In The New Sabah Times!

Had a late night and was still in bed when Hub came and gave me a copy of The New Sabah Times this morning. I took a look and sat straight up, shouting in horror and delight. Horrors first:

1. Shan had quoted me word for word! I started wishing I had written a better reply to her e-mail in which she asked for info such as why I'm into food blogging and my fam's response to my new hobby. There were things I left out, things I shouldn't have left in...

2. Pity the food pics were so blurrr.

3. Some mention of my family...I just have to be less candid next time!

Delights:

1. The article was well-written (as usual with SS) and enjoyable.

2. To be featured alongside the beautiful and talented RasaMalaysia and the eating experts behind eatingasia is an honor and I'm very encouraged.

3. I asked that the pic of me be small. It came out big but so blur you can't tell it's me, so I'm happy! (Shan, I don't think people can tell those are prawns in the other pic.) Bee of RasaMalayisa is amazing ("Hot!" said Ming) - she looks good even with four eyes, blur nose and two mouths!

Thanks to Shan again for considering this blog article-worthy. In the past few months I have made many new friends, picked up a little on my photo skills, learnt new recipes, packed on 5 kgs of belly roll and point-of-no-return eyebags. I want to thank all of you for dropping by, for your comments and e-mails without which I wouldn't enjoy blogging. Really, thanks for considering this blog read-worthy! Please continue to give feedback; no fun talking to myself! Muah!!

Blueberry Fresh Cream Cake

My friend Lily requested for a fresh fruit and cream cake for her birthday, something I haven't made for years ever since all that trans-fat brouhaha (all whipping creams have hydrogenated palm oil. Dairy creams are milk-based but don't give that volume and stiffness desirable for icing of cakes). Also, it is now harder to get Rich's Pour N Whip, which is the best-tasting whipping cream I've tried.

This cake was very stressful to make. The sponge cake turned out excellent but I had to ice the cake twice. The punnet of strawberries from Western Australia was the first to stress me. While the strawberries on top were as big as walnuts in their shell, the bottom ones were only thumb-sized. Hmm, I thought, the Australians are becoming very Asian. It's typical here (and I think in most Asian countries) to pack the best-looking prawns, or lamb chops or whatever on top and then underneath you get the rubbish. Then I saw 'Packed by Hoaung Le Produce' or something like that. Vietnamese grocers obviously.

My regular cake ingredients shop lady recommended Rich's Dessert Topping, a new product that's low in sugar and "very smooth". Rich's Dessert Topping is such a horrible product, I urge you to avoid it! The first thing bad about it is the sickening margariny flavor. Then the texture. It is a very smooth whip but it tastes like wax!!! And that's not all. As I piped the cream rosettes, the cake started to sag. It was melting, and yesterday wasn't even hot. When I looked at it in the fridge later, the icing around the cake looked like a silly balloon skirt. Panic. Dinner in 2 hours.

I raced to another shop, got Rich's Whip Topping Base and scraped off as much of the first cream as possible. What a terrible waste, because I had put in a whole bottle of Dalfour's mixed berry preserves. However, I'm happy to report that the cake turned out very very good even though Rich's Whip Topping Base is another suspicious product. It just doesn't melt, and is so stiff, I couldn't make pointy pipings because it just breaks off. And I could even pick up and re-arrange the piped cream because they were so firm. It was weird.


Slice of same cake photographed in daylight

To make this cake, you just spread the middle layers with 1/3 of the whipped cream and spread a thin layer of blueberries preserves on that, then mix in some mashed blueberry preserves into the remaining cream and use it to ice the top and side of the cake. I used frozen blueberries on top. It's cheaper than fresh but you must thaw it completely on kitchen paper or it'll bleed onto the cake. Finally glaze the fruits with a thin layer of piping jelly. Ask me if you need help.

Temper Tantrums

Oh, these video clips are so funny! I'm sure every parent will sympathize and understand. Personally, I'm relieved my kids are beyond that now. I felt very stressed watching the first clip, and I am happy for the patient father that his son didn't turn out to be a monster. If it was my kid, I'd have tied him to a tree! (Looking at the video again, I think he just wanted his shoes back on.) Thank goodness we live in a country where parents have some authority!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6icPodjaA


Of my three kids, only Wey (the youngest) had 'blackmail tantrums'. One day when he was about 3 or 4, he hammered his head on the floor when he didn't get what he wanted. I responded by doing something influenced by my friend K's story about how her grandma suddenly stabbed her fingers at her son's (ie K's uncle) eyes when he was young because he had a habit of blinking rapidly when he talked. Grandma's stabbing stopped the blinking pronto! I'm not condoning her, but it worked. And it is funny if you imagine it. The older generation sure had effective parenting skills.

With Wey what I did when he banged his head was, I grabbed his hair and banged his head for him. Just 3 or 4 times. I then walked away as he cried in surprise and anger. When he did it the second time a few days later, bashing his head on the wall this time, I did the same thing to him and walked away. He never repeated that behavior again. People widen their eyes and tell me I'm cruel when I share this but hey, this is when you've got to be cruel to be kind. And it's tougher as a parent to say "No" than "Yes" but I always tell myself: discipline them now or suffer later.

When Ming was 16, he and I had the worst year of our lives! At least it was for me as a mother. It culminated last year when we fought so much over boundaries, rules, his playing of computer games etc that he started hanging out late with his friends. I know these friends and they are good boys so I wasn't truly worried but at the same time, I was upset when he started coming home at one or two am whenever we had a fight. One day I was so distraught I chose not to go for Sunday service and stayed home alone to pray. I also read James Dobson's Parenting Is Not For Cowards, and one problem he dealt with was kids breaking curfew time. If you have never read his books, I'll inform you that Dr Dobson has always been a promulgator of the disciplining of children, having written a widely-read and acclaimed book called 'Dare To Discipline'.

That Sunday, by 10.30 pm when Ming still wasn't home, I called him on his mobile and told him calmly that if he broke his curfew time of 11:30 pm, I would lock the door. He said he had the house keys. I informed him that I'd put in new locks and he can stay at Sean's or in the cars. He came home on time ever since. I think the difference was I said it so calmly and firmly instead of my usual ranting and raving. Plus I really meant what I said. And I fully agree with Dr Dobson that as long as our kids are living with us, they have to abide by our rules.

With Yi, it's always been easy because here's a girl who's kind, loving, understanding, obedient, God-loving, gosh, she's just wonderful. But I still had to discipline her. I slapped her one day when she was rude to me. She ran from the kitchen up to her room and slammed the door. I was still shaking with shame and regret when, true to her nature, she came down only 20 minutes later and apologised, repented, and we cried together. Her behavior was amazing, because she was 18. How many 18 year-olds can accept that kind of discipline?

I know I seem harsh. But I never want to be in a position like one of my friends whose daughter threatened to cut her wrist because her parents tried to stop her from going with her boyfriend of a different religion. They not only gave in to her, they allowed the boy to move in with them!

How have you coped as a parent?

For those who haven't yet have kids, the next clip gives the ultimate advice. Now we know why the population growth in European countries is negative :)

Japchae (Korean Noodles)

Japchae with egg white and yolk strips topping

A few years back, we had a Korean family next door. The wife looked like she came from one of those Korean soaps: pretty, elegant with an oval face and the clearest skin I've ever seen. But Youngsook wasn't just a pretty-faced xiaoje. She could cook. From her, I learnt to make a few types of kimchi, all kinds of soups (Korean cuisine is big on soups because a long time ago when the country was starving a soup with rice could feed a whole family), cook rice in a pressure cooker which gives rice an el dente bite, and make japchae which sounds like 'chupchoy' (mixed veg) in Cantonese/Hakka.

I highly recommend this dish the next time you have a pot-luck. A bit of this and that makes a whole mountain to feed a whole army. The only problem is this dish doesn't keep well. It goes sour easily because the whole dish is not fried together, and also at pot-luck parties we tend to just leave the food out for too long. It is a better idea to dish out the jabchae in batches. If you do have leftovers, you can fry or steam it to re-heat.

Jab Chae
250g sweet potato noodles (dangmyeon), soaked in room temp. water
5 dried Chinese black mushrooms (not flower mushrooms), soaked n caps sliced very thinly
1 carrot, cut into toothpick-thin strips
2 small stalks of leeks, sliced thinly diagonally
1 handful spinach, blanched and cut into 1.5"/4 cm lengths
1 brown onion, cut into thin slices
2 eggs, separated
1 cup pork (not too lean) or beef, cut into very thin strips
1/2 cup ham or fish cake, in very thin strips (optional but the ham does give extra flavor)
2 T toasted sesame seeds
sesame oil, sugar, salt and Kikkoman soy sauce

1. Soak the noodles in room-temperature water for about 3 hours. Then put them in a large pot of boiling water. Test a strand with your fingers. Remember that noodles will firm up a bit when cool but you also don't want them too soft. Take noodles off the fire, drain well, put them into a big bowl (in which you are going to mix all the ingredients) and snip here and there with scissors because the noodles are very long.

2. Put mushrooms (squeeze out water) and pork/beef into a bowl and marinade with 2 T Kikkoman sauce, 1 T fine sugar, 1/2 t sesame oil, 4 to 5 garlic that's chopped fine and 2 T finely chopped spring onions.

3. Fry the egg whites and yolks separately (or together if like) into thin omeletes and cut into very thin strips. You should use low heat because high heat will cause the omelete to bubble and crisp, like mine (blame it on Vero again) and that would make it hard to cut into fine strips. Sprinkle some salt and black pepper over the egg strips and mix.

4. Squeeze water out from the spinach and toss with 1 teaspoon of the sesame seeds, sesame oil and salt.

5. Fry the leeks, carrots and onion separately in a little bit of oil and salt, and sprinkle some black pepper over each.

6. Now put all the ingredients (leave some egg strips for topping) into the bowl of noodles and add salt, sugar, soy sauce, sesame seeds (leave some for topping) and LOTS of sesame oil, tasting and adjusting as you mix. Youngsook liked to use her hands to mix; said they mix better than chopsticks.

Serve at room temperature. Make sure you serve this dish within 2 or 3 hours of mixing. Otherwise, chill it and re-heat although that way the dish doesn't taste as good.



Dangmyeon (picture, right) is available in Korea Market at Tanjung Aru Plaza (RM22/500g) and Recipes House in Damai (RM27/500g). Giant Supermarkets stock China-made dangmyeon (picture, left) for only RM6.90/400g but DO NOT use this brand because after scalding with hot water, the noodles become a sticky tangled mess!

Stewed Pig Offal

(Note: The following pictures may not appeal to some, so proceed with caution. It's Halloween food.)

Thank goodness Chinese stewed offal is not even close to Scottish haggis, the later being a disgusting mince of sheep innards boiled in sheep's stomach. In Cantonese, Chinese stewed mixed pig's offal is ho yup mei. I don't know what that truly literally means but it sure sounds like one of my friend's name, way back in primary school.

We were at Foh Sang yesterday checking out the shops when I saw this stall selling ho yup mei. It's been decades since I've had this dish and frankly I was a little nervous about eating it. It's not just that it's innards or offal (sounds better?) of a pig, but is it hygenic and can we take all that cholesterol? But I remember how I loved it as a kid, when my Dad would come home with a brown-paper packet of my favorite ho yup mei whenever he won a majong game, so I bravely ordered a small RM5/US$1.50 portion.



The offal was presented quite decently in little plastic containers. There were pig's ears (I had that, but I kept wondering if pigs have earwax...), pig's heart, pig's lungs (had that too, the best), pig's intestines (had one piece of that), pig's stomach (that too), spleen (yes) and liver, tongue...



This dish MUST be eaten with hot mustard sauce. And lots of guts (pun totally intended). I was secretly admiring Ming who unflinchingly ate what I ordered even though he didn't grow up eating offal. I was thinking, wow, Ming's a real man but he told me if Anthony Bourdain (whose shows Ming enjoys) can do it, so can he. There must be a whole generation of grasshoppers, bull balls and sheep's eyes eaters out there, all inspired by Mr. Bourdain.

We also ordered the deep-fried spring chicken which the stall-keeper insisted is the best in town. It was pretty good, but on the whole this was a meal that made me queasy till now. However, just so you don't think so badly of me, do check out this Wikipedia page. You'll find that in almost every culture and country (except the less 'cultural' ones like Canada, Australia, USA) some form of offal is eaten. And to be truthful, all sound pretty disgusting no matter how they cook it.




I'm told by Denise that the name of this coffeeshop is Khen Hin. It's in the middle of the right side of the block of shops in old Foh Sang.