People who love food, who talk about food, who take pictures of food invariably become food bloggers, and why not – it’s fun! Besides the domain name, one of the biggest things an aspiring food blogger has to choose is their blog template.

It’s not as hard as it seems, although the themes we list below are for Wordpress (because we use Wordpress for this website), the tips below can be used for any format of website.

Some tips on choosing a theme for your food blog:

White background, black font

Since a food blog is all about the pictures and the descriptions of the food/ restaurant/ recipe, you don’t want to distract your readers from this fact. Black font on a white background is proven to be the easiest and most natural way for people to read.

If your blog is mostly pictures, you can consider a black background, but only if your post is made up of 80% pictures or more.

Blog Width

Stick to a fixed width template, where it looks the same width no matter what size screen you view it on. The reason for this is that problems will come up with some old computers and computers with small screens if your blog automatically adjusts it’s width to suit, such as pictures and fonts overlapping etc.

The width for the body of content (where you write your posts) should ideally be between 450px – 500px wide, to maintain a nice sentence length as well as to keep pictures nice and small (file size) and load faster.

Two or Three Column Themes

Sticking to a theme with 2 or 3 columns will make your blog less cluttered. Since it’s all about the photos and descriptions, this is where you want people to focus. The cleaner the better. (more…)

I really don’ think it’s that bad?

Malaysia is truly a unique place to live, work, grow and eat. When you drive to work, you can feel the aggression, anger and less than polite drivers on the road, honking, flashing and weaving in and out of traffic.

At the office, there’s office politics, there’s tension between managers and staff, between managers and their bosses.

Basically, there are plenty of opportunities for people to get frustrated, to get angry and more often than not, they do become angry, voice up and complain a little.

But when it comes to famous food, it’s a different story altogether. (more…)

I know what is a good wan tan mee as I have eaten it from the stall as the son of a wan tan mee vendor for close to half a century and have been an assistant to my father from young till late teens.

Wan tan mee can be rated by its components making up of the soup, the noodle, char siew and wantan. In the early days wan tan mee does not have curry soup, it was either the dry or soup version. Also, the prawn dumpling or sui kow, roasted meats, mushroom and stewed chicken feet, stew beef, stewed pork ribs, dried curry chicken, prawn wantan and many other add-ons found these days are later years’ additions.

These days a good wan tan mee could only be found at street stalls, usually manned by an old couple who have plied the trade for 40-50 years or the second generation of the family. The ones at food courts run by foreign workers I will avoid.

A good soup should be clear and smell strongly of ikan bilis and dried flounder fish meat. The soup will be deliciously sweet. Ikan bilis are of several grades and stalls usually use a cheaper quality which is big and have a flaky silvery skin. To avoid the flaking ikan bilis skin and have a clear soup, the ikan bilis has to be put into a cloth bag and tied at one end. So, if you see a blackish bloated bag floating in the soup, be assured that it is ikan bilis soup you are getting. Some stalls use pork bones and the soup can be easily recognized as it is milky white in colour. I prefer the clear soup. If neither of this is used then beware – it is monosodium glutamate that they are using. This you can observe when they spoon into the soup soya sauce laden with the msg. For ikan bilis soup no further flavoring is needed.

Wan tan noodle in Kuala Lumpur these days are not made by the noodle seller but at some small supplier factories. In smaller towns where demand cannot sustain a noodle supplier, the wan tan noodle seller makes his own. The noodles are available in various grades dependent on the quantity of eggs used. The more eggs are in the noodle, hence more expensive, the springier it will be. This grade, in Cantonese, “chin tan meen” meaning only eggs ( used in the ) noodle. Springy noodles with thinner strands are the better noodles. Generally, the thinner noodles you see are the noodles that are springy. Only established stalls have this grade of noodles.

Char siew or barbecue pork is usually dyed red but there are those marinated with thick black soya sauce. I much prefer the latter as it is probably healthier without the chemical dye. Good char siew should not be made with lean meat but instead has substantial fat. Its called half fat and thin, literally translating from Cantonese “poon fei sau”. Besides being moist, the oiliness from the fat gives the meat its juicy texture. If you are afraid of the fatty meat you are not eating a good char siew. The meat is usually marinated with salt, sugar and five spice powder besides the colorant which will come from either the thick black sauce or the red dye.

In Malaysia the Muslim market is a big one and food court uses chicken meat for the halal version of char siew. The lean chicken meat is not so tasty. The seasonings used I suspect is different.

Nowadays many stalls fry cook their char siew in a wok. This is a short cut and the end product is not roasted meat which the char siew is. Such char siew is usually not moist and taste more like woody fibre. The best char siew is roasted in an oil drum with both ends removed and over a strong kerosene fire. This char siew comes in the long strips when roasted. Parts of the strips will have burnt ends called in Cantonese, char siew tow meaning char siew head. Some connoisseurs asked for a separate plate of these burnt char siew as the bitter burnt taste can be delicious, ignoring health advice that burnt meat can be carcinogenic.

The wantan skin does not require any special ingredient except flour. A thick skin will slow cooking and taste of too much of flour. The minced pork used should have some fatty bits as just lean meat does not taste good. Machine mincing the meat is not as good as chopping it manually. The former method gives you a paste whilst the other method let you taste the pork better with its unevenness and fatty bits. Many good stalls use the dried flounder fish meat as an ingredient in the wan tan. The fish meat which comes dried is roasted over a low fire and than grounded roughly. However, these days they can buy them ground and in a tin.

Boiling wantan requires hot boiling water so that it is quickly cooked. Slow cooking melts and soften the skin and the wantan does not look and taste freshly made. Some operators when they are busy ignore changing the boiling water and accumulated flour from cooking much noodles and wantan make the water slimy and thick. This will also form a film and mask the wantan’s taste. Those who pre-cook their wantan makes them soggy and unattractive to eat.

Sometimes you get deep fried wantan. I believe they originated from excess wantan from a previous day that could still be sold by deep frying them. Only the freshly fried ones taste nice. This item has found its way in hotels as items in tim sum, starters in a banquet and buffet line.

The sui kow, a bigger version of the wantan with more ingredients and considered a family member of wantan noodle. I love the delicious prawn in big chunks found in it. Other ingredients include bits of water chest nut for its crunchiness and thinly sliced black fungus for its crunchiness and rubbery texture. Chopped spring onion and chopped carrot are also included. There is a version of sui kow without prawns for those who do not eat prawns because of cholesterol fear.

The oil used to mix the noodles should preferably be pork lard as it is more fragrant than other oils. Using pork lard only requires some soya and thick black sauce. There is no need for oyster sauce. Some use a mixture of oyster sauce, soya sauce, sometimes gravy from char siew and msg in the gravy spooned in after mixing with the black sauce. I do not like the latter mixture.

Sawi or mustard leaf vegetable in its full length not cut into shorter pieces is the traditional greens added to the noodle. Some use baby kai lan but this is at the more pricy places. A very important accompaniment is green pickled chillies. Freshly made chillies is revealed by its crunchiness and the clear vinegar water in which it is kept in. Popular stalls where the turnover is high prepares their pickled chillies daily.

Chuah Soon Guan

Gong Xi Fa Chai! Happy Chinese New Year!

It’s that time of the year again, that last working day before a long Chinese New Year break… So before everyone heads off to eat Yee Sang, gamble and collect ang paus, we at Feedmelah.com would like to wish all our readers a very happy CNY and Gong Xi Fa Chai!

During long holidays, people usually don’t use the Internet much, ourselves included… so although we will try our best to put up posts, we may be too busy eating and eating and eating, and gambling, drinking eating and gambling as well as other combinations… haha..

So I leave you with a question before we all head off to balik kampung…

What do you love about Chinese New Year the most?

Leave your answers in the comments section. I’ll put the first one…

[Photo from Flickr: Laurence & Annie]

A food blog, especially here in Malaysia, usually means an online demonstration on just how much one or more people can eat over a given period of time. Not only does it involve constant eating, it also involves figuring out where to eat and what to eat as multiple posts about the same food/ restaurant is avoided as much as possible.

A food blog involves a personal critique of the restaurant that the food blogger (or flogger for short) is currently eating at, accompanied by carefully taken photography of the food in question. This encourages floggers to start buying better and better cameras, so as to be able to capture the ‘taste’ of the food through the ‘look’ from the picture.

Even for myself, I knew I needed something a bit better than my old film based camera to take decent photos, coupled with the fact that with film, you can’t review and delete and retake as required. Hence taking the plunge and getting myself a nice DSLR (Nikon D80).

Further still, food photography for a food blog requires the flogger to learn the skills (through self study or trial and error) of macro photography, lighting, composition etc.

About the personal critique, some floggers can be no holds barred when it comes to describing the food they eat. A dry chicken chop can be described as ‘tasted like old cloth’ and a slightly salty dish can be described as ‘tasted like I was sucking on the ocean’.

Whereas others take a more critical approach to the dish with comments like ‘it could have used the sour note of a lime, rather than a lemon’ or ‘a white cream sauce would have been much better with this type of fish’. Which type are you? (Are you wearing boxing gloves? Or a chef’s hat?)

A food blog can also be a constant drain on the wallet and a constant addition to the flab on the stomach, by eating too much too often, too expensive too often or a combination of both. The solution can be found by blogging about street food (for the wallet) and going to the gym (for the gut) although both can be hard to stick to all the time.

A food blog is all things food, from eating out to maybe even a recipe or two here and there, but what lies beneath the surface (or sometimes on top) is the uncanny love of a good meal out, usually with friends and family.

Especially here in Malaysia, where both are a plenty. So keep on eating! [Photos from Flickr by: altemark's, gimmie_shoes, azure_elixir]

All I can think of is roast turkey… [Picture - Flickr: Hoomant]

Here at Feedmelah.com, we’ve been asking ourselves, what actually IS a Christmas dinner? What types of food do you usually serve to family and friends during Christmas parties?

We know that in Malaysia, if you tell someone to come to a pot luck dinner, regardless of the ocassion, there will always be somebody who brings satay, KFC, pizza… but that’s not Christmas food.

So we ask everyone out there, what dishes do you consider suitable for a Christmas dinner? Here’s some of what we came up with.

Roast Turkey
Chicken Pie
Mince Pies
Lasagna
Cesar’s Salad
Eggnog
Yule Log Cake

Any other suggestions? Let us know below.

Why do Malaysians love food so much?

It must be something genetic, something which runs through our blood, something every Malaysian was born with or maybe it’s something in the water? Because deep deep down, every single Malaysian loves food. It’s hard to put a finger on it because even for myself, who grew up in Dubai and having spent only a few years of my life in Malaysia, also loves Malaysian food. After all, how many times do you remember meeting up with a group of friends only for the conversation to inexplicably turn to food?

’’Hey… Have you tried that new place in PJ? You know… The one near the bank? I heard it’s damn good lah… We should go try one day!’‘

Sounds familiar right?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Malaysians tend to have food constantly on the mind, before one meal is over they’re thinking about what to eat for the next. Food seems to be the predominant thought no matter who they are with or where in the world they are.

Picture from Flickr: Jean-Marc Rocher

During breakfast, ‘What do you feel like eating for lunch?’

During lunch, ‘I think tonight I’ll get some mamak’

During dinner, ‘Wow, lunch sure was good, we should go back to that place again sometime.’

During supper, ‘Hmmm… I wonder what’s for breakfast’

We just can’t run away from it or get food out of our heads. It’s automatic, it’s in our subconscious.

FOOD AT HOME

For most Malaysians, their first ever experiences with local cuisine probably began at home. Be it cooking up a storm of Indian, Chinese, Malay or other types of food by the head chef (usually just referred to as ‘mum’) you had no choice but to eat it, like it or not.

And on the odd occasion that the family decided to go out and eat for a change, with 3 major ethnic styles of food available, we’ve always been spoiled for choice.

FOOD FOR LIFE

For alot of people in Malaysia, their lifestyles can revolve around food, we live to eat, not the other way around. In many western countries, there isn’t this option of going out late at night just to hang out at a food outlet (unless you count McDonalds or KFC) whereas in Malaysia, most mamak’s are 24 hours. Sometimes it’s nice to just go to a nearby mamak, meet some close friends and chit chat the night away.

FOOD OVERSEAS

You always miss roti canai.

When people go overseas to study or work, they are usually left with the parting message from their friends or relatives to ‘learn to adapt to the local culture’. Visitors from America, Europe or Australia coming to Malaysia to study will (mostly) happily eat and enjoy the local fare. Heck, they may even learn to love it!

But what about when Malaysians go overseas?

Most of us have friends who are still working or studying overseas and how many times have they said things like:

“I miss nasi lemak, char kuey teow and roti canai from back home. It doesn’t taste the same here and it’s really expensive.”

I don’t think Malaysians are reluctant to try the food of other cultures, but when you are overseas, you find comfort in something that reminds you of home and what better a way than eating a bowl of curry laksa with a glass of teh tarik (kurang manis of course)? Especially when the weather outside is bleak, cold and snowing with Malaysia and your head chef (Mum) seeming a million miles away?

So be it loving Malaysian food at home, overseas or just having food always on the mind, the bottom line is that Malaysians eat not to live, but live to eat.

Hmmm… I wonder what’s for dinner?

The Starbucks of Malaysia.

The Kopi Tiam has been around for decades, all the way back to the days of our grandparents and World War 2. Since then, it has transformed itself into a social past time for aged retirees, to the modern day, local equivilant of Starbucks and Coffee Bean.

Drive around in any large shopping district of Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya and you’d be hard pressed not to spot a Starbucks or Coffee Bean somewhere in the area, you may even find both! But look a little harder and you’ll probably find a Kopi Tiam nestled somewhere amongst the big boys, minding it’s own business and raking in all the cash.

The resurgence of an olden day past time which was more favoured by uncles and aunties who wanted a place to gossip and chit chat the day away has recently made a comeback. And what’s more, it’s the young who are frequenting the Kopi Tiams you see dotted around Malaysia.

A thing of the past, present and future.

You Sell Space? We Sell Space Too

The business model of the established coffee outlets like Starbucks and Coffee Bean are that they are not in the business of selling coffee, but selling space. Take this business model and replace the ‘Ice Blendeds’ with ‘Kopi Ais’, the ‘Muffins’ with ‘Roti Bakar’ and you have yourself a Kopi Tiam.

But selling space is no new thing for Kopi Tiams, they’ve been doing it for the longest time. 50 years ago there may not have been WIFI or airconditioning, but a Kopi Tiam was somewhere you would go with friends and just chit chat the day away, over a cup of black coffee, a piece of toast smothered in kaya and butter and two nicely half boiled eggs.

Getting In On The Act

The money generated by a Kopi Tiam can be quite staggering if it’s done correctly. For this reason and for this reason alone, the number of new outlets appearing all over Malaysia has been steadily increasing day by day. There are so many that in a single area, like Damansara Uptown, you can have 2 Kopi Tiams and 2 Starbucks no more than 500 metres away from each other.

There are many ways to start a Kopi Tiam, the easiest of which is to become a franchisee, where the parent company will provide assistance in almost every aspect of opening the outlet, all the way down to training the staff. However, this is probably the most expensive option as there can be very heavy royalty payments paid to the franchisor. However, you do get the benefit of a known brand name.

The other route to go down would be starting up your very own Kopi Tiam and creating a new brand for yourself. You’ll need to do everything from the training, decorating, stocking and recipes yourself, but it can cost you a whole lot less.

I prefer tea actually.

The Young and The Hopeful

Go into any Kopi Tiam now and I’ll bet you that 70% of the crowd are young, working adults or college/ university students. It’s a place to go and chat with friends, do some work or broker a business deal. It’s a trendy place to be seen now, although not so long ago they wouldn’t have been caught dead in one them.

Providing you with free WIFI for frequenting an outlet has made the Kopi Tiam a place where students and even working executives can congregate and do some work. A place where entrepreneurs and businessmen can meet clients or answer emails while they are out of the office. A place where these dame business deals can be made or broken.

The humble Kopi Tiam is slowly turning itself into a hub for the young and the business minded alike, a place for generation Y to sit and aspire.

So be it whether you want to run your own Kopi Tiam, sit and enjoy the atmosphere with family friends or do a little business, I think the Kopi Tiam experience is going to be around for another 50 years to come.

When I was a kid, I was given a book to read called ‘The Fattypuffs and The Thinifers’. It was written in 1930, and was a story about a pair of siblings that find an entrance to a hidden world, buried miles beneath the surface of earth. This world had two races, namely, the Fattypuffs and the Thinifers.

The Fattypuffs were a race of fat, happy people, who’s main, almost religious like belief was that one ‘lives to eat’ and enjoys himself.

The Thinifers on the other hand, were a race of skinny, mistrusting people, whose main, also religious like belief was the complete opposite. One ‘eats to live’ and no more.

Both races were on the verge of war with each other.

Although completely fictional, it does have many commonalities with the current times, where more often than not, city folk live to eat and enjoy themselves while doing so (although I’m hoping we don’t go to war with people on a diet).

Food Is A Lifestyle Choice

Families use it as a time to bond, to celebrate a birthday, a promotion, a marriage and any other type of quality family time. Students and working executives use food as an excuse to meet with friends, to date, to study and even to gossip about the boss. Businessmen take clients to nice restaurants to cement a good business relationship, to propose a new deal or to sign on an old one.

Dining out has become a lifestyle choice in the modern age and people are happier for it.

What Would a Caveman Do?

It’s 10,000 B.C. I’m hungry. I pick up my spear, grunt and shout at a few of my clan members, put on a Mammoth coat and we go out for a hunt. What we catch, we eat. If we don’t catch anything, we go hungry. We eat enough to keep us alive. Nothing more.

You don’t see many cave paintings showing cavemen sitting around a fire, with a mug of Mammoth milk in one hand, eating a second helping of deer or buffalo, laughing and singing the night away just because they could.

It’s 2008 and I’m hungry. I pick up my handphone, grunt and shout at a few friends, put on a T-shirt and we go out for a hunt. A hunt for the nearest restaurant that is, where we sit around a table, a teh tarik in one hand, eating a second helping of satay, laughing and sometimes even singing the night away. Because we can.

What Happened To The Fattypuffs And Thinifers?

They go to war.

The Thinifers win and absorb the Fattypuff kingdom into their own. Many soldiers of the occupying army of the Thinifers begin to marry Fattypuff girls, and return to their homeland with affection for the country that they conquered. The Thinifers begin to adopt Fattypuff cuisine, habits, and attitudes. Consequently, the Thinifer president proclaims that the two peoples form a new nation, the United States of the Underground.

King Plumpapuff, the former king of the Fattypuffs, is made sovereign of this new nation, while the Thinifer president is made his chancellor. All distinctions by weight are abolished.

The siblings make it back to their own world and everyone lives happily ever after.

The moral of the story? It’s going to become a Fattypuff world anyway, so you might as well go out, eat and be merry.

Because you can. [Wikipedia], [planettom], [redwoodr]