Category Archives: Travel

French Galettes and Crêpes

30 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by in France, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

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When crêpes are mention, the first thought is usually towards the sweet thin pancake splatter with chocolate and banana, which I always buy whenever I am around Paris area.

So when I had the opportunity to travel to Quimper (a quaint little town in the Bretagne area), a friend brought me to try the Breton Galettes. It brought a whole new dimension on the world of crêperies to me. Initially, I thought galette that he was referring to was the thin biscuit type (which I tried in Japan before). 

I knew crêpes are a French thing (of course many British could claim the fame to this invention) but I never knew it was originated from Bretagne (Brittany). After some research, I learned that Galettes are from the Upper Bretagne and Crêpes are from the lower Bretagne. Galettes are usually referring to savoury crêpes made with buckwheat flour. 

We went to this little restaurant, Crêperie de Locmaria. This restaurant specialises in Galettes and Crêperies using organic products. (Sort of gives it a special edge I guess since this town is full of crêperies)

 

To go with the galette, my friend ordered the cidre (apple cider with 5% alcohol). According to him, it is typical to have galette with cidre. The cidre is very interesting and reminds me a lot of sparkling wines I have fromAustralia. It is less sweet and carries a sharp tang. And typically, you have to drink the cidre from a bowl. So, each of us were given a small red ceramic bowl. So cute !!!  

 We ordered the Galette with Andouille (typical Bretagne smoked sausage) and sunny side up egg and also Galette with mushroom and egg. I love it !!! It was crispy and light. When you have it with drenched with the runny egg yolk, it was sooooo good.

 

 

After we polished off our Galettes, it’s dessert time !!!

He insists that I try the traditional Crêpe with salted butter caramel. We also had the Crêpe with caramelised apple. It was so good… !!! the crêpe with salted butter caramel reminds me of crispy fresh caramel popcorn. Yummz…

 

After having crêpes from Bretagne, I see the big difference compare to those I had previously inParis. Those from Bretagne ROCKS !!!

Kuching, Malaysia – Holiday

11 Friday Nov 2011

Posted by in Local (Malaysia), Travel

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The last time I went to Kuching was in 2004 and it was for work. So, it doesn’t really count. You don’t really see much when you are on business travels. The only thing you see are office rooms, meeting hall, restaurants nearby the factories and the airports. 

Hence, I count this as my FIRST trip there. Hub and I are heading there to root for dear friends of ours.

It was for a Dance production (Dance me a story) which was held in the Borneo Convention Centre. I can’t imagine the kind of stress both of them (husband and wife) must have faced in course of planning, coordinating and drafting the production. I’ll probably tear my hair out trying to organise where everyone should stand / how the lighting should be / what music to use and etc. The production was truly amazing (Big round of applause). Hub and I really enjoyed the show alot.  

 

Btw, they ran a dance/fitness studio in Kuching call the Studio 23. If you stay in Kuching, go check them out!!! Hehehehe… (no – I don’t get commission ;p)

Check-in was a breeze in LCCT. Scan in with my Blackberry, using their barcode scanner and off we go. Bump into Jen there and we had a good chat while we wait to board our flight. Our flight was on-time. Yay !! one can never predict with budget airlines…

The flight took about one hour 45 mins. We landed in the Kuching International airport and made our way to our friends’ place. The trip took about 15 mins (taxi was about RM 25). We later learn that to go anywhere in Kuching takes about 10~15 mins. Cab fare here seems a little steep. Every trip was hovering between RM 20-30. So, my advice is if you are planning to ran around, rent a car. It cost about RM 150-160 / day for a car (Which is about 3-4 return trip to wherever you are planning to go). A van is about RM 180-200 / day. Everything in at slower pace in Kuching compare to KL or PJ. The streets generally seem quite clear. So, it should not be too hard to drive around yourself. Our friend told us that it does have its share of traffic jams especially in the morning.

 The best part of this trip is time spend playing boardgames. I played so much boardgames within the short span of 3 days, felt alittle overdosed. hahaha… we had so much laughter and fun while playing.

Overall, hub and I had a great time chilling out in Kuching. Playing boardgames till wee hours. Most of the time, I crashed by 2 or 3 AM. The rest only crawl to bed by 5-6 AM !! crazy kids. hahaa..

Food was great (will post about it in another post) and the company was irreplaceable. You guys rock !

Thanks again A & S for your warm hospitality and loaning us your beautiful home as our crash pad!  

BTW, when you enter Kuching, they give you this little slip of paper which you need to sign on and return to them on the way out. Don’t lose it. I couldn’t find mine and friends told me that I will be penalise with a fine. So, when I went into the custom counter. I was praying so hard. Thank GOD he just wave me in !!! Thank God indeed !!! Lesson learn : any important small piece of paper – pass to hubby to keep. hehehee…

Shanghai Hairy Crab

05 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by in China, Gastronomy, Oversea Restaurants, Travel

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Wow.. It’s October already? October always reminds me of Hairy Crab. Now is the year again where you will see plentiful hairy crab being sold everywhere if you are in Shanghai.

Hairy Crab is better known as the “dai-chap-hai” within the Chinese community. If you check on wiki, they call it the Chinese mitten crab (due to it’s furry claw). Most people love the female crab because of the roe. There’s many way to prepare this delicacy. For me, the best is still simply steam them and eat them with some vinegarish ginger sauce.   

I miss these little buggers… It was just like yesterday that I was devouring them like crazy. But, looking back, it has been almost 2 years since my last trip to shanghai. Hmm.. maybe it’s time for another trip. But, I will only make a trip there during the end of Sept – beginning of Oct because of these babies… 

You can easily buy the pre-cooked crab in the market. The female cost about 10 yuan / crab and the male about 5 yuan / crab. Now, how do you tell if it’s a female / male? I recall that it is from the pattern on the tummy of the crab. the centre of the crab got a piece of shell. The bigger center is a female and smaller is male.. Or was it vice versa? hmm… don’t remember. Will need to double check on that again.

As for me, my cousin-in-law is from Shanghai. So, I was fortunate enough to be invited for some home-cooked style. hehehee… On top of the hairy crab, we had tons of other typical shanghai cuisine.  

Look at that !! piping hot. ohh… it was so delicious ! I had 2 dinner over at my cousin’s family place and both time, they serve us hairycrab. And was I sick of them? NOOOOoo… I just couldn’t get enough of them. hehehe.

On top of the home-cook ones, an old family friend who had settle down in Shanghai invited us to dinner in a really nice restaurant. Since it is the hairy crab season, Ms. A insisted we had them. Yay !!! who am I to complaint. She told me that in this restaurant, we can have the hairy crab that is caught from the actual origin place (Yangtze River) and it is suppose to be far more superior compared to the breed type. Because there is a limited quantity of these crabs from this river, each crab caught here are tagges and registered !! Most of these are exported to countries like Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and etc.

In order to enjoy the crab, Ms. A also ordered a 21 year old shao-xing wine (chinese wine). She told me that because the crab has a very cooling “yin” effect for the body. It is good to balance back with some wine. And she was right. The roe from the crab was so rich and taste amazing !! sipping the wine helps to bring out the natural sweetness of the crab meat too… ooooohhhhh, what an amazing meal it was.. yumm yumm…

O-How I miss you hairy crab…