Lifesecretspice | Travel • Food • Events • Musings

Eating at home with loved ones for this month of Ramadan  is the norm for this year especially during Lockdown of Movement Control of year 2020. We can still share a delightful flavourful feast of chicken from KRR ( Kenny Roger Roasters) by just ordering online. There are a range of wholesome KRR meals to choose from including the Raikan Ramandhan meals with specially curated portions which can be ordered with delivery partners such as GrabFood, foodpanda, DeliverEat.my and Hungry百家外卖.

For this festive season, KRR introduces a new campaign of Rasa Ayam Hey, drawing from the inspiration of Malaysian Traditional folk song "Rasa Sayang, hey" . There are a variety of Ayam Nyior Pedas starting from 1 May 2020 onwards, just in time for Hari Raya celebrations. 'Nyior' is a northern Malay word for coconut, thus this latest KRR's signature rotisserie chicken is specially marinated with rich creamy coconut including aromartic herbs and spices, and a burst of topping tangy yet robust spicy gravy. It is indeed a satisfying meal when eaten with KRR's special Riang Ria Muffin, a pandan-flavour muffin filled with shredded coconut and golden brown sugar. 

Ayam Nyior Pedas selections that are available are as follows:

Ayam Nyior Pedas Family Feast

For those who prefer juices, you can opt for a refreshing drink made with sparkling lemonade, grapefruits, juicy lychees and Sprite, called Pink Laici (RM9.90 with any purchase of Ayam Nyior Pedas – normal price: RM11.50).

Oh ya, will receive the limited edition KRR sampul Raya (Raya packets) (while stocks last), for a minimum of RM50 with the KRR Card in the restaurant or order online through GrabFood and foodpanda starting from 1st May 2020 onwards .

 For KRR members who reload or activate or reload a minimum of RM100 in their KRR Card will get to enjoy a complimentary Kenny’s Nasi Lemak Solo. Members will also receive a surprise birthday gift if you dine with us during your birthday month!   

Here we are, we all can share this flavourful KRR (Kenny Rogers Roasters Sdn Bhd) feast with loved ones from the comforts of our home during this lockdown and do not have to worry about what to cook once in a while!

Stay up to date with Kenny Rogers ROASTERS’ operating hours during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period by visiting www.bit.ly/KRROperatingHours. Log on to www.krr.com.my, connect to www.facebook.com/krrmalaysia or contact 03-2119 9888 for any queries. 

Okinawa, Japan, is a beautiful place to visit. A superb destination for cultural and historical attractions, including beautiful nature with perfect beaches. Palaces, temples, shrines and villages of the old Ryukyu kingdom are a great source for exploration. Okinawa is also the birth place for Karate! But to me, although traveling is great, food is always the integral part of my exploration in my travels. 

Different cultures bring on many diverse cuisines that are the source of fascination to me too. After travelling, I would normally be excited to try out my own innovation of the food that I have tasted during my travels. Moreover, Japanese cuisines are very interesting because Japanese are able to live to a ripe old age! What's their secret? Well, maybe I need to go Japan more often to uncover some secrets from them. 

Recently, it is the best time of the year to try out recipes and do a lot of cooking as now it is Covid-19 pandemic and we are at Lockdown. Staying home to stay safe, I took this opportunity to innovate a Okinawa dish. Lockdown and Movement Control in my hometown also means it is rather difficult for me to go out buying groceries and vegetables as my local supermarket limits each customer half an hour only for shopping. Thus I would say, for this recipe, you can just put whatever vegetables available. Likewise, either adding extra vegetables or one or two types less is OK too. Even for meat, you can use any type of minced meat, be it chicken, pork or beef .

My Okinawa Dish

(a healthy dish that can be eaten just like this or with hot steaming white rice)

Ingredients:

(For 2 portions)

1. One small carrot - sliced

2. Four (4 ) stalks of Long Beans - cut

3. One cup sliced Cabbage 

4. Two (2 )stalks of Spring Onions sliced

  

6. Two cloves of garlic- chopped

7. Minced meat (pork, chicken or beef) - 200g

8. Whole eggs - 2 

9. Cheddar cheese - 2 slices

Method:

1. Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil, add garlic and saute until fragrant.

2. Put in the minced meat, fry until fully cooked. 

3. Add half teaspoon salt, pepper and light soya sauce to taste. 

4. Put in sliced carrot, cabbage and long beans, fry for a while and add 2 Tablespoon of water if its too dry or your wok is too hot. 

 5. Take half out and leave the other half in pan.

6. Lettuce do not need much cooking. So, after you put in lettuce (half portion), just stir a while.  Lower the heat, make a hole in the center. 

7. Break an egg into the center. 

8. Sprinkle spring onions around ontop of the vegetables. I did this because I prefer to heat up most vegetables especially during this Covid-19 time where it is necessary to cook food to kill virus. 

9. Place sliced cheddar cheese around on top of the vegetables.

10. Cover and let the cheese melt a little and the egg cooked nicely with runny yolk.

11. Dish out and serve. Repeat steps 6-10 for another portion. 

Enjoy!

How interesting to see dog sniffing out truffles! It was a fascinating experience during my travel to Greece last year. Truffle hunting and lunch was a guided tour from Meterora Truffle Hunting, Greece, an inclusive tour that was booked by my local tour company. 

Truffle is the most expensive mushroom in the world. In Italy, it was also called "Black Diamond". A delicacy and added to food and desserts to enchance the taste. Well, only a little bit was added only as it was so expensive!

This is the raw truffle, part of it bitten by dog.

Washed truffle ready to cook.

Pasta was cooked in a big pot with other types of mushrooms

Assorted types of mushrooms

Truffle was added last after the pasta was cooked

Here's a video of this fascinating experience:

A truly interesting and fascinating experience of truffle hunting in Meteora, Greece.
Note: This is not a sponsored post. For more info, there is this website: Meteora Truffle Hunting with Lunch

Stay Home, Stay at Home, Stay Safe.  Yes, during these Lockdown time, we have to keep ourselves occupied. So I would suggest reading books, or do things together as a family such as playing games , or watching movies and dramas. Infact, I have actually started to binge on Chinese Dramas and Korean Dramas during this Lockdown period. 

   As an old fashioned lady, I am a sucker for love stories. But of course the plot and flow of the story has to be reasonable and with some sense of logic. I also judge a drama by the impact it had on a viewer after watching it and how long the impact lasts. 

I watch a lot of historical and palace dramas too. But I do not like the normal usual emperors and palace stories where there are lots of concubines scheming and plot against each other for the emperor's favor.
Chinese dramas are available free from a number of sites such as Dramalist.com, Kissasian.sh, Drama3s.me, Viki.com and others

Wang Yibo as Lan Wangji and Xian Zhan as Wei Wuxian 

A love triangle story that touches the heart with sacrifices, manipulation and scheming. This is a 60 episode series premiered on Jiangsu TV from 2 August 2018. Ashes of Love is based on the novel Heavy Sweetness, Ash-like Frost by writer Dian Xian. 

The story revolves in the Heaven Realm and also the mortal human realm.  Jinmi is a sweet innocent young girl, sheltered and protected by the Flower realm in Heaven and brought up as a Frost Flower Fairy. I love to watch her sweet smile, innocent youthful nature speaking up for honesty and truth. She does not know what is love as she was given the 'perishing pill' when she was born, thus causing confusion between her and Xufeng, protrayed by Deng Lun (鄧倫) the Phoenix Deity and also Runyu (潤玉), night god played by Luo Yunxi (羅雲熙)   I am all praises for Yang Zi, she did a very good protrayal of Jinmi. As the show progress, Jinmi has grown from a sweet naive young girl into a mature understanding lady after going through much hardship of loss of loved ones, mistakes, guilt and hardship. 

  

This 60 episode is rather long with many love triangles, and jealousy and manipulation where Jinmi killed Xufeng and then later tries to bring him back to life. But will Xufeng still love her? I do get emotional at a few episodes. How will their life turn out? Do not miss the last episode! Anyway it is an ending I am happy with although a bit rushed. Well this Ashes of Love is so good that there is talk of a sequel of Season 2. 

 Rating: 8.5/10

3. Love 020 -微微一笑很倾城


I do not fancy much about young modern love stories as most are on love triangles and the shooting is done around just a handful of people. The storyline is mostly very predictable story and so does the endings. Having heard so much about this romantic comedy Love 020, I decided to give it a try. I give it a thumbs up as there are a number good values inculcated, such as friendship, relationship with family, a student's time management and also the actual colleges life and scenarios of staying in hostels and no actual love triangle. No wonder Love 020 was the most popular drama in 2017. It is also a drama series highly recommended for those who play online games, because they challenge each other with 'PK' (player kill), rather than the old fashioned 'paper, scissors, rock' method.



Wei Wei's Roomates from left, Zhao Erxi, Tian Sisi and Xiao Ling

 Bei Wei Wei initially did not know that Yixiao Naihe was actually Xiao Nai (played by Yang Yang,(杨洋) , a popular senior, athletic and president of his own gaming company. So the surprises and twist and turns give essence to the love story with other girls chasing after Xiao Nai. Yang Yang gave a superb performance of the cool, handsome popular, smart young man who is level headed and handles situations well. His aloof, yet firm character and his commitment and love to only one girl makes a viewer can't help falling in love with him too! No doubt, Yang Yang was one of the most popular Chinese actor in year 2017.  This story  is well complemented their roommates cum best friends of Bei Wei Wei that is Zhao Erxi, Xiao Ling, Tian Sisi and Xiao Nai's roomates. I love to watch Zhao Erxi's (portrayed by Mo XiaoTong) character of the cute bubbly best friend of Wei Wei and she really adds much comedy and fun to this whole drama. It makes me feel like I would also like to MMORPG into online games ^-^. The only cons of this show are the kissing scenes and some parts such as the wedding were not shown.


 I watch this series free through Viki.com and it took me two days to finish. I am happy with this channel as there are few advertisements and fast loading.
Ratings: 8/10

Please do leave comments below or any request for review.

Happy Watching! Stay at Home , Stay Safe!
Coming up and stay tuned for Kdrama review soon!

Daun Kaduk is a local Malay name for Piper Sarmentosum, a common creeper plant grown easily and wild in tropical climate. There are no "official" English name, but it has some similarity to betel leaves, therefore, it is sometimes called wild betel or pepper leaves. Daun Kaduk is considered a herbal plant in Malaysia, and often mistaken for Betel nut leaves. The leaves are of heart shaped, glossy when its young (shines more when young) and crispy. Daun Kadok is often used in Baba Nyonya cooking or Thai cooking. 

 Health benefits for Daun Kaduk are that it helps in digestion. It is also known to  accelerates fracture healing with the ability to restore bone structure and bone strength with its antioxidant properties. Said to help in keeping bad breath away as it has various compound that can help to destroy bacteria that causes bad breath. It also can relieves conspitation. 
The Taste: Taste wise is a tiny bit bitter. Daun Kaduk has a kind aroma and the little bit of bitterness may shun some people away.  So I would normally cut the younger leaves which is less bitter.  It may be an acceptable taste for some people and acquired taste for others. I have an old fashioned "China-man" type of  friend who can't stand daun Kaduk and also other local herbs such as Daun Kesum. (Maybe he has not tasted it before from young) I love Daun Kaduk as I am of Nyonya heritage and has been eating since young. 

The Plant

Daun Kaduk grown in my back yard garden. 

Daun Kaduk are easy to grow in tropical climate. In fact it can sprout out and easily grow into a thick bush.

Daun Kaduk grown in my backyard have over pushed out my Aloe Vera plant!.


Otak-Otak Penang style


Recipe for 2 ingredients Daun Kaduk Omelette

Ingredients
1. A handful of Daun Kaduk leaves.
2. Two eggs, beaten
(2 cloves of chopped garlic- optional)

Method
1. Pluck a handful of Daun Kaduk leaves. Discard the stem. Wash it.



2. Slice the Daun Kaduk leaves fine


2. Beat two eggs into a bowl.

3. Heat wok with 2 tablespoon of oil. Fry the garlic if you have, if not just put in the sliced Daun Kaduk and fry. Fry until it is soft.



4. Pour beaten egg into wok, lower heat. Try to let the eggs cover the leaves. Let the eggs cook a little while.



5. Then turn over to cook the other side.