Cameron Highlands Apples

You would be forgiven if you thought "Oh no, she got conned again with another dodgy apple from Cameron Highlands" (see Conned - Hybrid Guava-Apple It Is Not). Forgiven, but wrong.  

My first thought when I walked into a farm and saw these plants was "What are these? Eggplants??" I wasn't alone in thinking that. A woman very authoritatively told her husband and kids that those were definitely eggplants. However, I wasn't as hundred percent sure as she was. And hubby was certain those were not eggplants. So I went and asked one of the farmhands. He said those were apples. Apples?? Yes, Cameron Highlands' very own apples. Are they sour or sweet? Sweet. They taste like honeydew. Ohhh.....


The farmhand said all the riped ones had been plucked. Being someone who loved to try new things, I didn't want to go home without getting some. After badgering him, he said if I saw any that was yellow with red stripes, I could pluck those. But I'd have to keep them in room temperature for about two days for them to completely ripen, otherwise they won't taste good.

 Nope, not ripe for plucking

Ready to be plucked, and should ripen in two days

We only managed to find six apples that could be plucked. I guess there must have been a lot of tourists that visited during the May 1st holiday, as this is not the peak season. 


Today, three of the apples ripened and they exuded a rich honeydew smell. After chilling them in the fridge for a few hours, we sank our teeth into them. And......they were wonderful. Very juicy, juicier than regular honeydew, and sweet, those apples taste exactly like honeydew. The skin was a little funny, though. Felt like plastic. I couldn't peel them with a peeler, but after I had cut them, I could peel it off by pulling at the edge and dragging it off in one neat tug. Another hybrid??!! But the farmhand did NOT say it's a hybrid apple-honeydew......

The apples were very juicy and sweet

"Riped" pak choy for picking

Didn't pick any cherry tomatoes as those that were riped were too tiny while the decent sized ones were not ready for picking

The sunflowers were not for sale and signs were posted prominently forbidding picking of the flowers

Bigger than my head -- I took a photo standing next to it to compare who has a bigger head and the sunflower won hands down

Effects of Caffeine On Diabetics

Most of us need caffeine, be it tea or coffee, to jump start our battery in the morning. Hubby is no exception. In fact, he takes caffeine throughout the day, most of it in the form of coffee. Ever since he discovered that he is diabetic last Monday, he has been taking his coffee plain: black, no sugar. 


Let me sidetrack for a moment here. When I was in Penang, I visited my uncle on my mum's side, and was shocked to see what Parkinson's Disease (PD) did to him. Coming back to KL, I read up on PD, and found that caffeine and green tea contain properties that reduces the risk of PD. Nicotine, too, ironically. But that's another story, which will be in another post. For this post, we'll concern ourselves with caffeine.


While reading up tons of material on diabetes, I stumbled upon a single sentence: "Those with diabetes type 2 should avoid caffeine." I sat up. What?? And so embarked upon a research on caffeine and diabetes.


After having sifted through tons of material, I'm conflicted. There are reports that caffeine and green tea are health food, and reduces diabetes risk. It is claimed that the quinines found in caffeine increases the sensitivity to insulin, hence less insulin is needed to regulate the glucose in the blood (see http://tiny.cc/xdcv2 and http://tiny.cc/ma2aa and http://tiny.cc/ocnl9). Diabetes Type 2 is caused by decreased sensitivity to insulin, and the pancreas has to produce more insulin, which will one day wear itself out and fail. That is why hubby was prescribed medication to increase his sensitivity to insulin.


But there are lots more reports that contradict those findings. There were studies that showed that when Diabetic Type 2 patients were given caffeine, their blood glucose level spiked 8% (see http://tiny.cc/8kvbz and http://tiny.cc/s03c8 and http://tiny.cc/nnvp8). 


So, which group is right? And the samples taken are rather small, to provide an accurate result. When hubby first heard that he might have to give up coffee, too, his reaction was not unexpected: he'd rather die from diabetes than give up coffee.


If I have to venture my personal opinion, I would say on the surface, it looks like coffee should be avoided. BUT on closer look at the composition of coffee, I think (warning: I may be wrong here, so don't rely on my opinion if you have diabetes) coffee on its own has its beneficial properties. It is the caffeine in it that decreases the sensitivity to insulin. So, the solution may be to drink decaf coffee, and in moderation. (See http://tiny.cc/f9n74 for the composition of coffee)

New York New York & A Car To Kill For

New York New York (no, it's not a typo error, that is the name), owned by a Singaporean, is an establishment that tries to emulate the look of a cafe in New York. The giveaway that it's not in New York is the 6 feet Statue of Liberty cardboard cut-out at the entrance. For the life of me, I can't imagine a cafe in New York displaying a cardboard cut-out Statue of Liberty at the cafe entrance. I could be wrong, of course, since I've never been to New York.

We've passed by this cafe in 1-Utama before, but have never tried it. Yesterday, while waiting for the movie Tron Legacy to start, we thought it might be as good a time as any to try their Brats sausage, which was listed as a 'Gotta Have It' item on the menu.

There was a large crowd, and the cafe was under-staffed. Service was extremely slow, and by the time we were served, we had only ten minutes to wolf down the food before the movie began.

I know, we could have watched Tron Legacy at home, but we wanted to watch the 3D version, and we aren't one of those lucky ones with a RM15,000 3D TV screen at home. So there we were at 1-Utama.

Anyway, back to the food. Here's the Brats sausage wrapped in turkey ham and cheese, serve grilled.

To me, a sausage is a sausage, and not being a connoisseur of sausages, all I could say is, it was good. I would have preferred the cheese to be more melted, though. I think it would have tasted a lot better. I love the orange mustard sauce drippings, and the balsamic vinegar they sprinkled on the greens. At least, I think it's balsamic vinegar, it tasted like one, at any rate. Price: RM16.90

Knowing how American cafes like American Chilli's, T.G.I.F. tend to serve larger than average portions, we ordered only a soup to share, the Hot Tomato Salsa soup. It was a good thing we did that, as I couldn't finish my food and hubby had to help me.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture before I dug in. Personally, I think the soup is the highlight of the meal. But this is a biased feedback from someone who loves anything with tomatoes or salsa, and the combination is just irresistible. It has nice little tomato chunks, too. Really yummy. Price: RM6.90

While we were at 1-Utama, we saw an iX-Metro prototype by Hyundai. The interior is futuristic, the seat and the dashboard are something that you might find in a space car.

By the way, a Korean friend once told me that the correct pronunciation for Hyundai is "hoon-day", and not "hai-yoon-die" or "hoon-die".

Look at those wheels. You might not be able to replace the tyres should you get a puncture! And the seats, I could just picture this car zooming around the grid in Tron.

Very cool dashboard

Can you tell I'm crazy about this car yet?  :D

The doors of the iX-Metro are automatic, like the Lamborghini and Ferrari, but it opens and closes horizontally, not vertically. Hubby and I pictured scenarios where the parts jammed and the passengers have to hold onto the car door for dear life as it whizzed along and getting all drenched as the torrential rain splashed in. And perhaps zapped by lightning, too.

The driver's seat is on the 'wrong' side, for people who drive on the 'wrong' side in their country. 

I won't be surprised if all you need to do is enter the destination, kick back and relax while the car drives you there by itself. And talks to you, "Ma'am, is the air con temperature comfortable for you?" or "Would you like to go faster?"

The iX-Metro is a car to kill for. Now, where is my machete?  :)~~~

P/s: New York New York is located on the ground floor at 1-Utama, opposite the Cold Storage.