Taiping 2014 - The Sights

Continues from here.

After our Penang trip, we were off to Taiping for 2 nights (Sept 17th and 18th). 3 other families from KL were to meet us at the hotel, Sentosa Villa, so that we could enjoy the city together.

As usual, we find Taiping and its surrounding having so much to offer. Besides eating non-stop, we spent time at Taiping Town, Taiping Lake Gardens, Kuala Sepetang, and the girls love just being in Sentosa Villa as there were so much to do.

♥Sentosa Villa♥



There's a stream running through the compound of the hotel, with thick vegetation at the river banks, there were lots of tiny fishes and shrimps found in the stream. We bought colanders and used them as 'nets', the children spent loads of time 'netting' fishes and shrimps in the stream. Zaria was especially happy when she became an expert shrimp catcher.


The children had water fights at the shallow natural pools at the hotel too. Luckily the loud happy sounds they made were muffled by the sound of the running stream.


♥Taiping Town♥
As we went to town for breakfast, we usually spent sometime walking about town, looking at the pre-war shop houses/buildings.






Showing the girls some of the innovative ways shop owners keep their cash for the day, which is just a retractable pail.


♥Taiping Lake Gardens♥
A trip to Taiping is incomplete without taking a stroll in the Taiping Lake Gardens.






♥Kuala Sepetang♥
And for us, Kuala Sepetang is also a must go when we go to Taiping, as we want to stock up on our charcoal for the year.
Instead of going to the more famous Mr Chuah's Charcoal Factory, we went to Charcoal Collection instead.

The entrance to Charcoal Collection can be easily missed. It's on the right side before you come to Mr Chuah's big wide entrance. However, once you pass through the entrance, the inside is wide and spacious, with many kilns. One of the main reason people visit Charcoal Collection is to get big charcoal decoration pieces for the home (supposed to keep air fresh).

There were different kilns in different stages of baking the charcoal.

This one is in the process of baking.


This one is in the process of cooling.


And this kiln is in the midst of being set up.


Surrounding the factory, mangrove logs were skinned to await being baked into charcoal.


Besides the charcoal factory in Kuala Sepetang, the fishing village is also a lovely place to visit for seafood meal and also stocking up on dried seafood.




♥An Tong Coffee Factory♥
This trip, we visited An Tong Coffee Factory as well, the oldest coffee mill in Malaysia (located at : 8A, Jalan Syed Burhan Taiping Perak, 34000 Taiping)

A tour of the place is free, where they showed us how coffee is roasted using firewood, then skinned.

For our local type of coffee will have a few extra steps. The coffee beans are fried with sugar and other ingredients and then grindded into powder. Caramel is prepared before the roasted coffee beans are mixed in for frying.




Aaah, and here is another one nice one for the album. We saw this elderly man bringing his dog out in his bike, and he was so cooperative he asked his dog to pose for us.

A Stack of Pancakes

I have always made my pancakes using estimated measurement and ingredients. I.e. some flour, some milk, some sugar, an egg or two, some water. When I cooked them, I used a little bit of oil or butter. The results? Sometimes they turned out ok, sometimes they turned out not bad, i.e. not consistent.

Then I came across this recipe from Annie Bell Gorgeous Cakes. I tried it once, and boy, now, I use it all the time.

These pancakes are my daughters' favourite breakfast (for now), but I could only make them when there's no morning rush, i.e. where I could spend time in the kitchen cooking them.

♥Pancakes♥
adapted from Annie Bell Gorgeous Cakes
(makes 16~18 pancakes)

You'll need :

250g plain flour
castor sugar
pinch of sea salt
3 eggs and 2 egg yolks
600ml full cream milk
40g unsalted butter, melted

Method : (I use the blender since it's easier, but you can also do the same by hand)

1) Place all ingredients except for the butter in a blender and whizz until smooth (make sure no flour is clining on the side of bottom of the blender)
2) Leave the batter to stand for 30mins (I'd not actually have time to let it stand, since 2 hungry faces are always peeping into the kitchen to check when the pancakes are ready), then stir in the melted butter.
3) Heat a non stick frying pan the size you want the pancakes to be (mine is about 18cm).
4) Ladle in just enough batter to coat the base (no need to oil the pan), tipping it to allow it to run evenly over the surface.
5) Cook for 30seconds on 1 side, then flip over and cook another 30seconds on the other side or until both sides are cooked, then slip it onto a plate.
6) Cook the remainder likewise.
(When I have cooked enough pancakes for the whole family, I'll put the rest of the batter into an airtight container and refrigerate it. Then the following morning, we can have pancakes again.)

My eldest likes hers with grated parmessan, and my younger one likes to dip hers into a plate of sugar. Yums! That's what they say.

Penang 2014 – Part 3 Around Georgetown

OMG! Year end holiday has already started and I'm still not done talking about September holiday..

Continues from here.

♥Sept 16th Tuesday♥

Here is how a Executive Suite looks like in Traders Hotel (oh, now it's called Hotel Jen). It's 2 rooms attached, 1 being the bedroom, the other being the living room where they have placed an extra mattress for us.


Started the day at Lebuh Armenia (Armenian Street), rented bicycles again from Chin Seng Leong Bike Shop and wanted to ride around Georgetown, but it was such a hot day we returned the bike after less than 15mins (without any refund, sigh).

We walked instead. Enjoying the sights and trying to hunt down more street art/murals.










On a hot day like this, it's nice to spot an Ice ball seller.


And the girls have a chance to taste our childhood dessert.


We visited the Peranakan Mansion just to show the girls how the Babas and the Nyonyas live.


Such a grand mansion, which is a favourite spot for wedding photos.


After that, we had a simple lunch and then spent the rest of the evening at Golden Sands Resort at Batu Feringgi. (This is the thing about staying in Traders Hotel, you get to make use of the facilities at Golden Sands Resort; with the hotel now rebranded to Hotel Jen, not sure if the same still applies).


That night's dinner, we went to Nyonya Breeze Desire at Straits Quay. We'd been going to Nonya Breeze every year during our (11 years) annual visit to Penang, not one year we missed it. However, after this visit, we're no longer compel to go there as the menu here is limited, and taste wise it wasn't as good as how it was like in the Lorong Abu Siti outlet.

♥Sept 17th Wednesday♥

After breakfast, we checked out and did more exploring at Georgetown. First stop was Toh Soon Cafe (again) for a nice refreshing cup of coffee.


Zaria insisted on a visit to La Vanille (located at : 122 A Hutton Lane, Pulau Penang) for macarons. Ah... again, this round, we didn't think it was that nice.


Then we went to the famous Lorong Selamat Char Kway Teow (located at : Kafe Heng Huat, 108 Lorong Selamat, Penang, Malaysia).

Auntie Shower Cap now has an apprentice who fry along side her (the apprentice used to be an order taker). That stove the apprentice was using was not a charcoal stove, but a gas stove.


Hubs and the girls got a plate from Auntie Shower Cap herself (this photo); I got a plate from the apprentice which was drenched in oil (I tilted the plate, and oil was dripping down!), and there's not enough wok-hei. Just horrible!


Luckily the Heh Jian (fried prawns) from the neighbouring coffee shop (yes, you can order over) was good, so it was my lunch instead of the Char Kway Teow.


Unplanned, we passed the Made In Penang Interactive Museum and the girls seeing a crowd outside, wanted to visit it as well.

It's basically a trick eye museum.


With a few interactive screens.


And some small models depicting life in Penang decades ago.


One visit is enough.

When we left, Zaria wanted to have a caricature draw her, but because there were 3 people ahead of her (a long wait), we decided against it.


It was time to leave Penang, and we took the ferry across.

My Best Bread Recipe

Life has been crazy for me. To think that I'll be less busy after the girls' school exams; not knowing there'll be the school talent time, the various events the girls' will be performing in, their involvement in all the different examinations I have signed them up for.

Anyway, despite the busy schedule, I'd been baking bread rather frequently, and this is the recipe I like using as it yields beautiful European style bread with crispy crust (when it's just out of the oven). It's my best recipe for this kind of bread.



♥Recipe adapted from Richard Bertinet♥

Ingredients:
For the ferment：
350g flour
180g water
1/2 tsp yeast

For the dough:
450g strong white flour
10g yeast
340g water
50g olive oil (I sometimes use avocado oil)
15g salt

Method :
For the ferment :
1) Mix ingredients for the ferment together (I use hand) for a bout 5mins until you have a rough dough.
2) Place in bowl, cover and leave it to rest 8hrs or overnight.

For the dough:
1) Put the flour in a mixing bowl and add in the yeast. Scoop the ferment into the bowl, then add the water, oil and salt, mixing well until all combined; knead for 4-5mins (I use the Thermomix and knead for 4mins; but you can use hand or a mixer with dough hoook).
2) Remove the dough, and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, forming it to a ball, cover
3) Leave it to rest for 1.5hrs
4) Flour your work surface generously with flour and turn the dough out in one piece. Divide the dough equally into 2 portion. Shape the 2 pieces of dough lightly and gently (it's very soft but supple) into a ball or loaf.
5)　I use proofing baskets, one longish and another round, so I shape one into round, and another into a loaf. Dust my proofing basket generously with flour, and gently place the dough into the baskets. (If you are not using a proofing baskets, you can place the formed dough onto your baking tray generously dusted with flour). Cover with tea towel and let the dough proof for 45mins to 1hr until double in size.
6) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240C. When the dough is ready, spray the inside of the oven with a water spray and then pour out the dough from the proofing basket onto the baking tray (heated). Turn down the heat to 220C and bake for 18~20mins.

And there, a nice airy loaf of bread with a crust.


Here are some photos on the ferment and the dough before it went into the oven.
The ferment at the initial stage.


The ferment after 12hours or more.


The ferment when pulled, lots of bubbles and elasticity.


Mixed dough with ferment.


Mixed dough after resting, which has doubled in bulk. (Photo taken with phone under low light, not so nicely taken)


Dough proofing in baskets.


Bread before entering the oven.