Hometown Hainan Kopitiam @ Taman Megah

Sometimes I just wonder why when they wanted to open restaurant, they can't be creative to think of other names. There are already hundreds of restaurant with the name "papa", "mama", "old town", "penang town", "klang town", "hometown"etc and everyone is just copying after one another when the very 1st Kopitiam restaurant got famous!

Anyway, this restaurant left such a vivid memory in our lives. Whenever we drive pass this restaurant, we will just remember of the last happy moments that we had. We really enjoyed ourselves here in this restaurant, had a nice dinner together but all the happy moments crushed and scattered like a million grains of sand in just a few minutes when we landed at the next stop. It is not easy to slowly pick one by one of the scattered memories and knit them into a beautiful piece. Everything happened and ended so fast that the happy moment was just too short for us to enjoy! But, in all things we still give thanks for our God is Almighty and Awesome! He's the creator of Universe and reign forever! Things may fail us, but our God doesn't and we will live for His Glory forever and always.........

The ambiance in the restaurant...

Justin ordered Hainan Teh Cham....

and Prawn Mee..... still prefer the one in Tropicana City Mall at Sumptuous Corner.


And my order : Ipoh Hor Fun with chicken.

Angin Taufan!

Why oh why! Wherever I go, there's always *angin taufan* following after me. Few months back, it was a smaller angin taufan. *Thunder* always come along once every month. Luckily this annoying angin taufan with thunder didn't last forever! Sometimes I would just ignore but hey, it is irritating you know! That was the story of once upon a time............. but it didn't end happily ever after!

The typhoon followed me! The typhoon got stronger and stronger and it became so huge and massive that whenever it decided to strike, it always strike when the time is so peaceful! Why must you strike after I had a good nice lunch? If only typhoon, I'm ok, but this time the typhoon is extremely annoying especially when it is accompanied with a loud thunder. Sometimes my heart jumped when I heard the loud thunder. Hey! Can heart attack you know! No stress become stress. It destroys *crops*, *houses*, *spirits* etc..... Sigh, please leave me typhoon. Go far far away and stay in your own *mansion*. Don't strike the innocents...............................................

The rumbling of a young woman................

There are many people and I could say most of the people in the world always complain that life is stagnant, life is boring or to be precise, my WORKING life is boring, no challenge, no future etc. Usually when I hear all these, I will not let it buried in my brain, otherwise I would be in danger just like them. I learnt new method to get rid of those parasite words by grabbing my ears and shake it, dusting off the words out and blow far far away. Thanks to Ps Vic for this method. It helps a lot by not digesting all those parasite words that bring no future but harm. If a person that is weak and hear all these, they will agree and fall into the same trap, my life is boring!

Ok fine, when you said your life is boring, how do you face challenges? Many people who said that actually quit when the real challenge come. They started to look down, do not dare to face the challenge, felt they are so small and stepping backwards hoping the challenge goes off on its own. MOST OF THE PEOPLE RUN AWAY! They don't dare to face the reality and how dare they say their working life has no challenge? Sometimes I just felt so pity for them that they get upset over a very small thing and it makes them no mood to work. What a waste.. .

No matter what job you do, it will be a routine job after some time. You can jump to another field, again it will be routine. And there you are, the lips started to complain again, awwww.. boring! It's rather impossible that you jump every 3 months when you get bored with your job, isn't it? How do you deal with the routine job then? Be positive and know your goal. If you do not have a goal, no matter how many times you jump a boat, you will sink. If you dare to complain, dare to face the challenge when it comes! Don't be HUGE in complain but TIMID in heart!

Black pepper chicken chop!

Cooking class is really fun if you get to experience hands on cooking with the chef. Catherine Lau was my chef on how to cook black pepper chicken chop. She loves to use US potatoes in most of her cooking because her kids love potatoes. And then she came out with the Hainanese chicken chop with layered potatoes recipe. I still think black pepper chicken chop serves well with mashed potatoes. Love them sooo much! My mom in law was excited over this cooking class and she asked if I want to attend and I just said ok! So, here goes the trial for the family few months after my cooking class! Sounds like a future chef with the term cooking class. Haha!

De-boned chicken thigh and chicken breast... good job to my mom in law, I didn't know how to do this. And marinade for at least half a day with some black pepper, soy sauce, salt, dash of pepper and some sesame oil. Can add oyster sauce if you like, and usually I don't. Don't consume too much oyster sauce, might get kidney stone (according to my grandma, so listen!)

After marinade and left it in the fridge for at least half a day, coat with some egg and then crispy flour and deep fry it. Don't overcook else the chicken will be hardy.

Chicken chop done! Next step is to prepare for the black pepper sauce.

I used the de-boned chicken bones to boil the soup and after 1 hour, drain the soup and set aside. Stir fry the chopped onion until caramelize to bring out deep, rich, sweet flavor as the natural sugars in the onions caramelize. Then add in about 2 tablespoons of black pepper and some chopped garlic, stir fry again until fragrant. Add in the chicken stock that you've drained just now and salt to taste. Simmer with slow fire for about 30 mins (as long as you like) and then add in some cornflour to thicken the soup. You can opt to cook this gravy first as it might take up about 2 hours.

Done!!! Pour the black pepper sauce gravy on the fried chicken and here it goes, Black Pepper Chicken Chop. We served this with some mashed potatoes and it turned out to be a great meal!

Ingredients that you need:
- Black pepper (fresh and pound it)
- chicken thighs/breast
- soy sauce
- pepper
- salt
- crispy flour (if you don't have, just mix some cornflour + rice flour to make it crispy)
- 1 egg
- chopped onion, chopped garlic

That's all......... simple!

If only .............

How many girls out there that actually dream on to be a siu lai lai. And I am one of them... Working life is pretty good now, everything went so well and I'm just happy with what I'm doing now. But, if I can stay at home and settle the house chores, then it will be much much more better. Since the dream can't come true, at least I've envisioned what will happen in my life if I'm a siu lai lai.....

Here it goes :
1) First of all, I can sleep late and get up late. I can just catch up all my late nite dramas and no rush for the last episode. Awesome rite..... Sleeping without the disturbance of alarm clock is great and get fully stretched when the sun is burning my butt... =D

2) I have plenty of recipe books given by my mom in law and I can try every one of them! Cooking is my passion, I can cook good food if I HAVE the time to prepare and cook. Justin will get to taste 365 different recipes a year, except for the plain rice that has no change. ;p

3) Ensure the home's floor is clean, not even a single hair loss on the floor. Wow..... Vacuum cleaner will be my best friend!

4) Fully 24-hours with kids, and 24 hours of bonding time is great. No miss miss feeling, ensure kids are fully fed, has transport to school and hardworking kids doing their homework at home because mommy is watching them. Haha! This is nice when I don't have the headache which is the best baby sitter, how's baby now, or did the maid steal all the fish that supposed to give to my kids.. haha.

5) Grab the purse and drive to the wet market to get the most fresh fish, chicken, vegetables without having to keep all these supplies for a full one week! Sometimes vege will just get dehydrated and yellow.... fish no longer as fresh as the first day you bought it.

6) Clean and Clean. Scrub and Scrub. House will surely be free from dust and dirt! Unlike now, I only touch the wet cloth every weekend.

7) If I have a small garden, gardening will be part of my hobby. Plant some flowers, fruit trees, useful trees like (pandan, curry plant, lemongrass, lime). At least when my hands get rough, they will say that this girl is hardworking. Hahahahaha......

I think that's enough... otherwise I can really think of 1001 good reasons to be a siu lai lai. LOL.... anyway, this is just how I envisioned myself if I'm a home maker. It's good to dream, especially big dreams eventho your brain will tell you it won't work.. but dream is free!! =D

Steamed Egg with minced meat

This is the most simple meal that anyone can just do it! Steamed egg with minced meat... but to get a super silky smooth texture, u need skills! Haha... *proud me* let me share with you how to get a super duper silky smooth texture.. just like the chawan mushi at japanese restaurant. =D

Ingredients:
- Minced meat
- Onion leaves
- Sesame oil
- Eggs
- crab sticks
- salt, pepper, soy sauce

Steps :
1) Crack 2 eggs, and stir gently with chopsticks. Do not create bubbles, otherwise u fail. Haha. After all mix well (egg white and yolk), add in some water and gently stir again. Don't add too much water otherwise it won't cook.
2) Add in dash of pepper, salt to taste and 1 tbsp of soy sauce. Usually I add some shao xing wine also.
3) Add in the minced meat and stir well. Remember, don't create bubbles.
4) Steamed at high heat for 12 mins and important step, don't cover the COVER fully. Otherwise it won't turn out to be smooth and silky. You can try if you like, then u know the difference. Try one set with fully covered, and the other half covered.
5) Sprinkle with some onion leaves and sesame oil. Add fried garlic if you like... it will be more fragrant!

That's all..... the simplest meal to cook when you're tired! =D