scallion meatballs with soy-ginger glaze

Its a fairly accurate indication of how charmed my life is these days that I considered the act of having to choose what I would make to bring to a New Years Party tomorrow difficult. If makes you wonder what Id consider easy which spa gift certificate I should use first to get a manicure before the party? Whether I should wear the earrings from this years or last years little blue box to the party? Which jet to take there? Its all in a day of the glamorous life of a food blogger. Ahem.

In the last year, Ive made a lot of jabs, mostly in my own direction, about how much various projects that I thought Id handle like a pro have in fact kicked my ass in order, those would be: a toddler, a cookbook, trying to have evenings and weekends work-free for Fun Family Things (even if theyre, like, Lets go buy mama more conditioner and eat warm pretzels along the way!) and this weird blend of feeling like I have absolutely no time for myself while also spending too much time by myself. We are definitely not going to discuss how many hours I have spent this year wondering how anyone ever gets dinner on the table/keeps an apartment clean/gets any sleep/takes vacations all while looking cute. ! Nope, de finitely not that either. But if you could read through the self-deprecation and exhaustion, I always hoped youd figure out that I was, am, totally blissed out by this life I ended up with. This gig 4:30 a.m. wake-ups, this beast and all is pretty sweet and I wouldnt change a thing about it. I hope next year involves more of the same, with a little more travel and a lot more hanging out with people like you.

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Moy Nasi Lemak @ Danau Kota, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur

This wooden coffee shop is unique, most customers were mainly elderly people and there was one table with 4early birdsplayingmahjong. The owner seems very comfortable without shirt managing the kopitiam. What a scene for a morning in theinner part of Gombak/Setapak.Everything seems old &long established and for the first time I see a Malay Stall with a Chinese name "Moy" selling nasi lemak. Don't you think it's unique and wait till you see her nasi lemak.Chicken rendang at her counter.I think her popularity is due to her generosity of the nasi lemak sheprovides, it the biggest "bungkus" I ever had for one breakfast. RM5.50including add-on of fried egg and sotong.

Please go try it out if you happen to be at that vicinity.

Moy Nasi Lemak

Jalan Chong Hwa & Jalan Langkawi "bend"

Danau Kota,
Setapak

Kuala Lumpur

G! PS : 3.1 99657,101.707883

Back To Nature Natural Shea Butter Soap, Bath & Skincare

An enterprising friend recently opened her own littlenatural skincare products outlet at The Mines Shopping Centre.

Naturally (pun intended) I had to check out this range of natural skincare products, since Im a big fan of all things healthy and organic. However, I missed the launch as I was nursing a fever that day but Belle kindly passed me my goody bag anyway.

Yay! Thanks Belle!
Merry Christmas to me! :)

I digged through the bag gleefully, and propped all the products out on my table to check them out one-by-one.

Lets see
Theres a tub of Hand & Body Butter, a facial spray, an anti-wrinkle eye cream, facial face mud and few packs of bath salts. .

and a bubbling bath melt, body and massage oil and a shea butter soap.

Now, if you havent heard about Back To Nature, heres what you need to know!

Back To Naturesoffers a range of natural skincare products for our sk! in.
A ll the products aremade from thefinest flower and plant essencesanduses only food/natural grade ingredients.
Most of it is organic or wild grown, and 98% of their raw materials are imported from producers that employ earth friendly and sustainable harvesting practices.

In short,Back To Nature is truly natural skincare range that isgood for our health, soul and also for the environment.

All products has no chemical preservation to ensure our health and safety. Full ingredients are disclosed on each product packaging. So if it is in the product, its listed on the label.

Most importantly BTN products does not contain harmful chemical or pollutants such as:

• SLS or SLES ~ Foaming Agent (Thats highly likely to cause breast cancer after long term of usage)
• EDC ~ Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
• EDTA & PARABEN ~ Preservative
• PETROCHEMICALS ~ Widely use in commercial detergent products

I ripped open some of my goodies few days back and got started with the basics soaps, body butter and bath melts.

Back To Natures soaps are like an All-in-One bar. You can use it as acleanser or makeup remover, body soap, or even as a shampoo. Choose from avariety of soap blocks ranging from dry, sensitive, oily or combination skin.

Below: Works up a nice creamy gentle lather thats easily rinsed away. The afterbath scent is pretty stimulating yet soothing.

The Hand and Body Butter comes in a pretty small pot.

I spread some on my hands (not sure if you can see it here) and find it a tad oily. It leaves a shiny sheen upon application, which was rather expected, since it is labelled butter after all.

I think this is suitable for those with dry and matured skin.

Another that I opened was this bath melt. I have a few packets of bath salts, but I was wondering hows the bath melts are like.

Apparently its supposed to work like bath salts or bubble bath balls. However, this has a chalky texture.

Not sure hows its like in an actual bubble bath; will it have a lot of bubbles or will it be just perfume the water?

So what do you think of Back To Natures products and concept?

If you wish to sample some yourself, like their Facebook page(HERE), and if The Mines or Viva Mall is too far of a drive for you, order online from theirwebsite here.

Else browseBack To Natures stores @ :
1. The Mines Shopping Mall Unit L2-K5 ,LEVEL 2 (opposite Watsons)
2. VIVA Home Mall 1st floor Fashion Bazaar K81

All pictures taken with:

Rose Water Panna Cotta With Apple Compote

One more post before the end of 2011. Do you, like me, find that each year goes faster than the year before? Maybe time seems to fly the older you get because one day for an older person is one day over thousands of days compared to, say, a one-year old whose one day is one day over 12 x 30. I read that in some magazine years ago and I liked that explanation.

Panna cotta ("cooked cream") is super easy to make and super yummy too. Yes, believe it or not, there is such a dessert. Just set dairy cream with gelatine (overnight so you have plenty of time the next day) and serve it very cold with a caramel syrup and seasonal fruits. The Brits try to complicate everything the dessert by making a fruit compote but even so it's just a one step more and is still much easier to make than say an apple crumble or a bread pudding.

I can't get rose water here so I used rose essence for the flavor and grenadine for the color. The rose flavor gave the dessert a subtle but wonderful flavor. I was lucky to have dried blueberries and cranberries. I didn't have dried cherries so I used fresh ones. The original recipe was from London: Authentic Recipes Celebrating The Foods Of The World but I made the panna cotta according to my long-trusted recipe. I alsosimplified the apple compote.That just means I made do without ingredients I don't have, such as Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, a sweet white dessert wine.

Happy New Year All!


Rose Water Panna Cotta With Apple Compote
The panna cotta:
1000 ml fresh dairy cream*
6 pieces gelatine sheets**
1 1/2 t rose essence or 2 t rose water
6 T castor sugar

* I have reduced this from 700 ml because of our hot weather.
** from cake ingredients shops.

1. Put the cream into a small pot, add the gelatine leaves which have been briefly soaked in cold water (15 sec or until just turning soft). Heat and stir the cream until the gelatine is thoroughly melted and pour into individual molds, preferably metal molds which are easier to ease out. For big parties, I make a huge mold for guests to help themselves with.

The Apple Compote
3 apples, peeled, cored and diced
3 T dried cranberries
3 T dried blueberries
2 T dried cherries
3 T lemon juice
finely grated zest from 1 large lemon
7 T caste sugar (to taste)
1 t rose water (or 1 t rose essence + 1/4 cup grenadine syrup)

2. Put the sugar, zest and 2/3 cup water into a sauce pot and cook, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is slightly syrupy. Add the remaining ingredients except for the lemon juice and let the mixture simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until the apples are tender and sauce is reduced and thickened. Add the lemon juice and remove from heat. Cool.

3. Run a blade around the sides of the panna cotta, hold a serving plate over the mould and invert. Cover the mould with a hot towel, leave for a few seconds and shake the mould to ease the panna cotta out. Spoon the compote on and around the panna cotta and chill thoroughly before serving.

Elisenlebkuchen and Christmas Tea from Nuremberg, Germany

**Have a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration! **

Last year, The Unc brought home a couple ofelisenlebkuchens for Baby C. We shared them and enjoyed them very much. So during the Christmas market at Nuremberg this year, he got us two whole packs along with a pack of Christmas tea and asked a friend who was coming back to KL to deliver it to our home. So nice! Thanks very much :)

Elisenlebkuchen specially air-flown from Nuremberg

Elisenlebkuchenis premium quality lebkuchen (a soft German version of Gingerbread).It is designated the Protected Designation of Origin by EU law and must be produced within the boundaries of the Nuremberg, Germany but you can get it in various other states in Germany.

Although elisenlebkuchen is sold in Christmas markets, The Unc tells me that you can also find it all year round in several specialty shops in Nuremberg. The one he got us was from Wolfgang Woitinek. Each pack contains 3 original elisenlebkuchen and 3 chocolate coated elisenlebkuchen.

They both contain hazelnut, almonds,egg whites, marzipan, citronat, orangeat, fructose, honey, apricot confiture, and spices, and the chocolate coating is dark chocolate. I prefer the original one, though both are really nice. Gingerbread is quite hard, but elisenlebkuchen is wonderfully chewy. The taste and aroma is very Christmassy too, owing to the lovely spices and marzipan. We enjoyed this for the past few evenings with a cup of Christmas tea... just perfect.

Christmas tea -black tea, orange peel, grated coconut, clove, cinnamon

I loved the smell of the Christmas tea as soon as I opened the pack. Wafts of cinnamon and orange peel gives this tea a uniquely Christmas feel. Drunk with the sweet elisenlebkuchen, it is a great accompaniment, however if you're eating a non-sweet item or drinking it on its own, it may taste better with some sugar.

I think if elisenlebkuchen was ever sold in KL, most people would like them. :)

Full set of photos here.

Elisenlebkuchen is from: Wolgang Woitinek, Saarbruckener Str. 4, 90469 Nuremberg, Germany. (Tel:0911/482121)
Price: 8 per pack.

Christmas tea is from: Krauterhaus Wurzelsepp OHG, Hauptmarkt 1, 90403 Nuremberg, Germany ! (www.wur zelsepp-nuernberg.de).
Price: 3.95 for 100g pack.

U Restaurant

One of the sturdiest survivors on Jalan Bangkung, this beautifully furnished outlet has cemented a reputation for satisfactory Japanese fare & stellar service.

The sushi platter here comprises a reasonable range of imported fish & seafood. But its price tag of RM135++ feels too hefty, with merely nine pieces of nigiri sushi alongside the California maki.

If you like it then you should have put a zing on it: Deep-fried sea bass with ponzu sauce. Fleshy fish in seemingly weightless batter, topped with a refreshing citrus dressing.

Potato Maki, with cucumber, crabstick, tobiko & deep-fried shredded potatoes. Sounds interesting but tastes ordinary, despite the coat of shallot-like potato strips.

Cod fish porridge. Feels home-cooked; served piping-hot, thick with c! hunks of cod.

Cali Cheese Maki, with crabstick, avocado, unagi, cheese & tobiko. Nice enough, though similar-tasting to any decent roll at other outlets.

Sake...

... or wine? Pick your poison.

Business at U Restaurant is sometimes slow compared to its neighbors (Leonardo's, Cava, Opus Bistro & Four Seas), so this might be the place to escape the crowds.

U Restaurant,

Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

Traditional Malay Home Stay and Dining Experience At Kampung Pasir Mas, Desaru

You see lately the weather like getting nuts. Some people who travel down to Johor Desaru Beach which leave them kindadisappointedwhen the weather is dangerous to play at beach. Though no rain, the wind are kinda dangerous.

How about for a change, go and do a village stay and live like one for once in your life. I did that before when I was a kid with my grandparents. We woke up wee early in the morning around 4am to go rubber tapping. With the creative mindset and caring for the heritage preservation, Pulai Desaru Beach Resort can arrange for you.

Transport and a activity crew will ferry you all to the location via hotels own fleet of cars and vans. They are experienced enough to handle the crowd up to a max of 50 guests from oversea in these village houses. Food wise, will be arrange by the crew with the villagers to prepare them ahead before the guests arrive. When you are there, you will get to experience hands on how do the villagersstart their day like going for rubber tapping, collecting fruits, feed the chickens and cows.

Clock wise from top left : Crispy dried salted fish, stir fried cabbage and beans, fried chicken wings and cucur kodok (fried banana fritters).

Eat sitting on the floor. No fork no spoon. The old school way by hand! Yummy! The right photo were the cencaru fish cook lemak cili api style. This is so addictive which I clear 2 plates of rice for it.

Fiery hot sambal belacan!

The whole lunch is just like that. Simple, healthy yet satisfying.

After the satisfy meal, you can choose to walk around under all those trees and loosen up. Air are clean andpollutionfree. The surrounding are pretty chill in the morning and even in the evening, it is not ashotas in town area.

Taufulou planking on the hut after the meal.

The crew of the hotel and villagers taking photo together with us.

For more details and arrangement checkout this post which I previously posted. The contacts and details are there.

http://bit.ly/vyMech

Shiseido White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum +

The advancement of whitening continues.
Shiseidos most powerful, whitening serum is perpetually evolving.

The difference:

White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum (launched in 2010).

White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum+ . (The key is the + ) . Only available inSpring 2012.

The story

White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum was introduced in 2010, featuring Shiseidos exclusive full-scale spot effectiveness technology. Shiseidos proprietary ingredient targets spot areas and utilizes the Melano Sensor System to counteract spots 3 ways by preventing melanin (before spots form), targeting the root of spot formation (as spots begin to form), and reducing melanin (after spot formation).

Today

Now, two years later, inspired by laser technology that targets and removes ! persiste nt spots, Shiseido has thoroughly researched the mechanisms within these stubborn spots and found the solution for reducing them.

A technology that crushes persistent melanin and speeds its removal from the skin.

Shiseidos newest technology first targets stubborn spots, and then crushes the roots of their pigmented appearance. Melanin pigment that has been crushed to fine particles is then pushed up to the skin surface. By promoting the melanins mobilization up and out, the appearance of stubborn spots dramatically improves.

Shiseidos Melano Sensor System+ is an exclusive new technology, for spotless, even-toned, and perfectly radiant skin that glows from within.

MelanoCrush Energizer: the new step that completes the Melano Sensor System + by crushing targeted melanin.

Step 1: Stop spots before they start

Powerful whitening ingredient m-Tranexamic Acid targets persistent spots where over-active melanocytes continuously produce excess melanin.

Step 2:Target the root of spot formation.

Shiseido original whitening ingredient 4MSK helps diminish the activity of the enzyme tyrosinase to reduce melanin production.

Step 3:Reduce melanin production

Multi-Target Vitamin C reduces melanin produced from pre-melanin DHICA

Step 4:Remove signs of melanin smoothly

MelanoCrush Energizer targets trouble spots and crushes melanin. 4MSK regulates cell turnover. Darkened melanin is smoothly removed.

Shiseido researchers discovered that spots could not be readily removed, because cell turnover on the spot has become chronically abnormal. Shiseidos patented ingredient 4MSK takes care of this abnormal condition, allowing melanin to be smoothly removed. Only Shiseido offers this advanced whitening technology.

Efficacy photos:

This new serum is thoroughly effective on both recently-formed spots and stubborn, hard-to-remove spots.

The key to successful results is to use the recommended amount and follow the usage directions for a continued period of time.

80% of users noticed visible results in just 10 days.

Myself?

Well, I didnt have much skin problems to begin with. Thus I used my bottle ofShiseido White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum + as a brightening and preventive serum as part of my daily skincare.

2 pumps in the morning after cleansing and 2 pumps at night after toner. Prevention is always better than cure right? :)

It has a lovely sweet fragrance that I adore too! And once applied its absorbed completelywithout leaving an oily or sticky after-feel. Thats an important factor for me as I abhor that icky feeling on my skin after application of any skincare products.
Come to think of it, thats the make or break factor for me. If I dont feel comfortable after an application or if I dislike the lingering smell, I would, more often than not, discontinue use.

Oh, that probably explains the amount of discarded tubes and bottles of skincare products in my room! :)

Keen to sample this yourself? Well, the serum will only be available in Spring 2012.

The dedicated microsite (http://www.my.shiseido.com/s2012/whitelucent/) is set to go live on January 16, 2012.

Yours truly here was one of the fortunate few to get her grubby hands on this new miracle serum on that day and is now happily using it daily. Oh, Im dreading the day it runs out! :(

Here are some pictures from the launch, held at the picturesque Italian restaurant Senja at The Saujana. I must praise the team for the brilliant location. This sure beats the boring hotel ballrooms and the cafes launches I attended so far!

GM of Shiseido Malaysia giving his speech.

Some of the loyal users of ShiseidoWhite Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum sharing their experiences with the media.

Bloggers and media breaking a ceramic ball to unveil theShiseido White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum + bottles within.

Anyone here loyal users ofShiseido White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum? Are you looking forward to theShiseido White Lucent Intensive Spot Targeting Serum + ? :)