Author Archives: Lyrical Lemongrass

Thank you for the Traffic

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As much I love the rain, the constant torrential daily downpours are more repetitive than Astro and tend to mess things up. I’m late for performances. Cancelled dinner dates. And worst of all, horrendous traffic jams. So here is my rant about rain, sung to the tune of Abba’s Thank You For The Music (food posts will resume after this rant):

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You think you’re special, in fact you’re a bit of a pour
If you give me a soak, I’ve probably felt it before
But you have a talent, a wonderful thing
Coz everyone shivers when they see your lightning
And your nimbostratus cloud
All you want is to thunder out loud

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So I say
Thank you for the traffic, can you hear me screaming
I can’t stand in my shoes they’re squishing
I can live without it, I swear in all honesty
What would life be?
Without an umbrella, what are we?
So I say thank you for the traffic
And for soaking me thoroughly

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You come like clockwork, it’s almost like you like to stalk
You start with a shower exactly when it’s 4 o’clock
And I’ve often wondered, is your thunder a fart?
You found out that nothing can capture a heart
Like flatulence can?
Well, whatever lah, you must be a man

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So I say
Thank you for the traffic, gotta quit F1 racing
And take up a sport like fishing
Can’t you go Down Under, where they’re keeling o’er with despair
Why don’t you care?
They want to wash their cars, it’s unfair!
So I say thank you, but I’ve gastric
I’m starving in my Kenari.

So I say, let me eat my tomatoes
At least they’re melamine free.

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An Almost Flourless Butter Espresso Chocolate Cake

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I have always admired the likes of Fatboybakes and the Just Heavenly duo.  Witty, good looking, multi-talented and really amazing bakers.  Just throw a bunch of ingredients at them, and they’re able to whip up something probably unpronouncable with Zs and Qs (notice how the more amazing the cake, the more the obscure consonants in the name?…which reminds me of this episode of Family Guy where Peter takes a shot in the dark at a Wheel of Fortune gameshow…the clue is Actor & Show and he comes up with Z, 4, Q, Q, Q and the batman symbol(!), then correctly guesses Alex Karras in Webster…hehehe).

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s me.  I am a reluctant baker.  (And talking about reluctant bakers, Bald Eagle calls me a reluctant PJ(Petaling Jaya)-driver ‘coz in all my years of driving (and mind you, I have an excellent sense of direction), I have refused to learn my way around PJ….but in my defence, PJ roads are stupid…they’re numbered but not in sequential order and I cannot embrace anything so illogical).   Anyway, back to baking, my palms get clammy, and I start sweating the small stuff.  To overcome this fear, I persuaded Aunt in Oz to teach me how to bake.

The first lesson was the Pav.  I was worried that my success in baking a pavlova was merely beginner’s luck, so I embarked on another baking project immediately after that.

“This one’s easy,” Aunt said.

Of course, “easy” is relative.  I’m the type of girl who can kill a cactus or guppies (longkang fish) effortlessly.

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Step 1:
Chuck 200g dark chocolate, 150g castor sugar, 150g butter, 1 tablespoon strong espresso coffee and 1tablespoon rum/brandy in a bowl.

 

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Step 2:
Sit the bowl in simmering water (i.e. double boil) until all the ingredients melt.

Step 3:
Remove from heat and stir well to combine 100g ground almonds/hazelnuts and 1 tablespoon of plain flour. Then beat in 5 egg yolks, one at a time.

 

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Step 4:
Beat egg whites (from the earlier 5 eggs) till stiff. Ladle spoonsful into chocolate mixture and fold in.

 

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Step 5:
Pour into lined tin (23cm diameter). Bake at 180°C for 40 – 50 minutes.

 

Butter espresso chocolate cake

Step 6:
Dust with icing sugar and serve.

 

What joy.  My SECOND edible cake.  Time to celebrate.

If I can do it, so can your dog.  

Okay lah, I just wanted an excuse to put in this ultra-cute picture of an ultra-cute doggy belonging to ultra-talented Aunt in Oz.

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Sid’s Pub, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail

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Sid’s Pub

1.

The Malaysian mentality of keeping up with the Joneses goes beyond showing off material goods.  Now we’re even comparing illnesses.  Don’t believe me?  Try telling someone you’re ill.

“I’m ill.  I’ve been throwing up and have had high fever for four days.  I’m miserable.”

“Poor dear,” she says, and for a moment, you think that the world’s good and you will get the sympathy you deserve.  Hah.   It is a brief second before she continues, “Well, I have been coughing so much lately and my mother-in-law has given me this herbal remedy but I don’t think it works on me but I’m hanging on, dear, because I am surrounded by love and my husband and my children who are nursing me back to health because this cough is so terrible that it happens once every three hours and I can’t go to work and if you think you’re bad, I’m worse.”

There, she said it.  What she means is, “Listen missy, if you think you’re sick, I’m sicker.  Nyeh nyeh nyeh.”

Okay, I get it.

♥

But true friends, people, true friends are the ones who make life worth living:

Day 1

SMS from FBB (blogger extraordinaire):  Thamby*, dead ah?

(* term of endearment for My Goddess)

Day 2

FBB:  Thamby, dead ah?

Day 3

FBB:  Thamby, dead ah?

30 minutes later…..

FBB:  So got lose weight ah?

Day 4

FBB:  So, dead yet?

FBB:  Glad to hear u not dead.  Busy weekend, no time for wakes.

Anyway.

I’ve been out of action for a bit, and am still on the road to recovery.  I apologize if you haven’t seen me online for the past week or so.  It is really hard to look at food blogs when one keeps throwing up what one eats.  I spent a miserable week at home wishing that I had more chick-lit instead of books like My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk which starts with “I am a corpse”.  Someone kill me.  Choice No. 2 – Shame by Salman Rushdie.  Choice No. 3 – a Murakami book, can’t remember the name.  Choice No. 4 – the daily newspapers.  Thank God for the IKEA catalogue.

2.

Feeling a little less woozy yesterday, I headed to the nearest pub with the husband.  Nice english looking pub called Sid’s with lots of memorabilia on the walls, chairs which had seen better upholstery in its heyday (about a year ago) and a bartender with a fine english accent.  Almost made me want to spout poetry.

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Lamb Kashmiri (RM25)

The food’s typical english pub grub (think toad-in-the-hole) with lots of reference to Sid. Or Sid’s uncle. Or something like that. Despite the rather plain presentation, the taste makes up for it. Lamb kashmiri is cooked with tender pieces of meat and lots of cashew nuts and raisins to tone down the spiciness of this dish making it a rather appetising one.

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Pork Vindaloo (RM26)

Notice how the two dishes sort of look alike? I wasn’t kidding about the presentation bit.  But taste it and the difference is apparent.  Vindaloo is not common here in Malaysia as it is a Goan (from Goa) dish.  With roots in Portuguese cuisine, this dish has a stark sourness that is also the trademark of a portuguese devil curry, but is far spicier and enough to burn a hole right through the stomach to Port Dickson.  The lean pork was a bit too stringy for my liking, and I preferred the potatoes in the dish.

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Blue Cheese Mushrooms (RM14)

I loved the sauteed button mushrooms in garlic and cream and blue cheese. The cream toned down the pungency of the cheese, but enough of the flavour came through.  The sauce is thick and gooey and sinful. I’d think that this dish would be perfect with a pint.

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A pint of Guinness

And speaking of a pint, at RM17 each, a pretty good deal to complete a totally numbing experience. Apparently, they’re having some all day happy hours deal right now.  Go check it out.  I love love love this pub.

Sid’s Pub
No 34, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
60000 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-7727 7437