Cameron Highlands - Of Steamboat Dinner, Pasar Malam Brinchang & BEER Ice-Cream?!!

I'm psycho. Yup, read that right. After a long hiatus, I decided to post the remaining photos from my August 2008's Cameron Highlands getaway. (For previous instalments, click HERE). Here goes nothing ...

The prawns, the squids, the compulsory B-A-L-L-S, dumplings, enoki mushrooms and boiled quail's eggs (to boost that cholesterol level a notch or two)

Cameron Highlands houses various steamboat outlets, each with its own following, and charges almost the same price. But the portions may not be adequate, and choices are rather limited. So, being the smart alecs that we are, we transported 2 whole steamboat sets, shopped for a lot of ingredients before we reached the highlands, and held the inaugural annual steamboat dinner in Cameron.

Seeing greens? Motormouth I may be, but I worship my vegetables nonetheless ...

One pot clear broth flavoured by chicken stock, another by tomyam paste. Once again, we did NOT learn our lesson from last year's Steamboat-in-Cameron event, leftovers aplenty, that lasted until the next day's breakfast. Mostly the greens were bought in excess. Wonder which one of us is the culprit/carnivore ....

Giant white radishes ... Arm yourself with one, and no thugs will dare come near!

After a potentially stomach-bursting dinner, the sane option would be to burn them "evil calories" off. And what better way than to traverse through the pasar malam (night market) in Brinchang, savouring the sights, the sounds, and erm, the FOOD?!!! =O

Clockwise from top left : (a) Crystal Jambu (amazingly sweet and crunchy fruit @ RM6 each!), (b) Fried mushrooms, watercress, enoki mushrooms, (c) Fried BIG prawns, crabs and chicken, (d) "I see strawberries. They're everywhere.

Ice cream with a twist?

The night market at Brinchang town comes alive every weekend, on Friday and Saturday. My aim of course, is the FOOD. Though you can buy fresh vegetables, flowers, clothes and accessories, and the usual offerings at your favourite pasar malam.

My list of MUST-TRIES : 1) Batter-fried Enoki Mushrooms, and "Kam Cham Fah"

2) Fried sweet potato balls - Orange & Purple ones!

3) The jagung/maize/corn - Dubbed "Jagung Mutiara" ~ Sweet & juicy

4) The imaginatively-flavoured ice cream ...

The ice-cream stall owner is a friendly auntie, making her own ice-cream, and developing new flavours every now and then. It so happened that night, BEER, RUM, Cheesecake, Mango, Strawberry, Buah Cinta (Love fruit?), and various other weird varieties were available.

People say steamboat should be enjoyed with a pint of beer or two. Sad to say, we did not buy any. BUT, here's redemption. BEER Ice Cream !!! You can really taste the beer in the creamy dessert, thus every lick was a joy. The other flavour I tried was the Cheese flavour. Awkward, but not as cheesy as I'd hoped it would be.

Various sights around, and from our apartment, The Honeymoon Villa

Strawberry Muffins, and the morning-afternoon market at Brinchang

Sweet Potato Balls, and Jagung Mutiara (RM2/each), that can be eaten raw

And that's a wrap, folks. Thinking of a destination for your family vacation? Or a simple getaway from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan life? Visit Cameron Highlands for a cool, relaxing, and serene experience ...