u m a m i

Children's Party

The traffic along the North South Highway was not too congested considering that it was the weekend of the Deepa-Raya celebrations. We arrived in good time and found the family deep in preparation for a children's party. No special occasion, just because.

The house was, as usual, quite messy and very noisy ( a fourth dog has temporarily joined the household) but the tables were set with nice linens, the balloons blown, glasses polished, and a colourful buffet spread prepared by third sister, aunt L and the domestics. There was a little panic when third sister asked second sister where was the cupcakes, what cupcakes asked second sis, you know the cupcakes you said you will bring for the party, no, said second sis, I said I can give you the recipe..... no problem, second sister whipped some cupcakes up in a jiffy and we set about decorating them with icing and colourful sprinkles.

The children had a blast. Mostly three and four year olds, they were happy playing with plastic cars and pommelling each other with balloons.

 

In between, we ate mincepies, cupcakes, croquettes, pizza and (this are for the adults really) seafood canapes.

The mini nasi lemak packets were a bit hit. Bite sized portions of rice with quail eggs, peanuts, ikan bilis and a killer sambal. Later in the night, I was hungry for some and rummaged around but couldn't find the leftovers. 

The carrot cakes were a bit harder than usual, think third sister added too much of something. Sister-in-law spent almost an hour carefully making them colourful sandwiches. Foods washed down with some sauvignon blanc and fresh watermelon juice.

Mummy made a big pot of pig stomach soup too. The stock base was made with stacks of pork ribs, and instead of white pepper, she used the more pungent and earthy black pepper, so the resultant concoction was really flavourful. The pig stomach was prewashed by the butcher with plenty of dried tamarind peel and salt, and before cooking, Mummy turned it inside out and rinsed it out twice more with more salt and boiling water, just to completely clean it out and remove any offensive odours.

To finish, there were party packs loaded with more confectionaries and toys- mini trucks for boys and puzzle packs for girls. Something for the kids and adults too.

Day 3- Dinner

 

The bountiful lunch sustained us throughout the afternoon. By the time we finished, the sun has retired and it was dark outside. For dinner, we were again, at a loss but luckily my friend slurp had earlier emailed me about a traditional bibimbap restaurant.

The Seoul outlet of Gogung Restaurant was a short taxi ride away from the hotel, and the staff welcoming and friendly. We decided to share their Jeonju traditional bibimbap. Unlike the dolsot version, it comes not in a heavy stone pot but a deep and wide golden bowl. The mildly sweet sticky Korean rice is topped with plenty of intriguing seasonal vegetables, including gingko and pine nuts, golden mushrooms and bamboo shoots. The golden bowl does not retain heat as well as the stone pot so the rice at the bottom could not form the sticky chewy crust that I usually look forward to. But the Jeonju version is more elegant and lighter, if dolsot is akin to our rustic claypot rice, Jeonju is its spa cuisine equivalent. Even the gokujang paste was deliberately milder,it was hardly spicy although hot sauce can be added from the tray of tabletop condiments. A welcome change to all the robust dishes that we have tasted so far.

The banchan spread were just as interesting. There was soft tofu with a nutty miso paste topping, discs of kimchi pancakes and a very addictive seaweed with a blistered topping. We hardly needed our side order of scallion and seafood pancake, which was a bit floury and packed with way too much scallions for our tastes.

After dinner, we squeezed in some shopping time and then it was back to the hotel for some rest. So much to do, so little time.

Will be in KL for the next few days. Posting will depend on my mood and availability of internet access.

Happy Deepavali and Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to all of you out there.

Day 3- Lunch

Day 3 was the best in terms of eating. For lunch we were treated to a sumptuous meal at I-Jyo, a restaurant within the office building. Colleague explained that they usually make do with something simple like bibimbap and soup, but for our sake, they ordered a wide variety of dishes for us to sample. They were also not surprised to hear I have a blog, every other Korean, especially the young ladies, have their own too.

Banchan: spicy squid, zucchini and pork, westernised salad of corn and nuts. There was also a mini bulgogi, gratineed crab shells and grilled mackerel. So much food we only managed to sample a little of everything.

Bibimbap. Colleague explained that bibimbap can be as simple as rice with sprouts and soya sauce, or extravagant with exotic wild vegetables and herbs. The version here came with bamboo shoots, tender spinach, some fresh ginseng and preserved vegetables. That is how Korean ladies keep their slender finger, loads of vegetables and relatively little rice, I noticed they only mixed in about half the portion of rice.

Vegetables and mushrooms stuffed with fish paste, battered and fried. A bit like our yong-tau-foo.

Raw oysters eaten with miso paste and seaweed.

Sweet pumpkin porridge. Mousse-like rather than porridgey, it is made of pumpkin puree blended with ground rice bits and honey. Smooth and silky with a lingering mellow sweetness, some of the rice are not completely ground up so that the unbroken bits provide a contrasting texture. In Singapore one can sample this homely dish at the newly opened, well- 2 weeks ago, Cha-in 'rice cake house' at No. 9 Thomson Ridge  (off Upper Thomson Rd).

Another dish I really liked was the tofu in a spicy miso soup. The Koreans love their miso as much as the Japanese, and it made very good sense to combine it with their favourite chilli paste.

Their disposable toothpicks are made of plastic. After lunch, female office workers make a beeline to the restroom, where they diligently brush their teeth. Women queue up to use the sinks, holding brushes and tubes of toothpaste while waiting for the people ahead of them to finish- I haven't seen such a sight since my school days.

Seoul Day 2- Fire chicken

The breakfast buffet at Shilla was excellent, emphasizing quality over quantity. I enjoyed sticky Korean rice with steamed salmon, pickles and seaweed. As well as crisp waffles, maple syrup and bacon. The filling breakfast lasted me almost a whole day, a very good thing as it turned out because we were so caught up with work we missed lunch.

Scenes from my taxi: the shy mascot was teased by his friends.

A fruit shop.

What I ate at 6.00 pm. Ham and cheese bagel sandwich. Originally tar-powed by colleague for lunch but we didn't have a chance to eat it until the meeting was over.

After work, we went off to a place that is known for pets and accessories. Colleague couldn't tell me what it is called in English, she wrote the name of the street in Korean script to show the taxi driver. The shopping was fab, bought lots of clothes and hair bows for Mimi and Rufus.

Decided to look for something to eat, nothing too filling. A bar on the second level looked inviting, and we found ourselves in a simply furnished room half occupied by a mix of salarymen and schoolkids (there is a cinema nearby). Young people served drinks and performed pyrotechnic stunts at the counter, a good sign I thought.

We ordered the signature item, booldak, which the picture-book menu described as chicken grilled in a spicy sauce. And some roasted rice soup to accompany. The young server set dishes of pickles and the ubiquitous kimchi on our tables, as well as a pitcher of ice water and a stack of paper napkins.

Our booldak arrived, and a few minutes later a similar dish of squid and scallions came too. We tried a few pieces of each. Yummy, the meat had a smooth meaty sweetness and savouriness with a pleasant charred taste from the grilling process, and very tender too.

But it was all very very hot, so very hot that within 5 minutes we were in extreme agony. My eyes teared and my sinuses overflowed. Tongue became inflamed. Cheeks flushed so red we had to open the windows to cool ourselves down. This was without a doubt, the hottest thing I have ever eaten in my life, beating mala hotpots, vindaloos and incendiary thai salads handsdown. I alternated between sips of cold beer and sticking my tongue out in desperation. We looked a mess.

Somehow we managed to eat about half of the food, mainly by washing it first in the rice soup to remove the chilli rub and taking long pauses in between bites. We observed the other diners, thinking that perhaps the locals have developed good tolerance to this dish. But we were relieved to observe that they were similarly torturing themselves. The next day we told our colleague about our experience. Ah, the fire chicken, she said..... now she tells us.....

After the booldak, we came across a stall selling little cakes baked in chestnut and peanut moulds. The batter was fine and soft inside while the outside has a crispier skin, the chestnut ones even has little balls of chestnut paste embedded within. Simply delightful. Definitely our favourite street snack. 1000 won per bag.

Seoul Day 1

Flight SQ 016 arrived in Seoul's Incheon Airport at 4 pm Korea time. We set our watches forward by one hour. Took a shuttle (13,000 won, about USD13) to our hotel The Seoul Shilla. Colleague has stayed at this hotel three times the past year, so they gave her membership this time round, upgraded our rooms and threw in complimentary "commuting" to our offices in the mornings. Clean impersonal room. Duvet. Aveda toiletries. Breakfast and daily newspapers. Local mobile phones for rent. Worth staying at if you can get their corporate rates.

We dumped our bags and went exploring, after all the next few days would be quite busy with work. We had no idea where to go, so I asked the taxi driver to take us to Myeung Dong. Turned out to be a good choice, Myeung Dong is full of little shops geared towards teenagers and young working adults. They come here in the evenings to drink, snack on the plentiful variety of street foods, shop for latest fashion and generally chill out.

From left to right:

1. Roasted chestnuts. Larger than the tiny sweet Chinese ones we get in Singapore, with a mild nuttiness but little sweetness. The vendor seemed to have undercooked them too.

2. Grilled meats on skewers. This stall was selling sausages, 2000 won bought us 5 different varieties. Eaten with some sweet bean sauce or mustard. I liked a curry flavoured one but the rest were quite nondescript.

3. Griddled flat buns with honey filling. My favourite, the bread was chewy and soft and some parts were even a little crunchy.

4. BBQ dried squid and calamari. Didn't get to try any, but the stallholders were very friendly.

Maybe it was just me, but I didn't quite like the street foods that much. Oh well.

Decided to look for some 'proper' food. Came across a fast food dumpling place that was very crowded, till now I cannot remember their English name, but the Korean name can be seen on the bowl in the picture. This was a good find, the food was cheap and good. The menu has only 4 items, each is 5500 wons. The house dumplings were similar to xiao long baos with juicy pork filling but the skin was not as resilient. The cold noodles dressed in a sesame and bean paste sauce was good for slurping too. Couldn't say the same for the green noodles in soya milk which was not very appetising to look at or eat. Most of the customers were tucking into hearty bowls of soup noodles, but we were struggling with our dumplings; I would like to try that if I ever return.

The weather was cool and fresh, perfect for wandering about the streets. The shops close at about 10 pm. We took a taxi back to the hotel (~ 3500 won); taxi drivers seem to have it quite tough in the city, they were at every street corner waiting for customers. Our driver asked if we were Chinese or Japanese, I told him that I live in Singapore. Ah, he visited our city two years before with a tour group. Didn't converse much, we didn't know Korean and he was not comfortable speaking English.

Husband called to say that he took the dogs out for a walk and Mimi was attacked by giant red ants. I called out to them through the speakerphone, Mimi barked at me and Rufus licked the phone. Aww...

Going to Seoul tomorrow morning.

Have not finished reading Fatman's archives. Aargh....

Bazaar Ramadhan JB 2005

Looking through all the Malaysian food bloggers pictures of bazaar Ramadhan pictures left me quite homesick. A good thing then, that Johor Bahru is only an hour's drive away. Had initially wanted to revisit the bazaar we went to two years back, but we couldn't remember where it was, so decided to drive up and try our luck.

 

First, some lunch. Husband consulted his food guide and he seemed to know what he was doing so I continued reading my book (sent to me by my friend in Sydney, thanks Cath!). We ended up at the W W Laksa at Kampung Nong Chik. Thick laksa gravy made with more spice paste than dried shrimps was very lemak and packed plenty of oomph!, and there were generous bits of fried wonton skin and taupok to soak up all that gravy. The only critiscm was that I could not help wishing for a bit of tart kaffir lime juice to relieve all the richness.

 

Our destination was Plaza Angsana, but there was a little bazaar right there in Kampung Nong Chik so we checked it out first. Everything looked good so we bought some and ate them in the car. Because there weren't any tables or chairs around and I was thinking it would seem insensitive to eat in full view of the fasting local folks.

Left: Nasi Ambang, a local specialty. We enjoyed this. Rice with chicken in a mildly spicy tomato sauce, some sambal tumis, stir-fried beans in a korma sauce, spicy dried coconut floss, spaghetti (quite incongruous, maybe it was there for texture) and the deal breaker, at least for me, was a piece of fish that at first reminded me of an overgrown ikan bilis. The fish, salted and fried, added depth and contrast in flavours to the mix and united the disparate elements together harmoniously.

Right: Epok-epoks of sardine and chicken, kueh dadar, jemput jemput pisang, etc. Not very interesting, I've had better versions before.

There was indeed a bazaar of sorts at the Angsana shopping mall, but it was peddling cookies and soft drinks. We drove a little further along and saw some makeshift tents near the Giant supermarket. Love the roadsign.

   

The bazaar was not very big here either, but there was plenty more variety and the atmosphere upbeat and quite festive. When they saw me taking pictures, the stallholders nudged and teased each other about appearing on TV3 or Nanyang Siang Pao

Left: Charcoal grilled spiced chicken. The spice rub was fantastic, not too sweet so the spices can be tasted, and marinated long enough so that the flavours permeated right down to the bones. Cooked until the skin charred but the meat remained juicy. This stall is fe-mes, they appeared in the Chinese press only a week ago, so the owner informed me.

Middle: Cooked dishes for people too busy to cook.

Right: Colourful drinks, mostly sugar water and colouring.

   

Left: A seasonal kueh of baked coconut custard, I think it is called akok. The inside of quivery caramelly custard a surprise contrast to the thin eggy skin. Enak, I said. The owner beamed with pride and pleasure when I told him so. 

Middle: Hot dogs and chocolate with coloured sprinkles. Strictly for kids and people who cannot bear to choose between a chocolate donut and a hot dog bun.

Left: A new type of kueh, didn't get round to trying it out.

       

Unlike bazaar ramadhans in Singapore, here there wasn't a Ramly burger stall in sight. Most foods were made from scratch, and with a lot of heart. The fried noodles dished out by the young men were surprisingly fragrant with wok-hei. A little boy was cooking Roti Jala, his brows and lips furrowed in concentration to make the most pretty pancake he could, scraping tidily away the excess batter in between batches, his father packing the fresh-out-of-griddle piece for me (instead of taking one from the cooling pile) without my needing to ask. At the Nasi Beriani Safiah Razak (012-7007465) stall, I noted that there was less than half a pot of rice left even though the bazaar will not close until 3 hours later. Didn't take a chance, bought mine early. Madam Safiah's briyani is fragrant and the accompanying chicken shiok-ingly good.

We ate some more in the car, then went shopping at Giant. Or rather, walking, because things at Giant seemed more expensive than what we pay in Singapore. The promoters were out in full force, there was breakfast cereals, vegetarian chicken nuggets, yoghurt drinks and Ribena. Yes, Ribena, perfectly mixed and served icy cold in a paper cup, not those tiny plastic medicine dispenser thingies. I ask you, which household in Malaysia and Singapore doesn't have a bottle of Ribena in their fridge? Needles to say the girls at the Ribena stall were kept busy handing out samples. Old and young, male and female, nobody said no, kids and adults alike went back for extra helpingss, which the Ribena girls gave out just as cheerfully. This kind of activity generates a lot of goodwill and strengthens their brand recognition factor, sure beats spending millions on more expensive TV and print advertisements.

My Mum's Place

The October makan dinner was another roaring success. 27 hungry diners. 11 dishes. 24 bottles of wine. 4.5 hours of food and friendship.

The place? My Mum's Place, 328 Joo Chiat Road. Tel 6344 3343. ivn did a write up of his dinner there a few weeks ago. slurp posted lots more lovely pictures - I swear, I learnt quite a lot from observing him.

Sum Loh Hor Fun, Seafood Stuffed Tofu, Cutlery Table, Fish with Spicy Sauce

Golden Fried Baby Squid, Lo-Han Veggies, Greek Moscato, Chicken steamed with Salted Fish

Durian Brulee, Pumpkin Orh Nee, Table.

I have not eaten anything terribly interesting the past weeks, hence the total blog funk. Wish I am in Malaysia instead, where fellow food bloggers are going camera-crazy with all sorts of festive goodies at the various ramadhan bazaars happening all over the country.