Peninsula Malaysia East Coast Road Trip and the Underwater World of Redang Island

Food, sea, sun, sand and underwater vacation

Our 2 years of oversea life in Auckland, made us miss the warm sea and beach in Malaysia even more. There were many nice beaches in New Zealand too but the water was too cold for us.  Even during summer months, there was only 1 month (between February and March) when the water was warm enough for us to swim in but it was still pretty chilly as compared to the warm sea temperature in the tropical region.

After settling down, the very first plan we made was to go for warm island beach vacation during the upcoming school holidays which Ming Ray had been longing. We teamed up with my ex-colleague Jenny and her family to the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia on a road trip covering Cherating and Redang Island trip from 6^th to 11^th  June .

A bunch of 4 adults and 3 kids had a blast.  Not only the children got to enjoy the awesome snorkeling experience of seeing colourful underwater world, we also got the chance to taste the delectable Terengganu local delights, especially the seafood.    

After 3 hours of driving from Kuala Lumpur, we put up at Cherating and checked in Holiday Villa for our first night. We had our first sumptuous seafood dinner at a renowned restaurant in a nearby town, Kemaman.

Early next morning we departed for Kuala Terengganu jetty to catch our boat to Redang Island. It took us just over 3 hours to reach there. We spent 4 days 3 nights at Laguna Redang Resort. The package offered by this resort was pricier than most other resorts but we found it quite a good value for money especially when we were travelling with children, comfortable lodging and well equipped facilities were our main priorities. In addition, the varieties of the buffet meals had made us come back with extra kilos J

After the return boat trip from Redang Island we took off around noon and we made an impromptu lunch stop over at Pantai Penarik when JS spotted a restaurant full of patrons.

We were surprised by another mouth watering meals at the restaurant specialty the batter-fried seafood and Terengganu local delicacies of keropok lekor (fish sausage) and Sata (grilled fish in banana leaves).  Only when I got back home to search the Internet did I realize that this shop was one of the must tries seafood restaurant at Pantai Penarik. 

The most tiring part of our journey was our return trip from East Coast to Penang Island via Gerik Highway. We traveled in 2 cars; it was a long hilly and dreadful 7 hours long distance drive. Gratitude should be extended to both drivers –our beloved husbands.  Halfway thru the journey, the weather turned bad and visibility was down to less than 50 meters in foggy and rainy conditions in some parts. Along the way, we spotted more than 4 car accidents with the victims’ cars skidded into the side drain, really terrifying.

With the rainy weather we didn’t manage to get a good look at Tasik Temenggor which is another beauty along this highway. Due to the road condition with no lighting at night, our drivers decided to make best use of the daylight by driving non-stop till night fell so we skipped dinner and went straight to Penang. Finally at 9.30pm, we reached Penang and got to enjoy Penang hawker dinner delights albeit a tad late.

Food adventures

Kemaman specialty – Stuffed Crabs @ Tong Juan Restaurant

Eat all you can buffet meals @ Laguna Redang Resort

Lunch @ Pantai Penarik, Terengganu

During our stay in Penang, we put up a night at Jenny's house and the following day, she brought us to her brother in law's Hakka Mee Restaurant for lunch. Thanked to her that we got the chance to enjoy famous Kampar Hakka Mee, homemade fish balls and Yong Tau Fu.  

Kampar Hakka Mee, fish balls, deep fried fu chok (bean curb sheets) and steamed herbal chicken

 Beach

White sandy Pasir Panjang beach

Laguna Redang Resort beach front

Underwater world highlights

Yin the mermaid?

Close encounter with X'mas worms

Surrounded by a school of hungry fish

Ray: Let me hold the bread, I want to feed the fish!

Instant Oat Soya Milk Bread 豆浆麦片土司

Healthy Vegetarian bread

Ever since I successfully made my 1^st loaf of Tangzhong (Water Roux Starter) bread, I was addicted to its super soft and fluffy texture. Whenever I think of baking bread I would try out as many variations of Tangzhong bread recipes as possible. With ingredients such as instant oat and sugar-free soya milk, this one was a healthy and nutritious bread and especially great for vegetarians.

The original recipe also suggested adding raisins which I excluded as both Ming Ray and I do not like raisins in bread.


Instant Oat Soya Milk Bread 豆浆麦片土司



Homemade Lo See Fun 自制老鼠粉/米台目

Home-made authentic Hakka Cuisine- Part two

Writing the Hakka Lo See Fun (Rice Pin noodles) with Minced Pork post reminded me this great noodle making experience I had in 2009 when I first moved to Auckland.

When we first shifted to Auckland, we were blessed to have a group of Auckland based Malaysian friends' support to ease our settling down. Many of them were JS University mates who migrated years before us. With their help, our transition was painless and swift. I was especially thankful to build up good friendships with their wives. The wives gang had helped ease my anxiety. I was able to connect to a new social network in New Zealand in no time.

Among of them, Yenny was one of the warmest and most generous friends we made in Auckland. With her hospitality, we put up at her house as our initial accommodation until we moved to our rented house 2 weeks later. She was also the one who always came up with great ideas in celebrating big occasions and generously offered her house to host families gathering. I regarded her as wives' club Chairlady. :-P

This recipe was shared by her when she initiated a cooking gathering at our Auckland house in welcoming me to join the wives club. I had enjoyed so much in this noodle making process, not only we had great bonding time,

Yenny the Chef (in Pink) and her 3 kitchen helpers - Yin, WC and PY

I got to taste the homemade Lo See Fun which was not available in Auckland. Some other types of rice noodle like Hor Fun (Koey Teoh) 粿条, Lai Fun （濑粉 ）are easily available in Asian grocery shops in Auckland but not Lo See Fun (老鼠粉/米台目).

After some sweating out, it was time to sit down and enjoyed the noodles with my Penang Assam Laksa soup.

Hakka Lo See Fun (Rice Pin noodles) with Minced Pork 客家肉碎老鼠粉

Home-made authentic Hakka Cuisine - part one

Recently, I bought a new cook book by Agnes Chang – "Delightful Snacks and Dim Sum" and was happy to find some authentic Hakka dishes in it. One of them was this simple noodle recipe -Hakka Lo See Fun (Rice Pin noodles) with Minced Pork .

Lo See Fun, literally in Cantonese it means "Mouse Noodle", is a type of rice noodle. I guessed the pin shape noodle was named after its shape being similar to a mouse?

This rice noodle is easily available in South East Asia countries especially in Malaysia and Singapore. They can also be found in Taiwan known as "米台目"and in Hong Kong known as "銀針粉". However, I doubt they are available in the Western countries. When I was in Auckland I was not able to find them in shops. Thanks to a friend for sharing her homemade rice pin noodle recipe, we got to enjoy it while we were there. I will share this homemade noodle experience in my next post.

If you are not able to get this specific type of rice pin noodle, you can replace it with other types of rice noodles such as "Lai Fun" 濑粉 or Hor Fun (Koey Teoh) 粿条 or just any other types of noodles preferred.

However, if you wish to challenge yourself in making your own rice pin noodle. Check out this post Home made  Lo See Fun, credit to my friend Yenny who shared this with me during my days in Auckland.

Hakka Lo See Fun (Rice Pin noodles) with Minced Pork 客家肉碎老鼠粉

Eggplant with Prawns 香滑茄子虾仁

Welcome to my Malaysian Kitchen
For years, I used to do my marketing at the neighbourhood weekly Pasar Malam (night market). I like to shop there as I can enjoy a variety of local foods while buying fresh and cheaper vegetables, fruits, fish, poultry and meats. Last Monday, I resumed my marketing routine there and was delighted to buy these young fresh eggplants.

For the past 2 years in Auckland we hardly ate eggplants. Not that eggplants were not easily available in NZ but the local eggplants found in NZ had a much firmer texture and not as tasty. Whereas the imported Asian eggplants were expensive in Auckland.

Initially, I was thinking of making steamed eggplants with minced meat. Once I had the eggplants washed and the skin peeled off, I recalled Ming Ray liked to eat deep fried eggplants. Therefore, I changed my mind to try out this stir-fried recipe from Yummy Yummy Hawkers' Fair.

In general, it is preferred to keep the eggplant skin for deep frying, but since I had already removed the skin, I proceeded with them skinless.

Eggplant with Prawns 香滑茄子虾仁 featured in Group Receipes 30/05/2011

Custard Fluffy Bread 卡士达超软土司

Back in Action with my little desktop Oven  

After 3 weeks of cleaning up and tidying up the house which we had abandoned for the last 2 years, I was relieved to announce that the house is now decent to stay in. At last I'm back in action and here I'm to introduce to you my Malaysian Kitchen! J

While housekeeping I was happy to discover a desktop oven from the store room which I got from a lucky draw some years ago from the annual dinner of my ex-company. This oven is so new and was hardly used at all. The oven was left in the storeroom as I was not into baking at all before I moved to Auckland. However, now it is time to put it to good use!

For the first few attempts, this desktop oven was not so pleasant to use. My first batch of bread and muffins were not well cooked. I deduced it was mainly due to the oven size and the power setting affecting the baking time. In addition, the aluminium baking ware which I bought here might also cause some minor difference. I was a bit disappointed with the results and was skeptical to use it again.

2 weeks ago, a good friend from Auckland helped to bring back some of my non-stick baking ware and cook books I had been using in Auckland. Last Sunday, Mother's day, I tried out Tanzhong whole meal bread with the loaf tin brought back from Auckland and took account of the longer baking time after learning from the first few failed attempts, I was thrilled that my second attempt of bread making with this small desktop was a success! I shared some of this whole meal bread with my neighbour and was given a thumb up J

With warm temperature all year round in Malaysia, baking bread is so much easier as the bread dough proof so much faster. Within an hour I had a beautifully raised dough. It could never be done in such a short time in Auckland. Looks like this little desktop oven is good enough for me to continue my baking interest!

Sharing below is another variation of super soft Tangzhong toast bread adapted from famous Taiwanese bakery Guru – 孟老师100道面包. This custard bread was so soft and fluffy beyond words to describe. Just give it a try it and I bet you will give a big thumb up for it too!

Salt Dough 自制黏土

Let's bake for fun

This was a fun project that Ming Ray and I worked on in March just before we moved back from Auckland. He discovered this idea from a craft book that he borrowed from the local library. Talking about library, I was really impressed with the library facilities in Auckland. One could easily locate a well run library in nearly every suburb. Every resident with a proof of address could apply for a membership. Once registered as a member one could borrow up to 30 copies of books or magazines free of charge at any one time! This superb facility had cultivated strong reading interests among the local communities.

In the nearly 2 years I spent in Auckland, I must have read more than double the amount I read in the past decade in Malaysia. I was pleased to see my boy had also picked up this good habit. I hope he can continue this good habit in Malaysia but I foresee this might be a challenge as good library in Malaysia is essentially non-existent.

Shared here is the basic dough recipe which I extracted from the book. I halved the quantity as I was worried having too much dough to work with. Done right, the dough can be easily worked on to be shaped into any features. Below were 3 characters that we made following the book with the quantity of dough we made.


Happy feets - Penguin?

 I helped Ming Ray to shape the figures while he painted them. We had great bonding time to work on these cute little figures.


Our little artist - Ming Ray

You can use this dough to make adorable little ornaments as birthday gifts or little Christmas ornaments to hang on Christmas tree. Be creative with the dough and have fun!

SALT DOUGH Ingredients: 1 cup of fine salt 1 cup of flour (multi-purpose flour) 1/2 cup of water (may add more) Instructions: In a large bowl, combine the salt and the flour. Make a well in the salt/flour mixture and slowly add the water (stop if you feel too gooey). To get softer dough you can add more flour. Knead until smooth and shape into a ball. To make different color dough, you can use food coloring in the dough and knead to mix evenly the color. When not in use, wrap in plastic or store in an airtight container. Shaping the dough: Once the dough is ready you can shape them into any figures that you like. Place the shaped figures on baking tray with parchment paper/baking paper. Pre-heat the oven into 150 degree Celsius and bake the dough until firm. You may paint your ornaments and sculptures after they dry up using acrylic paint. 自制黏土 材料: 1杯幼盐 1杯面粉 1 / 2杯的水（可增加更多） 制作: 1。在一个大碗里，把盐和面粉混合好才慢慢加水（停止如果觉得太湿）。 3。如果要面团柔软，你可以添加多一点面粉。 4。揉至光滑，捏成一个球状。 5。你也可做不同颜色的面团，可以添加食用色素进面团后揉至色泽均匀。 6。当不使用时，用塑料包装面团在或存放在密闭容器中。  塑造面团： 一旦面团准备好，你可以塑造成任何你喜欢的摸型。把摸型排放在有烘烤纸的烤盘上。把烤箱预热到摄氏150度,烤面团直到坚硬。待摸型干燥后，你可以用丙烯酸树脂漆/来装饰和上色。