Home-Cooked Dinner - 27 June 2016 (Specialty - Nyonya Acar Fish)

Folks, this is another food-related post: home-cooked one.  Have you been missing my post and pictures on home-cooked dishes?   :P

Mouth-watering dishes wok-ed up by the mil - Nyonya acar fish (for the adults),  pan fried silver mullet fish and fish roe (for the kiddos), blanched lady fingers, roast pork and 'char siew' and steamed egg.







Nyonya acar fish is a long lost and forgotten dish that is lip-smacking and whets your appetite. My late maternal grandma used to be a very talented cook and prepared this dish exceptionally well.  After her demise in 1992, I have never come across this dish anymore and soon forgot about the existence of this dish UNTIL the hubs bought it for me  during my 3 weeks stay in the hospital with Cass at GMC Penang in May 2008.  The hubs randomly walked into a 'chap fan' (economy rice) shop along Macalister Street and randomly packed several yummy dishes  to bring them to me while I was holed up in the hospital. The 3 weeks holed up in the hospital staring at a sickly 13-month old baby and the four walls and praying that Cass would get well soon was depressing. The only thing I could look forward to was the surprises that the hubs would bring back to the room to cheer me up everyday.   Since that day that I tasted this acar fish, we have been patronizing this 'chap fan' shop whenever we made a trip to Penang for Cass' check-up.

During our recent holiday in Penang, the hubs made a trip back to this 'chap fan' shop on Macalister Street and had a few yummy dishes tapau-ed back to Ipoh for my parents. It was then that my dad parted this recipe to the MIL.  When we returned to KL, the mil tried the recipe and it turned out pretty well.



Acar fish (which literally translates to pickled fish) is essentially fried fish topped with fried slices of garlic, ginger and tumeric, with a sauce composed of vinegar and sugar. It’s usually garnished with red and green chillies, but we omitted the chillies.  I bought a good quality rice vinegar made in Japan for this dish.

The mil used silver mullet fish for this dish, fried to sheer crispiness for the added more-ishness.

It is pretty simple to prepare this dish. Just fry the fish and with the remaining oil, add in the sugar, vinegar and ginger.  Pour sauce over fish. Some people leave the fish in a jar with the sauce, like how they would prepare acar. Ours is a simplified and fuss-free version.

You can google Acar Fish / Nyonya Acar Fish recipe and you'll get a handful of recipes. Choose one that is easiest for you to prepare.  You can use ready made powdered turmeric like ours or you can slice up some fresh turmeric.

Below - stir-fried mustard green leaves with the mil's homemade fish paste.

Parents' Day At Alycia's High School And Lunch At Jalan Tun HS Lee Hawkers Gallery

Last Saturday I attended Cass and Drama Queen's parents' day and report card collection in school.

A week later, yesterday,  it was Alycia's turn.  Alycia has been going to this high school for six months and yesterday was only the second time I had gone to her school.  Compared to her primary school, I must say that I am pretty impressed with the high school, which is a far cry from public schools. It is clean, really huge and well facilitated.

I was not allowed by the big princess to snap any of her picture in school. Fine by me.  So I took pictures of Cass instead.  She insisted on following me to her che che's high school to explore and boy was she impressed. Let's see if Cass and Drama Queen get accepted into the school.




On the big princess' results, I had expected her to be getting  only mediocre marks and positioning as she had only put in less than average effort. Well, my guess was right!  She seems to be really enjoying high school and I have never seen her this RELAXED in her 6 years of primary schooling in an SBT  primary school (Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi / high prestige school).

Good or bad?  Well, her dad says she should be enjoying school and should never be pressured to excel.  He is not expecting to get As from his princess either. He only wants her to be happy and get reasonable grades without failing in any subjects.  While me, the baddie as usual, am really not too pleased with her grades. After meeting her teacher, I now understand why she is so relaxed coz her teacher has a very relaxed disposition and outlook! And  she told me that she does not like to put pressure on her students.  Aha, no wonder laaa!!

Good or bad?

This is very subjective, I think. Agree?  What are your views on this?

Good grades is not everything in life but good attitude is, I am always told.

Anyway, after spending over 3 hours waiting in school, the foodie hubs brought us on his foodie trail again. This time he brought us to sweat it out at the Jalan Tun H.S. Lee hawkers gallery (at Petaling Street) to tuck into the famous Madras Lane Chee Cheong Fun and famous curry noodles.















Are you drooling already? :P

Dessert was ice cendol.

Dinner At Kok Thai Restaurant, Ipoh - 6 June 2016

Our trip up North (Ipoh and Penang) from 6 - 9 June 2016 was a food-filled one, enjoyed with all the people whom I love.  Though nerve-racking for me coz of Cass' impending ultrasound scan of her kidneys and urinary tract at GMC Penang on 7 June, the trip was otherwise fun-filled with us making stops at all our favorite eateries in Ipoh and Penang to tuck into our favorite food.

On 6 June, we had dinner at Kok Thai Restaurant, Ipoh.

Here goes all the mouth-watering dishes for you to droooool on :P

''Toong Took Kai" or Standing Chicken, which is roast spring chicken impaled on a metal skewer.  Since the spring chicken was pretty tiny, we ordered two and both chickens were completely gnawed down to the bones! They were however not finger licking good as we were given disposable plastic gloves to savour the chicken by ripping it off however way we want it to without making a mess of our hands.  It was fun for all of us as it was our first time eating roast chicken served this way,  fit for a king!  This dish is the bomb!




The foodie hubs happily ripping his chicken apart before devouring it...




Big succulent big head prawns, pan fried with soy sauce, the way the hubs loved it...




Check it out - someone is SO SO happy sucking the gooey cholesterol-laden roe and brain juice off the big head prawn ha ha!




Steamed free-range chicken, cooked just the way the hubs like it.





Stir-fried choy yuen veggie.






Braised tofu with hairy gourd and ear fungus.






Claypot pork with salted fish / ngah po harm yue far larm.





Deep fried fish filled spread atop a bed of chee cheong fun with superior soy sauce. This dish is another bomb!






My lovely mum with my lovely princesses. A rare photo of the 4 of them together ever since the 2 older girls turned camera shy, sigh!



Address:
Restoran Kok Thai
56-64, Lebuh Medan Ipoh,
Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh,
31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Phone:+605-546 8407

My Friday - 17 June 2016

In the morning, the hubs suddenly suggested to have breakfast with me.  But I  had an appointment at 10ish am with a friend at Gardens.  Never reject your man when he asks you out, right?

Yeah, right!

So we had a quick breakfast of char koay teow...





Porky soup noodles with added white pomfret fish that hubs bought from a fish seller opposite the coffee shop.  He told the pork noodles seller to cook the fish and add it into this noodles. And the bowl of noodles turned out to be really yummy!




Kampar fishball noodles with fish balls and 'liu'...




After a quick breakfast, I sped home, quickly boiled a pot of barley water at super high flame coz I was in a hurry. Had a change of clothes and then sped off to Gardens to meet my friend and then had a quick dose of retail therapy  before speeding home to wait for Drama Queen and Cass to come back from school.

The entire afternoon was spent on the computer and studying the Naturally Plus business system. I feel like I am back at college again having to study and understand a business system but this is much  more rewarding than studying in the college as I get to earn moolah.  It is the passive income that spurs me to keep going and to never give up however tough it may be to be juggling with this business on top of an online store, a household, 3 high-demand kids and blogging :)

Izumio To The Rescue

With all the heavenly Penang and Ipoh ambrosia that we pigged out on over the past one week, I am so relieved that none of us is down with sore throat nor did we develop any nasty reaction to the rich and heaty food.  We feasted on  crabs and prawns almost daily - big and succulent ones. Those crabs were bursting with roe too, which doubled the lethalness!  I hope my overload on seafood  doesn't spike up my cholesterol level (I have genetic high cholesterol if case you missed out on my earlier posts).   And satay, Ipoh curry noodles, fried lobak, fried spring chicken, sausages and pizzas too. On our way back from Ipoh, hubs made a stop-over at the Sg Buloh R&R and we had Burger King - set meals with piles of deep fried junk fries.  The girls stuffed them into their mouths like they were gold, quickly gobbling them down, lest I stopped them.  The girls ate their fast food like they were some just released inmates who hadn't tasted such scrumptious food for yonks. Forbidden food always tastes so good, don't they? Haha!

I am thankful that I have Izumio hydrogen water and Super Lutein to help us stay in top form during our holiday.

Below - Cass helping me cart boxes of Izumio and Super Lutein to my waiting customer at our condo lobby during the school holiday.





Hydrogen is the smallest atom in the chemical chart making it perfect for accessing the deepest darkest parts of the body (mitochondrial cells) where others cannot reach. Every chromosome, amino acid and protein block in our bodies need Hydrogen to build good quality cells

Hydrogen has also a pH balancing effect on the body not turning acid into alkaline at all, but balancing the equilibrium of the body whilst flushing out acidic toxins through sweat and urine. In short, normal water has been helping us do this all our lives but Izumio is much, much stronger.

Super Lutein is essentially the extract of vegetable essence encapsulated in a sealed soft gel capsule completely safe for babies. It has more than 11 ingredients from top quality Lutein (best in the world) to other carotenoids from tons of fruit and vegetables that one could never eat in a day. The capsules can be swallowed or chewed and taste like a mixture of fish oil and dark leafy green vegetables.

Our family has been consuming both Izumio and Super Lutein for slighly over a year now. I am so glad that my friend gave some to Cass to try.  Now there is no looking back for me. I am already consuming them for free now and would love to consume them for as long as we can.

My bonus from Naturally Plus..




Each product is RM435 at retail price.
One product is defined as 1 box of Izumio of 30 packets (200ml each) OR 1 bottle of Super Lutein (100 capsules).

Members can get them at a much cheaper price.  I can  teach you how to get them at an even cheaper price or FREE just by sharing.

Just give me a call at 019-266 4290 or email me at shireenyong@gmail.com to find out more.

No obligation.

Who knows? It could be what you have been looking for all these while.  When my friend gave me a box of Izumio for Cass to try, I didn't really think it could do SO much for her and us :)


For more reading on Izumio and Super Lutein, please click on the following links:

Hydrogen (H2) as a potent antioxidant and exhibits anti-inflammatory and potentially anticancer-like activities (from US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health)

Izumio Hydrogen Water and Super Lutein

Izumio and Incontinence

 Super Lutein

Day 18 On Izumio For Incontinence

Symptoms of A Body Detox

Day 20 On Izumio Hydrogen Water For Incontinence

IZUMIO – Antioxidant Hydrogen Water

Hydrogen Water Facts

Super Lutein Goodness

 Dangers of Eczema Steroid Creams

Super Lutein and Izumio Hydrogen Water For Glaucoma

Effects of Hydrogen Rich Water On Metabolic Syndrome (Diabetes and Obesity) - from US National Library of Medicine

Izumio and Super Lutein - Testimonials From High Blood Pressure and Diabetes Patients

Izumio and Super Lutein - Testimonial On Diabetes And High Cholestrol

Super Lutein For Osteoarthritis - Testimonial

Your Body On Anxiety

Hydrogen Water And Asthma  

Super Lutein and Izumio Hydrogen Water - Testimonial From Kidney Dialysis Patient

Izumio And Super Lutein - Testimonials From Diabetics Patients

Earning Passive Income

Izumio And Super Lutein - Testimonial On SLE (Systematic Lupus Erithematosus)


Izumio And Super Lutein - Asthma and overall immunity

Izumio And Super Lutein - Testimonial On Psoriasis And Gout

Earning Passive Income From Naturally Plus

Izumio And Super Lutein - Testimonial On Stroke

Short Holiday In Penang (7-8 June 2016)

Pictures taken during our holiday in Penang from 7 - 8 June 2016:

Below - Alycia and Sherilyn playing badminton on the beach.





Below - Cass collecting seashells with daddy by the beach. Surprisingly daddy still likes seashells! Well, I still love seashells as well.  Seashells remind me of the wonderful time I spent with my papa when he brought my brothers and I to Golden Sands @ Pangkor Island for a holiday many, many, many moons back. I was about 6 years old and I remember that the Golden Sands beach was really beautiful, pristine and impeccably clean.  We could swim in the crystal clear sea water without getting that itch on our body.  I remember waiting for the waves to come and sweep us away with my papa catching me when I was thrown by the waves into the sea water. Those days were so carefree and happy.  I also remember picking up really pretty, big and perfect seashells, which my mum still keeps them up until today!  Our girls marveled at those perfect seashells, which still look shiny and unflawed though they were sitting untouched in a dark corner for almost 4 decades!




I can never get enough by gazing at the ocean. It just gives me a sense of serenity, calmness and relaxation with my worries and woes gently swept away by the sea water.   When I look into the ocean, I perfectly understand why my friend and her hubby sold all that they have and used up all their savings to open a diving resort in Perhentian Island. They now live on the island with their 2 kids, who are home-schooled.




After some seaside activities, the foodie hubs ordered some light snacks of satay and pizza.  We were anticipating some less than tasty hotel food but we were so wrong. The satay was perfectly grilled - tender, tasty and without a tinge of burnt meat on it. The pizza was yummylicious too. We thoroughly enjoyed the food though we were really stuffed from what we ate at Sin Kheng Aun,  Rainforest and Mugshot in the afternoon... not forgetting those Apong Guan which I stuffed myself gloriously in vengeance for missing it for 2 years.




We all love Penang. If we could afford a luxury condo along Gurney Drive, I really wouldn't mind moving to Penang to stay. Everyday would feel like a holiday whenever I look out of the window to gaze at the ocean.

School Holiday Activity - Making Waffles and Pancakes

This school holiday, the girls have been helping out in the kitchen quite a bit.  They watched how grandma make savoury glutinous rice dumplings (bak chang), helped with making  Chinese dumplings (kau ji) and volunteered to make waffles and pancakes.

For waffles and pancakes, it is the eldest princess who has been bugging me to make them.

Why do I call her a princess?

She does not like any work related to the kitchen and won't even wash her own cup had I not been reprimanding her all the time.  She will always try to find ways to get away with wetting and dirtying her ROYAL HANDS!  She has to thank God for the drama queen for willingly accepting the hardest and most hated chore of all - dish washing. I thank God for my drama queen too for helping me out with this chore that I hate the most.

Since the princess is the one who has been pestering me for months to make waffles and pancakes, I delegated this project to her.  Thankfully she has her 2 side kicks who are always very supportive of her.  Her 2 loyal sisters helped her to google for recipes and to mix the batter. They know their princess sister will fail out right with getting the batter ready, ha!

Below - the girls measuring the ingredients for waffle.





When the batter was ready, we discovered some cracks on the waffle maker, DANG IT!  Cracks on any cooking equipment, plates and cups are a big NO NO.  Bacteria may harbour inside the cracks and as for electrical equipment, electric may stray and we may get electrocuted.

What a bummer!

With the waffle batter, we had to cook it on the pan on stove, turning it into waffle pancake!  And it was yummy, though not as crispy as waffles.

Below - firing on all stoves.  The girls used 2 stoves to flip their waffles and pancakes.





Before the waffle pancakes even touched the plate, they were all walloped by the girls and moi!  We ate them straight from the pan!  But I wasn't worried too much of us getting heaty as I have my Izumio hydrogen water  to zap away the heatiness :D

By the time the last waffle pancake was being flipped on the pan, the girls realized that they could not get enough of them. They wanted more!  So they googled for a pancake recipe as pancake batter does not need fermenting.  I left it all to them to kau tim and only helped with checking on the doneness of the pancake and making sure that the littlest one does not get into trouble in the kitchen.

After 2 hours of sweating buckets in the hot kitchen, we made enough waffle pancakes, banana pancakes and plain pancakes for dinner for everyone, including our dear part-time helper.

Below - pancakes with sliced bananas served with maple syrup and blueberry and cream Haagen Dazs ice-cream.  This is Sherilyn's creation.  I think she's got a lot of talent to excel and soar in the kitchen.  With her outgoing, brash and bubbly personality, she may even make it to the status of celebrity chef one day, ahem!  *syiok sendiri only*  :D :D

Our Saturday

Today is the second last day of the 2-week school holiday. Our routine is back to normal today. I sent  Drama Queen for tuition at 9am today, then had breakfast with Cass and Alycia. When school reopens, it would be a rare occasion for Alycia to have breakfast with us on Saturdays as she has to be in school.  After breakfast, I rushed to the musical instruments shop to get Alycia some d addario classical guitar strings for her guitar and rushed back home for Cass to have Mandarin enrichment class. Alycia is still attending guitar class once a week. During her free time, she would go to You Tube for online guitar lessons on how to strum the latest pop melodies.

Penang Trip (7 - 8 June 2016)

Beautiful scenery taken at Four Points Sheraton shortly before a heavy downpour just before we checked out from the hotel at 1pm today...




The girls, especially Cass miss the beach a lot.  The last time we stayed at Four Points was exactly 2 years ago. We totally adore this place.





Below - breakfast by the beach at 8:30am today.  Cass and I were at the coffee house before anyone else as we had to get ourselves ready and leave the hotel early for the hospital for Cass' appointment with her surgeon.




We thoroughly enjoyed our yummylicious breakfast whilst enjoying the awesome view of the beach.   Too bad we had to rush off our breakfast to leave for the hospital.





I was totally surprised and excited when I read about this in the newspaper while having breakkie today - the Ovation of the Seas docked at the Swettenham Pier in Penang yesterday.  When we arrived Penang yesterday, we saw this hi-tech cruise liner.  For a moment, I thought that it was a new high rise building in Penang. We have not been to Penang for 2 years and thought that it was the latest building in Penang. Later, we realized that it was a humongous cruise ship.  But we didn't know that it is the most technologically advanced cruise ship in the world and was berthed in Penang on her maiden voyage with 5,738 passengers and crew members aboard this US$1 billion liner!





Though it rained cats and dogs, the foodie hubs just had to make a stop at Tg Tokong for seafood.  All our trips to Penang in the past ended with a stopover at Tg Tokong for baked crabs and prawns. For the hubs, a trip to Penang will never be complete without him tucking into his favorite baked crabs and prawns at Tg Tokong.





No frills goodness - fresh prawns and crabs, baked with just salt, enjoyed at a kampung style house by the beach turned eatery. Forget about clean cutlery in an air-conditioned place and be prepared to be sitting on less than perfect chairs and tables whilst swatting and shooing flies and insects away from your plates of seafood :D

Houston Family Physician

Your family's health is one of the most important things you need to worry about. However, finding the right doctor to take care of all of your family's medical needs is not the easiest thing in the world to do. There are certainly many doctors out there that you can choose from. It would be a big mistake to simply go to the first doctor that you come across in your phone book or online. You need to put some very serious thought into finding the person who will be responsible for treating the various illnesses and injuries suffered by your family. Here are some tips that can be used for finding a doctor for your family.

1. Is the doctor good with children? Not all doctors work well with children. This is a simple fact of life. Therefore, you should never make the mistake of assuming that a doctor will work well with your child just because he or she has many years of experience in the medical field. This is why it would be wise to get the opinions of people who have taken their children to that particular doctor before. What is their opinion of the doctor? Are they happy with the way the doctor interacted with their child? Did the doctor put their child at ease so that he or she would not feel nervous during the examination. This is definitely a skill that medical schools do not teach their students.

2. Is it easy to get appointment? This is an issue that most people do not stop to consider. You might be able to find an outstanding doctor. However, that doctor will not be much use to you if you need to wait a long time whenever you want to schedule an appointment. You do not want to wait around endlessly every time you need to see the doctor. This is especially true if you have an urgent medical problem that needs to be taken care of. Look for Houston family physicians who can get you in for an appointment quickly.

3. What types of insurance do they accept? Obviously, you will need to locate a doctor who is willing to accept insurance from your current medical provider. Most doctors have a list of all the providers they accept on their website. Give their office a call if you are unable to find the list.

School Holiday Activity - 4 June 2016

Alycia is not a kitchen person.  She dislikes helping out in the kitchen. When she helps out in the kitchen, it's like having a baby bull in a china shop :D

Since she wanted an American breakfast at home today, she had to wake up early to help out. I suggested hard boiled eggs so that there is lesser washing up to do but she insisted on fried wallet eggs.  Fine. She had to fry the eggs and I stood next to her to give her some tips.





Alycia also pan fried some sliced bread with semi-soft Mozarella cheese on the frying pan for everyone, which turned out to be really yums!

While I gave Alycia some lessons on pan frying, my very hands-on kitchen helper sliced the Mozarella cheese, cucumbers, avocado and tomatoes.

The littlest one helped to bring plates for her sisters and stuck her nose everywhere, volunteering to help out in everything.

After breakfast, everyone pitched in to clean up and wash the dishes.

Sorry, no pictures for this activity as my hands were too tied this morning :)