1. What's your favourite comfort food?
Chocolate! Chocolate is a quick pick-me-up. If I had more time, baking my own desserts (chocolate lava cake or minty, lemon cheesecake anyone?) calms me (and fills me up).
2. What's the one food or ingredient that you absolutely abhor?
Duck and lamb. Anything associated with duck meat or lamb just makes me nauseous. Do you know my husband bought me pillows made from duck down and feathers (cause I had a really bad back problem so thought this was a remedy). We had to return it!My sister thought I was being a diva when mum had to prepare another small dish of fish/chicken when duck meat or lamb was being served at the table, just for me. One day, she prepared spaghetti beef bolognese for dinner but without me knowing, she added a tiny bit of lamb into the gravy. I LOVE my bolognese so I piled the sauce onto my pasta, but after one bite, I rushed to the toilet to vomit it out.And my sister went, “Oh … so you were really NOT kidding!”.Goat cheese, foie gras, sup kambing … I don’t take.
3. Complete this sentence. If I were a dish, I would be ....
A moist chocolate Molten Cake. And my husband would be the vanilla ice-cream. My girls can be the extra chocolate toppings. Aren’t we a delicious family?
4. What's the first dish you ever cooked on your own?
A chocolate ghetto cake. We didn’t have a conventional oven then, and I used the microwave oven. It turned out to be quite yummy and was a popular request for family birthdays. “Baked” it with my sister Michelle. I was 10.
5. How adventurous are you when it comes to eating? A scale of 1 to 10?
Ermm ...3? When I love a particular dish or restaurant, I can have the same dish for a week straight. My husband was quite “jelak” when I was in my nasi briyani mode. Now we take turns to choose dinner - Isobel, hubs and I.Isobel is very much like me. So predictable.
6. What's the strangest thing you've ever eaten?
Sago beetle ... Live! Had to do it for a TV show. My mother used to make me eat them (cooked with a bit of chilli) and even offered to pay me RM100 but I would not budge. Then fast forward a few years later, I had to eat them for a game show - and my mother had the biggest laugh over it.
7. Share with us some foodie tips, or some of your favourite dining places.I like my Loi Hin (Inanam, KK Sabah) for my beef noodles. Go early in the morning cause the soup is still ‘thick’. Mee Tuaran (City Café, KK Sabah). They also serve really nice red bean buns. I like Salut restaurant for my seafood.In KL? Nasi Lemak bumbung (somewhere behind the Maybank lorong in PJ). Hilton KL for the best dimsum (a bit mahal though). Jalan Imbi for teochew porridge. Mum’s Place, Damansara Perdana for nyonya food. Nasi lemak sambal power at this restaurant near NST office. Lupa nama but it used to be in Bangsar?In Penang, Gurney is still my favourite hawker place despite people saying it’s too commercialised. I have my muachee guy there. Love it! For laksa, Ayer Itam (the corner shop) again, I can’t remember the actual name. The owner is very accommodating - he sometimes gets us to eat at an aircon café nearby (but you have to order their soya drinks, which is actually pretty yum too. They serve nice desserts too). The best nasi kandar is in front of the 7-11 at Sg Dua. Near USM.Louisevllle Kentucky, USA. Claudia Sanders restaurant … Yes, Colonel Sanders wife’s (former) restaurant (bought over). Go on Sundays buffet. THE BOMB!
8. Share your idea of the perfect foodie day! A weekend preferably. So I can eat and enjoy my meal. Brunch: Banana leaf or Dimsum at KL Hilton Tea: High tea at Mandarin Oriental Dinner: Japanese - Terrace at Hock Choon Ampang has some delicious mentai.
9. Who would be your perfect dinner date, and why?
My sister Michelle-Ann or husband Joe, cause they are more adventurous and always scouting for new places to try.
10. You are proudly of Kadazan-Dusun ancestry. Share with us your favourite traditional dish.
Definitely the hinava! It’s made out of very fresh fish (usually tenggiri), sliced and mixed with lots of lime, chopped shallots and sliced chilli! I’m salivating just thinking about it!
.jpg)
