A series of Unfortunate events...

Since it is halloween- my post is in Orange .......

I have been plagued by strange accidents this week....

Tuesday: Glass of Cincau- suddenly broke while i was enjoying my pan mee in the shop next to YMCA in Sentral... *bikkuri!!* .... i didn't even touch the cup- and i couldn't with my face in the noodles and my hands full. The nice uncle and aunty whom i was sitting with, were quite defensive for me and kept telling the drinks lady i didn't touch the glass at all. A nice lady carrying the "i am not a shopping bag" was concerned i should not be eating the noodles any more in case of small glass splinters...

Wednesday: Toilet exploded in the office. Luckily i was not on the toilet, i was in the cubicle next to the toilet... Enough said let's not go to details there.

What next? whale dropping in front of me?? Think someone's cursing me :P

I "CHAR SIEW" U

It's one of my weird weeks again. Things are running a bit helter-skelter and with halloween around, i think i am jinxed!! That's another post again but today, let's talk about Char Siew...

So i was working in TPM this week. NY, colleague was in TPM as well. For the past 2 weeks we were trying to catch up and have lunch... but either i ffk him or he ffk me and denies it.. wah.. Anyway, we FINALLY settle on a day where we cannot FFK each other. The usual happen:

Neko:Eat what?
NY: Dunno. U decide....
--- 5 minutes later
Neko: How? Eat What? ( only the how has changed in the sentence )
NY: Dunno. U decide....
Neko: *frus* Ok- Salak South Char Siew
NY: Ok!
Neko: *tsk*

Salak South is another gem of place to find food. It may not be the cleanest but the food there is the bestest! And this small place was found by one of the ACN people as well. Sometimes big groups of us troop there to eat this Char Siew...

Now this place sells speciality is Char Siew, along with roast chook, siew yoke and the rest. And that's the only stall in the whole shop. So if you are hoping for some pan meen action- don't think about. Along with Char Siew- they sometimes have Asam Kai Choi and additional veggies you can select and pick from.

I was only interested in Char Siew today, so that's what we ordered... This place's char siew never fails to impress me. I can't say much about the cleanliness of the shop but... just close one eye.


Ok, so don't give brownie points for the presentation as well but their char siew, every piece is pun fei sau- or just the right amount of fat and meat... And it's my favourite kind, the sweet sticky char siew... I got one piece which is the end bit of the meat which is a bit more burnt and has nice piece of fat there.... One bite... i felt like remy eating the strawberry and cheese... it's just yummy.... *sigh*We ordered some steamed chicken to go with the pork. I must say their steam chicken is nicer than their roast chicken. Only gripe i have is there is not enough sauce for the chicken or char siew! :( I think i paid less than RM20 for 2 persons including drinks.

For all those attempting to look for this restaurant, there are rules:
1) Please go there before 12:30. There is QUITE a crowd for this place
2) Please dress appropriately- t-shirt, sleeveless is better. Quite a warm place
3) The parking there is bit terrible.

Now, i need to inform you i may be a bit off in the add as i found later someone stuck a sticker on the road sign, causing me to think wrongly of the actual road. If i ever find the correct one i will update this post.

I think i want BKT next in Puchong...................

Kedai Makanan Tian Hong,
Jalan Tuanku 2(?)
Salak South.

Home made Yam Cake

Saturday lunches are a big thing in my family. Where others prefer to keep it light or eat out, my family usually lunches in. This the only day where ( besides sunday ) get to eat as family for lunch. Other days we are working and it's just dad and mom alone. It is also becomes mom thinks we need a dose of a home cooking every weekend to ensure all the eating out toxins are cleared up. :P

So naturally our saturday lunches mean a lot of work to mom. She will put all her efforts in making saturday lunches something special. Sometimes it is her fishball noodle, sometimes it's Ipoh Hor fun or even Mee Siam.

However, this saturday is her specialty of Yam Cake. For lunch you may think? But in our family Yam cakes are not for tea but as main meal itself.

Squashing and Mashing in action - that's mom.

She buys her yam from the local grocer and one thing i noted with this dish- there is a lot of pounding,squashing, steaming and mashing involved. Normally she kicks me out of the kitchen because i am what they say... " the one that makes more mess than helping" hehehehehe. Ok-lah, i am dishwasher most of the time.. But she doesn't mind the photo taking cos she seems to think she is a cooking celebrity! ( Too much Asian Food Channel ) LOL...

The ingredients include pork, lots of fried onions, yam, he-be(?) all mixed up and steamed in a big steamer. No pictures of steaming in action... was doing something else at that time... And .... what do you get?

The end product

To me, the key ingredient besides the yam, is the fried onions that gives this dish the added flavor and aroma. Aahhhhhhhhhhh if blogs can have scratch and sniff ...


This is best eaten with some home made chilli sauce. In my case, drowning in home made chilli sauce. I normally take about 6 pieces of this before declaring tank is full. Leftovers can be lightly pan fried to give that extra crunchiness.

I wonder whether i can request for Hor Fun next week? (^_^)V

Comfort food-Ham Cheen Peng...

Since this is Saturday, saturday should be reserved for comfort foods. Foods that remind you of your childhood or just makes you smile when you eat it. For this saturday, it's Ham Cheen Peng. Fresh off the stall in USJ10.

There is something about this brown fritter, with a hint of cinnamon in it. ( i think ). I like mine plain, but sometimes i will buy the one with red beans inside. While my dad fancies Yau Char Kwai, i prefer this one. Though i don't say no to YCK either. ;)

Must be eaten warm and tastes good with Chinese sweet desserts as well..... mmmmmmmmmmmm...... Anyone wants one? :)

The hidden restaurant of Ninja Jones

If you don't take a card- i will shuriken you to death

Do you know, the japanese character for NinJa- or the Nin portion 忍 means to conceal or hide? Well... ninja jones lives up to that meaning.

For some strange reason, tifa, lil bro and myself think Northpoint is the same row as the Gardens... but NO.........................ON the other side of Northcourt MidValley... So we parked in Zone A ( horrors ) and walked all the way to NorthPoint. Dumbos.... *hahahaha*

Further more, we had to look for the secret entrance. Hahahaha. This one was funny... Me and my brother stood there in front of the door wondering how to open it. So we stood there ... for a few minutes... staring at the door. Only when we step a bit to the front... door opened... magically.. *lolz* It was a auto door and a lady cheerily greeted us in mangled japanese. The irrashaimasen- sounded a bit strange to me.

Now, through to the name of being a ninja- or Shinobi, the entrance of Ninja jones leads you into a tunnel where you will be brought up to layered floor. It's hard to describe - but for those who have been to Meiji Castle in Kyoto, it is something similar only lesser size and with a little bit of modern settings... when... suddenly..... i saw my ninja. And i laughed... I found it truly amazing to see a dressed up ninja. Carrying a tray of japanese food. Sigh. No photo of the ninja though. I SHY to ask the ninjas running around.

This is also like my ultimate restaurant fantasy.... I actually like Japanese Anime a lot and i am following a cartoon series called Naruto, which is based on Ninjas. So this was like living my ninja anime fantasies all in one..

After i got over my initial obsession with the ninjas, we finally placed our orders.

If the food is not tasty - slash the waiters or ninjas

Got bored waiting for the food....so take picture of anything in sightThe Cooking bar- watch your food cooked in front of you.

Despite being ninjas, who are speedy and silent, they are not very fast in terms of service, think we waited about 20 minutes before the stuff started to arrive. Luckily there were the 3 of us there to kill time.

The 3 of us, are not adventurous japanese eaters so we normally stick to simple and some what conservative food by japanese standards... however .... we went for the slightly off normal that day by ordering.... tea rice? or Chazuka. It is actually cooked rice, mixed with green tea and served with toppings. We picked salmon as the rest. On top of the rice, they had finely sliced seaweed and chopped spring onions. You get pickled ginger with this as well.


I must say this is an acquired taste. It is actually pretty bland but if you are like me, not into salty food, this is actually quite pleasant. The mixture of salmon and tea is actually quite a refreshing combination. My brother calls it the dish you eat when you are on MC. Uh-huh...

Now, naturally sushi is required, so we went for the all time favourite... Spider maki roll. My this is a pretty dish. First time i have seen sushi wrapped with bonito flakes. And i like the little fish egg on top of each sushi. I didn't get a good shot, but surrounding the sushi, there is a spider web made of some sauce. Taste wise, not bad. I like, anyway..

Spider Maki

I love close ups!! :) Pretty isn't it? Work of art

Tempura moriawase ( hope i spelled it right ) was next. Also very delicious. No complains from anyone.
Since eating grilled mackerel in teriyaki sauce @ Mizu, i cannot resist insisting we order this. True enough... everyone was going "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" after the first bite. I wonder why i never called this earlier before. Thumbs up as well for this dish.

Karage was ordered next

Don't be fooled by the humble fried chicken. Japanese fried chicken is tastier. And some how to my imagination.. less fattening? I wish...

Surprise dish of the night from Ninja Jones. We thought that this was not a spectacular dish just ordinary udon with kimichi but to our surprise, it was really good :) Tasty soup, goes well with the kimichi, lots of vegetables and just enough noodles. We liked this one and quickly polished up the pot of noodles.

Greedy us had 3 types of ice cream, pistachio, black sesame and chocolate chip. This is tifa's first time trying out black sesame.... She was like O_o.... To her it was strange but she got over the initial taste of it and enjoyed her ice cream. She, however, took a fancy to my pistachio and soon was whacking my share of it. We should have just exchanged the ice-cream * hahaha *

Now, some points, i feel the portions are pretty small here as well as slightly more expensive in some other japanese restaurants you may find. I also found it odd that gyoza and char-han ( fried rice ) was not found here. Would be great if they had that here. The stories about this place being over price? Well i guess it is what you order. NJ has a range of specials that are pretty pricey but if you like to try different things, then price shouldn't be a factor here.

I definitely would like a second go at this place. Perhaps next time i will overcome my shyness and snap a picture of the ninja! *flings shuriken*

Ninja Jones,
A-G-5 Ground Flr,
Northpoint, Mid Valley City
1 Medan Syed Putra Utara
KL.

*TSK*

I am having problems 1) Blogging, it's slow and it's not Streamyx 2) Cannot load pictures!! :( 3)Cannot open comments. *Sulk*

In a god forsaken land....chinese food is rare....

Er no, it is not one of my melodramatic posts like before but it is actually a recommendation post. Bacterium's comments on good places to eat in KL Sentral got me thinking maybe i should lament about the lack of food on a blog and maybe more people will open up restaurants :P

I think most of you may have figured out i work in KL Sentral areas... Yeah, yeah food is lacking here. In fact, my first few months here, i actually launched a bring-food-from-home campaign as good food was pretty difficult to find. B-F-F-H is actually you tar pau left over from your home lah. Then bring to office *lolz* To be honest, eating the food at the KL Sentral main station had me running to the toilet more than twice. I am not dissing the place but my stomach is a bit more "delicate" compared to other people..

Unfortunately i don't have pictures with this post, i do know another famous blogger(s) is eaten at some of the places in KL sentral - so i will provide the links and you can see first hand for your self.

Where are all the Chinese food if you are working in KL Sentral:

*new* Hot off the press- we have CHAP FAN finally available in Plaza Sentral block 1B.
Where: in the lower ground floor food court, next to sizzling noodles shop. You cannot miss it... because the Q is very long! We are desperate for chinese food.
What this shop offers
1) Chap Fan of course! Variety wise- i counted there are about 10+ dishes which is not bad
2) CCF- Chee Cheong Fun with YTF ( Yong Tau Foo ) 0.80 cents per piece. You can take it with rice noodles if you don't want and the offer curry sauce as well as sweet sauce.
3) I saw they fry noodles as well but not sure of what variety

I tried their CCF today- the noodles are a bit thick and not very smooth but the YTF is nice. We likes.......

Other famous food in this FC: Ah, if you like HOT HOT CHILLI, check out their nasi kukus. Though i have not really tried it but some of my colleagues have given the paws up for this.
What's good: It's cheap and if you need a quick meal, you can get it from this shop.
What's terrible about eating here:You smell like food after eating here and it stinks of cigarettes. It looks a bit dodgy as well.
Standard of cleanliness- So So only lah Don't eat there. Tar Pau.

Restaurant Sentral- in chinese i see it as Chung Sum
Where: Jalan Brickfields same row as Sin Kee at the corner

oOhOho...... This one got air con.

Also selling similar stuff as Sin Kee but without mun fan. You have a lot more noodle varieties here as well as standard rice.

However, some of their noodles could be better. Example, Wat Tan Hor. I have eaten some pretty superb Wat Tan Hor and when i ate in this place i expected it to be of higher standards. It didn't really get my top marks for this dish. However, their fried noodles were not bad.

Now they fair better in the rice dishes. The XO pai kuat wong was good but small!! GOOD for me but for my 2 fairly huge guy colleagues - they said it was a whimpy serving!

What's good: Reasonably priced, aircon and a tad more variety here. And. No cranky waiter like in Sin Kee.
What's terrible about eating here Like Sin Kee - loh, need to dodge the traffic to get here. And not good for big eaters. Can be slow at times. They are still practicing multi tasking.
Standard of Cleanliness: Good
Aircon: Got...

Restaurant Sin Kee - Jalan Brickfields
This is a small narrow restaurant that has now expanded to a 2 story restaurant upstairs and downstairs

They have a pretty wide range of chinese food and their 1 speciality is MUN FAN. It's a one bowl dish with lots of meat,veg and rice of course. Very hearty lunch that i never really tried because of 1 thing.... CANNOT FINISH ON MY OWN. The men gobble it up eagerly but since too much carbo makes me sleepy i normally pass on this dish.

Now, this shop has noodles as well but PLEASE don't ask the head waiter for "variety". He ( of no PR skills ) will blatantly tell u he has only 1 type of noodles and not to ask for anything fancy. But their 1 type way of frying noodles is quite good and i normally call for this when i am there.

Other famous food in this place: They are pretty much good with most of their dishes. If you like desserts, their Hoi Tai Yeah ( sea coconut ) drink is good!
What's good: It's cheap and it has PORK. Need i say more.
What's terrible about eating here* CRANKY waiter, gets crowded by 12:30 and a daily risk to cross that road from Sentral across to this shop
Aircon?: Got... Upstairs one.
Standard of Cleanliness: Good

Restaurant New Lay Sin
Lordy this is a really porky shop. This shop is famous for their Pork Mee. Daily troops of people come here to eat their pork noodles. It is corner shop in a rather small and HOT shop. Besides the pork noodles, their Banana rice stall is also pretty good.

You can give the other shops a miss ... argh they are not that nice

What's good: It's cheap
What's terrible about eating here: So gee darn hot you thought u went to hell and back
Aircon?:In my dreams.
Standard of Cleanliness: Don't ask

So... this are the first few main makan places for chinese food in Sentral. Next post- when i am in the mood... the other side of Sentral eating places. Perhaps got pictures in the next post... :)

Anyone who has good places to share, please add. A bit thanks to LL and Eating Asia for the pics and links.

Ho A1 Steamboat- Sounds like a SPM result .....

My... what big eyes you have .... said the yam to the prawn

It's about high time i give my makan crew(s) an introduction. What? You think i eat all these food on my own? Good food = good company :) plus you get to eat so much more if you have more people.

I actually have 2 crews. I would like to call Crew 1 pork lovers crew but then i realized Crew 2 are also pork lovers... So- they stay crew 1 and crew 2. Today' it's crew 1 intro as i haven't written up a post with Crew 2 yet.

Crew 1 consists of:
Lil' Bro- yes my own little brother who is a foodie. A rather quiet foodie. He never really says it is good only way you measure his appreciation for food is the number of helpings he takes.

Tifa - yes, the very same tifa of Final Fantasy. She is a BKT lover. However she has sensitive tummy so she is much more particular of food then the rest of the team.

Jiraiya Sama- Tifa's partner in crime. We realized that day he's not into vegetables. *horrors*. He was gleefully dodging vegetables during the ordering only to find out he doesn't like veg! Another pork lover and a super huge fan of Initial D.

Posh ( Mashi )- Oh.. this girl is the ultimate foodie of the team. She has eaten much more and sampled the more unusual stuff compared to the rest of the crew.. In japan, she went wild in the isetan supermarket :) lolz... I was the rather cool one with a polite "eeyieh-kekko desu" to the sales people when offered raw sea urchin..

Becks ( Posh Hubby ) - Another quiet foodie but now warming up to the crew. We just discovered he should be called "rumor king" for some seriously outrageous rumors we heard from him.. lolz

We've been eating together for almost a year so i think this blog post is a big thanks to them as well. Some of the eating sessions kept me sane during my more stressed life in the earlier part of the year. :) thanks guys.

N-E-W-A-Y. Since coming back to KL, i sort of got jelak with western food and Posh has been raving about the steamboat near her house. So we made arrangements to go to Ho A1 Steamboat in Taman Danau Desa. She says the fish slices are to die for.... I want to try the one recommended by Cass next time. As soon as i figure out how to get to Klang!

For those who love fish head- in the day time- Ho A1 actually houses the woon pin fish head noodles. Well, i am not here for fish head noodles...

We ordered plain soup steamboat and called for the "extras" first...
Ah the extra fish and extra dumplings. We cooked the fish first to make the soup more yummy. What do i think about the fish-.. Quite sweet but the skin really freaks me out for some reason...*eeps* The dumpling gets my two paws up..


Anyone wants to impress me next time... just give me a plate of this.. Pork balls!! All of us had round little eyes when this dish came... I don't know why but this is our all time fav for every steamboat we go to.

The soup was a bit tasteless initially but when the fish cooked and more ingredients added- it was getting much more tastier... For those who like garlic, they give you some sauteed garlic in oil to add to your soup. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm ii nioi ( means nice smell in japanese)

Good steamboat must have good sauces especially chilli, but this one was quite hot for my liking. I still prefer HoHo's sauce.

Okay, so here is the main plate... Lordy that looks large.................. But actually it is built up by the vegetables underneath it.

Add more stuff into my bowl prease....

Can't remember how much it costs but it was not that expensive and not too cheap. Just middling. I don't mind coming back here again- it is a little bit cleaner and safer than Ho Ho in Sri Petaling. But then. I eat all sorts of steamboat anyway :) This gets my return trip ticket :) More pork balls please!!

Ho A One Seafood Steamboat Restaurant
Jalan 1/109F, Taman Danau Desa
Kuala Lumpur

Interesting Sights of Europe - Part 2

Salzburg - Part 2
Geez, I wonder what is the most popular and famous thing in Salzburg ( besides Sound of Music )...... Mozart of course!! Here's his house in the heart of Salzburg. This is actually a 4 level apartment and he and his family ( mother, father and sister ) lived in a 3rd floor. Sorry - no pictures - there was a big "NO PICTURES ALLOWED" sign inside :( Few things i discovered.....

* Mozart must be very fit - every day had to climb 2 flights of steps to go up to his house.
* He must be really amused if he is alive now to find out he has a chocolate named after him. i was like "eh?" o_O? Btw - i didn't take the picture below- linked it from one side. Lazy lah to take today.
It is surprisingly famous. When i brought it back everyone went "aahhhhhhhhhhh, mozart chocs"... some how or rather i felt i was living under a turtle shell for a moment., how come everyone knows it is famous except me? hmmmmmmm.

Well, how does it taste like? Actually it is very delicious. With a coating of dark chocolate outside and pistachio paste inside - it is the most unique taste. It does come off tasting like liquer initially but i am told it is not. (Ok... jakun me) Btw- the CHEAPEST place to buy this is in the supermarkets NOT the shops they take you to buy it. I got mine for about Euro 2 where else the speciality shops sell it around Euro 2.50...

Actually Salzburg turns out to be my most favorite place ( er.. no pun intended ) because of the colors and sights... I wandered around to the main market and i was a happy little camper there... FREE FOOD TO TRY!!!!

There are ample fruits and vegetables available - so much more than the variety in KL or even in our more branded supermarkets. See the bottom part of the picture - that's fresh walnuts! :) I was amused.

The flowers there were lovely- i manage to catch this picture of a sunflower... 'kirei'

While walking around- i sniffed "meat".... oooh.......... i spotted this stall near the fruit shop.. Long sausages being grilled. These are pork sausages of different mixes- pepper, or with other herbs inside. You can request it with bread or just ask the vendor to cut up in bit sizes and eat it. Yumz..... costs about EURO 2.

Ok, not to be outdone, next to the sausage vendor, there was a cheese and preserved meat vendor.
The tall bottles on the left are actually schnapps - some liqueur that the Austrians seem to like. But what i was interested in was the ham! :) see the packs next to the Schnapps bottles? Yummy. They are all pre-packed and ready to take home.. I did my puppy dog eyes to my dad but he was firm - NO PORK to be brought back. Eat what you want here :( Sigh..... Anyway, there were free samples so i pinched some from there. And all types of cheese were sold here. With little samples available next to the different cheeses, all you do is just try them and they will cut the ones you like. *burp* after walking around this market i was pretty full.

Anyway, next post- the final salzburg food wrap up. Btw, I only spent 1 day and 1 night there... I just made sure i used my time fully there :) Want to end this post with a pretty picture of some flower that i took in Graz... fuzzy and pretty...

SIANZ-PART 2

You know i am bored when ... i start changing blog templates... hehehehe... In case any of you are looking for templates to change your blog - this site has a good list - click Pyzam I am using some templates for my actual anime/dorama/movie blog * ahem *. This one turned out to be a food blog....

Anyway- some of you may be wondering why am i blogging when i am supposed to be in Hong Kong? Ah................. the trip was canceled. Thanks to paperwork. Oh well, i suppose i prefer going where there is no work attached :)

SIANZ

I wish there is such a word in english but it basically means.... no mood. Still catching up with work that has piled and i prefer to blog, do up my pictures etc, etc, etc.... Then my boss tells me i need to go to Hong Kong for a conference next week.. eh? much as i like the honor and the ability to travel a bit more but what about my projects?? :( .....

Anyway- second round of food pictures coming up from Europe - soon. Also.. i went to ninja jones today *throws shuriken" at readers... Wah... i am amused by a restaurant. Pictures later. This is not a food blog post just a complain post. If there is ever such a thing.

Interesting Food & Sights in Europe-Part 1

I thought i will pick up some interesting food photos i took while in Europe. Though i cannot taste all the food there, that was to offer, but taking photos are second best. My next trip there, i think i will just go for the food not the sight seeing.

Graz
In Vienna, i didn't pick out any interesting food stalls around there but when i was in Graz(3rd biggest city in Austria) onwards, things started to pick up..... Btw, i heard mr terminator's hometown is in Graz.

I saw a lot of these side stalls along the roads of Graz. It's autumn in europe and chestnuts are a plenty here. I can literally say this dude is roasting chestnuts on an open fire.
He's trying hard not to grin here. I am not sure how they roast it here but it's not the same way that is done in KL, in a wok of heated... er stuff. Here it is surprisingly clean. (See pic 2)

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

You can buy this for 2Euro's for 1/4 a kg. After counting that, it comes up to about 15-20 chestnuts. I initially bugged dad to get some for me but after counting, it was a bit pricey to spend. Nevertheless, with the smell of chestnuts roasting in all the shops ... it definitely feels like autumn.

The fresh produce here is sold in supermarkets as well as side shops all over graz and they make wonderful opportunity to take photos because they add a lot of color and just looks so beautiful.The people in graz do not mind you taking photos of their shop, but don't try it in Prague. Someone tried to charge me for taking pictures of her strawberries. >:( ... how rude.....

While in Europe, we also discovered a vegetable or herb ( not sure which one ) which has a mustardy taste when you bite into it. It is heavily used in most of the salads we ate in Europe. Tried to find it here but got confuse with the variety's here. Darn- should have taken a photo :(.

Salzburg.
Ahhhhhh........... food gets better in Salzburg and prettier :) Though Austria is pretty land locked, they seem to have a large variety of seafood. Nordsee is a seafood shop that sells seafood fresh and prepared as easy to go meals.

Their shop window display got everyone in my tour group starring at their window for a good 10 minutes.. just to drool.
These are prepared sandwiches made out of seafood, which you can purchase and eat. It comes in wraps, bagels and loaves with lots of salad and filling.

Friends coming over for dinner? Not sure what to cook? Make some quick salads from seafood. Or you can turn it to whatever dish you want back home. All are charged by the grams you buy.
I love this shot of the lobsters already pre-cooked. Some how the window's light film of water added to this misty look of the crustaceans. At this point, i wanted to buy some back >_<>


Ok, that's all for now.... will continue tomorrow with part two. In the mean time, please stare lovingly at those large crustaceans.

Let this be a lesson as to be not so trigger happy...

*phew* i finally finished loading up most of my photos of my trip. Although i took about 900+ but i scale down the pictures as some are the same stuff but in different angles.

When NY ask me why i took so many pictures... dunno... couldn't shop a lot so i had to make it up somewhere else.. *grinz* Anyway, those who are interested, check out my shashin o' totte bar on my blog... click your country away...

Tea time in Eastern Europe

I have to admit to all, since coming back from Europe, i have been a bit chubbier. :) Besides the sleeping, i caught up on the eating. In KL, aside from the basic meals, i seldom snack and i lose weight extremely fast in KL, due to exercise and stress from work ( this is not a sanctioned method of weight loss *cackles*).

However when on tour in Europe, i got a chance to relax more and enjoy the finer things in life. The tour provides you the standard meals daily but because we walk extremely a lot, hunger pangs are always around the corner. The other fact is, is they serve you chinese food, i get hungrier faster. I can't fight for food faster than other people.

My dad and i thought the trip to europe will be a good time to sample their little cafes littered around all the towns. We were right. If you want to sample the best coffees and tasty little cakes, Europe has some of the best places to offer.

Trieste, Italy
It was good that one of the small stops we had was to Trieste, Italy. Home of authentic coffee. Now, Trieste is not a big place in italy and it faces the Adriatic Sea, and since it is very close to Slovenia, the people speak Slovenian as well as Italian.

Wet, rainy days in Italy

But.. it still has the italian field in that place, ok... i am happy to just step foot to part of Italy.

I was truly soaked in Trieste, the heavens poured that day. Deciding that i had not much place to walk around and i hate shopping in wet weather, i asked Dad to stop in this cosy ( i.e very warm ) cafe to rest everyone's tired feet and.. use the toilet. Don't ask me why, but everyone in the trip ( except yours truly ) always seems obsessed in finding a place to wee. Not 1 hour after the last stop, everyone is rushing for another round... sigh.

We pick one cosy little place to stop by, and i am impressed by the soft lighting and definitely the warm heater inside..
Europeans are not used to large crowds trooping into their place. The shop seems to be built for 2 person per table, there were 6 enough. Fortunately they had 1 table for six of us and we squeezed in there.

Since it was raining, most of us ordered Espresso. One small little cup of the brew is enough to wake you up. Not sure about the warming up though, not enough if you are relying on the drink. And its 2 euros for this. (1 EURO - RM5 ... go figure ). I like the strong flavor though... Mom wanted double shot... we stared at her....

I was hungry, so dad ordered this large bikkie and a cake for the rest of us. Not sure what it was though, tasted ok. My aunty was a big fan of this though...

I wanted this large biscuit :), which has marmalade inside. I manage to cut this into 6 pieces for everyone to share.

All in all, the bill came to 17 Euro for the number of espressos we had, plus 1 of each of the above desserts..

I went to other coffee shops in prague, budapest etc but had only coffee, only places where i specially ordered food, i took pictures. Which brings me to my next place, Cracow, Poland.


Cracow, Poland ( pronounced Kra-kow )
This is the second city in Poland and the original capital before it moved to Warsaw. It's old town is littered with little cafes. I love the table settings they have at their outdoor cafes... so sweet and simple! The only annoying thing is, though part of EU, poland still uses it's own currency of kroner. So each time i buy something, i had to quickly change some money.

The Cafe i went to, see the lady and her dog carrier.

Now, i had no sense of adventure, so i stuck to my Cafe Latte- not very pretty, but check out the Black Forest cake we ordered as a snack. This dessert was quite popular in the 70's and 80's but i seldom see this now as other dessert flavors seem to be more in favor now. So, we quickly ordered this for old time's sake. This is a good cake. Once the cake was served, i could smell it :) The chocolate cake was soft and not filling and goes well with cherry liquer syrup and cream. My mom, the anti-fat crusader, was surprisingly not on her crusade today and gleefully dug in to this. She ordered a very refreshing drink which i forgot to take a picture of, which was mint and apple. Woke me up immediately when i took a sip.

The sense of adventure went to my dad and i was surprised he ordered a Vienna coffee. Guess he didn't know the large splot of cream that comes with it. But putting that aside, he truly enjoyed his coffee.
One thing good about Europe, it's so nice to sit in the cafes, sip coffee and eat yummy cakes like this. I guess it's all about the weather, if i were to do this here, i would probably be a mess of sweat.

Well, any of you manage to get to Cracow in Poland, do stop in this shop. They have a lot of desserts that make you go :P'''' and for those who like alcohol with their dessert, they have it hear.