Tuesday Night Dinner

I could not think of what to make and I've been having cravings for Alfredo for the longest time. The reason why I haven't had it is because I am still trying to refrain myself from seafood after the surgery. So since hubby wanted to have chicken that night I decided to make Alfredo (although he doesn't care much for it but will still eat it). I could have just used the store bought Spaghetti noodles but then I've been wanting to try and find a healthier alternative to just the store bought noodles. I know they have whole wheat once out there too but I just never looked for it or haven't seen it at the store that I normally go too. So yesterday I decided to make homemade carrot whole wheat noodles. I'm still trying to play with the ingredients because I don't know how much whole wheat flour I can use without making it dry etc...I'm pretty happy with the first trial but I just want to make the ratio of whole wheat flour more than what I used yesterday.

It doesn't look orange because I coated it with loads of flour so it doesn't stick to each other.


At night I sliced some chicken and marinate it with some Cajun seasoning. The I used some butter in the pan to cook the chicken. At the same time I just cooked the simple Alfredo sauce.

Ingredients
1/4LB if sweet butter or 1/2 c of light butter or 1/2 c of margarine (butter taste much better)
1C of heavy cream/light cream/half and half/whole milk
3/4c or more of fresh Parmesan cheese(if your sauce looks runny just add Parmesan cheese to thicken it)
Salt
pepper
garlic (optional)

Method
1. Melt butter in a pan.
2. Add chopped garlic and saute until fragrant.
3. Pour cream and stir until slightly boil then add cheese.
4. Season with salt and pepper

Alfredo is not a very healthy sauce but I really love it hence I cannot consume this dish all the time. This is a very simple dish since most of the ingredients is available at home.

One track mind...

Hubby said that I have a one track mind because I will keep repeating myself if I want something done pretty bad. For example, last weekend hubby had to work so we were driving around town and I told him that the dogs had very little treat left and we should stop at the pet store to get some treats for them. We just bought a different kind of treat a the weekend before but I wanted to get a different kind of treat for them. They have a vvvaaarrrieeeetttyyyy of treats because I don't want them to get bored just eating a specific treat. I need to have premium quality treats for them too because I don't want them to be eating the not so good quality treats. The last time when my in laws came MIL bought two packet of treats for each of them which I think is one of the cheapest treat she can find at the store. At first I didn't want to let them eat those treats and just wanted to give it away but when I left the house for a little while she opened the treats that she bought for them and fed them those treats (before dinner too). I am organize on when I feed the dogs because I don't want to over feed them or under feed them. I feed them snack through out the day but I didn't want to give them anything just before their dinner because I think is bad habit.

Anyway it is still bugging me!!I've been bugging hubby to stop at the pet store to get some treat for them. I've been meaning to go out but since the swine flu outbreak I kind off just want to stay at home and not go anywhere if I don't have to. I will only go to the store when I truly have to(when I run out of vegetables). I think tomorrow I'll just make a run to the pet store to get them their treat because it just bothers me that I haven't bought the treats for them although even if they finished the very last bit of that treat they would still have other treats.Like hubby said I think I just have a one track mind...I'm going to try and be discipline and see how long if I can wait.

Monday Night Dinner

Every night I have to scratch my head and think hard on what to make for dinner. I told myself once that I should start having a weekly plan on what should we eat for dinner but my problem is we are very fickle minded and we don't know what we always want to eat. Sometimes we would just prefer to go out and grab something to eat or sometimes hubby would just prefer to snack on junk food for dinner.

Yesterday I asked hubby what he wanted to eat and of course he didn't give me anything worth while. All he told me was chicken. I asked him if he wanted to eat Asian or Western food and his answer is I don't know. So since it was up to me to decided I cooked Asian food and I did not cook chicken because I didn't know what to cook with chicken :).

I had a piece of tofu that I bought and decided to cook that. So I went to Lily's website and see what I could make with my tofu without needing me to run to the store to get anything.

Braised Tofu

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. oil

3 tbsp. soya sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp. shaoxing wine
1/2 c. water
1 tsp 5 spice powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp sugar
Pepper
1 lb. super firm tofu, sliced 1/2 inch thick

Method:
In a shallow bowl or baking pan, combine all ingredients except tofu.
Mix well and add tofu, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator 4-5 hours.
Turn tofu slices several times while marinating.
After 4 - 5 hours, remove tofu and pour the marinate into a saucepan.
Bring to the boil and add in tofu. Cook until tofu is warm through.

Adjust taste and serve with a sprinkle of sesame oil and chopped spring onions.

This recipe looked so simple and all I had to do was marinate the tofu before hand. At noon I quickly marinated the tofu so that it will be ready for me to cook when hubby gets back. This is a simple, cheap and yummy dish. This dish goes well with either rice or porridge (congee).

I knew that hubby would not eat the tofu and he's going to need a meat dish. Since I was not planning on cooking chicken I decided to defrost some pork chops instead. I was going to making Asian pork chop rice but I knew I didn't have all the ingredients needed so I found Christine's website and decided to try her braised pork chop with onion recipe. This recipe looked so simple and I had everything I needed to make this.

Ingredients:

250 gm boneless pork chops
1 small onion, shredded

Marinade:

1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon corn flour
a dash of sesame oil
a pinch of pepper

Seasoning:

3 tablespoons water
1/2 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershsire sauce

Method:

1. Rinse and dry boneless pork chops, then slice into pieces if you like. Tenderize pork chops with the back of a chopper and blend in marinade. Leave for 15 minutes.

2. Heat 3-4 tablespoons oil to fry pork chops till both sides are golden. Remove and drain excess oil.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil to sauté shredded onion until light brown. Pour in seasoning mixture. Put in chops again, and stir fry till sauce lessens. Dish up and serve hot.

Hubby loved the pork chops. I thought it tasted pretty good too. I would definitely make this again since this is such an easy dish.

I guess now I just have to decide on what to make for tonight's dinner. I love simple and yummy recipes. How do you decide what to cook for dinner?

Stir Fry Homemade Noodles with Homemade ground chillies in oil

I've been itching to make homemade noodles for quite some time now. I told my mom that I was looking to buy the noodle machine and she told me not to because it's much cheaper in Malaysia. So my last trip back in December mom bought me a noodle machine.

The first time I used that machine was when hubs grandma was down here end of March because she was making Chicken Noodle Soup with homemade noodles. After the itch to make noodles came back again. I've been waiting for hubby to have time to make it with me like a couple thing but he hasn't had any time in doing it together with me. When we have time we try and do something that's more important ie cleaning the yard etc.

So I decided to hop over to Lily's website because I knew she had some recipes on making homemade noodles. After my disappointment with the Hokkien Mee here I've been craving for Hokkien mee and I've been wanting to cook my own but I'm not allowed to eat it yet because I had an elbow surgery (will blog about this some other time) so I'm suppose to (according to my mom and dad) refrain from eating seafood etc.

Ingredients:

350g high protein flour, sifted
2 tsp salt
2 tsp potassium carbonate & sodium bi-carbonate solution(kan sui) {I didn't have this so I substitute it with 2tsp of water with 2tsp of baking soda)
100ml to 150 ml water

Method:

Sift flour into food processor(use the plastic blade) and add potassium carbonate & sodium bi-carbonate solution(kan sui) and salt. Add in 100 ml water and pulse a few times, continue adding the rest of water little by little and pulse, as soon as dough is in pea size crumble, stop adding the water.

Remove from food processor and press crumble into a dough , then leave to rest in a sealed ziploc bag for at least 30 mins.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface dusted with plain flour.

Roll out and flatten dough into rectangular shape, then cut into four equal pieces. Dust each piece with tapioca flour lightly to prevent sticking. Cover the pieces with a clean dry tea towel.

Prepare your noodle machine by adjusting the knob with the rollers to the widest setting.

Insert dough and turn the rollers slowly. Keep rolling the dough through the noodle machine until you get the required thickness.(stop at 3)

Next, set the machine for shredding then shredd the dough.

Repeat this procedure with the rest of the dough.

Toss the noodles lightly in tapioca flour to prevent them from sticking together.

Heat a big pot of water, when water boils, add 2 tsp of salt then a handful of noodles. Stir gently and when noodles float to the top. Scoop up with a spider strainer into a colander, rub cooking oil into the warm noodles. Place noodle into a baking tray to cool before packing.

Finish cooking the rest of the noodles.

The noodles are now ready for use.

For some reason my dough was not sticking together. I had to use way much more water than specified. After resting my sort of breaking up dough I used more water and tried to knead it together. I am pretty sure my dough is not suppose to feel this way but then after cooking it etc it does look like noodles but not as pretty as the once Lily makes.

Although I wasn't cooking Hokkien mee I still made the lard because I just felt like having some lard from the fats that I cut out from the pork I was using to fry the noodles. I did have tad bit too much cabbage but since I am a vegetable lover I didn't mind having more vegetables in the noodles. All I did was fry the noodles with some dark soy sauce, chicken granules, cooking wine and some fish oil. It was a simple one yet it was pretty good.

Anyway since I knew that I was going to cook hokkien mee alike without the seafood etc. So I thought about it and I came across Little Corner of Mine's website and she had a recipe for homemade ground chilli in oil. It looked good and I decided to try my hands on it too so that I have some chili to go with my noodles in the evening.

Ingredients

3 cups of Dried Chili Peppers (preferably the dried chili padi kind)
2 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Belacan Powder
Few dashes of Paprika Powder
Few dashes of Cayenne Pepper Powder
2 cup of cooking oil (canola or vegetable){I used 1cup because two cups looked to much for my chilli I think I didn't have enough chilli maybe?)

Methods

1. Put the dried chili pepper in a saucepan, covered with enough water and boil it. When boiled, turned off the heat, covered and let it sit for 15 mins or until the dried chili peppers have softened, drained.

2. Use a Food Processor to process the chili until fine. Add in the remaining ingredients except oil and pulse again to mix well. Set aside.

3. At the meantime, heat 2 cup of oil in a saucepan in medium heat until hot. Add the blended chili and stir it around until well mixed. Turn off the heat and let it cool completely before storing in a clean glass jar. Keep in the refrigerator.

~Can be used in anything, as condiment to fried rice or mee hoon or use it in stir-frying belacan vegetable or ikan bilis chili for nasi lemak, etc.

Overall I liked the chilli but I think is a little too salty for me. Maybe if I've used two cups or had more chilli maybe it would not be but next time I think I would not use so much salt if I was making the same amount. I like the chilli but this is just not the sambal that you could find in the hawker store in Malaysia although I might never get to make the same kind.

Very not so energetic babies!!

We have been trying to make appointment for Milo to get neutered after he was done with his shots but apparently a lot of animal hospital that I called to try to make an appointments are fully. We finally were able to get a date set.
So this morning I had to get up at about 6am(that's really early for me because I don't normally get up this early!)to get ready to take Milo to the clinic (so I don't get stuck in the morning rush). We arrived at about 7am and the clinic only opens at about 7:30am so we had to wait for a little while. I had to fill up some paper work and they told me to put him in one of their crate. My heart almost crushed!I felt so bad for the little guy and I asked the nurse several times if he would be alright and made sure that they call me to update me.
They called me at about 1:30pm to tell me that Milo was out of surgery and he is doing good. I felt so relieved after receiving that call. I could only pick him up after 3pm so that they have a chance to monitor him for a few hours. So I before I picked Milo up I decided to take Stanley to get his yearly shots and microchip. I warned the doctor and the nurse that Stanley is going to need a muzzle because he's going to be upset when they touch his paws or when he gets his shots(he hates pain!duhh!!). He was so freaked out but then I was really proud of my baby because they managed to give him all his shots without too much wrestling with him.
Milo and Stanley's medical bill cost me at least ONE new coach purse if not more. They made a huge dent in our bank account sob sob. The reason why their medical bills cost so much is because Milo had to have two insertion because cryptorchid (one of his testicles didn't drop) so he had to open two insertion hence we had to pay more, then we got him microchip and we had to buy the collar/lamp shade for him so he won't lick his wounds. Stanley however had to get his yearly shots and test for heart worm also I had to buy heartworm medication for him. I even bought a bottle of ear drops for their ears because there is dirt in Stanley's ear so I need the drop to help dry the inside of their ears after their shower.

Milo bumping into kitchen counters.

Tired little boys/low batteries

Anyway after all the drama I finally got both of them home. Uncle Richie came over and visit and they were so calm they didn't even jump all over him like they always do. Milo just laid on the pillow even when hubby came home. I'm sure Milo is in a lot of pain but then I'm hoping that he's not suffering too much. I went out with hubby tonight and normally when we come home I can her them barking for us even from the drive way but tonight they didn't even make a single noise even when we walked right where they were.

Hokkaido Bread

Ever since we got our bread machine I vowed to hubby that I would make him homemade bread so he can use it to make sandwiches for work. I've tried many many recipes out there with promises that is a wonder sandwich bread, or it is so soft and yummy and the list goes on but every time when I try a recipe I'm always face with disappointment. The bread normally taste pretty good after it is done cooking but after a day it is rock hard. We always end up throwing the whole loaf away because there is no way we could finish a loaf of bread after it gets out of the oven straightaway. Anyway I've been really caution about making sandwich bread ever since my many fail attempt. It is far cheaper buying a loaf of bread from the store than making your own but I wanted hubby to have homemade bread that I know is healthier for him. I actually stopped trying to make sandwich bread for a long time now until I came across Lily's website about Hokkaido Bread and how popular this bread is. I normally trust all of Lily's cooking/baking because so far everything I try from her website is a success. I decided to give this recipe a try.

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole milk(Ididn't have whole milk so I used 7 fl oz of 2% milk)
5 fl oz Whipping cream (Since I didn't use whole milk I upped this to 6 fl oz)
1 large Egg
1 1/2 tsp Salt
5 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp Milk powder

4 cups Bread flour
1/2 cup Cake flour
3 tsp Instant yeast

Method:

Put the ingredients in the bread machine according to the order , first the liquids and lastly the instant yeast.

Use the dough function of the bread machine.
When dough is proven , remove from bowl of bread machine and press out the gas produced during the proof.
Divide it into 4 portions.

Round up and let rest for about 20 minutes.
Grease 2 loaf pans.
Roll each dough out and roll up. Place 2 rolls into a loaf pan.
Let the dough rise up to double.

Brush with egg wash or milk.

Bake in a preheated 350f oven for about 35 - 40 minutes.

This bread is awesome. It is really nice and soft especially fresh out of the oven. Hubby said that it was still good the next day because he took some to work. It wasn't as soft as when they first got out of the over but it was still good far better than the once I've tried making and ending up in the trash. I didn't get any pictures because as soon as I took it out of the over I send one home with Uncle Richie so that they can have a nice warm bread because Aunt L loves warm bread and they both loved the bread. I only ate a few bites because I'm not a bread person. I am a bread love to some extent that I love the bread that we can get at the bakeries back home but I cannot eat bread every day. People always ask him since I'm living here is do I eat bread everyday and my answer to them is NO because I rarely eat bread actually. I have craving for bread every once in a while but then that craving will either go away or get satisfied with a slice of bread. I think I might try making buns with filling with this recipe or try finding others I'm not sure yet. I really want to make buns with fillings but am afraid to try and recipe.

Double Chocolate Financier Cake

I've been meaning to try this recipe every since I saw it on Lily's website. I decided to make this cake for Aunt L's birthday which falls on the 31st of March but Hubby's grandma was here and wanted to celebrate her birthday with her so we had a get together at our place the Saturday before her real birthday and I had the opportunity to make this cake.

Ingredients:

Cake

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 large egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely ground blanched almonds (about 4 ounces)
4 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped Chocolate

Ganache

6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream/unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup apricot jam
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted (i used Godiva Chocolates)

Method:

For cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F convention or 325 f convection.

Two 9-inch round cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottoms with parchment or waxed paper round.

Melt 3/4 cup butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until light brown, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes. Cool.

Meanwhile, sift flour, cocoa, and salt into medium bowl.

Whisk egg whites in large bowl until foamy, then add sugar; whisk at medium speed. Whisk in corn syrup and vanilla and continue to whisk until soft peak.

Add flour mixture; whisk just to blend.

Add ground almonds; whisk just to blend.

Using whisk, put in some of the batter above and fold in browned butter, then chopped chocolate. Add this to all the batter and fold in to blend.

Divide batter between prepared pans, smoothing tops.

Bake cakes until firm to touch and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 - 20 minutes.

Cool cakes on rack 5 minutes. Invert cakes onto rack; peel off paper. Cool completely.

For chocolate ganache:

Place chocolate in small metal bowl.

Bring cream to boil in small saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate; whisk until smooth.

Add butter, 1 piece at a time, gently whisking to blend between additions, adding as little air as possible.

Transfer 2/3 cup ganache to heatproof 1-cup measure with spout.

Place bowl with remaining ganache over bowl of ice water. Stir until semi-firm and thick enough to spread. Set aside for filling.

Line rimmed baking sheet with foil.

Place rack on sheet.

Place 1 cake, flat side down, on rack.

Strain apricot jam into small skillet; bring to boil.

Spoon warm jam over cake, spreading evenly almost to edge.

Let cool 5 minutes.

Drop filling by teaspoonfuls all over cake, then spread in even layer.

Place second cake atop filling, bottom side up.

If glaze is too firm to pour, rewarm in microwave at low power in 15-second increments until pourable.

Pour over cake, allowing glaze to drip down sides and using offset spatula to spread glaze evenly over sides of cake.

Chill cake 2 hours.

Do ahead Can be made 2 days ahead.

Cover with cake dome; keep chilled.

Arrange sliced almonds/chocolates atop cake.

My cake came out really different from Lily's and I still needs to have a lot more practice to decorate the cake. I did not make three layer cake because I didn't think that I had enough dough therefor my cake is much shorter than hers. I decorated my cake with Strawberries because I thought it would be easier and that's what I had. Uncle Richie bought some Vanilla ice cream and we all had it with ice cream. It was really yummy and I would try and make it again. The only thing I'll do different is to make sure I chopped the chocolate really fine because I had a couple of big chunks in the cake which made it difficult to bite for the elder people. I was lazy and I chopped my almond and chocolate together (mistake #1). I just have to learn to follow direction more instead of just doing it my own way but no harm done at least it didn't taste bad after all.

Here I would like to wish dear Aunt L a very Happy Birthday and we are really happy that we got the opportunity to celebrate your birthday with you. Thank you for bringing joy and happiness into every one's life. We love you..xoxo (I know is late but better late than never)

More Crocs!!

Every since my crocs shopping mania experience here I've been looking out for more on Sale crocs. I just love to get them to wear around the house and for the yard too. I have shoes/slippers/sandals for different part of the house because I don't like to have dirt from one area of the house to be brought to another area so I have sandals for both hubby and I for outside, for inside, at the garage, at the kitchen and of course to go out (I have a ton of going out flip flops). Anyway I told hubby if I see crocs on sale again I'll buy more so when guests comes to my house they can take off their shoes and wear crocs around the house but I've yet to get some because I have not seen any that's reasonable enough to buy and just put it at the corner for guests but I did managed to buy some for myself thought 0_0. Over the past two weeks I've bought a pair of crocs each week and I love them.


I love this because I wear them when I'm working on my lawn. The only regret I have is I didn't get any for my mom and dad so that they can use it when they are working on their lawn too. First I thought it looked like clown shoes that's why I was hesitant but after wearing it I figured what the heck if it's just to wear around the yard to work on the yard it doesn't matter if it looks like clown shoes right so I do regret not getting for mom and dad hopefully I can find some on sale again then I would surely get it for them.

I bought these this past weekend and I love them to bits too. I know aunt has a pair and she said that it is really nice and warm in the winter. Well I knew that because when I was trying it on it was pretty chilly and I when I put it on my feet was so warm that I told hubby I really wanted this pair and he gave in to me :). The lining could be taken out to wash too if it gets dirty. Hubby said that this would be my last pair of crocs for a long time because I'm getting a little over board on crocs. There is crocs everywhere in the house :P.
This is my major problem every single time when I buy something I like I'll keep buying it for the fear that they won't make it no more. Actually talking about that OldNavy used to make some flip flops that I love to wear but now they've changed the material of them. I'm not sure if I would still love them wear them but I regret I didn't buy a few more colors when they still had the old once. Hopefully I'm really done with getting crocs for the mean time unless I find some great deals for mom and dad or to have it at the corner of the house for the guest. Hopefully hubby will not grumble if I buy them for the house *finger cross*

Sore muscles, body aches and tanned skin

Most weekends hubby just likes to laze around the house or just chill out but every since he got his new bicycle he's been wanting to go cycling every weekend. Last Saturday morning we decided to stop at REI his now favorite store to look for a bicycle rack so that we could put a small bag for drinks, phone, etc when we go riding. He found a rack for my bicycle (it would not fit his because he has disc breaks) but not his so I'm really sure he's going to be looking for one for this next few weeks or sooner until he finds one. After REI we went to the Asian grocery store to get some vegetables for the week or two weeks before going for lunch here.
On our way home hubby suggested we got a new refrigerator because he wants one that has the water and ice maker function. Our current refrigerator has an ice maker function but he needs to get some parts for it to make it work but is not two door. He's been wanting a two door refrigerator for quite some time now. Well in that case I suggested we change our washer too and since he's always wanted a front load washer he agreed. I just want a washer that is energy efficient and wash the clothes cleaner (because I don't know why we always have a ton of laundry and hubby always work of stuff and have dirty clothes to wash). So we came home and did some research on what brand of refrigerator we wanted and headed to bestbuy to look at it. I seriously was so frustrated at bestbuy because the sales people would NOT leave us alone and was telling us a bunch of BS. We just want a washer that will wash King size sheets, blankets etc, energy efficient and does a good job and he was telling me about steam washing, sanitizing, power silver wash etc..It was just too much and I wanted to just go. We decided to wait with the appliance and headed home because we were suppose to go our for dinner with his aunt and uncle. We obviously had Mexican food again but it was not bad. Services was not the greatest because there was a lot of people and the food were pretty good but I still prefer Los Cucos for the food, price and service.
Sunday we got up bright and early to have breakfast and more research online for the appliances. We decided to head to homedepot better because they were there to help you when you needed them but they would leave you alone too and they would not force to show you the most expensive appliance they have there. We went ahead and ordered our appliance at to see what they have there. We like homedepothomedepot because the services was good, price was reasonable and they had free shipping too!
We got back a little afternoon and I asked hubby what he wanted to do and obviously his answer was nothing and he just wanted to go for a ride on his bicycle later. I don't blame him since he works so much during the week but there is just a bunch of stuff that needs to get down around and in the house. Hubby cleared up most of the branches while I weeded. Then I trimmed Milo and Stanley's fur. Hubby was burning some of the branches and leaves so he had to watch the fire so it doesn't go out of control and while he was doing that I mowed the lawn. He cleared out a pile of the branches (there is still another pile) and stuff from the shed while I did other things. By the time we got done it was almost 8pm. We were both dead tired, Our muscles are sore and body and legs ache so bad not forgetting getting a tanned from the hot sun (I always forget to apply sunblock lotion)argghhh....
We are so proud of ourselves because we now have a nicer, cleaner and neater back yard. Oh and hubby finally built me a cover for my decomposing bin. I've had the decomposing bin and have been decomposing my stuff but did not have a cover on because hubby was too busy to built me a cover but yesterday he finally did it while I was bathing the dogs and washing the tub :). How I wish we have a maid??

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Restaurant

I was driving back from a job interview heading towards the Asian grocery store a couple of months ago I saw a sign that says KL Malaysia restaurant and I was hyped when I saw the sign. This restaurant didn't look like it was a nice Malaysian restaurant like you get in Chicago or New York but heck I thought I wanted to go there and try no matter what. At least I found a Malaysian restaurant in town that I could go to if the food was good.
Last Saturday after some shopping (will blog about it another time) we decided to stop there for lunch. Remember I found this a couple of months ago but hubby always likes to eat Mexican food that we don't really eat other kind of food when he decides he wants to eat out. I could suggest going some place else but then I know hubby's love for Mexican food and I don't mind it so I will normally just go eat what he wants to.
When we arrived at the restaurant we were hungry so we ordered a bunch of food.

Roti Canai

Chicken Satay

We started off with some "appetizer"which was the Roti Canai and the Chicken Satay. The roti canai and the satay was pretty good but I didn't care for the peanut sauce for the satay. It is not like the real peanut sauce that comes with the satay back home. I think I could make a better sauce than what they gave us.

Chinese BBQ pork aka char siew fried rice

Asam Laksa

Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Mee

Hubby ordered the rice while the greedy me ordered the Asam Laksa and the Hokkien Mee. We knew we could not finish everything but then we wanted to try the different they had there and we also knew that it would not be like what they would have back home but we were hoping at least it would be close to what they would have back home.
I could make a better fried rice than what they had there. I would not say that is horrible and for people who doesn't know how to cook or for some locals there I'm pretty sure that it taste good but for me I think it was just so so. When I first tried the Asam Laksa I thought it was pretty tasteless and asked the waitress for more har kow (shrimp paste). She insisted that they had some there but I could not taste it that's why I asked her for more. I remember many years ago when I wen to Penang my aunt made homemade Asam Laksa and it tasted much better than this but I would give them the excuse that we might not have everything or every ingredient to make a better Asam Laksa but I'm pretty sure they could have made something better than what they served. The hokkien mee was nothing to shout about too. I've tried making hokkien mee with directions from Lily's website and it tasted better than what I had there. The reason might be because there was not enough heat from the wok or because their wok is not seasoned enough but since its a restaurant I would assume that their wok would be seasoned enough unless they just changed a new wok.
I was pretty disappointed with the main meal there. I know a lot of all these food I could make at home but I just wanted to find somewhere that I could go eat so that when I'm lazy to cook I can go there to eat or just take guests there. I don't think I'll take any guest there for them to try because I honestly don't think that it is anything great to go again. Hubby thought that we should go again next time and order different food. I would not say no but then I'm pretty hesitant to go back again.
I had to ask them to pack up the food that we could not finish to take home and I told them to give me some sambal belacan (which was not that good to begin with) so I would be able to eat it with my hokkien mee at home and they charged me a whopping 0.50 cents for what looks like a drop of sambal belacan.

They even gave us dessert after we paid the bill. I am not sure what this is called but it tasted pretty good and I know I've had it before but just not sure the name of it. If my mom was there she would surely be able to tell me the name of it.
Overall the service was decent (there was this chubby girl I think might be the owners daughter just sitting down watching her movies on the lap top she didn't even move when there were more customers and only one waitress). Hubby said the interior reminds him of KL (duhh) they decorated it with pictures from Malaysia. I would not recommend it like it was one of the best restaurant in town but if people would ask if there was any Malaysian restaurant in Houston, TX I let them know about this one. Like hubby said if we go there next time we should try something else and see the verdict but this time I was not impressed at all with the food there.

Address for the restaurant
7818 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77036
Tel: (713) 981-8822
Verdict:3/10