Adorable Animals around Taipei

I nearly walked past this shop without seeing this lil ball of white fluff, then I did a double take when I saw his tag: Store Manager! Hahahahaha ...

Look at this sweetie at the junction of Zhongxiao Fuxing Rd ... This lil silky was soooo tiny! And her owner was this huge guy who was arranging her little cap ... awwwww .... so sweet!

This was the kitty cat - a sweet looking Scottish Fold - that caught my eye the last time I was at Shida. She was sitting by the window, and I was so tempted to go into the cafe to play with her. I couldn't take a proper pic of her cos she's apparently very shy ...

At first glance, this kitty looks fierce, but she turned out to have the sweetest nature of the 3 cats. She was actually facing the other way, but the moment I started petting her, she got up, turned around and faced me, as though patiently waiting for me to take a picture of her! Sooooo sweet!

This was the fiercest kitty of the three! Based on appearances, you'd think she was the nicest, but she was fierce! When I touched her paw, she would swat at my hand. But it was hilarious watching her groom herself cos her fur was so long. She'd lift her head really high just to get to the end of her fur! Hahahaha .... It must be really a full-time job grooming herself!

Homemade Chocolate Cake!

I luuurve this cake!

The other day, while I was thinking of California, Claim Jumper's Motherlode Chocolate Cake suddenly popped into my head. That inspired a search on google where I found this fantastic recipe for a similar chocolate cake. I couldn't resist and tried baking it ... would ya look at this cake? DELISH!!!! It's gone to the top of my chocolate cake recipes now :)

Curry Puffs ... Looking Beyond the Surface ...

I had a packet of curry paste which was going to expire soon, and I was trying to figure out what to do with it when it suddenly hit me ... curry puffs!

I haven't found any curry puffs in Taipei, so it was definitely something I missed about Singapore. I quickly made some pastry dough, cooked my chicken, potatoes and eggs with the curry paste, and .... ta-da! Curry Puffs!

ok ... admittedly, they don't look great ... the pastry was kinda hard to handle (but then again, I'm just a novice cook ...), but it tasted wonderful ... all buttery yet crisp. Looking beyond the exterior, they were pretty great :) ... at least in the eyes (and taste) of this beholder :)

Thai Fish Cakes

Saw my friend's hubby's delicious Thai Fish Cakes on her blog the other day and got the recipe from her ... and voila! ....

Afternoon Tea, Hankyu Dept Store, Taipei

When my mother-in-law came over, we decided to take her to Afternoon Tea for lunch. We ordered the set meal which came with a corn soup and bread ...

We ordered some fruit tea for her to try ...

I had a pot of Earl Grey Tea kept warm in Afternoon's Tea tea cozy ...

For our main courses, we had spaghetti with chicken in a tomato base sauce ...

Bacon with mentaiko in a creamy sauce ...

Mixed vegetables in a creamy sauce ...

The dessert I was looking forward to: Kiwi and Banana swiss roll ... YUM!

A seasonal strawberry tart ...

Putien, Singapore

During my previous visit home, my mom took me to Putien at Jurong Point. As I thought their food was pretty good, we decided to visit the outlet at Marina. As usual, we ordered these fried "mantou" (Chinese bread), which was served with ...

Shredded pork with onions ....

Sweet n sour pork ... my niece's favorite dish :)

Homemade beancurd ... my niece's other favorite dish :)

Fried bee hoon ...

Fried shrimp rolls ...

Razor clams with garlic ...

Fried yam with onion ...

Peranakan Museum, Singapore

Inspired by all the sarong kebayas I had seen in that beautiful shop in Malacca, I decided to pay a visit to the Peranakan Museum in Singapore as they were coincidentally having a special sarong kebaya exhibition.

This particular collection featured mainly white kebayas. Just look at the beautiful embroidery!

I did a double take when I saw this sarong ... it's actually a depiction of the fairy tale - Cinderella! How fascinating! What an unusual batik print ... so different from the typical batik flower prints ...

While I love kebayas with their beautiful colours and gorgeous embroidery, I've not been too keen on the sarong skirts, but I was drawn to these lovely sarongs ... aren't the colours and prints so pretty?

I had initially walked past these tablecloths thinking they were either printed or embroidered. Then my mom told me they were beaded! Yes, really! Isn't it amazing that the Peranakan women then made such beautiful intricate and rich beaded tablecloths then?

A vintage Singer sewing machine, an identical one of which my mom has and still uses today.

Malaccan Food

We stopped by JB - Johor Bahru - for breakfast first, on route to Malacca. This is a typical local eating area ...

My parents had wanton mee ...

A few hours later, we were in Malacca. After seeing a few sights, we headed to Nancy's Kitchen for some authentic Peranakan food ...

This is their signature dish: popiah. I was thinking how good can popiah be? Then I bit into this, and ... wow ... this was really good popiah!

Sotong with petai ...

Brinjal/eggplant ...

Omelete with Chinchaluk (fermented shrimp) ...

Ngoh Hiang ...

Ayam Buah Keluak ...

Nonya Chap Chye ...

Babi Ponteh ...

Nonya Zhang ...

Lady's Finger / Okra with sambal belachan ...

Kueh Pie Tee ...

After lunch, we were more than ready for our dessert at this place ...

Delicious Chendol!

Our driver surprised us with this stop ... where were we?!

He took us to buy homemade (literally! this was in someone's home!) nonya kueh!

Apom ...

Banana/Durian pancake/kueh ...

Look at that colourful assortment of kuehs!

ondeh ondeh ...

After some shopping, we stopped by JB again for some local dinner ...

I was surprised to see this dish offered: pork with yam! It's a dish my East Malaysian mother-in-law cooks occasionally! I always thought it was an East Malaysian dish, but after seeing it in JB, maybe it's just a Malaysian dish.

Sweet and sour pork ...

Special "homemade" tofu ...

Cereal prawns ...

Roast chicken with keropok ...

Dou miao ...

Sweet potato leaves with sambal ...