Happy Mid Autumn Festival!!

It was a lovely night, with the moon looking so big and bright over the city skyline. What a perfect night to celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival :D Sometimes known as the Mooncake Festival or Lantern Festival, the Mid Autumn Festival is a harvest festival celebrated by Chinese all over the world. I remember looking forward to carrying brightly lit lanterns all around the neighborhood with my cousin ever year during this festival while growing up in Penang. No lanterns for me this year but we got something better....

MOONCAKES! Our local Asian grocery store was having a sale on mooncakes and we bought a box of 8 yummy mooncakes! Wanna see inside? :D (* look at how bright the moon was behind Kevin)

Sooo nice! There are six different flavors (red bean, mung bean & black sesame, durian, fruit & nut, green tea and of course the regular lotus nuts), six with double yolk and two with a single yolk.

We tried the green tea mooncake and it was simply delicious. I love how the mooncake is so moist and the skin is not too thick. There was just enough green tea taste to it, not too much and not too little. Perfect!

We also tried the red bean mooncake. It wasn't as good as the green tea mooncake but it was alright too. The skin was equally thin but the red bean filling was a tad bit dry. If it was a little bit more moist, it would have been perfect too! We only managed to eat two mooncakes, cos it's sooooooo filling. I can't wait to try the other flavors tomorrow!

We also saw this two little pigs on sale in Chinatown earlier today. I told Kevin that my grandma would always buy one for me and one for my cousin Amelia during the mooncake festival cos I didn't really like the taste of mooncakes as a kid. I thought that the filling was icky :P The lil pigs are made from the same batter as the outer skin of the mooncakes, minus the filling. Kevin then said that we should get some, so we did! :D Anyways, we had a great Mid Autumn Festival and we hope that you did too!!!

Happy Mid Autumn Festival Everybody!!

Penang Asam Laksa

My parents sent me a big box of spices, soup mixes as well as seasoning mixes from Malaysia a while back. I found this among the many items in the box. A packet of Penang Asam Laksa mix. My mom bought this from Tean Ean, a popular local products shop in Penang.

Asam Laksa is a must have whenever you are visiting Penang. Apart from the ever so popular Char Koay Teow, the Asam Laksa ranks way up there when you think of hawker/street food in Penang. As a Penang native, I can proudly say that Penang has the best Asam Laksa in the whole wide world, no question about it :P I must say that this Asam Laksa mix is pretty good, almost as good as the Asam Laksa you can find in Penang. So, this is how you make Asam Laksa with the mix.

Asam is the Malay word for tamarind. To make Asam Laksa, you would need some tamarind to give it that sourish taste. Soak some wet tamarind in hot water and set it aside.

Another important component in Asam Laksa is the fish. The instructions on the packet says to use canned sardines. I know that the authentic Asam Laksa requires you to use fresh mackerels but I couldn't get any in the grocery store. So, I settled for fresh sardines. It's way better than canned ones.

This is basically what you need to make the Asam Laksa soup. One packet of Asam Laksa mix, a bowl of blended onions, some tamarind juice (strain out the large chunks of tamarind and you will get tamarind juice) and some fresh sardines or mackerels (that has been cleaned). For those of you who cannot get a hold of the Asam Laksa mix and wants to know what spices are found in it, here is the list. A few different types of Chillies, Turmeric, Lemon Grass, Galangga, Kesum Leaves, Ginger Buds, Candlenuts, Sliced Tamarind, Salt and Sugar.

To make the Asam Laksa soup, you begin by boiling 4 liters of water in a big pot. Once it comes to a rapid boil, add in the Asam Laksa mix.

Next, in goes the blended onions.

After giving it a good stir, add in the tamarind juice.

Mix it all up and allow it boil for a bit. Then, you can add in the fish. Let the fish cook in the stock for about 20 minutes or so.

Once the fish is cooked, remove it from the stock and debone it. It can be quite tricky as there are lots of bones and the fish is still very hot. After removing all the bones (well, at least most of it), return the deboned fish back into the pot. Add in some salt and sugar to taste and let it boil on medium heat for another 15 minutes or so. With that, the Asam Laksa soup is done.

This is what you need to complete the Asam Laksa. Some laksa noodles , red onions, cucumbers, pineapples, serrano chillies and some heh koh (sweet shrimp paste). Some people would also add in some mint and ginger buds but I am not a big fan of either, so I have decided to omit those out.

Blanch the laksa noodles in the boiling Asam Laksa soup for a minute or so. Then, place the noodles in a bowl and sprinkle the rest of the ingredients on top of it. Pour the hot soup over the noodles and it is ready to be served! Serve the Asam Laksa with a generous dollop of shrimp paste in a spoon.

Here it is. A big bowl of yummy Asam Laksa! I am pretty happy with the end result, it tasted authentic and good :D I just love the Asam Laksa, there are not many dishes where you can get the sweet, salty and sour taste all in one mouthful! If you can't finish the Asam Laksa soup in one sitting, do not worry. Just put it in the refrigerator and reheat it the next day. It always taste better the next day, when the soup thickens and that's when you can get the full fish and tamarind flavor!

Joe's Crab Shack - Lawrenceville, NJ

After spending the whole day at the Grounds For Sculpture, we headed to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. Joe's is about a 20 minute drive from the Grounds For Sculpture. Since we were in that area and I had a coupon for a free Classic Steampot, we thought that it would be a great idea to check Joe's out.

Joe's Crab Shack is an American chain of beach-themed seafood casual dining restaurants. Even though Joe's is a nationwide chain, this is the closest outlet to us. Yes, I know. An hour's drive is a little far to come out here just for crabs (even with a Steampot coupon)! That's why we planned to visit the Grounds For Sculptures followed by Joe's. Good planning eh? :D

After parking our car (we had to circle the parking lot a few times to look for a spot), we headed to the restaurant. Look at all the people waiting outside. Something tells us it's gonna be a looooong wait for a table.

The moment we stepped in, we could see that the restaurant was packed to the brim! There were also people waiting inside. It must be a really popular place, since it was only about 5:30pm when we arrived. We thought that we were being smart by going early, to try and beat the crowd. Looks like everybody had the same idea! :P The hostess told us that it will be a 45 minute to an hours wait. Wow! So long!?!?! On normal circumstances, we would say screw it, we will just go elsewhere. However, we came all the way here just to eat crabs and I don't see us driving all the way back here again in the near future, so we had to suck it up and say "Sure, we will wait" :(

We tried to kill time by looking through the menu like a hundred times as well as checking out all the merchandise available in the gift shop.

We also headed out to the childrens playground just to see what's going on out there.

At last, we just figured the best place to wait for our table would be at the bar :P The decor of the whole restaurant was bright and fun, with really friendly staff that can sing, dance and play games with you.

Yup, that's right. Every half an hour or so, the lights would dim and all the servers would drop whatever they were doing and break out in a dance routine. I don't want to sound like a party pooper, but hmmm, I wonder if we will get out tables faster if they don't break out in dance ever so often :P Anyways, I thought that it's a pretty cool idea and it helps keep the 'fun' meter of the whole place up, the entire night.

After waiting for about 90 minutes or so, we heard Kevin name being announced over the loudspeaker. Ohh what joy! It felt like winning the lotto! At last we have a table :P We ordered our drinks, looked though the menu (again!) and quickly decided on what we wanted. They were also having a special promotion on appetizers while we were there. Only $5 for any of their featured appetizers.

After ordering, it didn't take long for our appetizer to arrive. We shared the Crab Stuffed Mushrooms ($8.29, promo price - $5). Six large mushrooms loaded with seafood stuffing, topped with Monterey Jack cheese and Cajun seasoning. It also came with a side of garlic bread. I do not know if we were hungry or if it was really good, but I found the stuffed mushrooms to be really really yummy. Maybe it was a combination of both. Either ways, we enjoyed it lots.

Since the appetizer came out fairly quick, we expected our mains to to follow suit. How wrong of us to assume that :P We waited and waited...each time our server walked by, he would give us a big smile and say, "hang in there guys, it's on the way". After waiting for about 25 minutes or so, our food arrived at last. Boy, the kitchen must be really far from the dining area, since our steampots were "on the way" to us for the past 25 minutes. Anywayssss, look at my happy face when I saw the crabs!

I had a coupon for a free Joe's Classic Steampot ($21.99 w/o the coupon). It was this huge steampot with half a Dungeness Crab, half an Alaskan Snow Crab, Boiled Shrimp, Smoked Sausages, Red Potatoes and Corn. How was it? Well, it was good but not the greatest. I felt that the crabs and shrimp were not all that fresh and it had that weird frozen seafood taste. You know how the flesh of crabs are firm and nice when cooked fresh and it becomes soft and watery when you cook it after it's been frozen? Yeah, it had that kind of texture. I am not saying that the crabs were bad but maybe, not that "cooked immediately out of the ocean" fresh.

Here is Kevin holding up a crawfish from his The Orleans Steampot.

The Orleans Steampot ($19.49) had 1 lbs of Crawfish, 12 Boiled Shrimp, Andouille Sausages, Corn and Red Potatoes cooked in Spicy Cajun Seasoning. Kevin said that the crawfish wasn't all that bad but it just doesn't taste like the ones you can get in New Orleans. He couldn't taste the Cajun seasoning at all. If he were to eat it like it was a regular steampot, then it would be pretty good. However, for it to be called The Orleans Steampot with Spicy Cajun Seasoning, it just doesn't cut it at all.

So, what did we think of Joe's? Well, the plus point is that the staff were really friendly and fun. The decor was also really nice and the whole atmosphere had a fun vibe to it. However, the wait was just way too long, for both the tables as well as the food. I also felt that the food quality was slightly below par. The name of the restaurant is Joe's Crab Shack, I would expect at least some decent crabs! I guess I shouldn't complain all that much though, since I got the Classic Steampot that is worth $21.99 free! If I had to pay $21.99 for that, I would be pretty upset :P Maybe we went on a bad day or maybe they couldn't cope due to the large crowd, I don't know. I guess we will never know, cos I don't think we will be returning to Joe's anytime soon.

Joe's Crab Shack - Lawrenceville, NJ
3191 US Route One
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Tel: (609) 896 0360
Web: http://joescrabshack.com/

Grounds For Sculpture - NJ Sculpture Garden

This is another very backdated post (sorry, I know..I am also getting tired of saying that at the beginning of almost every post :P). It's the first weekend of September and once again, Bank of America was having their Museums On Us promotion. For those of you who still don't know what that is, it's a program that Bank Of America is running. BoA customers can get free entrance to a whole list of museums nationwide (the list is on the BoA website) just by flashing their BoA card, every first weekend of the month. Since it's the Labor Day long weekend, Kevin and I decided to take a nice leisurely one and a half hours drive to Hamilton, NJ to check out Grounds For Sculpture (about 20 minutes away from Princeton).

Grounds For Sculpture is a 35-acre sculpture park and museum that was originally part of the New Jersey State Fairgrounds. Founded in 1992 by John Seward Johnson II, it opened it's doors to the public in 2000. Today, this sculpture park is home to over 240 large-scale contemporary sculptures, more than 2,000 rose bushes, 1,000 trees and numerous other flowers and shrubs planted to provide a beautiful setting for art. Waterways have also been excavated to create topographical contours and backdrops for sculpture.

Our first stop was the museum's visitors centre. A little tip for all of you who are planning to visit the Grounds For Sculpture. Head over to the visitors centre first before you do anything and buy yourself an Exhibition Site Map. It's only $1 and trust me, it will be a dollar well spent. Apart from a detailed map, you can also find all sorts of information about each sculpture/exhibition. Also, you can fill out a short survey at the information counter in the visitors centre and you get a Grounds For Sculpture souvenir poster free!

We had a great time just walking around the beautifully landscaped park, looking at various sculptures. Some were cute, modern looking and abstract...

While some was just downright weird! :P

Some of our favorite exhibits were works by Seward Johnson. A number of Johnson’s tableaus based on well-known nineteenth-century paintings are on view throughout Grounds For Sculpture. In the park are such favorites as Déjeuner Déjà Vu, inspired by Manet’s Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe and Family Secret, which is from Renoir’s On the Terrace. Here is an example of one of his more popular work in the park. He recreates Edouard Manet's (1832-83) painting, Déjeuner Sur l'Herbe, in his sculpture Déjeuner Déjà Vu with precise accuracy. It is difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is art. Johnson's three-dimensional play on a two-dimensional artwork brings Manet's painting one step closer to real life. Pretty cool eh? Here are more photos of his other works.

Yup, the best thing about recreating two-dimensional artwork to three-dimension is....we get to goof around and feel like we are 'part of the painting' :P We have tons of photos of us in various silly poses but we will spare you the ordeal of looking at them and just show you a few.

Another highlight is the Grounds for Sculpture’s charming restaurant, Rat’s. Rat's was conceived with Seward Johnson's vision of making visitors feel they have stepped into a village reminiscent of French impressionist Claude Monet's beloved town of Giverny. Overlooking Johnson’s sculptures inspired by Impressionists paintings, as well as the lily pond and bridge inspired by the works of Monet, Rat’s offers a magical ambiance for dining and a lovely compliment to the Grounds for Sculpture experience.

Here is the famous lily pond and bridge. With the smoke machine constantly going off at various intervals, it really does look like something out of a Monet painting. Don't you think so? Very beautiful.

After a long day of walking around the exhibits, we headed over to The Gazebo for a drink. Light snacks are also served here. The Gazebo is only opened during the warmer months of the year.

Here we are with our root beers. Too bad you can't really see the pond behind us. It was just so beautiful, with water lilies and willows trees by the bank. A perfect place to just sit back and relax. Drinks don't come cheap though. It cost us $7 just for two bottle of root beer :P You can also bring a picnic basket if you like. There are many picnic tables set up near the lake, all with awesome views.

We ended the day by heading over to the Domestic Arts Building to check out the museum gift shop as well as the Water Garden exhibit next to it. Back in the day, the Domestic Arts Building was an exhibit hall built in the 1920s for the NJ Fairgrounds to house displays of handicrafts, needlework, canned goods and other practical arts relating to the home. Today, it houses the museum gift shop as well as a cafe. Here are some photos from the Water Garden.

We spent just about 10 minutes or so here, cos it wasn't all that big. Also, the sky was getting dark and it started to drizzle a little, so we decided to call it a day.

On the way to the car, we stopped at the garden just next to the car park to snap a few photos of the peacocks. It's known as the peacock garden and you can find peacocks just roaming freely. I've never seen so many peacocks roaming freely in one small area. Cool stuff! :D We had a great time at the Grounds For Sculpture, a perfect place for a short getaway/day trip from the city. We will definitely try to return next summer, this time...maybe with a picnic basket!

Grounds For Sculpture
18 Fairgrounds Road
Hamilton, NJ 08619
Tel: (609) 586-0616
Fax: (609) 586-0968
Web: http://www.groundsforsculpture.org/