Sharing my Ideas, Views and Opinions !

Stewed Phoenix Claws

Ingredients

30 pieces Chicken feet

2 Whole Garlic (Thoroughly wash with the skin)

300 g Pork ribs

10 – 15 pieces Shitake mushrooms

4 tbsp Light soy sauce

2 tbsp Dark soy sauce

2 tbsp Oyster sauce

1 tsp TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient

750ml water

3 cloves Garlic (Finely chopped)

Method

1.  Heat pot with 2 tbsp oil. Fry garlic until fragrant and golden brown.

2. Add pork ribs and continue frying for 10 minutes. Add shitake mushrooms and continue frying for another 5 minutes.

3. Add chicken feet, water, whole garlic, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient, and boil the mixture for 5 minutes.

4. Simmer the mixture over small fire for 1 hour or until the chicken feet and pork ribs are soften.

5. Ready to be served.

Tips: Chicken feet have to be fried prior cooking but the fried chicken feet can be easily obtained from the market.

As many might know, my initial Christmas plan is to travel to Hong Kong Disneyland to fulfill my childhood dream. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I re-routed my destination to Hangzhou instead.

So yea, please don’t ask me anything about Hong Kong and the whole long to-do list that I have to put on hold now. Thanks to THE hotel that cancel my booking last minutes.

Every cloud has a silver lining. Despite not be able to physically visit Hong Kong, White Snake movie by Jet Li bring me to Hangzhou for what I consider as second prize.

I might not be able to pull Mr. Mickey’s ear or molests Little Mermaid, but I still get to try out Cantonese dim sum in this classy hotel-alike restaurant called Conrad La Superieur.

The waitresses have quite a simple job as all they need to do are just passing around paper menu and pencil to me and that’s all. I have to do all the ticking and waving before they attended to you again.

No one actually pushing the dim sum trolley as what shown in TV, THAT is the downside. But hey, they served egg tarts and phoenix claws too, just like any other dim sum place that I have been.

All the dim sums are served hot, I mean really hot. More like the chef only cooks when you order it. So if you ordered custard bun, or ha kau (shrimp dumplings) like what I did, it might take slightly longer than you thought.

Maybe because the dim sum is freshly made, the texture and taste are well preserved. Of course, it is another sign for you to order more too.

Beside char siu pau which I think is quite common, they served pretty good deep dried spring rolls. The spring roll itself is nothing special but after you dip in homemade vinegar sauce, I bet you will want more.

Maybe I should try to fry something and dip in vinegar. Who knows, it might turns out to be good too. If it does, I can make a business out of it.. If doesn’t, well it will still end up in toilet bowl.

Now comes my favorite dish.. a dish that hardly goes wrong. Chee cheong fun it is. Not that I like chee cheong fun but I love the soy sauce gravy. Yum yum..This is really satisfying..

In total, I ordered much more than that. So, I ended up paying a fortune before I leave. This breakfast cost me about RMB 161 (~RM 80) but hey, if I stay here longer, I will go to this place again for sure.

Conrad La Superieur

TEL: +86 – 571 8782 7888

EMAIL: gangli227@126.com

GPS: 30.245796, 120.164627

Pears with White Fungus Soup

Ingredients

2 Pears (Skinned and cut into thin slices)

10 Red dates (Cut into half)

10 g White Fungus

1 Pinch TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient

Rock Sugar

Method

1. Soak white fungus in water until soft. Cut and remove the soft part.

2. Blend white fungus in a food blender. Set aside.

3. Boil 1L of water. When water is boiling, add pears and red dates.

4. After boiling the mixture for 5 mins, add white fungus and simmer the mixture over small fire for 30 mins.

5. Sweeten the mixture with rock sugar according to personal taste. Ready to be served.

Light bulb is created for a reason. If you fail your history lesson before, let me introduce Thomas Alva Edison, an American inventor who claimed that he haven’t fail although he found 10000 ways something won’t work.

He is also a man who claimed “Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.” Whatever that means, I must admit he is a true genius as he can forsee the importance of light in the next century.

One of the enigma he resolved is night market. Imagine if you visit a night market without the source of light? How are we going to bargain and hunt for things that appeal to us?

Thanks to him, I get to visit Night Market in Hangzhou“visibly”, a place where I considered very congested with human traffic, a heaven of pirated goods and a perfect shopping place for girls.  

Considering that I am gay virtually and not very much into pirated stuffs, I am here for a sole reason, STREET FOOD! While everyone is busy bargaining for great deals, I am busy hunting for local food.

So, without further ado, I bought homemade tofu with eggs and traditional rice cake at approx RMB 10 (~RM 5) each. The tofu is super delicious, slightly spicy and the traditional rice cake is pretty much tasteless .  

My food hunting does not stop there. I continued to hunt for long queue restaurant. Why long queue? As a rule of thumb when you travel abroad, “long queue” restaurant perceptively means they serve good food.

Without knowing what it is, I bought this stuff. Looks very oily and unhealthy food means it is a right choice. It is actually freshly prepared tako balls with dried minced pork. This is a good one that I actually go back there the next day to get it again.

By setting my budget approximately RMB 50 (~RM 25) for my dinner (thanks to Lou Wai Lou, West Lake for drying my whole week budget), it is definitely not enough for to feed someone as fit as me.

Following my instinct led me to Chicken Hero, another famous franchise inChina. When I reached there, I know I have made a right decision. By paying about RMB 15 (~RM 7),  I get the whole piece of deep fried chicken with seasoning powder.

It is just nice to crave my hunger deliciously. 

I am not sure if I share with you before that I am a fan of bubble milk tea. Without miss, everytime when I come across this, I will definitely grab a cup. Again, long queue attracted me.

If I am not mistaken, I paid approx. RMB 8 (~RM 4) for a cup of bubble milk tea. The drink is definitely easing my thirst after whole lots of deep fried stuffs. It is a great paid off considering I spent 10 minutes for my order.

So, don’t be upset when your fund is running low. All you need is just finding a right place for a right food and bet you won’t need to die of hunger.

Night Market in Hangzhou

Youdian Road, Hangzhou

GPS: 30.251913, 120.168961

Goodbye 2011 and here I come 2012. Beside countdown, many people tend to recap on what happen throughout the whole year or jot down their New Year resolution.

That practice has long gone for me. Not because TikkoSS is getting a year YOUNGER, but because there is nothing much we can do about the past and future is yet to happen.

Fundamental rule of survival, feed the stomach today, worry about tomorrow later. So, instead of sharing what I did in 2011 or plan to do in 2012, let me bring you to food haven.

Before clock ticking 12 like any other day, I decided to spend about RMB 300 (RM 150 ish) on an unforgettable dinner, just to add some flavor to the welcome 2012. Yea..

While busy hunting around this foreign place, I came across this Chinese – Japanese Restaurant, proly about 15 min drive from Jiaozhou Bay Bridge and Qing-Huang Tunnel.

They called themselves Chinese – Japanese Restaurant but beside sushi and sashimi as starter, the chef is a local Chinese and the rest of the food is no where close to Japanese or Chinese.

I cannot remember what is the first thing I did in 2011 but I know what is the last thing I did in that year, a murderer. Oh yea, I ended my last meal in 2011 as carnivore.

First, I am associated with killing goose and sturgeon for goose liver with caviar. Then salmon and king prawn along the process. No regret, I am making a right decision.

If you read my blog throughout 2011, you will learn that TikkoSS is considered as big eater with bottomless stomach. For sure, dishes where people consider as main course are only starter to me.

The menu continues with freshly baked oyster, traditional Chinese – Japanese baked fish, genuine beef cutlets and OPS, green vegetables to so call “balance my diet”.

At this point, I am so close to curse the chef for serving very small potions to young man like me. Of course those food are not even close to feed my belly. I thought the surprises ended here.

But the wise chef read my facial expression acknowledging that I need more food or I will go on strike. To kill my hunger, the chef decided to surprise me with nothing less than..

Medium rare herb steak + Sea cucumber soup + seafood fried rice. He told me, “Exquisite foods never come in big potion BUT I have prepared all these just to complete your dinner!”

Before I leave the restaurant, they served me with two specials desserts, milk pudding and the white fungus with red dates soup.

By spending a reasonable amount, my last day of 2011 is super awesome and I owe a great appreciation to this restaurant for making my night, a remarkably wonderful one.

My-Yum Restaurant

3F, Eastern Plaza of Qianxilong Garden,

Cross Rd of Zhujiang Rd and Alishan Rd,

Econ & Tech Zone, Qingdao, China

TEL: +86 – 532 6805 1177

GPS: (still locating )

WEB: www.my-yum.com