Sweet Watercress with Luo Han Guo Drink

Pardon my disappearance as I was away on a last minute trip to Perak, Malaysia.  It was so last minute that I wasn't able to book any hotel accommodation and had to stay with a relative.

The furthest we've traveled on a road trip to Malaysia was to Genting.  I didn't expect myself to agree to this road trip, which took us almost 8 hours from Tuas custom to Kampung Koh, Perak.  And we had 7 pax in a 6 seater car.  I remember very clearly DH requesting a road trip back to his parents hometown last year but I refused to compromise because the kids must be buckled up, thus having 7 pax is out of the question.  So how and why on earth did I agree to this?  Beats me...  Anyway, we didn't compromise on kids' safety as DD1 and DS2 squeezed onto one seat and buckled up too :-)

There is basically nothing much where we were, Kampung Koh, Sitiawan, Lumut, Pangkor and Pantai Remis.  BUT, it was a fruitful trip.  My urban kids had the chance to experience life @ kampung.  Having no toys but to self entertain with whatever natural things they could find (mainly seashells and rubber seeds).  With so many relatives there, we had the chance to visit their plantations and bird house.  It was truly an eye opening experience for all of us.

I'll blog more about our road trip when I have more time, there's so much to show and tell.  I love Perak!

Back to food stuff.  This looks like some bitter herbal drink but it isn't.  If you've been following me, you might have seen my Watercress with Luo Han Guo Soup.  But instead of cooking the savoury version, I sweetned it with rock sugar and it is another hit in my family.

It's a no-brainer recipe, just dump everything into a pot and boil.

If you like, you may add some agar agar powder/jelly powder and turn them into jellies ;-)

Sweet Watercress and Luo Han Guo Drink

Ingredients
500g watercress
1 Luo Han Guo (羅漢果, 罗汉果), smash the outer shell
2.5 - 3 litres water
2 - 3 dried honey dates (蜜枣)
rock sugar to taste (I used honey rock sugar)

  

Method

1. Wash watercress and cut into half. Rinse honey dates.
2. Rinse Luo Han Guo and smash the outer shell.
3. Add watercress, honey dates and Luo Han Guo in a pot with 2.5 - 3 litres of water. Bring to boil. Reduce to small flame and simmer for 1 hour. 
4. Add rock sugar to taste. 
5. Sieve and serve, either warm or chilled. 

Tampines Eco Green - Part I

Some months ago, we read about this new park, Tampines Eco Green, on our daily newspaper and I decided that we should bring our kids there one day.

View from across the road.

Address: Junction of Tampines Avenue 9 and Tampines Avenue 12

An introduction to Tampines Eco Green.

Entrance to the park

The DOs and DON'Ts but not many abide to it as we saw a few visitors walking their dogs in the park.

This park uses recycled materials in its benches, signboards and bird hides.

Within a few minutes walk from the entrance, we saw a group of photographers , waiting patiently to capture their best shot.  We were trying to peep but couldn't as we didn't want to obstruct the photographers.  Seeing I have 3 curious kids, a kind man passed me a branch with two little creatures on it.

The attraction?  Rhinoceros beetles!!  This is an eye-opener for me as I've never since one like this before.  According to the man, male rhino beetles have horns, the females don't.

Here's the female rhino beetle.

Photographers busy at work (the man on the right was the kind man I mentioned).

It is easy to spot butterflies and dragonflies in this park!

More signboards in the park

Lovely flowers in the park, don't ask me what they are, I don't know.

DD3 got tired after walking and requested to be carried.

DS2 and DD3 behind a Bird Hide, trying to spot some birds but none in sight.

Daddy spotted a butterfly and was explaining to DD3 how butterflies feed themselves.

I like how they make use of the recycled materials to make directional signboards in the park.

DD3's sandal was slightly big and it dropped off when she was trying to catch up with her siblings.

Then she decided she should just walk barefoot and leave her sandals behind :-|

I don't own a DSLR but I'm happy my Canon IXUS95 is able to capture some nice shots.  Not too bad for a dummy camera ;-)

PS: I just bought my DSLR at the beginning of this month!! Yippy!

Malacca, March 2011 - Part 3

We have already returned from recent holiday in June but I'm not done posting the pictures for our holidays back in March :P  Going to make it quick and short here, for my own reference.

For those interested, you may check out my earlier posts on our visit to Malacca here and here.

Nancy's Kitchen

Food wise so-so, nothing to shout about.

 Pork Pongteh (RM10) - too sweet for us

Softshell crab (RM12) -  taste normal, nothing fantastic

 Assam Fish (RM42) - this is the only dish we like

Fried Egg with Cincalok (RM6) - cannot find any attraction in this dish

Fried Angle Bean (RM8) - the beans tasted extremely old and chewy, despite asking for less chilli (for the kids), we still find it way too spicy for the adults.

Cendol (RM3) -  Nothing fantastic too but I thought it tasted better than Jonker 88 (read review here).

Total bill: RM107.65 including steamed rice and 4 drinks.

From a Singaporean standard, not an expensive dinner but as far as I'm concern, it is not value for money.  With the same amount, I'll rather go back to Teo Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant.

We spent a total of RM1900 nett for 3 days 2 nights in Malacca, 3A + 3C.  This marks the end of our 2nd trip to Malacca.

Malacca, March 2011 - Part 2

Here's part 2 of our Malacca trip back in March.  We are planning another trip to Malacca, but unfortunately Courtyard is fully booked on the dates we want.  In fact, most of the hotels along Jonker Street are fully booked.  There are a few other boutique hotels available but after reading the reviews @ Trip Advisor, I decided to venture further and give the ones at Jonker a miss.  I explored the possibility of staying @ Holiday Inn as I've heard so much rave but the busy traffic across the hotel made me change my mind.  A few other hotels with good reviews from Trip Advisor are fully booked too.  So left with no other options, I settled for a budget hotel that is newly refurbished.  I do hope we will have a pleasant stay there.

Enough said, here are more pictures of Courtyard.

This is the view opposite our room.

This is our room.  There is a huge window but it cannot be opened.

A dressing table just beside the window, as a decoration.

This layout is found in their inner yard, just behind reception area. Fengshui?

I like these furnitures!  Not that I like to have them in my house but I feel that these nostalgia furniture gives the hotel character.

Walkway towards the rear, leading to the carpark. 

Breakfast area

We didn't have a chance to visit Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant  last year and since our room wasn't available for early check-in, we went for lunch first.

It is easy to overlook this restaurant as it is located in a quiet alley with a not so prominent signboard.  In addition, the kitchen is at the entrance of the restaurant and it looks very rundown.  Nevertheless, we found it by asking the locals for directions.

There are a few things to take note if you are planning to have a meal there:

1. Reservations is a MUST. We didn't but being the first customer (they are open at 12.30pm but we were there at 12.20pm), they allowed us a table.  Contact number 606-282 2353.
2. You can't really dictate how you want the food to be cooked.  You basically choose your ingredients from the counter and the rest, you leave it to the cook/chef. 
3. Absolutely no food wastage.  Why do I say that?  That's because they do not allow you to over order.  Also, before they clear the plates away, they'll make sure the plate is empty ie no leftovers.  If there's even a mouthful of food left, the staff will it scoop up and serve to the person nearest to him.
4. Dessert (yam dessert/orh nee and fresh mango) is mandatory.  We didn't order, it was served and charged to our bill.

Oyster Noodle (RM16).  I'm not a fan of cooked oysters but since this is one of their signature dish, we went ahead to order this.  No regrets!

Stir-fry vegetable (RM10).  Not appealing looking but taste is not too salty, suits our taste bud. 

Tofu with minced meat (RM9).  This looks like a boring dish but it is absolutely fabulous.  The gravy goes well with rice too.  I don't usually eat minced meat outside but this is a must try for all!

Spring roll (RM9).  Besides the tofu, my kids like this dish too.  Maybe because it's deep fried?

Steamed prawns with ginger wine (RM25).  We wanted to order steamed fish but the only fish DH eats must be "bone-less" (that's because I always debone for him back home).  I reckon I won't have much time to debone for the 4th person so we changed our order to steamed prawns instead.  We like the simplicity of this dish.

This goes well with the steamed prawns!  There's another condiment on the table, sambal belachan with anchovies, which was absolutely yummy too!

I didn't manage to take pictures of their famous yam dessert/orh nee (RM18) as I was busy cleaning up after the kids.  Again, I don't appreciate yam dessert (served with pumpkin and gingko nuts) but the dessert served is really smooth and thick.  The fresh mango (RM8) was so-so too, I think the ones we bought at Machap stopover tasted better.

Our bill added up to RM128.60, including 4 glasses of freshly squeezed juice. Will I come again? Most definitely! Want to try their soft shell crab and suckling pig!

Of course, we visited the ever famous Jonker 88 again.  However, I thought this trip was a letdown as the cendol wasn't as tasty and fragrant.  It wasn't as satisfying as the first time.  Maybe they have changed the gula melaka and coconut milk supplier?  Will I go back there again?  Maybe, might try out again this coming trip to see if their standard has improved. 

These interesting words of wisdom caught my attention again and this time round, I remember to take some pictures.