Burger at Soul Sweet

There are not many shops selling burgers in this small town.  We go to try out the burger at Soul Sweet.  I am not sure whether it is a chain store or franchise but that is not important to me.  The more important is its taste and its price.

We are so surprised that no matter its smell, its appearance and its colour, it is not worse than branded burger!    The sesame on top is not like other burgers that only appear a few seeds on top.

There are few layers in between and hence the whole burger is thick and attractive.  Of course, I am comparing it with those burgers with only a piece of meat, a piece of lettuce and some mayonnaise which form a thin burger.    

Apart from the appearance, it is so delicious that we will go to dine-in again.  This has become another form of encouragement for the kids to study harder (and smarter) and to 'redeem' this as a reward.  Oh yes, the price of the burger is RM3.80 each.  

I personally like the taste of the coffee frappuccino there too.  The only regret is insufficient of cream on top.

It is a pleasant afternoon break and we plan to go again soon.

饯行

许久没有整理照片了。今天一开始要整理，便看到这些不禁令我想起去年五月的相片。

话说续上一次的‘高档日本餐’后，友人不死心。一定要在我离开前品尝到好吃的日本料理以当作饯行。“又是日本料理？”这是我第一反应，虽然我也爱吃日本料理。只不过被上一次的经验吓到了。这次我们是在周末的午餐时间来到热闹的购物中心里，提早吃午餐，避免人潮。

这次我们点的食物都很满意，价钱也较上一回合理。如今想起来还回味无穷。

我们打算日式午餐后再到附近吃西式茶点。说到做到。但午餐后确实饱了肚子，便到处逛。然后又来到另一家店吃。这一天出来的主要任务便是吃！

这下也是朋友带我见识一番。端上来的红茶，有罩垫罩着茶壶以保温。红茶配上蛋糕，只是用眼睛‘吃’这种气氛已经爽呆了！以前只有在电视或杂志上看过，不曾亲身体会。

友人说，闻红茶的清香，喝不加糖的红茶，配上甜的蛋糕才不至于太腻。嗯，对哦！真的搭配得恰到好处。

如今就只有看照片回味的份了。

下午茶 (1)

一个晴天的星期二下午，出去买些东西却找不到我要的，白跑一趟。肚子有点饿了，让我在附近物色一下吃的吧！

好，沿着这道路，见到有不少车停泊在那看似路边住家，却有卖吃喝的，我也来一试。若不熟悉这里，大概会经过它而没察觉，因为我也几乎错过那入口。不过提起它的店名，恐怕算是在本地远近驰名的。

这里没有冷气设备，只有风扇和自然风。炎热的天气，还算舒服的。 我点了茶点，找了座位后环顾四周，多是叔叔伯伯老板型的顾客在享用下午茶和聊天，大概也同时在谈生意吧！

蛋挞还有余温；面包则没有，却看起来不错。

下午茶当然少不了饮料。这二人份的饮食共RM5。

食物被端上来了。虽没有大城市里名牌连锁店的精致杯碟的搭配，却有小镇朴实的味道。付了钱后便开动了。松软的面包，好香呢。我不能想像若是刚出炉而温热时，香气会是多引人垂涎三尺呢？正想着，我见到一名女侍者提着两袋圆圆的面包递给邻桌的叔叔，大概近二十个外带的面包。我再次猜测，这里的面包该是名不虚传吧？

Red Bean Bun

My friend loves the red bean bun from a bakery in this town. She recommends that it is not too sweet and just nice. She definitely buys it when she comes for holiday. Well, I finally have a chance to buy it from the shop for my breakfast today.

Oh my goodness! Look! There is a big hole inside with little red bean paste. It has too much empty space inside the bun. I try the second bun, it is the same. I'm not sure whether it is due to cut cost nowadays as my friend recommended me one year ago.

高档拉面？

我平日什少在外吃晚餐。友人的工作是週末较忙，因此我们那天约好在一个工作日晚上吃一顿。听说某间餐馆的食物不错，于是我们便走过去。门外已有很多人在排队。如果是週末，岂不更多人！我们通常遇到这种情形都会掉头走去找其它地方。不过这次我们有的是时间，反正也还不饿，就跟着排队好了。

排到门口时闻到了一些香味，我们猜测花时间等这一餐，大概值得吧！我们等了35分钟才有位子。肚子也开始饿了。很快我们点了两碗菜单上註明受欢迎的拉面，及一碟莲藕片。

餐馆里大概容纳50人。灯光微暗，播放着吵杂的音乐，夹杂顾客们的声音。友人很快觉得闷热，猜想着餐馆在省电，所以感觉不到冷气的凉意。而我则认为这样可以让客人尽快吃了就走，不占位子太久。

食物很快端来了。第一口莲藕片实在太咸了！也许上面太多盐巴。于是我们试下面的另一片，一样是那么咸，我们开始失望了。拉面更有趣。汤头上有很多葱粒，面条不多，两片薄猪肉片，两小片木耳及少许萝卜丝。除了汤的味道还可以之外，其余的都很普通，实在与‘高尚‘的价格不对称。

我们吃得汗流浃背，也不多说，只想尽快吃了离开。出来后，我们都不约而同的摇头，失望之余，也认定不要再来吃了。当时还有很多人在排队等位子呢！尔后我们便去另一个地方找甜品边吃边聊天。

这次的经验教训我，不要以为很多人排队等就必定有‘好康’。别人说不错的食物，也未必普遍上被认同的。

甜点"牛屎挞"

我从小就很常吃到这种俗称‘牛屎挞’或‘牛屎塔’的甜点了。虽然名称不雅，却不会令人听得倒胃。在店里它有着'cream tart'的标签。以前的造型是上面的甜奶油向上捲，顶端呈尖形，正像我家外面不时看到的牛屎状。下面那层饼，有类似蛋糕边缘或面包之间的口感。

我还以为这是很普遍的呢，直到我离开家乡才知道外面找不到这种甜点。

我曾经突然好想吃它，跑到我家附近的西饼店问。老板娘亲自烘培糕饼卖，为人友善。她在尝试自己的新糕点，还叫我品尝给意见。这下她被我问得很好奇，还说希望见识一下。
有一回友人带了一些'牛屎挞'过来给我，我便拿了一个给这位西饼店老板娘。期望她吃过也能做出来，那我以后便很容易买得到。不过，她靦腆地撕一小口吃，然后问我拿'牛屎挞'的食谱。我当然没有啦。

话说会偶尔想起'牛屎挞'的游子肯定不止我。有一次认识了一位大哥哥，竟然也谈起'牛屎挞'！ 他印象中，只有最老招牌的那家做得最好吃。而我，已不知哪家是老字号了，我什至还担心好吃的'牛屎挞'会失传吗？

大阪快餐之感想

在大阪旅行时，头一天微微细雨。我们很早用晚餐。当天晚上逛书局，逛到打烊了才捨得离开。回到酒店时已经晚上十点多了，很饿。于是我们撑着伞到酒店后面不远处的快餐店来个夜宵。

话说这间快餐店在新马也有很多分行，可我从没光顾过。 我平日吃的都比较清淡，而这快餐店在新马的分行大多以煎炸食物为主，所以曾经踏步进去看了菜单就离开了。然而这次在大阪的确第一次光顾，竟然有非煎炸食物，所以很开心的在此点了猪肉饭裹腹。

看似家常便饭，热腾腾的饭菜在即饿又累的情况下特别美味。隔天晚餐我们还特地回去点同一个饭。

事隔三个月，偶然在超市买了超薄猪肉片回来。原本是农历新年火锅材料之一，结果想起了大阪那一顿饭，所以就试着煮洋葱猪肉薄片饭。原来不会太难，也可以在家做到。把大洋葱切成长细条状放进油锅里炒一会，然后加入切好的薄片猪肉炒。即将熟时加入适量盐，蚝油，黍米粉掺好的水，份量依个人喜欢。把这些肉和大洋葱铺在一碗饭上，再加上它的汁，看起来还似模似样呢！味道还挺不错。虽然味道不是百份百，也许是环境和气氛的因素吧！

其实，简单的家常饭菜都很好，可惜很多新马的快餐店都把它们忽略了。

Tarap

Tarap is one of my favourite fruits since I was a little kid. It is a kind of seasonal fruit and we can normally buy it around mid-autumn festival, which is around September. When the season starts or ends, they are normally sour and not sweet enough.

I did not realise it is not a common fruit even within the same country. One day, we had our language class that we learnt different kind of fruits. My teacher was from another state of the country. She asked us take turn to tell a kind of fruit but we cannot repeat the same fruit that a classmate had mentioned. We started with apple, orange, grape until almost all kind of fruits that we known had been mentioned. One of my classmate brain storming and could not tell a fruit that never been mentioned. Suddenly, he can tell loudly ‘Tarap!’ We all clapped our hands and happy for him. Yet, our teacher did not accept this answer because she never heard of it. We all knew it and tried to convinced our teacher. Finally teacher asked us “Well, how to spell ‘Tarap’?” We all kept silent because none of us knew how to write it but we like to eat it.

After I left my hometown for so many years, I missed the tarap season every year. The only thing is I still can hear it over the phone every year from my family: ‘I just had my tarap and it is so nice, but unfortunately you can’t smell it. If you come back now, you can enjoy it as there are a lot here for free.’

When I started to play around with blog creation and deciding on a blogger name, I received the similar call. I was told nowadays its season not punctual anymore due to the global environment change.

I miss tarap again, just let me name my blog with my favourite sweet tarap although I am not going to talk about tarap in my blog continuously.