Thursday, March 25, 2010

Soup -Carrot and Orange

Ingredients for 2 servings.
  1. 150/200 g of finely chopped onions.
  2. 200/250 sliced carrots
  3. juice of 2 oranges or the equivalent amount of juice from a carton.
  4. enough olive oil the cover the pan bottom
  5. 300 ml of veggie stock (half a cube in hot water)
  6. salt and pepper.
Method

Not going to repeat method again!! Check previous blogs on soups.  Always the same.  One of the attractions of making soups.  Don't have to think about after a while.  Add the orange juice last after liquidising.

Soup - Pumpkin and apple

Ingredients for 2 servings.

  1. 150/200 g of finely chopped onions.

  2. 1 eating apple.

  3. 100/150 g of chopped pumpkin. (minus skin of course!!)

  4. enough olive oil to cover pan bottom.

  5. 300 ml of veggie stock (half a cube in hot water)

  6. Salt and pepper
About the ingredients.

As a general rule, the ingredients fill to the brim one of your soup bowls + the onion. With this soup you can add a bit of apple sauce if you want a really sweet soup.

Method
Sweat the onions in the olive oil, as before, etc Pour in the stock and add the chopped pumpkin and apple. Simmer till soft, 10 mins or so. Liquidise.

Carrot and orange next.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Kuala Kangsar, a Royal Town.

The Sultan had  this 'temporary' residence built whilst they were working on his permanent home.  Nice,  yes. Reputedly built with out using metal nails and without detailed plans.  Show a carpenter a sketch and he will make you a house.  I would have been sceptical of this approach to building but I have seen it in action in Mongolia.  In one instance,  the client clipped a photograph of a home he liked the look of from a western magazine and asked a builder to reproduce a look-a-like in the UB suburbs.
The Sultan also built a pretty mean mosque.  But with plans this time!!!!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

One engine, two bikes.

Got to help a mate, haven't you?

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Soup - Sweet Potato and Lime

Ingredients for 2 servings. 
  1. 150/200 g of finely chopped onions.
  2. 200/250 g of peeled and sliced sweet potato.
  3. juice of three small limes.
  4. enough olive oil, to cover pan bottom.
  5. 300 ml veggie stock (half a cube in hot water).
  6. salt and pepper.
 About the ingredients
 
Try and get the purple skinned, white flesh sweet potatoes for the best taste.  Japanese I think.  S P oxidise very easily, turning black which is not nice.  Put the slices imediately into a bowl of water until you are ready to use them. 
 
I use small limes because they are stronger tasting and compliment the S P's better.  Best results from real limes, of course. 
 
Method
 
Always the same.  Sweat the onions in the olive oil till soft, add salt and pepper (only a tad).  Pour in the stock and add the slices of S P.  Simmer till S P's are soft.  Liquidise and add lime juice.  This soup is Gek's flavourite!!!

Plantation Stroll

I was instructed to 'walk English'!!!!!

This rather date looking fruit is where palm oil of palmolive soap comes from.  The huge plantation must have million of them.

Kek Lok Temple, Ipoh

The temple has the usually sort of ornate facade, but once you have walked through the cave that makes up the temple proper, you come through to a large garden.

Quite magical.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Entry point to the National Park.

This is the place where you take a long boat for a long, 3 hour journey  if you want to stay in the National park. 

It can rain a lot in Malaysia.  The height meter reads 59 feet.  As we were driving to this place, I did wondered why very small bridges we crossed  had height meters reaching above our car!!!!  A new lake would be born.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Book - China Cuckoo.

Autobiography about a man who's need to succeed drove him to edge of sanity, only to find his Welsh roots on a Chinese mountain. A good read. Hands up, how many men feel that family is part of their real lives?

Film - Up in the Air



A man with super soft skills totally lacking the ability to commit to anything.  Have a lot of sympathy with the rucksack thing and share the 'feel good' with a freshly made up hotel room.  Has to be a 3.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Kellie's Castle.

Just outside Ipoh. Not a castle really.  One man's fantasy home.  Click here for the history.


A sad story really.   This house has the first lift shaft in Malaysia,  even if it didn't have the first lift.


Kellie had this Indian temple built on his grounds for his workers.  Spotted the unusual figure?



Not sure about the horses!!!!!

Monday, March 08, 2010

Soup - Broccoli and Mushroom.

Ingredients for 2 servings.
  1. 150/200 g finely chopped onions.
  2. 200/250 g broccoli, only the tops. (can use thick stork.)
  3. 1/2 soup bowl of chopped mushrooms.
  4. olive oil.
  5. 300 ml veggie stock (half a cube in hot water)
  6. salt and pepper.

Method.

Sweat the onions in olive oil, very, very low heat with the pan lid on, until onions soft but not browning. Just cover the pan bottom with the oil. I use light oil and only yellow onions.

When onions are soft, add stock, mushrooms and broccoli. I use Shitake mushrooms. If you buy them dry, soak over night in water. Add pinch of salt and dusting of ground black pepper, boil until broccoli is soft.

Liquidise. Again, add hot water if soup too thick.

Source:- www.bbc.co.uk

Changi Landing


Photo by Toby.
Sunset over Singapore anchorage taken from a landing plane.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Northern Trip Accomodation.

 Just to give a feel of the different accomodation we had on the trip.  This at Lake  Kenyir.

 Stunning lake views over pools.  Nice view for breakfast!!!

In Kuala Trengganu we stayed in a new Felda Residence hotel by the river.

Some nice places to have dinner in the dusk by the river.  Decided I like Trengganu. 

 At the Felda Residence Plantation Tekam Resort,  we stayed in the companies plantation reseach facility's own resort.  Very quiet.  Loved this place.

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

The lake districts.

Malaysian lakes that is. We visited lake Tenenggor and Kenyir, pictured above.


Resort accomodation these days.

Totally relaxing.

Soups - Brussel Sprouts and Caramelised Onion.

Some time ago, I became embarrassed by Gek always doing the cooking. I decidedly do not enjoy messing with pans and things. The whole business from walking into the kitchen to sitting down to eat has to take less than 1/2 hour. Cannot be doing with it....cooking. So I decided to build on my soup catalogue.....which at the time was only carrot and orange.

The Basics
  1. All the soups have to be sweet.
  2. Onions form the basis of every soup.
  3. All liquidised.
Brussels Sprouts and Caramelised Onion. (My favourite!!)

Ingredients for 2 servings.
  1. 150/200 g Brussel sprouts. (cut them in half to check no bugs)
  2. 150/200 g fine chopped union. (yellow onion best)
  3. 300 ml of veggie stock (half a cube in hot water)
  4. big knob of unsalted butter
  5. 1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar.
  6. pepper/salt.
Method
Sweat the onions in the butter. Very, very low heat, with the pan lid on until the onions are soft but not brown. Stir occasionally. Should take about 10 mins. I add a bit of olive oil if the onions begin to crackle before they are soft..
Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar and continue to stir until the onions are nice and brown but still very soft.
Add pepper and salt. Don't over do it!!! Just a taste.
Add in the sprouts and the stock, bring to boil. Simmer for about 10/15 mins until sprouts are soft.
Liquidise. If soup turns out too thick, add a bit of hot water. Serve. Marvelous!!!
Source:- www.bbc.co.uk.

Workshop in a Wardrobe.

Gotten some new kit. A milling machine and a circular saw. Magic. See http://david-dollhouse.blogspot.com/ for detailed pictures........ Fits in the wardrobe a treat. Now to crack on and make the windows and doors. I swear it takes longer to make a miniature than the real thing!!!!