Piggin' Out: Buddha Jump Over the Wall on NYE

Restaurant: Extra Supertanker

Location: Bukit Utama Golf Club (map included below)

For New Year's Eve, Pa wanted to treat us to something special so we headed to his new favourite restaurant - the recently opened Restoran Extra Supertanker 2 in Bukit Utama Golf Club. (sister restaurant to the outlet with the same name in Damansara Kim)

We had Buddha Jump Over the Wall - the proper kind with that's cooked in a huge pot and is served as 3 dishes - the sharksfin soup to start, a second soup with other goodies like fish maw and dried scallops, then the final dish of a whole abalone.

We also had king prawns, lightly grilled with a bit of sauce.

And my fav - chui pei taufu. Simple and delicious. Would prefer it with more dried shrimps on top though.

And the finale, fried rice for some carbs.

Piggin' In: Fish head curry at home

Okay maybe not quite home-cooked.

When my dad gets a good cut of fish from Uncle Loh of Kaleebso, he almost immediately starts making plans for a big fish meal - either bringing it to a restaurant for them to cook it for us or he attempts to do something with it at home. When eating at home, we've discovered a really easy but yummy way to cook fish head curry: we BUY the curry and its condiments then add in the fish before serving it for dinner.

This place in Puchong has pretty good fish head curry so my dad drops by after work to pick up the curry sauce, just in time for dinner.

If you can't see the details, here they are:
Name: Restoran Kari Kepala Ikan Tiga
Address: No. 19, Jln BPU 2, Bandar Puchong Utama, 47100 Puchong
Tel: 019-6477941 / 016-2882879

At home we get the fish ready by lightly frying it in some oil so that it doesn't break up when it's put into the curry. We had a nice cut of parrot fish today.

And here's our fish head curry, Chinese-style with tau pok, long beans, lady's fingers and cabbage.

To accompany the curry, we had salt-baked chicken and vegetarian noodles with lam yue sauce from Puchong Ocean Ship Restaurant.

That day, someone gave us a whole roasted duck as well so we had that too!

*yum*

Happy New Year 2009!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year 2009!! All the best for the coming year.

New Year Resolutions 2009

2 days left til the new year. I'm at work today since I'm saving my leave for my upcoming India trip. AND, I'd like to get everything in the office organised and sorted to start the year anew. PLUS, I like being in the office when there's less people and I seem to get more things done.

Amidst the updating, sorting, throwing out of junk and clearing my worktable, I've been thinking about how far I've come in the past year (and also all my guilty indulgences).

During the 12 months of 2008:
- I had a busy time at work. But my learning curve has steepened further and starting next week, I'm moving on to unchartered territory (okay I'm being dramatic here but starting to cover stocks is a big deal and I'm moving on to being a full-fledged analyst!). It has been a rewarding year (both in terms of experience and the paycheck didnt hurt).

- I passed my CFA Level 1 exams but failed Level 2. Not too upset about it though. Try and try again. Failure shouldn't deter me.

- I discovered the joys of yarn shopping online and spent way too much on yarn. Exactly how much, I have no idea. In fact, I dont even want to think about the cost. But buying yarn just makes me so happy so if its within my budget, I'm splurging. In the past, I just never wanted to buy yarn online just so that I could control myself. But I failed to resist the temptation... and ended up happier with my yarn stash.

- I also spent too much on knitting "literature". English and Japanese knitting books, knitting magazines... blah blah blah. I can't help it. Kinokuniya has such a great selection I can't stop myself each time I go in there.

- Too much on clothes too. And shoes. And bags. And jewelry (to a lesser extent). Whoops. I can't help it if I take after my mother the queen shopaholic. It's part of my training by her since birth.

- I overate quite a bit and quite often. So what is new? I've been a glutton for years. It's not my fault that restaurants in Malaysia keep serving yummier food all the time. (Speaking of which, we had dinner at Sage, The Gardens yesterday and it was good. My sister declared it was her new favourite restaurant in town. Review to come.)

- I indulged in my other hobby: baking. Spent quite a fair amount of money buying "essential items for the kitchen". But hey, I argue that they've been put to good use and that they last a lifetime.

- I made my annual trip back to London in June.... And had a great time. Short trips to Barcelona and Lourdes were great too. And of course stocked up on yarn and clothes.

- I tried to be more green.... and bought biodegradable shower gel. Which is the most likely culprit that triggered my recent case of eczema.

- My cholesterol levels have risen yet again. Obviously a direct result of my feasting and lack of exercise. And I've been avoiding my cardiologist. And that was in May so I think it's time for another round of checks.

- We had more holidays within Malaysia: Penang, Cameron Highlands, Pangkor Laut, Damai Laut (Lumut) and on the Kaleebso. Going local here given the worsening economy. Plus, we have such great places around the country that we should appreciate them and patronise these tourist destinations.


My resolutions for 2009 are:

- to spend less.
- to eat less (which then results in spending less since the bulk of my expenses is food).
- to lose some weight just so I can fit into my old clothes (also a result of eating less).
- to start going to the gym again? I have no idea if this will work out at all but I should try to at least start running on the threadmill at home.
- to do more charity work and put others before myself.
- to try to stay in touch more often with my friends, especially those in Malaysia. I used to be really good at keeping the communication thingy going (phone calls, emails, cards, birthdays etc) but busy schedules have sadly left me too tired to bother anymore.

And my knitting resolutions are:

- to be strict on my yarn diet because I'm running out of storage space and I may not have that much time to knit.
- to make more knitted gifts for people (which is of course a function of how much time I have to knit!)
- to finish my long outstanding WIPs before starting more new ones and try not to get bored or annoyed with them too easily.

We'll see if I can stick to these resolutions. I've not made such lists in years that I'm actually feeling rather nostalgic making them. It's such a high school thing to do.

Piggin' Out: Puchong Ocean Ship Seafood Restaurant

Restaurant: Puchong Ocean Ship Seafood Restaurant
Address: 20G, Jln Bandar 7, Pusat Bandar Puchong
Directions: Corner lot behind Tesco Puchong
Telephone: 03 5882 8393

Last week, my dad brought my sister and I to Puchong as we needed to get baking supplies from Bake With Yen. Of course, we planned it in such a way that we'll have time for a yummy meal in Puchong. Daddy brought us to Puchong Ocean Ship Seafood Restaurant for salt-baked chicken (yim kok kai in Cantonese).

The highlight of the day: the chicken itself. The meat was delicate and very moist, not too dry as some salt-baked chickens tend to be. Not too salty as well which is great (and not to mention healthier). Costing RM25 for a whole chicken, not too bad really.

Shen and I loved the simple soup of xing kua, pork and egg. Home-style cooking at its best. RM8 for approximately 6 portions of soup (i.e. 2 bowls each).

But the piece-de-resistance for the day: the stir fried lotus root, carrots and mangetout with baby ikan bilis and lam yue sauce. Absolutely delicious!! The vegetables were fresh and crunchy and the lam yue gave it an added zing. Pa says he's going to try to cook this one day! RM10 for this. Lunch cost us RM25+8+10= RM43 + tax and drinks etc ~.

The restaurant is one of the numerous Puchong restaurants that my dad and his colleagues frequent since their office is nearby and pricing is pretty decent. There wasnt much of a crowd there when we went but we figured that since it was Christmas Eve and the holiday season, a lot of people may not be around town. On usual days, the place packs up pretty quickly during both lunch and dinner.

I have yet to try their seafood though so maybe another trip there soon?

Knit FO: Geometric shawl

This just shows how much of a procrastinator I can be. According to details I have in Ravelry, I completed my geometric shawl on 26 Oct. And I'm finally posting up pics of it here 3 months later. But, admittedly, the shawl has been put to good use in the office and so I never had much opportunity to take pictures of it until I decided to take the camera to the office.


Yarn: Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Aran, Colour - Black, 10 skeins.
Needle size: 5mm
Pattern: My own very simple design.

Here is a picture of myself in the office wearing the shawl together with dear Juliana. Yes I know I look pale and sleepy but that's how I look after staring at the computer screen for hours and without makeup!

Knit update: Juniper Syrian Shawl

I've finally managed to snap some pictures of my current WIP -the Juniper Syrian Shawl. I took it along for our little stay at the KL Hilton on Boxing Day.

Don't you just loved the colour of the yarn!? These pictures actually do not do the colour any justice at all.

Yarn: Artesano Inca Mist, 100% Baby Alpaca, Colour - Juniper, No. 8126.
Needles: Clover Takumi Bamboo 100mm Circulars, Size - 4mm.

Pattern: Shoulder shawl in Syrian pattern, Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby. A really easy, mindless knit.
Modifications: None so far but I most probably am not doing the borders because (a) I can't be bothered to and (b) I think it looks simple and nice as it is. Also, I purposely made the shawl with 4mm needles instead of larger ones so that it's slightly thicker compared to the one in the book.

Progress: On my 4th ball now, 2 more to go although judging from its current size, I may not need to use the 6th ball of yarn.