Hainanese Chicken Rice

I would have never, never ever thought that I'll cook my own chicken rice a year ago; but now, I'm doing it. Followed the recipe in http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.com/2009/05/hainanese-chicken-rice.html. I didn't cook the whole chicken, first of, no skill to cut chicken; second, no pot to sustain a whole chicken; third, it's too much for my consumption.

So I used some chicken drumsticks and chicken breast combo instead. Due to the fact that my chicken rice shared partner is not skillful in eating chicken with bone, I have to de-boned the chicken drumstick. De-boned chicken definitely helps later eating but do wear plastic or use some tools to hold the chicken, else you might burn yourself, I did :(

Pic: Hainanese chicken rice with chili & garlic ginger dipping plus chicken soup

The chicken is smooth and tender, and I added a small knob of butter when cooking the rice (on top of what's required in the recipe), the rice was great! Not forgetting the highlight, chili dipping sauce. The chili and rice was so good that I just have to cook chicken rice again. But this time, to save my trouble, I grill the chicken instead. Both works perfectly fine :)

Pic: Chicken rice with grill chicken

Mee Mamak & Tomyam Rice Vermicelli

If you're a Penangite or is currently living in Penang, there's no way you can miss mee mamak (or we normally called mee goreng). My favourite was the one in Pulau Tikus, fried by an Indian guy which has been running the business for generations. Wonder if he's still frying, next time when I go back, I need to check it out.

There're plentyy of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai restaurants in Copenhagen but no Malay/Malaysian restaurant, needless to mention the mamak stalls / shops. Hey, maybe I can open a stall, wonder if I'll have any business, hmm...

Anyway, at some point the desire to eat mee mamak is so overwhelming that I have to cook it to satisfy my lust. Under the condition of no authentic yellow noodle and sambal, I cook it using instant noodle, sambal olek (I learn this 'sambal' in Denmark) and tomato sauce, plus some prawns, chicken pieces and egg. Accompanied with a turmeric fried chicken drumstick, it's not the best I've eaten but at least can satisfy me for a while :)

Another noodle that I always miss but not so difficult to 'reproduce' is tomyam rice vermicelli / noodle. I always use instant tomyam paste, drop a few drops of lime juice & fish sauce, add in tomato, chicken pieces, prawn, cili padi (yes, you can get it in normal grocery shop) and onion...it's always my utmost desired when the weather is cold / rainy.

Oh...how I envy those who have abundant access to all these nice food!

Toastss...

Made sesame prawn toast again and no, I'm not blogging about the prawn toast again but I'll share what I use the remaining toast bread for (well, they only sell big loafs of breads in supermarket).

Option 1: Salty toast. Dipped in egg sauce, pan fried and eat with some sausages.

Option 2: If you happen to have fresh fruit, make a sweet toast. Dipped it in beaten egg with sugar, pan fried; served with icing sugar, blueberries (or any fresh fruits of your liking) and 'shower' in maple syrup.

status check on mermaid

Curious when the mermaid will take her trip to China and wonder if she's still guarding the danish sea, so took the opportunity to visit her on a weekend, sort of like a status check. Well, as you can see from the picture, she's still sitting on the rock at where she's used to be. There hasn't been clear indication of what her replacement will be but I'll miss her when she's gone (temporarily).

Continue the walk to my favorite fountain - the Gifeon fountain nearby and took some pictures with different shutter speed.

Pic: the goddess and her four bulls

Pic. looks like waterfall isn't it?

Pic: Gifeon fountain and its nearby church

Rosenborg Have

Rosenborg palace and its garden is one of the famous tourist attractions in Copenhagen, famed for its romantic garden right in the middle of the city. I've never been to Rosenborg castle so took up a free weekend to walk around. Didn't enter the castle but walked around to check out the garden's fame.

Pic: Rosenborg castle

Pic: Rosenborg garden shot1

Pic: Rosenborg garden shot2

Pic: Rosenborg garden shot3

So it does seem like it's living up to its reputation right? wrong...walk further down the park and you'll find family with kids, tonnes of couple picnic / sunbathing (in the cold) close to each other. How romantic is that? Not. I prefer Frederiksberg Have much much better :)

Pic: couples in Rosenborg have

City Day Walk

Summer is leaving soon, so one of the weekend where the sun is shining bright, I borrowed a Nikon D70 camera and set on a track to capture possibly the last moments of summer before it's gone. Nothing fancy in town, found some new things to shoot at, that's all :)

Pic: No idea what the fruit is, was wondering if they're edible :s

Pic: Walked pass this building a few times, this is the first time I realize it looks like a whale :)

Pic: Taken when I took a break for watermelon juice in a café. Apparently you can buy it home if you like it, for a 'small' fee.

Pic: Was trying to catch the tree and the colour contrast, looks like a better camera can't save my lack of skill situation.

Breakfast @ Café Plantagen

It might not be known to tourists but it's definitely not a secret from the locals who can smell the Café Plantagen aroma of coffee from miles away and find their way to this little café tucked in a corner of Nørrebro. Serving the best latte (hot or iced) & cappuccino in town (I prefer Estate Coffee's espresso, sorry), the queue in the café is never ending regardless hour (seriously).

Pic: Interior of café Plantagen

One of the days, I discovered they're serving breakfast at the café as well. Nothing fancy, bread with butter and jam (or cheese) but the idea of waking up to a nice cup of warm latte from Plantagen is irresistible. So there it is: my breakfast at Café Plantagen.

Pic: my breakfast 'set' and my bread, just the way I like it.

If you can't wake up for the breakfast, don't worry... croissants, muffins and cookies are there as replacement. The most important thing is the coffee :) Operate between 9am to 10pm, give you plenty of time to visit.

Pic: View outside the café

>200posts

Time flies...I've been in Copenhagen for a year+ and my blog is also a year+ old now. I never consider myself as a productive (or responsible) blogger in any way but apparently I've accumulated up 200 post. This entry marks my 200-th postings.

In order to 'celebrate' this, I cooked up chicken varuval and since I can't share the chicken physically with those of you who have been reading my blogs, I'm sharing the picture. See this as a virtual party. Look it on the brighter side, it saves you from the despair of looking at my messy kitchen after I blend the chili ingredients...

Next time, when I reach another mile stone (if), I promise I'll make a real virtual feast, okay? Maybe I should also improve my photography skill to make it look like a feast. Anyway, to my 200th post, cheers!

Multimedia Tax

If I said Denmark is one of the country that impose high tax (if not highest) in the world, I believe nobody can object to that. I'm beginning to believe that in Denmark, the politicians seem to be able to find 'opportunities' to tax everywhere. On top of the normal income tax, church contribution tax, media license fee and now, the new multimedia tax.

So what is multimedia tax? Well, basically if you have company issued phone or laptop; company paid SIM card or internet fee or anything that's provided by the work place but you have the possibility of using it for personal usage (using work laptop at home for personal purpose, like...erm...watch a you tube video) and BOOM! you're subjected to the new multimedia tax.

Is it expensive? not really, it comes up to around DKK3000 annually before tax, so between DKK1300 - DKK1700 yearly depending on which tax class you belong to. Basically, I call it envy tax. Of course for those who benefited from company paid stuffs are now being taxed but poor employee like me who's just got a work laptop need to pay tax too if I bring the laptop home.

Of course I benefited from having a (work) computer at home but judging its weight on the scale, maybe I should just buy a new laptop during my up-coming Japan trip, hehe...

Park rental

The royal library park is probably one of the smallest part in the city but it's definitely a nice one with artistic fountain in the middle and seasonal flower blooming (seasonally, of course), surrounded by quiet historic library, right next to the royal reception hall. Been there a few times but I never notice the sign board.

A careful study (it's in danish, and I haven't improve so I need to try hard) and I realized that apparently one can actually rent the parks as location for specific functions (company event / wedding / birthday etc). Isn't it nice? I can already picture a garden wedding in the royal library park. A quick check on the website reveals that apparently a lot of parks and even some castles are available 'for rent' to public. How about renting a castle for company event? I'd like that ;)

Chicken Karaage

Found a great, fool proof chicken karaage recipe from MyKitchenSnippets which produce a final result that taste so good, it will make you seem like a professional. If you have kids, I'm sure they'll love the juicy yet crispy on the outside chicken pieces too. If these are not enough reasons to make you try, then I can only feel sorry for your lost.

I skip the onion mentioned in the recipe because I think it taste better without. My only regret is that I can't find fresh curry leave in Copenhagen yet; only manage to cook these with dried curry leaves so I put it massive lot of the leaves to compensate. The result? Two thumbs up (feedback from my friends who've tried) :)

Copenhagen Design Week

One of the good thing living in Copenhagen is that the city is always happening. It might not be big or full of entertainment mega mall but it's definitely filled with art, culture, conventions and exhibitions. Copenhagen design week is an exhibition week of creative inventions with the theme 'to help improve human lives'. Designs from around the world (which has been short-listed) are displayed in an encapsulated plastic spheres in the middle of city square.

Pic: Exhibition overview

Pic: seeing the world through the plastic? :)

The inventions are divided into categories (work, medical, idea, children etc). Not all are interesting but some definitely stood out. Some of the display ideas to share:-