Saturday, January 21, 2012 by
Colin Woon
, under
Dessert,
Food
Chinese New Year is almost here.
Being away from our family, one way to create Chinese New Year atmosphere here beside gathering with friends is to bake some Chinese New Year delicacy, pineapple tart (or roll) that is. It is one of the many wonderful Chinese New Year food in Malaysia.
Required main ingredient, plenty of them.
A wonderful wife is also required.
Enlist some girls power.
Plenty of girls power are needed.
Many hours in the making. The results are simply delicious.
Though we don't have many pieces to go around, hanging out with a bunch of good friends on a Saturday afternoon are definitely worth it.
Happy Chinese New Year to all!
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Sunday, August 30, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Home
Who do you think is the happiest when my wife finally find time in her busy schedule to bake? ME!
Orange Chiffon cake fresh out of the oven...I was drooling as I was taking this photo.
Exactly how do you make a Chiffon cake look pretty in a photo? I have no idea. Honestly, it doesn't matter as long as it taste GREAT!
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Monday, July 20, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Houston
A lot of "zy" and "sy" had kept me away from blogosphere in the past weeks or so. You know the "zy" and "sy" right? Yes, it's lazy and busy...hehehe...
Anyhoo, I think I'm back or at least until I'm summoned to save the world again...(yeah right, keep dreaming Colin)...
Since I don't have time to mess with any photos I have taken recently, here are some taken many moons ago which I conveniently forgot to post, as usual...
We were told about this good deal at Pappadeaux (pronounced papa-dough) Seafood Restaurant. Didn't take us long to get there. By the way, these deals were over months ago, hopefully it will come back next year.
$3.95/lb of crawfish includes corn and potatoes. Crawfish also known as mudbugs, crawdads, crayfish, yabbies...depending on where you live. I think they call it "little lobster" in China. The meat is a little bit rough and tough compare to shrimp meat, though not as tasty as shrimp, it's still very good. Crawfish are usually boil with many spices with potatoes and corn. If I recall correctly, we consumed 4 lb of this spicy crustaceans that night.
$3.95 for a dozen of oyster. Need I say more? A very satisfactory meal at a very good price indeed. A little note to self about this photo, next time take the time to turn the oyster(the one in the middle) around to show the meat, a photo of the shell is not interesting to look at. Another case of "I'm too hungry, lets hurry up and put the camera away..."...*sigh*...
Last 2 photos of the crawfish and oyster were taken with a Sigma 10-20mm lens on loan from my boss. I think this lens perform well, the edges is a bit soft(due to distortion) but I think that's common with most wide angle lens. I didn't keep the lens for long so I didn't get some wide angle outdoor shot which should be pretty cool. Do I need a lens like this? YES, I DO! Anybody interested in donating to this good cause, please email me...hehehe...
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Houston
Want fresh and good sushi, go to Edojin Sushi Restaurant! Yup, a little free advertising for our friends, Cheryl & John, who just opened up their 1st sushi restaurant over the weekend. Seriously, the lunch we had there was awesome! The salmon sashimi was so fresh, its sweet! The escolar sushi, Ooo...la...la...delicious!
Other than sushi, they serve other awesome Japanese dishes and bento sets too. Not far from Houston, definitely worth your time if you like sushi and Japanese food or just simply because you like good food. By the way, mentioning my name won't earn you any discount, free edamame maybe but that's the current promotion they're having anyway hahaha...
Edojin Sushi Restaurant - http://www.edojinsushi.com/12344 Barker Cypress Rd.
Cypress TX 77429View Larger Map
Should have use a higher aperture value to have the whole logo in focus. Too late now but lesson learned.
Our typical order in any sushi restaurant - spicy chopped scallop, salmon sashimi, super white tuna(escolar) sushi, fresh water eel (unagi) sushi. By the way, we ate much more than these that day but I just didn't have good photos of them, I know, I know, bad photographer.
Sushi chef and owner, John.
Couple Power - Cheryl & John.
Men at work.
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Friday, May 15, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Home
When Faye is not on the internet browsing for recipes on others blogs/food website, she's in the kitchen cooking/baking. Most of the time the outcome is something as awesome and delicious as this...
Before...
...and after. I was too eager to dive in so I didn't take a good photo of the 1 ton soup. You know how it looks, just use your imagination...
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Last week was a hectic one for me. Job dateline has kept me up late a few nights. I can barely keep my eyes open by Friday night. Past out for 10 hours and woke up to this sweetness!
Yes, it's a simple breakfast but the effort and results definitely put a big smile on my face! I'm a lucky man!
To my wife - Thank you sweetie! You're the best!
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Monday, April 20, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Home
We have this dish for dinner probably once a week. I called it my detox meal - the fiber will cleanse my system of all the junk I stuff in my mouth everyday, or so I hope it will.
Faye called it the quick and easy meal when she don't have time to cook or when she ran out of idea what to cook.
Romaine lettuce, baby spinach, strawberry, kiwi, mandarin orange, pumpkin seed, pecan, walnut, cranberry, and raisin - yup, it's loaded!
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Our last meal in Taipei before we head for Malaysia was in Jiu Ru Restaurant on the 4th floor of Taipei 101 Mall with my god parents and their daughter.
Don't ask me the name of these dishes because I have no idea...well...I was too busy stuffing it into my stomach hahaha... All I remember is that the food was well prepared, tasty and I was really really full after dinner.
Some food photo tips below if you are interested.
This Taiwan trip could easily qualified as the most food photos I have ever taken during a trip. It all started as an assignment to document the foods I had there for my food loving wife, who couldn't join me on this trip. Then it evolved into an obsession to capture tasty food for my own reference!
Anyway, here are few things I learned while taking food photos at restaurant:
Never Use Flash - Primary reason is due to the fact that most flash will render the photo too harsh to look pleasant. Secondary reason, it will annoy other patrons in the restaurant and why would you want that?
Use Higher ISO Setting - Use high ISO to compensate for low light condition and to prevent motion blur. Yes, high ISO will introduce noise to the photo, but these photos are not for print anyway, for me at least. Of course choose the ISO level where the noise level is acceptable based on your camera. I have used ISO as high as 1600 for some of these food photos because setting up a tripod in a restaurant is impractical and it will also invite some curious and uncomfortable stare. Btw, don't forget to brace your arm against the table to reduce motion blur.
Use Exposure Compensation - This may apply to my camera model only, Canon XTi(400D), or it could apply to all camera type. Seems to me a lot of my indoor shot were underexposed, especially when the image has a lot of white in it. My theory is that the camera is trying to achieve 18% Grey normal exposure, to achieve that for a white subject(like plate or dish) is to underexposed it. So don't be afraid to increase exposure to correct that. Both point&shoot and DSLR have this feature.
Use Rule of Third - Use it to make the photo a little more interesting but don't be afraid to break the rules too.
Does any of this make any sense? If not, please let me know. Of course I'm not a professional so take these tips with a grain of salt. Have fun!
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Saturday, April 11, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Travel
Yup, yet another Taiwan food post! I think there's one more after this to complete my "Chown Down in Taiwan" series, almost done... Yes, I know I'm slow at this blogging thing.
My god mother insist that we should go to "Din Tai Fung" even though I told her I have tried it in Singapore. Let just say I'm glad she insisted, the original in Taipei was better. Even their services were much better than the one in Singapore.
And I just realized that "Din Tai Fung" has restaurant in quite a number of countries - Taiwan, Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, US, Malaysia, and Australia...Wow!
The infamous steamed green vegetable and pork dumplings.
Green vegetable and pork wonton soup.
Glass noodle soup with fried bean curd and pork rolls.
Pork Chop Fried Rice.
Steamed Red Bean Rice Cake.
They even have one of this thing to cover your bags - my camera bag in this case. My jacket which was hung on the chair was also covered! That's a first for me to experience this kind of service...maybe I should go out more often...
My favorite is of course their steamed dumpling. I like their pork chop fried rice too. Which one do you like?
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Monday, March 30, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Travel
I don't know what is the name of this restaurant but I do know it is in a fish farm in Yilan City, Taiwan, which is the location of my 2nd meal stop in Taiwan.
Ya, I'm horrible at food blogging. Anyway, here are some photos to substitute the missing words, pictures are worth a thousand words, right?
Shrimp salad to start. The salad dressing is sweet with a hint of lemon, maybe.
I was told this is 香鱼, a quick search on Google reveal that this is called Sweetfish or Ayu in English. This fish was fried and then cook with some Chinese herb, a very interestingly flavored yet delicious dish. Sweetfish comes with all set lunches here, it's their pride product.
Some juicy and tender pork ribs as the main course.
A meal is not complete without dessert - red bean soup with glutinous rice balls plus a cup of super black coffee(no picture of coffee, too eager to start eating).
To top it all off, this is the view from the restaurant. This little park is maintained by the restaurant/fish farm owner. They sure knows how to create a great atmosphere to go with the good food. Serenity now!
The not so pretty fish farm in front of the restaurant. This is what greets us when we approach the restaurant. Who would have thought they have great food with a great view at the back. Sweetfish(香鱼) is the primary product here, most of them are destined for Japan once it's readied.
A little food souvenir(that will end up in my stomach) before we leave Yilan City - Yilan Cookies(or biscuits for those living in England).
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Friday, March 27, 2009 by
Colin Woon
, under
Food,
Travel
My mom and I stayed in Taipei for a few days to visit my god parents on our way to Malaysia last January. Unfortunately Faye couldn't join us in Taipei due to the "minor incident" we had in Los Angeles, so I promised her I will document all the food I had there so she could enjoy it, visually, at least.
The first meal I had in Taiwan was breakfast. I'm all for local food, mostly because it's authentic and it's usually good. I have no idea what it is call in English, some call it "sesame seed cake and fried bread stick", Google translate it as "deep-fried dough sticks shaobing". For all I care, it's call 烧饼油条 and it is GOOOOOD!
This thing is light, crunchy, flaky, most of all it's delicious! Pair it up with some warm soybean milk...*speechless*... And I thought the fried bread stick and soybean milk in Houston was quite good, man, was I wrong! This is da best 烧饼油条 I have ever tasted, EVER!
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This is the last dish out of our home kitchen in 2008 - Scallops Wrapped in Bacon. Incredibly unhealthy(bacon = fat) yet unbelievably delicious(fat = yummy)! Patiently prepared by Faye and Yee. Hopefully 2009 will motivate both of them to create more delicious food!
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Last weekend, LK & JP's son, Benjamin and my brother's son, Ray, turn 1 year old! Wow! Time flies, felt like they were born yesterday.
Too bad I'm not in Malaysia to take photos of Ray, it would have been fun!
Serious birthday boy, Benjamin! He has the CEO stare in this shot doesn't he? He always has that serious look but ready to crack a huge smile whenever you play with him.
Yes, I can write love! Janine wrote this wonderful birthday card to her baby brother. One thing I learn from taking photos of Janine is that whenever I let her view the photos I took of her, she will let me take more, sometime she'll even post for me. Not sure if this will work with other kids but it's sure worth a try.
Food galore AGAIN! When there's celebration, there will be good food! We have to fulfill our responsibility to eat, to help the eco-system, hehe... Joo Pheng is a good cook, she prepared most of the food here, she's just amazing! Joanne brought some really good food too. I don't mind wonderful feast like this every weekend!
The only contribution from our house, tiramisu made by Faye and Yee. As always, my only contribution is to enjoy this wonderful creation, ha!
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