IMU Chariofare, Haji Samuri Satay, and Bumbu Desa's Gado Gado

This week, the International Medical University of Malaysia is organizing a fund raising event for Charity, the IMU Chariofare. This makes it my debut run for a Charity 5km event, and am totally psyched for it!

Sadly, I woke up slightly after the race had ended!

I call it a good night's rest.

Moving on, I jump started my kitchen gas stove again after a long hiatus. What do you do when you have extra peanut sauce? Why, you make some gado-gado hybrid meal of course :)

A cook makes do with whatever ingredients available for a decent meal preparation. Haji Samuri Satay, which had been sitting in the freezer for the past few weeks, finally got nommed!

Easy ingredients, but time consuming because I wanted variety :

1) Peanut Sauce
2) Satay
3) Hard boiled Eggs
4) Carrots, steamed
5) Long Beans, blanched
6) Onions, raw
7) Taugeh, blanched
8) Cucumbers, raw
9) Cauliflower, blanched
10) Tomatoes, raw
11) Store bought sambal pandan rice
12) Tempeh, fried!

Tempeh

This low fat, high calcium and high protein nutty soybean product is white when uncooked. I totally did not know that, and got laughed out of the store I bought it from. :)

Deep fried for that healthy tanned, burnt look

Apparently, tempeh does not keep. So don't be ignorant and lazy ... cook it immediately after you get it. Price (RM 1.00 - RM 1.50) for 100 - 150 grams.

Mouldy Tempeh from Jaya Grocer (RM 1.50), left in the fridge for exactly 6 days.

Real Good Gado-Gado

... must be prepared, blanched, cooked, and assembled on the spot from fresh ingredients.

I made the mistake of having gado-gado at Bumbu Desa, Alamanda Putrajaya and was disappointed by the mash up of stale ingredients. (RM 10.00)

The potatoes had actually gone bad

Tapioca crackers - crunchy and tasty, but could not salvage the failed gado-gado

So my cravings for a decent gado-gado still remains ... spoiled by my visit to Medan Lake Toba, where Romlan Guesthouse cooks made the best gado gado I ever had!

Romlan Guesthouse, Tuk Tuk, Lake Toba

Beautiful sunrise view from Romlan Guesthohuse

Have a break, with Nestle's Maccha Green Tea Kit Kat

I've recently been feeling like this :

In the above snipplet, Lydia screams into a pillow while in a conference call after a stressful encounter with the DEA.

I <3 TV.

In other news, Nestle's Green Tea Kit Kat is now available in Malaysia!

This is not a sponsored post. I just really really love this bite sized snack. It is :

• Creamy and milky leaving residual traces on your finger for the final few licks
• Crunchy thin wafer that does not resist being nom'ed
• Green!
• Sweet to achieve that mild sugar rush
• 67 calories only
• Perfect for a 30 seconds break!

Green and shiny packaging

The green in green tea

nom!

Where To Buy : Shojikoya, Mid Valley The Gardens (the one beside Hokkaido Ichiba). Coldstorage in The Gardens also has it for a few cents cheaper (RM 22.60). Village Grocer wins with this priced at RM 17.90!