Home Sweet Home

There hasn't been much changes in this half year since I left home. Malaysia is hot & humid as usual and traffic jam & lack of parking space is still a common problem in Penang. I have been having headache since the day I arrive until now, probably due to the heat. Haven't vastly inform my friends so I have plenty of time to spend with my family :)

In conjuction with new year holiday, I went for a round of quick shopping with my cousin. 4 hours of shopping yielded: 2 belts, a dress (I really like it), a cute key chain, a pair of shoes & a wallet, less than RM300. I can never get that price for these items n Denmark.

Tasted my favourite honey grill cod fish with my parents the first evening after arrival, tasty as before. My favourite green tea cold soba with tempura at Tsuruya is of its usual high quality. Also ate some hawker food like laksa, nasi lemak & prawn noodle. The slight regret of not being able to have steamboat in Copenhagen is fully recovered by a nice tomyam steamboat.


I am so glad that now I'm once again in food heaven, with 24hours eateries open almost everywhere & not to forget my mom's home cook meals. Will finally get to drink my mom's cantonese soup with black bean tonight, anticipating.

I took pictures of food that I ate / made in Denmark to show my Malaysian friends & families when I was in Copenhagen, now that I'm back, I have to take pictures of my home town food to show my Danish friends. Isn't it funny?

A Series of Misfortunate Events

I was traveling to Penang (also my home) for business purpose, so excited! 2 days of packing after Christmas & I'm off Copenhagen, on my way to Penang. Trip itinerary was from Copenhagen -> Frankfurt -> Singapore -> Penang. Unfortunately, my trip didn't follow the itinerary exactly.

During the stop-over in Frankfurt, there were some problems with the loading machine, so luggage loading has to be performed manually, which takes about 2 hours to complete. Just when the loading was done & we can finally take off, it was discovered that there are some fuel leakage from the plane's left wing. Took the ground engineers 3.5hrs to resolve while the poor passengers stuck in the plane :(

Due to the 5.5hrs delay, we have to stop over at Bangkok to change the cabin crew (so they don't work over their supposed working hours) & to re-fuel the plane before flying to Singapore (I don't understand why they can fuel up in Frankfurt, airport rules?). Needless to say, my connecting flight is no longer 'connected' after the delays. All passengers are not allowed to leave the airport in Bangkok, no transits or disembarkment allowed, so there goes my chance to fly from Bangkok to Penang.

When we're in Bangkok, we were requested to leave the aircraft and check in again with all our personal belongings so they can performe secutiry check. During the process, someone decided to get a little shopping spree to release the tension & didn't board the plane. It took the land crew 4 times head-counting to determine who's missing. When they were identified, the captain decided to unload their baggage.

Just when their belongings were unloaded, they appear again. If eye sights can kill a person, I'm sure they are dead. So after the hustle, yet another engine failure is reported. At that point, I was thinking: oh my, I'm never going to leave this plane :( I was having headache, frustrated, exhausted & my legs are aching after so many hours in the economy cockpit. Well at least this time, it took only 20minutes to resolve. So Bangkok stop took 2hrs+ for 'JUST a fuel up' stop.

I was helping a lady with 4months old infant who's traveling to Penang as well along the way and was accidentally treated as her family. So I got the earliest confirmed connecting flight out of Singapore which is about 2hrs later. No surprise for the flight between Singapore & Penang. When I arrived, I get to checked out with her at the express lane and also obtained help on our luggages ;)

Just as if my delayed flight is not bad enough, the car rental company's agent has went back. Luckily I received help to call in the agent and she agreed to come in about half an hour time to hand me the car. Else I would have taken a taxi instead. I was greatful for she has the right to refuse to come in. Penang people is always nice & friendly (like me) :)

So my 16hrs flight home becomes 28hrs flight. Great value for money from air ticket perspective?? I don't think so. Long distance flight next time (even to home)? I'll think twice.

Christmas Celebration

I was invited to Christmas dinner with my manager's family. This year, they spend it at his parent's place, so I am lucky to experience a traditional Christmas eve celebration with a Danish family.

The whole house is nicely decorated with christmas decoratives & a medium size christmas tree with tonnes of presents filled a side room. The kids are so excited to see the amount of presents, lol... Their embarrasing invited guest (a.k.a. me) was busy snapping picture like I've just visit a tourist attraction :$

We arrived early so I have a chance to sneak into the kitchen to see how a typical traditional Danish christmas dinner meal is prepared (and did help a little in the process). Typically, roast duck & caramelised potatoes will serve as main course with stew red cabbage as side dish. We also had some roast pork steaks (flæskesteg).

If you noticed, the food pictures are taken when the food is being prepared / just ready. I have no chance to take pictures at the dining table when dinner is served. The roast duck was so good that I have to eat 3 pieces. Think I took at least 6 of the caramelised potatoes. With some nice wine, the dinner ends when the lucky person found a hidden full almond inside the dessert (risalamande).

After washing up (basically just throwing everything into dish washer), we are geared for Danish christmas song singing. I was given a booklet with lyric, lol... We hold each other hand in hand & dance around the Christmas tree. It was so fun even though I can only sing certain part of the songs. Finally the leading kid (of our hand-in-hand ring) brought everyone to sing & dance around the whole a full round, then the 'ceremony' completes.

What comes next? Of course gift unwrapping. Danish kids are luckier, they don't have to wait until next day morning to oepn their presents. The house was filled with fun laughters, cheers, appreciation hugs & kisses. It was so harmony & warm when even an 'outsider' like me can feel the love in the air. Guess that what Christmas is about -- family :)

Pic: the girls with their new 'musical instruments'

Penne & Cheese

I intended to cook macaroni & cheese but it was so difficult to find macaroni in Copenhage (I wonder why), so ended up with penne. The recipe was merely ok, perhaps due to my cheese selection. Anyway, here's a simple penne & cheese recipe (for 4 servings), sorry for the unit of measurement, I'm too lazy to convert it again & don't have my well converted printed recipe with me now:-

1 lb penne
4 cups milk
6 tblsp. flour
4 tblsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
8 oz. white cheddar cheese
breadcrumbs (forget to do the measurement :p)

1. Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook at a rolling boil until just tender. Drain. Rinse. Set aside.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (180 degree Celcius).

3. Bring the milk to just a boil in a heavy saucepan. Set aside.

4. Melt the butter in another pan. Add the flour and whisk over low heat for about 5 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from the heat.

5. Add the butter mixture to the milk and whisk well to get rid of lumps. Season with salt and pepper. Return to heat.

6. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until it's smooth and it thickens. Add in 2/3 of the cheese & cook until it melts.

7. Add mixture to the pasta and coat. Spread the remaining grated cheese over the top of the pasta.

8. Sprinkle the top with some bread crumbs. Bake for 25 minutes. Then, place dish under the broiler (about 4 inches away from heat) and cook for another few minutes until slightly golden.

Adapted from http://achowlife.blogspot.com/2008/11/surrender-to-mac-n-cheese.html

Christmas is in the Air

Jingle bell, jingle bell, Christmas is in the air, in fact, everywhere since late October. Shopping bags are printed with Christmas motives; packagings of chocolates, candies, cakes & cookies change to 'Christmas-ish'; Chrstimas decoratives on sale; streets light up with Christmas deco; busy people buying Christmas gifts...it's hard not to notice such lively celebrated festive season.

In Copenhagen city center, Kongens Nytorv, an artificial ice-skate ring is created http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongens_Nytorv. One can bring their own skates or rent them to experience some skating fun in city center. I can't skate & don't plan to embarrasse myself, so...hehe

Pic: Kongens Nytorv skating ring

Just a few hundred steps away, lies the famous canal & harbour - Nyhavn, which is also 'transformed' into 26 stalls Christmas market. The market was a little dissapointing, relatively small scale & nothing superly excited (I have seen the bigger ones in Berlin), except...I found toilet rolls with Christmas motives printed, keeps me wonder :s

Pic: (top) Nyhavn Christmas market; (bot) Christmas toilet rolls

Gløgg is a special Christmas sweet warm wine with fruits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulled_wine. Despite the risk of getting drunk in public (my alcohol tolerance level is nearly zero), I decided this is something that I must try, don't want to wait another year for that so I got one from the Christmas market stall. Basically one can get it anywhere, even the Chinese takeaway shop sells it :s

I didn't like it at first sip but it turns out fine & can really keep me warm at the windy cold harbour. The one I had has raisin & almond in it (typical). I won't mind trying it again given the chance :)
Continue the walk to the main shopping street Strøget and you'll be reminded more of Christmas. Not just because of the street decorations but the increase of shoppers determined to get some gifts will certainly tells you Christmas is just around the corner.

This year, I'll be spending a traditional Danish Christmas evening with my boss & his families. Something absolutely new to me. Presents? Bought :). Will share on the evening...soon, hopefully.

Kimchi Pork & Stir Fried French Beans

Ever since I dined out in a Korean restaurant recently, my kimchi mood bar has raised to the max. Instead of making my own kimchi (which will take long time), I bought a canned kimchi. I used it to stir fried some pork slices. Ate that back in Penang before & I really like it, was thinking of reproducing it here in Copenhagen.

Unfortunately the kimchi is not exactly the nicest one can get, so the result was so-so. Anyway, because of kimchi's slight sour spicy nature, it's still not that bad. Just that I don't think I'll spend DKK35 on that canned kimchi anymore. Perhaps next time, I should really make my own kimchi instead? We'll see :)

Pic: Kimchi Pork

Again, I seldom eat rice with only 1 single dish, so this round I stir fried some french beans with garlic. Just minced a clove of garlic, brown it with 1 tablespoon of oil, add in the french beans (cut into 1-2 inch length) and stir fried. Salt to taste, done.

Pic: Stir fried french bean

Christmas Gift

My company has a tradition of giving all employee a Christmas gift and I was thrilled with the idea that I'll be receiving Christmas gift from company (never happen to me in Malaysia).

This year, we get to pick among a trendy gift, practical gift, healthy gift or a traditional gift. Nobody knows the content but a hint of what the gift will be was shared in a riddle mode. I wanted to get the trendy gift because it looked like it might be a Apple Nano alike product initially and then I become skeptical and choose the traditional gift (actually also because the trendy gift was 'sold out').

So here's what I got as traditional gift:- 2 bottles of red wine, a pack of mixed nuts, sugar coated almond, spicy peanut, candies, rubber gums, chocolate nougats, traditional marzipan, a bar of nougat and a box of nice chocolate. Not bad at all :D

Pic: 'Breakdown' of my company Christmas gift

If I were to choose trendy gift, I'll get an electronic picture frame. Practical gift was a handy drill set with some small tools; and healthy set was a blender with some individual fruit cutters plus a healthy drink recipe. I'm glad with what I've chosen (except for the marzipan).

Miso Glazed Salmon (again & success)

After my initial 'not so successful' miso glazed salmon attempt, I'm set for second attempt.

This time, the salmon turns out perfect, really perfect. Instead of following the complicated recipe, I just mixed 1 teaspoon of miso paste with 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar and rubbed them on the surface of the salmon. Baked the salmon skin side down (I think skin is an important part to prevent the salmon from becoming too dry) on an oiled baking sheet for 13minutes at 180 degree Celcius (or 350 degree Farenheit). Yummy, yummy...

As for the sushi, they were bought from supermarket, for convenient sake. My appetite has grown so much that a piece of salmon is no longer enough for my stomach anymore :p. The sushi looked nice but doesn't taste nice, it was merely okay...
Self-made handroll was bought as well, thought more is needed for the stomach but apparently not yet. So it was saved for the next day lunch instead :). Very convenient, just follow the instruction, roll the handroll yourself (you can even claim that you made it, because literally, you do) and a small soy sauce is included. The only down side is the seaweed is too dry & they don't sustain so long. So after rolling, just cover it with damp cloth for 10+seconds & it'll be much easier to cut ;)

Sour Plum Sauce Chicken + Onion Fried Egg

I brought a bottle of sour plum sauce with me from Malaysia when I traveled to Copenhagen & have never used it in cooking. Actually I forgot about it because it was 'hidden' in my kitchen cabinet. So one of the days when I finally clean up the cabinet, I discover the sauce & decided it's time to use it.

I sliced chicken breast into bite size strips and marinate them with ½ teaspoon of oyster sauce, some salt & pepper for about 10 minutes, then stir fried for about a minute. Add 2 tablespoon of sour plum sauce + a tablespoon of water, stir fried for about 2 minutes and add in the spring onions (cut into 1-2 inch length). Voila :)

Pic: Sour plum sauce chicken

Onion fried egg comes into picture because I have too many eggs & they're about to expire. So I cut a small onion into think slices, stir fried them until soften. Then beat 2 eggs with some salt & pepper to taste and add the eggs into the pan. Just continue pan frying until the egg is cooked, so easy...and 2 eggs down ;)

Pic: Onion Fried Egg

Christmas Lunch

My company has the tradition of treating all its employees to a nice Christmas lunch / dinner (it used to start at 2-3pm with drinks & continued until midnight, so maybe more towards dinner?).

This year is the first year I get to join such event & this year, the Christmas lunch was combined with other companies in a big event centre with buffet Danish food + shows performed by famous Danish artists throughout the night until 1am. Free beer & wine until 9pm for everyone.

I was told that this is the best place to get to know my 'real' colleagues, especially how they act after they are drunk so I was really looking forward to it. Managed to fly back from Berlin & catch the dinner in time. Food was good & songs were nice (except they're in Danish mostly) as well. I was a little surprised to see how 'hot' some of my co-workers (from different department) dances get. Some practically 'sticks' to each other. Alchocol effect? Maybe or maybe not :p

Throughout the night, I was safely protected by my manager, so I don't have any unwanted 'disturbance' from some drunk colleagues / strangers. My only 2 dances was limitedly reserved to two of the oldest guy in my department (I can't dance, so I thought better save myself from embarrassment, lol...)

I left at about 11pm, before my colleagues get really drunk (or embarrassing?), sober. Don't have any special funny stories to share, so hopefully next year ;)

Berlin (again, in 3 months)

I was traveling to Berlin on a business trip last week (that's part of the reason behind my blog delinquence). I never thought I'd be there again in less than 3 months time. Happily informed my friends & they are so kind to picked me up from the airport (again, but different airport). In fact, I've even made reservation for dinner at a famous Chinese restaurant in Berlin before my departure :p

Dinner with them in a relatively authentic SzeChuan Chinese restaurant was nice but things turn down hill when I go to work the next day. It was a really hard day at work, really tough day. On my way back to hotel that day, I accidentally left my handphone in taxi, luckily the taxt driver delivers it back. Then just when things can't go any further down, my luggage won't open up even though I'm 200% sure that the code combination was correct (it in fact is, I manage to forced it open after 2 days attempt).

Good thing is, almost all that can go wrong went wrong on day 1, subsequent 3 days work were difficult but no big surprise anymore. Before I travel, I thought I'd have time to go to my favourite spot in Berlin & snap a Brandenburger Tor in winter picture but I was working late a lot of times and the gate's location is a bit far off from where I stayed.

Manage to sneak out one of the nights, walked through the Christmas market near my hotel. Berlin street (especially the main street Ku'damm) was so beautifully lighted up.

Pic: Berlin street view in Chrsistmas season

Pic: Christmas market sneak peek

Malaysia shopping malls will normally decorate nicely for Christmas but nothing as nice as what they did in Kadawe Berlin. The shopping centre is practically transformed into a winter woods. The window decorations are nicely segregated into different types of colours & products, really nice, don't have these in Copenhagen either, not as nice (Danes, pls don't kill me)...

Pic: Kadewe & its Christmas deco

Finally have a nice meal with my friend in a Thai restaurant called Good Time. Open kitchen, beautiful & handsome waitresses/waitors, nice food, authentic environment, good company and on company's bill...I'm glad. Even the serviettes are folded nicely in lotus pattern, charming :)

Pic: Good time meals. From left, lotus serviette, stir fried glass noodle & deep fried pork with mixed vege.

When I reached Copenhagen after 4 days in Berlin, I said 'danke' (thanks in German) instead of 'tak' (thanks in Danish) to the taxi driver and I forgot my bank card pincode, luckily I have sufficient cash to pay the taxi driver, it was embarrassing. I blame these all to the pressure at work in Berlin.

Holiday in Berlin, yes yes yes...but on business trip again? maybe not.