Miracle of Golden Raisins and Gin to treat arthritis

It's hard to say whether you want believe this or not. But this is a natural, easy and free "remedy" which is gaining strong credentials. If you are one with arthritis pain and discomfort, there is no disadvantages of trying this remedy. Just do a search on the net and you will find many testimonials.

All you have to do is consume 7 - 9 of these specially prepared raisins and many has confirmed that it relieved them of their arthritis pain.



My mom has had arthritis for a long time. It is getting worse especially on her knees. When I told her about this remedy, she was most willing to try. It is such a simple homemade remedy, that you can start immediately.

All you need a 2 simple ingredients :
1. Gin
2. Golden Raisins ( Don't ask me whether the purple raisin works, I just follow the instructions and it requires golden raisins and I don't question when it comes to old folks remedies)



Simple Steps :
1. Fill the golden raisin into a pyrex bowl, pan or dish.

2. Cover barely to the top of the raisins with gin

3. Let it sit for 7 to 10 days until all the gin has evaporated and the raisin are fairly dry. It is fine if they’re slightly moist.

4. Storage : You can refrigerate when absorption is complete and the gin has dissipated.

Once the gin dries up, all you need to do it eat 7 - 9 pieces every single day and pray that it works! Oh yeah, don't ask me why just eat 7 - 9 pieces, I really don't know but apparently even if you eat more it will not yield better or faster results.

Honestly, there is no official research conducted regarding this special recipe. Some say the aromatic juniper oils of the gin in combination with the sulfer and antioxidants within the raisins help with inflammation. But no one claims to know for sure.

If one can make and use this raisin recipe and receive arthitis pain relief, then it surely is something to consider trying! I for one am willing to try and prayfully it works for my mom. She has started to take it but she is not diligent to eat everyday so it's time I be a discpline master and moniter her intake!!


Click here for more details on this remedy.

http://alternativehealthcommunity.com/blog/raisins-gin-arthritis/

http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/using-gin-soaked-raisin-to-help-treat-arthritis-619451.html

http://www.healthcentral.com/peoplespharmacy/408/22264.html

Minced Meat "Loh See Fun" 老鼠粉

For those who have no idea what is "Loh See Fun" I can bet you won't like the literal translation either. "Rat's tail noodle" - how can anyone name food after a rat? But hey, if we can have a much loved rat/mouse cooking Ratatouille, I guess we should be able to take a noodle named after rat's tail :).

I can only guess the origins or how the name came about. Generally a long time ago, many Chinese would name items based on what it resembles and usually it takes the forms of animals, nature etc. So I guess, "Loh See Fun" which is a form of rice noodles, had the look of a rat's tail. I have so far seen 2 types of "Loh See Fun" - the one in my pic above are short and stubby but there is also another which look like longer strands of noodles only white in colour.

I am from Seremban, a state in Malaysia and I grew up eating Loh See Fun, a very popular dish. The ones found in Seremban are the longer strands but when I moved to KL, I discovered that they served the short and stubby ones but both are as delicious. This is my first attempt in cooking it at home.

The ingredients required are simple.

1. One pack of loh See fun - this is usually readily available in all wet markets in Malaysia.
2. Minced Meat (Pork) - marinade with salt, light soya sauce & a dash of pepper
3. Vegetable - Taugeh (Bean Sprouts)- Usually not required but I decided to add some taugeh since I have some at home.
4. Minced Garlic - about 3-4 cloves.

Simple Steps :

1) Firstly, 2 tablespoon of oil in wok to stir fry the minced garlic till fragrant.

3) Add minced meat and stir fry till cooked. Add one tablespoon of dark soy sauce. This will add colour and taste to meat. Add some water to make sauce base.

4) When ready, add in the loh see fun. Actually, beforehand there is no real need to wash the noodles but I usually put the noodles in a strainer and just let tap water run through the noodles. Please do this right before you wanna cook the noodles, if not it may get soggy. Mix well to bend with the minced meat sauce. If you feel the noodles are not dark enough, just add a bit more of the dark soy sauce.



5) Last step, just add the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes. Voila, it is ready to be served.



6) There you go, a simple and easy dish of Loh See Fun or not so famously translated as "Rat's tail noodles". Let me assure you..Yummy!

Clear Fish Head Mee Hoon (simplified leftover version)

Remember that I packed back the crispy fried fish head from my meal in Oriental Pavilion Jaya 33. Seriously I am not a fan of fish head. I am so a fillet person. But for most Chinese, the fish head apparently is the best part. Something about the soft juicy meat, blah blah blah...sorry I don't get it cos I don't like bones and can't stand to chew and then having to spit out the bones.

Since there was a leftover of a crispy fish head, I came up with a brilliant idea on what to cook with the fish head. FISH HEAD MEE HOON!! I only eat fish head bee hoon outside. Never attempetd to cook it at home. Main reason since I don't eat fish head, why would I buy fish head to cook? When I eat fish head noodle outside, it is more for the soup than the fish. Yeah yeah...I am a bit weird but I like what I like, can't change now.

I had the whole crispy fish head and even some of the fillet meat leftover. So, all I need now is to make the soup base.

It's simple as always. I sliced one tomato, some preserved salty vegetable and a bit of sliced ginger. Ginger is to remove the fishy smell out of the fish. And all I did was to put these ingredient and the fish head into a pot of water and just let it boil.

Let it boil for about 15-20 mins. Once fragrant, just add a bit of salt for taste. Pour the soup over cooked mee-hoon (vermicelli), place the fillets on top and there you have it. Simple and easy clear fish head mee-hoon. Best of all I did not have to cook the fish :)

This purple thing called Brinjal

Not familiar with brinjal, well, you may know it as eggplant or aubergine.

I must confess I have never cooked brinjal in my life. Infact, I did not even eat brinjal until a few years ago. I have to thank Esquire Kitchen - a chain of restaurants in Malaysia for my discovery of how tasty this purple vegetable is.



This is the first time I cooked brinjal, and I came up with a simple recipe, imaging exactly how Esquire Kitchen would have cooked up this dish. This is my version.

Simple ingredients :-

1. Minced meat 500gm - marinade with salt, pepper, soy sauce and some corn starch.
2. Brinjals - 2 large pieces - cut in slices.
3. Others - Oil (2TBSP) Salt, Pepper, Soy Sauce, Dark Soy Sauce (all "agak-agak" (guess work) to your liking LOL - thats Chinese cooking!!)



Simple steps : -

1) In a non stick pan with a little oil, put in the brinjals flat on the surface. Let it stir-fry till slighty brown. Turn the brinjals so that all sides touch the fire. Alternatively, you can add more oil and just fry it for 1 minute and remove quickly. I usually like to do the less oil version, consoling myself it is healthier :)



Once the brinjals are cooked and slightly brown, remove and keep aside.

2) Next is the minced meat, with a little heated oil, you can start to fry some sliced shallots till fragrant, add the minced meat and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add water for it to boil with a dash of dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. When boiling, add some corn starch to thicken the sauce.

3) Then, add the brinjals in and stir-fry for 5 minutes. The brinjals will soak in all the goodness of the minced meat sauce.

That's it...ready to eat! Yum Yum! Simple and Easy!

Oriental Pavilion at PJ Seksyen 13 (Jaya 33)

I must say that the dishes in Chinese restaurants have improved tremendously from innovative presentations to the whole fusion of east meets west specialties fused with traditional Chinese dishes.

This is even more apparent when you go to slightly "more" expensive Chinese restaurants. The chefs at these restaurants definitely will have some specialty of their own.

Oriental Pavilion @ Jaya 33 is fast becoming one of the best Chinese restaurant in Petaling Jaya. They used to be located at Jaya Supermarket but moved to Jaya 33 to a much better and classy looking location. Eating there is considered a special luxury when I feel like splurging a bit on food. Just can't afford expensive Chinese food too often unless special occasions like mom's birthday.

Let me introduce 2 interesting dishes. Firstly, Deep Fried Fish with Wasabi Mayo



When I first heard of this dish, "wasabi mayo"??!!! I was rather reluctant to order as I just could not imagine wasabi, mayo and fried fish together. The restaurant's captain highly recommended the dish and what more it was on promotion (with Citibank card), I went for it!!

The dish came nicely plated. With a huge fish head fried to crispy perfection and all the fillet cut in cubes, deep fried and covered in the wasabi mayo sauce and not forgetting the cubes of honey dew mixed together for the sweet savoury taste. We were ready to dig in.

The verdict - Hmmmm... the blending of wasabi and mayo was done just right. If you don't like wasabi, it's fine, the taste is not too powering. Infact, it is done really well that you only feel the tinge of wasabi at the end of each bite without you having to pant for water. The whole fish is rather big, definitely more than enough for a group of 3-4 people. We could not finish the fish head, so we packed-back the leftovers. Check out my next post to find out what dish I came up with for the leftover deep fried fish head. :)

The second dish I found super interesting is The Ying and Yang Kailan. You may asked what happened to the leaves of the Kailan. The chef actually shredded the leaves to little strands and guess what - deep fried them and the results - wah lah!!!



You will have cripsy vege leaves at the top with crunchy vege stems blanched with special sauce. The combination - yumyum!



There are more yummylicious food at Oriental Restuarant. To me, it is one of the best "premium" restaurant in PJ. I don't mind paying the price if the food is good.
A must go during me and my mom's birthday. Mainly due to the RM50 birthday voucher that they sent me every year without fail :)


Address :
Oriental Pavilion @ Jaya 33
Lot 33, No.3,
Jalan Semangat, Seksyen 13,
46100 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.

The 4 Heavenly King - yummy!!

Is this a celebrity blog or a food blog?? :)

This dish must be told from it's origin. If you were "young" enough to know the hits from Hong Kong during the 90's, you will know the 4 Heavenly King. Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai were not only talented, they were good looking and hot!! Forgot the fact that one of them sings out of tune, they all had throng of fans at their heels and their albums sold like hot cakes.



They were so HOT! , Malaysia named a vegetable dish after them. Ok, I am not sure if it's origin is Malaysia but I know this yummy dish is a hit everytime.



It is a combination of 4 vegetables. These are the usual combinations you can choose from - long beans, lady's fingers, brinjals (okra), asparagus or snake beans, petai. As long as it is four different vegetables, you are on the right track, if not it is not the 4 Heavenly King :)

To make this yummy dish, you will still need a special HOT ingredient - Sambal Chilli. I used a combination of dried shrimp, red chillies, shallots and garlic - blended.




To make the vegetable crunchy and yummy, this is an important step. Heat oil in work and fry the vegetables for 1-2 minutes. This is to get the vegetables half cooked but yet producing the crunch before we actually cook the dish. Remember to drain the oil out of the vege first before cooking.

Then stirfry the vegetables with the sambal chilli. About 5 minutes and voila! the dish is ready!!

Sesame Seed Shandy Pork

What happens when I decided to put my "chef skills" to the test?

I wanted to put a special twist to a pork dish.

So I imagined myself as a chef of a restaurant, nothing fancy, just a normal neighbourhood Chinese restaurant. What would a chef make?

Hmmm...What about frying some bite-sized pork chops? - Sounds good!

What would I add?

Sesame seeds - hmmmm yummy yummy!! ok set.

What about mixing it with some healthy oats? I am sure that's what a restaurant chef would add, right? But that's usually for prawns, never mind!! I am sure it works on pork too :)



I am missing one special chef like ingredient!! Hmmm! Hmmm! What could it be? I need a special marinade to blend all the ingredients together.

Ah ha....I think chefs usually use beer or more often Guiness Stout for pork ribs. Let me check what I have in the house.

Ok I can only find a bottle of Shandy. That will do!! :)



All mixed together, marinade, marinade....



Frying time.......

And the results....



The taste was good but the sesame seeds and oats could not really stick to the meat. Thus presentation wise, was not as pleasing.

It's ok....it went into our stomachs pretty fast.

So much for imaging myself as a wannabe chef!

My Wannabe Hong Kong French Toast

Hong Kong French Toast. This is one of my favourite dessert. Never mind how fattening it is?!!

You only live once and once in a while, you just gotta indulge!

The real thing!!

Basically it is 2 piece of bread, with a heavy peanut butter filling, dipped in egg+milk, deep fried to perfection and top off with condensed milk and a big serving of butter.

In my usual "gung ho" experimental self, I was determined to indulge by making "the homemade version" one fine morning when I was in the States. You gotta bear in mind, it is homemade, and I definitely strived toward a healthier option - just so I feel less guilty about making and eating it. So, my wannabe Hong Kong French Toast may not look the part, BUT what matters is the taste! You gotta give me credits for effort right?!! :)

My super wannabe real thing :)

So, with the photo above, you may say it is a far cry from how an original HK French Toast, but really I just could not bring myself to deep fry the bread so I kinda just pan-fried my french toast instead. This is the one of the realities that I face when I cook at home vs eating outside - how much oil, butter, sugar, salt etc that I have to use just to make the dishes taste and look great. So honestly, sometimes I rather just eat outside, so I don't have to feel guilty preparing the dish at home.

How to make my homemade version of my wannabe Hong Kong French Toast. I could not find any recipe on google, so this is how I interpreted the way to make it.

Simple ingredients :
Slices of bread (4-6) - tips - please use day old bread vs fresh bread.
Eggs - (2-3)
Milk - 1 cup
Butter - as much you desire
Peanut butter (for bread filling)
Condensed Milk (to drip over the bread)

As usual, my creativity got the better of me so I made a new edition too - French Toast with Ham and Cheese for the filling.

How to make? Ready....here goes!


Firstly, mix the milk and eggs together. Add some sugar if you want a little sweet taste. Mix well and keep aside.


Next for the bread...fill up the bread with peanut butter and butter for the Hong Kong French Toast.

For the Cheese and Ham French Toast, just place a slide of cheese and ham on the other bread.


Next is just to soak the bread in your earlier mixture of egg and milk. This is the reason why you have to use day old bread cos if the bread is fresh and soft, the bread will be soggy really fast when you soak in the egg+milk mixture. So best to use, bread that is a little hard.


The real way of making Hong Kong French Toast is to deep fry the whole bread in oil. Like I said, I just could not imagine myself doing it. I could feel my body growing 2 inches everywhere just thinking about it. So, I opted for "hopefully in my mind" a healthier option - just pan fry with a small amount of butter.

Ok, fire up on moderate.... butter in the pan.

Bread toast on to the pan. Flip both sides.


Voila, it's ready! Hmmm yum....the cheese was just melting, the bread is just right with the mixture of egg and milk. yum yum yum!

As for my Hong Kong French Toast...I must say I am proud of my effort. It may not look the part (compare above and below picture) but what's important is that it does taste the part ...err a bit la and I console myself that I made a healthier option, less oil, less butter, less condensed milk version!

I will leave the superb looking version to the restaurants. I feel less guilty, just munching it down versus making it myself.

For the home-made version, I am contented with my own "Wannabe Hong Kong French Toast".