Taipei through Monkey's lens

 

Believe it or not, despite being only 4 hours away, this was our first time :P
*transiting at their airport doesn't count, coz I did that a few times before*
We took a red eye flight out from Msia just in time to watch the Taiwanese sunrise from the window of our plane...hahahahaha

The sun rises here at 5.50am so it gets too bright too early....definitely not ur place if u are planning to sleep late. Our philosophy is to wake up early and maximise the time at each and every place that we visit. Oh well holidays are meant to be relaxing right? catching sunrise is very very relaxing...in fact it's such a novelty coz I don't get to do it very often in Msia.

Taipei 101 is like a must visit, the icon of this metropolitan. With 2.6 million beings the city is definitely bigger than Kuala Lumpur. Due to its location within the earthquake zone, the city can't be built high...so it's pretty spread out.

oh nvm about Taipei 101 which is the 3rd tallest building in the world. I will prepare a separate posting just for it because its construction is such a marvel. We spent 2 hours up there detailing its architecture and engineering.

The view is definitely fantastic
hmmm there's a storm coming over there~~~~~

but the view from our room is even more fantastic :))))
waking up to Taipei 101 glimmering with the reflection of morning sun *including my hobbits sun-tanning there* and doozing off at nite with the spectrum of neon/LED colors on Taipei 101.


Longshan Temple, built in 1738
I couldn't confirm if it's the oldest in Taipei. Nevertheless it's really beautiful and made me so at peace visiting it. Don't worry....a separate posting will be prepared for this.

another temple at Tamsui. Here in Taipei, most of the temples were of mixed influence of Buddhism, Taoism and Matsu.  I'm really confused....so confucianism?


JS arranged the hobbits this way.....after the first day he told me they wanna go home!!!!!
awwwwwwww
JS didn't enjoy the food in Taipei :((
other than that, he had a great time with the sights, arts, museums and culture.


apart from its mixed cuisine that JS didn't enjoy, we did a lot in the short 5 days. including cycling along the Tamsui River mouth.....the river meets the East China Sea which is also part of the Pacific Ocean. It's really a long river covering about 159 km long.

It's such a cute bicycle for two :))))

Tamsui is really rich in history with its Portuguese, Dutch and British influence. It's something like Malacca.

from Tamsui we took a lil bus to the edge of town that overlook the sea. Walked up the Lover Bridge which was built 14 February 2003

scaled up the inactive volcano mountain - YangMingShan. Enjoyed the greenery and waterfalls, and didn't really enjoy the smellie sulphur deposits at another part of the mountain....it was really stinko...but it was a good experience to see something from post-volcanic period.

JS brought so many Leica cameras and its respective lens.
-_-"
so that he can snap all the beautiful moments and scenery for u my dear readers...
while Monkey only made full use of her iPhone bahahahahaha coz the Leica proved damn difficult to use. I don't know how someone can use a manual camera arghhhhhh

so while waiting for JS to sort out all the pics from different SD cards....we'll just get to enjoy pics taken from my iPhone ok? hahahahaha.....errr guess that's about it :P

Time to go home!!!!!
on the last morning, JS woke up to snap pics of sunrise while Monkey was zzzziiinkkk-ing on the comfy heavenly bed...she opened her eyes and saw 5 pairs of eyes starring at her.

"Wat's up now!!!!!????"
JS: "Pack up!!!! time to go home!!! we missed home!!!!"
yes 5 short days went by
we came home feeling richer in experience and knowledge
:)))))))))

apart from its food, the other thing that proved to be difficult was language. We couldn't speak nor read and write....if it's ABC alphabet system, we can still survive. But trying to make up words, description, destination by looking at chinese text was really impossible. When Monkey was trying to get a book for someone she had to check and make sure every single stroke and dot is the same. To confirm it's the right book.

ARGHHHHH *pulls hair*
why can't they use simplified chinese??? there's too many strokes!!!

dang....we are heading to Japan next week. Ppl there don't really speak english too.
-_-" looks like we gotta compare strokes again but at least it's much more simplified.

Happy Tuesday folks!!!

Away......

*pic stolen from the web*

my first visit to Taipei :)))))
and we are definitely gonna scale up the 101.....with an elevator of coz.
Bahahahaha, wat were u thinking?

Enjoy ur week there folks!!

Biryani Birthday Dinner

The numerous spices used to prepare Biryani. Note the beautiful orange Nutmeg flowers. It's not really flower as in flowers but the Mace of the fruit/seed itself. According to JS it's one of the key spice ingredients in Biryani.

He obtained this awesome recipe from his ever reliable source, a certain Si Fu who hates to be mentioned here. Apparently I do have a huge followers here, bcoz of his fans base. -_-"

Anyway JS did a test run Biryani 2 weeks ago prior to this actual dinner for the guinea pigs gang. JS no longer calls them cute fluffy guinea pigs....they are now officially known as Piranhas with sharp jagged teeth >.< *ouch*


beautiful and prized Saffron procured from our previous trip to Spain
I used them like tic tacs in watever I want to the horror of JS

JS: "Do u have any idea how much that cost???? u just need a few sprigs...not a spoonful!!!!!"
errrr oh ya kah???? sowwyy~~~~~


Semi-aged Basmati rice
he said it has to be AGED!!!! and this was only SEMI....not perfect enuff.

Do u have any idea how it is to live with a perfectionist who also happens to be an engineer with precision??? Thank goodness he doesn't have OCD.......but I have and I damn can blarddy nag 9 streets long. Now we totally understand why no family members wanna stay/be with both of us. It's a disastrous combo.

essentials in Indian cuisine - clarified butter

Homemade bread/roti
I didn't know JS can make these...from scratch.....it was his first attempt

JS: "Can I borrow some of your flour?"
Monkey: "tssskkkk wat are u making? becareful!!! and don't dip ur hands into the jar, pls use a proper scoop."

as he was bz dusting the counter top, rolling a dough...
"wat are u making?"
JS: "bread...for tonite."

BREAD???? O.O as in B.R.E.A.D.

YS and Beautiful CS
since it's a Biryani dinner, everyone was supposed to turn up in Indian theme.....but epic fail. Moral of the story is....Guinea Pigs/Piranhas don't follow instructions.

caramelised onions were used generously for the Biryani. JS was having a hard time slicing dicing preparing so much of onions.

"Oh don't cry baby, I am sure my friends will love your Biryani"
JS -_-".......then T_T

Birthday Boy Brian and Sally Betty *her new nick*, she was supposed to turn up in a Betty Boo costume...but...oh well.......that nite she wanted to dig out my eyes to put back into my bitchy mouth :P

Birthday Boy looking youthful and effortlessly glorious....we need to dig.......his secrets....wat is his fountain of youth?!?!?!!?!


There wasn't much at the florist that morning....only gerberas and some miserable orchids and unopened lilies. So this was wat we got that evening....so sad...


my job was pretty simple that evening.....prepare some tomatoes salsa

cucumber raita which can be better....not intense enough bcoz I used the wrong yogurt -_-"

Mangos salsa wasn't too bad, but can be better...
anyway the star was Biryani so I didn't want to outshine Mr. JS
kekekekekekeke....
anyway no matter how hard I tried, I'll never be able to....

coz simple stuffs like this onion chutney prepared by JS was so so so awesome!!!!

OMG!!!!!
it looked so sloppy but I can concur that it was the best Lamb Biryani in Malaysia. Sorry lar I don't think u can outperform Hyderabad Biryani......hehehehehe.

the lamb melted in the mouth, with really good texture. Such intensity of spices....the basmati rice was just cooked to the right texture....silence ensued the dining hall...u know it's AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.

I wanted to give Chef a standing ovation bcoz this was only his 2nd attempt but he opened his mouth to say, it can be better!!!!
O.O wat?????? wat else do u wanna improve on? Maybe the presentation la....kakakakaka

Dr. Epicurean who came early and Monkey were holding their respective champagne glasses watching Chef JS painstakingly prepared this dish...layers after layers of rice, lamb curry, saffron milk were being assembled....before the baking process. Yea so much of work and yet both of us stood there enjoying our bubblies and commenting on the difficulty level in getting the right texture, temperature and cooking duration. Macam lah food experts...prollie Dr. Epicurean is but not Monkey.

the final presentation....opps forgot about Pappadum pics....Birthday Boy Brian bought a huge pack and were gone in a few minutes. Told ya Piranhas have got jagged teeth that chomps reallllll fast.

the royal doulton baking tray was soon emptied. So yummy :)))))))))) and everyone soon sanked back to their comfy chairs after the feeding frenzy. Inclusive of those who doesn't consume carbs....

Chicken Dopiaza then made its way to the table.....and feeding frenzy continued.
chomp chomp chomp nom nom nom

The homemade bread/roti to accompany the Chicken Dopiaza.
Most of the guests enquired for the recipe bcoz it's so simple and so yummy :))))

simple palate cleanser of Watermelon Vodka granita
very untidy "plating" coz we were rushing....esp working with "ice"
Monkey scooped, JS grated lime zest over
from the freezer straight to the tummy....hahahahahaha


Shy Chatwin and Sexay Back Maggie....congratulations on ur big tummy...
nope she's NOT pregnant....or maybe she is...with FOOD of coz!!!!
hahahahahaha

then there's more FOOD
beef for those Carnivores

Basically there's only 2 carnivores on the table
they were just passing the beef to each other all the time....
one for you, one for me, one for you one for me

still passing beef around among the 2 carnivores
:P hahahahahaha


Sally Betty said she will give face and took a piece :P

Birthday Boy Brian was so happy
I guess his fountain of youth is to stay happy alwiz no matter wat. For someone a decade older than me and to look this GOOD....is seriously RARE. All of us must learn something from Brian :)

Sally Betty, Beautiful CS, Birthday Boy Brian, Sexay Back Maggie and Monkey

Dr. Epicurean, Chef JS, Shy Chatwin, YS with Birthday Boy Brian

Then the gentlemen wanted a group pic too....or more like we forced them to!!!

Brian will alwiz be Forever 21 :))))))))))))

Since I didn't have time to learn a new cake, so here u go again - Devil's Food Choco Cake. There's more birthday coming up, I better hurry up and learn more new cakes!!!!

Karaoke session.....I promised I will practice more OK. blame it one the alcos.
They were singing Tong Hua by Michael Wong. I don't know any chinese but it's really a beautiful song.

7 bottles for 9 adults....plus 2 tiny bottles of beer.
Thank you for the wines JS and Dr. Epicurean.

Thank you Chef JS for the awesome Biryani
so so awesome, he's hosting it another round for the "registered" guinea pigs :P
now we need to think of another dinner for this group of Piranhas.

Happy Birthday Brian Boy
May your life be showered with lots of love like this alwiz :))
Hope you've enjoyed the evening as much as all of us did