Tepee

OK, so I took a friend to a fairly new cake supplies shop. I only snapped one pic, because the sales people there have amazingly sour and unfriendly faces. This shop is big; there are 6 aisles, some longer than this. If you see the hanging sign, you'll notice that our cake pans here are made of aluminium, a big no-no for baking. No other choices. Don't think my cakes turn out so bad, ya know? Came home with 6 pieces of NZ unsalted butter, 500g of cream cheese, whipping cream, walnuts, a long wire rack, brown sugar, heart-shaped doilies....could be more. I don't get flour there coz these days, I'm using organic flour. and because I brought my friend there, she rewarded my family with a delicious cheese tart. No touching, please...that's MINE. My friend, Sandra, has lived in the UK for as many as 8 years, I think, and she has taken a baking course in London. She's a great baker.

So it's not one of those "warming" things??? ← Well, the dong kwai is warm, while the dong sum is cool. So, I guess they neutralize each other.

Forgot to show pics of the kedai runcit/grocer-within-walking-distance (your mom-n-pop?) where I got the coconut for tonite's dessert. and close-up of the coconut-shaving.

Awwwww.....(((((BIG HUG)))))). Yetty, you must volunteer to blog. You simply MUST. Don't make me turn blue.

These are known here as pea shoots. Thank you. What Malaysians commonly call yams are known here as taro. And, thank you. TP, what are those brown fruits, in front of the boxes of mandarins, and behind the pineapples? Hulllo? I was quick-draw McTP with the camera, remember? I didn't really pay that much attention to my subject matter. But, I think it's cempedak, too. ←

Dong guai (cantonese)/ dang gui (mandarin) and dong sum (Cantonese)/ dang shen (Mandarin) are herbs that are good for women so I guess that's why TP called it "soup for girls". ← I drink that soup all the time! But I had no idea those herbs are especially beneficial to women. Let's hope what's good for women isn't harmful for a man, and doesn't make him any less of a man. ← Not to fear! It ain't "harmful" for man (DH takes it too), and nothing will 'disappear' ; it's main efficacy is to clear the women's system. Solly. I've been deliberately mischievous. Also, I said that I was a good girl because, for lunch, I usually make salad or sandwiches. Today is extra effort. Pat on my back, thank you.

Was a good girl today. So I made "soup for girls". In the soup is a Spring Chicken, fresh shiitake mushrooms, Dong Gui (angelica sinensis), Dong Sum (codonopsis pilosula), Gei Zi (wolfberry/boxthorn berry/lycium barbarum), Red Dates. Added mee sua and cos lettuce to make up lunch. The little one gets to have her chicken shredded.

Very quickly....Helen, do you have pork ribs or chicken, groundnuts and dried squid? These plus the cucumber and lotus root makes a great soup. If you don't want your cucumber to end up too mushy, add it later. But the groundnuts have to be in from the start. Some people stuff glutinous rice (I've done that b4) into the lotus root holes. When the soup is done, remove the root and slice (thin or chunky) slightly diagonally. I'm in a bit of a rush right now, but I can't keep away from this blog. So glad to see others enjoying it as much as us.

Yeah, that's very strange, Shiewie. What else do you do that's strange? So does anyone know if kueh kapit has its origins in Kapit, Sarawak? TP, how big is that floss bun? Next to the bear, it appears to be as big as a cantaloupe. Just imagine how much miracle whip is in there! ← LOL, I'll leave you in the good hands of Shiewie and Kew, for the first 2 questions! On the bun, let's say it'll be a miracle if my kids can eat anything bigger than my fist. Gotta run.....

SHIEWIE!!!!!! Come back! I need you to identify some veggies in english. (I haven't lived abroad before, so I'm afraid my food terms are pretty much confined to M'sian names). Touaregsand was asking for pics of our open air markets the other day. We'll be going tomorrow morning, but, on Tuesday, after my dentist visit, I went to a nearby mall where the market is enclosed but the concept is the same as an open one. Please excuse the pics. I had to switch on the camera in my bag, take it out and snap quick shots, as, according to one of the proprietors, photographing is not allowed there. Here's one of the fruit stalls - lots of bananas, pineapples, oranges, honeydew melon. The dark orange boxes in the backqround are leftover mandarin oranges from Chinese New Year. They're selling for half-price. On the front row, you can see turnip (as I know. I think western turnip is not quite the same, no?), yam, beetroot and old cucumber (great for soup). Back row: Pickled mustard greens, potatoes, red onions, shallots and garlic. Going anticlockwise from the bottom front, there's brocolli, dau mieu (shoots), chinese and english parsley, lotus roots (ah, this can go into the soup with the old cucumber), red and green capsicum. Will try to get a wider look at a market tomorrow.

A couple of leaves I picked from our garden. Will be adding them to fish cutlets I'm making for dinner. I'll be pretty busy in the kitchen this morning, preparing lunch and parts of dinner, as I'm going to visit my fav shop (cake supplies shop) this afternoon with a friend. Hopefully, they'll allow me to snap some. kaffir lime leaves/daun limau purut on the left, and daun kaduk (someone help with the english name?) on the right. Daun kaduk is usually used in fish custard/otak-otak. My garden is over-run with them; a good hiding place for little squirrels. Help! My almost botak (bald) pandan plant and daun kaduk. I'm not taking any more garden pics coz it's in a very unkempt state at the moment. DH's job to take care of the outdoor, but he's been pretty busy at work these days. But, here's some of my other plants, unweeded. Calamansi, lime, limau purut, ginger, pandan. Kew, do you think I can borrow one of your gardeners?

((((Nervous pssst...Kew, do I take over now?)))) ((Clearing throat)) Hi all! My intro is practically identical to Kew’s. I’m also a SAHM, but with 3 girls, ages 3-plus to 11. And, I, too, quit my job 8 years ago, to enjoy the fleeting childhood years. Was a fund manager with an insurance firm in my previous life. If you think you can say my name (Teck Poh) and it sounds polite, be my guest to use that the next time. Stick to Tepee if it sounds like …er…something else. Before I had kids, I baked and cooked although it was only for DH and myself. We’d invite family/friends to a different themed dinner at our home almost every weekend. When DD#3 came along, I felt a bit overwhelmed and we settled for catered food. This lasted, incredibly, for almost 3 years! I’d get my 3-tier tiffin delivered to our gate every day. I suddenly realized the kids didn’t look healthy. Besides, they kept saying they missed my cooking. I finally made the decision to cook again when the tiffin started arriving at 3.30 pm. Horrors, can you imagine what time they must have prepared the food? By the time we have our dinner at 7-nish, all the nutrients would have gone. I refuse to subject my loved ones to zero-nutrition food (except for the odd McDonalds, now and then, and that’s provided mommy likes the toys too). And so, I’ve been happily re-discovering the joy of cooking for the past 4 months. It sure is fulfilling to see rosy cheeks on the kids again. And on with the Blog........ It's half past eight in the morning now. I had a glass or 2 of unboiled RO (reverse-osmosis) water. Do that every morning. The girls had their Milo. This morning, they had The fuzz didn't come from the bear (which the girls insisted on including in the pic). Their uncle bought Chicken Meat Floss bun for them last night. It's filled with Kraft Miracle Whip all-purpose dressing. This bun is on my agenda of many-things-to-bake- one-day-soon. Then, we still have left-over chinese new year biscuits. From the left: Green Bean Very Fragile Biscuits (my fav) Light Almond Biscuits (my sis made them) Love Letters (also my fav) Packed muesli bars for their school recess. After I came back from fetching the kids to school, I have my breakfast, a very satisfying mug of organic almond drink. Did I mention I'm into organic food...well, around 50%.

Talking about kaya, you can find good kaya (either pandan-flavored or original) in the pasar malam. Our children love them kopitiam-style - smothered and oozing on lightly-toasted white kopitiam bread - with slices of banana in between. p/s Laksa, I'll keep the Pan-guide-tip in mind. Thanks. Add: Toast must be generously buttered too.

I've only had the pleasure of visiting the Big US of A once. We hooked up with a local tour and there was a lot of ground to be covered in the 9 days. To enable us to do more sightseeing, we opt for fast food most of the time, which was basically Burger King (for breakfast) and chinese food(for dinner/lunch). It was a torture to go into a Burger King for a third time. The hash browns were dry and burnt most of the time. I don't recall the ones sold locally to be like that. As for the chinese food, you can't tell one restaurant from another. One thing I can say for them is their portion is twice what we expect for one person's serving, so in the end we knew better to order one portion for 2. But of course I would not venture to even begin to think that other US food will give me the same experience. I'm an optimist, and I do look forward to discovering great food in our next visit.

Kew! My BIL worked at Ramly's factory once while waiting for his exam results. You are so right to keep away from them burger patties. Enuff said.

Umm ... maybe Shiewie or Tepee can help out here. I have no idea. Yup, cucumber is a must ingredient. Never seen them before. Could be some new innovation waiting to get famous...like Roti John.

Teehee, Kew, looks like we're alike in so many ways, this blog may well be done by one person. Anyway, more about that later. About your pics, now's the time to be trigger-happy. Click, click and click away till you get the shot you like. Your dinner's great, by the way. Touaregsand, if Kew doesn't make it to the open air markets, I'm sure I can oblige...uh, I mean DH, coz he's the one who does the marketing on Saturday. Had to edit the spelling of Touaregsand; what a mouthful!

You bet! 'course, the problem is finding a baby-sitter for my 3 angels..........

Nasi kandar - Shiewie's already explained it. Sold by Mamaks. Nasi dagang - Kelantan/perhaps Trengganu origins. - is a lemak kind of rice - usually served with ikan tongkol curry. Yum! Eh, Shiewie, do you think our friend Laksa needs a guide around KL/PJ?

I add it when I make Meat Floss.

Whew! What a relief! Thank you, Suzy. BTW, great site.

I consume tofu (soft, firm, skin, balls) 3 or 4 times a week. This morning I read an online article where this vegetarian guy described the calcium sulphate in tofu as "essentially Plaster of Paris". That certainly soured my tofu. He suggested eating fu chook/dry tofu skin instead.

Come to think of it, Shiewie, yup, it could be shee chai choy/potato leaves. It's a bit dook/toxic according to mom, and a no-no for expectant moms. For others, do consume in moderation. Sure would like to decorate a cake to look like that fish. Love those electric blue lines!