Late Night Supper @ 333, Pusat Penjaja Taman Len Sen, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

Hunger pangs at 10pm.. what to eat?

Oh the dilemma... should you eat or should you not? Just worry about the expanding waistline later...

Next question, what to eat? Should you cook yourself a packet of instant noodles? Heck, there are even days when cooking a pack of instant noodles is too much work. So what's good that is still open at 10pm?

Wantan noodles!

To be honest, I have no idea what this stall is called, but it has a huge banner hanging above it which reads "333" so I'm just gonna call it that. It is located at Pusat Penjaja Taman Len Sen, just a short row of food stalls and it's right next to a bak kut teh stall.

What do we like here? The wantan noodles of course. The noodles are springy, just lightly tossed with some dark soy sauce with a few strand of vegetables (choy sum). You can have it with wantan and char siew (RM4.80) or with dumplings (sui gau) (RM6). My choice is always the sui gau wantan noodles, the dumplings are juicy with a nice bite. Lots and lots of porky goodness.

The char siew here is a bit more lean with a small layer of fats. Other than wantan noodles, they also have pan mee, pork noodle soup, chicken feet wantan noodle, curry mee, braised pork wantan noodles and many more!

Chinese dessert soup (tong sui) - different choices everyday - this one is black glutinous rice (RM1.80)

Wantan noodles with char siew (RM4! .80)

The char siew

Wantan

Sui gau wantan noodles

Springy noodles

Nice dumplings

Porky goodness

Opening times: 5pm to 3am. Closed on Sunday and Monday.

Service: Friendly and fast.

Price: Reasonable.

Location: 333, Pusat Penjaja Taman Len Sen, Jalan 1, Taman Len Sen, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. (right opposite a kindergarden)

GPS Coordinates:3.074127, 101.742915

Moroccan Mint Roasted Vegetables

I was on the first flight of the day from Paris to Marrakesh. A full airplane heading south-west, three hours from tarmac to tarmac. Now, I'm not sure if it's just this time of year, but when you look out the window on final approach to Aroport Marrakech Mnara, you're smacked with pink. The boxy buildings, the dessert, the soft winter sunlight filtering through the dusty landscape - it all takes it's cue from a salmon shades of earthy pink. And you're greeted with thousand subtle variations of it. This was my first impression of Marrakesh, and it stayed with me throughout the week I was there. I'm home now, unpacking, but I wanted to share a few snapshots, and a Moroccan-spiced mint roasted vegetable dish I threw together as soon as I got home - potatoes, cauliflower, radishes accented with cumin, mint, cinnamon, and ginger.

I'm sure some of you are curious about why I was in Morocco. It was actually a trip I've been looking forward to for months and months. I was a participant in this instant photography / Polaroid workshop. There was a pit stop ahead of that, in Paris, to pin down some details related to a project I hope to work on down the line a bit, but I was most excited about packing up my Polaroid Land camera, and my SX-70, to venture to Morocco. My friends Jen Altman, Amanda Gilligan, and Susannah Conway have a book, Instant Love coming out in a couple months, and the retreat dovetailed with the contents of the book.

So, these shots here are just off my little digital camera, I'll scan some of the instant film shots to share soon. And I'll be able to tell you more about what I saw - we took in as much as we could. We drove around a lot, wandered the souks in Marrakesh and Essaouira, made this our home base, and shot a lot of photographs.

I suspect some of the quiet moments will be the ones that will stay with me. The sunrise picture down below was the view from our terrace on the second morning. I tended to wake up each day just after the call to prayer and before sunrise (still on California time). The Atlas Mountains jet skyward in the distance. You hear roosters, and donkeys, and tiny birds chirping. Certainly a nice way to welcome the day.

A couple notes about the roasted vegetables. I noticed many of the roasted or tagine vegetables I enjoyed in Marrakesh were visibly slathered with herbs and spices. There was a lot of cumin, mint, cinnamon - and never really the same blend twice. All very flavor forward. I'm not sure how authentic this particular attempt is, but it's tasty. And, as I note down below, you can try it with many different vegetable combinations. I simply used potatoes, cauliflower, and radishes because they looked good at my market, but winter squash would be a nice alternative. And, I imagine green beans, asparagus, fennel, would all work beautifully.

Continue reading Moroccan Mint Roasted Vegetables...

Delicious Dinner 49.

A series of home cooked dinner by my wife.

Fish paste stuffed in assorted greens like - Bittergourd, Brinjal, Tau pok (tofu puff) and red chillies cooked in a Tau cheong (preserved bean paste) sauce and garnished with spring onion. Deep fried Garoupa fish-fresh, fleshy and chunky. Cubed sweet Japanese Pumpkin with minced pork-full of Vitamin C.

The Volvo V60, moving to a new home and IKEA shopping!

When I first sat in the Volvo V60 during the launch, it certainly has not crossed my mind that I will, 1 month down the road, actually drive and make full use of this powerful sportswagon like an actual owner.

It was an experience alright, driving a big sportswagon versus the smaller cars that I was more accustomed to. But it turned out to be an easy beast to handle as the steering and maneuveringwas easy and smooth. You wont feel like your driving a car that is4 metres+ long.I know you might wonder if thats for real, but trust me, it is!

2 variants was launched last month;the T4 and the T5. The one I terrorized the streets withreviewed was the T4 variant.

When I first picked it up from Volvo Malaysia, there was a few things that I had to get used to.The convenient Key Integrated Remote Control (KIR) makes it unnecessary for the driver to use a key to lock/unlock the doors or to activate the engine.

All you have to do is ho! ld the c ontrol (you can leave it in your bag even, no need to rummage around like a flustered aunty!) and stand near the door of the V60.
Put your hand into the handles of the door (it could be any door) and WAIT for the the unlocking mechanism to take place. Wait for about 2 seconds before pulling the handle to open the door.

Once seated, slot your control into the key slot or you can choose to leave it in your bag. The engine can start without it. To start the engine, just push the Start/stop engine button.

Now we move on to the brakes. I know sound like Im terribly amazed but I am! I mean, this isnt a feature in your usual, everyday, affordable range of cars like the Myvi and I thought it was worth noting on as not many of us drives a continental car over 200K. This is simply one of the numerous features that youre paying for.

See the bright red P on the right side below? It means the brakes are engaged. And there is no physical/classic handbrakes at the centre console so this is it.

Most continental cars now has electronic handbrakes, or so I was told by my automotive industry friends. So to disengage the brakes, look for the brake lever on your right.

Closer up shot:

Step on the foot brake and PULL the P lever. You will feel the brake pedal go down and the P lever green light goes off. There! Youre good to go!

Now that I know how to start the V60, my lesson moved on to adjusting the seat to my comfort. The V60 comes with what the automotive industry termed as a power seat. This mechanism serves to help you to adjust the driver & passenger seat(only) to your comfort.

Push/pull and press up and down on the levers to adjust your seat forward, backward and your back front or back. Once you got everything adapted to your desire, save it into memory.
I kid you not! You can save the settings by pressing M + 1, 2, or 3 together and HOLD FOR 4 seconds to save the setting into the car system.So if you share the V60 with other drivers, you do not have to physically readjust your seat each time when youre back behind the wheel. Nifty little feature right?

Ok, enough of technicalities for now!

I posted some pictures on Facebook about me shifting to a new place and I want to show you how the V60 came in really handy. I was really fortunate that the V60 was launched just a few weeksprior to my scheduled move and Volvo was kind enough to loan me a review unit for 5 days.

A lorry such as the one you see above cost me RM200 per trip. I can afford only 2 trips for the major stuffs such as the beds, wardrobe, stove, washing machine and the fridge.
You have no idea how much stuffs Ive got! It took us 8 trips, each with the back seats folded down and the boot space maximised before we could shift EVERYTHING over to the new house.

During the launch, Volvo had explained that for the V60, it was designed to be as close to a coupe as possible,while retaining that handy extra space at the rear. Theresult is that the ALL-NEW V60 is an unique Sportswagon, with a sporty, yet practical attitude and targeted at a younger crowd and families.

Well, I can truly vouch for the practicality and its su! itabilit y for family part

Trip 1:

Trip 2:

Trip 3:

Trip 5:

Trip 6:

Trip 7:

And finally a trip to IKEA for some tables!

Im sure most of us had experienced the sweat and headache of shifting and maneuveringtables or items bought at IKEA around to fit it into our vehicles. Thats a common sight at the parking lot.Heck, most didnt want to pay the RM60 IKEA transportation fee.

With the V60, all we did was to dump everything into the boot. I reckon I could have bought a lot more and even wider tables without any problem!

All in all, the move was exhausting. Thank god for the V60! I would have died attempting to shift everything over in my friends borrowed Alfa/Myvi/Wira. And the amount of cash I saved from hiring additional lorries for the rest of the household items. I was so relieved throughout the moving period that the V60 was at my disposal.

Well, what do you guys think of the V60?