Today is eve’s of Christmas. A festive season filled with jolly joy, presents and beautiful Christmas decorations!
Taking this opportunity to wish everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Mel will be away for celebration. (not far anyway…)
A Christmas Song which I still like!
Winter Solstice Festival or known as “Dōng zhì“; is one of the most important festival celebrated by the Chinese.
Those days; Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. And the interesting part would be making and eating ‘Tong Yuen” (湯圓). It is glutinous rice balls, which symbolize reunion because of its shape. ROUND in Chinese means union.
During my younger days with my sister; my granny used to warn us not to drop any of the tong yuen when you are molding it. She said each piece you dropped counted as 1 year. Which means you dropped one piece; you are a year older. Hahahaha….sounds funny ma?? I think she just don’t want us to mess around or waste the food!! ^^
Here, I would like to share the Tong Yuen recipe gotten from The Star newspaper by chef Amy Beh.
INGREDIENTS:
1) Place glutinous rice flour, tapioca flour and shortening in a mixing bowl. Pour in water and mix into a soft and pliable dough. Pinch out dough into equal portions and roll into round balls of tong yuen.
2) Bring a pot of water to a boil, drop in the balls of tong yuen and cook until they start to float. Remove with a slotted spoon into basin of cold water.
3) In the meantime, combine water, honey dates, white fungus, red dates and rock sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for at least 20 minutes.
4) Add apricots and screwpine leaves. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
5) Dish out the white fungus soup and serve topped with the balls of tong yuen.
Shortening & Glutinous Rice Flour + Tapioca Flour
The coloring I used
Ta Daahh……the colorful Tong Yuen.
Check out the colorful tong yuen. Its ready to eat!
Jingle Bells…Jingle Bells….
Christmas is just around the corner. We have planned an early Christmas celebration cum Christmas gifts exchange.
RED & WHITE!
Sin Wei suggested a theme. We shall all dress in either red or white color.
“I will come in RED lar”; I told Sin Wei.
The present ones were Sin Wei, Joanne, Tracy, Kristy, Siew Yen & myself.
Apparently; there’s a newly opened(few months ago) Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland. They served Vietnamese cuisine and steamboat. Therefore Tracy suggested to try their steamboat.
looks clean & bright
sauces for dipping
Passion Fruit Drink – RM4.50
Vietnam Coffee
sorry…I’ve forgotten the name.Its the ingredients for ‘fresh spring roll’.
See Below
Given a sheet of rice paper. Place the ingredients(mee hoon, sliced meat, lettuce, carrot, bean sprout) in the middle. Add some sauce.
Roll it as above.
We ordered the steamboat meal for 3 person. RM18/ person.
The steamboat portion is big. Enough for 6 of us.
The steamboat consist of sliced chicken, pork balls, sliced fish meat, cuttlefish, enoki mushroom, prawns, crabstick, taufu, cabbage, taufupok.
and also mee hoon & eggs.
The soup base is very tasty. It has slices of starfruit.
Boil it in the soup base.
The shop owner was so kind to help us to take a group photo ^^
RED & WHITE!!!
After the meal; we are all set for the gifts exchange. Wrote our names on the paper. Then each of us draw our gift.
Presents from all of us!
Excited or Meeting???
Below are everyone’s photo with their respective gift. Macam IC photo….. :-p
Kristy got Mel’s gift
Joanne got Siew Yen’s gift
Sin Wei got Joanne’s gift
Tracy got Kristy’s gift
Siew Yen got Sin Wei’s gift
Mel got Tracy’s gift
Everyone seems to like this very much.
My favorite photo
My favorite shot
PHO CO
No. 68b, Lorong Haruan 5/3,
Oakland Commercial Square,
70300 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.
Ms. Chong : 017-6715995
**NON-HALAL**
Mom is celebrating her 51st birthday this year. We held the celebration a few days earlier from the actual date. It was on Sunday, where everyone will be at home.
Mom decided to try Klana Resort’s All-You-Can-Eat Dim Sum Buffet Lunch.(Mummy loves dim sum very much!)
*It was highly recommended by Baby Sumo.*
THANKS to her I would say.
They serves HALAL Dim Sum. So there wouldn’t be any porkie yea…
The price is RM30++/ person. (12-2.30pm). With the price you are paying; I felt that its very worthy. You can dine in a hotel, the dim sum are served upon your order (even though its buffet)- so its still warm.
pick your choice of dim sum from the list
A complimentary bowl of shark fin’s soup
Not much of shark fin & tasted abit fishy.
Porridge with Peanuts – very smooth & tasty
puffs & tarts
scallops
fruit konnyaku jelly
assorted mini cakes
Jelly & Pudding
fruits
Prawn Triangle with Salad Cream – Crispy Skin with big fresh prawns. (yummy)
Deep Fried Mango Seaweed Roll – Its yummy. But I hardly taste any Mango.
Steamed Scallop Dumpling – Huge scallop underneath
Steamed Prawn Dumpling – The prawns are big & fresh
Steamed Prawn Rolled with Rice Flour (Chee Cheong Fun) – The skin is very smooth & thin
Steamed Chicken Rolled with Rice Flour (Chee Cheong Fun)
Steamed Chicken Dumpling with Crab Roe
Steamed Chicken Feet with ‘Gui Lin’ Style – This one so so only
Stir Fried Raddish Cake – I like this very much. The raddish cake aren’t too hard. Not too oily & its tasty.
Sang Har Min(Yee Mee in Cantonese Style) – Cooked with huge fresh prawns. The noodles are well cooked and tasty.
Steamed Hong Kong sweet corn custard bun – the custard content too little & abit dry
Steamed BBQ Chicken Bun – skin too thick, content too little
Sis suggested to buy a cake from “The Bakers” (just 1 floor below). Too bad..there aren’t any whole cake that time (12.30pm). However they are so nice to tell my sis to please wait for 1+ hour, they will bake the cake immediately. Since we are dining just upstairs; no harm for us to wait for an hour plus. At about 1.30pm the waiter brought the cake & candles to our table. Mom got surprised!! I guess she’s feeling happy as well ^^
All of us likes the cake very much(Black & White Chocolate Mousse). Its freshly bake you know… hahahah…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MUMMY!!
FOOD : 3.5/5
PRICE : 4/5
Since we are staying in Philea Resort; so we decided to have our dinner there. Currently only Cravo Cravo is operating. It is located near the lobby.
It was on Sunday, therefore they won’t be serving buffet dinner. Then we opt for ala-carte.
the ambiance of the restaurant-very relaxing feel
Surprisingly we were the only couple whom had our dinner there. I guessed probably because its Sunday, many of the guest has gone home. Sounds like we have booked the entire restaurant. Isn’t that GREAT! 😀
After browsing through the menu; we decided on our order. Lets see what we’ve ordered.
Watermelon Juice – RM15++
a complimentary warm bun along with butter before the meal
Braised Fish Lip & Seafood – RM19++
(vegetable & seafood dumpling) – starter
Mediterranean Grilled Chicken – RM49++
(served with bed of baked vegetable, topped with Vietnamese Roll)
Provencale Herb Crust Lamb Rack – RM79++
(served with polenta grilled courgettes roasted garlic juice)
the above 2 photos are:-
Baked Sweet Tropical Mango in Fillo Pastry (with Ice Cream) – RM22++
had a snapshot before we left.
Braised Fish Lip & Seafood – as a starter, the soup did added appetite to me
Mediterranean Grilled Chicken – they used chicken breast, which I felt its abit dry. But the Vietnamese roll is nice.
Provencale Herb Crust Lamb Rack – the lamb ribs are tasty. If there’s extra gravy, it will add some credit to it.
Baked Sweet Tropical Mango in Fillo Pastry (with Ice Cream) – the baked mango in fillo pastry is unique. It combines well with the chocolate flavor ice cream!
Ambiance : 4/5
Food : 3/5
Price : 3/5
Address :
Cravo Cravo
Philea Resort & Spa
Lot 2940, Jalan Ayer Keroh,
Off Jalan Plaza Tol,
75450 Ayer Keroh, Melaka.
T +606-233 3399
In conjunction of my wedding anniversary on 26th September; Alex and I decided for a getaway to celebrate it. Its our 1st wedding anniversary. Instead of anywhere else; somehow we got seduced by the appearance of this resort during the MATTA fair on beginning of the month. The type of stay is rarely found elsewhere in Malaysia. They were offering promo of purchase 1 night and get the 2nd night for free. Without much hesitation; we bought the room package(Pavillion Villa) inclusive breakfast for 2. Erm..which resort I’m referring to?? Its Philea Resort & Spa, Ayer Keroh, Melaka; new resort which just established this year.
It is located barely 1 minute away from the Ayer Keroh interchange of the North South Highway, 90 minutes from KLIA and 20 minutes from the City Of Melaka. It is one of the premier resorts in the country which lies in the shade of forest giants.
We started our journey & reached there at about 1.30pm. Upon checking in; we were served with wet towels & a glass of welcome drink (with the taste of lemon grass). You need not worry about the walking distance to your room even if your room is located far from the lobby. Because there are buggy service to send or fetch you.
Perhaps I shall put them all in simple sentences. I guess the photos will meant more than words!
the main entrance
the superb entrance
the welcome drink-a signature drink with the taste of lemon grass/serai.
I was told that they uses lemon grass/serai as their theme. Even the bath soap, shampoo or lotion has that lemon grass fragrant too.
the lobby
buggy service to send us to our villa
From the moment we opened our room door; WOW…I was totally amazed with everything & the decoration they made due to our anniversary(I gave a call to the resort;few days before hand & told the staff about our celebration). Minutes later while I was still busy taking photos; someone rang our room door bell. Alex opens the door and the staff brought in a cake with the label “WEDDING ANNIVERSARY”. I was so touched by their effort. I did not expect them to do so much. From wedding decos, rose petals to cake!
a yummy chocolate cake
AN OVERVIEW OF OUR ROOM:-
Every unit are made of Russian log wood. I’m pretty curious on the whole construction period.
our villa. we occupied the upper floor unit.
our room number. nice number. can buy toto. but never strike :-p
The super comfy king sized bed.
We slept soundly on both nights.
our room was nicely decorated
great bathroom.
view from our room (facing the waterfall & pool)
AN OVERVIEW OF THE MAN-MADE RIVER & SWIMMING POOL:-
The most relaxing place I would say is the pool. Felt so calm & its so beautiful!
great piece of art
AN AFTERNOON SWIM WILL BE GREAT!
ran up & down just to adjust the proper angle for the self-timer…. 😀
AN OVERVIEW OF THE RESORT(sight seeing):-
entrance to Spa
the huge ballroom – for functions,meetings or weddings
Unfortunately I couldn’t take any night view photos. As it was raining during our 2 night stay. Too bad..
OUR DAILY BREAKFAST:-
the choices of food.
Breakfast for Day 1:
fried mee, roti jala with chicken curry, baked potatoes, porridge
assorted bakery/danish, aroma coconut milk rice@nasi lemak, sausages, meehoon in tasty clear soup & the aromatic coffee.
Breakfast for Day 2:
keuy teow in soup & omelet
nasi lemak & mee goreng
We are quite satisfied with the breakfast.
Do stay tune on my next post about our dinner there.
Overall we had a memorable stay. Thanks for putting an effort to decorate our room. Hope they can maintain the quality.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DARLING! :-X
Received a box of biscuits which printed with the name of “Healthy Mooncake” from a friend whom purchased it from Bukit Pelanduk, Port Dickson. However in a box of 4; there’s only 1 piece of them is teochew mooncake . The remaining 3, it looks rather like ‘kah lui peng’ or wedding biscuits. I assumed it might be quite popular over there kua….. =p
the box of 4
printed the address & contact number
2 big & 2 small
the smaller one – tasted like tau sah piah(mung bean filling)
the bigger one – crispy skin with moist red bean paste filling (I preferred this)
This is the teochew mooncake. The filling is alil bit salty & alil bit sweet. Contains pig’s lard, tiny pieces of winter melon, tangerine peel, shallot
Overall the taste is fine. Not too sweet either. 😉
*NON-HALAL*
Mooncake/ mid-autumn festival is just a within few days. Alex bought a box of mooncake from YONG SHENG; Taipan’s outlet. My first time heard of this name was during my wedding preparations. I was told that their ‘kah lui peng’ has nice packaging or nice gifts set. Am trying their mooncakes now. It does have unique flavors. Allow me to intro and comment each of it. 😉
the box and the reusable bag
a box of 4
containing mix fruits nuts, nyonya sambal, moonlight kiss, passion for life.
nyonya sambal mooncake
This is the best seller mooncake. Contains dried shrimp sambal with lotus paste filling. Initially I thought the combination is weird; but after tasted it….its quite nice actually.
moonlight kiss mooncake
This mooncake has purple sweet potatoes filling. I like the taste of it.
mix fruits nuts
contains alot of nuts. somehow; I don’t like it. May be cos I’m not used to the taste of it…It tasted abit like ‘kai jai peng’
passion for life
This is a very unique one. The filling of first layer is white lotus, second is ice-blended and third layer has the taste of braised pork, which I thought it was ‘mung bean’. Not bad too….
Nowadays; there are so many types of mooncakes. So many types of flavors or filling too. Sorry; I do not bake nor made any mooncakes. I just know how to eat only….muahahaha…
Ordered a box of jelly/agar-agar mooncake from my colleague’s friend. Its a homemade basis. I assumed it should be non-preservative. It comes in a box containing 4 pieces of mooncake with different flavors and fillings with the price of RM15. Quite cheap right? I like the texture of it. Not too sweet though.
a box of 4
It look so colorful & attracting
red bean paste filling
green peas paste filling
mango flavor skin with mango extract filling
dragon fruit filling
I like this the most! very fruity taste
It’s already month of 8 according to lunar calender. It’s the month to celebrate mooncake festival. Called up Jessie to place an order & collected it from her aunt. I ordered a box of ‘Shanghai Mooncake’ (4 in a box). Its my favorite mooncake. Hardly get something similar nor taste similar from the shop. The aroma of these freshly baked mooncakes never fails to attract me. I like the buttery taste of its skin. Pastry like skin with the moist lotus filling. This is indeed a homemade mooncake. Jessie’s aunt is very good in baking. She only accepts order during the lunar month of 8.
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