Beer for the Soul.

This is one legit non-halal post.

Beer Marinade Baked Chicken

I've been wasting my youth away at somewhere with satellite TV programs and I was infatuated by the host in Licenced to Grill.

So when I'm back to the place with an electric oven, I had to get myself a can of beer, some lime juice and a neat halved slice of chicken breasts for grilling.

Marinated the slices for half a day.

Both sides rubbed with butter.

The sprinkles - mixed herbs, crushed black pepper, sliced garlic, salt.

180 degree Celcius and tadaa -

Curry Mee with Boiled Fish.

Boiled, not steamed.

I hesitated when I get to the title. The fish is the general enticement here, it totally dominates the enjoyment of a meal here at Kedai Kopi Tin Kam Leng, so instinctively I typed "Boiled Fish with ..." before I rephrased it to this, since carbs constitute our mains here in Malaysia.

What's proclaimed: no preservatives and sodium borate used in production of noodles by distributor.

I am NOT a big fish person, but when it comes to steamed fresh fish that's served fresh from the pot, especially a nice serving of kembung (mackerel) oh yes I will NOT reject! However due to the unpredictable weather (or monsoon season, but was it still?) kembung was not widely available. The cooks then used selar (yellowtail scad, an equally mouth-watering fish) for the side dish.

It's a heavenly combination to have the fish along with a bowl of their famous Curry Mee. I'm dead serious about this.

You can also opt for mihun (vermicelli) instead of noodles. The same soup was used to boiled the fishes, which explained the great aroma possessed by the soup. This bowl of curry is not the average curry you can enjoy elsewhere, no santan was added and there was only a tinge of spiciness, very un-curry-like. But YUM! It's almost like Har Mee soup but instead of cooking with prawn shells, fish was used.

Price list. Price of fish varies.

This coffee shop is perhaps the most visited place we've been to whenever we passed by or went to Kemaman. I am not very sure about its exact location, all I knew was it's located opposite to the Persatuan Hokkien which isn't facing the main street, beside it but separated by a narrow road is a small hawker center consists of mainly Malay stalls. The locals would call the place as Kampung Cina but Google Maps will direct Kampung Cina in Kemaman to a place further away from the town.

I have also found the address set by other online users on foursquare which goes here.

Herb baked chicken & a new oven!

Once I had the chance to get back to Kuantan, my mind enveloped the thought of using the new oven my mom redeemed with gift points few days before I entered uni. The frequency of thinking about that oven actually exploded (my translation for growing exponentially) when an ex-junior of mine linked me to an article with 50 chocolate-y recipes, which I thought was dragged there entirely from Nestlé's site.

Found this Herb Baked Chicken Breasts from southernfood.about.com.

So I asked my mom to reserve me two chicken breasts*, a red onion and a lemon. My mom favours red onions over green so I always substitute the green ones with red.

I always slacked off eventhough I am super interested in making baked meats. I didn't know which recipe to use, this time I just depended on my luck. It's easily adaptable, I just replaced anything I didn't have in hand and I used the small Italian herbs jar sold at most Malaysian markets.

*Because I misread one chicken breast halve as one chicken breast

What I did:
Enough cooking oil (I think it was canola) to cover two chicken breasts
2 chicken breast halves (boned)
1 red onion, quartered
3 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of half a lemon
Powdered white pepper
Italian herbs

Cover thawed chicken breast halves, red onion and garlic with oil mixed with lemon juice. Spread herbs and powdered pepper over oil. Cover and marinate overnight.

1. Bake chicken breast halves at 200°C for 30 minutes. (I chose the uncut part as the upside.)
2. When nearing the 30 minutes mark, boil the marinade.
3. Once 30 minutes is over (mine appeared to be cooked, with the edges a little browned), bask the chicken with marinade. Rub both sides with salt.
4. Bake for another 10 minutes with the downside up.

Didn't wait for the breast to brown because I was actually rushing. Anyway, the halves were thoroughly cooked. And they turned out looking like this:

To be honest with you, I was never a fan of chicken breasts. In fact, from this I learned that baking it won't turn the meat tender too. It was consumable (of course!), and I liked the aroma well. The flavour wasn't heavy enough to my liking though, but definitely worth trying again.

Pun Chun, Bidor.

En route to Perlis, we took the exit to Bidor and got to Pun Chun for lunch. It was STEAMING hot, I have to say. Walking on the streets felt like getting baked for dessert.

Pun Chun was a combination of two shop lots - one as a kopitiam, the other sells its products, mainly biscuits.

We grabbed dry noodles for luncheon. I went for my top preferred combination - Dry Noodles with Roasted Duck. The food menu was hung on the wall, the prices were pretty shocking in a small town like this.

The meat portion given was pitifully little. And then we of course bought a few packets of their famous biscuits before leaving the hot, hot oven. Oh my...

Angry Birds x Oreo Cheese. Cupcakes, love from Kuantan.

(Photographed using GXR P10.)

I stumbled upon Fadzilah's Facebook profile about a year ago, and the decision to purchase from her hadn't occurred until last April. I was always away from home.

It was the fondant decorations and mountains of comments on her photos which attracted me. The cupcakes below would be appealing enough for anyone to do an impulsive purchase.

 

Source: FadRizals.

These are my favourite pieces made by her. :) But I didn't choose them over the ones I had because I thought they were rather girlish for a guy's birthday cake. Since I knew he liked Oreo cheesecake, and she also made them, thus the birth of such idea.

Angry Birds was one of the first few applications he's downloaded after iPhone reached him.

My customization request was to make figurines based on all the birdie roles with 4 words (she suggested to use fondant instead of cream) and then top the cakes off with chocolate ganache.  She also advised to add on a few heart figurines instead of leaving the rest of the cupcakes looking plain, and I thought they were a cute addition!

I placed my order with her a week before, and she was having a packed schedule but we made it.  On the appointed day, we had to travel to her house, which luckily isn't very hard to find.

A close-up shot before condensation becomes visible.

The bomber chick would be my favourite bird. There were wires installed to hold some of the beaks and combs (look more like hairdo's to me) in place.

The cute cupcakes came in an elegant package.

Eating them was pretty troublesome until I figured a way to dissect the cupcake cleanly for a clear cross sectional picture.  You have to open up the folds at the side of it to separate it from the container.

From the display above you could compare the thickness of the two constituents.

The taste was average, its heavenly taste was spoiled a little by the excessive ganache. :(  But seriously the cheesecake was good.  It'd be better if my budget was enough to increase the serving size of the cheese.

I also find it cruel to eat the birds, even crueler to dispose them.  But I had to perform the latter to the last one standing because frankly, I just didn't like how sugary they were. :(

The baker was friendly and helpful, she's got all the good qualities you could ask for from a home-based baker.  

Additional link: "Angry Birds" Figurine Cupcakes

Miang kham.

The great heat had struck after nearly a week of daily rain.  That wave of endless infra red radiation hit us along the southward route.  Explains the heavy consumption of durian potong.

Scratch that.  We came down to Alor Star to get our cure for hunger.  A place we've been for so many times yet I could never alter my choice of dish(es).

What was special about that day, was that they have started selling sets of Thai snack named miang kham.  With the mysterious leaf (that's almost as hardy as grass) being its foundation, the rest of the ingredients are commonly available.

Perhaps except the sauce - its core, its secret.

(But the funny thing is, Wiki stated that it's merely syrup - so maybe it's not that secretive.)

Anyways, back to the shop.  Without a second glance on its self-proclaimed 冒烟 (literally: steaming, but I think this means steaming hot = spicy) 胡椒米粉 or Black Pepper Bihoon Soup on the menu, I ordered the preferable Asam Laksa.

 

It's not so unique but I liked the fact that they offer small bowls for a petite appetite like mine.  Not so sour and not so spicy.  You be the judge.

This is my new found love - Mengkuang Chai Kuih.  It has an indescribable taste I loved.

 

And it's pretty cheap too!  Scroll down to the end of the post for price listing. :)

So here comes our order of desserts.

 

Honeydew Sago.

 

Bubur Chacha.

 

Cendol.

The restaurant's called Jikou Cafe.  You might have to figure out the route there yourself since there's no address available (oh and, no receipt given).



Price (based on memory):
Miang Kham at RM3.00
Asam Laksa (small) at RM2.50
Mengkuang Chai Kuih (one) at RM0.60

Up, up north.

While driving our way up north we've finally paused at Alor Star for a later dinner.  This crab, I comforted my body that was still used to constant motion in the car, refusing to accept that its velocity was back to zero.

What I liked about the crab was neither its sauce nor its tender meat.  The shell was cracked open so the ease of getting the meat inside was there.  A gift after a long, boring journey. *sticks tongue out*

The stall was placed opposite to the Sentosa building which at first glance was selling all sort of mobile phones and accessories, in a restaurant named Kong Chew (oh yes, it's on the ground floor of the Kong Chew association).