Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Cameron Highlands

Finally have time to blog bout my CH trip. Visited CH last week on 14th March. Although i have been there more than N times. But this time, a little bit diff, my good friend Siao Yan, take us walk around CH, and visits some place that only local ppl know.

It takes around 2 n half hours, drive all way from BW to CH, follow the Simpang Pulai highway.

Siao Yan is CH local ppl, so she know where is the real place that worth to visit.

Show you some hints........
Cactus....hehe....


Yeah, it is Cactus Valley....Entrance fee for tourist RM4, CH local ppl is FREE
It is worth to visit this place because there is not just Cactus Valley to visit, but also can visit few farms around near CV, it is FREE...such as....

Organic Vege Farm

The first place we go before visit CV, because need to pass by here.

Vege is ready for sale, you can pick the fresh vege from here..


This organice vege farm is not very big, but is kind of good experience too. Note: After you visits here, you wont buy ORGANICE VEGE anymore!!

The CV ofcourse is not just to see cactus. Siao Yan, as our tour guide, bring us walk around from 1 level to another level.. if without her guide, i think we will get lost or missed some of the special plants. ..It is really big place....




This is not the biggest one....

Very tall....

New hair style??


Actually the biggest one already "passed away'...so the one showing here is not the real biggest one..

Very beautiful cactus flower

Tons of cactus


Ok, enough for the cactus. Snapped a lots of cactus photo, just pick few to upload here.....
Except cactus, we also saw lots of special fruits,& plants....



Forgot the name, but look very nice, the color is greenish blue flower


CH Apples

Giant cactus

Another part of the CV, is a big flower farm too, you can visit here for FREE..

This is not cherry la....

Lantern Flower

Tomatoes

Forgot the name, special kind of fruit from CH

Fake Lavender (This is not the real look of Lavender flower)

Rose: New Color

Dont touch me!

Don't come closer!

Ah, snapped lots of photo here, beautiful flower makes me feel happy :)
After few hours here, SY intro us to another place. Rose garden at near "top of mountain"..( meaning is very far from town)
This place is only known by local ppl. Is a private rose garden, but still open for public to visit... Note that you must have a very very very good driving skills as the road to get in there is just very tiny small and only have 1 lane, best fit for Kancil or Myvi small size car go in...or bicycle better

But that time is not a good time to see roses...not so many roses around, but have a very good view to see Boh Tea garden



Some weird flower but nice looking...


This is Raspberry :)

Passion Fruit

Big size orchid, almost same size like my palm

After visited this farm, we continue to next place...Boh Tea Farm


Note: Boh Tea Garden is the biggest tea garden in CH. You will see some small tea garden named as Cameron Valley, don't be fooled by this tea garden, it is strongly not recommended to visit this place! (Although it is FREE) Don't even try their tea, it taste just like very cheap chinese tea, blekkk....somemore it cost very expensive too. For a small tea pot of tea cost RM14 (no tea leaf inside, no refill too! Yea, the tea pot capacity is enough for 4 small cups of tea, if you want to drink more, buy another pot!) And also don't buy this brand name tea or products because it is not real tea from CH la, fake one!!...



It is not easy to go there, because without an expert driving skills, you will not dare to go in there by drive on your own, else you will cause lots of trouble or make the whole road traffic jam. The road to get in this tea farm is not that wide enough, only have 1 lane. So, traffic jam along the way to get in here is very common. But unfortunately, the weather is not good enough, it keep raining. Even we have arrived the parking place, but still not able to walk inside the shop and cafe because it keeps raining....:( Only can take some photos from far view....


To purchase the genuine Boh Tea products, it is recommended to purchase it here because they have variety of choices, some flavor is not for sale outside , or even at CH souvenier shop. And don't buy those chap pa lang brand tea, only the packing is attractive, but is not worth to buy it from CH. I think those chap pa lang brand available for sale at Tesco or Giant supermarket too.

By the way, it has a big souvenir shop named Green View Garden before we go in Brinchang (Located beside the road side, the second big shop, you can see it when you first coming in CH). They'r selling most of their own products and has a cafe inside, ofcourse can hand pick your own straberry 1kg cost RM40 if not mistaken..

Taste not so nice and not cheap too...

Actually did not try anything inside, because i know that strawberry from CH is NOT SWEET taste one. So we give up try any of the food here....Yan take us to another bakery shop which only known by their local ppl. Forgot the shop name, but they supply almost whole CH cafe cakes and other bakery stuffs.

Marble cheese cake, blueberry cheese tart and strawberry blueberry tart...

That day is sunday, so only have carrot cheese cake and few item above for sale. Not everyday have same flavor cake for sale, because they supply the cake or bread based on their MOOD. But the taste is really super yummy...especially the marble cheese cake..taste better than Secret Recipe's or Eden. The bottom part of marble cheese cake is like coffee flavor, but mixed with dark chocolate and some chocolate chips on top...dunno how to say it. I m big fan of bakery stuffs, especially cakes!..The blueberry cheese tart is last 2 only, no more left, it taste super yummy too. But Yan said the best selling cake is Chocolate Cake...ahh, no chance to try it because still not yet ready when we arrived :(...


By the way, we also visits Yan herself has a floral garden too, really big garden. It have many kind of plants too.
This is super big size lemon. Around 5-7cm


Strawberry chili


Buddha Palm :P

Strawberries...

Yuen Shya & her hubby, yan, and 4 of us yum cha together

Finally, before back home ofcourse is shopping time. What did i bought from CH? Strawberry? Blek..boring stuff..you better buy from Tesco or Giant one imported strawberry taste better...
Cherry tomatoes??...ofcourse not, i can buy it here at our morning market...
Sweet corn?? Note to all visitor that dont simply buy the sweet corn la, cuz mostly is from other places, and they said is from CH, top up the price already..better dont buy any lo...
........
........
.......
Tadah....
The pure blueberry jam & Strawberry White Coffee....

I know that blueberry jam is not from CH too, but this one is more pure blueberry jam, have a lots of blueberry inside, not just jam...:P
and the Strawberry White Coffee. Never try before, so buy a pack to try it out...It taste so special, not too heavy strawberry smell. But not cheap, this box cost me RM15, the jam is RM7.90 price still acceptable..Already finished half bottle :P

But if you still insist to buy strawberry, fresh vege, flowers, fruit, or sweet corn. You can visit the pasar near the road side. A little far away from town, but there sell things more cheaper. Honestly say, it is mostly organised by Chinese ppl. You can buy strawberry at lelong price too. DONT buy anything at the pasar malam in town, that one is chop head pasar malam.

Lastly, thanks to Yan let us stay at her home overnight, so that we can save the accomodation expenses. and also treat us homemade steamboat, bring us to eat at the place that suit our taste buds to avoid chop head by those restaurants, and also be our tour guide to bring us visit some places that we never know too.

Note: I m going to Hatyai for Songkran celebration on this April 11, although is not the exact date, ( exact date is on 13th April) but heard they said is very fun and ppl there already start celebrating this festival until it ends, so excited!! But i lost my boarder pass la (We no need to take passport to go Hatyai). But give up searching for my boarder pass, instead of pay RM10 to redo my boarder pass, i still decided to use my passport. And also have another trip to Bangkok again same on both end of April and end of August....Opps.......almost forgot that i have a trip to Bali on mid of august and HK on Sept.I almost book the same date to HK & Bangkok, lucky i double check the date before i book the ticket. Wohoo...Ahh, life is beautiful :)

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

DIY酵素+桔子酸梅

上个星期六,心血来潮要自制酵素 和桔子酸梅。自制酵素已经不是第一次了,但桔子酸梅还是第一次呢。先来介绍这次要做的水果酵素。

主要水果:葡萄,青苹果,柠檬, 桔子

酸梅

制造酵素的蜜糖条



酵素制造法:除了水果,蜜糖条,还有玻璃瓶。
制造之前要注意:水果要洗清结,确定干了才可以开始做。然后刀和垫板都要干的。整个制造过程不可以有一滴水。成败就是看这个了。
先把柠檬皮削掉,白白的部分尽量去掉。。如果没去掉,做出来的酵素味道会苦。


去了皮的柠檬。。。

最低层先放柠檬,然后才把水果切片。水果尽量切越薄越好。有助于酵素的速度。
然后一层青苹果,葡萄,青苹果,再放葡萄。(水果持续可因个人喜好而排列)关键是柠檬和蜜糖条。放好了水果,可以把柠檬切片放在水果上面,然后才放蜜糖条。然后就这样排到最后要完成时,记得一定要把蜜糖条放在最上面。然后可以在加上蜜糖酱,淋满蜜糖条上面。整个自造过程不可以加水。

水果可以这样排列

水果汁会慢慢流出来

做好了,就把它摆放在阴凉的地方。如果要知道成不成功,就要等隔天,看看有没有发霉。

经过一天。。。。

看看,是不是很多果汁了
看到很多泡泡吗?


如果过了几天,上面一层没有黑色的霉,就代表成功了。发霉是白色的,如果有看到白白的一层,别担心,这代表它开始发酵啦。
要放多久才能饮用呢?最少要放两个星期。当然越久越好。喝的时候是有酒精的哦。。是不时很奇妙吧。


这个是已经成功了的。苹果和番茄味。
再来看看桔子酸梅。
制造桔子酸梅制造更容易。
材料是桔子+酸梅+白糖。 把桔子中间切开,然后把酸梅塞在中间。然后摆放在瓶里是,在塞满白糖。


完成了。尽量把糖塞满啦


经过几天后,就变成这样啦。

糖会继续溶解。要放起码两个星期。得空可以自己试一试看。