Japan Osaka June 2014 Trip (Nara-second day)

The conference starts early. There are city buses that we can take from hotel to the conference venue. 

Above pictures are the venue of my conference. Yes, it's beautiful. A lot of deer are around the area. During break and lunch time, we can actually walk around the park and take picture with deer.:) 

Everyday they provide our lunch. It's a bento box lunch, which is not really good. 

So, for dinner we usually try to find better food. At that time, I found this machine is interesting. We ordered our food from the machine which is placed outside the restaurant, then we get in to the restaurant. But, I believe, we have this also now in Singapore.

Pandan Cake

Making Two pans of 6" cake

Ingredients:

133g cake flour

½ tsp salt

 

6 egg yolks

48g fresh milk

72g vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pandan flavored

 

6 egg white

72g caster sugar

½ tsp corn flour

Procedure:

1. Beat egg yolks and fresh milk

2. Add vegetable oil, salt and pandan flavored paste

3. Sieve flour and mix with the egg yolk mixture. Preheat oven to 170 celcius. 

4. Beat egg white, sugar and corn flour using electric handmixer until it is hard and stiff. 

5. Fold in 1/3 of the egg white to egg yolk mixture. Fold in the rest of egg white.

6. Pour half mixture to each pan. 

7. Place both pan on a bigger tray, and add hot water. Steam baked the cake in the oven for 30 minutes, then another 30 minutes at 150 celcius. 

Buttercream:

4 egg white

100g sugar

A pinch of salt

Few drop of green pandan flavored paste

200g butter

Combine egg white and sugar in a heatproof bowl, and place it over a pan of simmering water. Beat the egg white, until sugar dissolves and stiff peaks (temperature about 60 celcius). 

Let the egg white's temperature reaches at about 30-35 celcius then add in butter cube gradually. Beat until the mixture is well incorporated. Add salt and pandan flavored. 

 

2017 Taiwan Trip (3rd day) - Kaohsiung

I bought high speed train to Kaohsiung in advance. It costs around 120 SGD perperson for a return ticket Taipei-Kaohsiung-Taipei (with 20% discount). If you plan to go there, you should book your ticket in advance so that you can get the discount price. You need to print out the booking reference and go to the train station to get your tickets. If you have time, do it a day before your departure date, so that you don't need to rush on the day.

Our train was scheduled at 7:46 in the morning. We had our breakfast packed from hotel. Oh yeah, by the way, we stayed at Hotel Relax II. Luckily the hotel people agreed to do that for us. It's a thick sandwich (egg, bacon, veggies) with orange juice. Yummy...

The hotel has 3 branches: Hotel Relax I, II, III, and V. I, II and III are quite close to each other. It's a boutique hotel. During the say, everyday we are able to get a lucky dip. I was lucky to get a face mask on the first day.:D

We reached Zuoying high speed train station at 9:45 am. Yes, it's still early. There is public buses and few private company buses outside the station to Fo Guang Shan temple. You can go to this link to find out more about the transportation. The bus fare ranges from 70-100 NTD. We were waiting for bus, and suddenly one taxi driver came and approached us. He offered to bring us there if he can find 5 more people. Each of us will need to pay him 100 NTD. Coincidentally, there are 4 Thai people there, but they did not speak Chinese fluently. The same taxi guy also asked them if they are willing to join in the taxi. I had to translate to them, and they agreed. So, it's left one more person before we can depart. Luckily, the driver was quite nice, he only waited for few minutes and after asking few more people, but nobody is going to the same direction, he decided to go.:D

It took us about 30-40 minutes to reach Fo Guang Shan. The taxi driver dropped us at Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Centre.

Below are few pictures that we took at Fo Guang San.    

There is a vegetarian buffet lunch served at second floor. Each of us only paid for 100 NTD for the meal. It's a very simple buffet lunch. They didn't allow me to take picture of their food.:p

We then walked to the Monastery. The distance is not very near, and it's going uphill. It was a good exercise for us that day. Luckily the weather in Kaohsiung is good on the day.

I got tired after that walk, and we didn't walk around the monastery, It's really huge. They have library, dining hall, classroom, etc. While resting at one place, we saw one uncle driving people around in his shuttle car. He asked us if we want to join, we just need to get a ticket later on the way down, and it cost 20 NTD per person. I think the uncle can sense that i was so exhausted. LOL. I straight away said YES. Using the ticket, we could actually ride on any shuttle car in Fo Guang Shan. There is also a shuttle that will bring us back to the memorial hall. Yeay.....

We decided to leave early, at around 3:30 pm. We took public bus back to Zuoying station. Our return train ticket is scheduled for 18:35. It's still early, and I thought we can change our ticket to board on earlier train. I asked the officer, and unfortunately, our tickets can't be changed since it's discounted ticket, unless we are willing to pay for the full fare, then yes we can change the timing. OOf course we chose to walk around the area and wait until 18:35.:D

We reached Taipei at around 20:33, then directly headed to Ningxia night market. It was cold and windy in Taipei. We walked from Zhongshan station to ningxia. We packed oyster misua, rurou fan, and glutinous rice ball. 

I was too tired, and suggested for getting taxi to get back to hotel. But, guess what? The taxi driver dropped us at the wrong place, and eventually we have to walk for about 10-15 minutes to reach our hotel. Oh well.... 

(Oyster Misua)

(Rurou Fan/Minced pork rice)

(Glutinous rice ball with peanuts and black sesame)

Super Easy Martabak/Indonesian Pancake Recipe

A
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

B
5 tablespoon bread flour or all purpose flour
1 tablespoon corn flour

180 ml Water

1. Add enough water to dissolve ingredients A (about 3-5 tablespoon)
2. Add one egg, and mix well (just use hand mixer)
3. Add B in to previous mixture
4. Add enough water (about 180 ml), can add more if the mixture is too thick
5. Mix well, until no more lump of flour.
6. Place it in refrigerator for use the next day.

Fillings:
1. 1-2 Tablespoon Butter
2. Chocolate Sprinkles (Ceres)
3. Cheese (Optional)
4. Coarse Ground Peanuts
5. Sesame seed (optional)
6. 1 tablespoon condensed milk

Next Day,
1. Preheat pan. I used a nonstick korean brand pan. This pan is made from Marble. I found this type of pan is the best type that I can use in Singapore. Since it's made from Marble, the bottom of the pan is evenly heated (which is a key to get a good Martabak). When you start to see holes, put in some sugar on top, and close the pan with lid. Let it cook for a few minutes.

(When you see something like this, add sugar and close with lid)

2. When the surface is almost dried, off the heat, you can spread with 1-2 tablespoon of butter. Add chocolate sprinkles, coarse ground peanuts, sesame seed, and 1 tablespoon of condensed milk. Fold and cut into pieces. You may spread some butter on the skin as well.