Thanksgiving Dinner

We are well into Fall and with this comes Thanksgiving which was on October 12th. As Malaysians we are not really not into this festival but as they say When in Rome....We also had some family visitors from Singapore and therefore had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at home. I roasted a turkey in my convection microwave oven which I have been doing for the past 19 years.

It is so easy that I really have a stress free Thanksgiving and Christmas, at least where cooking the turkey is concerned. I also roasted a prime rib of beef. My daugther made delicious mash potatoes ( with Yukon gold potatoes and sweet potatoes).
With the cold weather fast approaching, we are squeezing in as much golf as possible. On the days we played it was not as cold, between 5-15 c. The trick is to dress in layers. Firstly it is a better way to keep warm, as opposed to wearing one thick layer. Secondly when the temperature starts creeping up as the day progresses, it is easy to peel off layer by layer. Last Saturday when we starting playing at 9.45 ( there was a 1.5 hr frost delay), it was about 6 c but crept up to about 12 c by 1 pm and therefore I had to peel off all the layers until I was only in my golf shirt.

September Blues

It is really coming to an end, summer that is. Next weekend is Labour Day weekend, which unofficially spells the end of summer although Fall does not officially arrive until September 20. This summer has been especially busy for us socially as we had a dinner party to attend every weekend for the past 3 months, no kidding.This, it appears will continue into September. We have given our share of parties and this is the reason for our active social calender.The Malaysian food that we served have been very popular with our friends especially "wat tan hor". For me it is so easy to make but seems abundantly popular among Malaysians.The last few months I have also served, Penang Hokkien Mee, KL Fried Hokkien Mee, Yong Tau Foo, Curry Laksa, Nasi Lemak, Sang Har Meen ( including once using lobsters instead of prawns), char kuey teow etc. I have not taken many pictures because my first priority is to serve a good meal at that moment and not, I apologise thinking of taking pictures for this blog!
The Blue Jays have not been playing well for the past few months after a good start to the season and have fallen out of contention for the playoffs. Although many have forgotten that this year was just a reloading year and the plan was to make a run for the playoffs in 2010. I hope that tis will happen. Nevertheless I will still be a fan no matter what happens. As I tell my friends, there are 30 teams in Major League Baseball and only 8 teams make it to the playoffs. Together with other contending teams, there maybe about less than 15 teams out of the 30 that are playing meaningful baseball by September. If every fan gives up on their team when they are not contending, half the teams will have no support.

Great Summer Weather

I have been really enjoying the great weather so far this Summer. Many Torontonians will want to vehemently disagree with me. This summer has been wetter and cooler than normal.The natives have been whining about it being not hot enough.They are partly right.One of the major differences in weather in the eastern seaboard of North America and say the U.K is that we have very cold winters and very hot summers.In the UK , the temperatures are relatively cool in the summers and typically do not get a really a hot whack of in your face heat for any length of time in the summer.If you watch golf on TV, you will notice that during the British Open in the middle of July, both players and spectators are wrapped up in sweaters. Not so here.We typically get very hot temperature for days on end, 32 -35 C during July and August.This is the payback for the very bone chilling days in the winter.So when this hot weather is not delivered by mother nature, the people really freak out.Not me though.Being brought up in the tropics, I have enough of hot weahter to last me a few life times. I enjoy the 20-25c highs so far this summer.I played golf yesterday in 22c weather, absolutely fantastic for this time of the year. This Saturday the forecast is for a high of 30c and this means lots of Gatorade to bring along for golf.

Penang Hokkien Mee

Made Penang Hokkien Mee over the Civic Holiday long weekend. I typically make this dish several times a year mainly in the summer when kangkong is at its best. The key to this dish is to use lots of shrimp shells for the stock base. Malaysian street food is not as well known as say Thai and Vietnamese in this part of the world but I promise you that we have a bunch of very delicious dishes. Penang Hokkiem Mee is one of these dishes. In the Kuala Lumpur area where I was from, the best Hokkien Mee is from the O&S Coffee shop in PJ. On every visit back, I will make a point to have a bowl of this dish and really soak in the taste and when I cook this dish back in Toronto, I would have made a good duplicate. On numerous occasions in Toronto when I sample various dishes from my Malaysian friends, many of this dishes are nowhere close to the original in both the taste and the type of garnishings. One of the reasons is that they have have been away too long and have lost sight of the original taste.

British Open 2009

The Open Championships which concluded over the weekend at Turnberry, Scotland was the third of the four Majors played every year.As I have indicated in my previous posts these events are time markers for me to track the progress of Spring and summer.Very soon in August,the fourth and final major will be played and that spells the end of summer.
This year the Open Championships is significant because Tom Watson, 2 months shy of his 60th birthday was in contention right until the very end when he lost in a playoff.Golf is a game that allows you to play at a very high level until late in life.I for one will play and enjoy this game for a very long time.My passion for this game and the efforts I make to improve has encouraged me to stay healthy.Because of golf I try to jog 2-3 times a week outdoors and use the treadmill in my basement during the winter.

Summer's Bounty

I really love this time of year with summer in full swing. One of the reasons is the availability of luscious fruits.Cherries, peaches, nectarines, pears, the list goes on.These fruits are at their finest and at the prices are at their lowest.I just bought some lovely cherries for 99 cents per lb. We get a lot of these fruits from the Southern hemisphere from countries like Chile and South Africa so this is not really a summer fruit thing but fruits seem plentiful this time of year.I have also developed a good habit by snacking on fruits when hungry especially in the evenings instead of eating something less healthy.

Baseball's Mid Summer Classic

I cannot believe that we have reached the middle of the season. Yes we are half way through the baseball season and tonight the All Star Game will be played, this year in St. Louise, home of the Cardinals.In the past this game is a mere exhibition but over the last few years it has been decided that the winning League will host the first games of the World Series in October.
The significance for me this year is that the Blue Jays will be represented by not one but 2 starters. Starting pitcher, Roy "Doc" Halladay and second basemen Aaron Hill.This is a great achievement for the Jays as not many of the teams are even represented in the starting line up.