Stir fried Chinese Cockles

After a few years of not eating cockles (also known as clams or pipis), I finally had the opportunity to cook some stir fried Chinese cockles last night. It is very hard for me find fresh cockles for sale in South Australia. Residing in a country town in regional South Australia has made it even harder for me to find these beauties. During my recent trip to Adelaide, I managed to find some fresh cockles for sale at a pretty reasonable price. Immediately, I decided to satisfy my craving and buy some cockles to make some stir fried Chinese cockles.

This stir fried Chinese cockles recipe is modified based on a recipe I found at http://madamkwong.com. I did not measure the ingredients as I made the dish based on my instincts and adjusted the taste while cooking.

Stir Fried Chinese Cockles

Stir Fried Chinese Cockles

Ingredients: 

Approx 500g cockles/clams/pipis
3 canned pineapple rings (cut into cubes)
1 tbsp fermented soy beans, crushed
3 pips of chopped garlic
1-2 tbsp plum sauce
Dash of sweet/hot chilli sauce
1-3 sliced dynamite chillies/thai chillies
Some water and diluted cornstarch for the sauce
Salt and sugar to taste  

Method:

Heat frying pan with some oil. Add in the sliced chillies and chopped garlic. Fry until garlic is slightly golden in colour. Add the plum sauce and chilli sauce. Then add in the canned pineapple. Put some water in the pan. Season sauce with salt and sugar. Then thicken slightly with diluted cornstarch (a mixture of cornstarch and some water). Lastly, throw in the cockles/clams/pipis. Adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding more water, diluted cornstarch, chilli sauce, salt or sugar.

Cook until the cockles/clams/pipis shells are opened. This means they are cooked. Do not overcook as cockles/clams/pipis get cooked very quickly.

There you have – Stir Fried Chinese Cockles.

Australian Day Celebration

After living in Australia for a few years, my husband and I finally decided to attend an Australian Day Celebration held on 26 January 2013 at Lake Bonney, Barmera, Riverland, SA.

The event started very early in the morning – about 6.30am. Being a heavy sleeper, it was quite difficult for me to wake up so early in the morning to get ready. Nevertheless, with clear determination, I managed to get to the event on time.

While I got ready for the event, I was doubtful of whether there was going to be a huge turnout of people at the celebration. But my doubts proved me wrong when I reached Lake Bonney, Barmera where the event was held. I was surprised to see so many elderly people, dogs and some children surrounding the event grounds. This showed their great level of patriotism and love for the country.

It was a beautiful and sunny morning that day and everyone, including the dogs and children were enjoying themselves. The morning started with a Celebration Walk followed by free breakfast for all.

The breakfast was scrumptious. The breakfast menu was bacon and egg sandwich, hot pancakes and coffee. I ate a bit of everything.

Volunteers frying the eggs for breakfast

Bacon and egg sandwich

Hot pancakes with honey

After breakfast, there was a speech by the Mayor of Berri Barmera Council, Peter Robert Hunt.

The entire Australian Day Celebration was held overlooking beautiful Lake Bonney, Barmera. The view of the location was picture perfect.

It was a pity I could not stay longer for the Australian Day Celebration session as I had to get back to work that morning.

Caroline Poh

The Best Ice-Cream I Have Ever Tasted! – Marvelous Cream

Although my gourmet adventure during my most recent trip to Singapore was rather shortlived as I was constantly craving for Malaysian food all time, there was one thing that I ate in Singapore that I will always remember– the wonderful ice-cream I ate at Marvelous Cream!

The food in Singapore is basically the same as the food in Malaysia but Singapore food taste a tad different from Malaysian food. I guess with my Malaysian upbringing, my taste buds are more accustomed to the local Malaysian food taste.

I discovered Marvelous Cream ice-cream by accident when I went to a food court at a shopping centre for lunch. The queue to the Marvelous Cream ice-cream stall was so long that I couldn’t help but join the queue. That was it! After just a bite of Marvelous Cream ice-cream, I was totally blown away by its impressive unique flavours. At Marvelous Cream, you actually get to choose the type fillings you want to put in your ice-cream and watch the waiter mix the ice-cream with your chosen fillings on a cold stone in front of you.

Marvelous Cream was established in 2005 in Osaka, Japan and it offers great tasting premium ice-cream to its customers with over 40 toppings to choose from. It is a franchise and it has set its outlets in different parts of the world.

A firm believer that good food should always be promoted, that’s why I am writing all about this ice-cream. I do hope that Marvelous Cream will make its way to Malaysia because I am longing to have another 'bite' when I’m back in Malaysia.

Marvelous Creme anybody? =)

Marvelous Cream ice-cream

Outside Marvelous Cream

My Exotic Experience at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) Village in Pahang, Malaysia

Having experience living in a city (Kuala Lumpur) for around seven years, I began to take for granted the things we have in the city. In the city, we often have everything at our convenience such as easy access to shops and malls, public transport and household equipments that make our lives a lot easier. I never understood what the church pastor told us about going to places where such facilities are hard to be found to come back feeling more grateful of what we have. I have to admit that I was afraid at first to visit the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village in Pahang, but after my first visit there, I discovered that I actually enjoy experiencing the different lifestyle there. 

The lifestyle at the Orang Asli village is very different from the lifestyle in the city. The people there have no washing machine, fancy kitchen gadgets or restaurants. They live a very simple life. 

Most of the Orang Asli people earn their income through farming and rubber tapping. They work hard and wake up very early in the morning to make a living but only receive a meagre salary for that. Though they earn very little money, I found that they were still happy. This is very unlike the city folks who always complain about their salaries and often chase after more money. 

During the church excursion, we managed to bring food, clothes and household equipments for the Orang Asli people. While distributing the donated goods, I could notice their happy faces while receiving things that would otherwise be thrown away by the city people. 

Our church excursion team was blessed to be invited for an Orang Asli wedding banquet while we were there. It was a chance of a lifetime. The wedding feast was held at one of the village bamboo houses. The banquet spread was very exotic and unfamiliar to us. However, being an adventurous person, I did not have any problem eating the food served at the wedding. But what was really mind boggling was stomaching down an Aboriginal delicacy prepared specially for weddings - monkey meat and brain. Though surrounded by fear, everyone from the church excursion team ate some of the monkey meat and brain to show appreciation to the wedding host on what he/she has prepared for us. My favourite of all the food served at the wedding was the turmeric flavoured sticky rice (glutinous rice). 

Overall, my trip to the Orang Asli village was very enriching. I highly encourage others to visit the Orang Asli village if given the chance to do so at least once in their lifetime. 

The police checking point before entering the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

A herd of cows grazing at the grass at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

The wedding venue at the Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village

The food we ate during the wedding banquet. It was a feast indeed.

The Orang Asli (Malaysian Aboriginal) village.

My honeymoon at Krabi, Thailand

There are some holidays that we often forget about. But there are some holidays that we never forget. I would have to say that my honeymoon at Krabi, Thailand was a trip I would probably never forget. 

One thing you will need to know about Krabi. It is that when people say they went to Krabi for a holiday, they usually do not mean that they had spent their time at Krabi town for a holiday. They usually mean that they had spent most of their time at some surrounding islands around Krabi or at Aonang, a coastal province of Krabi. There are many tourist destinations around Krabi. However, I made a research over the internet and decided to spend my time at Aonang mainly because it had much more affordable accommodation compared to the ones at the other neighbouring tourist destinations. 

Aonang is about 40 minutes away from Krabi International Airport. There is a tourist bus that you can take from the Krabi airport to send you directly outside your hotel at Aonang. Taking the tourist bus will only cost you a fraction of the price as compared to taking a taxi to Aonang. The accommodation at Aonang is very reasonably priced. My husband and I stayed at Aonang Goodwill Hotel. The hotel is situated right at the heart of Aonang town which was good for us as we saved a lot of money on transport as everything is at walking distance from the hotel. We only paid $50 per night for the hotel as I managed to get it at a discounted price from www.agoda.com. The only setback is that if you book a room from that website, you will not get a refund if you decide to change your travel date. 

Aonang is a really nice place. It’s filled with street stalls, clothes boutiques, souvenir shops, restaurants and pubs. There is also a clinic and a pharmacy there just in case you get sick or hurt yourself. You’ll never get bored at Aonang as there are plenty of activities to do there. 

As a Malaysian, it was only natural for me to go food hunting in Krabi. Those who say that the Thai food sold in Thailand is not delicious must be kidding. I still remembered a friend of mine telling me that the Thai food she ate in Thailand was not as nice as the ones sold in Malaysia right after her holiday at Bangkok. After my trip to Thailand, I felt that was totally untrue because I found the Thai food sold in Thailand so delicious. During my time at Krabi, I tried eating as much local food as I can. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough meal slots to eat them all. I loved especially the Thai tom yum soup, fish cakes and fried spring rolls. I also enjoyed the sticky rice and mango dessert there. 

During our honeymoon, my husband and I went for an elephant trekking trip as well as a visit to a catfish farm. We also went on a speedboat to do our island hopping trip. The elephant ride made my husband and I really dizzy but it was still quite fun. The island hopping tour was a really good experience for us. I just cannot describe how beautiful the islands were and how the crystal clear water sets the islands apart from other islands and beaches that I have visited.

My husband and I during the elephant trekking

The spectacular view we enjoyed during the island hopping trip

One thing I learnt through experience – when you want to experience activities that are only done by the locals, always talk to the locals and ask them. We spoke to a local who worked for a breakfast coffee shop right across our hotel and found out that there was a local market that the locals love to visit during the week. 

The journey to the market was tiring because it was a long walk. But when we reached there, we instantly knew the trip was rewarding. That’s because at the market, we got to buy some cheap local food. I bought a sticky rice and mango dessert for only RM1 (about $0.30!). That’s not all...on the way to the market, we discovered a really good eating stall that sells food catered to the locals at the locals’ price which was much cheaper as compared to eating at the stalls situated at Aonang town. This place is called ‘Sareefah Food & Beverage’. They sell ala-carte dishes as well as specially cooked Thai dishes. We ended up eating most of our meals at this place because the food tasted so good and we could get all the seafood we wanted at such a good price (at a non-tourist price).

 

Our favourite eating place in Aonang. It's called Sareefah Food & Beverage

The Aonang local market. Most of the people there are locals

Just before our holiday ended, we decided to take a trip to Krabi town. We booked a return bus trip from Aonang because it turned out cheaper than taking a taxi there. We got to Krabi town by bus. However, when we wanted to return back to Aonang, we waited and waited for the bus but it never showed up. So in the end we spent more money because we had to take a taxi back instead. Krabi town is just a normal town with some cheap food and shops selling clothes, textiles and souvenirs. I still prefer Aonang to Krabi town though as the place is more interesting to me. 

Krabi is a tourist destination that I would recommend to anyone if they want a relaxing holiday. The people there are really friendly and the place is just so peaceful. I would encourage you to go to this beautiful place if you are given the opportunity. 

I hope you enjoyed my illustrations on Krabi.