Last weekend I played tour guide to Mellissa on her first tour of Penang in over 10 years, one of the first tourist friendly spots we went was the good old Fort Cornwallis, a place I haven’t been since high school and had virtually no recollection.

there are more cannons in Fort Cornwallis than A Farmosa!

So we parked the car by esplanade, had a plate of mee goreng by the food court (which was not the famous mee sotong I was expecting, but oh well there’s always next time) and then took a leisure walk to the fort built by the founder of Penang, Captain Sir Francis Light. That was way back in 1786, but the fort wasn’t completed until 1810 with a total cost of $80,000. Nowadays you can’t even get a decent linked house with that kind of money.

cowboy hat and rifle the “Sepoy Hut”

So we paid RM 3 per person to get into the fort, which was pretty well maintained for a state run facility. There is a little “Sepoy Hut” right after the entrance that just begs for photo opportunity (by the way you can rent a captain’s outfit too). Oh yes, the rifle was heavy, and it’s barrel sealed.

ohs no, prison girl!

Did you know that the biggest cannon in the fort was cast in 1603, more than 400 years ago. Incidentally it was also the same year Queen Elizabeth I of England dies, and yey to you cos you just acquired another piece of useless trivia.

There are 5 little air conditioned galleries within the fort exhibiting the history and archeological findings in the fort which I didn’t really read. I find wikipedia a little easier and more accessible.

gunpowder bunker and the chapel

Other buildings within the fort includes a gunpowder bunker complete with a lot of fake cannon balls and a few barrels of gunpowder magazines. Oh, by the way the cannons were said to have never been fired, apparently nobody really wanted to attack Penang.

There is also a little chapel that is seemingly designed for Audrey, very small and very cute, check Mell’s penang part 2 post and you will know what I mean.

Mell by the wall

I wished I’d remember to bring my big camera with for the trip, but oh well, at least you get this very cutesy photo of Mell to end this post. kthxbai!

Tags:  cannon,  fort cornwallis,  mellissa,  Penang

Posted by KY | 1 Comment »

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might know that I keep koi fish and have a koi pond at home. And if you have been loitering in this space for more than 3-4 years, you would also know that the pond was built by these bare hands with a lot of help from Horng and other friends in 2005.

the koi pond building project in various stages

It was a lot of hard work over a period of some 3 months for the over ambitious building project that first started out as an idea to have a little blue pre-fabricated fiber glass pond in the ground.

Work started on early June 2005 when we kicked off by digging the garden. Then we built a roof, poured concrete foundation, erected the brick wall, plastering it, completed the top, and waterproofed the pond. Plants were then added and the filtration system installed after we put up a waterfall for the pond.

the koi pond and garden, completed and matured in 2007

Upon completion of the koi pond, I had built up quite a bit of strength and probably lost a couple KG off the midsection too, it was well worth it.

Having a pond had been a dream of me for a long time, the idea came when we were building one for my high school’s Aquarium Society (which I eventually became the president), it was a lurve affair came true. It was an awesome! Little did I know that the pond would eventually land me in a newspaper article too.

Lurve served up by Mr. Chef

Today, other than the little time spent each month on maintaining the pond and the garden, I had all the luxury in admiring the fish and the garden sitting on the bench while munching some snacks. Since this whole koi pond thing is a rather healthy hobby, a good snack to go with today’s topic would be the healthy snack – Lurve, multigrain chips with no artificial coloring or preservatives.

Lurve – nom nom nom

That’s my lurve affair with my koi pond, do you have something (or someone) you are passionate about? You can participate in the Lurve’s “What’s Your LURVE Affair?” Contest.

The shortlisted top 3 bloggers get a 3-4 minute spot on 8TV Quickie (imagine pimping your blog there!) and Grand Prize winner walk away with MacBook Pro 2.66Ghz 13″ (GIVE ME PLEASE!). The contest runs from 23nd June 2009 till 12th July 2009, and all you have to do is:

• Write a blog post titled “My LURVE Affair with XXX” in your blog.
• Upon completing your blog post, kindly send an email to lurveaffair@nuffnang.com with details of yourself such as your full name, IC number and the permalink of your written blog post.

For more information and T&C, visit the Lurve Affair site.

Tags:  chips,  koi,  lunch money,  snacks,  twisties

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

Seoul Garden at Sunrise Tower is probably one of the very first Korean restaurants in Penang. I remember the restaurant being there as far back as my memory could remember.

In the back of my mind, I had always thought that dining at this type of place would be rather expensive, and at the time, something that my RM 2.20/hr McDonald’s job would never allow me to afford. I was just look at people going in and out while I was flipping burger in the same building.

plenty of banchan (side dishes) as usual

I made it a point that I would visit this place eventually, but little did I know that it actually took over one and a half decade before that happened. Together with Mellissa and my family last weekend, we had dinner at Seoul Garden.

As it turned out, Seoul Garden is just like most of the Korean restaurants I’ve visited in KL. A stove in the middle for grilling meat, a menu that includes all the usual suspects like beef bulgogi, kalbi, sam gye tang (ginseng chicken soup), kimchi soup, pork belly, and so on.

ox tongue, pork belly, and pork bulgogi

My brother and sister are both pretty adventurous when it comes to food, but tragically, my mom is a bit too conservative in the same department. Since this is the first time mom stepped into a Korean restaurant, I ordered something that would be a bit more familiar for her, sam giap sal (pork belly, RM 22), pork bulgogi (RM 25), and sam gye tang (ginseng chicken soup). I also ordered so hyeo gui (ox tongue RM 35) for good measure.

Korean ginseng chicken soup

There were about 6-7 types of banchan (side dishes) served with the main dishes we ordered. There was the customary kimchi which was rather potent and tasted pretty good, bean sprouts, vegetable, jelly thingy, green chili, and radish. I thought the banchan tasted just alright, nothing spectacular, but not bad either.

Our first grilled item was the ox tongue. Thinly sliced (about a dozen slices) without any marinate, the grilled ox tasted wonderful. The slight springy texture and the unaltered taste goes very well with just a touch of oil and salt. The pork belly was not overly fatty and came in 5 big slices, I think we had slightly overcooked it as it was a bit too dry by the time we hauled the pieces out of the grilled. Could have been tastier otherwise.

mom, brother, KY, Mell, sister, niece (Ryan, you have a challenger)

Pork bulgogi was pretty good, flavorful though a little salty. However, it does go very well with steamed rice. I always love Korean rice with it’s stickier texture and stronger aroma. The ginseng chicken soup too was a very good dish, the soup had a very strong ginseng taste and the chicken meat cooked to a very soft and tender texture. Mom liked the soup quite a bit.

Total bill came to about RM 160. Pretty good deal for 5 adults and a little girl (whom is cute enough to steal some lime light from suan’s nephew – Ryan), say hello to Taasha! The same meal in KL would easily cost twice as much, though the portion might be 30-40% bigger.

Address:
Seoul Garden
1st Floor, Sunrise Tower,
Gurney Drive
Penang, Malaysia

GPS: 5.439805,100.30815
Tel: 04-229 8705

Tags:  banchan,  brother,  bulgogi,  korean-food,  mellissa,  ox tongue,  sister,  taasha

Posted by KY | 23 Comments »

The most common complains among the new arrivals working at the twin towers and the surrounding area seems to be the price of food. From fast foods such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King, to the food courts and restaurants within KLCC and Avenue K malls, you often need to spend at least around RM10 to get a decent meal.

Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia

However, if you are willing to walk just a bit, there are hidden gems littered all around the KLCC vicinity. Warong Kak Fauziah with its excellent ikan bakar (grilled fish) is one of them.

Hidden behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia (opposite main entrance of the twin towers), the little zinc roofed shack is tricky to get to. The safest bet is to walk from the back road of Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, and just follow what your nose tells you. There is usually a healthy crowd during lunch time on weekdays.

freshly grilled fish with rice comes to less than RM 6

There are three types of ikan bakar available here, ikan kembung (hardtail), ikan keli (catfish), and ikan pari (stingray). My favorite is always the ikan pari due to mainly the fact that there is no bone to deal with. For lunch, in addition to the fish, I also grabbed an omelet and some ulam (raw vegetable) to go with rice.

As with many ikan bakar places, you can find at least 3-4 different types of condiments to go with the fish, sambal belacan, chili with soya sauce and lime, cencaluk, and so forth. I usually like to mix them up.

KY and Chew (who wants a gf)

The ikan pari here was simply delicious. Rich, oily, and generous portion of very tasty stingray meat mixed with the spicy sambal with that bits of burnt fish skin, there isn’t many thing that is so down to earth, no nonsense, halal and unhealthy. I love it. Best of all, the plate of fish, egg, vegetable, and rice was less than RM 6 in total.

Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia

Good food, great price, there isn’t nothing not to like about this place. Well, except maybe the lack of air conditioning, but that is pushing it, no?

Address:
Warong Kak Fauziah,
behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia
Jalan Ampang, KL
GPS: 3.160088,101.711941

Tags:  chew,  fish,  ikan-bakar,  klcc,  malay-food,  stingray

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »

Ahhh, durian, the king of fruits. The one thing that people usually really hate or really love, just like Hillary Clinton. Fortunately enough, Mell and I are both into this whole durian eating business, though she is quite a bit more hardcore when it comes to this. (remember durian flavored gelato at Freddo?)

aptly named DurianSS2.com

So last Monday we decided to head to SS2 for some durian love at the stalls behind BHP petrol station (intersection of SS2/75 and SS2/24).

I remembered a couple years ago there were two durian stalls side by side enjoying equally brisk business. Then in a moment of epiphany, one of the stalls created a website and put up a big banner saying DURIANSS2.COM. Their business immediately shot up and they’ve been by far the busiest stall ever since. This was also the place we went on Monday.

hand doesn’t smell if you wash it with water from the husk?

The place is a semi permanent set up with plenty of tables and chairs, a basin, and free filtered water to wash down those glorious fruit. There’s quite a big selection of durians, from Raja Kunyit, to the more common D2, D24, and Udang Merah, you can pick you choose. Of course, they are priced differently, as high as RM 22 (for Raja Kunyit), or RM9/RM10 all-you-can-eat buffet style.

Not knowing what we should go for, we told the operator to get us something that is half bitter and half sweet and ended up with XO durian. The relatively thick meat was soft and very flavorful, part bitter, and part sweet. There were about 8-10 pieces of flesh in each of the two durian we had (1.4 and 1.5kg). It was absolutely delicious!

KY and Mell enjoying some durian goodness

Total damage was RM 37, which worked out to be about RM 13 per kilogram for the durian we ordered.

Mell insists that washing the hand with water off the husk of the durian will make sure that you don’t end up with leftover durian smell. I’ve heard about that many times and still find zero scientific basis to the whole exercise, besides, what’s wrong with how your hand smell if your breath is going to be the biggest concern anyway?

the durian stalls are located behind the petrol station

Address:
DurianSS2
intersection of Jalan SS2/24 and Jalan SS2/75
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.117794,101.623943
Tel: 012-234 5619 (Ah Wai)

Tags:  durian,  mellissa,  SS2 SS3 SS4

Posted by KY | 33 Comments »