Samgyetang~ Hong Bak Sa Korean Restaurant, Ampang

After he done voting for the presidential election at the Embassy, we came to Hong Bak Sa to have Samgyetang for lunch. Hong Bak Sa Korean restaurant is specialize in Samgyetang (Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup), also offer other Korean dishes including Korean BBQ. The Samgyetang is bibim-hot while serve to us. The broth is a bit bland since it is yet seasoning, so need to self-add salt to season it. I like the savoury sticky rice inside the spring chicken than the chicken meat. We both drench in sweat after the meal. Guess that's how it feel to have Samgyetang in summer to detoxify and rejuvenate the body which the Koreans like to do during summer.

Publika's Christmas Decorations 2012

After we moved to Mont Kiara, Publika has become my new favourite place to go. Love this novel concept development that combines shopping, dining, arts & culture office suites, residential cum retail shops in Solaris Dutamas by Sunrise. Also super love their Christmas deco which is different from other shopping malls. Look forward for more and many more years to come (for their Christmas decorations).

And this should be a tallest book shelf in Malaysia and those books are real books! Not sure if it is part of the restaurant's decorations or Publika Shopping Gallery's initiative to promote readings. Nevertheless it attracts people taking pictures with it (and the typewrites) more than sit down and read books. 

Coffee, Pizza & Pasta~ Pizza Brava, Desa Sri Hartamas

After 5 hours on the road, we finally back to KL by dinner time. Tired and hungry, we stopped by Pizza Brava at Desa Sri Hartamas for dinner before head home. The restaurant is located between Starbucks and Watsons, it seems like a favourite place for Japanese men to have dinner cum drinking after work that night. Before meal serve, the Cappuccino and Americano both with almond biscotti served. That Americano looks like expresso for me! Not sure why he asked for Americano today, he is not even a coffee drinker. Since the restaurant is specialty in Italian firewood pizza, we order the 12" Brava Pizzeria ~ topped with tomatoes, beef pepperoni, mushroom, capsicum, olives & cheese. The crust is very thin & best to eat when it is hot! Also had their Le Pasta Fettuccine Carbonara which is fettuccine in cream sauce with turkey ham & mushroom, delicious! A good place for decent pizza and pasta in Desa Sri Hartamas. 

Autumn Foliage in Seonunsan, Gochang 고창 선운산 단풍놀이

Short trip to Seonunsan, Gochang, Jeollabuk-do for autumn foliage. Koreans call this type of trip as 단풍놀이 Dan-pong nol-i which means viewing and enjoying the beautiful scenery with colorful autumn leaves. Gochang is about 3 hours driving distance from Seoul. Seonun-san 선운산 is a popular destination for hiking with various trails, also well known for it's beautiful view of cemelia forest, plum blossom and cherry blossom in spring, fall foliage and fall flowers in autumn. In fact the mountain park itself has a few natural monuments and cultural assets which housed inside the 1,500 years old Seonunsa Temple that built during Baekje Dynasty. The camelia forest which blossoms in spring is at the Seonunsa Temple. Yongmungol 용문골 which is a cave where Dae Jang Guem's mother was buried in the drama "Dae Jang Guem" also another popular destination to visit along the hike. Love the view of crimsons leaves, also blooming and colorful chrysanthemum flowers in fall~

Sunday brunch~ Ben's General Food Store, B.I.G, Publika

Sunday morning, woke up late.. Oppa said, lets go for nice brunch at Ben's general food store (which is located inside Ben's Independent Grocer at Publika). After moved to MK, recently we have been regularly come to Publika for food. We order 2 breakfast pizza~ their signature Big Ben Breakfast and Eggs Benedict, English tea for him and cappuccino for me as usual..

First pizza is BIG BEN'S BREAKFAST~ a personal size Pizza with Beef, bacon, chicken sausage, baked beans, button mushrooms, semi-dried tomatoes, hash brown & eggs. It's like the usual big breakfast we know where they turn it into pizza with the ingredients that a big breakfast have as filling.

The second pizza EGGS BENEDICT is turkey ham, spinach, semi-dried tomatoes, truffle oil & poached eggs pizza. I love how the spinach taste like when it mixed with poached eggs & ham in this pizza! He also commented their food ingredients taste fresh.

If you are not a big eater, 1 pizza breakfast is enough for 2 adults to share. We were told by the waiter who attend to us that 1 breakfast pizza is good for 1 serving. So, we ordered 2 breakfast pizza and end up over-stuff our stomach. I didn't really enjoy my cappuccino as I was too full to finish it. Overall, the pizza taste good, but the brunch cost us RM80++ which is pricey for breakfast only probably because we order 2 pizza!

My Korean Kitchen~ Kimchi Jjamchi Jjigae 참치 김치 찌개 Kimchi Tuna Stew

Love kimchi jjigae? Then you should try kimchi tuna jjigae! This is the first Korean jjigage that I learned how to cook! Simple, quick and easy jiggae. It is one of his favourite Korean stew. He will eat at least 2 bowl of rice with just the jjigae because it is so savoury! Jjigae (pronounced as chee-geh) is a Korean dish similar to a Western stew. A typical jjigae is heavily seasoned with chili pepper and served boiling hot. A Korean meal usually will include either a jjigae or a soup.

Ingredients:

Chopped Kimchi - 1 cup

Tuna chunk (soak in oil) - 1 can

Rinse rice water - 2.5 cups

Spring Onion - 1 stalk

Sesame Oil - 1 tablespoon

Soy Sauce - 1 teaspoon

Sugar - 1 teaspoon

How to cook:

Step 1. 
Heat up the earth-ware and add 1 tbsp of sesame oil in it. Then add 1 cup of chopped kimchi and saute for 2-3 minutes on a normal heat. Saute until the chopped kimchi until it looks golden brown. This step can make the kimchi more savoury and crispy.

Step 2.
Remove the oil from the can,  pour in the tuna chunk into the earth-ware. I prefer to use tuna chunk soak in oil than the soak in water type as I found out that this local brand soak in oil type tuna chunk is less salty compare to the soak in water type.

Step 3.
Add in 1 teaspoon of the excess oil (optional), mix the tuna chunk and chopped kimchi well and saute it under normal heat for another 2-3 minutes. The tuna chunk oil will add more flavor to the stew.

Step 4.
Add in 2 cups of rice water - the water from rinse rice. If you do no have rice water, use normal water instead. Bring it to boil. Meanwhile, chopped 1 stalk of spring onion as above - the green part is about finger length and the white part chopped into 2-3cm length. Set aside.

Step 5.
When the stew is boiling, add 1 teaspoon of soya sauce and 1 teaspoon of sugar, continue to let it boil in a medium heat for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, add the chopped spring onion and boil for another 30 seconds to 1 minute, the stew is ready!

  

Serve the Kimchi Jjamchi Jiggae with a bowl of steam rice. I love to use Korean earth-ware (Ddukbaegi) to cook jiggae, as it can keep the soup bibim-hot and continue boiling for a while when served it on the table.

JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong 香港JW萬豪酒店

Stayed in JW Marriott Hotel, Queensway for 4 days 3 nights in Hong Kong. It is conveniently located in the heart of Hong Kong - the Central district, with direct access to 金鐘站 Admiralty MTR station through the 太古廣場 Pacific Place Shopping Mall which is linked with the hotel. We use MTR travel to various places such as Central, Mongkok, Tsim Tsa Tsui without needs to pay more to hire a taxi. 

Our room is located at Level 32 with partial city view and mountain view, overlooking at Hong Kong Park. Room size is standard, not spacious but not too small as well given that property in Hong Kong is expensive. The double beds in queen size is super comfy and we have a very good sleep during the stays. The two single seat sofa next to the window corner is our most favourite place in the room besides the beds. The blackout drape curtains are remote-control, control button panel for lighting including iphone charging stand just next to the bed.

The bathroom and walk in closet is located between the door entrance and room entrance curvy corridor. We could store our large size luggage inside the walk in closet, there are also multi-level drawers and top shelves above the cloth racks to keep more stuffs. The Bathroom has separated shower area and bathtub. Well equipped toiletries. The mimi-bars comes complimentary drinking water, coffee and tea including the coffee / tea maker, as well as assorted premium snacks and beverages such as beer, wine and champagne which is chargeable. 

Since we have access to level 33 executive lounge as a Marriot member, we get to enjoy nice coffee & drinks all day long. The lounge has an amazing view of harbour view and city view. There are also wide range of breakfast selections from Hong Kong dimsum, porridge with sides, fried noodles to western breakfast like cereals, waffle & pancakes, breads & pastries, yogurts etc, and we did not explore (totally forgotten about) Hong Kong breakfast outside the hotel.