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Stewed Pork Ribs

Ingredients

300 g Pork ribs

1 Tomato

4 cloves Garlic

Ingredients A

1½ tbsp Oyster sauce

1 tbsp Light soy sauce

1 tsp TikkoSS’s Secret Ingredient

Method

1. Wash pork ribs thoroughly and set aside.

2. Cut tomato into 8 small pieces and finely chopped garlic.

3. Marinate pork ribs with Ingredients A, tomato and garlic for 1 hour.

4. Steam pork ribs for 30 minutes.

5. Ready to be served.

If you read my post on Shangri-la Pudong, Shanghai, you will probably realize that I have a lot of nostalgic moments in this hotel.

Nothing can embrace my memories except carving the good one on stones and not so good one on sands so that the waves can help to flush them away.

Another way to do it, is to feed my stomach well first and start reflecting later. One way to do it is by ordering decent dinner just for myself in my own quiet room.

The trick is, you have to either order food that you crave for or food that you love. This time I go for potatoes wedges and salad as starter. Now, I can sense that my memory puzzles start to align on its own.

To speed up my thought process, I have to go for wanton noodles soup with mushroom and char siew. As a pork lover, I have to say char siew really helps in merging my brain cells together.

At this stage, I felt like as if I already travelled back through time to meet with my loves one, my family, probably about 20 years back.

To avoid myself from waking up from this hypnotic moment, I have to continue feeding my stomach with Sirloin Steak and strawberry milkshake. Or stomach growling will definitely creates distractions.

I recalled, my dad gave me my first present, my mom and sis too. How mesmerizing. I remembered we used to have a lot of fun time together and thanks to decent food, it helps to blend a good chemistry between my present and past.

The sweet moment was really short and I woke up straight away after I got slapped with the dinner bill. It costs me RMB 495?? That is approximately RM 250???

After this meal, I have to probably eat instant noodles for another week. Worth it or not, why not you tell me.?

In Room Dining, Shangri-la Hotel

33 Fu Cheng Lu, Pudong,

Shanghai, China.

TEL: +8621 – 6882 8888

GPS:

Another day another dollar earns. I guess it is slightly different in my case as to me, another day another day another dollar spend.

Every day, I will be thinking on how I would like to spend my money wisely, what to buy and what to eat. Of course the favourite part is eating what I plan for.

While walking in Super Brand Mall, Shanghai, my stomach gave me a red alert and my mission turned out to be hunting for a place to refill myself.

On 8^th floor, which I always think is a lucky floor, I found Long Feng Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant that serves morning dim sum starting at 11 am?

The place is rather quiet when I arrived but it started to gradually filled up with customers especially during lunch time. As much as I normally treat dim sum as breakfast, this time I called it brunch.

Started slowly with custard bun and later followed with small dragon pau as my starter. Maybe I was hungry or maybe the food was really good but my refilling needs more substances.

The waitress somehow acknowledged that and started to introduce their famous signature dumplings to me. Beside prawn dumplings, I did go for chef recommendations.

The dim sums are good and comparable with many Malaysia dim sums but lacking of one thing, the sweet and chilli sauce. Yes, you can dip in soy sauce but I still think it tastes better with sweet sauce.

Whenever I go for dim sum, I will automatically order chee cheong fun (I ordered 2 plates .. hehe) and deep fried spring rolls. The feeling is incomplete if I eat it. How weird isn’t it?

If 10 is good, I will only rank this place as 7. Not because the food is not good but minus 1 for no sweet sauce, minus 1 for start at 11 and minus 1 for too expensive. I actually paid RMB 137 for this “brunch”

Long Feng Restaurant

24, 8^th Floor, 168 West,

Super Brand Mall, Liujiazui,

Pudong, Shanghai, China

TEL: +86 21 2206 0003

WEB: www.longfengyudian.com

GPS:

How old do you plan to retire? Many will said, “Do I look that old?” To me, retiring is not about sitting there waiting to die but rather quit from your daily responsibilities and do what you want.

Of course you need to get financial independence first. In other words, escape yourself from becoming a slave for money. Question is how? My concept is, instead of savings cents by cents, earn more more more than what you can EVER use.

Rich dad or wife is an alternative but unfortunately, I am not that lucky but hey, money is never enough anyway.

Rather than dwelling too much on what I don’t have, why not just flip the coins, see what I want to do about it. OK. I plan to physically retire in Singapore. Not because I like the ‘fine’ country but I love the food there!

Because of Bedok Hawker Stalls, I will re-consider Singapore again. Why? Foods here are deliciously nice and affordable. For instance, chee cheong fun and Jian Bo Shui Kueh cost less than SGD 5 (~RM 10).

That secures my daily breakfast. What about lunch? All I need is to spend another SGD 5 (~RM 10) and I can get decent lunch such as lemon chicken rice, kuey chap or duck rice. I have tested all and the foods are highly recommended.

With that, I am not going to live in poverty or resorting in something not decent as all these foods are my favorites! Who say I must eat steaks or bird nest on every meal?

When clock strikes 3pm, maybe I can plan to have a short tea break. Over here, I get to order lek tau suan (green pea soup), lotus seed soup, or even tou fu fah. Tou fu fah is common but lek tau suan or lotus seed soups are hardly find in other places.

So, did you get it yet?

The fundamental rule to achieve financial independence is to have a simple life. All you need is getting a decent shelter (not in dodgy place) and securing your stomach (not with bird nest) AND you are a step closer to your retirement.

(don’t act smart by asking what about dinner and supper! That you have to figure it out youself :p)

Bedok Hawker Stalls

Blk 207 New Upper Changi Road
#01-XX Bedok Interchange Food Centre

GPS: 1.325362, 103.930546

Lonely Planet used to be one of my best companions when I travel abroad. Not because I am lonely but it helps to locate scenic locations and recommended delicacies in foreign places.

To avoid myself from associated with the word “lonely”, Google turns out to be my best buddy. Instead of flipping the book, I can easily acquire valuable information by gently touch my wife, iPhone :p

Every corner of the world has their own specialties. It is like a “must try” delicacy. For example: Tapas in Spain, Tom Yum in Thailand, Laksa in Penang and bla bla bla.

No exception for Hangzhou, the largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Over here, you “MUST TRY” few famous dishes in Lou Wai Lou (楼外楼), the most authentic restaurant in West Lake.

Like many tourists, I enter this restaurant with a hope to try every recommend dishes here. So I started to speak to the waitress in my broken Mandarin. Honestly, I have no clue 9 out of 10 words she said.

Thanks to the pictorial menu that bridge the communication gaps. I ordered Long Jing Cha (龙井茶) , the famous tea for only 12 RMB (~RM 6) each. If you are intending to add a little fat, go for Tong Po Rou, (东坡肉).

If you ask me, I didn’t know that Hangzhou is famous with beggar’s chicken. The only time that I came across with this dish is in “So, the Begger” movie. I thought it is just a mythical dish.

Right now, I get to try it myself. Many claim that this restaurant serves the most original version of beggar chicken. So, don’t be surprise if more than 90 % of customer here ordered this too.

While happily enjoying my meal, all of the sudden, a kitchen crew brings a pail with this ugly creature. Gosh.. totally spoil my taste. I am like, “What are you doing?”

This fish is about to sacrifice itself to feed my stomach. In few minutes, this fish turned out to be West Lake fish in Vinegar Gravy, one of the chef recommendations in this restaurant.

When I call for bill, I nearly get a heart attack as this lunch cost me RMB 445.40 (~RM 200 ish).  Until now, I still try to justify that this lunch is worth the money. The dishes are quite unique but I have to go on diet for few days after that

Lou Wai Lou

Gushan Road, Xihu,

Hangzhou, China, 310007

GPS: 30.250258, 120.141935

WEB: www.louwailou.com.cn