Good Luck to Lee Chong Wei in All England Final 2010!

Just watched him destroy Peter Gade in the semis this afternoon. Looks like this will be his year, especially since his main nemesis, Lin Dan, got knocked out of the tournament the day before. I suppose Malaysian badminton fans all over the world now has a date with the TV tomorrow, Sunday, 14th March, from 12pm GMT, to cheer Chong Wei on! For those lucky enough to be at the NIA in Birmingham, I envy you - the atmosphere looked great on TV!

A tribute to Fred Chan

I dont think anyone here know him, but he is one of the many people who inspired me to start a food blog. More specifically, he is a Chinese living in the north west of England, like myself, with a passion for food. Sadly he passed away recently after a long illness, so RIP, Fred. You will be missed.

You can still view his food blog here.

Eason Chan is coming to Manchester

It is indeed a rare privilege for Mancunians to be treated to a performance by a a Cantopop superstar in our city. From the details below, you can see that it is not exactly cheap and they seem to have also chosen a rather small venue, probably not very confident of being able to fill up a large arena. However, I think they are underestimating his popularity here and I am sure the tickets will sell out very quickly. I think anyone who has even the slightest interest in Cantopop will want to go, whether they are a fan of Eason or not, as I cannot remember there ever having been an east Asian singer ever gracing our city. So get in there fast if you are from Manchester. Dont say you havent been warned!

And here is a clip of a song from the album above!

Happy Chinese New Year 2010!

Manchester's Chinatown was awash with colours and people and noise yesterday, Sunday 14th Feb 2010 to mark the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Tiger. Here's wishing all Chinese visitors Gong Xi Fa Cai!

And here is the video of the dragon dance.

Yook Woo Hin - Another visit - KL Chinatown

We visited this place back in Oct 2008, but on last year's visit, we had to go again as we realised that we did not know about one of their signature dishes then.

Located at No. 100, Jalan Petaling, this place was a bit busier than our last visit. It was about 12 noon and there were quite a few diners in there, most ordering either Singapore Meehoon, or beef ho fun, as pictured below.



What an amazing dish this was! Noodles were fresh this time and the beef was literally melt in your mouth in terms of texture, and yet retained its succulency. The sauce was also very tasty. I would recommend this tp anyone visiting this place!

We also had a dish of their char siu, which they are also renowned for. This tasted better than our last visit as it was fresher and juicier and the meat had just the right combination of fatty and lean bits within.



The filler dish was this rather bland looking plate of fried rice but it tasted much better than it looked! Maybe it was the msg, but we left this place quite satisfied, if not a bit puzzled as to how this lot somehow came to around rm30.

Ma Po Tofu ( Spicy beancurd with minced meat )

HAPPY NEW YEAR - Here's a dish for the cold January wintry evenings.

I think this is actually a Szechuan dish, but it is quite well known around the world. After having tried various ready made sauces for this dish unsatisfactorily, I have settled on this particular recipe which I personally find has the best balance of spiciness, saltiness and sweetness. I have not added chillies here, although I do think it is an essential ingredient, but this is only because my son cannot eat food that is too spicy. Hence, I used more capsicum as a substitute.

Ingredients:
Sweet Thick Soy
Hot Fermented Soya Bean Sauce
Chilli Sauce
Capsicum
Onions
Garlic
Ginger
Blackbeans
Cornstarch
Chicken Stock
Plain fresh tofu
Mince meat


Firstly, I brown all the veg and blackbeans together. Then I add the hot bean sauce - this needs to be fried till fragrant of the whole dish will taste very different.


Then I add the meat and sweet soy and chilli sauce and fry till cooked.


At this stage, I add the tofu - it is very soft, so needs only to be fried for a couple of minutes to avoid it breaking up and becoming mushy. Then add the stock and corn starch to thicken.


And here it is served!

Visiting UK from Malaysia? Do it now!

According to this article, from next year, Malaysians will probably require to apply for a visa before visitng the UK, at the price of RM1200.

RM1,200 !!!!

That's almost as much as the return fare for KL to London, althought it wuld have to be an AirAsia promo fare! Still, it is a lot of money and is sure to put many people off. So, if you have any plans to visit the UK, do it now!