Cravings for.... Fish Head Noodles!

My favourite fish head noodles stall is from Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles in Taman Danau Desa. It has the most flavorful soup ever. I usually order mine with fried fish, sometimes with un-fried ones. I always finish mine and I would wait for my mom to say "Chung, I can't finish mine. Do you want to finish it?" Be careful when you order a large bowl at this shop as it can really turn a good meal into a bad one if you force yourself to finish it... I remember once I had the large and... I was greedy... finished it.... and finally I was way too full. My whole day I felt bloated... and up to dinner I didn't feel like eating anything. From that day onwards, it's a small + mom's leftovers :-p

With all that in mind... I thought of the ingredients needed for this dish. It's pretty simple, all you need are:

(for one serving)
1. Fish fillets (I used tilapia fillets)
2. Half a tomato
3. Pickled Mustard Green (Ham Choy)
4. Spring Onion 5. Ginger (i forgotten to put this when I was preparing mine)
6. Shao Xing Chinese Cooking Wine
7. Sesame oil
8. Evaporated Milk (Recommended: NESTLÉ CARNATION Evaporated Milk)
9. Vermicelli (meehoon/"mai fun") (Note: For Fish Head/Fillet noodles, thick vermicelli is recommended)
10. Soy Sauce/Salt to taste


For the soup, I'd recommend using some kind of fish stock. I made my own stock using "ikan bilis". To prepare the stock, just stir fry the ikan bilis untill fragrant/brown and add 2 medium sized bowl of water. Boil it for 15mins. When done turn the heat down and remove the "ikan bilis".

An alternative to making this "ikan bilis" stock is to just use fish sauce. Just bring water to boil and add adequate amount of fish sauce for flavor. Fish sauce itself is salty.

Now, to cook the soup base for the fish fillet noodles.

1. With half of the tomato cut it into 4 pieces. The green mustard green into thin slices. Ginger shredded. Spring onions into 1 inch stocks and the fish fillets into 1 inch cubes.

2. Turn the heat to high and bring the stock to boil. Add all the ingredients in the first step except for the fish cubes. Boil for 2 minutes then put in the fish. You wouldn't want to overcook the fish.


3. Next is to add the evaporated milk, shao xing chinese cooking wine and sesame oil. This is all adjust to taste. Some likes less milk, some likes more, some don't even want them in their soup. Some likes stronger wine taste and some likes lighter. For sesame oil, add about 1 tablespoon. That should be just right. I like mine with just the right amount of milk and shao xing wine. Once it's right, turn the heat down to low.


I realize in cooking, milk absorbs the taste of alcohol pretty easily. I remember when I was cooking my shrimp scampi in cream sauce, I needed to put quite a bit of white wine to make sure the full cream doesn't overpower the taste of wine.

4. To speed up the process for preparing the meehoon. I just boiled water and put in the meehoon. Usually meehoon is soaked in water till it's soften, but I have no time for that. Cook the meehoon until the softness of your liking, drain the water and run the meehoon under cold water. This is an essential process! This makes the noodles have better consistency.


5. Add the meehoon to the soup and bring to boil. Once ready, serve it in a bowl and top off with some chopped spring onions and a dash of white pepper.

My First Bowl


My Second Bowl

My version of this dish doesn't exactly use fish head. It's easier to eat with fillets anyways! Yeah I don't know how to enjoy eating fish head. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this post!

Sushi Weekend!

I had sushi cravings this week... So... It's time for a sushi weekend! The last time I made sushi was 2 months back maybe.

The method for cooking sushi rice is widely available on google... So I am gonna skip the ingredients part. Just wanna showcase what sushi we had for this weekend...

Maki-Zushi

Ebi (Prawn) Nigiri-zushi

Crabstick Nigiri-zushi

Tofu Nigiri-zushi
This was specially prepared for my vegetarian friend, Edward. I grilled the tofu and topped it off with teriyaki sauce.

Baked Chicken Teriyaki Nigiri-zushi
This is truly homemade! The teriyaki sauce was homemade, NOT bottled. My housemate, Shu Ting's brother is a Japanese cuisine chef, so Shu Ting has the secret recipe for the perfect teriyaki sauce. It tasted absolutely perfect baked with chicken.

World's Largest Temaki by - Nicholas!

Not bad huh? I try and make more fulfilling dishes during weekends.

Laksa Johor

Laksa Johor served with thin spaghetti

"Choi Sam", Prawns, Shredded Chicken and Homemade "Tau Pok"

Nothing really special here. I just used the ready made Laksa Johor paste which I brought from Malaysia. Added my own ingredients.

I can't get "tau pok" here. So, I made my own. The method is quite simple. Buy "soft" white tofu. Freeze it in the freezer overnight. Put it back in the normal refrigerator. This process creates the porous texture in the "tau pok". When ready to use, cut into desired size and deep fry it till it's golden brown. There is a lot of moisture in white tofu, so it takes quite a bit of time to get the desired result.

My New Crib!

I think I haven't blogged for almost 7 months... Hehe... Not much of a blogger as you all know.

Anyway, a quick update is that I am out of the dorms for this semester. No more dorm food! yay! I get to eat home cooked meals! Own toilet! Bigger bed! MY OWN ROOM! Muahaha!

Below are 360 degree views of my apartment. Enjoy! (Place mouse in the video and click and drag to rotate)

My Room


Kitchen


Housemate's Room/Dining Area

21st Birthday!

Thursday, 10 April

Wasn't expecting much on my 21st birthday this year cause on my birthday eve, I was busy studying for 2 quizzes which was on my birthday. Anyhow, around 11.50pm, my beloved Yiling was online, and she quickly asked me to setup my webcam and that she'd call me on skype. Close to 12am, she called me and we were connected. I could see her on the webcam but suddenly she went missing. Then I realize that she was actually lighting up. To my surprise, she made a mini ice cream cup cake with a candle on it. It was my b'day surprise from her! Hehe, the candle was light up and she asked me to make a wish before blowing it. Well, I pretended to blow off the candle obviously. I didn't even get to eat that cake Anyhow, I was really happy and THANK YOU MY DEAREST YILING! Love you loads!

After that, we chat for some time until my roommate suddenly got my attention and said that my Resident Assistant (RA) was looking for me in the kitchen. I thought I did something wrong or got into trouble. And...

I got a SURPRISE from my MTU Malaysian friends... There it was, a cake lit up with candles and my bunch of friends. So, again I made a wish before blowing off the candles. My 2nd birthday cake! But this time it's real My friends made me pull out the candles from the cake with my mouth after I cut the cake, of course you know what was the plan. I got away a few times but finally, someone managed to smash my face onto the cake. Yeah, it was all over my face... Thanks to: Nicholas, Nick Win, Shu Wei, Pete, Esther, Ee Lim, Pou Chong, Kenny and Sissi! After clearing the top part of the cake which my face got smashed onto, I divided the cake to all. Amazingly they still ate the cake even though my face had been on it. We chit chat a while and thanked them again before they left.

Friday, 11 April

BLIZZARD!!! Surrounding schools and universities were closed except for OURS!!! Well... cause we're used to it? It was really windy and heavy snow but it wasn't super cold. They will only close down the school if it goes below like -20 Celsius.

Despite the weather, I still went for both my 9am and 10am classes and took the quizzes. I only had 2 classes that day. So it was a pretty relaxed day. BUT.... few days back it was like this....

The weather here in Upper Michigan is really unpredictable... Such bad weather, some more on my birthday. Was it a sign? I donno...

Anyhow, as usual, on Friday evening I will head to the sports complex for my weekly dose of badminton. Was at the sports complex until 9 pm or so. After that, me and my friends left and headed back to Shu Wei's place for dinner. Since it was pretty late and we were hungry we decided to head out to eat. Called a couple more friends and we left the house. We headed to another friend's house.

And... ANOTHER SURPRISE!!!

I couldn't believe it, I didn't know... but I got another birthday cake! My 3rd one!

Hehe, it's weird to see your own face on the cake... Hehe... This kinda cake is common for birthdays here. Can be ordered from Walmart. The picture of me was taken in Las Vegas when I tasted my first Krispy Kreme doughnut. Anyway, this time they didn't smash my face onto the cake. We were gonna eat this one this time. But we only ate it the next day after dinner because we wanted to head out for dinner. So, I treated my friends to dinner at Applebees restaurant similar to Chilli's/TGIF in Malaysia. After dinner, went to Walmart to buy a few bottles of drinks since I am legally allowed to consume and purchase alcohol now. Watched V for Vendetta while we drank. Went home after that...

Some photos taken at Ee Lim's house...

Me, Pou Chong, Kate

Nicholas, Kate (my MAMA), Nick Win, Kenny, Edward, Pei Jia, Me, Pou Chong, Shu Wei (my PAPA)

Ee Lim (huskies hoodie)

Thanks guys! I was really surprised and happy! You guys are just such great friends! My life here is made extra memorable by you all!

Saturday, 12 April

5.00a.m. my phone rang... I picked up the phone... I was still blur cause I was in deep sleep already... Amazingly... It was my high school friend, Lik Wen. I wondered why he called me in the middle of the night from Malaysia. That guy actually called me because he and a bunch of my friends from Malaysia, namely Jin Yu, Weng Meng and Eugene Too was at at the KL PC Fair and wanted to ask me which hard disk was better for external hard drive. I was like.....sweat....^_^" wake me up in the middle of the night just to ask that.... and call from Malaysia some more. But after that, they still remembered to wish me Happy Birthday... LOL Because of them, I stayed up for 30mins... before I could sleep back again. I called my dearie in between.

5.30p.m.

To thank my Malaysian friends for their wonderful surprises I prepared dinner for them...

Spicy Black Bean Pork Ribs

Spicy Assam Catfish

Emperor's Chicken (prepared by my papa, Shu Wei)

We went to a newly opened entertainment center after dinner. Over there, there are bowling alleys, video arcades, a restaurant and also a bar. We tried almost all the arcade games there...

That night my friends were really lucky. They got like jackpot for a couple of games and they got loads of tickets (can be used to exchange prizes). Look!

My papa and mama! I love the both of you!

Got back like 2am that night... So that was it... How I spent my birthday weekend. On Sunday, it was back to work. Had to study for my upcoming exam and complete my homework.

Also, my roommate got me a watch for my birthday. It was pretty cool of him.

And today, I got mail from my Sister. She sent me a card together with a soft toy, a bunny! So sweet of my Jie Jie. I love you so much too!

Lastly, wanna say thanks to all who wished me on my birthday! All of you made me feel very special! Love you all too!

The Smile on Her Face... Priceless...

My one year anniversary with my beloved Yiling is coming really soon...

Since it's my first year anniversary and we're a thousand miles apart. I'd to think of something to celebrate this occasion. So, I thought of getting something special and meaningful for my dearest. I have always known that Yiling loves snow globes/water globes ever since I was friends with her. So, I'd been searching for some since a couple of months ago. Finally I managed to come across a website which has exactly what i needed. Snow globes with custom engraving. The result...


It's a pretty big snow globe which also includes a musical box in it. It plays the tune "Love me tender" and the heart and key rotates when the dial for the music is twisted. At the bottom of the heart and key has a platform surrounded by "I love you always," "je t'aime", "Forever" and "Together". And of course, at the front I customized it accordingly. I really like the design of this water globe. I think it suits this occasion very much.

So, I got this prepared since a couple of months ago and finally posted it on April 1st and it arrived in the arms of Yiling yesterday, April 9th. Pretty efficient shipping I would say.

As the title of this entry goes...

The Smile on Her Face... Priceless!

I yiling.L

p.s. I have to start planning for next year... oh wait... I have to start planning for Yiling's birthday first. It's sad not to be able to celebrate such occasions when you're so many miles apart from your partner. It only makes the heart grow fonder...

The wonders of a really fast camera... Hilarious!

End of Spring Break...

This break has passed by so fast... It was pretty much just eat, play, sleep and badminton everyday. But the most enjoyable part was eating and cooking this break, badminton too... It's sure good to exercise.

This has been pretty much my hang out place for this break...



Notice the 2 photos at the side of the room? My seniors really like my photos, so I developed 8x10's for them to put up.

Here's what the guys here enjoy a lot...



A 32" LCD TV hooked up with a PS3 via HDMI video connection. Blue-Ray movies played on this pair is really awesome. When watching Spiderman 3, the details that you could see were absolutely unbelievable. Tobey Maguire isn't that best looking guy around, but after watching him in Blue-Ray, that statement holds beyond true. We also got a copy of Blue-Ray Pirates of The Caribbean 3, which didn't disappoint us either. Missing in this photo is another console. Just this morning, my senior bought a Nintendo Wii. Walmart didn't have stock for weeks until today. We only had the sports games that came with the set and it was sure fun. It's really cool how interactive the games are on the Wii. My fav are bowling and tennis. On Thursday night, I prepared bak kut teh. It was simple, just follow the instructions on the spice packet. The brand used was A1 from Malaysia.

Here's what we had...

Black mushrooms and golden mushrooms

On Friday afternoon...

It has been awhile since i cooked pasta so, on Friday I made pasta. It's my famous basil seafood pasta.

Till now I have never shared this recipe with anyone as the recipe had been handed down from my mom.

So, all I can do is show you how it looks like...

I also made garlic bread and baked cod fish with garlic butter and herbs.

I did use some of the juice that came from the baked fish into my pasta. That help make the pasta more flavorful. Another important ingredient was white wine. My senior had a bottle of white wine at home and he let me use it for the pasta. My friends loved the pasta very much. They believe it's one of the best pasta that they had ever tasted cause it was very different from the ones which is common in restaurants like alfredo, carbonara, bolognese and aglio olio. It feels good to cook a good meal for people who enjoys food just like me.

For dinner, we went over to another senior's house for homemade pan mee. It was good too. For dessert, my senior and I prepared this...

It was inspired by our most favorite dessert at Applebee's diner, the Triple Meltdown. It's just a moist chocolate cake drizzled with chocolate syrup served hot with vanilla ice cream. It's superb I tell you. Hot and cold at the same time... Mmmmm.... YUMMY!

We successfully recreated this dessert using Pillsbury's Moist Supreme cake mix.

and cheap Vanilla Ice cream. We also used Nestle Nesquik Chocolate Syrup to drizzle over it. Did I mention the mix we used was Dark Chocolate? It's my favorite chocolate. This cake mix was really moist and the instructions were simple. All we needed were the mix, eggs, water and oil.

To be continued...