Lee Kum Kee, Hong Kong - Sauce for Teriyaki Chicken

Ahhhh .... I wonder when these sauce packets will come to Malaysian shores :-) We brought this back from our recent trip to Hong Kong (Yes, I have to post up those makan photos of our week of "chiak chiak").

Lee Kum Kee - Sauce for Teriyaki Chicken

Easy to prepare, and perfect with some leek I threw in ... The sauce had a nice "authentic" gingery taste to it, and the chicken seasoned beautifully in the gravy. I enjoyed this very much!

ps - I don't ALWAYS cook with sauce packets, here's dinner from another night. Char Choy Pork :-) from ... "scratch"!

S&B Tasty Curry Sauce Mix - Japanese curry

Did you know ... S&B introduced "block" curry in 1956!? :-) Seems kare (Curry as the Japanese call it) is one of the most popular dishes in ... Japan!

Cooking time ... I like adding in sauteed potatoes and carrots :-)

Voila! Easy to cook ... fast to eat ... yummy too!

Pasta sauce from ... scratch!

Have to admit, most if not all, my pasta adventures have been straight out of a bottle, such as Prego!

Shock horror ... I checked my larder one evening, and I had run out! Hmmm, can of chopped tomatoes, some freshly diced tomatoes, and Maggi Ketchup to the rescue. Slurps!

Waitrose, UK ... good stuff!

Turned out pretty good ... nice tangy taste, and chunky. I liked it!

Potiche - Abu Dhabi Film Festival

14th - 23rd October ... in various locations in the capital, don't miss the Abu Dhabi Film Festival :-)

I loved Potiche!

This film by François Ozon is set in 1977 France and is stunningly shot, the colours seem to just "pop" out of the screen, and I love the music too. It stars the divine Catherine Deneuve as a trophy wife-turned-triumphant-factory boss in this delightful adaptation of a French boulevard-theater play. She plays Suzanna Pujol, the housewife of Robert Pujol who had me in stitches, played by the excellent Fabrice Luchini. MP Babin is played by none other then the prolific and masterful Gerard Depardieu, who made a surprise appearance at the Emirates Palace, introducing the film to a standing ovation ... which included me!

Hmmm ... Will certainly try to find time to catch Naomi Watts / Sean Penn's "Fair Game" as well, that's screening this Thursday 21st October.

Pity I am not available during the final screening of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (What a title!), which is showing on Friday 22nd October. This Tsui Hark film stars ... Andy Lau AND Tony Leung!

La Brioche - Liwa Village, Abu Dhabi

Thanks to KL and JT for the recommendation ... Found a new makan place in Abu Dhabi, that's been around for over 25 years :-)

La Brioche

Add: Ground Floor, Gate House Building, Delma Street (Street # 13), Liwa Village, Al Mussalla, Abu Dhabi

Located: Near Embassy of France

Tel: +971 2 443 9033

Nice setting :-) Both inside and outside!

I like the counter too ... very Frenchy, and I actually forgot I was in Abu Dhabi!

Hot chocolate, 16 AED ... or low-fat Cappucino, 13 AED?

Cheaper then Jones! But ... Jones is better ;-)

Croque Monseur Apaya ... interesting variant, with chicken and potatoes as well. 40 AED, it was good but not spectacular.

Tarte Au Poulet, aka Quiche @ 20 AED ... nicely heated, with a small salad on the side, 11 AED. I preferred this compared to the Croque Monsieur.

Nasi Lemak ... Home cooked in Abu Dhabi!

One evening this week, MD invited us to her home as her mother was in town ... and whilst I knew I was gonna be in for a treat, nothing could prepare me for the 1st taste of home-made nasi lemak in over 100 days. Perfection!

Cucumbers were perfectly cut, hard boiled eggs were perfectly boiled ... The work of a maestro!

Ikan bilis and kacang were so good ... and the sambal, whist firey, was full of flavour, and perfect in texture. Divine!

And ... what would nasi lemak be without the ... rice ;-) I lost count how many bowls I had!!

The chicken prepared with cintan manis and kunyit and other secret ingredients was perfect with the nasi lemak too, all items beautifully balanced and complimented one another so well! What a meal ;-) Thanks, aunty! Thanks, MD!

Haven't had a Shawarma in a while now!

I remember the old days when I ate one too many shawarmas ... Shawarma shoot-out ... Shater Hassan v Lebanon Flower Grill, Abu Dhabi

Its been a while since I had one! So I jumped at the opportunity a few weeks ago when my friends just moved here from Venezuela / KL, so I welcomed J and L to Abu Dhabi ... by taking them to a local favourite.

This is .. Shater Hassan, located opposite Jumbo Electronics, adjacent to Habib Bank, on the corner of Muroor and Al Falah Street.

As it was a sit down dinner, and not of the takeaway variety (Where they pack shawarmas like a popiah!), we had an open-sandwich style shawarma, with all the breads you can eat ... Here's Spicy Chicken on the left, and traditional Beef on the right.

The verdict? We agreed that the Spicy Chicken is what makes this place special!

Meena Cafe - Great noodles!

Simple canteen on Zelan's construction site, at Port Zayed ...

GPS:

N24 31' 03.6"

E054 22' 25.5"

If you are willing to make the trek here... all I can say is, it is really worth it :-) This was the first Malaysian restaurant/cafe I ate in when I first arrived over a year ago .... and its still good! Any place that gives out freebie soup for starters is good in my books ;-) Loh Wong Kwa soup, yummm!

MD and her mum brought along BL for the meal, and he likes his food spicey ... hence we started with the Szechuan noodles.

We couldn't not have the special of the day though ... Yong Tau Foo ;-) What a treat!

My favourite dish here has always been ... and remains to be ... the Fried Tung Fun!

The Tom Yum fried rice with extra kick was good too ;-)

We ate like kings ... each having one plate of noodle/rice, and 1 extra portion to share amongst the 4 of us, and we paid .. 85 AED, or RM70. Excellent value, by Abu Dhabi standards :-)

El Sombrero, Sheraton on Corniche - Yummy mexican!

El Sombrero

Sheraton on the Corniche, Abu Dhabi

Tel: +971 2 697 0238

Note! Do remember to make reservations, we went on a Thursday night, and had to sit near the bar. All the tables were full, even though they had 2 seatings!

Excellent margaritas ... this was the first of many ... many!

Hmm ... fajitas me thinks! Not your typical dry variant, this was quite saucey, and I loved it.

Mixed platter was good too...

Very entertaining and talented Colombian band entertained us all night ;-) I think they started playing at about 9pm, and were still at it when we left at midnight! Thanks for a great night out, L and J!

Lexus IS300C or is it a Camry?

Hmmm ... For a moment, I thought this was just a Camry. Nupe ... its the Lexus IS300C convertible!

Dunno who would pay 205K AED (RM160K, that's Honda Accord or Toyota Camry money in Malaysia!) for a car that looks so much like a Toyota ... Hmmm!

ps - If you had to know, there's a 2,995 cc V6 engine with a power output of 228Hp under the bonnet, and you get a uber-tastic Mark Levinson 12 speaker hi-fi with heated and cooled seats to warm your bottom!

911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet - Brown Porsche

I love the colour of this Porsche I saw today ... brown ;-)

911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet

6 cylinder, 3800CC ... 385HP

412,700 AED in stock form, before options!