Char (fried) Beehoon (thin rice noodle) Mee (yellow noodles) one of the easiest and fastest noodle dish to make. It's a full complete meal, with a little bit of carbs, protein and vitamins - all in one dish. It's also one of the most common dishes you can find at parties/gatherings/pot lucks in Malaysia. Not only is it easy to whip up and affordable to make, you can also pretty much serve it anytime of the day, be it breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper! Here's how you make it.
Start off by heating some oil in a large pan or wok. Once the oil is hot, throw in some chopped garlic.
Next, add in some sliced pork balls. If you do not like pork balls, you could add in fish balls, fish cakes or shrimp balls too.
Then, add in some straw mushrooms. This is optional. If you like, you may also use shitaki mushrooms.
Stir fry the balls and mushrooms for a bit, then add in some thin chicken slices that has been pre marinated with some soy sauce and pepper.
Once the chicken is almost cooked, add in some jumbo shrimp.
Stir fry all the ingredients together. Next, in goes the noodles. You can also use just one type of noodle, be it the yellow noodles or rice noodles, it's entirely up to you.
After mixing the noodles with the rest of the ingredients, add in the soy sauce mixture. It's actually one part dark soy sauce, two parts premium light soy sauce and some water.
Allow it to simmer and cook for a bit.
When it's almost done, add in some green leafy vegetables. You can pretty much use any green leafy vegetable, like mustard greens or baby bok choi. I used some baby bok choi tops.
Stir fry for another few minutes and we're done! One huge wok of char beehoon mee!! I think it's enough to feed at least 8-10 people. Just dish it out into individual plates and we are set to dig in. I served it with a side of sambal belacan (chili paste with toasted shrimp paste), just like how Penang people would eat a plate of Hokkien Char Beehoon Mee...mmm mmm mmmmm :D
I'm sure some of you remember me blogging a while ago about having my own domain name as well as searching for a good and reliable web site hosting provider. I also talked about going online to try to find one but it was so confusing - there were just so many out there! I have visited many so called web hosting provider review sites but most of them made me more confuse then when I started with. To date, I can safely say that WebHostingGeeks.com is still the best web hosting provider reviews and rating website out there. I have learnt so much from just reading through all the stuff on that site.
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Apart from getting great ratings and reviews, they also have an awesome blog! I learnt so much by just reading all the posts on their blog. You can learn all about web hosting and get all kinds of tips from the blog. So, the next time you are looking for a new web hosting service or if you want to know all about web hosting as well as get independent reviews and ratings about the best web hosting providers available today, head over to WebHostingGeeks.com!!
As usual, we were out gallivanting the streets of NYC last weekend and ended up in Chinatown just in time for a late dinner (isn't it amazing that we always 'just happen' to be in Chinatown during mealtimes? :P). Since it was already pretty late, we were looking for something simple, quick and of course, easy on the wallet. Then we stumbled upon this shop.
Hong Kong Station! No, it's not a MTR subway station :P It's a noodle shop located in the heart of Chinatown. I believe they have 3 branches located around Chinatown, with this being the #2 branch. The other two can be found on Hester St and Division St. This particular branch opens early and closes late, from 7:00AM til 11:30PM! The Hester St branch closes at 8:30PM on weekdays and 9:30PM on weekends and the Division St branch closes at 9:30PM (they open at 6:30AM though).
So, what's so special about this noodle shop? Well, it's pretty much a build your own noodle kinda place. There are 9 different types of noodles to choose from (price ranging from $1.75 - $2). Once you have decided on the type of noodle you want, then you can pick your toppings ( with over 30 different choices). Each topping is $1.25, so it's up to you how many toppings you want on your noodles. You can get a big bowl of egg noodles with one topping for as low at $3!!
It's a self service restaurant, so you just have to walk up to the noodle bar, make your choices and they will cook it there and then for you. Here is the list of noodles and toppings that you can choose from.
Fishballs (regular, curry, stuffed) Squid (regular or curry) Fish Cake (regular or pan fried) Squid Balls Beef (stew, tendon, tripe, stomach, shin, shank) Beef Balls Lobster Balls Pig's Feet Pork Intestine Pig's Blood Sausage Spam Ham Eggs Fish Dumplings Chicken Gizzards Chicken Wings (regular or curry) Seasonal Vegetables Mushrooms Turnip Tofu (skin or silky tofu) Spring Roll
This is what Kevin and I ordered. You can see from the topping selections which is the 'ang mohs' bowl and which is the Asian's bowl :P I had their famous Iced Hong Kong Milk Tea ($ 2.25) and Kevin had a Pepsi ($1.25). They also have all kinds of Hong Kong style Toast and Sandwiches as well as Bubble Tea and Hong Kong style drinks (Lemon Ribena, Salty Lemon 7 Up...ect).
Here is a close up of Kevin's bowl. I guess he didn't feel like trying out all the 'weird stuff' on the menu, so he stuck to a 'safe' selection of toppings. He chose udon noodles ($2.00) with three toppings ($3.75). His three toppings were fishballs, mushrooms and spinach.
This is my bowl :P I chose the E-Fu Noodles ($2.00) with three toppings ($3.75). My toppings were pig's feet, beef tendon and pork intestines. Boy, were they good! The pig's feet were stewed just right and the beef tendon was very tender and nice. Pork intestines are sometimes pretty tricky to prepare. If not cleaned right, they can sometimes have a strong smell. This however was perfect! There wasn't any smell and the texture was just right, not too soft or too chewy. $5.75 for such a big bowl of noodles was really really worth it. I am so glad we found this place and we'll definitely be going back in the very near future! Great food at affordable prices, what more could you ask for? :D
Hong Kong Station - Bayard St. Branch 45 Bayard Street, New York, NY 10013 Tel: (212) 233-0288 Fax: (212) 233-5488 Web: http://www.hongkongstation.us/
As you can see from most of our food related posts, it's no secret that both Kevin and I love Asian food. You would also notice that whenever we have Asian food, it would be when we are eating out or when we order food in. It's not that we do not like cooking at home, that's not the case at all. In fact, I love cooking. However, cooking authentic Asian food at home can be pretty tedious. It requires a lot of preparation time as well as many ingredients. You would require a little bit of this and a little bit of that, sometimes one dish would require up to 20 over different ingredients! Thankfully, I came to know about Sun-Bird seasoning products. It makes cooking authentic Asian food at home a breeze. No more wasting lots of time with long and tedious preparations, fancy tools or shopping for a whole lot of different spices, just for one dish.
Sun-Bird is America’s #1 Asian seasoning brand. Sun-Bird seasoning products give food a true, authentic Asian flavor easily and affordable - which is great given tight budgets and tight schedules. Not only do they taste authentic, quick to prepare and affordable but they are also made with the finest ingredients. Sun-Bird seasoning have a variety products for stir fry, fried rice, chow mein, honey sesame chicken, pad thai, thai curry and many more. Let is share with you a very simple recipe for Chicken Stir Fry. It's made using the Sun-Bird Stir Fry Seasoning. It's so easy and quick to make, it has now become one of my favorites. Here it is.
QUICK SUN-BIRD CHICKEN STIR FRY
1 package (3/4oz) Sun-Bird Stir Fry Seasoning 2 Tablespoons soy sauce 2 Tablespoons sugar (or sugar substitute) 1/3 cup of water 2 Tablespoons of oil 1 lb. boneless chicken cut into strips 1 package (1 lb) frozen oriental style vegetables (without the sauce)
Blend seasoning packet, soy sauce, sugar and water. Set aside. In a large skillet or wok, heat oil; add chicken and stir fry until browned. Add vegetables, stir fry until heater through. Add liquid mixture and continue to stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes more or until thickened. * Makes 4 servings
Now, wasn't that easy? Try it, I'm pretty sure that you will like it. So, where can you find Sun-Bird seasoning products? Well, Sun-Bird’s Sauce Mixes, Soup Mixes and Classic 3-step Meal Kits is available in your grocer’s Asian section. Oh before I forget, Sun-Bird is currently running a contest and they are giving away 15 Blu-Ray TM Disc players. Entry forms can be found at your grocery store, where Sun-Bird seasonings products are sold. Contest runs through October 31, 2009. So hurry up! Check out these Sun-Bird products and pick up one at your local grocery store to try out today!
Guess what??? Our blog is turning one today!! That's right, it was exactly one year ago when we first started this blog. How time flies. This blog started off as a place for our friends and family to go to when they want to know what's been happening or what's new in our lives. We had like maybe 4-5 hits per day (most probably Charlene's parents, Ash, Amelia and maybe Kevin's mom :P) for the first month or so. Being a newbie in a lot of things (newly weds, new to the NYC/NJ region, new to cooking...), our blog pretty much documented our first year together as man and wife, our culinary experiments as well as our adventures as we explore this new city that we now call home.
Today, after 432 post and counting, we have an average of close to 700 hits per day, with the highest being 1,255 in a single day, a few months ago!! It certainly has been very encouraging to know that there are so many people out there reading our blog (we would appreciate feedback or comments though, we seem to have a lot of silent readers :P). We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your support and we hope that you will continue to come back, again and again :D
Like we said in our very first post, we hope that you will enjoy this journey with us, as we open up lil windows in our lives to share with you. We look forward to another exciting year ahead and we can't wait to share it with ya. So once again, we invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!
Kevin's colleague lost her dog to some sort of liver disease not too long ago. She was devastated. We really felt her pain, we know that people often do not see their pets as just another animal but as part of their family. It was like losing a family member. After a period of grieving, her family decided to adopt another dog. She spent so much time looking up animal shelters around their area as well as actually visiting quite a few, just to find that perfect pet. If only she knew about Petango.com then. It would have made that search so much easier.
Petango? What's that? Well, Petango is a real-time searchable database of pets in need of loving homes. Petango's mission is to support the adoption of homeless pets throughout North America by assisting animal welfare organizations in finding homes for these pets, as well as facilitate the thousands of families looking to welcome these pets into their homes each year. Through the creation of an advanced and easy to use website, Petango hopes to increase the number of adoptable pets finding homes and decrease the strain on animal welfare organizations currently housing these pets.
So, you are ready to adopt a pet, what must you do? Just head over to their website and click on the animal you want to adopt. You can click on either the dog, cat or other pets (pets like snakes, iguanas, hamsters..ect) tab. Then you can search by either zip code or city for pets that are available for adoption in your area! Not only that, but you can also narrow the search by breed, gender, age, size and color. You can even search for pets with photos! How cool is that?
So, if you are thinking of getting a pet...don't pay hundreds to buy one from the pet store. There are thousands of pets looking to be adopted into a happy perfect home on Petango. All the pets at Petango are cared for at reputable shelters across the country, so you can rest assure that you are adopting a happy, well-loved pet that is looking for a new home. You can also get more information about Petango on Facebook and follow Pentango on Twitter. Remember, if you are looking to adopt a cat, head over to Petango.com - Adopt a cat! If you are a dog lover, you know where to go. That's right! Petango.com - Adopt a dog today!
Kevin and I (Kevin especially) love satay. Apart from Char Koay Teow, I can safely say that it's one of Kevin's all time favorite Malaysian hawker/street food. Back when we were still living in Malaysia, we used to order satay almost every time we go out to coffee shops or the mamak. We can get satay here too but it's really really expensive, compared to what we can get in Malaysia.
My parents sent us this packet of satay marinade seasoning mix along with all the other seasonings that they sent us a while back. So, I decided to try and make some chicken satay at home!
To make chicken satay, you have to start off by cutting skinless chicken tenders ( you can also use breast or dark meat, but tenders works the best) into tiny bite size pieces.
Then, sprinkle on the satay seasoning mix.
Next, add in some oil and mix it together with the chicken and marinade. Allow the chicken pieces to marinade for a couple of hours but I left it in the refrigerator to marinade overnight (the longer, the better).
Ketupat (some sort of Malay rice dumpling) is always served with satay. Originally, the ketupat is made by filling a woven palm leaves pouch with rice and boiled. Since I do not have excess to palm leaves or know how to wrap a ketupat, I bought the instant version. It taste just as good!
Just boil a big pot of water and add in some salt.
Then, drop in the pre packed rice packets.
Cover the pot and allow it to boil for about an hour or so.
Once it's cook, remove from the hot water and allow it to cool for at least 4 hours before cutting. To speed up the cooling process, you can put the ketupat in the refrigerator. It is really important that you allow the ketupat to cool fully before cutting. If not, you will be left with a sticky mess :P
Now it's time to skewer the chicken. It's really easy, just skewer the chicken pieces about half way into the skewers.
Here we go, a big plate of chicken satay, waiting to be grilled.
Ideally, satay should be grilled outdoors on a bed of nice hot coals. Since we live in an apartment, we had no choice but to just make do with our George Foreman grill :P You can brush on some oil just before you turn over the satay skewers.
Satay is always served with a side of peanut sauce. Well, certain places in Penang serve it with potato sauce and certain places in Malacca have their own belimbing sauce. However, satay is generally served with yummy and oily peanut sauce. I didn't make the peanut sauce from scratch. I just bought the instant chunky satay peanut sauce from the Asian grocery shop and reheated it. Tasted very authentic and good!
Once you are done grilling the satay, serve immediately. Here is the end product after assembling everything together :P Some nice juicy chicken satays with a side of ketupat, cucumbers (you can cut up some red onions too), peanut sauce and some toast (people from Penang sometimes like to dip toast in their peanut sauce, it's yummy!). I can safely say that it tasted very authentic, it even received a thumbs up from my satay loving husband :P No more spending senseless money on expensive satay appetizers in Malaysian restaurants from now on. I can't wait to make my next batch of satay! Maybe beef and pork satay this time? :D
We were in Chinatown for our weekly grocery shopping a couple of weeks back and felt like having some Vietnamese food for dinner. So, we headed over to Baxter St (we remember seeing quite a few Vietnamese restaurants there) to go look for one.
We saw about 3 to 4 Vietnamese restaurants located next to each other when we arrived. Of course we had no clue which is good and which is not. So, we did the old trick. Just enter the place with the most customers and hope for the best. We were pretty early for dinner but Thai Son was already filled with people. We later found out that Thai Son is one of the more popular Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown, well known for serving authentic, affordable and delicious Vietnamese food. I guess the rule of going with the crowd works (well, most of the time!) :P
We were greeted by really friendly staff (noticed the waiters were mainly Chinese, not Vietnamese though) and got seated promptly. A quick glance at the menu and we were ready to order. They had a pretty big selection and the price was reasonable too. For our appetizers, we shared a Goi Cuon ($ 3.75 for two rolls) aka the summer roll. It took them less than 5 minutes to bring it out, very impressive. The summer roll was really really good, with large fresh shrimps and the dipping sauce was yummy too.
We also shared a Cha Gio Tom ($5.75 for 3 pieces). It's shrimp and pork samosas. We initially wanted to get the regular fried Vietnamese spring roll but decided to try this instead. The filling of the samosa is pretty much the same as the fried spring roll but the difference is...this had an extra large jumbo shrimp in the middle. Again, taste really good! Maybe it was a tad bit oily, but overall, very good.
For my main, I ordered my all time favorite Vietnamese food. The Pho. I had the DacBiet and Bo Vien Pho ($6.75). It's basically rice noodles with a combination of beef brisket, navel, frank, omosa, tendon, eye of round and beef balls in beef broth.The broth was really good and the beef was tender and nice, just perfect! The price wass reasonable too - with this being the most expensive pho. You can pretty much get a big bowl of pho with beef for less than $5!
Kevin felt like having rice, so he ordered the Com Suon Bi Cha ($6.50). It's grilled pork chop, shredded pork and a crab patty served with steamed white rice. The taste? He loved it! I tried a little of his pork chop and crab patty....awesome! I especially love the pork chop, very well marinated and grilled just right. I must remember to order this the next time we go for Vietnamese again. Overall, we had a great dining experience at Thai Som. With unlimited free flow of Chinese tea and delicious food at reasonable prices, dinner was pleasant and affordable. We both agree that Thai Son deserves a two thumbs up and we will most definitely return in the near future!
Thai Son Vietnamese Restaurant 89 Baxter Street, New York, NY 10013 Tel: (212) 732-2822
Have you noticed an influx people wearing pink ribbons, pink ribbon logos on many products on the supermarket shelves and pink themed marathons this month? Even the NFL guys were wearing pink gloves, shoes and socks during the Sunday afternoon NFL games! In case you still didn't know, October is "Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Sadly, everyone knows someone who has been affected by breast cancer. I do. Whether it is a personal struggle, a family member’s journey or a close friend’s path toward survival, we all know someone. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is even closer to the forefront of our minds. I know there are many events going on supporting this cause, but have you heard of the Cyro-Cell Breast Cancer Donation?
I recently found out that Cryo-Cell International, Inc is partnering with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore the potential utilization of menstrual stem cells to treat breast cancer. The partnership is underway to better understand the C’elle stem cells and their potential benefit for the treatment of breast cancer.
Why menstrual blood stem cells? Stem cells from menstrual blood are proven to be a rich source of stem cells. In fact, they are the subject of extensive, aggressive stem cell research and development, and industry experts anticipate that C’elle stem cells will be the next great frontier for diagnostic and regenerative medicine as well. According to the American Cancer Society, there are 2.5 million breast cancer patients and survivors today and an estimated one in eight women will be stricken with this disease at some point in her life.
In conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cryo-Cell is offering contributions to the Susan B. Komen Foundation. They will donate $50 for each purchase of the “Protect Baby, Protect Mom” service and $25 for each purchase of the “C’elle Menstrual Stem Cell” service. Isn't that great? Not only will you be taking care of your own well being, but you will be helping others by being a part as well as a contributor to cancer research development and help fight the battle against cancer worldwide! Head over to their website to learn more about the C'Elle Breats Cancer Donation as well as the services provided by Cryo-Cell International!
We were in the mood for some pizza last week, so we decided to check out Papa Johns new promotion - the Mega XL3 Pizza! For only $11.99, you will get 10 big slices of pizza ( supposed to be 33% larger than their regular large) with your choice of 3 toppings! From the ads on TV, radio and Facebook, we expected it to be awesome and hugeeee.
Within 25 minutes or so, our piping hot pie arrived! Guess what? It was huge!! The box was way bigger than the regular pizza box...way wayyy bigger. Also, look at the nice Transformers box it came in. You will also get a coupon for $3 off the purchase of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” on DVD and Blu-ray with every purchase of the Mega XL3 Pizza (while stocks last).
Check out our pizza! Look at how small the garlic sauce tub and pepperoncini looks beside that big pie :P We had spicy sausage, bacon and mushrooms on half of the pie and spicy sausage, bacon and ground beef on the other half. What I love about Papa Johns pizza is that we never ever have to order extra cheese, every pie comes loaded cheese...yummy!
Here is Kevin holding up the pizza, showing you how large it is. I think it's 16" across (if I am not mistaken).
This sure is a hugggeee slice of pizza! Look at how big the slice is compared to my palm. I can't even hold on to it properly. It's so loaded with cheese and meat that it just droops down, cos it's so heavy! I have always said it and I will say it again...Papa Johns pizza rocks! Now, with their special offer of $11.99 for such a huge pizza with 3 toppings, I must say that it's currently the best pizza deal around! Mmmm mmmm mmmmm, maybe I'll order pizza again for dinner tomorrow! :P
Last Sunday afternoon, Kevin and I took the A Train all the way uptown to 190th St to Fort Tyron Park. Fort Tryon Park is a public park located in the Washington Heights section of the NYC borough of Manhattan. It is situated on a 67 acre ridge, with an awesome view of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge, the New Jersey Palisades and the Harlem River. It is is also site of The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to medieval art and culture. It was the perfect setting for the 2009 Medieval Festival that we were there to check out.
The Medieval Festival at Fort Tyron is an annual event, with this being the 25th year running. Produced by the Washington Heights & Inwood Development Corporation and supported by The City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation, it is one of the largest and most popular event held in all NYC parks. They expect a total of 40,000 visitors this year and guess what? Admission is free!
So, what is the festival all about? Well, the purpose of the festival is an attempt to bring to life the customs and spirit of the Middle Ages. Fort Tryon Park is transformed into a Medieval market town decorated with bright banners and processional flags. Performers, guests and festival goers dress in medieval costumes. Visitors are greeted by authentic medieval music, dance, magic, minstrels, as well as jugglers and jesters.
The moment we stepped out from the subway station, we were greeted by girls dressed in Medieval costumes, dancing to Medieval music. How cool is that? Something tells me it's gonna be one cool festival.
Since admissions to the festival is free, the organizers have set up two wishing wells at the entrance. You can help out with the production cost by donating a couple of dollars to the wishing well. The suggested donation is $2, which I feel is reasonable - given the size and how elaborate the event was.
You can also help yourselves to a free festival program booklet at the entrance. It's loaded with all the information you would need to enjoy the festival - a map of the whole festival grounds, times and locations of events and performances as well as write ups about the events.
Our first stop was The South Lawn Village. Here at the South Lawn Village Square, you can check out and buy all sorts of Medieval weaponry as well as watch various types of combat demonstrations.
There are also all kinds of stalls selling Medieval craft, clothes, jewelry...just about anything you can think of. Heck, you can even get your own pet dragon here! :P
On the other side of South Lawn Village is where you can learn all about Medieval crafts and watch life demos. There were all kinds of demos, from weaving to spooling yarn! Pretty interesting actually.
From the South Lawn Village, we made our way Centercheap Market. This is where all the Artisans gather to sell their wares. Here is one lady making and selling clay mugs.
Here is another crowd favorite. The blacksmith, his wife and a few apprentice were out in full force, making swords, knives and other cool stuff. Business was brisk too...I sometimes wonder what all those people do with the swords and other weaponry they buy from festivals like this? Take it out when their friends come over to play Dungeons and Dragons? :P
You can also see many street performers all over Centercheap Market, be it juggling, playing music or just telling stories from the past.
We managed to catch the Majesta Chanters, performing the Gregorian Chant. Interesting but I guess we sorta lost interest after a while..haha!
We continued walking and ended up at Sir Stan Wichels Tournament Field of Honor. Guess what we saw there? Yup, a princess riding a unicorn!! See, I told you guys that unicorns are real...but noooo, nobody believed me! Who's the loony one now??? :P
We then entered the Tournament Field to grab a seat and waited for the Children's Costume Parade to begin.
Here they are. Look at all the cutie pies marching around the field. Aren't they just adorable? Not much of a parade, they just walked around the field and ended by giving everybody a bow :P However, they were just soooo cute, so who cares if they just walked around the field. They did a good job! :D
After the parade, it was the event everybody was waiting for all day. King Rene's Joust Tournament!! A thrilling joust between four knights on horseback. Very exciting!
Now it's time for some food. Just opposite the Tournament Field is the Triangle Pub. Here you can get all kinds of food like fried dough and turkey legs. Look at all those yummy turkey legs on the grill! You can buy beer in giant Medieval steins or wine in goblets too. We didn't manage to buy anything, cos the line was just too long. Just how long is long? Well, there were at least about 60-80 people in every line. I overheard a lady complaining that she has been in line for almost an hour and it's not even her turn yet!! I think I'll give those turkey legs a pass. I know that the smell of the turkey legs grilling on an open fire was just so good, but no way will I wait in line for an hour just to get some.
Ahhh the famous Cloisters. The Cloisters incorporates several Medieval buildings that were purchased in Europe, brought to the United States, and reassembled, often stone by stone. You could go up there and check out the museum but we didn't really have enough time to fully enjoy it. We will have to return another day, just for The Cloisters.
There was also two childrens section - The Kids Zone and The Little Theatre. In The Kids Zone, there were all kinds of arts and craft like puppet making and costumes. There were storytelling and magic shows by Merlin the Magician in The Little Theatre. Kids also had a chance to meet Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham at The Little Theatre.
Another cool thing about the festival was that there were just musicians and performers everywhere you go. You see them sitting on rocks by the cliff, by the walkways or even on bales of hay :P After spending almost the whole afternoon at the festival, it was time to go home. It was my first Medieval Festival and I really enjoyed it. Everybody was so into it (a lot of visitors were also in costumes), for a brief moment, it felt like I just walked back into time. I will most definitely return next year for the 2010 Medieval Festival (this time, maybe in costume :P)!!
Char (fried) Beehoon (thin rice noodle) Mee (yellow noodles) one of the easiest and fastest noodle dish to make. It's a full complete meal, with a little bit of carbs, protein and vitamins - all in one dish. It's also one of the most common dishes you can find at parties/gatherings/pot lucks in Malaysia. Not only is it easy to whip up and affordable to make, you can also pretty much serve it anytime of the day, be it breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper! Here's how you make it. 
Start off by heating some oil in a large pan or wok. Once the oil is hot, throw in some chopped garlic.
Next, add in some sliced pork balls. If you do not like pork balls, you could add in fish balls, fish cakes or shrimp balls too.
Then, add in some straw mushrooms. This is optional. If you like, you may also use shitaki mushrooms.
Stir fry the balls and mushrooms for a bit, then add in some thin chicken slices that has been pre marinated with some soy sauce and pepper.
Once the chicken is almost cooked, add in some jumbo shrimp.
Stir fry all the ingredients together. Next, in goes the noodles. You can also use just one type of noodle, be it the yellow noodles or rice noodles, it's entirely up to you.
After mixing the noodles with the rest of the ingredients, add in the soy sauce mixture. It's actually one part dark soy sauce, two parts premium light soy sauce and some water.
Allow it to simmer and cook for a bit.
When it's almost done, add in some green leafy vegetables. You can pretty much use any green leafy vegetable, like mustard greens or baby bok choi. I used some baby bok choi tops.
Stir fry for another few minutes and we're done! One huge wok of char beehoon mee!! I think it's enough to feed at least 8-10 people. Just dish it out into individual plates and we are set to dig in. I served it with a side of sambal belacan (chili paste with toasted shrimp paste), just like how Penang people would eat a plate of Hokkien Char Beehoon Mee...mmm mmm mmmmm :D
So, what's so special about this noodle shop? Well, it's pretty much a build your own noodle kinda place. There are 9 different types of noodles to choose from (price ranging from $1.75 - $2). Once you have decided on the type of noodle you want, then you can pick your toppings ( with over 30 different choices). Each topping is $1.25, so it's up to you how many toppings you want on your noodles. You can get a big bowl of egg noodles with one topping for as low at $3!!
From the South Lawn Village, we made our way Centercheap Market. This is where all the Artisans gather to sell their wares. Here is one lady making and selling clay mugs. 
Here is another crowd favorite. The blacksmith, his wife and a few apprentice were out in full force, making swords, knives and other cool stuff. Business was brisk too...I sometimes wonder what all those people do with the swords and other weaponry they buy from festivals like this? Take it out when their friends come over to play Dungeons and Dragons? :P 
We then entered the Tournament Field to grab a seat and waited for the Children's Costume Parade to begin. 
After the parade, it was the event everybody was waiting for all day. King Rene's Joust Tournament!! A thrilling joust between four knights on horseback. Very exciting! 
Ahhh the famous Cloisters. The Cloisters incorporates several Medieval buildings that were purchased in Europe, brought to the United States, and reassembled, often stone by stone. You could go up there and check out the museum but we didn't really have enough time to fully enjoy it. We will have to return another day, just for The Cloisters. 
There was also two childrens section - The Kids Zone and The Little Theatre. In The Kids Zone, there were all kinds of arts and craft like puppet making and costumes. There were storytelling and magic shows by Merlin the Magician in The Little Theatre. Kids also had a chance to meet Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham at The Little Theatre.
Another cool thing about the festival was that there were just musicians and performers everywhere you go. You see them sitting on rocks by the cliff, by the walkways or even on bales of hay :P After spending almost the whole afternoon at the festival, it was time to go home. It was my first Medieval Festival and I really enjoyed it. Everybody was so into it (a lot of visitors were also in costumes), for a brief moment, it felt like I just walked back into time. I will most definitely return next year for the 2010 Medieval Festival (this time, maybe in costume :P)!!