Homemade Chocolate Ice-cream ( no ice-cream machine needed)

Ingredient:

1 1/2 (355ml) cup of Milk

1 1/2 (355ml) heavy cream/ whipping cream

3/4  (150g) of cup Sugar 

1/2 cup (59g ) 100% cocoa powder

113g semisweet chocolate bar ( chop finely )

4 eggs yorks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparations:

In a saucepan add milk, whipping cream and cook until simmer ( when bubble about to come out around 82°C) 

Turn off the heat and add cocoa powder and chocolate, whisk until all completely melted.

Whisk egg yolks in a bowl and add sugar regularly , whisk until mixture is thickened.

Add 1/2 chocolate mixture into the eggs yolks and stir it , add back the mixture into chocolate mixture.

Cook the mixture for about 5 minutes and then set aside. add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. 

cool down the mixture and store in a freezer ( after 30 minutes) 

after the mixture solidified take out and beating in a mixer. ( after 4 hours ++)

turn the mixer to high power to make sure the hard ice-cream is beat to creamy soft then store into freezer again( follow this step for few times, to make sure the ice-cream is soft)

done..and enjoy your homemade Chocolate ice-cream

although homemade ice-cream is expensive than those available in supermarket, but at least it's without preservative and coloring and you can adjust to your personal taste. 

Chocolate Ice-cream serve with variety of nuts.

 part of the ingredients

checking the cream and milk temperature 

 the chocolate ( finely chopped )

cocoa powder 

 eggs yolks

 the final mixture after adding egg yolks + sugar

after beating in mixer 

Nasi Ulam

Nasi Ulam is a famous dish in Kelantan. It consists of raw fresh vegetables and boiled vegetables, budu ( fermented anchovy sauce- at the middle) and fish ( either fried or roasted). A must try food when visit Kelantan.

 vegetables include:
 lady fingers (okra), cucumber ( mini size), nail shoot ( pucuk paku), cashew nut young leaves, petai, and many more vegetables which i don't know their name ..sorry

Budu:
mix with unripe mango (sliced) + lime juice + some chili..

Khlong Hae floating market, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand.

Khlong Hae floating market (ตลาดน้ำคลองแห) located at Khlong Hae, about 15- 20 minutes tut tut ride from Hat Yai town, just tell tut tut driver you want to go Khlong Hae floating market and they will bring you there ( went there during 2013 Chinese New Year and being charged 600 baht for return trip from Hat Yai )  try to bargain the price before enter the tut tut ( it should be around 500-700 baht for return trip) .

Tut tut driver will drop off at a temple compound ( parking area for tut-tut) the floating market is next to it, walk along the road and you will see a river and the floating market, all foods at floating market is halal but you can get non halal foods along the road to the floating market and beside floating market. There is all kind of stuffs there;  foods , souvenir, drinks, arts, t-shirt, cloths, etc. The foods and drinks is quite cheap ranging from 20-50 baht. For about 200 bath you can have sumptuous Thai foods there.   

Tips:

light wear- weather is kind of hot

go after 5P.M ( comfortable temperature)

bargain with tut tut driver for return trip ( they will wait until you done shopping)

Attractions:

paddle boat, varieties of foods, souvenirs, shopping ( t-shirts, shoe, slipper, jewelry, etc)   

Operating Hours:

Friday to Sunday 3P.M to 9P.M .  

Contacts:

Khlong Hae Municipality Tel. 074 580888 or  fax. 074 580785

GPS coordinate :7.04508,100.474906

Nearby attractions around Hatyai:

Hat Yai Municipal Park ( Golden Buddha with a peaceful lake for boat paddling)

Tang Kuan Hill ( breathtaking panoramic view of the sea )

Map / location:

View Larger Map

Enjoy the photos

The floating market during sunset

The street next to the temple before floating market

paddling on the river

20 baht drinks including the clay container

Doraemon 

only 20 baht

some crunchy stuff ( mixed with vege, prawn ,peanut, lime , etc) 

cute fruits ( actually it is mung bean paste covered with colorful jelly made into fruits shape) 

when the night come

Kuala Sepetang Fishing Village

Introduction:

Kuala Sepetang ( 十八丁),  previously known as Port Weld; named after former Governor, Frederick Weld; It's a fishing village located along the Sepetang river connected to the sea, this area periodic fresh and saltwater inundation suitable for mangrove trees hence provided rich ecosystem and important breeding ground for marine animals . It's about 18km from Taiping town and driving normally took about half an hour. Along the way to Kuala Sepetang you can saw mangrove trees along the road ( it's actually Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve). Kuala Sepetang also famous for it charcoal make from mangrove trees, most of the high quality charcoal is exported to Japan.  

Where:

Kuala Sepetang ( Port Weld)

Attractions:

cheap and fresh seafood, fishing village, firefly watching, bird watching, eagle feeding, mangrove trees, cruising along  Sepetang river,  beautiful sunset, etc.

How to go:

From Taiping follow Kuala Sepetang roads sign and you will reach there. It's just 18km .

Nearby Attractions:

Taiping, Perak ( 30 minutes driving tranquil lake garden, foods) 

Tua Pek Kong temple, Sitiawan ( about 2 hours + drive, beautiful landscape, temple, sunset, monkey,seaside)

Taiping Zoo ( 30 minutes driving, animals, landscape, family trip, open everyday)

Mangrove trees along the calm Sungai Sepetang

Kuala Sepetang Sunset (HDR)

 The oldest train station in Malaysia.

Foods

Besides the mangrove  plants Kuala Sepetang is famous with it fresh and cheap seafood, there are many seafood restaurants along the Sepetang river. The seafood are fresh because all are freshly caught along the river or by the sea. Unfortunately the day i went there most of the seafood sold out  ( because of holiday seasons)  So we just managed to eat some simple seafood. 

 deep fried crispy crab

steam octopus

 Fishing village at Kuala Sepetang

 Seafood restaurant at Kuala Sepetang

 boats parking along the river

Birds

Besides the foods and mangrove trees there are many eagles cruising on the sky looking for foods. It's a great place for bird watching photograph because there is variety of  bird species available such as  Brahminy Kite Eagle, White Bellied Eagle, sunda Pygmy woodpecker, Blue Eared Kingfisher, Collared Kingfisher and Stork Bill Kingfisher.

 Brahminy Kite Eagle

Brahminy Kite Eagle 

Brahminy Kite Eagle 

Homemade Matcha Green Tea Ice-cream ( no ice-cream machine needed)

Not able to find the green tea flavor Häagen-Dazs® ice cream ( where i consume at least once a month back in US)  in local shop force me to make myself. The first batch was failed because of the artificial green tea powder bought at the local bakery shop with the pre-ready ice-cream powder that turn out a weird taste ice-cream. ( or maybe i'm too picky in green tea flavor). So i search for the matcha green tea powder and finally able to bought it from ebay. It's originally from Japan (what claimed by the seller) and after some research on internet and + some ideas from mom this how i made the ice-cream.

Ingredient:

1 cup Milk

1 cup heavy cream/ whipping cream

1/4 cup Sugar ( personally don't like too sweet so if you like sweeter can adjust to 1/2 cup)

3 Tbsp Matcha green tea powder

7 Tbsp of hot water

Preparations:

Mix green tea powder with hot water in a separate cup and set aside

In a saucepan add milk, whipping cream, sugar and the green tea mixture. 

Cook the mixture until all the sugar dissolved.

cool down the mixture and store in a freezer ( 30 minutes) 

after the mixture solidified take out and beating in a mixer. ( after 4 hours ++)

turn the mixer to high power to make sure the hard ice-cream is beat to creamy soft then store into freezer again( follow this step few time, to make sure the ice-cream is soft)

done..and enjoy your homemade matcha green tea ice-cream

Matcha Green Tea Ice-cream with bread

 Matcha Green Tea Ice-cream with green tea powder topping

 store in the freezer

 when the ice-cream solidified 

 beating in mixer

the soft ice-cream 

Grilled Salmon with mashed potato

Ingredient

1 sliced salmon 

1 broccoli

dash of salt

dash of pepper

Recipe:

Marinate salmon steak with salt and pepper  for 15 minutes

heated hot pan and  pan fried the salmon steak, cook for approximately 12 minutes. Then ready to serve.

Mashed Potato and Gravy

Ingredient

3 russet potato peeled and cubed

1/4 cup warm milk

40g butter or margarine

4 onions

flour

chicken stock

Recipe:

Cover potato with water in saucepan and boil for 25 minutes with cover. Drain well. Add  salt ,milk, butter and pepper; mash until fluffy.

 Gravy:

In a pan, cook the butter and onions on medium heat until onions slightly browned

whisk in some flour into the pan, and add the salt and pepper. Then cook for 3 minutes

Add the hot chicken stock, and cook  for 5 minutes until it's thickened. Cognac can be added too.

Broccoli and carrot is boil and serve together with salmon steak and mashed potato

Celery Mushroom spaghetti

Ingredient:

one stalk of spaghetti noodles

5 garlic ( minced)  

1 dill leaves

10 Fresh Mushroom

1 stalk Celery

Prego mushroom spaghetti sauce

oil

Recipe: 

Boil spaghetti noodles in hot water ( add some salt) for 13-15 minutes (when done set aside in a plate) while waiting for the spaghetti. 

 Heat up one teaspoon oil in a pan; fried garlic until the aroma is noticed, then add celery and mushroom stir fried for 3 minutes.

 After that add prego spaghetti sauce. Mix well , when the mixture boiled pour it on top of spaghetti noodle; decorate with dill leaves. Ready to serve 

Home process coffee bean

Here how i research, google and process the fresh coffee bean. 

Step :1 The coffee bean after 1 day soaking in water, gonna wet process it

Step :2 crack the coffee cherry skin and isolate the green coffee bean inside..

Step :3 After wet process the fresh green coffee bean's skin is peeled , it's flesh( mucilage) still attached on the bean. Fermentation begin to remove the mucilage .

Step :4 After fermentation the mucilage is removed . Here the fresh green coffee beans 

 Step :5 dry the green coffee bean under the sun. 

Step :6 Hulling-to removing the entire dried husk. Here show the green coffee bean and the removed husk.

dry the coffee bean untl about 11% then it can be roast and grind to serve as coffee.  

The after roasted coffee..ready to grind and serve as coffee..the coffee aroma is strong now