Halal and Haram

Lately, there's been a slew of tweets, FB posts and blog posts highlighting the halal haram of certain establishments or certain products.

From my observation, most of these posts came from people who didn't bother doing their research properly. Hence, the news became viral, spreading uncontrollably from screen to screen. By the time said establishment or company issues a statement to declare their innocence (or give any type of confirmation) it's already too late. Funnily enough, these same people either don't bother spreading the truth when it comes out or just don't care to know about it at all.

I once looked up the ingredient stated in a particular product which so-called made it 'haram'. I really don't remember which ingredient it was, but I do remember that the product was a soft drink and said ingredient konon2nya had pig fat in it.

When I looked it up, I found out (unsurprisingly) that this ingredient DID NOT CONTAIN ANY TYPE OF FAT AT ALL, PIG OR OTHERWISE. Obviously, I sent the info to the person who was spreading the message at the time, but what about the others who had already told all of their friends? The damage had been done, and all because people refuse to look up a few simple facts.

Come on, people. We live in the age of Google and Wiki. Use them.

As for these establishments, spending less than 10 minutes verifying that they're halal by browsing JAKIM's website or better yet, calling them up really is worth the hassle.

Then no one can accuse you of fitnah, right? And you can rest easy and be assured that the establishments you frequent are indeed halal, and the food and drinks are safe for your consumption. Isn't that better than listening to the grapevine and causing damage to innocent people?

Doli Kuey Tiaow Goreng, TTDI

First of all the service sucks.

The wait for your food is interminable. I mean, please lah. The woman at the cafe in UM cooked my mihun goreng in under 2 minutes.

Plus, when Epol wanted to order another dish for my mom-in-law, who was at the next shop buying stuff, the waiter had the gall to say "tak boleh buat la bang."

Now, there was a confusion. We actually thought he couldn't make "mi mihun goreng", as in tak boleh mix the noodles, which was ridiculous la. I mean, since when is throwing in an extra handful of mihun to your mi goreng rocket science? We looked at him and asked "kenapa tak boleh campur?"

and he replied "bukan tak boleh campur. memang tukang masak tak boleh buat. ramai orang." Which meant that the little f*cker was refusing our order as if he worked at a 5 star hotel restaurant.

"huh? kenapa pulak?"

and this is the killer. He actually said "Kalau abang nak jugak, tanya la sendiri kat dia"

Ok.

Sejak bila is it my friggin job to do your friggin job for you? You're the friggin waiter. kau pegi la tanya. bodoh ke apa? RUDE RUDE asshole. Finally, he went over to converse with (what i presume) the more experienced waiter and the tukang masak, and came back and took the bloody order anyway.

PLUS, When he sent the drinks, one of them kinda sloshed over on to the table. absolutely no move to either apologize or wipe it clean despite the fact that it was his bloody fault.


Now, let's talk about the food. I'd say average. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. In fact, it was pretty good.

But it was not worth the crap you have to go through to get it.

My overall rating? 1 out of 5 stars.

And trust me, I'm being generous here.

Hot Chocolate Pots

Last week, I made some chocolate pots, just to try out the recipe. They're basically gooey chocolate goodness in little ramekin pots. For the life of me, I can't seem to find any ramekins over here, and since the recipe doesn't require any baking, I dug up some of my mom-in-law's cute little white teacups and decided to put them in those.

It's an extremely easy recipe which takes less than 5 minutes to make, but Epol and mama suka. Last night, Epol asked me when I was gonna make some more, and since the last time, I only used half of the ingredients, I decided to just finish the other half today.

No pictures, but they basically looked like these:



(I took this picture from Easy French Food, tapi the recipe is not the same)

After pouring the mixture into the cups, I saw that there was quite a bit of residue stuck in the pot and the ladle, so I just reheated the stove, poured in some milk, and voila, hot chocolate.

This was the first time I made my own hot chocolate, and let me tell you, I was very pleasantly surprised that it tasted just like the ones I love at Starbucks! :D

So yeah, byebye Starbucks, hello homemade hot chocolate.

I feel all warm, happy and sleepy now...

Stuff I Feel Like Eating But Can't At The Moment (Because I Can't Take More Than a Few Spoonfuls Right Now)

1. Steamboat


Tak kirala, Johnny's ke or Ketam Village ke, bring it on.

2. Sup Ekor

I like the soup aje, without the ekor. Ekor tu my hubby usually takes it and I just slurp up the soup. And it can only be from those tomyam stalls tu. Weird, I know but that's the way I like it. heh.

3. Red Velvet Cake


Looks good kan? Never actually tasted it before, but I've heard (and read) people rave about it so I'm really curious. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I'd like to know what this one tastes like.

4. Tom Yam

This one sounds simple but the last time I had really good tomyam was probably 7 to 10 years ago. Nowadays, I dislike every single tomyam I've tasted, so if anyone knows of a really good place to have tomyam, PLEASE let me know.

5. Steamed Fish


I just had some steamed assam fish with hubby and my mom-in-law last week, which was tersangatlah sedap, but you know how it is. Fresh fish at restaurants tend to be pretty pricy. So I'm thinking of making some myself as soon as I get better, which I am hoping will happen by next week.

Tapi of late, since the surgery, I haven't had much of an appetite. Lapar tu lapar. And my tongue siap boleh rasa lagi what's sedap and what's not, but I basically get all muak after a few suaps. Not that it's not good. It's GREAT actually, since I really need to lose those kgs I put on since I got married, tapi tak worth it la to get/cook all those things and not even have the appetite to makan betul2. After all, beside the cake, the rest of the stuff I've listed down are basically healthy food kan? Cuz I'm actually one of the lucky few whose cravings tend to fall under the soupy, healthy category, rarely the fatty stuff. Tapi gemuk jugak, so moot point there. haha.

Oh, and almost lupa.

6. Nasi kukus
Thanks to one of my best friends, I am now seriously curious to know what nasi kukus is like. Macam sedap je. LOL. :p

The End.

P/s: The pictures aren't mine, obviously.

Takut.Masak.

I am currently in a state of confusion and fear. I know that many others have had it worse. I'm not saying that mine is the worst it will ever get. In fact, I'm very VERY aware that mine is probably the most minuscule that it can get.

But that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be scared of what's happening. It makes me miserable to know that I'm making the people I love worry and that a certain someone has to spend all his hard earned cash making sure that I'm okay when he should certainly be able to afford things for himself.

If I don't do it, it doesn't just have an impact on me alone. Other people get hurt too. But I'm so tired and I don't feel like going through all that again. People have been telling me "Don't worry la, it'll be fine, You'll be ok." I know they all think it's comforting when someone says that to you, but honestly, it's not. It makes me feel kinda stupid and silly, as if I have no reason to worry about myself, just because everybody tells me not to. But here's the reality: It hurts, some days worse than others and the fact that I fainted in class in front of my students because of this is something so embarrassing to me that I feel so ashamed to ever see them again. And simply put, I'm scared. And when people tell me not to worry, that it's nothing, it makes me feel as if I'm being overly paranoid.

Anyway, I'll be going in for an operation late March.

In other news, I managed to cook Mi Hailam yesterday. Heh. I know it's one of the simplest dishes ever, but I'm still proud of myself because I managed to make it taste exactly like Cik's (imho, the best cook in the world) even though I didn't have all of the ingredients she uses to make it.

I substituted corn flour for tomatoes (they work just fine thickening the sauce and they give it a very slight sweet-sour-ish taste) the chicken and prawns with chicken meatballs and the sawi with bayam. Like my mom said when I told her "You discovered an economical way to make mi hailam!" LOL.

Epol loved it and suggested that I make some for his mom :)

Ok dah.

Chillis

...is seriously deteriorating, in terms of service AND standards.

First of all, when we asked for a waitress to take our order, she gave us this disapproving look before nodding grudgingly and then asking another waitress to do it instead.

Second of all, you seem to have to travel to the moon and back just to flag down ANYONE to ask for refills or whatever.

I remember the first time I went to Chillis, back when it only had one little lot over in BSC. Everyone was nice, and no matter how crowded the place was, someone would always care enough to come by every 10 minutes or so to ask how the food is, just in case we needed assistance of any sort.

And the food, don't even get me started.

The chicken crispers should have been called 'Fried flour, with tiny little strips of chicken inside'.

And seriously, you decided to cut away so many ingredients from the nachos, and serve nacho chips with some bland tasting cheese-like stuff on top and you think people won't notice the difference from its rich, flavourful counterpart that you used to serve?

Shame on you. Seriously.

I say it's probably time to look for another Mexican restaurant. Maybe one that isn't an arrogant, cocky bloodsucking food establishment that seems to not mind offending loyal customers just because it has 4 outlets already and each is always filled to the brim.

Sooner or later, people will see what rubbish you've become and go elsewhere.

Little Taiwan CIneleisure a.k.a e@curve

I'm not a food connoisseur, but I can tell what's good and what's not, according to my own tastebuds, and this place is NOT.

It's a new halal Taiwanese food franchise that seems to be popping up. I didn't bother with pictures because I suck at them.

The food looked absolutely NOTHING like the pictures.

I mean, look, I know that it's hard work to reproduce picture-perfect cuisines, but this is ridiculous. The pictures displayed proudly on the walls shows dishes which are full of food. In fact, the beef shank looked huge and juicy. What came was a tiny little dish with pathetic think strips of meat, if you could call it that lah. Most of it was fat aje anyway.

And the noodles are depicted as huge bowls of slurpy goodies, but what came out was a huge bowl (at least they got that part right) with a few sorry strands of limp noodles which I couldn't even finish anyway because the broth was tasteless. The spicy noodles basically tasted like mee bandung without the actual taste.

All in all, the food was AWFUL.

And don't even get me started on the drinks. A glass of R.O Water is sold for RM2.80. Bukan mineral water ye kawan2, RO WATER. Yang kita boleh pegi isi botol dekat tepi jalan for 20 cents ke 50 cents for one big bottle ke entah tu.

Don't try the jasmine teas, even. Macam nak terbakar tekak tak sedap langsung.

I guess their only redeeming quality is their bubble tea, which is NOT BAD, but I can probably get better elsewhere, and their snacks. Tak ingat la what I ordered but they're not bad. Not really worth the price though if you ask me.

So I give this place a THUMBS DOWN. Tak payah try. Buat rugi duit je.

Gastronomic Delight?

I was reading through I Do Things So You Don't Have To (refer to my bloglist, I'm feeling a little bit lazy) and came across the term Geoduck, pronounced as Gooey Duck. Now, contrary to what I thought when I first came across the term, it is not a duck, nor is it gooey, it's some kind of sea creature that people eat, apparently.

Now, the name sounds slightly weird, so I decided to click on the link that the author provided, which I'm providing here also. CLICK!

Doesn't it remind you of something? Heh.


On a WAAAYYY different note, results are out!
I'm happy.
And more confused than ever now.

Mexican Hazelnuts

No, this post has nothing to do with Hazelnuts that are of Mexican origins.

My friend and I had to stay up to finish our chapters 4 and 5 of our thesis. So we decided to treat ourselves to some Coffee Bean. I was all gung ho about ordering an espresso shot so I'd be able to stay up when I saw the sign. It turns out that Coffee Bean has an on-going promotion: Hazelnut Drinks. I oviously went crazy and started whining to my husband about how I wanted an espresso shot but was forced to take the Hazelnut instead (simply because it'd be a sin not to, check my "about me" section). So in all spirit of coffee, he decided to get me a double shot Hazelnut Latte. It was sinful. Sedap gila.

So anyway, yesterday I went over to Coffee Bean again and got the Hazelnut Ice Blended. It tasted even better. I want more now. I wanted to post some pictures of me and the drink (read: me with a HUGE smile on my face sebab I finally found a hazelnut drink that tastes awesome) but my laptop won't detect my phone. Boo.

Btw, If you've cravings for Mexican food, silalah check out Caliente in Kota Damansara. We had a surprise birthday dinner for one of my husband's best friends there, and the food is cheaaappp (less than 20 ringgit per dish) and reaaallly good. So far, I've tasted the Nachos, the Quesadillas (gila punya sedap), the Chimicanggas (not sure how it's spelt, but basically, they're fried burritos) aaaannnnddd, for dessert, we had the chocolate chimichangga (ok, ok, ok, sinfully sedap and I felt like swooning when I had my first bite. Seriously sedap gila). No pictures because I'm a lazybum.

Simply Breakfast

I'm gonna seem like such a pig after this entry...
But as I was blog-hopping, I came across this blog: Simply Breakfast: The Art Of Breakfast, and I thought it was brilliant, cause I've always loved breakfast food... (actually, I love any kind of food, but that's beside the point)



When I grew up, I used to stay over at my friends' houses a lot, especially when we had some sort of special event during the night or early morning after. I found that they always had scrumptious breakfasts. I mean, yeah, breakfast at home was great too, but how much of roti canai, nasi lemak, mi goreng and its like, pulut, etc. can one take? After a while, you kinda start searching for more, and more I got, whenever I slept over at someone's place.

I loved the different kinds of cereals, the ones I didn't have at home, the sausages and eggs cooked in all kinds of ways, the grilled tomatoes and pancakes and... the list goes on.

Until now, I look forward to buffet breakfasts at hotels whenever I go for holidays, even though I make these kinds of breakfasts at home. It just seems way yummier when someone else makes them, I suppose...

So breakfast freaks, click on the picture above, or the link, feast your eyes and start drooling.. ;p

p/s: the picture is courtesy of Simply Breakfast. It's not mine.

Food List

People usually do this during Puasa, but for some reason, I suddenly have all these cravings...



1. Spaghetti Aglio Olio
I went to Dome's the other day but for some reason, the branch in BSC axed their Spicy Olio Pasta off the menu so BOO to you, Dome's BSC! My husband's supposed to cook it for me this weekend. He makes amazing Aglio Olio.



2. Famous Amos cookies
Pecan nut chocolate chip. Yum.



3. Lasagne



4. Spagetti Bolognaise
Notice how there's a lot of Italian on this list? Yum. My husband makes good Bolognaise too. Mine's sedap jugak I suppose, tapi biasa je. His is like 'Whoa!"



5. Cranky Salmon Roll
From Rakuzen. Sedapp okay? It melts in your mouth...



6. Asam Laksa
This one comes and goes. If I have this craving, I need it NOW NOW NOW or else it won't be there the next day



7. Soto
This one is reaaallllly difficult to find. I mean, granted it's being sold everywhere, but trying to locate a decent one seems impossible. Nak kena nenek jugak buat kottt.
(When you google "soto pictures", you actually get pictures of some dude who's all beefed up and stuff. ugh.)

8. Any weird thing (sometimes multiples) at any given time. Ikut mood, ikut rasa and ikut whatever I've seen on tv/someone eating/pictures of. Lol.

Lapar dah. Esok puasa enam!