Since winter is coming and melbourne is famous for it’s sudden weather changes, i need to keep warm. Sure, i have my cute hot water bottle almost every where i go. It’s too cute to keep at it home.

I needed drink ideas that will keep me warm and it has to be something else other than coffee, tea or hot chocolate. First, because i can’t sleep if i drink caffeinated drinks (well, to be honest i become super energetic and started to clean the entire house if i do drink coffee). Secondly, i always put condensed milk to go with the coffee or hot chocolate (KAMU GENDUT!!!!)

So, you get the idea. Thus, the barley drink. I love love love barley drink, i only discovered them when i went to singapore recently, i know..it’s way too late…plus, we have plenty in indo eniwai..

I don’t know how to make ‘em so i googled it and found this recipe from Curious Foodie. Since hubby is not interested with the barley drink, i am only doing a single serve, a little bit modified from Curious Foodie’s recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked barley

3 tablespoon rock sugar (rock sugar is very mild, at least in my opinion… do adjust accordingly)

5 cups of water

Method

wash barley in a couple of change of water, I soaked them for 5 minutes because i like my drinks to be a bit cloudy and starchy. Bring the water and barley to boil in medium heat then i spoon out the bubbles. Lower the heat, add the rock sugar and bring to boil. Remove from heat, let it cool and serve.

Note: to check whether the barley is done or not, it should be slightly translucent and chubby looking barleys!

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It is apparently very very easy to make caesar salad dressing, so don’t buy the bottled ones.

Dressing (enough for two hungry giants)

here are some of my favourites:

if i’m not mistaken, the kopi is also called Kopi Medan, I’m assuming they use beans from Medan. There are lots of people from Medan in Muara Karang neighbourhood.

My dad’s favourite meal, he can eat Kwetiau for every single day of the week and not get bored.

After a decent breakfast, we usually have a look at the market and see some interesting things.

These funny looking meat is one of life’s simple pleasure, pork intestines. Though not everyone’s favourite, but it is very popular in some chinese background cultures. Cooked with sweet soya sauce and spices, these are best eaten with a warm porridge for breakfast.

One of my childhood favourite savoury snack, Cha Kue. Crispy hollow bread usually eaten with mild chili sauce over the top. Comes in a pair and it is very fun to watch them fry the bread.

This somay is definitely a must for takeaways!

Even though it can be quite hot and packed in the weekends, we always love to go to our local market, even if we are not buying groceries. Now, you know why.

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Biggest decision was a lifetime promise i made to stick around during good times and bad times, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, i even sealed it with a ring.

Followed by numerous trips here and there, sampling food and was rewarded with taste that i have never tried before and it was so good that it knocks my socks off and lasted in my memory as one of the best food i’ve ever tasted, EVER!

So, here it is, an impossible attempt to list the great food i’ve tasted. Trying to limit to only lucky 8.

8. Carl’s Jr, singapore. I know this is patethic to include junk food but this ain’t junk at all. Chargrilled burger made to order, with chunky chipsssss…how can you say it is junk…

7. Bebek Goreng Suryo, senopati jakarta has to share a spot with Bebek Bengil, Ubud Bali. It ain’t fair to compare one minus the scenary.

6. Bakmi Tan and Bakmi Khek in Muara Karang are best Saturday breakfast menu in 2009

5. Warung Bu Kris, ayam penyet at Pluit. Never tasted the original location at Surabaya yet, but it would be very promising i think.

4. Soto Lombok, Malang. Lots of koya and lime juice. Yum!

3. During our Singapore trip, we are fortunate to sample a couple of Hainan chicken rice and my personal favourite is surprisingly Lucky Plaza’s food court cos they have tastier chilli garlic sauce. And yes, i’ve been to Boo Tong Kee’s.

2. Apollo’s banana leaf restaurant in Little India, singapore. Their fish head curry was as good as people said. Recommended by Bourdain himself.

Drum rolls please….

1. This spot has to be Huen Phen, Chiang Mai. Nothern Thai food and the single best dish is fried somtam (papaya salad) fresh, crispy and citrus-ie at the same time.

So there, if i don’t remember it by now, it won’t make it to the list. I hope everyone has a safe new year. Don’t eat too much –> that’s for me (i’m posting this while waiting for my roast pork, roast duck and salted chicken for family dinner tonite) hehe.

Happy New Year folks, i will see you next year!

So, here we go. We managed to arrive in Chiang Mai on sunday afternoon, just in time to see the famous Sunday Market held in old city of Chiang Mai. It also helps to stay in a hotel that is smack bang right in the middle of the sunday market.

We love our hotel, 3sis bed and breakfast, a family run b&b, mostly by the girls. Clean, spacious, strategic, very very gentle people, soft linen, do i need to say more? and oh, not expensive at all. Photos of the hotel can be viewed from my flickr on my thailand set.

Chiang Mai is a very nice town with great food. It is generally a quiet town but during the festivals like Loy Kratong, it can be a tourist destination from all over the world. This is the sunday just before the Loy Kratong week, so i’m assuming it is busier than normal sunday market.

Temples and streets are decorated with colourful lantern. Stalls are preparing for hopefully a busier and profitable sunday from the people who are coming to see the festivals.

Unfortunately there’s only so much room to taste the food. We had a hard time deciding which few ones we are going to try. One bad thing with culinary trip is that I almost feel guilty if you are eating the same food more than once on a trip, because, what if the other dish is the dish that you will love for the rest of your life?

This Khai Pham is omelette with three different fillings and you can choose, mushroom, seafood or crab. On the left of the image you can see the eggs are still being cooked. Taste wise is mediocre.

Next, we have the Thai fish cake, small pieces dipped in Thai sweet chili sauce.

Hubby loves this thai salad/fried rice kinda thing, it’s called Nem Kuk and it is with young papaya salad, mixed with balls of fried rice like this. It is so fresh and yummy. Hubby asked the lady to make it spicy, he said he can eat spicy food, but it was so hot that i got angry eating it (i know, i’m weird, i got angry if i eat food that is beyond hot… hehehe).

So far, we had good luck with the dishes we tried and we love the mini portions, that means more sampling with less food. I had my eyes fixed on the thai desserts, oh yeah, i don’t mind not trying the savoury ones as long as i have my sugar fix.

This is called Thai Kheb, it’s crepes with soft meringue filling and choice between carrot shavings or coconut shavings. 10 baht for 4 pieces.

Most of these street vendors have motorcycles attached to the cooking area, that way, they can set it up almost anywhere. Plus, they have a place to sit while waiting to sell their food.

Some of you probably have seen this in indonesia. It is called Look Chop in Thai, they are made with mashed green bean paste mixed with sugar and have gelatin coating with some colouring. It is then shaped to mini versions of vegetables and fruits, most often is the chilli, carrot, tomatoes, capsicum and others. I didn’t try this because i already know what it tasted like. My grandma made this few times years ago.

As you have guessed it, we are not there for the shopping, even tho they have some unique stuff that is NOT made in china, for a change.

They also have few entertainers singing and dancing. This group that we saw was all performed by the visually impaired. Their music is modern, fresh, good rhythm and they use the simplest music instruments. Watch out, they might be the next big thing, just wait till some producer discovered them.

You would’ve taught that having all that music is going to be really loud and you can hear it from a kilometer away, but Thais are so polite, they have enough sound just to be heard by their surroundings, so they are not fighting for attention with other singers nearby. How considerate.

We stayed for few days in chiang mai, taking our time to actually rest, it is a holiday after all. Where is the resting if everyday is a full day tour and sight seeing (or eating) annnnddd… we found out that chiang mai morning is absolutely to die for. Their gentle breeze and cool mornings (like the one when u wake up at 5.30 in the morning) lasted till about 10.30. It was so fresh i felt i woke up at 5.30 every day. When you say chiang mai, it would be the mornings that i would remember.

Next post should be very interesting, about my cooking lesson in chiang mai. Watch this space!

eniways!

We stayed in chinatown and of cos on day one hubby and i explored the eatery places in chinatown, what else to do? shopping for souvenirs? oh that is so last decade..besides, those made in china souvenirs are so overpriced. So, no shopping.

If you are in chinatown, in singapore, south east asia… what do you think is the best way to name the street that sell chinese hawkers food? you guessed it right, SMITH street! yay….

try to remember to bring your own tissue, singaporeans do not provide tissues even if you are eating chilli crab at a fine restaurant.. they give you wet tissue and they probly charge you with it.

this is what we ended up eating. FYI, i love fried food, i love burgers and i love a&w, will never say no to any of those.

You pick and choose what you want to eat and they are only 1/2 fried. They will fry it just after you ordered. Cost you around SGD 1-2 per piece.

However, the best thing is the sauce! it’s bit sour and sweet. The perfect sauce for the fried things. These are fish cakes, go hiong, and otak-otak i think. Yummy!

No touting (dictionary : attempt to sell by typically by pestering people by aggressive and bold manner [pestering dictionary - cari sendiri])

food is good, area is clean, no body touted us, great selection for supper and dessert. Will come back to ehm.. smith street in chinatown… i bet they wrote it as Es Mi Th street back in the old days! i mean… come onnn… you are spoiling thiss… it’s chinatown… – disappointed it’s not like Teck Kee Tang Lin Bao st… or Mac Kee Bao… (please leave the message if you get the joke)

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I search and search for a decent american breakfast in jakarta and to be honest I don’t know what restaurant  provide nice crunchy hashbrown with pork bacon (i know… pork bacon… in jakarta). So, i got myself a supermarket hashbrown, keep em in my freezer.

fresh milk is almost always in my fridge. Sometimes we enjoy a cup of creamy hot chocolate at some random midnights. Cereal with banana is also great breakfast menu. The banana add the sweetness of the breakfast naturally. No added sugar!

oh btw, toaster oven is great, it’s cheap too. great for toasting bread or hashbrowns and it only takes minutes. I bought it cos it’s small and i need something that is able to heat up fast. Perfect!

Never skip a breakfast and always drink a glass of water before consuming anything else in the morning!

now, what should i have for bfast tom?

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So, here is one tasty lunch!

just a thick slice of bread, toasted then divide into two. Mustard and mayo, slices of ham, rocket salad and alfafa sprouts – fresh ground black pepper. This is not hard to make at all, we have bread almost every day, my hubby’s fav is rye loaf and i like classic white bread crustless. Mayo is always in the fridge along with the mustard. I just happen to have alfafa and rocket from the last trip to the supermarket. You can make this too!

If you are like me, i love some fancy drink with my meal, it can be some juice, or green tea or whatever compliments the food as long as it’s not water. However, i’m concerned with the sugar intake from those fancy drinks. One tip i found on an article is to substitute your soda or SYRUP (*nudge hubby*) with sparkling water. So, what i did was to have passionfruit concentrate and mix it with sparkling water and voila… you have your drink with less sugar intake compared to the soda. Always keep sparkling water in your fridge and next time you want to drink soda, drink some sparkling water + juice for extra fizz with less sugar.

give it a try.. i had a great lunch that day.. brings smiles to my face.

Having basic ingredients at home reminded me with Michael Smith’s show, Chef at Home. His mantra is “cooking without a recipe”. What he is doing is showing the audience that as long as you know the basic cooking technique, you can use whatever you have at home to turn it into a meal, even from leftovers.

We are so going to have a walk in spice closet when we have our own home later. With uniformed glass containers and all different sizes. ooooohhh dear! You see, hubby and I watch cooking shows when we were going out, we didn’t go to the movies, unless something really good is playing. So far, we are liking Mike’s shows, Rick Stein’s French Odyssey and Anthony Bourdain’s Cook’s Tour and No Reservation.

I do suggest watching these shows instead of crappy Indonesian soap operas.

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