Hail Barley!

In the hospital that i underwent my internship, they serve Barley during both meal times which is during lunch and dinner. I was wondering what could be the benefits of barley as it was consumed so widely in the hospital. From the information found, Barley was known to give our intestinal health a boost. 

It helps by decreasing the transit time of fecal matter, thus decreasing the risk of colon cancer and hemorrhoids. Its' dietary fiber also provides food for the "friendly" bacteria in the large intestine. When these helpful bacteria ferment barley's insoluble fiber, they produce a short-chain fatty acid which serves as the primary fuel for the cells of the large intestine and helps maintain a healthy colon. It was also said to be rich in essential nutrients and antioxidants that help delay the effects of aging, prevention of arteriosclerosis and reduce inflammation and muscle soreness. So all grab a cup of Barley water today!!

Ice say CREAM!

Ice-cream! I'm certain most would have tasted this dessert and agree with me consider one of the greatest creation ever. Its creamy, its sweet and most importantly it gives the cooling effect especially during hot weather which we experience almost 24/7 considering our country is situated on the equator of our earth. Despite the crazy high price of ice-cream joints like Haagen dazs, Baskin Robbins and New Zealand Natural, they are still many people visiting them. The reason is that we just CANT get enough of ice-creams.

Me with my green tea ice-cream. LOVE IT! 

 So what's your favourite flavour?

Cheese Baked rice our style!

My housemate and I were out of ideas on what to have for lunch one of the Sunday afternoon. So, we decided to cook according to the ingredients we have left, which were carrots, cauliflower and button mushrooms. My friend was craving for something cheesy yet filling so I suggested why not try cheesy baked rice like those we have in Kim Gary restaurant except ours is much simpler.

It started off with washing and cooking of the rice. Followed by cutting the carrots and cauliflower we had into smaller pieces while not forgetting the button mushrooms as well. The vegetables and mushrooms were blanched with boiling hot water.

Once done, the vegetables were stirred fried with the alfredo sauce and some milk. An egg can be added as well to make it more flavorful and acts as a good source of protein. The mixture will then be poured on top of the cooked rice and a slice or two of cheese will be spread on top of the rice.

It will then be microwaved for at least 1 minute to allow the cheese to melt. Then tadaaa….Its done! With just 3 simple steps, anyone can do it and its as simple as ABC.

We enjoyed our food while watching the movie “Dear John”. It was a sad love story which eventually had happy endings. I particularly love this song  entitled “Little House” that was sang by Amanda seyfried .

Royal Palace-ing

After settling his stuff, we decided to pay Little Korea in Ampang a visit. There were numerous Korean restaurant around and we were in a dilemma on which to enter. After scouting around, we settled for Royal Palace which has a lot of actors and actresses' pictures stick at the entrance and glasses around. 

They were very generous when it comes to giving the side dishes. Look at the types and amount given!

First thing we had in mind when entering a Korean eatery shop is its Kimchi soup. We had the soup with pork slices in it for just RM15 . The smell was strong and the soup was thick, coupled with the fact that its spicy enough so we love it despite being a little salty 

 . We also ordered Bibimbap (More details on it) We love all the greens placed inside which was fresh and crunchy. Eventhough it is just a simple dish but the taste was exquisite.

Aloha! Food republic

 The fried rice with some fried chicken cutlets.

Our next stop was Food Republic in the Pavilion. We surveyed around before finally settling for pattaya fried rice and wantan la-mien. B liked the la-mien and I loved the soup that came together with the fried rice. Generally, we left as rather satisfied tunny filled customer.
I love tom yam! This video shows the way to cook it. Yums.

Italiannies attack!

Over the weekends, Brian came down for his presentation and we took this opportunity to hang around. We had lunch at Italiannies. It is one of my personal favourite restaurants. They serve good food and comfortable and nice ambiance. As I am a “bread” person, despite simple I love the complimentary bread given.

We went to the branch in the Gardens. He ordered the set which comprises of tomato bruschetta and half roasted chicken. I ordered Parmesan crusted fish. I love the tenderness of the chicken. It was unlike those chicken from Kenny rogers or Nandos which can be a little dry sometimes. The bruschetta was good as well with the capers on top. Parmesan crusted fish however can be a little dry. We order one grape shake. It was refreshing and “grap-ish”. Overall, we love what we had. Yums! Can’t wait for the next visit.

The GRAPE shake!

Just one left. Finish the rest before the photo could be taken. Haha..

The fish.

Jam making session

One of our lab session, we were required to make apple Jam. It was a FUN filled session. Did not it was actually quite simple to make it as long as you have the ingredients in the correct amount and ratio. One of the crucial things to take note is stirring the mixture as not to let it burn or instead of apple jam it would have been caramel apple jam instead! 

Huey Ghee! keeping our jam from being burnt by stirring it occasionally.

That was our jam! Of course the colour was not as clear and appealing as the commercial one. However the taste was great albeit being sweeter than my liking.

POP-CORNS MANIA!

Garret Popcorns! One of the best popcorns I ever had. I got this last year when I was visiting Sentosa Island. There was this shop outside of Universal studio that sold these popcorns. There are a few flavours but we picked the Chicago mix which had a mixture of cheesy and caramel popcorns. Combination of this two was GREAT!

 The caramel coated popcorns made us drooled.

The aroma of the popcorn caught our attention even from far and we were curious upon seeing so many people in the shop. Thus we decided to explore as well and found this gem. It’s a must to visit this shop for all Popcorn lovers!

We were at papa pizza!

I was craving for pizza but did not want those normal pizza joint like Dominos or Pizza Hut. So we headed to papa pizza in tanjung bungah. As it was Christmas day, we were given ginger bread man by the staff! It was so cute. 

Besides the pizza, we ordered this mushroom cream sauce spaghetti as well. It may not be the best i have tasted but for that price, I was satisfied with it. We had pizza as well but gobbled it down as soon as it was serve. Thus, no picture was taken of it.

The gingerbread man given tasted rather okay. Thought i might ask my mom to try it sometime and found this video that i find quite helpful. Simple, short and easily understandable. Don't you agree?

Dinner at Figos

 It was last year when I noticed that there was a new restaurant near my residential area. Once again out of curiosity, we decided to give it a try. Before we went, did check out the review on the restaurant and rather good ones were given to them. Apparently it was a restaurant with a little of Mexican and Portuguese influence as the food served has an influence of both culture.

A dish with a fancy name caught our eye, Jambalaya (origin of Jambalaya) which kinda rhymes with Himalaya. So we ordered that dish and a chicken Enchiladas. A review by previous patron mentioned the portion was big, boy were we surprised upon seeing the big pot of jambalaya.

 See those big juicy seafood!

Despite trying our best to eat as much as we could, we only manage to finish half of the Jambalaya. It was something different and refreshing and we loved the enchiladas. It was like having something from chilies but at a less steep price. Definitely will visit the place again!