May 29 2009
Phew, the weather has been erratic recently! It’s been mostly blistering hot and only occasionally we have some rain which traps in more heat making the weather warmer after the shower. As a result, I have been making more savoury and sweet soups for preventive health measures what with many people falling sick these days.
One of the new soup recipes which I tried not long ago is ‘Samgyetang’ (from Korean to English: Sam = Ginseng, Gye = Chicken and Tang = Soup; not too different from the Chinese language, huh?). This soup dish is traditionally served in Korea during summer accompanied by side dishes (Banchan) and a complimentary glass of ginseng wine. The Koreans believe in the adage of ‘fighting fire with fire’ as the ’hot’ soup replaces the body’s nutrients lost through sweating and physical exertion in the sweltering heat. The main ingredients of this soup is a whole young chicken and fresh Korean ginseng stuffed with glutinous rice, garlic and jujube. Other medicinal ingredients such as ginger, gingko nuts (pak kor), wolfberries (kei chi), Codonopsis pilosula (tong sam), and Angelica sinensis (tong kwai) may also be added. Samgyetang is a revered dish in Korea due its beneficial properties.
Samgyetang Recipe courtesy of Maangchi:
Ingredients:
1 small Chicken, gutted and cleaned (I used skinned ’Kampung’/Village Chicken for a healthier option; you may choose to have the skin intact)
1/4 cup Glutinous Rice (I omitted this)
12 Garlic cloves
Spring onions, chopped
12 Jujubes/dried Red Dates, washed and seeded (’Hong Zhou’ in Cantonese)
1 or 2 fresh Ginseng roots (I used dried Ginseng whiskers or ‘Yan Sam Sou’ in Cantonese)
1 pack of Samgyetang Herbs
Method:
1) Stuff chicken with half of the quantity of garlic cloves, spring onions, jujubes, ginseng and herbs.
2) Place stuffed chicken into a pot. Pour water until chicken is just submerged. Add the balance of the ingredients into the pot.
3) Boil soup for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. You may add a little salt before serving the soup with rice (omit this if you have added glutinous rice) and kimchi. I personally do not like to add seasoning into my home-cooked soups as the ingredients would have acted as natural flavouring agents.
Enjoy this highly nutritious soup! 
May 21 2009
My sis-in-law TA took us out for lunch at Tony Roma’s (TR’s) during a recent weekend. The last time when we went to TR’s Cineleisure located at Mutiara Damansara, the place was fully booked and we (or rather our stomachs) didn’t have the patience to wait for our turn to be seated. Since then, EL had been hankering to go there and his gastronomic dream finally came true, haha! 
I noticed that generally steakhouses have woodsy interiors; possibly to convey an unpretentious and down-to-earth ambience (well, it’s quite difficult to act high and mighty when you’re chomping down on a slab of red meat, hehe). The interior design at TR’s had a nice blend of modern and rustic; even the brickworks are just facades concealing the concrete and wooden walls behind. Black and white picture frames lined the walls. TR’s does not have its own washroom which could be inconvenient when you want to wash up after eating with your fingers.
We were served complimentary baguettes with garlic butter spread:
The 2 bread pieces which were conveniently cut into slices were warm, soft and fluffy. The garlic butter scoop on the side was tasty although I would have preferred a more pungent garlicky taste.
Our Bottomless Beverages (models not included, hehe!). I wondered why the waiter gave EL a smaller glass than the rest of us though
Next up was a humongous Tony’s Sampler for starters:
The platter consisted of buffalo wings, onion loaf, potato skins and raw vegetable sticks with 3 different types of dipping sauce. I LOVE the celery sticks because I can ‘psycho’ myself that I am eating healthily while dipping them into the fattening but delicious sauces, haha! The buffalo (i.e. chicken) wings were spicy and a tad too salty for my liking. As for the onion loaf which consisted of onion rings breaded and deep-fried, it’s best to eat when still piping hot as the onions rings became soggy after a while. The potato skins topped with bacon and chives were okay; I still prefer the ones in Jack’s Place.
Our waitress recommended one of the new items on the menu, Wagyu Beef Steak:
Ooh-la-la, this steak dish is THE BOMB! 
Haha…seriously, it was the highlight of lunch for me. Served with steamed broccoli florets and baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and chives, the super-expensive piece of meat was cooked to medium rare perfection thanks to the suggestion of our red meat expert TA as the meat gets tougher the longer it’s cooked. The taste is truly indescribable; so tender, flavourful and juicy without any sauce to mar its exquisiteness. Since then, I have been dreaming of eating Wagyu beef (yes, yes, continue to dream on, right?). Even while writing this piece and looking at the pictures of the glistening meat, my mouth starts to salivate like Pavlov’s Dog, haha!
Our second main dish was TR’s Bountiful Beef Ribs:
The beef ribs were basted in TR’s original sauce and we felt like The Flintstones while gnawing on the meat! You can choose from 6 types of TR’s in-house sauces (aiyah, can’t remember the names of the sauces as we forgot to snap a picture) to go with the ribs. I personally prefer without any sauce as the beef ribs had a lovely smoky, slightly spicy and sweet flavour of its own. TA and E commented that the coleslaw was nice; I could see that it striked a right balance of being not too dry while not drowning in mayonnaise.
The last main dish was Roma Burger:
By this time, all of us were stuffed to the brim. We decided to doggy bag-ed this burger of chunky beef patty served with french fries, Cheddar cheese (can you see the cheese oozing out of the burger?), shredded lettuce, tomato, red onions and pickles. Even after heating the burger up in the microwave oven for dinner, the burger tasted pretty yummy, so you can imagine how delicious it will be if we had eaten there and then in the restaurant!
Erm, maybe our stomachs were not too full for dessert, hehe
TR’s Chocolate Avalanche comes with a piece of moist chocolate cake and a huge scoop of vanilla ice-cream topped with hot chocolate fudge and Heath Bar crumbles. My verdict is ‘have chocolate, will work’, haha!
TR’s is a great dining place for family and friends as you can share the huge portions amongst yourselves. If you are one of those who survive on raw vegetables and water, do avoid this place as you will be in a food hell! (and why should you be torturing yourself with rabbit food in the first place?)
Thanks a bunch TA for the lovely ‘mucho meat-os’ and burp-a-licious lunch!
Restaurant details:
Tony Roma’s CineLeisure,
G29(II), G-32 and G-33,
Ground Floor, Mutiara Damansara,
47800 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel No.: 603 – 7728 7833
Website: www.tonyromas.com
May 15 2009
‘Kongnamul Guk’ or Bean Sprout Soup is a popular Korean side dish soup. It is normally taken as part of the breakfast meal. Apparently, this clear and healthy soup is a great hangover remedy. So for the merrymaker who had too much to drink and wakes up to a splitting headache and ‘hairy’ tongue (hehe), get someone to make this pick-me-up soup for you! Besides that, Kongnamul Guk is also beneficial for people suffering from cold as bean sprouts are high in Vitamin C among other vitamins and are a good source of dietary fibre.
This soup is very easy to make with relatively few ingredients needed. The recipe below can easily serve 3 people.
Ingredients:
2 fistfuls Bean Sprouts
Dried anchovies/’ikan bilis’
Dried kelp 10 X 10 cm in size (please refer to my ‘Korean Food Ingredients’ post for the product picture)
1/2 tsp Minced Garlic
1 Green Chili, seeded and thin sliced (I omitted this)
1 tsp Salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
6 cups Water
Method:
1) Rinse bean sprouts and drain. Discard rotten/bad sprouts.
2) Pour water into pot. Add dried anchovies and dried kelp then boil for 20 to 25 minutes.
3) Remove kelp and anchovies from the soup stock.
4) Add bean sprouts and boil for 1 minute (Note: do not overcook bean sprouts to retain the crispy texture).
5) Add minced garlic, salt and green chili.
6) Boil for 30 seconds then switch off stove fire.
You can enjoy this healthy soup on its own or add some rice into the soup (called ‘Kongnamulgukbap’) for a more substantial meal.
I’m pretty amazed that the number of my blog visits has exceeded 10,000 within a year or, to be exact, the last count was 11,500 views! Okay, okay, I know that MANY other blogs have higher numbers in a shorter period of time. But it’s still not too shoddy for a low-profile and non-publicised (except with some friends) blog, eh? (yeah, yeah, it’s time for Mei Leng to eat humble pie, haha!).
Just for your information (if you’re interested):
The top post of all time is …….(trumpets blowing) Boys Over Flowers (Korean Hana Yori Dango). That is not suprising because the trendy drama series has just recently concluded in Korea and in a number of countries such as Malaysia, it is currently airing via subscription-based satellite television. I foresee that the F4 fever will not die down anytime soon what with girls everywhere swooning over their favourite Flower Boys’ member. Well, that’s how the visitors came to my blog-by searching for Boys Over Flowers!
As for the rest of the Top 10 posts, they are predictably food posts! If I didn’t know any better, I would make a proposal to the leaders of the world that the be-all and end-all solution for conflicts, sufferings and wars is to organise a gargantuan love feast! However, sinners that we all are, it would probably end up in a food fight instead! On the positive side, food does really bring people together, eh?
Hot on the heels of the Top 10 posts is the lovely poem The Sea. The post had the most comments from readers of Jamaican background. Author’s Profile lingers behind, which is wonderful as a penman will prefer the writings to be more recognised than the person him/herself.
Of course I want to THANK YOU, my beloved reader, for being so supportive in reading my blog. To be honest, I take a lot of time, thought and effort each time I write a blog post. You might wonder why and the reason is found in God’s Word, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) What is spoken and/or written cannot be taken back. If the words were negative and unedifying, the damage has been done (and could be long-lasting) and repercussions would follow. Having God’s Word in mind, I would seek to have my words be acceptable in God’s sight.
God willing, I will keep on thinking in writing!
Apr 23 2009
Hello beloved reader! I will be sharing with you one of the most recognisable Korean food, ‘Jjajangmyun’ or Korean black bean paste noodles. The popularity of this noodle dish lies mainly in that many Korean drama series feature Jjajangmyun eating scenes and it doesn’t help hungry stomachs when the actors are wolfing down the noodles like there’s no tomorrow!
One interesting fact that you need to know is that this is not an authentic Korean dish but originated from the Chinese noodle dish, Char Cheung Meen (in Cantonese which literally translates to ‘Fried Sauce Noodles’). I tasted the Chinese version in Esquire Kitchen Restaurant and I liked the dish (I love Esquire Kitchen Restaurant because of the family dinners we had there over the years so my opinion may be biased). In Korea, don’t bother looking for Jjajangmyun in the Korean restaurants as this dish is served in Korean CHINESE restaurants. You can either dine-in or have the piping hot noodles delivered right at your doorstep.
Jjajangmyun is closely connected to Korean culture as you will read shortly. If lovers all over the world celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14, Koreans have all kinds of love-themed occasions to celebrate (or mourn depending upon your viewpoint). Besides Valentine’s Day, Koreans celebrate White Day on March 14 which is observed by ladies who present chocolate gifts (usually home-made) to their preferred gentlemen as an expression of love and Black Day on April 14 for the single and unattached to get together and eat Jjajangmyun and commiserate their singlehood, haha! Who knows, black sauce-smeared face you may attract another similarly dirtied guy or gal across the dining table!
Here’s a short version of ‘Jjajangmyun’ recipe (you can get the full version at Maangchi’s):
Ingredients:
Noodles/’Myun’ in Korean (please refer to my ‘Korean Food Ingredients’ post for the product picture)
Black bean paste/’Chunjang’ in Korean
Pork belly
Sugar
Olive Oil (I used vegetable oil)
Potato Starch powder (You can use cornstarch powder)
Sesame Oil
Asian Radish
Potato (You can use either normal or sweet potatoes)
Zucchini
Onion
Cucumber
Method:
1) Cut pork and vegetables into uniform-sized cubes.
2) Stir-fry pork until crispy.
3) Preheat a small skillet with vegetable oil. Add 7 tbsps of black bean paste and stir-fry for a minute. Remove excess oil and set aside stir-fried paste.
4) Reheat crispy pork and add vegetable oil. Add radish and potatoes and saute for 2 minutes. Then add zucchini and onion and saute for another 2 minutes.
5) Add 3 cups of water until ingredients are submerged, close lid and boil for 20 minutes.
6) Add stir-fried paste and stir it up.
7) Add potato starch mixture (combine 3 tbsps of potato starch powder and 2 tbsps of water) and stir it. This is the ‘Black Beauty’ Jjajang sauce!
Boil water in a big pot, add noodles and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.
9) Drain cooked noodles and place on a plate or bowl. Pour warm jjajang sauce onto the noodles.
10) Garnish with cucumber strips and it’s ready to serve!
The eating process:
Step 1 – Mix sauce with noodles thoroughly.
Step 2 – Gobble, gobble! Remember to have a pack of facial tissue papers on hand unless you want to look like a Caveman You may burp with a polite ‘Excuse me’, haha!
Umm, umm, it’s so delicious! Makes you want to have some now, huh?
Apr 17 2009
The second Korean drama series that I will be featuring here is none other than the wildly popular Korean comic adaptation version of the famous manga series Hana Yori Dango, Boys Over Flowers or Boys Before Flowers!
Synopsis:
Boys Over Flowers is the story of a poor but strong-spirited high-school student Geum Jandi. After saving a student from committing suicide at Shin Hwa College, she is awarded a scholarship to attend the prestigious and ultra-rich educational institution. Here she meets face-to-face the notorious F4 members (Flower Four Boys), the four richest and most privileged students who reign over the entire school. Jandi attempts to avoid any confrontation with the F4 for woe betides anyone who goes against them. Of course this is not possible with her strong sense of justice and she is forced to declare war against the F4 leader, Gu Joon Pyo. In the process, she develops a serious crush on one of the F4 members, Yoon Ji Hoo and Gu Joon Pyo falls in love with the indomitable Jandi.
Main Characters:
a) Geum Jan Di (Korean Makino Tsukushi)
An average girl whose parents own a small dry cleaning business and has a younger brother who is a computer geek. She works in several part-time jobs to support her family. Her passions are swimming and eating (hey, sounds a little like me!) :) Dubbed ‘Wonder Woman’ for saving a Shin Hwa student’s life, her stay in the luxurious school was to remain in obscurity until one fateful day when she defended her friend from being bullied by Gu Joon Pyo, F4’s leader. Soon after, she is tagged with the infamous F4 red card which is the green light for the F4 and the rest of the student population to bully her mercilessly until she concedes defeat. With her bright, energetic and strong personality, she endures these trials and in fact stands up to the F4. She becomes attracted to Yoon Ji Hoo because he is different from the rest of F4 and helps her during times of need. However, Gu Joon Pyo eventually falls in love with her and does everything to win her heart. As the meaning of her name implies (’weed’ in Korean), Jandi has an optimistic and honorable spirit which is not impressed with financial wealth and social status; always remaining firm on her principles.
b) Gu Joon Pyo (Korean Domyoji Tsukasa)
The leader of F4 and heir of Shin Hwa Group conglomerate (which owns the Shin Hwa College), his trademark is his curly hair. He is violent and has a short fuse of a temper. Being used to getting his way all the time (except with his elder sister who has no qualms using force to discipline her errant brother), Jandi’s act of defiance irks him and he makes life hell for her. However, seeing that his attempts to bring her down are futile, he becomes attracted to her as she is the first person to stand up to him. Underneath the steely hard exterior is a person who craves for the love and attention that his high-flying parents never gave him. He has a fear of insects and swimming. His devotion to Jandi never wavered despite familial objections and love rivalry from his best friend Yoon Ji Hoo. Over time, he becomes a better and more humane person.
c) Yoon Ji Hoo (Korean Hanazawa Rui)
The sole grandchild of former president of South Korea. He became an orphan at the age of five when his parents perished in a car accident. He has Asperger’s syndrome which means that he has a very introverted personality, faces difficulty in socialising and cannot recognise facial expressions. He expresses his emotions through playing various musical instruments (violin, piano and guitar). He likes sleeping and horse-riding but has a phobia of driving. Generally he has a quiet and cold demeanour but he cares deeply for loved ones and F4 friends. His compassionate nature reveals itself as he helps Jandi in and out of school. While Jun Pyo is the one who normally gets her into trouble (whether intentional or not), Ji Hoo is her knight in shining armour and ‘firefighter’. Jandi develops a serious romantic interest for him. Initially, the feelings were not reciprocrated due to his first love but later on, he has conflicting emotions of love and friendship towards Jandi as the relationship between Jandi and Jun Pyo develops.
d) So Yi Jung (Korean Nishikado Soujirou)
He is a gifted potter and successor to a prestigious art museum, but more recognised for his talents in womanising. Women cannot resist his devilish charms and ‘5-second Kill’. He is happy to be in casual relationships but at the same time despises his father for having many extra-marital affairs and causing his mother much heartache. Jandi’s best friend Ga Eul is in love with him. While he could have easily hurt her, he is nice enough to be kind to her, treat her as a friend and not play with her feelings. At one point of his life, he was in love with his childhood friend but he broke a promise to her and thus lost her. With Ga Eul’s help, he realises that he has always been looking for his one true love.
e) Song Woo Bin (Korean Mimasaka Akira)
The heir to a construction enterprise with strong ties to the underworld. He has a closer bond to Yi Jung because both of them are playboys; Yi Jung is the cold-blooded Cassanova while Woo Bin is Don Juan. His gangster-rap-inflected English is pretty hilarious (yo, yo, wassup, my bro!) and he has amazing fighting skills. Even though he has a very laid-back personality (the way he speaks reminds me of a languid wild cat; feline and dangerous in nature), he is the most matured of the F4 and the peacemaker of the group.
Review:
What’s there to say about this drama series when almost everyone everywhere has given their 2-cents’ worth? For those who are not in the crazy loop, there are two other versions of Hana Yori Dango. One of them is the original Japanese drama with the same title and the other is the Taiwanese Meteor Garden (which brought instant fame to the four actors and spawned the popular Taiwanese music group F4 made up of the said-actors). I can’t make any comparisons among the three versions since I only watched the Korean remake but I can understand why Boys Over Flowers has elicited such a massively positive and heart-fluttering response from ladies of all races, ages and creeds (you can check up the discussion boards, forums and blogs if you don’t believe me ).
There are a number of reasons and the most obvious ones are the extremely good-looking cast and fantasy-like storyline. Good-looking in a pretty-boy way, tall with good physique and close resemblance to the manga characters are the casting criteria with solid acting chops taking a backseat. It’s not that they were horrible actors (in fact, I think as acting rookies and/or freshmen they have done their roles justice) but the series wouldn’t have taken off to such great heights if the boys weren’t so pretty to look at.
Boys Over Flowers further cements the pretty-boy pop culture. Gone are the days where the rugged and cowboy-ish male is the ideal. The current metrosexual trend is prevalent where males are conscientious about personal grooming and fashion. Hey, a lot of them look prettier and have smoother complexions than women (like moi, sigh)! Of course men and a number of women would find these pretty boys effeminate (EL commented that they looked and sounded gay!) but the general consensus is that pretty boys are sizzling hot! And if you think this is an Asian phenomenon, the West has its fair share of pretty boys/men such as the popular boy groups, Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, David Beckham and et cetera.
I have read the manga series, and as usual, I prefer the written rather than the screen version. Instead of writing a ’thesis’ about my observations , here are my bouquets and brickbats for Boys Over Flowers (and I’m being lenient with my contentions), bullet-point form:
Bouquets:
1. The cast and locations - The pretty boys fitted adequately in their respective roles with passable acting skills (you know I can’t pretend to you, beloved reader); all of them are about my brother’s age and younger (eek!); the pretty actress who displayed good acting skills at serious moments but was WAY annoying when she is screeching her head off; Gu Joon Pyo’s witch-y mother (gives a whole new meaning to the adage ’if looks can kill, you’ll be dead’) and the beautiful drama locations.
2. Highly entertaining – I guess the girl in all of us loves a fairy-tale story with a fairy-tale ending.
Brickbats:
1. The portrayal of the protagonist – If you read the manga, Tsukushi is a person that you highly respect and admire (a role model for girls) because she is a strong character. She is not a damsel in distress (needing a man to help and/or save her and make her happy) and is a person of principles (e.g. didn’t succumb to the materialism around her and insisting on not having pre-marital sex, although she changed her mind in the end, which made it bleh). That was what made Tsukushi attractive and beautiful; not her physical appearance (she’s just average looking) but her character. However, the Kdrama made Jandi the contrary even though it tried not to; she seemed to be a pushover, a weakling and a typical damsel-in-distress.
2. Poor storytelling and directing – I blame it on the extremely tight shooting schedule.
Before I end, a collage of pretty pictures for the girls to drool over
- Do visit Boys Over Flowers’s official website (Korean) here.
- For great and witty recaps of the Kdrama series, do visit Dramabeans.
- If you want to read the ‘Hana Yori Dango’ manga, click here.
