This is a picture of me and my love in Melbourne. I remember the day very vividly, we had just arrived late the night before, crashed at a motel near the airport and came down to the city to explore the place. It was just after we’ve checked into Rydges @ Swanston and we’re just about to take a tram for breakfast at Hardware Lane.
It wasn’t the moment I fell in love with her (that was earlier in the year) but it was the moment I really knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.
The cool wind blowing during late autumn while we shared a Big M milk and some candy bars. Stamping our feet to try and keep warm while waiting for the tram. It was a great trip together and we later drove to Phillip Island where the wind was so cold and strong that we were both literally blown away. 😉
I’ve been on many other trips with her since then, from Siem Reap to Bangkok but nothing beats that first vacation to Australia.
It’s quite a long story, how we met, and I know that she’s someone that I’ll be with for the rest of my life. I was not wrong. We’ve have our ups and downs and we went through it all like mature adults and I finally realized why all my previous relationships didn’t work.
She kept by my side through thick and thin and supported me during a dark period of my life. I also helped her through the things life throws at you and we’re much closer and stronger now because of it.
I don’t think either of our parents approved much at the beginning but after seeing us together, I like to think that both sides know that we care and love for each other. I love you dear! *hugs*
That’s my KDK “Blown Away Moments” Contest Entry. Well, technically, only the first two paragraphs are – it needs to be under 300 characters. 🙂
KDK is giving away RM 3,000 cash to the winner of the contest. Just submit your “blown away” moment – your first date, your first concert, the day you got your result, or the day she said “yes”. It’s all about the happy moments in your life – the important ones that shaped your life, and you could stand to win the prizes above!
Surf on over to the KDK Facebook page and share your happiest moment in life with a photo by going to the Blown Away Moments app. Contest ends 30th July so get on it! There are weekly and a RM 3,000 grand prize! Here’s my entry – vote for me by clicking *here*! 🙂
I made this vegetarian (it’s almost vegan if not for the dairy products) sandwich for my dear one morning. We went out grocery shopping and I took whatever I thought would taste good in a breakfast sandwich – a sweet start to the day.
I don’t want to toot my own horn but this is one damn good sandwich! 🙂
You will need:
Dole pineapple slices (the canned stuffed that comes in a ring for burgers and such)
Greek yoghurt (plain)
Alfalfa sprouts (I got a mixture of broccoli and alfalfa sprouts)
Combo beans (comes with slight sprouts and adds texture)
Aged vintage cheddar
Strawberry jam (I used a gourmet Chiang Mai strawberry spread)
Poppy seed bread
I chose to use poppy seed bread as it goes really well with this. We had 3 different kinds of bread at that time and this seemed the most appropriate choice.
The true secret to this sandwich though is the Greek Yoghurt. I got the plain, natural full cream version and the texture of this compared to regular yoghurt is remarkably similar to sour cream. I ate a lot of this when I was in university (alfalfa sprouts too) and loved it – it’s thick, spreadable, and piles on like nothing else.
I spread scooped about a good *heaping* inch of the Greek yoghurt on one side of the bread and used the Chiang Mai strawberry gourmet jam on the other.
Next, I spread some mixed beans with sprouts on the Greek yoghurt side of the bread (so it’ll sink in and provide texture and taste).
…and topped it off with a healthy handful of alfalfa and broccoli sprouts.
The last bit on this side before putting it together is adding some crumbled pieces of premium handmade no-preservative vintage Tasmanian Farm True Cheddar Cheese that’s been aged for 18 months. This can be a bit intense so you’ll notice there’s *two different sandwiches* – I spread just a little yoghurt and omitted the cheese for my dear.
I took a pineapple ring (refrigerated) and put it on the Chiang Mai strawberry jam side for the finishing touch!
It’s an awesome sandwich, if I say so myself. The secret to making it good is that everything (except the bread) needs to be in the fridge so it’s cold. It’s supposed to be a breakfast sandwich.
I like making sandwiches and I consider this fruit and yoghurt concoction with cheese on poppy seed one of my best sweet breakfast sandwiches. I use my love as a taster, she’s an awesome cook, but she’s honest with my sometimes (admittedly) bizarre culinary creations. I’ll know if my sandwich experiments failed.
This isn’t one of them. 🙂
The pineapple ring and strawberry provides a tangy morning juice kinda vibe and the slightly sour thick Greek yoghurt goes well with the fruits and alfalfa sprouts and beans for texture and taste. The 18 month aged true cheddar cuts across with a savory tango on your tongue. It’s a very refreshing start to the day!
Deep-fried Mars bars are the stuff of legends. It originates from fish and chip shops in Scotland and is the epitome of unhealthy eating! I decided to make my own using a entire new bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) to give it a healthier veneer. 😉 I not only did it with a Mars bar, but also battered and deep fried some other of our favorite candy bars.
Snickers
Mars
Twix
Kit Kat Chunky
Cadbury Crunchie
I opened up a new bottle of fairly good quality EVOO – the bottle costs about RM 30 and you can’t reuse the oil since deep frying Mars bars causes the oil to turn entirely black (a snippet I heard from an interview in Scotland, where the battered deep fried Mars Bar originated) and chocolate will sink to the bottom.
Here’s my recipe for the deep-fried Mars bar:
Aroma Banana Fritter Flour
Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mars bar (and the other candy bars)
This project was done for our anniversary – I wanted to make Ling something sweet which also means something to us. Those are our 5 favorite candy bars and I wanted her to try the notorious battered deep fried Mars bar for our anniversary.
It’s very simple really – I heated up the 500 ml of EVOO in a frying pan until it’s hot (contrary to popular belief, fair quality EVOO can be used for deep frying – you won’t reach the smoking point) and prepared the batter.
I should note that this brand isn’t ideal as it doesn’t coat the chocolate bars properly. I have beer batter meant for fish and chips from NZ in my pantry but I totally forgot about it. The banana fritter batter only has baking powder, flour and salt so you can use those three in the right proportions if you want.
My first test was done with the Cadbury Crunchie bar – I had hoped that it’ll melt the honeycomb center but it didn’t. I also realize that the batter was too thin and fixed it for the rest of the chocolate bars. I then battered and deep fried the Twix, Kit Kat Chunky, Snickers and then Mars last – after I have perfected my technique.
I coated the Mars bar with the batter and dunked it into the hot oil. It tastes a while to melt everything. 1-2 minutes is ideal since it melts down most of the chocolate bar inside the batter while retaining its shape.
Deep fried Mars Bar verdict:
It’s the best! The gooey caramel and nougat melted while the chocolate was runny – biting into it is awesome. The crispy batter gives way to a hot mess of goodness! Surprisingly, Snickers gives Mars a good run for its money with the addition of peanuts.
Twix did really well too, the biscuit inside softened and turned it into something *magical* and I loved the deep fried Kit Kat Chunky as well. Crunchie was disappointing coz the honeycomb center didn’t melt but the other awesome candy bars more than makes up for it.
You wouldn’t believe it but between the two of us, we ate all the candy bars! I made my dear promise to eat half (she ate more like 1/3) and we both agreed that the deep fried Mars bar is a delectable, if somewhat expensive venture (due to the use of EVOO).
We loved it! Just be prepared for the sugar rush of your lives! 😀
or how we got scammed in Thailand and ways to avoid it
I have vague memories of people being scammed at the Damnoen Saduak floating market in Bangkok but never really researched it. Thus, when our taxi driver offered to take us on a full day tour for just THB 1,200 (RM 120), I didn’t bargain and thought it was a pretty good deal.
I didn’t want the extras, I just wanted to cram in two floating markets (Tha Kha and Damnoen Saduak) for the day. It takes about 40 minutes to an hour to reach the latter and there’s a reason the taxi driver gave a lot of excuses not to go to Tha Kha (it’s too small, you won’t like it, etc).
Damnoen Saduak floating market is basically a well known tourist trap. It’s what you see on the postcards and has lost it’s original meaning of being a floating market for locals but rather a scam to bring tourists there for the same trinkets and souvenirs you’ll find on the streets of Bangkok.
Tha Kha floating market is the one that locals go to.
Unhappy tourists who were conned before us
Anyway, the way the scam works is that taxi drivers offer you a really good price for a day’s tour (you can hire the cab to go anywhere for the day) and bring you to a pier where you’re forced to take a boat tour. Our driver kept insisting that there isn’t a way to go to the big Damnoen Saduak pier, which isn’t true as we found out.
It took us an hour and you can see lots of salt flats where they farm salts on the way to Damnoen Saduak floating market. It’s quite interesting to see the locals harvest salt and sell it in bulk by the roadside.
We got shuttled to Shang 2 Pier. I later found out that there are heaps of “private piers” like this one – they arrange a commission with the cab drivers to bring tourists here. A woman immediately approached us as we pulled in and told us it’s THB 3,000 per person or THB 5,000 per boat for a 1 hour boat tour of Damnoen Saduak floating market.
That’s RM 500 for the boat!
I said no way and walked back to the taxi driver and told him to bring us straight to the Damnoen Saduak floating market pier. He kept insisting that there’s no roads to go there except by boat. His English was pretty bad but I told him I don’t want a boat tour and finally the woman (who followed us over) said she’ll do it for THB 2,000 (about RM 200) per person.
That’s a ridiculous price and not knowing if there’s actually a way to the pier of the Damnoen Saduak floating market, I finally bargained with the woman and got us a covered motorized boat for a 1 hour tour for THB 1,700 (RM 170) per boat.
I realized later that we could have gotten it for much cheaper had we bargained more but there’s no way out of this scam, the driver will just drive you to different “private piers” which are just fronts for scamming people into expensive boat tours.
The driver of the longboat to Damnoen Saduak floating market was nice though and even helped us take a photo (which we learned some other less scrupulous drivers will charge you for).
Damnoen Saduak floating market is a tourist trap but it’s worth a visit for the experience if you don’t mind paying the over-inflated price. It’s like the Venice of Asia with the canals and waterways. The shops are right beside the canal – it’s now concrete after the tsunami and floods but still interesting to see shops where you literally have to row up to.
There are also various boats selling food and a coconut sugar farm inside.
I liked the coconut sugar – it’s exactly like those brown sweets from primary school except this is a large, hot wok and the taste straight from the paddle is incredibly sweet and nostalgic. They also offer a tour of the coconut factory but we didn’t go for that one.
It’s quite a nice experience sitting in a boat while traversing the waterways of Damnoen Saduak floating market but getting scammed into the boat tour took some of the fun out of it. You can get a (much) cheaper boat hire by getting to the Damnoen Saduak floating market pier itself. The pier bit in that last sentence is the most vital part – that’s where the regular boats depart.
I hear it is near impossible to get a taxi to go to the pier itself since they have lucrative deals to scam tourists into the private piers for the commission (the lady consulted with our taxi driver on the THB 1,700 price before agreeing). There are also tours which scam you into the private piers so be careful of that.
My suggestion is to go to a floating market that the locals actually use e.g. Tha Kha floating market and take a boat to Damnoen Saduak floating market from there. I got quoted THB 200 an hour per boat for a tour (RM 20) departing from Tha Kha before bargaining.
That’s a huge difference from THB 1,700 and closer to the real price. Tha Kha is more of a pier and not the postcard picture perfect floating market you think of but it’s a nice market where practically no one speaks English and meant more for locals. It’ll be hard to convince a taxi driver to go there though.
Ours didn’t want to go to Tha Kha at all until much coercion and asked for THB 100 for lunch which I absolutely refused to give after the scam he pulled. I only gave it to him when he said it’ll come out of the THB 1,200 price we agreed upon (e.g. I’ll just pay THB 1,100) coz he didn’t have any money for lunch.
When it was time to go back, our taxi driver put the meter on so I thought he wanted to scam us again (it’s THB 2,000 from Damnoen Saduak floating market to Bangkok if you follow the meter) but I was quite hostile to him and paid just THB 1,100 and left.
The Damnoen Saduak floating market scam is pretty well documented. Be careful of the private piers and go straight to the Damnoen Saduak pier. If you want a more local experience, get a taxi that’ll bring you straight to Tha Kha and head to Damnoen Saduak floating market from there, which will cost just THB 200 (RM 20) per boat.
It’s a veritable feast of creepy crawlies! The first thing I think of when I see, say, a spider, is to throw a shoe at it. The Thais go about it in a completely different way. The immediate thought seems to be “I’ll fry and eat it!”.
I found this street vendor selling all sorts of deep fried insects on the streets of Bangkok. Okay, frog is not actually an insect but she also had grasshoppers (huge and small ones), crickets (not the sport), beetles (which I am secretly scared of) and even red ants! Deep fried red ants! Imagine that!
I bought a pack of large grasshoppers for 20 THB and a mixed bag of every single insect she had for 30 THB (RM 5 total). The street vendor laughed and complied with my request – a deep fried cricket here, a sprinkling of deep fried red ants there. There’s even two types of beetles (water beetle and weevil). It’s supposed to be a delicacy here.
I ate it sitting on the steps where my girlfriend took this video of me eating all the deep fried insects:
I also made her eat some, much to her disgust, but at least now she’s tried it. 🙂
I’ll give a quick review of the insects:
Deep fried grasshopper
Surprisingly crunchy and delicious but the legs can have spines that can cut your tongue. Deep fried frog
These are tiny frogs that can fit in my hand. They don’t even remove the bowels! Tasty and crunchy. Deep fried beetle
The wings can be hard to swallow coz it sticks to the top of your mouth like peanut butter. Deep fried cricket
Tastes like grasshoppers but has more of a bee-like texture to it. Deep fried bamboo worms
Tasty and creamy! Deep fried red ants
Highly toxic when consumed in large quantities. It makes my mouth itch just thinking about it.
I’m not a huge fan of deep fried red ants – it’s hard to pick up (they’re tiny) and I find their venom to be a bit hard to take. It actually made me sick!
I was feeling slightly unwell after eating all these, she thinks it might be coz of the fried grasshoppers, I thought it was the toxin from the deep fried red ants. It’s an interesting experience nonetheless! 🙂
Sawadeekap! I’m in Bangkok, Thailand! Six of us flew in late last night – it was supposed to be a couples trip planned after a HCMC trip was cancelled. We’re staying at Indra Regent Hotel, which is just a stone’s throw away from the overrated and commercialized Platinum Mall.
Oh! I’ll tell you an funny incident last night. I was going through airport security, and took off my belt to go through the metal detector. I don’t know what happened, but it must have been stuck in the machine coz I didn’t see it – worse – didn’t realize it until the plane landed in Bangkok, I reached to tighten my belt…
…and noticed it wasn’t there. -_-
Anyway, we hit the local 7-Eleven opposite the hotel as soon as we finished checking in. The 7-Eleven over here is really quite good – it has a lot of interesting stuff and it’s cheap!
The Red Bull over here is particularly cheap – all of them going for THB 10 or less. That’s about RM 1 – a price which you’ll be hard pressed to find in Malaysia! In fact, I paid less than the equivalent of RM 10 for all my purchases!
There’s a lot of nice pork wares too – even the store branded instant noodles is Pork Spare Ribs with Tom Yam Flavor. It sounds very Thai. 😉
We had this Shredded Pork Mayonnaise Pocket Sandwich for breakfast just now. THB 12 or RM 1.20 for a sandwich stuffed with pork floss and mayo with the edges (crust) sliced off, just like your mom used to do for you when you were a little kid.
I also found this interesting bread product that goes for 7 baht each – around RM 0.70. I don’t know how to translate it properly coz the writing is all in Thai. It’s just a slice of bread with either butter or milk spread on top but it’s super delicious!
My voting station is in SRB Tung Hua and all the hype about indelible ink (or rather the delible nature of the ink) has made it the central topic in my mind.
I flew back to Sibu to vote in the GE13 (13th General Elections) yesterday and I’m flying back to KL later. I had changed my address here coz I think the Opposition has a good chance in my constituency. There’s three (3) candidates for the 212 – Sibu seat – DAP, BN and an Independent.
Ling took a video of me this morning letting off a fireworks rocket – I guess that much tells you which party I voted for. 😉
(For those unfamiliar with Malaysian politics, DAP’s logo is a rocket taking off)
I don’t even know Oscar Ling, the DAP candidate for my constituency – I wanted to vote for change, so I voted for the party instead of the candidate.
I went to the voting station and got assigned a number. I was asked which hand I write in (I’m right handed) so I got the indelible ink painted on my left hand. It’s done on the opposite index finger.
I took the slip into the voting booth…
…and promptly put my left index print beside the DAP logo. -_-
Indelible ink has been on my mind all the while and I thought the new rules is to mark for the party you’re voting for using the ink. That doesn’t make sense at all coz:
Voting is supposed to be anonymous and having your fingerprint there isn’t anonymous
They wouldn’t have asked you for the *opposite* finger you write with if you’re meant to mark it
There are writing implements there, just like past elections
I somehow looked past all that and for some robotic reason put my thumbprint (or index print rather) for the DAP candidate.
Mom: Idiot! You’re like a first time voter, being so blur. Me: I thought that was the new rules instead of putting an X.
It’s okay though, I asked and old people have used their thumbprints or just put a single dot using a pen on the candidate they want to vote for in the past and it’s *confirmed* counted. It’s all good. 🙂
…and on the subject of the ink, it’s not really that indelible. I’ll say it’s hard to remove, but after a shower and two hand washes, it has faded. I’m sure a dedicated person can totally remove it.
Obligatory GE13 photo: Giving the finger to show where my support lies. 😉
I have blue ink all over the tissues and other stuff I touch when in contact with oil or water e.g. during lunch!
Update: 212 Sibu is won by DAP! The other major urban seat 211 (Lanang) was also taken by DAP with over 8,000 votes! 😀
Unfortunately, the smaller rural areas didn’t swing due to lack of education and Internet access. This, I believe, will change in the future.
I’m in Sibu! I flew back with Ling early this morning and arrived at the airport so I can spend some time with my family (mom is flying back later tonight) before we all go to vote tomorrow. I think we might be voting for different parties but that’s the beauty of democracy ain’t it? 🙂
Anyway, I noticed that Chopsticks Chicken & Rice now has a new signboard. This is a place that has been around since my childhood! I remember eating the mixed rice there as a kid and chu cha (dai chow in Cantonese) when they moved over to Pedada.
However, what they’re really famous for is their chicken rice. My dad is a huge fan of it. There are scores of Sibu people who loves the chicken rice here. Lunch time will be *packed* with people ordering chicken rice and it’s sold out real soon.
They’re doing so well that they dedicated an entire shoplot just for it. That place was previously Peppino’s Pizza (also by the same owner).
There’s a bunch of things you’ll expect from a chicken rice place – char siew, roasted chicken, duck, innards, siew yoke, braised egg and also some that you won’t.
…like this Foochow style curry chicken.
It’s the same thing I’ve eaten as a kid – there used to be three compartments (not including your rice) and I’ll have curry chicken for all of them). Arthur ordered this one for us – he was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. It’s milder (in spiciness rating) than regular curry yet more intense (they put a lot of the curry powder). A peculiarity of Foochow cuisine.
The signboards are new and there’s a lot of people eating there but what I really crave is kampua mee. Unfortunately, everyone was sold out then (must be the people coming back for elections!!!) so we had lunch here.
It’s not too bad though, I think most people come here for the rice – it’s fragrant and what makes Chopsticks Chicken Rice special! The char siew is also good – glazed with honey and with no color additives that makes it radioactive red.
We’ll be staying a night here – she’s already met my grandma and we’ll have dinner together and vote tomorrow! 😀
I was out last night with my girlfriend to do something for the next chapter of our life (which will be revealed soon enough) when we decided to do some last minute shopping. It was a school bag for Big E and it cost RM 168. (!!!)
It wasn’t a particularly expensive label – just a practical one with an Angry Birds image which Rovio certainly didn’t know about (if you catch my drift) and a set of wheels, which seem to be a necessity nowadays. She’s just 7 years old and already carries such a huge load of books. I was commenting about how expensive it is to raise a kid nowadays.
I want the kids (including my own in the future) to have a good education. I was sent overseas to Christchurch, New Zealand when I was 15 in 1996 to do my high school and completed my Bachelor’s Degree after 4 years of college and university in Melbourne, Australia. I can’t imagine how expensive that was for my parents but I can guess.
Kids nowadays are very lucky. I was talking about the sms lån with Arthur when I was in Sibu last time and both of us agreed that sms lån is a great help for anyone who needs the financial support for their tertiary education.
I want the kids and my future kids to have a good education but I was calculating how much it costs and it truly staggered me. I don’t dare to think about tertiary education, just getting by would cost a lot of money nowadays with tuition fees being as high as they are.
I like the idea of the study loan. It allows everyone to get an opportunity for a tertiary education provided they meet the academic requirements. I don’t think that’s a problem for the kids or my future kids, with liberal application of the magic wand.
I’m kidding, I don’t believe in corporal punishment.
However, it does make me feel better to know that there’s the chance to go to university for all citizens up thanks to the PTPTN study loan.
I believe that a good education is necessary to survive in life. That’s what my parents taught me and what they strongly believe in. I want my kids to at least have a Bachelor’s Degree so they can have better opportunities in the future – studies have proven that a university education is not just the key to higher salaries and such but also important personal qualities like critical thinking.
I don’t think most taxpayers would agree with the abolishment of the PTPTN or allowing students to default on their loans.
No matter what your political leanings are, it’s just not fair to do that. What about the people who have already paid it back partially? PTPTN study loans allows for an affordable method of payment for new graduates.
The topic came up during a dinner recently – I strongly believe that if you take a loan which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as:
Something lent usually for the borrower’s temporary use (emphasis mine)
That means it should be returned. You’ve been given a chance at higher education and defaulting on it shouldn’t point north on anyone’s moral compass.
I want my children to be responsible and pay back loans which they have taken. Of course, I hope for a scholarship if they turn out to have the academic aptitude to do that, but if they can’t qualify for the cream of the crop requirements, that’s okay with me too. 🙂
Pong tia koon is the Cambodian version of balut. It’s simply a fertilized duck embryo which adds a lot to the eww factor for a lot of people. We were in Siem Reap and saw a street vendor selling it – that’s the only way to eat pong tia koon! 🙂
I’ve eaten balut in the Philippines before. On the streets of Manila, eating fertilized duck embryo is just a simple matter – you crack open the balut, suck out the juices and get a twist of salt to go with the egg. It’s just that simple.
However, the process of eating pong tia koon is quite complex in Cambodia. Cambodians have a wide variety of condiments to add to the fertilized duck embryo before it’s ready to eat. There’s almost a ritualized feel to it. It’s balut, Khmer style!
The egg is cracked into a plate, with the embryo and juices flowing freely. Fine salt and black pepper powder is added to it. Fresh lime is cut while a mixture of garlic slices and chilli is liberally poured into the plate and Cambodian mint (laksa leaves) sprinkled before it’s suitable to be served.
It’s delicious! I found the Khmer style of serving balut to be extremely tasty! I ordered 3 pong tia koon and it left me wanting more. It’s just 1,000 KHR (0.25 USD) per egg. The mixture of spices goes very well with the egg and also the tiny duck inside. I told Ling it just tastes like chicken soup and got her to eat some so she’s experienced eating balut before. 🙂
The Cambodian pong tia koon is a lot more intense in some ways than balut in the Philippines – they keep the duck longer (19 days compared to 17 days) so you can see a mature chick inside. It’s fully recognizable as a baby duck!
There’s a head staring back at you with huge eyes, a long neck, webbed feet. You can even see the rib cage of the baby duck! It’s delicious though – the sweet, sour and spicy condiments make this a truly delicious dish that you’ll crave for instead of something to eat just to experience. 🙂
