Oh oh! Difficult to sit? Sorry.. too late to release! This was how we tamed the naughty Elgin.





There were wide varieties of fresh seafood dishes, typical Japanese cuisines such as sushi, sukiyaki, udon noodle stirred fried with black pepper, miso soup, omochi & etc. Also not forgetting the delicacies for the occassion - roast lamb and turkey in cranberry sauce. Anyway I couldn't afford to stomach in so many things at one go. The buffet on normal days was priced at 69++ but it has gone up to 88++ during Christmas. Anyway, it was a jolly-good dining experience with loved ones in this special day!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Like most of other years, my bro-in-law Terence had prepared a sumptious dinner and invited us to his house for Christimas celebration.

Christmas was like another annual reunion dinner for the family but in Western style coz Terence cooks excellent Western cuisines.



Seafood Pilaf & Caesar Salad







Roast Chicken as a turkey substitute (personnally I feel that chicken taste better than turkey)



Sphagetti Aglio Olio ( Sphagetti fried with garlic & olive oil)







French loaf with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dip

















The Christmas tree full of ornaments
and the personalised gifts with photo identification.
Which one is more attractive? I believe the kids
will choose the latter!


Baby Santa?










These are Christmat gifts from Jason &
my god-daughter Alicia. Thank you dear!