Of Christmas fruitcake & home cooked food

The other day my dad came back home from Le Meridien (apparently he had a function) and he got a Christmas fruitcake as a gift :)

Since I nailed my oatmeal cookies not too long ago (read my previous entry 'Baked to Perfection'), I'm really ambitious about baking a cake in the near future, and at the same time I know it's not easy with all the ingridients and stuffs, but I'm learning.

Okay, so back to the Christmas fruitcake my dad got from Le Meridien, it is baked to perfection!Everything was good; from the little decorations to that every bite you take! The cake wasn't hard and buttery; it was soft, not too spongy & the fella who baked this just studied every details! Kudos indeed. I think he put red wine into the cake or else it would not be a good Christmas fruitcake nor they have that 'yum-yum-I-want-another-slice' factor. Even after you keep them in the refrigerator it was still very much soft and not that hard to bite. Overall the texture was good.

A piece of art.

Naked without the little decorations.
This is definitely icing on a cake! Yeah Christmas.

I'm inspired! :D Within 2 days my family devoured everything minus the decorations, they are not edible for Christmas' sake.

I love home cooked food! I mean who does not?

I went to Kota Belud last Saturday (Dec 19th to be exact) to meet my relatives (my dad was born and raised there) and these were what I had for dinner :-

Long beans cooked with dried shrimps, now we're talking!

Ikan masin, direct translation, Salted fish.

I love this one!It's chicken cooked with big, golden onions and chilli paste, if I were not mistaken.

Twas our beloved bapa's birthday and he turned 62.
Chocolate cake, this one is home made as well!

I dedicate this post to my relatives who were in KB that day as I had fun, as always.
Kak Long & Banut, if you read this post I thank you for the wonderful dinner! I had two plates of rice!

:D

Food Blog #7

If you're own your way to the northern part of Sabah (Kota Belud, Kudat, Kota Marudu), most of the time you will find yourself stopping by in Tuaran for food, and I just have the right restaurant for you to satisfy your hunger pangs.

Say if you want to have a decent lunch or you just can't resist a plate of rice more than a plate of Tuaran Mee (which I posted earlier)...

...come to Lok Kyun restaurant.

Sweet and sour pork, old school.

Meatball soup, I repeat Sabahans can't live without soup!

Sayur sawi cooked with garlic.

Tofu yum yum :D

I've to say I had a great lunch. Those dishes only cost Rm31.50 and that fed the four of us. I heard people from KK are willing to drive to Tuaran just to come to this restaurant to have lunch or the famous Tuaran Mee. It's worth the 30-minute journey!

Food Blog #6

If you are in or around Donggongon town, looking for a decent dinner/supper, then do come down to 818 Food Court.

The writer's Mee Goreng Basah Seafood (Direct translation: Wet Fried Mee Seafood)


Crabs!This dish costs Rm30, the one where the shells are edible.


The crab meat...tempting huh?


Singapore Fried Mee Hoon


'Wan Tan Ho Seafood'

This restaurant is very much packed at night. They also sell BBQ honey chicken wings but the crabs had us full so we decided not to order. The bill amounted Rm53 and that fed the four of us, which I thought it was quite reasonable considering we had crabs for dinner.

Location: Donggongon, it's in the same building where the TAR College is.

Food Blog #5

I'm not done with my Kudat trip yet. So if you happen to be in Kudat, and clueless about where to have lunch do come to this small restaurant called '2899'.

Pork cooked with soy sauce and sayur sawi cooked with garlic. Old school.


Sweet and sour sliced fish. Note the thick sauce.


Winter melon soup.
Sabahans just can't live without soup.


I love the fact that they serve rice on a purple plate.

By now at least you know where to hunt for food in Kudat. The lunch was good (I had 2 plates of rice) and reasonable. When we came to this restaurant the owner kindly asked us to come into the kitchen to see what's for lunch, because some of the food had been prepared earlier like the pork cooked with soy sauce. Oh and you get the chance to see the cooking live :D

Location: Kudat, next to the fish market. It's among this one row of small restaurants (like terrace houses, only smaller) and look for '2899'!

Kudat/Tip Of Borneo

Kudat is located on the northern part of Sabah, about 190km north of Kota Kinabalu. The journey would take about 3 hours and along the journey we(me, dad, and Melissa, the writer's younger sister) stopped by a few places for food :)

On your way to Kudat, you must stop by in Tuaran for their famous Tuaran Mee. It's basically Fried Mee with eggs served with Char Siew (pork, in Sabah we simply say "Sasau")

After filling up our "tanks" with Tuaran Mee, we continued our journey and along the way, we stopped by for food, again :D

It's not uncommon to see stalls being set up alongside of the road in Sabah. Most of them sell traditional food, local fruit and handicrafts, and we had:


Sweet corn, smoked/barbecued. In Dusun it's called "Linugu".


This stall we stopped by were selling...birds! Birds they caught from the forest. They are actually parrots and can be kept as pets (they make good tunes) and in Dusun these birds are called "Toripos", according to dad.

After 'Linugu-ing', we continued our journey and two hours later, we reached Kudat around 6.30pm and checked in at Kudat Golf & Marina Resort. We decided to have dinner in the town itself and dad suggested that...

...we would have our dinner in this restaurant.


"Bai Kut Wong"


Butter Prawn


Sayur sawi cooked with garlic.

Dinner was really good and it seems like you guys do not have to worry about looking for good food in Kudat. Sungai Wang Restaurant is worth your every penny.

AND!Your visit to Kudat is incomplete if you don't go to Tanjung Simpang Mengayau, or the tip of Borneo.

Long way to go to the Northernmost Tip of Borneo.


The 'tippest' the writer could get.


Simply breathtaking.


The landmark.


Yes!The writer finally left his footprints at the tip of Borneo.

At one point I kept telling to myself how amazing and beautiful God's creations are.The panoramic views make really beautiful postcards, period.

More pictures from Kudat:

Tip of Borneo, sunset.


The writer just wants to jump in and enjoy the superb crystal clear sea water.


Bay at Kudat Golf & Marina Resort.

Kudat to go! :D