Shots taken in Teluk Tempoyak …

Life’s endless journey

 Gap in each path

The percentage

Joints in every structure

 As i walk along …

I’ve got some old lemon in the fridge and decided to put it to good use before it goes bad. This recipe reminds me of the lemon butter jam that i had back in my trip to New Zealand. Something rather different and not available in Malaysia. It’s really simple and it take less than an hour to make, a healthy jam for your daily spread! So far the review has been positive! Give it a try and let me know!

Lemon Butter Jam Recipe
Serves: 4 cups

Ingredients

• 8 eggs
• 500 g sugar
• 250 ml lemon juice (5 lemons)
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
• 250 g chopped butter

Butter - 250g

5 Lemons

2 teaspoon Lemon rind

Cut Lemons

Lemon juice 

Method

• Place eggs and sugar into a heatproof bowl.
• Place bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk constantly until sugar has dissolved
• Add lemon juice, lemon rind and butter. Whisk mixture for 20 minutes until smooth and the butter has melted and thickened enough to coat the spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil as it will curdle.
• Pour warm mixture into hot sterilized jars and seal immediately.

Whisk egg and sugar

Whisk in butter

Continue whisking and make sure it does not boil

When its done, the mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon

Shift through the mixture to get the smooth texture

 Voila!

Recipe adapted from http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Lemon-Butter-L841.html

It is one of those time that no matter how much you want to hold on to but you know that you just have to let go.

An oxymoron state of mind.

I would like to take a moment here to honor my best buddy … my little sister, Gin Gin or Ginny. Although many would think that she is just a pet or some may say man’s best friend, I think that is an understatement. She may be just a dog but she is family. Ginny has accompanied me for most part of my childhood. For 14 years she is always there for me, be it good, bad or ugly. She was god-sent.

I still remember the first time I saw her. She was dirty, scrawny and timid. My uncle took it from a friend for me since I really wanted a dog, the last owner seems to have abuse / mistreated the poor fella. Well that changed very fast, she became sparkly white clean, healthily lean and very boisterous. However like any dog trying to adjust to a new environment and owner, she wails at night, she wails when me and my mom goes to school / work and practically peed everywhere (she is my first dog, it takes time to learn how to train). Well I had to sleep with her during the night and give her lots and lots of toys and tidbits to soothe her before dashing off to school.

Going back in time, travelling down the wonderful memory lane with Ginny and my mom really made it felt like it was just yesterday I saw her as a puppy. Looking at her lifeless now is really heart breaking. Loosing someone so dear really reaffirms back the vulnerability and impermanence in life. I do admit that I do take Ginny for granted sometimes e.g. neglecting her, scolding unnecessary etc … but nevertheless she is still the best little furry family anyone can have (I wonder if she thinks that way too).

The only major complication Ginny has is weak legs but in the last week since Monday (27 Oct) her health started going downhill. She started having high fever. Although the fever went away after an antibiotic jab, her appetite never came back. She couldn’t eat nor drink and was tired most of the time. On last Friday, she started having seizure. Ginny use to have mini seizure when she was younger but it was nothing like this. I was totally helpless and scared. 2 fits within 2 hours, I quickly rushed Ginny to the clinic. She was suspected to be low in electrolyte and the doctor put her on IV drip and sedative medication to prevent further seizure. Everything went well until today at 1+am, she started throwing fits again every 2 hours and later on 15 minutes interval. In one of her seizure, I thought she stopped breathing but she came back around after a while. I waited for the clinic to open (there is no emergency for animals unfortunately) however in her last fit, she could not wait any longer … Me and my mom shook her vigorously trying to get the heart pumping until the doctor comes but there is nothing else anyone can do anymore … she left.

However the good thing was, both myself and my mom was there for her. Back at home before going to the clinic, Bailey and Whiskey accompanied her. She was very much loved by everyone …

At 98 years old in doggy age (14 x 7), I am sure Ginny has lead a happy and blessed life. I am not sure what happens after this for Ginny but whether she is reincarnated or staying somewhere up in the heaven, I sure hope she will have a good one and maybe if she did become a human, we might just cross path again.

May Ginny be well and happy … from Mummy, Miche, Bailey, Whiskey and Chu Chu.

Click to view the image above

View Ginny’s Photo Gallery from 1994 - 2008

Arent these perfect gifts! It simply melts you …

Click on the image below for a closer look … o_O

Continue from blog post - Horse farm visit!

This is the last stop for the one day Ipoh trip!  An early dinner - Ipoh’s reknown chicken beansprout!

There are two famous Chicken bean sprout hor fun / rice in Ipoh – Lou Wong and Ong Kee. It was totally pack by 5 pm (dinner at 5 pm???), since the two shop is just side by side, we’ve decided to go for the one that has space – Ong Kee. We waited say like 15 – 20 minutes and nobody serves us, according to a local friend – Ong Kee’s service is a bit slow (ok very slow). So we decided to ditch the shop and went over to Lou Wong, there weren’t any seats so we had to wait for a while, thankfully a small family got up. We seated ourselves and was almost instantly served.

I haven’t tried Ong Kee before so no comparison. But I love the bean sprout, its super juicy and crunchy, again according to the locals ~ its because of the water quality (mountain water!!!). Well compared to the bean sprout, the chicken is a side line. I had it with rice and not hor fun, I felt like I had too much hor fun related meal in one day, lunch = hor fun + chee cheong fun – ala hor fun style. So practically, I can feel hor fun coming out of my nose! (kidding).

It’s too easy to find them … just a few step away from the Funny Mountain Soya Bean shop! All of the food stalls / restaurant are within walking distance, even the biscuits shops if you need more souvenirs!

Click to enlarge the two pictures below!

The juiciest bean sprout ever!

Ok-lah!

Overall, I enjoyed my meal!

Things that i’ve missed in this day trip… (there is a limit of how much a person can eat in a day)

• The high end fine dining at the Indulgence restaurant – well just to try the desserts or to be exact the Tiramisu.
• The original Old Town coffee shop’s white coffee
• Egg tart at Kedai Kopi Weng Seng
• Hong Kee Mah Chee at 550A, Jalan Queen, Pasir Pinji.
• Curry chicken stuff in bread at 55, Jalan Idris, Kampar (very near to the Lata Kinjang waterfall)

We will be back … again …

Related blog post to this trip:

• Lata Kinjang waterfall (Perak) photography
• Ipoh Dim sum - Yoke Fook Moon
• Ipoh’s Funny Mountain Soya Bean
• Ipoh’s Salted chicken - Aun Kheng Lim
• Horse farm visit!

Continue from blog post - Ipoh’s Salted chicken - Aun Kheng Lim

It was really a learning experience for me to visit one of the horse ranch. I was extremely thrilled, I love horses (minus the smell and big poops). My best experience was when I was in New Zealand (Sept 2007), I went for a horse riding trip to the country side with my mom. Both the view of New Zealand’s  outdoor scenery and the experience on the horse was awesome! Ok ok … back to the horse ranch, well it’s a great chance for me to take some photos of the horsie!!  

A camel or a horse?

Black Beauty?

Horse treadmill! Minimum speed - 30kmph!

Click to enlarge the image below

Bee face ~ buzz

Ouch …

Horse ranch!

Sorry dude … it’s not open for public

 Continue from blog post - Ipoh’s Funny Mountain Soya Bean

When you think of Ipoh food, apart from dim sum and bean sprout chicken hor fun (coming soon in my next blog post), Yim Kok Kai or salted chicken naturally comes into the picture. As the name suggest, it is a salty chicken. Sounds like a dumb statement, but to be exact it is a herbal chicken steamed with rock salt. It is not something that you’ll eat every day, especially with the high content of salt (hypertension / high blood pressure … remember???) but it makes a good souvenir. Well the reason I say souvenir is because, its only available for take away – no eat-ins. Some suggest that you eat it immediately to get the best result but according to the shop owner – you can keep it in the freezer and it will last up to at least a week. I just had mine last Monday (after 5 days) and it’s still good!  

Obviously the most famous shop is Aun Kheng Lim!. It’s too hard to miss this shop! (look at the color!). Just incase you are lost, use the address: 24, Jalan Theatre, 20200 Ipoh, Perak.

One of the staff preparing the chickens. Individual wrapped chickens are covered by the rock salts (The one that looks like pebbles).

The ‘iconic’ box!

A fast and cheap way to increase the price, it’s easier to have a slot in price tag! ^_^

If it’s about food in Ipoh, there is always ‘human-traffic-jam’.

Business hour from 10 am until finished but to prevent disappointment, you are advice to place an order via a phone call at 05-2542998.

The verdict: Well … it’s something different from roast or bbq chicken, a great souvenir especially for those who have not tried before! I still think my mom’s curry chicken is still the best! HAHAHAHA. Yeah I know it’s a different thing.