No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

On my recent trip to the Cameron Highlands we stopped by at the Cameron Highlands Resort and adjourned for tea @ the Jim Thompson Tea room.  The Cameron Highlands Resort was formerly Merlin Hotel but had changed hands and had undergone extensive reburfishment and makeover.  We had stayed there before many, many years ago so we just had to stop by and take a look at this hotel again.

Recently, we had brunch at a vegetarian shop in Medan Ipoh Bistari ~ Fu Tien vegetarian.  I find that the menu is slightly different from the norm as they have sushi, bento and other a-la-carte dishes that sound interesting.  I ordered some sushi as I've never tasted vegetarian ones before.

Pakeeza, a restaurant serving Northern Indian cuisine has been in existence in Ipoh for many years.  It's one of our family's favourite place for dining.  I did try to blog about the food in this restaurant before, but unfortunately the pictures taken then didn't turn out well even after editing, as the ambience, at that time was quite gloomy with blue coloured dining tables and dim lighting. Now it has been renovated and business was brisk and the place was packed when we were there last weekend.  We only managed to get a table right near the entrance, just at the fringe of the restaurant proper.  I took a peep at the interior, the place was full, not much decor but the ambience is definitely much brighter  now. Come to think of it, the place where we were seated is more conducive for picture clicking.  We had to wait for about 30 mins. for our food to arrive and that gave me ample time to wait for the customers at my vicinity to leave be...

Another place of interest that we visited when we were in Foshan was the  Nanfeng Kiln   located in Shiwan town.  It's the oldest surviving furnace in the world and dates back to 500 years during the Ming dynasty.  There were some stalls there selling souvenirs of pottery like wine cups, teapots and cups, also some very fine and articulately done ceramic figurines.

I've heard of this famous Devonshire Scones in Mt. Dandenong but never had the chance to visit this place on my previous trips to Melbourne.  This time around I made sure that I won't give this place a miss ........... Miss Marple's Tea-room!   Miss Jane Marple  is a fictitious character created by Britain's famed crime novel writer,   Agatha Christie   to solve crimes based on her observation and knowledge of human nature.  An elderly spinster who lived in the quaint English village of St. Mary Mead, she was first introduced in the novel  'Murder at the Vicarage' in 1930.  If you wish to know more about Miss Marple, check it out  'here'.  Now back to Mt Dandenong and Scones ..........

We had lunch at the ' All people Chinese restaurant ' at Burwood, a suburb not far from the city. It was indeed a very sumptuous meal and I must say  that the lobsters we had were value for money.  We discovered later that they cost  very much less than what was being offered at the restaurants in the city's Chinatown.

Many of you who have been ardent followers or readers of   MaryMoh's ~ 'Keep learning keep smiling' blog would have known that I met up with her in London,  Westfield    recently.  I was indeed very excited when she confirmed that she was available for a meet up, a 'blind' date so to speak.  Oh, not totally 'blind' because I've a vague idea of how she looks like from her picture in her profile but she doesn't have a clue about me.  How interesting!  I told her that we'll be playing 'hide and seek'! I said that I'll definitely be the first one to spot her but she replied she'll arrive early and it won't be too difficult to spot  Asians with black hair!  I was early too and initially I couldn't find the 'venue' of our meeting place as Westfield had other entrances and it was huge.  Somehow I managed and as I was walking, from a distance I spotted an Asian petite lady walking towards my direction,...

The  Pembrokeshire   coast in Wales is the UK's only truly coastal National Park.  Designated in 1952 for its spectacular coastline, the park has been a great getaway for holidaymakers.  It has 620 sq km of awe-inspiring coast and countryside and its protected landscape is a haven for wildlife.  Each year thousands of  holidaymakers join Pembrokeshire people to take a walk in this coastal park of more than 600 miles of Public Rights of way.

After breakfast at the Goldenes hotel, we promptly took our maps and made our way to the Mirabell palace and gardens. Mirabell palace

Hallstatt , a picturesque village in the Salzkammergut was made a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site.  The town is situated by a lake but the saltmines that attracted the earliest settlers 7,000 years ago are about 300 metres up the mountains.  The mines are the oldest saltmines in the world.

The Wachau is the name given to the 30 km stretch by the Danube between Melk and Krems where the river cuts a narrow rocky valley between the foothills of the Bohemian Forest to the northwest and the Dunkelsteiner Wald to the southeast.  This is an area with impressive vineyards, romantic small towns, castles and monastries.  This area was added to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites for outstanding architectural and agricultural history.

This was our last day in Vienna and we headed to some parks and the city centre for some 'window shopping'. Viennese City Park ~ Stadtpark.  This park holds many statues of famous historical composers and musicians from Vienna.  This is a statue of Johann Strauss, shows him in gold playing the violin and is one of the most photographed statues in Vienna.

We took the Underground train to visit the   Schonbrunn Palace   the next day.  The palace and the palace grounds were huge as you can see and naturally took us many hours to walk around.  We went on a conducted tour of the palace interior and they have different packages.  We only took the basic one which cost us 14.90 Euro per person and then after the tour we wandered on our own. Entrance to Schonbrunn Palace.

A very big thank you to all of you who have continued to visit my blog.  Yes, I'm back and I would like to share with you pictures of my recent trip to Austria and Wales.  So, please follow me ............ On arrival in London on 5th September, we drove from London Heathrow to Gatwick and spent a night in this cosy little Bed and Breakfast, Southbourne Guest House in Horley near Gatwick.

We were in Singapore the last weekend for a short visit and had dinner @ this Japanese restaurant ...... 'Ichiban boshi', which was within walking distance from the hotel where we were staying.  I was rather impressed with the service as the young waitresses and waiters who served us were very polite and patient with our orders!  We were lucky that we left Singapore on Tuesday otherwise we would be stranded when the floods inundated certain parts of the city state!

My neighbour introduced me to this Vietnamese restaurant and so we dropped by last weekend to try it out.   It was packed when we arrived but managed to get a table after waiting for a while.  I was rather amused by the footnote on the menu which caught my eye  ......."If the food is delicious, tell your friends.  If the food is not delicious, please tell us"! The proprietress of the restaurant was a gusty lady with very good PR.  She apologised to customers for late service, thanked them vehemently for patronising her restaurant and reiterated that they return for more. When the food came, I clicked away and also checked with the waitress about the ingredients.  I also asked the lady boss about the sauce that went into my dried vermicelli/mong.  She was a bit surprised that I was so inquisitive and also noticed that I was taking shots of the food.  So, I casually told her that  I would like to post her restaurant's food on my bl...

I happened to be in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday and since it was the eve of Mother's Day, decided to celebrate the occasion with my siblings.  So, four of us trotted off to The Lobsterman @ SS2, Petaling Jaya for our dinner.  I've heard of this seafood restaurant but have not yet tried their goodies.  It was indeed a very sumptuous meal, a bit on the high side though, but nonetheless we mothers should pamper ourselves and indulge, once in a while, what more as it's Mother's Day!

Once in a while I would like to have a vegetarian meal.  What I like most is dishes made with bean curd sheets, 'fu chook' or gluten puffs.    I've never been to this restaurant eversince they shifted to this new and bigger place and so last weekend, trotted there to check it out  ....... Gui Lin vegetarian restaurant. We ordered 4 dishes for the three of us and let me introduce them to you, one by one ......

Recently, I met up with  my ex-colleagues for Hi-Tea at Heritage Hotel and we did enjoy ourselves tremendously, catching up on old and present times.  At 19 rgt nett the price was reasonable but @ 15 rgt nett for seniors age 50 and above, it was more affordable!  We were there early, so I had a gala time snapping up pictures of the spread of food before people were able to dig into them!

I was indeed excited to learn that the Topwok restaurant is going to reopen soon after a lapse of a year.  It used to be my 'second kitchen' as I would ring up and place my orders for takeaway whenever I was busy or too lazy to cook. It reopened on 1st April, operates for dinners, lunch and dinner only on Sundays.  It is indeed a joy to the residents of the surrounding neighbourhood as most of them patronise this restaurant which is clean, food is good and the price reasonable.