Tsukiji Fish Market

Hi, it’s been a while. Work life is pretty hectic for all of us Teambudu…

Anyway, here’s a post to mark the 1st year after that tragic day in Japan…

One of Tokyo’s popular destination for tourists is the Tsukiji Fish Market. My chef friend told me when I get there, I MUST visit this market.

I work up pretty late having worn myself out with all the walking from the day before and jet lag. Here’s my breakfast of green tea, melon pan (my first!) from Seven Eleven and some weird cookie they gave out for free near the subway (it was horrible). My hotel was lovely, but as the city is a little short of power, the hotel has some sort of power cut during the wee hours of the morning which cuts off the air conditioning so I was stickily hot by 6 am.

I made my way to the fish market by subway easily at 9 am.

This is the only market I’ve been to that doesn’t really stink of fish. It’s a bit wet, but not dirty at all. Impressed!

Although I did not witness that famous auctioning, I still saw plenty of tuna. Here’s some blocks deep frozen.

I walked around for quite a while, then it was time to look for some sushi… now I have no idea what shops are good, so I decided to go for one that had both Japanese and tourists queueing for.

It’s funny how the lady at the Sushi Daiwa thought I was with this couple of gyaru girls in front me in the queue. “San nin?” she said. Hahaha. I had to tell her no and I’m only looking for a seat in what pieces of Japanese I knew. I was so happy to finally sit down after some 1.5 hour wait! Started off with some tai and maguro nigiri. Wow, very red looking tuna… I suppose you can’t get fresher tuna than Tsukiji, can you?

 The other sushis I had. I don’t remember the names, but the top left one was really good. Meal also came with complimentary miso clam soup (super good). The bill that I had to pay for 6 pieces of sushi was not so good. Well, it is in the world famous fish market with super fresh ingredients so…

But honestly, I don’t know if I can wait for that long again… it may be good, but I felt that it wasn’t like to die for.

The experience at this sushi-ya was great. The chef was friendly and happy to recommend me stuff. I tried my best to speak in Japanese, to his amusement.

I will definitely be back at this fish market the next time I’m in Tokyo.

 

-M.

Yee sang for the year of the dragon

It’s the second day of Chinese New Year. How has the Dragon year been so far?

It’s becoming a custom now in Malaysia and Singapore to “Lo Sang” for the new year. Having been so many years abroad, I realised that this Yee Sang business is quite unique to these two countries. Yep, we kinda invented this tradition… or rather, re-invented it.

The ingredients of a yee sang is basically that of a colourful salad. Each ingredient signifies something. For example, the pepper is put into the red packets and sprinkled onto the salad, to attract luck and wealth. Green for youth, carrot for (more) luck.

Here’s the yee sang ready to be tossed. Raw fish added to signify abundance in the new year. The fried crackers signify gold.

Then, we toss. The higher, the better. It was a noisy occasion as each of us would say out the wishes that we want for the new year. Us nerdy ones would go “lolololol” as in lo sang (toss), but really we just wanted to make a pun.

Lo sang aftermath. Yes, so messy, but so yums.

Wishing everyone a happy Chinese new year. May you get to spend it with your loved ones. Have a good year ahead.

-M.

I love Tokyo!

Travelling back from Canada to Malaysia, with a stopover at Tokyo. I decided that it would be a good idea to visit this city since I’m becoming such a Japanese buff.

Since March last year, a lot tourists have been avoiding Japan…

Boy I was so glad that I made this trip, even though it was short. I’m officially in love with Tokyo now!

The view passing near Akihabara on the metro train. Look! Arashi! I was super confused how the train system work in Tokyo… too many lines and they all don’t use one type of ticket. The train staff was super friendly and helpful to my enquiries (except for an old grumpy man who had a permanent expression on his face and only said no to my questions). Soon, I was like a mad woman going around Tokyo on the trains.

Imperial Palace. So serene…

Lunch was at this tiny cafe in Shinagawa. Lovely curry rice set menu lunch that comes with salad, dessert (kuzu?) and tea. It tasted so freaking good! By the way, I turned the lunch tray round 90 degrees… and the other customers in the shop were like o.O wtf is she doing??? I was so embarrassed.  Japanese etiquette fail.

After lunch I spent my time in Shibuya and Harajuku. Stopped in Takeshita Street in Harajuku for a crepe.

Angel Hearts’ strawberry cheesecake crepe. I went with Angel Hearts’ because it was recommended by Cheesie of Cheeserland. It was good! Don’t know if the opposite Marion crepe was any better though.

Shinjuku skyline at night. So pretty…

Back to the hotel to rest my super tired feet. Stopped at Seven Eleven for some onigiri and beer because I was too jet-lagged to go out for dinner and needed a long bath. I know, I fail at wrapping onigiri… just like the grandfather in Usagi Drop, I couldn’t get the 1, 2, 3 steps right. >_<

To be continued.

-M.

p.s. It is Chinese New Year’s eve. Sugamama just arrived in KL from Toronto to join us! Happy year of the dragon, everyone!

Crabbing in Victoria

First of all, a happy belated new year! How has 2012 been treating you so far? I’ve started a new job, and thus the lack of updates. Sorry!

Pinkydoodles, Egg-tart and I had a good Christmas and New Year. Just lots of yummy food and drinks. We watched the fireworks from our apartment in KL. Wonderful.

Well, we are almost up to speed as to where I should be blogging soon. This will be the last post about Canada (for now).

Man, I’m longing for a quiet boating experience like how I did on Vancouver Island in Canada.

So, in the East of Canada, we stayed with my uncle and aunt on Victoria Island. This is the view from my uncle’s canoe. It was peaceful and not too cold for an autumn’s day. Super sunny means a great time to go crabbing!

Just plonk a crab cage with some chicken meat as bait into the ocean. Then canoe back to the shore and enjoy a cup of tea (yes, my aunt and uncle’s house is just by the seaside!). An hour later, my uncle and I took the boat out again to collect the cage. Voila! Dungeness crabs for dinner.

By the way, you need a license to fish crabs, and only of a certain size can you take them. Small ones we threw back.

So our first try was good. However, our luck ran out after that. The rest of the afternoon we got something else and it scared the crabs away.

Damn you, starfish! We caught so many of these big echinoderms.

No matter, the canoeing was so fun and the water was so clear I could see the bottom of the sea.

So come dinner time, we cooked up a crab feast. Well when I say we, I mean my uncle.

Man I wished I wrote down what was the recipe. All I know is it’s got a bit of curry powder, and things you’d put in for chilli crab. Hey uncle, if you are reading this, maybe you can tell me the recipe?

The crabs were served in the wok. It was so yums!

To drink, Papa Salvatore selected:

Inniskillin Okanagan Chardonnay 2009. Yep, Inniskillin is also found in British Columbia. This chardonnay was good. Smooth, bit of oakyness and goes so well with the crab.

Since my aunt likes a more sweet wine, this was selected: Niersteiner Spatlese, late harvest. It was indeed sweet, but not sickeningly so and mildly floral. I really don’t like sweet wine, but this was quite drinkable.

We sat down and ate in silence for a while, savouring the juicy crabs. It was that good. Pair it with some lovely chilled wine, it became fantastic!

Crab fishing was so much fun. I wish I could go back there soon and do it again.

OK. Until next post. Adios!

-M.

An afternoon in Vancouver

This is a continuation of my Canadian travels (obviously)…

So after Toronto, I flew down to Vancouver to meet several cousins and to visit my aunt and uncle who lives in Victoria Island. Some facebooking meant that I was able to coordinate one of my friend whom I met in Oxford, who works in Vancouver. MW invited me to lunch and offered to show me around Vancouver for an afternoon. I was so grateful, for her to make some time to meet me and be a guide for one Friday afternoon.

I was in Vancouver some 15 years ago, and so I have few memories of the place. MW met me near the harbour and we had a quick look around the harbour front before walking down to sandwich shop.

I know, like wtf a sandwich shop? Ah, but MW promised that it would be a pretty good place for lunch. So we walked to the old part of the city. We even came across an old steam clock.

The shop was aptly called Meat and Bread. Talk about selling what it says. It was already very busy when we arrived for lunch. Most people were there for a quick bite so the wait was not long.

I love the interior design of the place. It’s something of a fifties store/boxing gym. Even the toilet was interesting, it has a large printout of text on the wall describing arsenic…

Anyway, I had the recommeded porchetta sandwich and some chickpea salad. I have bad reaction to things with chickpeas usually, but this salad was good and didn’t give me any rumbly-tummy. Mmm, wash it all down with a cold Canadian beer.

MW had a spicy meatball sandwich which she thought was too spicy for her.

All in all, definitely a nice place for a sandwich. I love that they serve it on a wooden board, with a big dollop of mustard. The porchetta could do with more seasoning of herbs in my opinion, but hey is still pretty good. Coupled with the ambience, no wonder this place is popular.

Meat and Bread: 370 Cambie Street at Victory Square, Vancouver, BC, V6B 2N3.

After that, MW showed me around other parts of the town. The day ended with us driving along English Bay and then a cup of tea on the beach on a beautiful cool October day. Ah, bliss.

Here’s a short video of us driving along the bay.

Thanks, MW. Till we meet again one of these days. You made my Canadian trip even more memorable.

-M.

Cupcake fever for Christmas

Since I only have Dinosaur-oven^TM to use in our KL apartment, my friend K, offered to let me use her oven in her apartment. Luckily she only lives up the road.

Thus started our baking December project for Christmas. It was fun having someone to bake together, although half her time was chasing after her little daughter (super cute!).

So here are the cupcakes we baked.

First was the red velvet , using beetroot and also the food colour version. We used Hummingbird bakery’s recipe, and then modified it for the beetroot version. The taste of both cupcakes were good. Honestly, we couldn’t tell the difference in the cupcakes except for the colour. As you can see, the one using beetroot is not brownish-red, as the baking process discolours the pigment of the beetroot.

Whereas the one with lots of red food colour is bright red.

Cutting up beetroot is a bit of a pain though, but not having to use so much artificial red food colouring may be a better choice for some.

Here’s the recipe for the beetroot version of the red velvet cupcake (makes about 12-15 small cupcakes):

60 g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg

10g cocoa powder

3 tbsp beetroot puree

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

100ml buttermilk

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, slowly add the egg and mix until well incorporated.

2. In a separate bowl, mix beetroot puree, vanilla extract and cocoa powder together until smooth. Add this into the butter mixture and mix throughly.

3. slowly combine the buttermilk and flour into the mixture alternatively in 3 parts.

4. Add salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar and beat until well mixed. Let th mixture stand for 10 minutes before spooning into paper cases.

5. Bake the cupcakes at 170 degrees C for about 20 minutes. Cakes are done when the sponge bounces back when lightly pressed. You can also test by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake. If the skewer comes out clean it is done. Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the tray then cool completely on a wire rack. Ice it with some cream cheese frosting (see that Hummingbird Bakery’s recipe for the icing).

The second cupcake is from Sweetapolita’s dark chocolate cupcakes. I then used some strawberry swiss meringue buttercream icing to make them poinsettia-like. The little balls are marzipan delicately rolled by K. The green icing is matcha flavoured swiss buttercream icing (see below for recipe).

It was kinda tough piping out the icing because I FORGOT that the strawberry seeds in the icing could block the nozzle of the leaf tip. Bleh.

The final cupcake we made then was the Xmas tree cupcake.

It is basically lemon-vanilla cupcake with matcha icing. The star is made of marzipan which I painstakingly shaped and K painted on some gold lustre dust.

Recipe for Xmas Tree Cupcake (makes about 24 small cupcakes):

For the cake

110 g unsalted butter

100g granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

1 tbsp of lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

50 ml milk

For the Matcha icing

3 large egg whites

120g granulated sugar

250 g unsalted butter, cubed

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

10 g matcha powder

green food colour (optional)

1. In a clean steel bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar over simmering water. When all the sugar is dissolved by the warmed egg whites, remove from stove and beat with an electric mixer until you get smooth glossy meringue.

2. When the meringue is cooled and you get stiff meringue peaks, add in butter a cube at a time and beat until icing becomes smooth.

3. add vanilla extract, salt and matcha powder and beat until smooth. Add some green food colouring to get the desired green shade for your trees.

4. to decorate, use a star tip nozzle and ice cake in a spiral motion. Sprinkle some coloured sugar balls and add a gold marzipan star on top. done.

OK, that’s all for today. It is Christmas eve now and there are lots to do for our Christmas party yet. Happy holidays everybody!

-M.

Pinkydoodles’ Birthday Cake

It was the birthday of Pinkydoodles couple days ago and so I made a cake for her. The first try using our Dinosaur-Oven^TM in KL was a disaster as I haven’t used this oven for baking this new recipe.

So, second try gave me super-domed cakes to which Sugamama, witnessing the making over Skype, asked if I really was baking a cake or did I use a muffin recipe. No, I think it is all thanks to the oven.

So after some cake hacking craftiness, I’ve managed to have 3 layers of good chocolately moist cake. Iced it with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate glaze. It looked all set… until Egg-tart came back from work and commented “where’s the cherry on top? you need a cherry!” I knew something looked amiss, thanks Egg-tart on the cherry consultation.

So here it is, Pinkydoodles’ birthday cake.

Here’s the cake in a box for transportation. The candles were bought from Tesco’s some time ago in the UK but never got around to use them… so I brought them back to Malaysia.

We went to The Bee Cafe in Publika, Solaris Dutamas, KL for the birthday celebrations. Good place for good music and drinks. I can’t say that their fuss-free food was really fuss-free. Review of this place in another post, someday.

Pinkydoodles opened the cake box and tadah. She said it was like those cake you see in storybooks when you were little…

Here’s a short video of how it looked with all the candles.

Or here after the candles were blown out.

Thank goodness I managed to hack the cake into 3 almost equal layers.

So here’s the link to the cake recipe by Sweetapolita (but she made it look so much prettier). The only thing I changed in the recipe is the amount of sugar… I reduced the sugar in the icing by half and about 50 g less in the cake.

Hope you enjoyed looking at this cake. It’s the best tasting cake I’ve ever made to be honest. So thanks Sweetapolita for this recipe.

-M.

Niagara winery: Inniskillin

Can you believe this view???

When in Canada, you should visit this wonderful place at least once. The scenery is breathtaking!

Since this is a food blog, I’m obviously ain’t gonna stop at showing you this natural wonder. Nearby, in a place called Niagara-on-the-lake, you will find lots of winery dotted around. We went to one of the most famous Canadian winery, called Inniskillin.

Inniskillin is most famous for its icewine. Apparently, they beat many of the European winery when competing in this category.

The tour of the winery costs only $5. Cheap if you compare that with wine tours in Europe. Here’s our guide showing us the grapes for icewine.

Apart from icewine, they also grow other grapes such as Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. I was surprised that Pinot Noir was able to survive Canadian climate.

They let us try the Pinot Noir grape. Yums.

After the tour of the winery (this included the usual tour of cellar, where you see all the vats and barrels of wine being stored.) it was time for the wine tasting. Unfortunately, we found that with the exception of the icewine, the wine given were a real let down. So what was all the fuss about Inniskillin? (apart from the icewine).

Well of course we went on to try their other wines on offer inside their shop, for a small fee.

Here’s the pretty cosy interior of the shop.

The wine list on offer.

My, what a difference they were from the wine that was served.  I’m sorry, but old world wine still trumps new world when it comes to blending good reds in general. We all agreed that their whites were pretty good though. Here are the ones we think were worth buying:

1. Pinot Noir Rose. They may not have made the best red Pinot Noir, but their Rose was pretty smooth and fruity. Perfect for those who   are just starting on wines or those who like the sweeter, fruitier wines.

2. Three Vineyards Chardonnay. Crisp white that is blended just fine. A little oaky yet subtle sweetness. I’m not the biggest fan of chardonnay but this one is very drinkable.

3. The best of the whites I think is this 2010 Legacy Riesling. Dry yet mineral wine but easy on the acidity. I love this one. Of course, this had to be more expensive than the other two! LOL.

By the end of the day, a crate of rose and half a dozen of the Riesling were bought (Sugamama’s bf is the major buyer here, since we can’t be bringing so much wine with us.) A very good and tipsy day out. I have to say that the tour was only so-so, very basic talk on wine so is good for beginner wine buffs. Well, for a fiver I don’t think you get much better deal than this, though. If you are a big wine fan like Papa Salvatore, then go there, skip the tour, and give the wines a taste at their bar. Five bucks can get you several tasters!

-M.

 

UPDATE: I meant to put this up but I forgot. Here is a short and dizzy video of me on the boat going into the Horseshoe Fall in Niagara.

Oktoberfest, Kitchener-Waterloo

I know I know, it is December already. I would like to mention about the Oktoberfest I experienced while I was in Waterloo/Kitchener since it was my first ever going to an Oktoberfest. Man, why didn’t I go to Germany when I was in the UK? I could have gone to the Oktoberfest there.

Anyway, in the former town of Berlin (that’s the old name for Kitchener-Waterloo I was told), the first wave of immigrants were from Germany, hence the name of the town. The name of the place was changed, but some of the culture was retained, hence the Oktoberfest.

I was told the Oktoberfest here is the second biggest in the world, and so we could not miss the opportunity to go. Unfortunately, the night that we went was a STUDENT’S NIGHT.

The festhallen were full of young people (many drunks came in later). The music was so loud I wondered if this makeshift tent hall was a night club. There was one or two “traditional” Oktoberfest songs played, but after that the clubbing music started.

Here’s Sugamama pouring beer into our complimentary plastic mug for a more Oktoberfest feel. Looks like an advert for Bingeman’s. For the record, Canadian ale is more like an IPA than the typical British ale. The lager type beer is ok, but I prefer German beer still. Too bad didn’t have any here.

After witnessing police arresting a few drunks, girls waving mugs of beer around (and then drenching themselves with it) and had one of the worst sauerkraut in history, we quit the festival early. So glad too as we left the tent, Back Street Boys was being played inside. Oh dear.

Maybe if we had gone on another night (like for seniors…?) we would have enjoyed this festival season. But I think we out grew the teenage/early 20′s drunk party mayhem of our time. So next time, Kitchener-Waterloo. I’ll be back again to experience the real Oktoberfest…

…or maybe I should just go to Munich.

-M.

St. Jacob’s Market, Waterloo

So on with my journey in the East of Canada. Waterloo is a small town possibly most famous for the makers of Blackberry, RIM. There is a farmer’s market every Thursday nearby, and so Sugamama brought me and the parents to have a look at the produce mainly from this group of people called the Mennonites.

The entrance of the market was aptly decorated with corn stalks since it was autumn. Signs were proudly shown to have several countries I think to signify the influence of culture in this market.

More autumn themed decorations around the market.

To be honest, I did not know Mennonites exist until I came here. I only thought there were Quaker and Amish colonies. Look at the fresh sweet corn. Going for real cheap too. There were so much to see here. Lots of fresh produce from the Mennonites, including honey and maple. There was also cooked food and other non-grocery items like flowers, pots and clothes being sold.

For lunch, we had pork and chips (uh, fries) from this shop. I saw the sign for pigtails and I wanted to try it since I haven’t had anything like that before.

Here’s our lunch. Sugamama tried the ribs (picture above), while I had that pigtail (below). It was good! Two old men sat opposite us on the bench enjoying their pigtails (away from their wives they said, as they were not allowed to eat pigtails) and were like “I’ve never seen anyone eat a pigtail with such manners before. You gotta get in there!” Yeah yeah, I just feel self-conscious about using my hands in public.

And for dessert: Apple Fritters! The shop is in the covered part of the market.

The sourness of the apples were balanced out by some simple vanilla ice cream. Sugamama just loved this combo.

We went back happy with a large bag of corn and some fruits from the market.

-M. (and Sugamama)