Foodarrific» Seafood

Nautical food experience

Chili Queen — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:17:46 +0000

My girls and I went to all the way to The Ship for lunch. This is one of the few restaurants I would drive to just for their food and it’s always worth the trouble. Not only do I love their ship’s cabin furniture, I also love how their food still holds that signature English flavor after all these years.

While you can barely make out the seafood in the chowder served at other restaurants, The Ship’s seafood chowder features a giant green mussel, a jumbo shrimp and chunky pieces of fish and squid. Very yummy.

This is the first time I’m ordering the Grilled Chicken with Cola Sauce, mixed veggies and french fries. The sauce made with coke (cola) is interesting but a little bland.

The Chicken Maryland is definitely one of my kids’ all-time favorite. The portion is pretty big and we all jumped in to help lick the platter clean.

Sweet sour shrimp

Chili Queen — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:49:29 +0000

Remember I left behind my son’s favorite dishes in food storage containers before I left Cali. Well, here’s the recipe for my super easy, super tasty Sweet Sour Shrimp.

I used:

1 packet of large precooked shrimp
1 onion, cut into eighths
1 tomato, quartered
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
tomato ketchup
a few stalks of cilantro, roughly chopped

First, saute the garlic briefly in some cooking oil on high heat until fragrant but be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the onion and saute briefly till translucent.

Add shrimp followed shortly by tomato, ketchup and a splash of water. Allow to simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss in the cilantro just before serving.

And there you have it, a very simple yet tasty dish to go with steamed rice.

Stirfried broccoli and carrots

Chili Queen — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:55:33 +0000

This is one of the dishes that I prepared for my son and stored in the fridge to be eaten later. It’s so easy and so healthy you’ve just got to try it.

I used:

2 heads of broccoli, cut into large florets
0.5 bag of baby carrots
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 small slice of salmon
mushroom/oyster sauce
cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

First, I heated up some oil in a non-stick pan on medium to low heat.

Place the slice of salmon, lightly salted and peppered, in the pan and let it fry slowly first on one side, then flip over and allow to fry until cooked through and both sides are lightly brown. This should take roughly 10-12 minutes.

Remove the salmon to a plate. Using a fork, break up the salmon into flakes and remove the bones. Leave aside.

Add a bit more oil in the pan on medium heat and lightly fry the garlic for a 2-3 minutes till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic or it will taste bitter.

Throw in the carrots and add a splash of water and leave it for about 5 minutes to soften up.

Add the broccoli, a dash of mushroom/oyster sauce and a sprinkle of pepper. Stir-fry for approximately 5-7 minutes till the broccoli is cooked. Watch closely to ensure broccoli is not overcooked or it will turn yellow.

Serve on a plate (or in my case, I placed in a Rubbermaid container for refrigerating) and top with the salmon flakes.

And that’s all there really is to it. It’s really tasty and goes well with pasta, noodles or rice.

My son had some fruits left over from the fresh fruit baskets we got for Christmas and he ate those for dessert.

Whole food by the pound

Chili Queen — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:28:49 +0000

Yes, I’m still here in sunny California enjoying the cool morning breezes and hopefully cooler temperatures this weekend. Well, last weekend, we visited Whole Foods, a grocery store that’s packed with organic food, healthy food and all that’s good and green, even for those with malignant Mesothelioma.

Well, we also found a little surprise. They have a buffet corner where you can pile your recycled paper plate with yummy, healthy food of your choice. What’s interesting is that at checkout, just present your filled plate and you get charged for your food by the pound.

This is what I had. Fish and a few chips, mashed potatoes (yes, I was starving!), salad, chow mein and curry chicken (miss my spicy so much!).

Chinese New Year reunion dinner

chili queen — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 13:41:49 +0000

This year, for our CNY reunion dinner, I decided to slave in the kitchen this year instead of subjecting ourselves to those rip-off festive restaurant prices. My dishes are very simple so it’s not too hard to whip up something pretty quickly.

Stirfried Kailan with Crispy Scallop Bits

Stir-fried Kai-lan (Chinese kale) is a common everyday dish. I merely funky-ed it up with a topping of crispy dried scallop bits. Surprisingly my say-no-to-veggie brood loved this .

Claypot Pork Ribs and Tofu

We’re big fans of Claypot Tofu (recipe here) and I cook this quite often for regular meals. Here I used pork ribs with carrot flowers and wolfberries and turned it into something special.

Spicy Thai-style Crispy Chicken

I topped my easy-peasy and very popular Thai-style Crispy Chicken (recipe here) with shredded carrots, cucumbers and onions.

Braised Mushrooms with Phoenix Claws

Don’t jump now. Phoenix claws are actually just plain old chicken feet.

Lotus Root Soup with Japanese Baby Scallops

This turned out so sweet and flavorful I surprised even myself .

You’ll agree there’s nothing very fattening here so no need for us to start reading phentermine reviews ! In fact, I cooked everything here with fresh ingredients and very little sodium, practically no sugar or added MSG.

dinner @ Fish & Co.

chili queen — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 06:57:41 +0000

We’ve probably walked past Fish & Co. at 1 Utama a thousand times but never stepped inside. Recently my son had dinner there with his college friends and he says the food there is pretty decent for the price.

He took us to try their Fish and Chips one night. I would never have believed we could get fish and chips for around 10 bucks. But yes, it’s true, their piping hot, crispy New York Fish and Chips is served in a pan and comes topped with melted cheese.

Pretty yummy. Kinda reminds of the ones we’ve had while on disney world vacations when the kids were much younger. The drinks are expensive though so we don’t order any. Instead we ask for water which, as I found out, is supposed to be served with the meal but we won’t get it unless we ask for it.

I also found out that they don’t tell you about ongoing promotions with certain credit cards or certain days of the week. I stumbled upon some of their promos by chance, and if we’d known about those when we were there, we could’ve gotten an even better deal. Most restaurants have a promo card on each table to highlight their specials. Not this place! Looks like they won’t tell you unless you ask for it. We haven’t gone back since .

beach, dogs and seafood

chili queen — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 06:13:17 +0000

When we were vacationing in Penang last month, we were invited to dinner at a seaside restaurant. Trust me to have forgotten the name of the restaurant. I just remember it’s right at the end of long narrow street off the main road, that’s about it.

It’s a seafood restaurant, kinda cozy in its own way as it’s situated right on the beach in clear view of boats bobbing in the sea and a sea breeze wafting in ever so gently throughout the evening.

I would really have loved the atmosphere if not for the dogs that were roaming about on the beach right near where we were eating. That kinda freaked me out. It made me wonder about the hygiene aspect of having animals roaming about right where I could see a row of kitchen faucets and the tip of the chef’s hat. What do you think?

mom makes something for everyone

chili queen — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:03:37 +0000

As a mom of three picky eaters, I often end up cooking two different types of pastas for one meal. One of my kids doesn’t like fish and shrimp but thankfully, he’s coming around a little this year; the other two are okay with it.

So today, I made garlic butter panfried salmon slices and broccoli to go with two types of pasta – a spicy spiral pasta and a mushroom macaroni, and everyone was happy. Salmon panfried this way is very tasty and the kids love it.

See, many times, I have to take into account each child’s taste and their overall well-being, like when I think one of my teens needs some sort of homemade acne treatment, I try to make the food less spicy and oily.

first draft of my Chinese New Year reunion dinner menu

chili queen — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:16:18 +0000

Twas one night when my brain went into overdrive and kept me awake long enough to plan out my Chinese New Year reunion dinner menu. Last year, we dined out on Chinese New Year’s eve.

This year, I’ve decided to go back to my usual practice of cooking reunion dinner at home. I’m planning a simple menu of gourmet, restaurant-style dishes which can easily be whipped up at home.

Claypot Tofu with Pork Ribs and Veggie Medley
Fish Fillet with Ginger and Spring Onions
Roast Chicken, Thai Style
Stir-fried Kailan with Dried Scallop and Wolfberries
Lotus Root Soup

Of course, this menu may change. It’s only the first draft. I might be tempted to tinker with it as CNY draws nearer, or if I let my kids have their say. Hopefully the final menu won’t make us so guilty that we’ll all go jump on an elliptical the next morning!

lunch @ Ole-Ole Bali

chili queen — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 05:45:56 +0000

One Sunday afternoon, we were in the vicinity of Sri Hartamas and ended up at Soho KL tucked away in a swanky part of town. After walking around undecided, we finally settled on Ole-Ole Bali, an Balinese (Indonesian) restaurant with both an indoor and an al fresco dining area. We chose to sit outside as only a couple of tables were occupied and there didn’t seem to be any smokers.

We ordered this Nasi Campur Ole Ole (Mixed Rice, literally) which comes with various accompaniments like shrimp, squid, chicken on a lemongrass stick, stir-fried veggie, salad and assorted sauces. Interesting and quite tasty.

The Ole-Ole Trio was also quite interesting with chicken on lemongrass sticks, crispy deep-fried shrimp, barbecued chicken wings, sliced cucumbers, tartar sauce and chilly sauces.

My son, who prefers Western food, ordered the next best thing, the BBQ Combo with chicken and lamb which turned out not to taste very Western after all. The lamb was tough and he didn’t like the taste of the sauce.

My other Western food lover decided the safest bet would be the more familiar-sounding Chicken and Chips. It tasted okay, just like any ordinary deep-fried chicken chop.

The food is interesting and presentation is great. The way we were eating, it was a good thing we decided to share our orders or we might’ve needed something akin to an rv towing service to get out of our seats. Indeed we would’ve been able to eat more if the food hadn’t been so overly greasy and salty. You know how I feel about that. I wouldn’t be in any hurry to go back again unless my bank account is overflowing .