The Top 10 Best Protein Bars

Between May 2008 - September 2008, I will be trying more than 30 variety of protein bars, energy bars & low-carb bars.

I will post the pics of my top 10 favourite bars here :-) Stay tuned!

Gourmet Express in Kahala Mall, Honolulu

Being a great fan of Mexican food, I was delighted to have discovered Gourmet Express while shopping at Kahala Mall. While Mexican restaurants are aplenty in Oahu (Chilli's, TGIF, & other taco places), none have tamale pie on the menu.

Ah... Gourmet Express is not a typical Mexican fast food place. GE serves turkey dishes (turkey meatballs, turkey enchiladas) & the best Tamale Pie in Oahu! :-)

(Well, who am I to judge? That's the one & only tamale pie I have ever had;-) lol. But then again, throughout my one-month stay in Hawaii, I have been to almost all Mexican joints, and I did not come across any tamale pies)

Veggie Tamale Pie layered with Spinach Tortilla and Mozzarella Cheese

The pie was served with two generous servings of side dishes - roasted vege & lemon-flavored couscous.

Gourmet Express at Kahala Mall offers a offers quick healthy and made to order meals.

Turkey meatballs serve with Tofu Poke, brown rice & salad

(Costume by Lence London. Eyeliner: Maybelline. Lip gloss: Estee Lauder)

Grilled Opakapaka fish served with vegetarian couscous, fresh salad & tomato salsa

Haagen-dazs frozen yogurts

Haagen-dazs's low-fat frozen yogurts are a must-try!:-) These two flavours are my favourite:-

Wildberry

Vanilla raspberry swirl

Koko Marina Center, Honolulu

Koko Marina Center is located in Hawaii Kai in East Oahu on the corner of Kalaniana'ole Highway and Lunalilo Home Road (7192 Kalaniana'ole Highway) and features a variety of water sports activities, specialty and gift shops, personal services, technology services, fine dining restaurants, casual eateries, fast foods and snack bars, plus its very own grand 8-Theatre Cineplex.

Website: http://www.kokomarinacenter.com/

'Dim Sum's without pork-fat cubes

Having been brought up alongside the Chinese yum cha culture, wherein Sunday morning breakfasts are about 'dim sums and chinese tea', I have grown somewhat immuned to the intrigues of dim sums.

For the past 5 years, I have hardly uttered "wahlauyeh" more than twice, over a meal of dim sum specialties.

Reasons: Being a healthy-eater, I hate MSG-laden stuffs. I also have a very strong psychological reaction to pork-fat cubes, and will spend minutes separating those crystalline substance from a char siew pau or siew mai before attempting a bite. What irks me most is the sight of prawn intestines in har mais (prawn dumplings). Eewww!

So, imagine my delight at having had a very "wahlauyeh" dining experience at the Luk Yu Tea House (located at the Starhill Gallery).
Reasons:
a) Very little MSG content.
b) No prawn intestines brought to our dining table
c) No unsightly fat cubes in my siew mai and wu kok (fried yam puff)
d) Pure, fragrant, unadulterated chinese tea (This is a must for my Dad!)

Fried Squid with Dried Chillies and Cashew Nuts in Toro Basket

Comments:

Piping hot yam dough served with a generous topping of crunchy cashew nuts.
Yum. Yum. Yummmm Seng!

Deep-fried Yam Puff with Chicken and Mushrooms

Soft and creamy yam paste oozes out of the crispy outer layer, as you sink your teeth into this delicious goodie. Fragrant, light brownish filling (unlike the usual kicap-infused variety) minus the gooey pork-fat cubes. Thank heavens, Luk Yu chefs do not have the habit of substituting pork-fat with chicken skins.

Steamed Shanghainese Crabmeat Dumpling "xiao long pau"

So good... that I even ate the dainty piece of cabbage placed undearneath the xiao long paus.

Steamed Chicken and Prawns Dumplings "siew mai"

No pork fat cubes and excessive salt and MSG. Fresh and 'unadulterated' prawns!

The prawns in almost all dim sum dishes I have tried in Malaysia have got a very unnatural cruchiness - somewhat like the texture of jellyfish.

Could that have been the work of some food preservatives (e.g. boric acid)? Well, I do not know. I don't really wish to know, either.

Anyhow, I hope my guess is wrong.

Pan-fried Shanghainese Dumpling with Chicken

(Gyouza)

This is a must-try!

Generous amount of chicken meat and herb wrapped in freshly-made gyouza skin.

Finally, I have found gyouzas that do not make me cringe!

Luk Yu's gyouzas do not
a) drip with oil
b) squirt oily brine when you bite into it
c) have the bitter alkali taste of the usual gyouzas

It is a public misconception that halal dim sums are inferior to non-halal dim sums, as how chick-kut-teh is inferior to bak-kut-teh.

Well, I beg to differ.

Luk Yu Tea House has tried, very successfully, to make yum cha an enjoyable experience for the Muslim community and us health freaks in Malaysia.

Nephew & banana bread

These are photos of my sister’s eldest son:-). He’s very very fussy about food. I was delighted that he tried the banana bread without any coaxing & so, decided to take snapshots of him eating em;-)

Home-made date bread:-)

Al Diafah Restaurant, Kuala Lumpur

Hafiz greeting patrons with the refreshing scent of kemenyan-like incense

Impressive deco!

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Gahwa and Mariami Dates

I was very surprised when Hafiz told me that gahwa is a variation of coffee drinks. I could hardly tell. It tastes like hot ginger tea, and has none of the bitter taste (& the bewitching aroma) of coffee. Gahwa is brewed using raw, unroasted coffee beans.

Tabouleh

This tangy salad is indeed a health freak's best friend:-)

Tabouleh is a combination of finely chopped herbs and vegetables (parsley, tomatoes, onions and garlic), drizzled with fresh lemon juice and a bit of olive oil.

Tabouleh's definitely much more healthier than the usual mayonnaise-soaked salads.

Mendy Lamb with Al Diafah Rice

This is another one of my favourites; lean yet juicy, well-marinated, and so tender that I could even prick a fork right through that piece of delicious meat.

Pita bread

Kibbeh

'Popia' spring rolls

Gosh! I miss those days when Mum and I would make 'popia' (spring rolls) for the family on weekends.

Pic 1: Ingredients for 'popia'

Clockwise, from bottom Left: Lettuce, Fried onions, chopped peanuts, beancurd (grilled and shredded), 'char siew' (roasted pork), carrots, eggs, bolied shredded yambeans, and 'popia' wraps

What is Popia?

Popia is a type of chinese spring roll with a very flat and thin surface, and round in shape. It's tasteless unless you stuffed it with ingredients on your choice, turning it into a delicious spring roll.

The most popular fillings are like yam bean, salad, bean sprouts, carrots, etc. It used to be a Chinese favorite. But now, even the Malays are trying their ways to make the food in their own style. There is just no right or wrong method in making a tasty food in Malaysia sometimes.

Similar food in other cuisines include the Filipino variant referred to as Lumpiang Sariwa, fried spring rolls (Chinese) and fajitas (Tex-Mex). In Vietnam, bò bía is the Vietnamese version of popiah, introduced by Teochew (Chaozhou) immigrants.

Dole Pineapple Plantation: Best pineapple ice-cream :-)

Dole Plantation makes the best pineapple ice-cream I have ever tasted:-) Light and fluffy (unlike fruit sorbets. I'm not a fan of sorbets), but not greasy

(Swimwear by Blush!. Lip gloss by Estee Lauder)

A nice patio for visitors to enjoy the cool breeze while sampling fragrant pineapple ice-creams

About Dole Pineapple Plantation

(Source: Wikipedia)

Dole was founded in 1851 in Hawaii as Hawaiian Pineapple Company by James Dole, who opened his first pineapple plantation in the central plateau of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Today the company does business in over 90 countries and takes in upwards of $5.3 billion in annual revenue. It is owned by billionaire David H. Murdock.

Colourful plants along the driveway

Eucalyptus trees at the car park

A map/directory located outside the main building

A stall selling home-grown fruits and veges- paw-paws (papayas), pineapples, sweet potatoes, etc

A souvenir shop where you can get nicely-packaged Hawaiian snacks - Macadamia nuts, sugar-free chocolates, preserved pienapples, amngoes, & coconuts, pineapple ice-cream (of course!), organic honey, cereals, fridge magnets... etc