Snowflake

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Snowflake.

The Taiwanese Dessert Secrets.

Ever been? It's located opposite Asia Cafe in SS15 Subang Jaya.

Ice Monster @ Sunway Pyramid, Mill Wheel Pao Bing @ Metro Prima Kepong, Charmy Snow Ice @ 100 Yen Shops and Snowflake. Which is better? I guess it's what you prefer of the texture and flavour.


This Snowflake dessert house 雪花栈 is owned by a Taiwanese couple, specializes in natural and authentic Taiwanese desserts.


The deco is humbly simple with giant colourful illustrative boards. The self-service counter is right at the end of the shop. There are 3 types of different series to choose from, grass jelly, soya and shaved ice. You can pick your favourite base and then choose your toppings which vary from red beans, grass jelly, peanuts, taro balls, sweet potatoes balls, pearl sago, etc, etc.

Once you have placed your order, you will be given a beeping UFO, which is a special device that will flash and vibrate once the food you ordered is ready for collection. Darn high-tech gadget.

The serving is really huge and is definitely worth the money. All desserts cost less than RM5 except the bestseller which costs RM5.50

Of the three series, I luv the shaved ice topped with taro and sweet potato balls. It is divine...

Even the guys gave the thumbs up.

Boots Botanics - The Power of Plants

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I have scraped the last bit of my Victoria Secret's Rose Body Cream out of the tub. But then, I am well equipped!! During my last trip to Bangkok, I was overjoyed to find that my fav chemist Boots has dozens of outlets spread across Bangkok and have thus went wild and almost 'sapu' whatever were on the store shelves. Last year, when I was in Hong Kong, I was so disappointed to find that Boots has since moved out of Hong Kong and eventually have to resort to Sasa and Bourjour.



The Boots Botanics products are generally awesome. I just love them to pieces. I hope the Bangkok stores keep stocking them, so I don't have to fly to UK with an extra suitcase once a year just to bring back a luggage load of creams/lotions. (not exaggerating.)

The Nourishing Body Butter contains honey and Grapeseed Oil. It is a rich emollient that moisturizes and softens. This cream works wonders on dry skin and has a pleasant "earthy" aroma to it. The honey helps bind moisture in the skin whereas the Grapeseed Oil is hydrating and rich in linoleic acid, which helps reinforce the skin's barrier to stop skin drying out.

The skin is the biggest organ on our body and using only organic/botanical cosmetics could be just another step towards living greener and healthier. Its important to take into consideration what we put in our bodies and on the outside as well. The powers of plants are evident when you try this line. You can't beat the prices and I can guarantee you will never go back to anything else once you try them.

Angels From Maidenhead, UK

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Present to you, my two pretty nieces from UK. Since the start of the months long summer holidays, they have been jetsetting around Asia and are now stopping over in KL.

Angel #1 - Michelle

Angel #2 - Tia

They came round our place and all the four Tran's babies went swimming. After much fun at the swimming pool, the kids were hungry. I suggested to go to TGIF, as I thought kids might prefer cajun chicken, chips and soda. Much to my surprise, Michelle was craving for Korean BBQ. So, we went to my all time favourite Korean restaurant - Korea House in SS2 PJ.

For BBQ, I ordered a serving of Joomooluck (marinated beef) and Samgyeopsal (marinated pork). The meat was fatty, tender but absolutely yummy. Not to mention the Banchan, (i.e. the side dishes, in this case there were twelve side dishes) which come free and are refillable.

Yasmine would never skip her favourite Dolsot Bibimbap, mixed rice in hot stone bowl. I also ordered a beef soup which the Korean name skipped my mind.

Dokbokgi?? Never mind, this is fried Korean rice cake with spicy bean sauce. It was sweet, spicy and savoury. To be brutally frank, neither Yasmine nor I like it.

Michelle really enjoyed her BBQ whereas Tia seemed to be a small eater. The two little angels were so attached to Yasmine that when their dad came to pick them up, they didn't want to leave and kept clinging on to Yazzy. It was so touching.

Resuming My Kitchen Duties

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The past two weeks, I got bogged down in work by the thousand pages of surveying data, joint measurement records, final valuation etc. in relation to the laying of pavement works for a main road. My colleague and I were actually racing against time to examine, compute, compare and analyse all the available data, that means having to sacrify our sleeping hours for the sake of the eventual findings. Hence, I have been neglecting my kids' well being. I had no choice but to resort to unhealthy fast food or instant noodles.

Now that I have finished the task, I can resume my normal duties at home. The following are the dishes I churned out yesterday for dinner.

Spicy Eggplant With Minced Pork

Eggplant is not easy to cook, as it soaks up all the oil. There is actually a way to overcome this. To soften the eggplant, just sprinkle it with some olive oil and sea salt and bake in the oven for say 10 minutes. Leave it to cool before stir frying it with the spicy sauce.

Fried Bittergourd With Eggs

I love bittergourd but my kids don't. I still cook it hoping that they can gradually accept it. Bittergourd is supposed to be effective in lowering blood sugar levels. I usually cook this veg by frying with thin slices of beef fillet, or with a spicy soya bean paste. Since the dozen of eggs is still sitting miserably in my fridge for more than a week now, I thought I better make use of them.

When I chanced upon Suzie Wong's cooking show, I learnt that there is a way to choose a less bitter fruit. (For those who are unfamiliar with Suzie Wong, she is the host for a Hong Kong TVB cooking show called 'So Far 蘇 Good', which is broadcasted on Astro CH311 every Sunday 7.30pm) The trick is to choose one which is pale and has bigger and more uniform bumps.

The Best Antiques Are Old Friends

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Last week, met up with SH, a long lost friend. I mentioned 'long lost' coz we haven't seen each other for ... umm... 29 years??! I also managed to convince Tiara to come despite a short notice and having to drag her up from her beauty sleep.

Prior to the meeting up, I was half expecting a half bald middle aged man with sunken eyes and a waistline that might have metamorphosed beyond recognition. Heck, wasn't I wrong!!! In its place was a well proportioned man with a healthy smirk to match. What a suave gentleman he is now. He has taken care of himself well and didn't look a day older since 29 years ago. He is all browned with a really toned six pack (don't ask me how I know), looks every inch a successful professional. He seems profiled like a handsome, mysterious millionaire with a tint of grey in his hair.

The initial few minutes when we exchanged greetings, it did feel a bit awkward. Once the ice was melt, the spirit of camaraderie rekindled. Thinking back, he was shy and a bit of an introvert, kept much to himself. I sat and marveled at him. He now exudes new confidence and seemed happy that we could still remember him, despite him having spent years hibernating in boring cold Leeds, Yorkshire.

He is still happily UNMARRIED, so this is open season for anybody reading this. I can assure you, he will make a good husband and lover as well. I am asking myself why he has not re-surfaced until 25 years too late.

After our nostalgic reminiscing, it was soon time for au revoir with the promise to meet in the not too distant future.

"Each friend represents a world in us,

a world possibly not born until they arrive,

and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

- Anais Nin

The Magic of Chong Qing Hot Pot

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Hot Pots or Steamboats are associated with winter season. However, dozens of steamboat outlets are mushrooming in perpetual HOT climate Malaysia. I am always puzzled why one wants to eat something 'hot' like that in an already hot weather. It is definitely no fun, let alone the super duper spicy Chong Qing Hot Pot.

I was in Guangzhou recently and I was treated to Chong Qing Hot Pot. This Hot Pot restaurant which is located in the Hua Du area is owned by my nephew. Here is the name of the restaurant in Chinese. Mind you, it hasn't got an English name, but the best direct translation I could think of is this : "The aroma fills the world".

The Hot Pot originated from Chong Qing, China 重庆麻辣火锅. It has few choices of soup base, the 'Ma La' soup base, the traditional chicken broth, the mushy soup base, etc. The 'Ma La' soup base definitely provides a very peppery spicy challenge.

A wide variety of meat, seafood, noodles and vege are available. Nephew MH tried to introduce to us some rare but unique ingredients rather than those overly processed food. The ingredients are all prepared meticulously such that each ingredient would take the shortest amount of time to cook. This means that meat ingredients are served in ultra thin slices.

The sheep intestines

Wafer thin bamboo shoots

Beef tripes?

Luv the fatty bits

To prevent the taste buds from getting too numb, there are wide choices of appertisers/side dishes to choose from. Or perhaps order a jug of cucumber juice to help alleviating the effects caused by the 'Ma La' soup.

Not every person likes to talk during dinner. Having steamboat is likely to keep the quiet people like me feeling fully occupied.

Although I ended up sweating buckets, it was undeniably a good opportunity that gave the feeling of family and togetherness.