Dragon Door Inn Steamboat 龙门客栈火锅店

26.12.13 (Thurs)

Happy Boxing Day!

 

Tonight, together with my mum, sis, aunt, cousin and a friend, we went to this steamboat restaurant in Cheras - Dragon Door Inn Steamboat 龙门客栈火锅店 for dinner. (recommended by my sis's friend, Jay) As it is a working day, so we left Klang around 5pm and guessed what, it took us more than 1.5hrs to reach the destination. Jammed in Klang Valley is crazy mann!!!!

 

One problem about the place is parking! We were quite lucky to get a space right in front of the restaurant. Else, you gotta double park, leaving a contact number in front of your windscreen or anywhere visible to others.

 

Dragon Door Inn Steamboat is located at the first floor of the shoplots, on top of the Shi Fu Wantan Mee Restaurant. (shoplots next to Leisure Mall, Cheras) As you climbed up the staircase, you will see many photos hanging alongside the wall, all taken with local/international celebraties. The interior designs are quite nice too, very unique & artistic. The restaurant uses charcoal for the steamboat but because it is air-conditioned, so you won't be sweating while enjoying your meals.

Another specialty of the restaurant was the sauce. There were 11 ingredients prepared for you and a list that taught you how to mix all ingredients together for a tasty sauce.

We had 7 adults and 2 kids..so we were able to order many varieties of food (7 categories of food - poultry, seafood, vegetable, homemade, noodles, mushrooms, BBQ)..we chose the pork bone soup猪骨汤 (RM19) as the base (the other two soups base were herbal soup药材汤 and spicy soup川辣汤) or you can also choose a mixture of two soups. We ordered the Australian special lamb and beef slice (highly recommended, RM13/plate), squid (RM7/plate), cuttle fish (RM5/plate), dumpling (RM13/plate), prawn wantan (RM13/plate), fishball (recommended, RM6/plate), pork ball (recommended, RM6/plate), needle mushroom (RM5/plate), abalone mushroom (RM6/plate), vege RM6/plate), bean curd (RM4/plate), ji zhuk (RM5/plate), fu pei (RM5/plate), udon mee (RM5/plate), yee mee (RM2/pcs).

Food was good and price was quite reasonable as well. It would be better to make reservation before dining and advisable to come early to avoid jammed.

Verdict out of Five (1-not good, 5-very good):
1. Quality of food: 5

2. Ambiances: 4 (very artistic typed of interior designs)

3. Audiences: 4

4. Price: 4

5. Services: 4 (lots of waiters awaiting to serve you)

6. Hygiene: 4

Dragon Door Inn Steamboat 龙门客栈火锅店

18-1, Jalan Manis 4,
Taman Segar, Cheras, 

56200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03 9130 1062 

Business hours: Mon-Fri 5pm-12am, Sat-Sun 3pm-12am
www.dragondoorinn.com
www.facebook.com/DragonDoorSteamboat  

 

Checker Board Cake

22.12.13 (Sat)

I wanted to try baking new cake but ran out of ideas. So, I googled on cake ideas and saw pictures on Checker board cake. I found it interesting so I went on to youtube and found a video on it. Great! And let the baking starts!

 

 

 

Ingredients

6 eggs

60g self raising flour

40g corn flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp cocoa powder (I used Hershey chocolate syrup)

Red coloring

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

60g caster sugar

 

Methods

1. Separate the egg whites and yolks. Place 4 whites into a clean bowl and the rest (6 yolks and 2 whites) in another bowl.

 

2. Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the whites on high speed for til foamy. Add in 20g caster sugar and cream of tartar. Continue beating till stiff peak.

 

3. Beat yolks mixture with sugar till creamy. Add in vanilla essence. Sift in flour mixture and mixed well with a spatula. Divide into 3 portions. Add in the chocolate syrup on one of the bowl. Add red coloring on the other bowl. Bake for 15-20mins on a preheated oven at 170C.

 

4. Cut out 3 different sizes of circle and arranged accordingly. Decorate as desired.

 

 

Abby asked to take a picture with the cake

 

As I was watching the youtube on the cake, I found another video on braided/basketweave cake decoration. So, I killed two birds with one stone, applied it on the Checker board cake. Though it was a tedious job but enjoying.

 

Abby's 4th Birthday

16.12.13 (Mon)

4 days ago, Abby celebrated her 4th birthday. This year, she had four birthday celebrations and blown 4 cakes! As a baker, I baked her 40 cupcakes (for bday celebration in Sunday School) and 2 cakes (for Kindy & home bday celebration)

 

We were back in Klang on 27/11-30/11. So happened on 28/11 was Abby's lunar's birthday so we had one celebration for her, with her grandma, grand aunt, aunt & my cousin. We had dinner at Klang Club and my aunt, ie her grand aunt, bought her a strawberry cake. Abby was so happy to blow her first cake of the year and she was so thoughtful to ask Ian, to cut the cake together with her..so sweet!

Next, her birthday celebration in Sunday School on 8/12. Because it was school holidays, many children were away for holiday, so instead of baking a cake, I baked cupcakes. (easier to eat, and not much cleaning up after that) I went to the bakery shop and bought the princess "sticker", to place on top of the cupcake. And the cupcakes turned out to be so cute, the children liked it! Abby also helped to pack her own goodies bags the day before and she was so excited. Abby received some presents from her friends.

On her actual day, 12/12, she had two birthday celebrations, one in school and the other at home. I baked two cakes - fruit cake & strawberry yoghurt cake. I was very happy with both cakes, especially trying out the mini santa claus using strawberry and whipping cream.

I brought the cake and goodies bags to her school around 10am, during their snack time. I took out the "Birthday girl" shirt that hubby bought in US 4 years ago and surprisingly, Abby could still wear it. And, she wanted to wear her princess crown to school.
Abby: Mummy, I want to wear my princess crown to school.
Me: Why?
Abby: So that my friends know I am a Princess!

Her School Principal was very thoughtful that she asked the kitchen lady to prepare birthday "red eggs" for Abby's party. Everyone was happy especially Abby.

At night, we invited Hubby's sister and family over for simple dinner. After dinner, it was time for cake cutting, Abby's last birthday celebration. Ian also wanted to blow the candles and cut the cake with Abby. Abby received two big presents tonight, all were her favourite toys!

Finally, all celebrations were over and Mummy get to rest. Happy Birthday my dear Princess Abigail.

Restauran Kolam Ikan 鱼塘小食馆

15.12.13 (Sun)

Hubby woke up quite late today. He asked me, "what are we having for breakfast?" "You meant brunch?"

 

I suggested to go this restaurant  -Restoran Kolam Ikan, (recommended by Axian also)nearby our house (5mins drive) for lunch. He agreed! So we went!

 

Initially, we thought it would be easy to find the restaurant than the old place in Sungai Kob. But we were wrong. Though there was a signboard leading to the place, but don't know why, we just can't find it! (coz in our mind, we were looking for a big place with fish ponds around and we couldn't find one!) So I called the owner and she said, once we make the left turn following the signboard, go straight and the restaurant is the second house on our left! Finally, we reached the place. The signboard that was hung on the gate was blocked by the cars and that explained why we missed the place just now.

 

 

There was no fish pond inside the house. The owner explained due to the road leading to the old place was blocked, they gotta shift to a new place to continue business. However, the fish ponds were still there in Sg Kob.

 

So, we ordered our normal dishes - Steamed White Catfish (清蒸白须公) & Three Flavors Tilapia Fish (三味金凤鱼) and one vegetable. (We couldn't order more food as the kids don't eat much)

 

I liked the 白须公 very much..so fresh and the "fish oil" on the skin was so thick! As for the 三味鱼， I still prefer the one we had in Restaurant Lake Kamunting, a place near the old Restaurant Kolam Ikan. The price here was abit pricy as compared to Lake Kamunting. However, we will come again for meals (when we have guests) especially for the fresh fishes!

 

三味金风鱼，RM35/kg, you can taste sweet, sour & spicy from the saute.

清蒸白须公，RM44/kg, best served while hot!

 

Verdict out of Five (1-not good, 5-very good):

1. Quality of food: 5

2. Ambiances: 3 (home-based restaurant)

3. Audiences: 4 (mostly locals)

4. Price: 3 (price of fish is abit pricy)

5. Services: 4 (family business, friendly staffs)

6. Hygiene: 3

 

Restoran Kolam Ikan 鱼塘小食馆

9, Lot 492,
Padang Kulim, Kelang Lama, 

09000 Kulim,

Kedah.

Tel: 013 437 9606 
Business hours: 11.30am-5.30pm

(Closed on every Mon)

 

 

Rainbow Swissroll 彩虹瑞士卷

4.12.13 (Wed)

Today I baked something colorful - Rainbow Swissroll! Though it was quite tedious and lots of washing after baking, but I kinda enjoyed baking the swissroll, especially when the end product was successful and was a great satisfaction.

 

I saw this recipe from theideaking blogspot. I watched the youtube clip and it was quite easy to understand, so I just can't wait to give it a try.

 

 

 

Ingredients

5 egg yolks

5 egg whites

80g caster sugar

40g corn flour

50g self raising flour

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

6 piping bags

Coloring (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)

 

Methods

1. Please see my post on swissroll/sponge cake.

 

2. Divide the batter into 6 equal portions (using bowls). Add in the coloring on each bowl. Pour the batters into 6 piping bags. Piped one by one (following the rainbow colors) onto the baking pan. Baked for 8mins in the preheated oven of 200C.

 

3. Filled with desired cream and refrigerate it overnight.

 

You can also refer here for more detailed steps.

猶太人最有名的10句話

 每一句都值得細細品味。

1、一杯清水因滴入一滴污水而變污濁，一杯污水卻不會因一滴清水的存在而變清澈。

2、這世上有三樣東西是別人搶不走的：一是吃進胃裡的食物，二是藏在心中的夢想，三是讀進大腦的書。

3、馬在鬆軟的土地上易失蹄，人在甜言蜜語中易摔跤。

4、世界沒有悲劇和喜劇之分，如果你能從悲劇中走出來，那就是喜劇，如果你沉緬於喜劇之中，那它就是悲劇。

5、如果不讀書，行萬里路也不過是個郵差。

6、當你的鄰居在深夜兩點彈鋼琴時你別氣惱，你可以在四點鐘時叫醒他，並告訴他你很欣賞他的演奏。

7、如果你只是等待，發生的事情只會是你變老了。

8、真正的朋友不是在一起有聊不完的話，而是即使不說一句話也不覺得尷尬。

9、時間是治療心靈創傷的大師，但絕不是解決問題的高手。

1 0、寧願做過了後悔，也不要錯過了後悔！

 

Sunday School Sunday 2013

18.11.13 (Mon)

Yesterday was Sunday School Sunday. As usual, the younger ones (2-9yrs old) were requested to present an item on this special day. Hence, they sang two songs - 我的家要荣耀主 & 主祷文. (started practicing weeks ago)

 

Click here for the first song & here, for the second song.

 

This year, all teachers were given an appreciation gift for their faithful serving in Sunday School Ministry. I remembered my days as a Sunday School (SS) teacher in my mother church, Klang Chinese Methodist Church (KCMC). I started serving in SS when I was 18 years old, as an assistant to Std One English class. One year later, I took over Std One class, and continued serving for 9yrs+..I liked teaching Std One coz I felt I could handle them better than the older ones, at least, they still listen to you and have the cutie look. However, in this present church, due to the small numbers of children, we have to arrange all the children (2-9yrs old) into one class.

 

So yesterday, Abby was the first in the line, leading the rest of the children to walk along the aisle and up to the stage. Hubby and I were happy to see that Abby no longer the timid gal 2 yrs ago..she walked steadily, swung both hands up, and sang well on stage!

 

15 years had passed..even the first batch of my SS students are now in their University life! I wondered if they could still remember me, Teacher Ai Leng, :P. Some of them are my Facebook friends though. And there was an incident where I attended a wedding Holy Matrimony at KCMC and in the car park, I met my ex-SS student's parents, who were also my church friends. Their children were waiting in the car while we were chatting. After that, I heard my ex-student asking his Mummy, "Mum, who is that you were talking with?" "Teacher Ai Leng ler..you can't recognise her?" "Huh?! That's Teacher Ai Leng??" I laughed. Then, one of my student is now serving in SS ministry too! Praise God!

I prayed that all the SS students will grow up to be the Children of God, walking the God's path and be a good testimony to people around them!

Abby, the Model Child 2013

15.11.13 (Fri)

Today is the prize giving ceremony, also the last day of the school term for Abby's Kindy. Parents were allowed to attend the ceremony too. So, around 9.30am, I drove to the Kindy with Ian.

 

 

By the time I reached there, the teachers were busy decorating the living hall with balloons, snacks and trophies..the students were upstairs, having some activities. Ian was so excited to see toys on the cupboard..so while waiting for the ceremony to start, he went on to grab a box of blocks and played.

 

 

Finally the ceremony started. Those students who will be receiving award were seated patiently on the chair. Then, the teacher called out their names one by one to receive the trophy. There were 5 model child (N1, N2, K1x2 & K2) and Top 3 students of each class.

 

When Abby's name was called, I could see her smiling, walking shyly to the front and received her trophy. I knew she was happy coz to her, trophy meant a BIG thing. (Papa has lots of trophies in his room too). Hubby even told her, "Abby, next time you get more trophies, then Papa will buy a cupboard for you to keep them!" Haha.

 

And, yippie, my 2 weeks of holidays started!

 

 

The gal wearing a hairband, many commented she is Abby's twin sister, even Hubby also mistaken her as Abby!

 

 

 

Abby's 2nd term assessment

13.11.13 (Wed)

Yesterday was Abby's kindy's Parents-Teacher Day, ie, Report Card Day! Abby sat for her 2nd term examination end of Oct and it's time to see how she score.

 

One week before her exam, I came out with some sample exam questions on BM, English, Phonics & Mathematics, to help Abby prepare herself for the upcoming exams. She made some careless mistakes (even with me giving her tips and chances)! I was quite worried for her, especially her Chinese subject, where she would need to be tested on 数笔画，听写笔画. She scored 84% for Chinese last term. Many of my friends commented on my FB that as parents, we shouldn't pressure our children too much, especially she is only 4 yrs old. Well, true also, as preschool nowadays, was unlike our times. I don't remember sitting for exams, having Science and Computer lessons...Anyhow, hopefully Abby will do better 1st term assessment.

 

So, when we reached the Kindy, teachers were there greeting us with smiley faces. Her class teacher shown us her report card..hmm..overall, she improved in all the areas, scored 100% in 4 subjects (BM, English, Science & Phonics (1st term 96%)), 87% in Chinese (1st term 84%) and 97% in Mathematics (1st term 100%), with an average points of 97.33%. (1st term 96.67%)

 

While Hubby chatting with her teacher, I saw a piece of notice on the table, something on the model child 2013. Then, her teacher took the notice, and congratulated us, informing that Abby has been chosen as the Model Child year 2013 for her class. (Total students: 9) We were really surprised, at the same time happy and proud for Abby! I guessed she still won't understand what does Model Child means to her now..but I am sure when she grows up next time, and see the trophy, she will be proud of herself too! 

 

Initially Hubby promised her if she scored 100% in all subjects, she will be rewarded. Since she was chosen as the Model Child, Hubby decided to buy her the present she requested.

 

This week will be the last week of the school term. Next year she will be going to K1 class. Hopefully she will continue to learn and perform well in her academic.

 

Concentrating on doing her sample exam paper

Careless mistakes made in Maths & Chinese!

 

German Cheese Cake 德国芝士蛋糕

12.11.13 (Tues)
I used to bake non-baked cheese cake as it is an easy and fast recipe. Today I tried baking a baked cheese cake. With the added lemon zest and juice, it made the taste of the cake even extra yummy! 

 

 

Ingredients

Sugar Pastry

120g butter

60g icing sugar

1 egg

200g soft flour

Rum Raisin (I skipped this)
30g raisin
10g rum

 

Cheese cake

600g cream cheese (I like using Philadephia cream cheese)

80g caster sugar

200g milk

1 lemon zest and juice

5 egg yolks

30g corn starch

Methods
1. Sugar pastry: Cream butter and icing sugar. Add egg and flour, knead into a dough. Line onto the cake pan.

2. Cheese cake: Whisk cream cheese and caster sugar to smooth, Add egg yolks, lemon zest and juice and stir finely. Pour milk into cream cheese mixture and fold in corn starch.

3. Rum raisin: Soak raisin into rum for overnight.

4. Assembly: Line sugar pastry onto cake pan and bake at 180C for 10mins to medium well. Take out and pour soaked raisin and cream cheese mixture. Bake at 180C for 40mins, leave cool and dust with icing sugar.

 

Line the dough onto the pan. Poke a few holes using a fork. Bake at 180C for 10mins before pouring the cream cheese mixture into it.

 

 

 

10 Fun Facts

11.11.13 (Mon)

I got fooled.. :)

Pandan Chiffon Cake 班丹戚风蛋糕

7.11.13 (Thurs)

This would be my 4th time baking a chiffon cake and today, I baked Pandan Chiffon Cake, recipe adapted from Christine's Recipe. Hubby and kids said YUMMY!

 

Ingredients

5 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
100g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 ml coconut milk
2 tbsp pandan juice (see below for making pandan juice)
1/2 tsp pandan essence (optional)
3 tbsp olive oil/canola oil

 

Egg whites
5 egg whites
60g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

 

Pandan juice:
10 pandan leaves, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 tbsp water

 

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170C.

2. Beat the egg yolks with a balloon whisk and mix in sugar. Add coconut milk, pandan juice, and pandan essence (if desired). Combined well.

3. Sift in cake flour and baking powder in three batches into the egg yolk mixture. Mix well. Lastly, add oil. Set aside.

4. Use a large clean bowl, making sure there’s no water or oil in it. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until bubbles form. Add the cream of tartar. After mixing well, add the sugar in three batches, about one-third at a time, and beat well between additions. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

5. Spoon out 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and fold into the egg mixture. Lightly fold in the rest of the beaten egg whites with a spatula, until just combined.

6. Pour into the cake pan and bake in preheated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. After baking the first 15 minutes, if you find your cake gets browning, reduce heat to 150C, continue to bake until cooked through. A needle comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

7. Remove cake from the oven. Invert the pan immediately. Allow it to cool completely.

To make pandan juice:
Chop pandan leaves into chunks, pop in a food processor and add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of water. Process to small pieces. Place pandan leaves in a muslin bag and squeeze out the juice. You need about 2 tablespoons of it to make this cake. If you don’t have a muslin bag, just use your clean hand to squeeze out the juice.

Penang Street, Wall Painting

2.11.13 (Sat)

After having dimsum at a local restaurant in Georgetown, Penang, we started our "hunt" for some of the famous wall painting around the Penang Heritage. I did some research online for the exact location of those murals and it did helped. Some of the murals were located near to each other and within walking distance. We could only select a few murals as the kids were with us, couldn't really walk too long. I think we spent about 1.5hrs, taking pictures with the murals before heading home.

 

"Little Children on Bicycle", Armenian Street. One of the famous mural and we gotta queued up to take picture.

"Reaching Up", Cannon Street

"Giant Cat" & "Giant Rat", Armenian Street.

"Boy on the Bike" & "Little Boy with Pet Dinosaur", Ah Quee Street. Unfortunately, the dinosaur went missing.

Top: "Children Playing Basketball", Chulia Street & "Little Girl in Blue", Muntri Street
Bottom: "Char Siew Bao Uncle", Leith Street

"Children on Swing", Chulia Street