郭靓太煮私房菜 ~ 黑椒乌冬面 Black Pepper Udon

Its been such a long time we din eat black pepper udon since our favourite stalls at Allison Cafe @ Seri Petaling closed down! 

Selling fried rice, fried noodle, black pepper udon hawker can retired so fast even not before the retirement age....if im doing good in this trial...maybe i wanna change my professions liao!

Ingredients:

~ 3 packets udon

~ few cloves garlic (chopped)

~ 2 tablespoon black pepper

~ 1 stalk red chili (cut slices)

~ 2 onion (cut slices)

~ carrot slices

~ pork or chicken slices

~ 2 eggs

Seasoning:

~ 1 tablespoon oyster sauce

~ half bowl chicken stock soup

~ pinch of salt

~ pinch of sugar

~ 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

 Udon 3 packets @ RM6

some veges and meat

can always substitute with any other ingredients * cabbage, prawn 

 

black pepper coarse bought from Giant Superstore

2 beaten eggs

Steps 1: Pre-cook the udon in hot water and set it aside

Steps 2: Heat the frying wok with some oil then add in garlic

 fry the garlic until fragrant 

 then add in the black pepper and fry until fragrant

Steps 3: First pour in the meat and fry for a while, then add in the rest of the ingredients

 fry until fragrant

Steps 4: Add in Udon and mix with the ingredients

Steps 5: Pour in all the seasoning and keep frying

Steps 6: Coloring the udon with the dark soy sauce till your preferable darkness level, then pour the eggs around the wok and mixing with the udon.

Steps 7: Fry until fragrant and then dish up!

 lunch for 2

 my hot spicy black pepper udon as lunch on the hot sunny saturday! Yum!

My Honeymoon Diary : Another terrible Start Off !!!!!

Previous: The Ugliest and Strangest Building in the World

5 hours journey from Prague to Vienna downtown.....I had a terrible sleep on the bus overnight

the driver and the gebohchi ticketing officer was keep talking and talking was so disturbing and annoying!!!!!

i immediately jump off the bus when it stoped.....huh...* take a deep breath

Time: 5am

ok.....now we have to take the metro to the central station, and then interchange bus 80A to Tandelmarktgasse 5A (the bus stop where we'll walk from here to our rented apartment)

It was very cold in the morning...when we reach the central station, we cant stand to wait for the bus at the outdoor bus stop...so we waited in the main hall....ooh aiya..becoz of that we missed the 1st 80A....oki la we wait outside la..to avoid the same "missed" again...

After 15minutes exposed to the cold air..finally we are on the bus 80A.

Tandelmarktgasse 5A....Tandelmartkgasse 5A....Tandelmartkgasse 5A....

We keep looking for the bus stop of Tandelmartkgasse 5A....but there's none of it....and now the bus already drove 1 big round and we were back to the central station....err...what to do now??

Me and hubby decided to stay on the bus...and wait for the second round "city tour". 5 minutes stop at the central station, ok..."city tour" start again....

Now the bus is going to the other end of the city and its wasn't the same "city tour" route as earlier....

Tandelmarktgasse 5A....Tandelmartkgasse 5A....Tandelmartkgasse 5A....

Till the last stop still we din see the bus stop Tandelmarktgasse 5A.....alamak...we start to worry did we do the wrong research earlier??

The bus driver also curious to this 2 little chinese stranger....city tour for 2 rounds still stay on the bus. Then he came to us...

We showed him the map and bus stop name ....(instead of telling him...to avoid mis-pronunciation that will possibly make a big jokes - Tandelmarktgasse 他的妈急屎......keke)

in the most simple english he replied to us: "stay here"

2nd time we were back to the central station, 3rd city tour starts again 5 minutes later.....

Till the last stop, finally the driver direct us ..we have to go from here.....its Tandelmarktgasse. Not Tandelmarktgasse 5A...where is the 5A stop and how far is here from the 5A stop...the bus driver couldn't explain much to us...becoz they dun speak complicated english.....

we are lost in somewhere now...dunno what is our exact location....dunno how to walk from here to our apartment....a lot of dunno in mind ........

hubby start to study on the map to see how we can get to our apartment....struggling for a few minutes we start to walk.

Walk pass houses...quiet lane.....shop lots....and we saw the bus stop Tandelmarktgasse 5A too...(wander why they din drive thru this street...still wandering...) finally yeah...we found our apartment!

Morning has broken....like the first morning

And like the first morning....we had a terrible incident again!

ding dong on the bell

no body is answering

we waited for quite sometimes....there's is nobody in or out

perhaps times is still early....the receptionist is not on duty yet

we walked to the nearby restaurant for breakfast

look at the menu

it was all in German

we had a hard time to understand what's on the menu and what to order

if we simply place order who knows later all is bread and bread and bread

then i'll pengsan looking at the bread!

hubby translating the words using his mobile dictionary

frühstück = breakfast

weichgekochtes Ei = soft boiled egg

semmeln = roll

sesambagel mit räucherlachs = sesame bagel with smoked salmon

finally we placed order with the help of a friendly waiter who could speak general English explained to us the breakfast set

ohh..i like that round round bread so much and also the mango lassi comes with the breakfast set!

*****

we finished our breakfast and hubby went back to the apartment to check if the receptionist is available yet.

Ding dong ding dong still no one is answering, then he went to make a phone calls to the office. They said someone will attend to us soon....

Finally hubby "catch" one lady who is accessing the building...oh she is the cleaner of the apartment. Thank God, finally we got someone to help us on the check-in. But its too early for us to check-in cause the apartment is still occupied. There is no temporary luggage room where we could keep our luggage and come back for it afterwards.

The cleaner lady who were first day to work also get very confused on how to handle us. She suggest us to wait till 12pm for the occupant to check out or come back b4 she leave to collect the room key.

Argh...its is just so trouble some to come back again before 3pm...so we decided to wait till 12pm since now already 10am.

........

12pm - the occupant still did not return the key yet...aaiks...we dun care la..already waisted so much time! the cleaner lead us to our apartment unit with her master key and we left our luggage there and gotta start our sight seeing NOW!!!!!

After a half day trip at the Vienna city, finally we were back to the apartment. and luckily we collected the key smoothly!

studio style apartment with 1 single bed and 1 sofa bed

the small dining and kitchen area

Tips for Travelling:

1. Try to avoid renting an apartment than hotel - hotel allowed to check in at any hour...at least there is a 24hours receptionist attending to you.

2. Renting an apartment is not really cheaper than a hotel - they charged us 10 EURO extras for the 2 hours early check-in!!!! WT*!

3. Avoid renting the apartment unless you plan to cook food by yourself....and our intention earlier when booking this apartment...is to occupy their washing machine...hahaha (to wash some of the cloths and dry it...so that when i returned home...i have less cloths to clean!)

郭靓太煮甜品 ~ 马来糕 Malaysian Steamed Cake (Mah Lai Goh)

Mah Lai Goh...a traditional cake i assuming its originating from Malaysia and guess that's how it gets its name has now become very popular in the chinese restaurant served as dessert especially in Dim Sum...Hong Kong Dim Sum.... 

I was once tried the Mah Lai Goh at the restaurant ~ Ming's Room @ Bangsar, they made it so amazingly nice! I just dunno how to describe that aroma.....anywhere of the cake stall i bought the Mah Lai Goh was never be that delicious!

So today i wanna try on my own if i could make a miracle ~ ~

The following recipe is my very own synthesize version of Mah Lai Goh after tons of different recipes i've researched. 

Ingredients: 

~ 3 eggs

~ 1 cup all-purpose flour 

~ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

~ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

~ 3/4 cup brown sugar (or substitute with honey)

~ 1/4 cup coconut milk

~ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

~ 1/4 cup melted butter

 vanilla extract, baking soda, baking power

 3 eggs, brown sugar, flour and butter

 coconut milk 

for health concern, we can always substitute it with the evaporated milk

 melt the butter with microwave

Steps 1: Beat the eggs and mixed with brown sugar in high speed until fluffy

Steps 2: Mix in the vanilla extract, butter and coconut milk

Steps 3 : Add in the sifted flour, baking power and baking soda. Blend well the flour.

Steps 4: Then spray the pan with some oil, and pour in the mixture. Cover it with the foil and keep in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This is to let the baking powder ferment and grow nicely when send to steam later.

Steps 5: 1 hour later, get ready the wok and the steaming rack,add in sufficient water and bring it to boil with lid on. When the water is boiled, slightly beat the batter with the balloon whisk and steam the batter for 30 minutes.

Steps 6: Can check the cake by inserting the tooth pick. If its clean ~ means its done!

Steps 7: Remove the cake from the pan and cut into slices.

 Served with my red bean + black glutinous rice dessert

Yum....i rate myself 5* out of 10* for this trial. There is nothing wrong with my recipe, it taste very good, although it doesn't meet my expectation as of what i've tried at Ming's Room but at least it was better than the one from pasar cake stalls.

There's still room for improvement, perhaps in my next trial i shall substitutes the brown sugar with honey and coconut milk with the evaporated milk. Hopefully it will reach my desire taste bud!

My Honeymoon Diary : The ugliest and strangest building in the world

Previous: My Honeymoon Diary : An evening at the Old Town Square

 Breakfast at the underground level, this is the BEST-EST breakfast provided by the hotel among the other we booked ....i swear 

 got sausages, ham, salads and scramble eggs too!!

last night skipped dinner now we re-charged our energy as much as possible!! 

Next: Royal Palace @ Prague Castle

Yesterday we had missed to visit the Royal Palace, so today we again hike up to the castle hill and go for the Royal Palace ~ Here I come!!

Fighting giant statues atop Prague Castle's main entrance gate

We were the first on the queue yeah so happy~!

But once we walked in to the Royal Palace, we knew we were "stupid" for yesterday!!!

The Riding Hall at Royal Palace ~ Vladislav Hall

Old Diet ~ The former court where the king would meet with the high representatives of the church on one side and the nobility on the other 

Royal palace its an exhibition hall...how could we ever think of Mr. Italy will have his meeting here??

Haih...yesterday din visit today again hike up the slope just for the 10 minutes sightseeing...~~ tiring!

Luckily we are after all refresh with the nice scenery while all the way down...

 St. Wenceslas Vineyard on east side of the castle offering splendid view of the Prague town

Next: Wesceslas Square 

we are taking metro to Wenceslas Square ~~ likes the tunnel so much...very high-tech looking

Wenceslas Square ~ the famous "square" in the city

 It began life in the 14th century as Prague's horse market but has since evolved into the commercial heart of the city and also the symbolic center of the nation's con-science.

Status of St. Wenceslas ~ a former Bohemian prince

with National Museum in the background

Next: Zizkov TV Tower


Prague's multistory TV tower is arguably the ugliest building ever built in the Golden city.

the sculptures of babies crawling up and down

Miminka Babies by local jokester-artist ~ David Cerny

 taking the high-speed elevators up to the observation deck 

 historysss

 overlooking the city of Prague

120 czech koruna ~ approximately RM20

Next: Dancing House

One of the strangest building in the world ~ The Dancing House

 sneak peak upskirt....ops 

no underwear found ~!! hehe

Design by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunic in co-operation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry ironically pays tribute to the most classic film dancing pairs: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 

Originally named Fred and Ginger but some people called it the 'Drunk House'

 Currently house a Dutch insurance company and a French restaurant at the roof top.

After the modern building, now back to the historical site.

 Powder Tower

one of the last standing remnants of the Old Town's original fortification system

use to hold gunpowder for defending the city

 the late-Gothic Powder Tower

 can chamber up to the top for a view, but better we save our strength

we still not having our lunch yet....getting so hungry and now we head to the old town square again

we were missing so much of the roast pork....the smells follow us since last night

today we must eat it no matter how!!!

 ok..we dunno how to read their menu..luckily they speak english...then they explained to us....what's on the menu

 finally now we place order..hubby said: "Gimme everything!"

 yum yum...guai lou roast pork..

no crispy skin...it taste more like the 'nam yu' pork

don't get conned by the outlook of the pork sausage

its looks burnt but actually its damn nice with so juicy at the inside

especially when you bite it than cutting it into small piece and chew

and the fried potato with ham

so delicious...~! enjoy enjoy!!! have to eat faster else it get cold again

eat...eat...eat...eat...eat....

it will be perfect if the meal ends with a cup of coffee

 starbucks coffee just around the corner

Starbucks coffee have very good quality control

 it taste the same all around the world

most of the guai lou are holding the ice-cream even the weather is very cold

the colorful ice-cream looks so tempting we also wanna challenge ourself

an extreme treat ~ ice-cream after the hot coffee

Next: Petrin Tower

Heading to the Petrin Tower, which its not in our initial plan to visit it...but we have quite plenty of time before the next scheduled activity...

 Petrin Tower is just a tram stop away from our hotel...we have to cross the Charles Bridge again

from the Old Town Square and back to Mala Strana

 touching again for more luck!

 the weather today is so nice~!!

a lot of small stalls on the bridge is open for business

and we found this special creative handmade fridge magnet~~

 ~ ~ tea time ~ ~

 50 koruna ~ RM9

for 1 hot drinks and an apple strudel

yum...my apple strudel~!!!

 going up to Petrin Hill for Petrin Tower

 yeah ..the 'Little Eiffel Tower'

 the lift attendant cosplay-ing ~ "Scary" Potter

 finally up there...for the 360' degree view over Prague city

 see the Prague Castle at far
it should be very nice if we come here at night....

Charles Bridge and the Bridge Tower


and the TV Tower we went this early morning

the wind up there is so strong....if you are the dare devil you may take the staircase down..

not very tall only...keke

Next: Dinner and next The Puppet Show!

After the tower, we have to go for dinner and catch up the Puppet Show next! 

We went to the Restaurant Radnicni sklipek. This restaurant is highly recommended by most of the forumer @ Tripadvisor. They are famous with roasted pork ribs and roasted pork knee with excellent quality but reasonable priced~!! 

Too bad we walked out the restaurant disappointedly. Its not the matter of the food, its because we din make a booking, the restaurant is full house and we have to be in the waiting list. Its hard to estimate when will it be our turn for dinner, so we leave and go for the Puppet show only la!

We walk back to the old town square, the National Marionette Theater is located just somewhere around it. The streets around there is very dark, we are getting lost finding the theater. Looking at the time 8pm we are almost late for the show which will start at  8.30pm. we still haven buy the tickets...

It so happened that we met 2 policemen, we ask them how to go to the National Marionette Theater....they 'ngi ngi ngor ngor' talking like a drunken man...they dont know where is the place too...

Keep walking and still we not able to find it ....suddenly we thought is the National Marionette Theater the same with the National Theater near the embankment? 

Hmm....without any doubt we immediately rush to it...and check with the ticketing counter...ops...its not the one we looking for..then we met another pedestrian and ask him if he knows about it...he said:" sincerely...i dont really heard about this before..."

Its already 8.45pm seems we had missed the show ....i just wonder how come like nobody knows about this theater?? i suppose it a must-see show at Prague, since they have so many souvenir shop selling puppets here??

Haih..the plan for tonight is all gone...no dinner...no puppet show...we simply walk along the street....

 Charles bridge at night

Prague's castle at night 

We not sure what to do next...so just stroll along the river bank...still hesitating if we should go back to that restaurant for dinner...suddenly hubby remembered there's another restaurant also highly recommended by Tripadvisor....and its very near to our hotel too....

 Artisan Cafe

located secretly at a quiet street....not easy to find.....

but its a good one....rank No5 of 1,067 restaurant in Prague...woohoo!

 price is reasonable...

 yum~~ the best beer in town!

 while waiting for food...we recall back the places we went and those funny things happened these few days

Its such a nice place for romantic candle lit dinner...celebrating our honeymoon

we really enjoy the night so much~! 

After the perfect romantic meal, we have to head back to hotel, packed and ready for next stop ~ ~ Vienna~!