Kitchen solutions from Samsung

I love eating as much as I love cooking. But have never been cooking as much as I like because:

• busy busy busy with work
• not having the most equipped kitchen
• cooking isn't as easy as eating:P

But really if one has a properly equipped kitchen and some basic know hows, cooking can be a breeze for any career woman. Samsung to the rescue. Aptly named Samsung Kitchen Solution "Designed for your extraordinary life" the line of hob, hood and oven as I saw in Harvey Norman at Ikano is simply a life saver.

Does it have to be expensive? Nope! For the offerings of a hood and ceramic / induction hob, the prices ranges from RM2999 (ceramic) (normal price RM3598) to RM5399 (induction) (normal price RM6498). The top up deals promo (when you purchase the above hood and hob packages) for the ovens are certainly too good to be resisted. Ovens range from RM2300 (normal price RM2799) to Rm3300 (normal price RM3999).
Now price sounds good, the features have to be good and also look good or else what's the point?
I've always hated cooking the conventional way mainly because of the fear that a lousy hood means the whole kitchen is going to be greasy and stinky. Samsung has launched 2 hoods which do not take up a lot of space (60cm and 90cm width that should fit easily into any kitchen). What is interesting is the aluminium filter which are easy to clean unlike the conventional carbon, paper and flease that cost more to change. And you can just imagine if you do not change it often enough, the hood certainly will not function at its optimum.

And the halogen light on the hood will ensure that you can see what you are cooking easily. Speaking from experience unless the hood has proper lighting, chances are your cooking are isn't going to be properly illuminated.

Induction and ceramic hobs are a God sent creation especially when you have kids lurking around in the house. With a fire stove, they either will set the house on fire or play with fire and burn themselves. Parents will be pleased and relieved that all Samsung hobs come with child safety locks to ensure kids don't get themselves burnt by the heat. And with the induction hobs, heat is only generated when the ceramic glass comes in contact with induction compatible cookware e.g. stainless steel, cast iron and enamel.

I've heard complains about ceramic or induction hobs. Amongst which are:
• water cannot boil
• uneven heating

Samsung has launched the induction hob that features heating via induction coils under the ceramic glass surface. With the ceramic hobs, it features four high tech zones with powerful radiant heater to ensure even and quick heating.

And the induction hob has me going in wows...I love using the grill pan and big pots (macamlah I cook for a big family:P). And my complain has always been ceramic hobs in the market doesn't cater to the grill pans simply because of the cooking area. With Samsung's induction hob, there is a huge square area that is huge enough for most grill pans. And Samsung ceramic hobs also feature a multipurpose cooking zone called the Anydish Zone to accomodate cookware of varying size. This unique feature is again to ensure even cooking!
And if you hate cleaning up gas stoves, ceramic hoods is the solution! Simply wipe of the grime with a soft cloth. No need to poke and squeeze the finger to try to clean up spills under the ring.

Ovens have been my favourite ever since I owned my very first convection microwave oven. I have thus progressed to ovens and they are a life saver because I can bake, roast and even grill in one little box:P And with modified dishes I no longer have to clean the whole kitchen after whipping out a meal.
I made up my mind that my next oven must come from Samsung. It features twin convection which means I can now cook 2 dishes at 2 different temperatures on 2 different levels. Amazing isn't it? Mind you this isn't Samsung saying it. I witnessed it with my own eye balls when Chef Ricky from Cilantro demonstrated when he whipped out a backed chicken teriyaki, mini pizza and chocolate walnut cookies to the amazement of the crowd at Harvey Noman recently.

And the Samsung ovens get extra brownie points from lazy people like me. Not because it has a scratch resistant ceramic interior that allows grease to be wiped off easily with a damp cloth. BUT beacuse it features pyrolytic cleaning. The pyrolytic cleaning means that lazy people like don't have to lift a finger to the oven. It is a self cleaning system that works by "superheating" the oven to 500C to burn off any deposits from our bake, roast or grill sessions. Brilliant isn't it?

They look good. And they work absolutely well as I witnessed. So for those who's looking to upgrade their kitchen or shop for a new kitchen, hurry up to Harvey Norman or selected Samsung outlets to grab the current promotion and of course the fabulous kitchen solutions.

Return to destination crazy tired

For the strangest reason, I struggled to get out of bed this morning at 6am. The bed felt really softer than normal. And in my dreams, the alarm was singing but I was still in my dream land. It was a good thing that Shalom jumped up the bed to get me out of bed...

Met Tiger for a morning meet at 8am and I pretty much slept during the drive to Bandar Enstek and on the way back to KL while hubby and Tiger chatted during the journey.

It was warm outside and cool inside the car. And I just basically slept. Floating in and out of dreams. We stopped for petrol and we switched off the engine. I dreamt again. Or was I hallucinating? I dreamt that I was snoozing by a warm sunny beach.

Oh...I must admit that never have trouble sleeping. I'm tired out most days with a long day at work, housework, running and my kickboxing.

Either way, at the rate that I am feeling now at 245pm I think I've returned to a land called Crazy Tired. I hope its only a one day trip. I dread if its anything more. Tonight, I shall knock off work early and sleep. I must sleep at least 8 hours to recharge. There must have been a reason they said to play 8 hours, rest 8 hours and work 8 hours. Hmmmmm let's try recharging 8 hours straight tonight first...

A twist to pain perdu

Pain perdu is not pain in your joints or anything. It means "lost bread" in French. I must admit lost bread doesn't mean anything else except perhaps you lost your bread or did the bread lose its way?

Seriously pain perdu is french toast as we all know it. Originally pain perdu was designed to put stale bread to good use instead of throwing it away.

I've made a twist to the regular french toast for breakfast this morning. I wanted something filling, something for me to play around in one of my favourite playgrounds - Carmel's Kitchen. And I opted to bake so that I don't have to mop the floor again.

It took less than 10 minutes to prepare and while it sat in the oven for 10 minutes, I was cleaning up the kitchen.

Ingredient:
• 1 egg
• 30 ml of milk
• Cinnamon, Freshly ground black pepper and Italian herbs to taste
• 4 slices of thick cut bread (any bread will do...not necessarily stale bread but stale bread makes better pain perdu)
• Grated cheese (any cheese will do)
• 2 gourmet sausages

Instructions:
• Soak bread in milk thoroughly.
• Beat egg with cinnamon, freshly ground black pepper and Italian herbs.
• Soak bread in egg mixture.
• Place bread on baking tray.
• Arrange sliced sausages on the bread.
• Top with cheese.
• Sprinkle with a little Italian herbs for some extra flavour when you bite into the cheese.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 150C for 10 minutes till cheese melts.
Bake a little longer if you like the whole toast to be crispy. I prefer mine to be crisp on the outside and slightly soft inside.
By not mixing the egg and milk as most recipes suggest, you basically get the egg to coat the goodness and flavours of the milk inside. You can imagine that every bite into the toast is an explosion of flavours in layers.

I don't make french toast with stale bread though...never seem to have them at home. And would normally go for bread with a whole lot of grains, nuts and seeds in them for some extra ooomph.

You can actually make it sans cheese and sausage. Then you top it with maple syrup, yoghurt and some fresh fruits for a wholesome healthy breakfast.

Oh! Serve it with some salad on the side for a complete meal.

Working on a Sunday

Here I am. Working on a glorious Sunday. The skies are clear which means that I should be doing any of the following:

Touge somewhere randomly. Camerons sounds good. So does Genting.

OR

Running

OR

Checking out good food somewhere

OR

Cooking / Baking 

OR 

having a picnic somewhere with Shalom and her pals!

But...here I am in office working. LOL

Consolation, I had a hearty breakfast with hubby and Johnson. Bumped into Douglas and Natasha and caught up about our furkids. OK...its back to work:D

Which reminds me...if you missed the previous MACC shows, hurry up and grab your tickets from PJLA!

Dimensao & Coracao Blues

I love all sorts of music. Zouk Love is one of them. Absolutely sensual and charming. After an awesome dinner with pals last night at Shivz Grill I then discovered it is dance nights on Thursday and Sunday nights. Last night was Kizomba (as it is known in Africa) and  Mike spun a couple of songs by Mika Mendes. Have a listen. You may well be hooked:P

Dimensao:

Coracau Blues:

OVO Kitchen. Bistro. Club: 7000 sq ft of party and dining space

Mike invited us for a review of the newly opened OVO in Uptown 2.

7000 sq ft sounds good for a "party and dining" experience in PJ. I was excited. And I was hungry (again since when am I not hungry?)

Arrived nice and early at almost 630pm. Just in time to shoot a little with my humble Lumix LX3.

Went up the escalator...the place looks promising. It was spacious. And being in Damansara Utama, I reckon this would be a good place for people to chill before they head home after work. There is the comfy indoors with couches, sit at the long bar or hang around the pool table. Alternatively head out for fresh air with your drink.

Started taking pictures of the food. Honestly they look good. Serving portion looks impressive. And they looked like they would taste good.

The outdoor area is a nice place to chill after work. And perhaps a nice candid shot of a pal too. Like this of Andrew.

Drizzle begins...

Chef comes out and commented that we left the good food in the rain and of oysters drowning in melted ice. He bitches on and on and on. Now that makes a horrible first impression of him. Admittedly the food was in the rain. But no need to repeat again and again and again.

In that midst of bitching, he says the scallops are fresh scallops from Hokkaido. Hmmm, that sounds awesome.

We head in and while some wonder around taking more pics. Some have a game of pool. 7 plus...I'm hungry and thirsty. Still no sign of any food. I take a couple of pics of OVO and continue people watching.

When we're finally seated, waiter comes up to us and asked us what we would like to drink. "Coke or Sprite". That's it. Coke or Sprite. Excuse me, didn't someone just tell us to order whatever we wanted to drink? Miscommunication perhaps from the management to the waiters? My pals ordered Coke or Sprite. Hehehe this is one strange place. They serve Coke and Sprite at room temperature! I don't think we look like we're having coughs or were kids who are not allowed cold drinks at night.

Then Mike orders Guinness that sounded awesome to me. I order the same. A bomb is dropped. We have to pay for our own alcohol. Hmmm what happened to "order whatever drink you want"? I ordered nevertheless. Strange thing is Mike and Marcky's Guinness arrive. So did the next table's. But where is my Guinness? I order again. And I am not sure if I looked underage or ladies are not allowed to have an alcoholic beverage because waiter ignores my order. Marcky repeats my order and it finally arrives. Gerammmmmmss

Mocktails arrive first. I've never been a mocktail fan. They did look vibrant and colourful. Some interesting but corny names e.g. First Love. Took a sip from each mocktail that was served. Hmmm I just didn't like them. Reminded me of the syrup medications that I took as a child. A few pals felt the same. To be fair, we're probably all not into mocktails?

Food finally arrives. First dish was lamb, pasta and salmon on a plate. Pasta was OK tasting but a tad salty for my personal liking. Mouthful of salmon could hardly tell me anything.

But the lamb was good. This dish receives a full thumbs up!

Dish 2 arrives. 2 plates of sushi. 10 pieces and there's 12 of us:-( This avocado one looks promising but turned out dry inside.

I love cabbage and was looking forward to the cabbage one. Alas 10 pieces for 12 persons. You can work out the maths easily. I didn't get to try it and obviously can't tell how it tasted.

Dessert arrive. Didn't look promising. Neither did it taste good. Ice cream was a wee frozen that you can bite into bits of frozen ice bits. Cake was chewy.

When we sat down, they asked us to raise our hands if we ate oysters. Strange thing we were never served oysters. Or did the oysters all drown in the melted ice outside during the shoot?

We're ushered out to join them (management and other guests for the night) at the lounge area. We declined. Had to have our hungry stomachs fed elsewhere.

Summary?
• OVO is located in a nice place if you're working in or around Damansara Utama.
• Food is so so only (well from the items I tasted) with the exception of the lamb that I declare 6.5/10. Warm food needs to be served warm. And cold food to be served cold not room temperature or frozen.
• Service needs some fixing from the chefs to the waiters.
• I'll return to OVO only if friends want to go there. Sorry OVO but after the bittersweet experience, I'll not want to return on my own accord.

David Gray: Babylon

British songwriter singer David Gray with Babylon. Not many commercial hits from him but this is one track that hit the UK and US charts well.

Liked this song. Not just the melody. The lyrics are quite true on some days in some point of our lives:D

Here's a live version. I just love his voice...


Friday night I'm going nowhere
All the lights are changing green to red
Turning over TV stations
Situations running through my head
Well looking back through time
You know it's clear that I've been blind
I've been a fool
To ever open up my heart
To all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule

Saturday I'm running wild
And all the lights are changing red to green
Moving through the crowd I'm pushing
Chemicals all rushing through my bloodstream
Only wish that you were here
You know I'm seeing it so clear
I've been afraid
To tell you how I really feel
Admit to some of those bad mistakes I've made

If you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now

Babylon, Babylon

Sunday all the lights of London
Shining , Sky is fading red to blue
I'm kicking through the Autumn leaves
And wondering where it is you might be going to
Turning back for home
You know I'm feeling so alone
I can't believe
Climbing on the stair
I turn around to see you smiling there
In front of me

If you want it
Come and get it
Crying out loud
The love that I was
Giving you was
Never in doubt
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now
Let go your heart
Let go your head
And feel it now

Babylon, Babylon, Babylon

This is the version of the MTV release for UK. Slightly different intro but the lyrics are the same. And if you ask me, it is still great.

Carmel's Kitchen: hawaiian bacon pizza

Carmel's Kitchen is one of my favourite makan places.

Its homely, no MSG, no fuss...no worries about table manners.

And one of the all time favourite is the Hawaiian Bacon Pizza. Its crispy and oozing with flavour from the cheese and bacon. A 9" pizza packs layers of bacon all over. Its bacon under the pineapple. Bacon over the pineapple. Its bacon galore all the way!

The tangy sweet fresh pineapples are not canned ones.

All the above on a crisp thin pizza base.

If you like yours super cheesy just tell kitchen that and it'll be dribbling with cheese. Creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

I asked for permission to peep into Carmel's Kitchen when they made the pizza...Here's how it goes:
• 9" Pizza base
• Tomato base
• 250g bacon
• Italian herbs
• Grated Mozarella and Cheddar Cheese
• Chopped pineapple

1 Spoon tomato base onto pizza base.
2 Place 1/2 of the bacon onto the pizza base.
3 Sprinkle pineapple
4 Place the remaining bacon over the pineapple and any other uncovered parts

5 Sprinkle cheese all over
6 Sprinkle the Italian herbs

7 Bake for 10 minutes at 200C

Now you can eat:D

Carmel's Kitchen is at:
www.3bittersweetlemon.blogspot.com

Or chat them at @missyblurkit OR @divashalom

Nyonya delights @ Rogers Delight

I hardly make my way down to Kota Damansara. Mainly its the traffic and parking that freaks me out. However for food...yes I would travel.

Its been some time since I had nyonya food. I must admit that the name Rogers Delight didn't sound anywhere nyonya but as much as looks can be deceiving, so can names:P And looking at the selection that Rogers Delight has on their menu (and its still growing), I reckon you could check this place out for your coming CNY reunion dinner too (well something different from the regular chinese restaurant fare).

My fave dish for the night is the assam prawn. Its a semi dry dish but if you can imagine the taste of assam laksa (I love assam laksa...) on prawns... Its a nice combination of lengkuas (galangal), bunga kantan (ginger flower), assam (tamarind) and I believe serai (lemongrass) with prawns...its almost heaven. Of course there are other ingredients:P

One of their signature dish is duck curry in claypot. I'll have to say that the duck is nice and tender. So yes if you love duck, give this dish a try.

One more fave is the simple dish of ladies fingers with sambal hebie. Plain tasting ladies fingers went well with the flavourful sambal hebie. Of course my personal preference would be for the sambal hebie to be a tad drier. But that aside, it did taste yummy like how my granny made it in Penang.

Hubby's fave dish was the salted egg crab which I admit is nice too. I normally prefer my crab steamed plain or in lemong kok hai style at Long Grilled Fish. This took me by surprise as the crabs were all evenly coated with the rich creamy taste of the salted egg yellow...yes this is another must try dish.

What is nyonya food without fish head curry? And the prawn in coconut is another dish that is yummy. Be prepared to be load on lots of white rice if you're having these 2 dishes and the duck curry.

As mentioned that the menu is still growing and we had this tofu dish called the Silky Tofu. I loved it. Its mild tasting compared with the other and allows our tastebuds to relax a while.

And you are dining with kids, the mixed seafood in pineapple is a good option. Think mixed seafood prepared the sweet and sour style:D

Dessert. What is dinner without dessert? Check out this utterly evil looking dessert that looks super creamy, super rich and super sweet. Looks are deceiving...it turned out just nicely sweet and not too overpowering after we have had so much to eat. So good that I ate hubby's share (rare because I don't exactly have a sweet tooth and never really fancied coconut milk). The sago went well with the sweet potato and coconut milk...delightful:P

So find your way there if you're in the area:

Rogers Delight
No. 32A1, Jalan PJU 5/10,

Dataran Sunway,

Kota Damansara,

47810 Petaling Jaya,

Selangor Darul Ehsan.

Tel: +6016 326 3083 (Roger Chong)