KookyCulinary

Vancouver/Richmond Trip Part 4:

Just before heading back across the border, we went to Kirin for lunch. Kirin is very packed for dim sum on weekends. Usually you can’t get in without a reservation which was what happened to us the first day.

Delicious egg tart, fresh from the oven.

Siu Mai (Steam Pork Dumpling)

Plum sauce steam pork - a twist on the regular black bean steam pork. Not the best looking dish but it was very good.

The little one decided that she didn’t want dim sum, so we ordered pan-fried noodles. Delicious! Noodles were crispy and just the right amount of sauce to soak it a little. The little one loved it so much that she sat so quietly enjoying her noodles that for a moment, I thought she wasn’t with us!

Address:
Kirin
200 Three West Centre,
7900 Westminster Highway (at No. 3 Road)
Richmond, British Columbia
Tel: (604) 303-8833

Vancouver/Richmond Trip Part 3:

Since there are so many restaurants in Richmond, we usually like to try different ones everytime we go there. This time, we headed over to Sea Harbour for dinner.

We ordered Hand Shredded Five-Spice Chicken. The chicken was good but it was not anything special. Pretty ordinary but the salt-based dipping sauce that accompanied it was good.

Minced Pork with Chayote. Very tasty and delicious.

But the best dish of the night would have to be the Dungeness Crab with Kabocha Squash Hot Pot. I’ve never had Kabocha Squash before. It turned out to be very sweet and really add depth to the black-bean based sauce. Will definitely have to come back for this again.

Address:
3711 #3 Rd
Richmond, BC

Vancouver/Richmond Trip Part 2:

After our dim sum at Sun Sui Wah, we headed over to Aberdeen Centre in the Golden Village District of Richmond. Aberdeen Centre reminds me of the malls in Kuala Lumpur. 90% of the shoppers are Asian and most of the shops are also Asian-themed. There is a shop selling bak kua (pork jerky Singapore style), one that sells all the dried & pickled snacks, chinese bookstore, a Malaysian restaurant and many more. They also have my favorite store, a 2-storey Daiso! That’s where I get most of my bento supplies.

Since this is a food blog, I’ll concentrate on their food court. The food court is definitely geared towards Asian customers. Not a burger stall in sight. Some of the stalls include

My favorite thing to eat there - THIS!! Frappe Bliss.

Milk shaved ice topped with strawberry, kiwi, mango, mango ice-cream and a drizzle of condensed milk. Yummy!! It’s just like ice-kacang but the ice is definitely much smoother. Maybe it’s because they use milk shaved ice instead of regular ice It has a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

This one’s with kiwi, strawberry, mango, lychee and grass jelly (chin chow)

Vancouver/Richmond Part 1

This past month had been rather stressful filled with endless doctor visits. The flu season seem to be extremely severe this winter. Two weekends ago, with the entire family feeling healthy, we decided to head across the border for relaxation and a dose of great comfort food. We headed straight to Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. Hands down, Richmond has the best Asian food!

When we got to Richmond, we headed straight for our favorite restaurant, Kirin, for dim sum. Unfortunately they were fully booked for the entire day. So we made a reservation for the next day and headed out to another restaurant. We ended up in Sun Sui Wah.

Crispy Taro Puff (Wu Kok)

Siu Mai

Bean Curd Roll

Sticky Glutinous Rice - my favorite of the day.

Overall, the dim sum was not as good as Kirin but still pretty good. I think this restaurant is more famous for its dinner entrees specifically their Alaskan King Crab and Roasted Squab. Too bad we didn’t have a chance to try that. Will definitely have to try it out next time.

Restaurant Address:
Sun Sui Wah
4920 No. 3 Road, Richmond

This is a long overdue post about the some of the baking tools / molds / gadgets that I use. Sorry Judy!

These are the molds for my pineapple tarts. The one that I use for making this pineapple tart is the one on the right. Basically you stuff the dough into the thin tube and push it out with the plunger.  The 2 bigger molds in the middle, one plastic and one copper, works the same way except that there is no plunger. You have to use your finger to push the dough out. These 2 makes bigger and thicker pineapple tarts. The 2 molds on the left are for the open-faced pineapple tarts. It works like a cookie cutter. Use them to cut into shape & top it off with a ball of pineapple tart filling.

While I’m showing my baking tools, I might as well show some of my other collection.

Wooden mooncake molds. I used these to make these mooncakes.

Plastic mooncake molds. If you are in the US, you might be able to find these at the Vietnamese grocery stores.

My agar-agar mooncake molds.

Hmm. I just realized I don’t have a proper photo for this. Just a little one from my agar-agar collection photo. The pandan coffee agar-agar mooncake is on the top right.

Mold for making ang koo kueh. Someday I will get around to making this!

Want to see my bento & baking collection?? I’m a little afraid to show those because if my husband sees the amount I have, he might ban me from buying anymore!! Hehe…. 

It’s been a while since I posted Lil’ C’s bento, so here’s one that I made today.

Bento content: The all-favorite peanut butter & jelly sandwich topped with sprinkles, omelette & strawberries.

Lately Lil’ C is obsessed with sprinkles. She would eat anything with sprinkles. So if your child is not a happy eater now, try adding a little happy sprinkles on their food & maybe that will make them happy too. 

Another one of my lazy meals that I brought from Singapore - the Prima Taste Mee Siam. I know there are 2 versions of mee siam - the dry one and the wet one with the gravy. This is the gravy version. Personally I prefer the gravy version.

Anyway, the Prima Taste Mee Siam comes with 4 packets of ingredients. The gravy, sambal for frying the beehoon (rice vermicelli), sambal to top off the mee siam and lime juice.

Add some hard-boiled egg, fried tofu or taupok, shrimp or chicken and you’ll have a delicious mee siam.

A reader emailed me to find out where she can get this in Malaysia. Frankly I don’t know. I bought mine in Singapore. I haven’t seen it in Malaysia before. Anyone knows? For those in USA, you can actually buy it online at HC Foods. There is also a Prima Taste restaurant in San Jose, California. I tried it once and it’s not that good. They don’t sell the Prima Taste products at the restaurant.

Roti canai or roti prata, however you call it, it’s delicious and one of my favorite food. Usually it is best eaten with curry. But recently it has become my instant go-to snack for my little girl. Since she is not too crazy about curries, I have resorted to other fillings and toppings.

For my instant snack, I use frozen roti canai which can be bought at the local Asian grocery store. If you prefer homemade roti canai, please refer to my homemade roti canai recipe. Anyway, back to the frozen roti canai, just pan-fry it till it’s golden brown and crispy. Then top with any toppings or fillings that you like.

Our recent favorite is this nutella and banana roti canai. Yum! 

We have also tried it with tuna and even kaya (coconut jam). So if you need a quick snack, do try this yummy snack.

Look what I received in the mail . . . . . . a free gift from Foodbuzz! It’s my very own MOO mini name cards with my foodblog featured on it !!

When I started this food blog, it was definitely for fun and just a way for me to record my own cooking adventures. I never thought that I could actually earn money from it. But now, not only am I generating some income from it, I even get to give out “business cards”! It’s so much fun!!

If you haven’t heard of Foodbuzz, you should check it out. It’s a great place to connect with other food bloggers and a great place to discover new food ideas & dining experience.  

So if you have a food blog and would like to earn some extra money, just click HERE to sign up for the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program. Once you are approved, you will soon be buying more baking supplies with your money, just like me!