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11 June 2012

Unique Seafood and Mother's Day, Father's Day, Mother's Birthday & Father's Birthday!

9 Jun 12

For Mother's Day last month, we had our usual Family dinner at parent's house and I bought crepe cakes from Food Foundry. I bought the same cake from the same shop for the last Mother's Day celebration too. There was no fancy dinner at nice restaurant.

For this month June, there'll be Father's Day celebration. In addition, coincidentally, both of my parents will be celebrating their birthday on the same day. We have decided to celebrate all these celebrations in ONE and lavish dinner for both of our parents.

To be honest, it is not easy to organise family dinner during Mother's Day and Father's Day as we need to find dates that all of us can make it. Not forgetting my siblings will also be celebrating the same celebration with their in-laws. We do not fancy pack, busy and noisy restaurants with bad service and compromise on food quality and yet at much expensive costs.

We decided to celebrate Mother's Day, Father's Day, mother's birthday and father's birthday yesterday, a week ahead of Father's Day and also to accommodate my brother's family from Singapore to join us while it's school holiday.

For me, I always wanted to bring my parents to experience the sashimi and steamboat Australian lobster and California Geoduck at Unique Seafood. Both are pricey dishes and not something that we eat often.

A week earlier, I browsed thru Unique Seafood website and was surprise to see the contents of the website which are very user friendly and informative ie locations of restaurants, promotion, signature dishes, their menu, etc. The "Member's Corner" with interesting Member Plan attracted me to find out more.

For its Platinum Card Member Plan where for one-time RM1,500 membership charge, we will get RM2,000 worth of dining vouchers. That is like 25% discount! I knew the dinner for our family will not be cheap and I bought the above membership plan.
Table setting for 15 adults and teenagers
I made reservation at Unique Seafood a week ahead of our dinner. I requested for room with Karaoke as my parents, siblings and nieces like to sing. There's no additional charge for the room except for the service charge is at 10%, whereas if we sit at the restaurant hall, the service charge will be only 5%.
For the younger kids, they sat on another table. I ordered this Stir-fried Kailan in two varieties (RM23++).

Siong Tong La La (Kepah) at RM30/kg
Unique Seafood was packed with customers and we waited long for our food. According to the restaurant staff, some families celebrated Father's Day a week earlier. I was walking in and out of the room to follow up on the dishes for the kids. So much so that I only managed to take the above 2 food photos.
Five combination vegetables for the steamboat (RM50++)
Mother singing her favourite songs while waiting for food to be served
Sashimi and Steamboat Australia Lobster (2.5 kg at RM995++)
It was the first time for my family to have lobster in sashimi and steamboat style. The idea is to taste the freshness and original taste of Australia Lobster, without any other cooking style that added garlic, salt, pepper, etc to it.

Sashimi and Steamboat California Geoduck (RM1.6kg at RM316.80++)
It was nice to see how my family tried and reacted to the taste of California Geoduck for the first time. If they were to see the live geoduck in the water tank, I do not think they would eat it.

I like to eat this Geoduck with wasabi and I like the crunchiness texture of it.
Pan-fried Lamb Chop, Mongolian Style (11 slices at RM198++)
This Lamb Chop is very yummy. The meat was so tender and juicy and my family love this dish. Each piece of Lamb Chop cost RM18++. Unless we are having this as main course, I would recommend to inform the restaurant to cut each piece into 2 smaller pieces.

We brought Italian white wine to the restaurant and this white wine had been receiving very good feedback from our guests whom we had served this white wine.

 Cheers to the family, Cheers to the celebrations, Cheers to the good food, Cheers to the good singing, etc.

Sister and Sister in-law who have good voice
Kepah with Dried Shrimps and Curry Leaf (3kg at RM90++)
Steam Soon Hock (1.6kg at RM268.80++)
Thumb ups for this Soon Hock which was very well done, just the right texture, not over-cooked and we could taste the freshness and sweetness of the fish meat.

We always order this steam Soon Hock if we order fish at Unique Seafood.

Dad fell down early that day and he was in pain when he arrived at the restaurant. I told him not to think of the pain and try to enjoy himself.

I was so surprise to see him singing in the later part of the dinner. Guess he was feeling happy and couldn't resist the singing when he saw most of us singing that night.

Home made bean curd with mushroom (RM84++ at RM4++ each)

The restaurant used the earlier Australia Lobster head and claw to braise with Hong Kong Yee Mee and charge RM30++ for the cooking charge. My family love this dish too.

Brother who also have a beautiful voice. This must be from our parents.

Caramel cheese cake and Chocolate Fudge cake from Merienda de Eva (RM72 for both cakes thru Groupon promotion), for Daddy and Mummy.

The Chocolate Fudge cake was nice and moist with good chocolate taste but I was disappointed with the Caramel cheese cake which was a little blend with not much of cream cheese taste and the cake texture was a little wet.
Photo for the album
The Birthday Girl and Boy
So sweet!
Finally, my nieces started singing with Lady Gaga's song that got us rocking
Fruits on the house
Overall, it was a good dinner, albeit a little expensive (total bill came up to RM2,475). My family enjoyed the dinner which taste good and something special. I am glad that we had a room for our dinner with karaoke facility.

My family left the restaurant at 11.10pm while the rest of them staying back to continue singing.

03 June 2012

Grilled Chicken with Bacon and Rosemary

3 Jun 2012

I subscribe to allrecipes.com. Just a few days ago, I received an email from allrecipes and its "Your Daily Recipe" was on grilled chicken with bacon and rosemary.

I remembered eating delicious roast bacon with dates prepared by Aunty Jenny. I'm not a fan of dates and now this recipe of bacon with chicken sounds good, especially I have rosemary in my herbs garden.

We tried the Grilled Chicken with Bacon and Rosemary from allrecipes.com for dinner tonight. It was quite easy to prepare. I've made minor changes to the recipe.
 

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic
  • Skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 8 bite pieces (don't cut too small as the chicken will shrink after grilled)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 sprigs (cut into 8 halves) fresh rosemary
  • 4 thick (cut into 8 halves) slices of bacon

Directions

  1. Rub 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic on chicken breast and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Lay one rosemary sprig on the chicken breast. Wrap the bacon around the chicken to hold the rosemary on. Secure the bacon with a toothpick.
  3. Preheat microwave convection oven and cook the chicken breasts for 25 minutes.
  4. If use an outdoor grill, preheat for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate. Cook the chicken breasts until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 8 minutes per side. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Stay near the grill to combat any flare ups from the bacon.
  5. Remove toothpicks before serving.

While the chicken was grilling in the oven, Jared loved the nice aroma of bacon coming out from the oven and kept on telling us that he's hungry.

Jared and Jaden love the grilled chicken with bacon. Hubby gave 9 out of 10 marks. I never expect full marks from him as he wanted me to keep on trying and cook it for him. If it's something that he doesn't like, he will politely say "Can I pay you not to cook this anymore?". Hmmm ... having said this, I've not heard this from him for a long, long time.

We can also cut the chicken breasts into smaller bite pieces and with the toothpick securing the bacon intact, it can be served as finger food during party or gathering.

31 May 2012

Day Trip to Kuala Gandah Deerland Park, Elephant Sanctuary and Bentong Chamang Fall

30 May 2012


It is school holiday. For the last 2 years, Hubby and I would have our own holiday without the kids, in conjunction with our wedding anniversary. Hubby has been waiting for me to give him dates that I'm able to get away for a few days trip. I just came back from company's team planning session in Seoul and have not planned for any trip during this 2 weeks school holiday.

Two days ago, Hubby suggested to make a day trip to Kuala Gandah and Bentong. A parent of Kumon student recommended him to visit Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. He made some browsing on the internet and noticed that travel agent usually bring visitors for day trip to Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary and Deerland Park. He also read about Bentong Chamang Fall and since these 3 attractions are quite close by, he planned the itinerary for a day trip.

Initially, we were thinking of going on this coming Saturday of Agung's Birthday Holiday. Since it is school holiday, a week end and public holiday, we believe these places would have lots of people. Since I was able to take a day off from work, we decided to go on mid week instead.

We left home at 10am and reached Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary at 11am. Hubby read that limited stickers will be given out to visitors in a day and made the first stop at this Elephant Sanctuary to register and obtained stickers for the day. There's no entrance fee but visitors are encouraged to make some contribution to the sanctuary.


Hubby obtained 2 red and 3 yellow stickers and made donation to the sanctuary.

The staff informed us that there would be video show on issues surrounding wild elephants and diminishing habitat at 1.30pm.

Since it was still early, Hubby suggested that we visited Deerland Park which is located not far away.

 The entrance fee to this Deerland Park is RM6 for adult and RM3 for kids.

Walking in the park
Honestly, we had not heard of this place but there were many foreigner visitors. We met 3 Japanese mothers who married to local men visiting the park with their kids. They are residing in Kuantan and have lovely kids.
Deer feeding with food provided by the park
Iguana
Taiwan Deers

There are also opportunity to touch and take photo with snakes.

Rabbit feeding



We were at the Deerland Park for about an hour and adjourned to the Elephant Sanctuary.

 We walked around its information centre and read interesting stories and facts on elephants.

 The Japanese families brought food and had picnic lunch at this place.

 The only cafe at the Elephant Sanctuary.

We had mee hoon noodle soup, fried mee hoon and fried rice for lunch. The taste was alright but a little salty. They cost about RM4.50 per plate.

 

After lunch, we walked to the elephants feeding and show venue.

Jared feeding elephant with peanuts.

This lady is from London. She bought bananas on the way to the sanctuary and gave some to us for elephant feeding. In return, Hubby gave them some peanuts to feed those elephants too.

Not overly crowded despite school holiday. Almost half of the visitors were foreigners with tour guide that brought them there on day trip.

At 2pm, the elephants had their bath to cool down their bodies temperature. Their bodies were also dirty and full of mud which was to protect them against the hot sun.
Finished bathing, ready for show time
Show time
Visitors were encouraged to hand feed elephants during their lunch for bonding and trust building, before elephant rides. Cut papayas were provided by the sanctuary.

Queuing for elephant rides for visitors with yellow sticker. Hubby, Jared and I had a ride on an elephant the natural way ie no basket. It was an interesting ride.

After the ride, we had a cold drink at the same cafe that we had our lunch. We left Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary at about 3.10pm to adjourn for Bentong Chamang Fall. On the way, there were cows on the road and we need to drive safely.

We reached Bentong Chamang Fall at about 4 pm, which was just the right timing. There's a suspension bridge that connects the 2 sides of the stream.

Be careful crossing the bridge
There are picnic place


We did not have any swim there, though we did bring extra changing clothes and towel as we did not think it is suitable for our boys.




The waterfalls can be dangerous with powerful currents.

We reached this restaurant at Bukit Tinggi at 6pm and had our early dinner there.

We reached home about 7.30pm and were all tired, sweaty and smelly. But it was a good and productive day trip for the family.

Suggestion for the trip:
  1. Wear light and comfortable clothes.
  2. Bring water, sunglasses and caps as there are a bit of walking under hot sun.
  3. Wear comfortable shoes and shoes that can resist water if go to the Chamang Fall
  4. Make the first stop at Elephant Sanctuary to register and collect stickers as there is limited stickers given out in a day, especially the yellow sticker for rides and bath with elephants.
  5. Allow ample time for lunch, suggest have early lunch as there's only 1 cafe in Elephant Sanctuary and everyone is rushing for the 1.30pm video show.
  6. Bring peanuts and banana to feed elephants.
  7. Make some contribution to the Elephant Sanctuary as there's no entrance fee, for the maintenance of the elephants and park.
  8. Bring extra changing clothes and towel.
  9. Be careful if swim at the Bentong Chamang Fall