Tropic thunder!!

Ok, so 2 people have voted on my blog to see me post a new recipe..
so i've been trying my best to come up with something special yet easy to make..
and i wanted it to be something related to fruits cos my friend in Canada had some health issues..
therefore, i was running thru my mind for recipes and remembered something that was shown to me by chef Jean..
Sauteed fruits..

So on i go down into the kitchen and tried to "fry" some fruits..
in malaysia the fruit that's probably fried the most had to be Bananas...
banana fritters are almost staple add-ons to any typical tea time snack..
however dun let that idea get into your head just yet..
cos fritters are dry whereas the recipe we came up with made the fruit sweeter and slightly juicier..
so here's wat we had to work with :)
so i wanted to have something high in protein and fruit sugar for energy as well as sustenance
hence i chose meat and a fruit

ingredients:
fruit- watermelon (cubed)
meat- beef bacon(cut so that it can fit onto the cube) or pork bacon
salt(in moderation)
pepper(to your tastes)
garnish- still haven worked out a nice garnish..(forgot what they used that day too..)

instructions:
1. cut the fruits into cubes
2. heat a flat based pan lightly and coat with olive oil
3. lightly fry the meat till its just done on a small flame (this takes considerable skill and patience and experience.. took me14 strips before it got really nice...)
4. place the strips onto a papered plate to dry excess oil.
5. slightly fry the cubes on a low flame next on all sides of the cube till they turn fragrant.
6. once they are fragrant u can take them off and place them on a serving plate
7. fold the meat and place it onto the cubes with the help of a tooth pick and serve with garnishes when possible..(i didnt have any and they still tasted fresh but i prefer the garnish :P )

this dish is a simple snack that maintains the goodness of having a low carb meal for those who are on a carbless diet..
and it also has proteins for those who need em
and for those who lack the fruit goodness and fibers... mixing them up is a nice way of prompting stubborn young ones into eating fruits :)

Pantasia!!
the name of the shop in yakitate japan :) which is somehow indirectly related to today's feature article..

scene 1
-a normal looking kopitiam with a lot of people walking in andout and shouting
(a ravenous medicontherun staggers into the stage accompanied by 2 other more energetic people...)
motr: are you guys sure that this is the shop?
Tour guide A: yes, confirm... my mom always makan here one...
Tour guide B: really ah?
TA: yalah.. the noodles here ah mou tak deng one...
TB: sure not? u know how many places we go liao ah? even the one i recommend oso tak boleh laku... :(
TA: can de... if tak laku i belanja k?
TB: ya hor.. he now so hungry sure will taste good de :P
motr: oi.. i can hear u know... i'm hungry not dead!!!
TA: oops.. no worry man.. u eat this sure good de...
motr: really dude.. this is shop # 50++ liao...
TB: i think its 48 only...
motr: waaa u count ah?
(TB blushes as they sat down and placed their order..)
(they continue to talk as their orders arrive)
motr: so you're sure it won't leave that salty tang after eating?
TA: haiya.. why you so particular..
TB: yalor.. every time oso u liddat..
motr: this i'm particular because i wanna bring someone to go eat it later.. so cannot la intro salah..
TA: oh.. bawa awek la...
TB: nvr intro oso :(
motr:... eh come edi.. i pay first.. if not nice u pay me back i tell u...
TA: cheh.. its good one.. confirm
TB: then mine leh?
motr&TA: U PAY LOH!!!!
(laughter)
(motr eats the noodles in silence)
TA: woah see he like it so much he no make noise leh...
TB: ya wor... you not bad ah...
TA: i good leh
TB: ya.. how u find this place?
TA: i saw in newspaper...
TB: oh.. i oso must learn to read la..
motr: (finishes his noodles..) u owe me lunch tomoro...
TA: WAHT?? WHY>??
TB:....still cannot ah?
motr: yeah.. the soup is too thick... its leaving that fatty taste on my tongue even after eating...
(TA & TB resign with a sigh and walk off together with motr..)

scene 2
-a rundown shack at the side of a busy street in the early morning
-crowd is comprised of working class people
(TA & TB are in office clothes, whilst motr is sitting there eating noodles)
TA: eh dude, why u eating this noodles so early in the morning?
TB: later fat la...
motr: i wan to test it..
TA: huh? u every week oso eat here with us la...
TB: u must be testing noodles this time?
motr: yeah.. but only this particular noodle...
(holds up piece of noodle for all to see...)
TB: oh... so how is it?
TA: is that a stupid question?
TB: why?
TA: if he got time to talk means not 100% enjoy lo...
motr: hahahahahahaha... quite good actually.. but not good enough..
TA: oh no.. not again..
TB: wat?
motr: jom later lunch we meet bring u all go makan..
TB: ..... oh no......
TA: slow la u...
motr: dun worry la.. i belanja...
TA: got work la..
TB: sorry got to see boss later..
motr; eh potong la u all.. i go only lo..
(scene blacks out)
Disembodied Voice: so thats how the hunt began... searching and searching, motr brought TA and TB all across towns to scour for the best noodles...
DV: even until the 50th shop he relentlessly searched... and TA & TB were growing weary..

scene 3
-motr is in a car driving alone
(phone rings)
motr: yo man sup?
TA: hey today i cannot come with u la..
motr: why?
TA: got things to do la.. malas la..
motr:.... lidat oso can meh?
TA: oh shit credit habis...
(phone cuts...)
motr: haiz...
(dials from memory)
motr: hello
TB: bro, i'm in meeting now..talk later k?
motr: k....
(hangs up)
motr: haiz...
(drives to a new place)
motr: i've never seen this place before...wonder whats it like...gotta come back later with the guys...

scene 4
-motr is surrounded by 2 friends who arent TA or B
-the shop is panted half pinkish purply and half white horizontally on the walls..


motr: so what u guys think of the place?
F1: not too bad
F2: okla...
waiter: so what would u like to have?
motr: i'd like to drink honey lemon tea
F1: coke lemon

motr: i'll have the special thanks, and so will they (smiles)
F1: hey dun force our order!!
F2: yalor... u think u boss meh?
motr: shaddup u belanjaing hahaha
F2: waht??(pouts)
motr: dun worry its nice
F2: yealah tu...
F1:..(plays with phone..)
(food arrives)
waiter: here's your traditional style minced pork pan mee
motr: mine!!
waiter: here's your pork ball traditional style pan mee
F1: mine
waiter:and here's the dried minced pork thick noodle style pan mee
F2: mine!!!!!! finally!!! motr u starved us long enuff

(everybody chows down on the food due to hunger pangs..)

scene 5
the verdict!!
-bowls of empty pan mee on the table

motr: well that was refreshing (smiling) 8/10
, due to clear soup smooth texture, nice environment, fast serving, light yet flavourful soup, crunchy anchovies and wafting aroma.

F1: i think the one my mom goes to is better
motr: really?
where?

F1: far away from here..

F2: i still hungry...

motr: yeah the serving is small thats why drop.. oso becoz not cheap


END...


the reason for this blog and my tireless hunt for this pan mee shop?
aside from it being my used to be fave noodles of all time..(used to be, cos after 50 bowls of it u ge a little tired..)
The year was 2006, an anime was ended called yakitate japan...
it was about bread....
suprisingly... it was the same year that i met...
MEL...
ok she's not really a bread fan..
but.. a noodles fan..
and the type of noodles she digs is made of flour..
kneaded into smooth dough..
then pressed or squeezed or just pinched into pieces and strips..
blanched in a flavourful yet light hot soup, and served together with anchovies and mushrooms for the fragrant aroma and crunchy bite.
this dish, simple yet fulfilling was named PAN MEE.
after the original pan mee looking like planks of wood.
It used to be a poor man's dish and is best enjoyed in cool weather because of its light broth.
Its distinctive aroma although not particularly impressive, allows u to determine its taste right off the smell.
a unique dish that includes blanching of noodles with stock seasoned broth, frying and steaming all in its cooking...

to mel.. for her love of pan mee..
and as an apology for making her wait so long...
this post was about a place called "PAN MEE CAFE"
hopefully its still there when u're back :P

Other sites that are written by me:

A Webnovel

Poetry In Motion

MTG the (CM) Storyline

*under construction*

Email: medicontherun@gmail.com

So, its prime time and your mates have asked u out for a meal...
usually u'd be wanting to stay at home on the couch and order a take out from the van above so you could catch the latest episode of your favorite soap opera correct?
Well there's no such leisure for a food connoisseur(or so i hope to be :P hey it rhymed so dun blame me)
apparently my tour guides have found out that the above takeout van has a main base!!
and its been featured in the STAR(the only paper i pay attention to cos of the food corner :P)!!!
So after watching the latest episode of MYTHBUSTERS in advance, yours truly decided to put Adam's quote to good use:"i choose to defy your reality and substitute it with my own :P"
Thus with "Raving Hunger" as my weapon of choice and "High Expectations" as my shield, I set foot into the unknown......
My tour guides left me with much to desire as i was given round after round of tantalizing stories.
Starting with juicy tenderloins breaking waistlines, pungent aroma causing nausea, to intriguing snippets of photos taken with the owner's permission....
All that story telling got me psyched. So we started off our journey at the stroke of 6PM(prime time on Sunday for Eastern and Mountain time zones...) turning on the engine to my mum's trusty Kancil a rush of excitement flowed through my veins.
It felt like adventure arising, a certainty of which i would be surprised by what i would find next.
Thirst for adventure pumping we started the drive. On the road we were met with a wilderness of modern day, swerving cars and rampaging motorcycles were but the least of what we had to go through.
Leaving the gruesome reality of what formed the major part of our journey behind, we arrived at an open playground.
To level the playing field so to speak, i took off my shield of "High Expectations" and looked squarely at my guides.
With a shudder they pointed towards some foliage, i squinted, in the distance i could barely see some neon lights.
Looking up at the clear moonlit sky, the waxing crescent seemed to smile at my interesting circumstance as if appreciating the effort I've put to get this far.
Holding "Ravaging hunger" close to my chest i set out in front of the pack through the field.
Walking through the green meadow like field was breathtaking to speak, we were coming in at the target from upwind so it wouldn't smell us.
The slight movement of the brush could blow away our cover, as we inched forward ever so tenderly. Constantly afraid of stepping on to bogs and other natural "mines".
As we finally cleared to field and stepped onto tarmac once again, i felt an overwhelming sensation of wanting to kiss the ground. However, "Ravaging Hunger" started to glow brightly and thus we headed towards the Restaurant where my rush was explained...

WHERE ARE ALL MY SIRLOIN STEAKS!!! MY PORK RIBS!!! GIMME MY WINE!!!
i thought i was in for WESTERN CUISINE!!!! not NASI LEMAK at a KEDAI MAMAK!!!

Dreadfully feeling cheated regardless of how my tour guides tried to persuade me otherwise, I trudged into the store.
Only upon sitting down and glancing the moon once again did a revelation occur to me.
The sign on the shop was a cryptic message, left by ancient(the shop is 20 years of age) shopowners to fool fiesty young food expert wannabes.
The shop sign meant opened 6-10 PM primetime only for Grills & Nasi Lemak.
A clarification with one of the more enthusiastic waiters i've met clarified my revelation and got our orders down.
For the main i ordered a Norwegian Grilled Salmon, half expecting a half black half white resident cat of niagara to appear :P
We also ordered a typical western favourite, chicken chop. I liked the choices that came with that selection in particular, we were allowed to choose between breast meat and thigh meats, brown sauce or bbq sauce, and grilled or fried.Versatility is always appreciated :)
The next order placed was that of Lamb chops, this order was placed because of the pungent lamb smell that floated all across the diner. And although the outside of the diner looked like ur typical chinese food joint, the interiors were pretty decent and therewasn't much oiliness or stickiness in the air.
For drinks, All of us had juices. An interesting note was that the juices had salt in them, and havin left during the beginning of the dinner crowds made the chef hard to question so we didnt find out why.
Within 8-10 minutes of our orders being placed, the food arrived smelling awesome.
However i wasn't exactly pleased with the Norwegian Grilled Salmon as i expected smoked Salmon but apparently it wasnt smoked. Which dipped my scales for that particular dish.
The fish was well grilled, and wasnt overcooked which must mean experience on the chef's part. The sauce that went with it was decent, but wasn't outstanding enough to raise the stakes.
The grilled chicken chop on the other hand was marvelous, the sauce contemplated the chicken well, and the meat wasn't hard but supple and slightly juicy.
The slight juices in the chicken combined with the BBQ sauce wonderfully and saw my guide licking his cutlery after every bite.
The lamb chop was a little bit on the fat side, but it had a rescuing angel in terms of its mint sauce.
As soon as the bottle was opened, we could smell the mint sauce from where it stood on the table.
The mint sauce wonderfully enhanced the flavour of the grilled lamb chops in a marriage made in heaven :)
Mint freshness, succumbing to the tender lamb flesh that suprisingly didnt have a heavy smell to it, stirred an involuntary salivation.
That in turn only made the dish more palatable and tasty.
Having tried the main grill dishes, we decided to go for their nasi lemak since it had the odd favor of grabbing my attention.
Halting the enthusiastic waiter didnt prove too difficult, although the other waiters/waitresses leave much to be desired in that dept.
He had the courtesy of introducing us to a new special that was off-menu but sounded interesting, PORK rendang nasi lemak.
Once that was served up, the gladiator was fed to the lions.
But the jury, now having been satiated with the previous WOW stuff, could only be moderately satisfied by the Nasi Lemak and pork rendang.
Granted it takes credit for an awesome pungent smelling rice which was rich and flavourful, sweet yet spicy sambal, and rendang sauce that could beat the beef rendang in most places, But its pork was not very flavorful.
That was a major setback after all the suprises that the previous dishes had.
payment was made to the cashier and we found ourselves blasting off back home.
the prices atthe restaurant were steep, not unlike what u'd find in a normal food court, but still a tad pricey although i would eat here due to the good flavorful food but not on a daily basis :P
i have to end my review here cos its 2:30 AM and i have exams this week...
i would like to take this opportunity to say sorry to mel,and everyone else, because i had to take so long to update my blog. (having finals :( )
so good night for now and once my sis releases my photos from captivity i'll have something u'd be wanting to try when u get back frm states mel :)