Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Work's been extremely draining recently... but I thought I should probably show myself a bit of love by making myself a cake... It was in fact pretty therapeutic.

When I said make.. I really do mean construct lol... Basically, its a 5 x 5 x 2 construction of a large brownie cake with philly cheese filling in between covered with rich dark chocolate cream and finally overloaded with berries..

I suppose its fair enough to call it Alfie's Brownie Delight lol

Happy Birthday all August Babies

Congratulations !!!!!

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Choong...

&

a HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2 U LChoong !!!!!!

Yummy Food

Its always exciting checking out new restaurants and its even more so when u are visiting a Chinese restaurant.. The last time I reviewed a new Chinese restaurant was after Big G mentioned it to me after bringing his mom out for a mother's day dinner. So this time around when he told me about a new place near see woo, I was pretty psyched up. Together with Aa, we set off to explore this wee restaurant hidden somewhere out there in Maryhill.

The set up inside is pretty basic with enough sitting for I would say 30 people?... It was a promising start to see quite a few chinese folks siting in there having their dinners. I guess we were off to a good start.

The menu is pretty extensive but its nothing new from what you can expect from places like 4 seasons or homewok. Don't expect Malaysian / Singaporean dishes here as it is a predominantly cantonese styled restaurant. Not even sure if I would call it a restaurant given its humble settings. how about eatery?

Aa ordered his favourite bitter gourd and pork rib in black bean sauce. Although I don't share his same keenness for bitter gourd, I found the taste of the dish to be still quite palatable for me. If it was celery instead of bitter gourd, I'll probably have gobbled up the dish much more easily.

I decided to be adventurous too and went for this dish called Pork on the beach.. haha.. ya quite a cheesy name and I was utterly shocked when I saw my dish.... SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE???? My heart sank for a moment but my first mouth full changed my opinion. It wasn't your standard vinegar overloaded sauce but one that had a strong tomato flavour. Phew... The pork cutlet was certainly tender and it was interesting to note the piece of luncheon meat that came along with the dish.

There are still plenty of dishes on the menu to try and I'll come back some other day to give it a shot. Its not going to be my favourite chinese restaurant anytime but it will certainly be one of those that I consider if I ever do need to satisfy my hunger for chinese food.



Yummy Food
-----------------
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=55.874751,-4.260678&spn=0.003617,0.011362&z=17&layer=c&cbll=55.874533,-4.261364&panoid=2T7TPM50whM32bCcB4zJbw&cbp=12,149.26,,0,3.3
P.S sorry no address.. its on Possil road. and it closes at 6pm on saturdays!!!

455, originally uploaded by jiapui.

Elia Greek Restaurant

I've never tried Greek food before but when you tell me Greek food i start thinking about olives, oils, fish , yogurt, herbs and the Mediterranean. If Wiki was right then I guess my dinner tonight would be a prelude to food expedition to Greek someday . Anyhow. Thanks to Big G for suggesting this place after hearing the advert on the radio. I was looking forward to it... afterall haha it was a treat from him .

Complementary food is always a nice start. I m not a super big fan of olives but haha i was so hungry that I ate 3. My taste buds are not used to the vinegarish taste.

Σαγανάκι με μύδια // Mussels saganaki

The interesting thing about Greek dishes are that the names are quite difficult to pronounce and when u look at the Greek writings ... its looks like its coded. For example this mussel dish in a tomato sauce topped with Greek cheese... How do u pronouce 4 As in a word??? Anyhow ... quite a savoury plesant dish. Definitely see the Italian influence. PLus i like how the salty cheese cuts through the acidity of the tomato so well.

Κεφαλοτύρι // Kefalotyri


As if we din't have enough cheese from the 1st starter lol.... we decided to have another slab. This time.. Glaswegian style... Deep fried in batter lol.. Very nice indeed..

Ποικοιλία ψιτόν // Mixed grill


Eating with Big G means alot of meat. Not suprising that we had a mixed grilled platter loaded with chicken, beef, pork and lamb. This dish is nice when warm and hot and fresh... The meats still very tender then but once it starts to cool down, the dryness starts to set in. Overall a nice dish to share but I don't think I'll have it on my own.

Κλέφτικο // Kleftiko

I wanted to try something really really unique to Greece and the waiter recommended this lamb dish. According to him, the Klephts were bandits who escaped to the country side away from the Ottoman oppression in Greece. As they did not have flocks of their own, they resorted to stealing from others and had to cook their meat in sealed pits to avoid the smoke being seen. Not sure if the same style of cooking was preserved in this modern kitchen but I can reassure u this dish definitely strikes a chord with me. There was this krisp like tuber that was used as garnish. No idea wat it was but it was t"uber" yummy loL!.

This restaurant is worth a try. Hope to be back someday

Akan datang...... Soon......

Elia Greek Restaurant
--------------------------------

24 George Square
Glasgow, G2 1EG
www.eliagreekrestaurant.com
Tel: 0141 221 9988

Wedgwood, Edinburgh.

There are good restaurants.. There are cheap restaurants...There are good and cheap, cheap but bad, bad and expensive, good but expensive restaurants. Wedge I would say is one of those approaching good and cheap . It definately wasn't michelin star price nor standard but what they delivered was certainly worth mentioning to friends and family.

KC was up for a conference which is the reason why I ended up in Edinburgh and here in this restaurant. He went for the cray fish salad.... He must be wondering why the cray fish is so small.

I've had enough of chicken liver pate so I went for the roasted vegetable salad instead. Pretty good and light. Just what I needed...

For my mains, I had a venison meatball spaghetti.

KC had salmon.... the portion was too small though....

Lastly, dessert.... hmm... i think it was tasty but the cloy of cream just puts me off a wee bit.....

Wedgewood Restaurant
------------------------------
267 Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8BQ
Tel: 0131 558 8737

What's Cooking ?

This table set up is always a sign that we are having some sort of porridge. Most of the time.... Fish porridge... but my mum decided to try something different that and made porridge that day... Must have gotten some inspiration from this Teochew pork porridge that we ate at a Cantonese restaurant lolol...

.... Din't manage to take nice pictures of the porridge.... it tasted pretty good.. Almost like the restaurant... The fish was an accompaniment. They probably felt left out for not being included in the porridge..

Crashing the party were some flower crabs..... These crabs are the first choice amongst the many many crabs that we choose to eat.... The whole family seem to agree that this is much sweeter than the all too common mud crab.

So..... are you a mud crab lover or a flower crab lover ??

PS: Works started and I've been extremely busy..... The photos have been piling up and up and up... Havent got time to edit them and post them.... much less finding time to have a nice meal outside.... Works starting to get better this week.. Fingers and toes cross..... I might be able to squeeze more time out to do some blogging..... I really miss... blogging....

Chilli Lobster

Some like Chilli crab others like pepper crab..... But.... has anyone tried Chilli Lobster .. hehehe...Bet u haven't right?..... Considering the exorbitant prices that you pay for lobster in many seafood restaurants, it may seem like a waste to do it chilli crab style... ... To be honest I don't really know how they do it now adays... BBQ? Sashimi? Superior chicken stock braised?

So ... how does it taste??..... Slightly better than I had expected? I wouldn't say it was on par with chilli crab.

I actually do like black pepper sauce better than chilli sauce... wonder if that made a difference...

Nevertheless.. The entire plate was devoured by mum and I... heh...

Craigie's Farm Deli and Cafe,

We drove up to Craigie's fruit farm just outside of Edinburgh city the next day. Luckily, I managed to borrow WY's GPS otherwise it would have been a bit of a challenge finding the place. At least there was plenty of parking space.

Anyway, once you get there. Just head to the main shed and pick up the wee plastic containers to collect your fresh fruits. If you unsure of where the fruits are, just ask one of the friendly staff... Trust me... you can't tell where the strawberries are from the raspberry from the distance.

Rows and rows of sheds could be found all over the farm

Can you make out what fruit this is ??

Hello~ ! Raspberry.
Don't be deceived by the red sweet appearance... It was so SOURRR!!!

Here's some freshly plucked raspberries for you to take away.

We spotted some cranberries too but there weren't in season

Blackcurrents too.

Here's a list of what they have to offer and the prices.

Any guess what these rows of plants are ??

Strawberries!.. The main reason why we came...

Peak a boo...

Remember to pick the red coloured fruits. !!

Here's our stash...

The Italian farmer ?

Packs of fertilised soil.

The young little plants slowly being inserted by hand.

When you are done, bring them to the main office to have them weighed..

There are ready picked packs for you to purchase too...

and for those who are not keen on fruit picking.... There's a children's animal farm nearby.

G & G Sinclair
----------------------------
West Craigie Farm
South Queensferry
Edinburgh EH30 9TR
http://www.craigies.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.pickyourownfarms.org.uk/scotland_pyo.php

Graduation Dinner at Malmaison

Gilbert Scott Building University of Glasgow

Well.. This dinner actually took place quite sometime ago and I've forgotten what the names of these dishes are. In fact, the menu has probably changed abit except for the desserts which still seem to be on. Anyway the desserts were the star of the dinner that night. I can't tell you the name of this salad but just looking at it, I can make out some watercrest, spinach and some sort of cure hamed?

Roasted pork belly with mustard mash. Pretty ordinary actually. It was like sio bah.

I had a fish cake that evening which did not impress me at all... sadly.... I had high expectations for Malmaison after my first visit and I was starting to wonder if it has got anything to do with ordering a set menu rather than from the ala carte menu itself.

Ok... something better now... a nice chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. Gorgeus.

Ever heard of an artic roll? Not me but I am sure I've seen a similar creation in the past but didn't know what's it called. This version had basil ice cream rolled up with strawberry jam and a vanilla sponge. intriguing flavours from the basil that. I could get used to that lol..

Malmaison Glasgow
----------------
278 West George St
Glasgow G2 4LL
Tel: 0141 572 1002
http://www.malmaison.com/