Yummy Malaysiana: 01/10/12

Smashed Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Pancakes

Some things I know to be true things for me:

True: Gin martinis are best, most immediately and with olives. True: sometimes painful sacrifices are made for fashion especially when it comes to wedges. True: In my life, Hemingway and Julia Child are devoured in equal amounts. True: I will always eat a doughnut. It always seems like the right, and totally wrong thing to do.

True: Things in life can be simultaneously exciting and terrifying. Exciting progress. Exciting growth. Exciting opportunities and at the same time totally bonkers nerve-wracking. When the road ahead is steep, and full of the promise of adventure. and you totally want to be on that crazy road but you also appreciate the smooth and steady road you once knew. That road was safer. There were more cookies and less adventure.

Heres another important truth for me: Always sign up for adventure. Always say yes. Even if its terrifying to the core of your soul. That means youre doing the right thing. Youre learning and growing and shoving yourself right out of your comfort zone. Unless well, unless there are guns and heists. In that case stay in your comfort zone and away from guns.

Also before you forge forward. Have breakfast (preferably with chocolate) and pack cookies.

These pancakes fit into a very specific category of breakfast: breakfast dessert.

Theyre what you eat after you share runny eggs and buttered toast with your breakfast mate.

Breakfast dessert is what comes after breakfast breakfast. Its a sweet! ly defin ed second breakfast. Proudly, sweetly, specific.

These pancakes are an absolute treat. Late morning. Weekend. Oops Im taking a nap at noon. Treat.

Theyre a simple combination of buttermilk, melted butter, chocolate chunks, and fresh raspberries.

Oh! If fresh raspberries are going to break the bank (I totally get it), thawed frozen berries, drained of some of their juices work wonderfully well.

Treat yourself thats what Tracy would say. Treat yourself to sweet pancakes and an adventurous (although excitingly terrifying) life.

Smashed Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Pancakes

serves 2

makes about 10-12 small pancakes

Print this Recipe!

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of ground cinnamon

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup dark chocolate chunks

1/2 cup fresh raspberries

maple syrup and powdered sugar for garnish

butter for skillet

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon . Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients, all at once to the wet ingredients. Whisk to combine. If there are a few lumps in the mixture, thats totally fine. Stir in chocolate chips. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes while the skillet heats.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place a heat-proof plate in the oven to help keep cooked pancakes warm.

Over medium-low heat, add about 1/2 tablespoon of butter to the non-stick skillet. Add 2 tablespoon of batter to the pan for each pancake. Cook until browned, flip once and cook on the other side until golden brown and cooked through. Place cooked pancakes on the plate in the oven until all of the pancakes are cooked and ready to serve.

To serve, smash raspberries in a small bowl. Place a few smashed raspberries on a plate. Top with three or four small pancakes and more raspberries. Add maple syrup as desired. Serve warm. Theyre delicious.

Ms. Ms. Jazz Touring Guilin: Li River + Impression Sanjie Liu

In Guilin China, there is a popular saying Guilin Shan Shui Jia Tian Xia which means that Guilins mountain and water scenery is the best under heaven. That is indeed true, the air is fresh and earthy, and water clear and beautiful. It was good to get away from work, stress, pollution over the holidays to enjoy this picturesque scenery that money cannot buy. We were told that residents of Guilin generally live a longer life in the world.

This is one of those holidays which involve plenty of sightseeing, and walking. It may once be boring to me with thoughts of lack of food travels and shopping, however at a point of my life, I came to enjoy and appreciate these nature wonders. (am i getting old, am i am i?)We were there for 6 days touring around Gui Lin and another popular tourist spot call Yang Shuo In my opinion, 6 days is a way too long to explore these areas, ended up our travel schedule was a very relaxing one with plenty of free and easy time to ourselves. My say is 4-5 days is more than enough otherwise itll get draggy with them bringing you to unnecessary places.

Most popular tourist destination of Guilin includes the tranquil Li River, for it was listed as one of the Worlds top ten Watery wonders by National Geographic Magazine. With landscape decorated with caves, hills, farming villages and water so serene that it creates a perfect reflection much like an artist masterpiece. Enough said, pictures should tell a thousand words

"take a deep breath, you'll feel your worries of life lessen by the dozen" =)

The weather was perfect, starting of winter season varies from 5-10 degrees Celsius on average. It was a low tide season, so youll see many rivers being unable to access due to lack of water, as a result our river cruise were cut short. God must have been with us during the trip as there were no rains until the day we left Guilin.

My little devils, too cute!!

Just look at those reflections, picture of wonders, no?

Generally, people are Guilin lives a very simple! life. T hey depend greatly on Tourists, and in fact there are so many tour guide that a stone throw on the street, very possibly you might just hit one. They work very relaxing hours with travel agencies opens at 11pm and end work at 4-5pm. That being said, it was mentioned that these tour guides are very professional and well-trained and we were very happy with ours. P/s they practically earn peanuts, i.e. only commissions and no basic! L That's why you'll find tours bringing you to many "tourist" shopping spots-the boysgot a bit annoyed but maybe it's the mentally of "must shopping and spend foreign money" because at the end of day, the women still came back with full loads of unnecessary things. *hehe*

Shopping placesin the citycloses pretty late, very similar to our Malaysia stores on average 11pm. So plenty of times to shop around though you might not want to since there are not many brands in sight, however their winter jackets are definitely worth a buy.

The duration of our trip, we've only shifted to two hotels (thank goodness), In Guilin we stayed in one of the best hotels in the area called the Lijiang Waterfall Hotel, strategically located and very closeby to major local attractions, behind the hotel is a pedestrian walk which includes some bars and restaurants, and shops. It is also where we spent out x'mas eve "countdown" (more about this later). The hotel shows an impressive artificial waterfall everyday at 8pm which was listedin the Guiness Book record for being one of the biggest of 45M heights.

At night, we headed to watchImpression Sanjie Liu,whichis the most famous outdoor night show in YangShuo. Directed by Yimou Zhuong which was the one whom directed the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony. We were lucky to catch the last show of the winter season, as ! the acto rs are required to rest as the weather get too unbearably cold. 600 over actors are involved in creating this successful show on a natural stage formed by the Li River and mountain backdrops. (Including real fishermen part-timers) Everything was done on the Li River waters, I was very impress on the creativity and the explosive effect created by so many people.

Everything from lighting and sounds effect were amazing. And to reflect on those natural hills were a magnificient scene. I can sit here for hours just watching nature beauty.

Actual Minority Ethnic group which was recruited from their village came to perform

real fishermen by day and part-time fishermen performer by night. They earn about 20 yuan per show.

It was lucky we've got a pretty good seating right in the middle a! nd not f ar from the front, =)

And the number just gets bigger

Finally here comes Liu San Jie and her Lover

Part 2: Our adventure with Bamboo Rafting, Culture experiences such as learning Folk Songs, keep tuned

The best laksa? Start here

FOOD: AK Noodles House 1 Utama, the NEW Old Wing

It was one of those nights that I needed something light and soupy. Something hot to warm the tummy and something healthy (or rather, something that remotely resembling quality protein).

Fish is a good choice. And Ah Koong Noodles Restaurant offers authentic fishballs made from fresh Wolf-Herring & Yellow Tail fish.

Im a huge lover of fishballs, but are currently plagued with the dilemma of hard, synthetic tasting and literally tasteless fishball thats being dished out everywhere.

Even the fishpaste in most Yong Tau Foo outlets lacked the fishy flavour and aroma for a satisfying bite.

At Ah Koongs, they guarantee:

1. Authentic and pure fresh sea Wolf Herring fish
2. No preservatives
3. No boric acid
4. Vacuum packaging
5. Preparation by combo methods of traditional handmade & machine techniques to create the smooth and springy texture hailed by fishball aficionados

Our dinner that night:

Mine: A basic bowl of rice with 5 yong tau foo items (non-selectable). RM6.90+ or RM8.90+ (Sorry, cant find the receipt!).

His: His choice of noodles with soup and fishballs.RM9.90+ or RM12.90+.

Verdict?
Could be better, but good enough for the price paid in an air-conditioned environment. I certainly tasted worse for a costlier price. The soup was alright and the portions justified for the price.

Yups, AK Noodles House recommended for times when youre craving a simple and economical bowl of noodles & some decent yong tau fu!

By the way. Ah Koong is not new in the market. Im sure some of you have patronise his original outlet onJln Changkat Tambi Dollah, off Jalan Pudu. Theres another branch in Subang too!

The New Old Wing:

For more reads on my series of Food at the NEW Old Wing, 1 UtamaCLICK:

Putien opens in Malaysia- serving authenticHeng Hwa (or Xing Hua) cuisine from China
Moo Cow, my favourite froyo is in 1 Utama! Current new flavours for CNY is Mandarin Orange & Dragonfruit!

All pictures taken with:

FOOD: Moo Cow Froyo 1 Utama, the NEW Old Wing

When I first discovered this little gem of a froyo chain, of which I blogged about it (Moo Cow opens in Hartamas Shopping Centre), I had predicted that it will take off in a big way.

And indeed it has, at a rate that surprised me myself. I kept track of its growth (and monthly revolving flavours) with interest, starting off at Mid Valley Gardens and accelerating from there to the Curve and now 1 Utama Old Wing.

My favourite remained for the Original, followed by the Wheatgrass and Mango. I find the Rootbeer a tad too sweet, the Ramadan special of Dates a bit too light/cant detect the flavour and the Rose flavour so-so.

When I saw the boarded up outlet at 1Utama Old Wing, I nearly shrieked out loud in delight. LOL. Finally Ill be able to get my Moo Cow fix easily, as Im a 1Utama mall rat, with Celebrity Fitness being my regular joint.

Pictures below taken with the Blackberry. Enough said.

Thankfully the wait wasnt long. On New Years Eve Moo Cow at 1Utama officially opened for business. And I was one of their eager customers in line for my froyo fix!

Flavours of the month, in conjuction with Chinese New Y! ear 2012 .

Mandarin Orange and DragonFruit. The dragonfruit flavour was too subtle to my tastebuds while the tangy mandarin orange one was refreshing and a great pick-me-up.

My order: The Mandarin Orange. Gong Xi Fa Cai!!

AhhIm loving the NEW Old Wing at 1Utama!! :)

Anyone here has tried the new F&B outlets here? So far I have tried Ah Koong Noodle House, Old Asia Cafe (the Claypot Loh Shi Fun is still as good), Crazy Potato (much better than Ireland Potato for sure) and the new Taiwanese place.

More blogposts coming up for my Food at the NEW Old Wing, 1 Utama series! Stay tuned peeps! :)

Brunch @ La Vie En Rose

Wakey wakey! La Vie En Rose opens bright & early, serving lunch Tuesdays through Fridays & brunch on weekends.

Earlier entries on La Vie En Rose: Nov. 14, Nov. 15, Nov. 23 & Dec. 8.

Croque tartiflette _ comfort food in a sandwich, plumped up with potatoes, onions & Reblochon, a cow's milk cheese from the French Alps region of Haute-Savoie. Hot & hearty, this might be the ultimate carb-laden nightmare for an Atkins dieter.

The creamiest, most aromatic scrambled eggs we've had in ages, temptingly laced with truffles. Decadence need not wait till nightfall. Served with La Vie En Rose's own pumpkin jam _ a homemade spread that we initially thought was produced from apricot & persimmon.

Two perfectly poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce in a hollowed-out bread. A Gallic twist to Eggs Benedict, every bit as sinfully brilliant. Note: most of La Vie En Rose's egg dishes are available only on weekends.

La Vie En Rose is run by the same folks who operate Urban Picnic at Menara IMC, where customers can also look for lunch on weekdays. Roasted pumpkin, grana padano cheese, rocket, grilled nuts & balsamic vinegar _ many of our favorite salad ingredients in one bowl.

Connetable sardines in extra virgin olive oil & lemon. These sardines from Brittany are a treat, with flesh that's flakier & less stinky than supermarket varieties.

La Vie En Rose's foie gras terrine, filled with apple compote, is absolutely as good as liver gets. Not on the a la carte menu, but ask if it's available.

This photo-edited-till-golden, grouper-only version of bouillabaisse brims with the rich b! rininess that only something from the sea can supply. Chickens, cows & pigs need not apply.

Don't move our cheese: La Vie En Rose serves nice ones. For cow's milk cheese, try the silky-soft Saint-Marcellin or the firmer Salers from the volcanic mountains of Auvergne.

Abondance, Ossau Iraty & Blue Stilton. Wish we were more of cheese connoisseurs, so that we could appreciate these better. Still, they tasted terrific to us.