Marcus Mumford: I feel like a grown-up after marriage

Marcus Mumford: I feel like a grown-up after marriage
Amber Heard wants Johnny Depp to get rid of bachelor pad
Fishing for rusticity in Hong Kong’s Tai O
Our 5 favourite places for fried chicken rice in KL & PJ
Brussels brewer uses leftover bread to make beer
From dragon’s breath to cardboard chairs, a look at five cafés in George Town

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 05:45 PM PDT

Marcus Mumford tied the knot with Carey Mulligan in 2012. — Reuters picNEW YORK, April 19 — Marcus Mumford feels "a bit more like a grown-up" since marrying Carey Mulligan.

The British rocker, 28, tied the knot with the 29-year-old actress in 2012 and while the couple are clearly smitten, they keep their married life on the lowdown.

Both travel a lot for work but when they are at home in the UK, Marcus enjoys wedded bliss.

"I feel a bit more like a grown-up, but a lot of the time I don't really feel like a grown-up," he grinned to Billboard. "That's marriage to me."

While he and Mumford & Sons bandmate Ben Lovett are loved up, the same can't be said for fellow members Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane.

Winston describes 2014 as a "pretty bad year" full of "a lot of loss", but luckily playing tracks such as The Wolf was a "cathartic" experience for the guitar player. There are also rumours the 26-year-old flirted up a storm with Katy Perry during recent rehearsals in Berlin, Germany.

One thing the band can remain confident about is their popularity; while they made the big time with their banjo-based music, their latest album "Wilder Mind" sees them ditch the instruments in favour of electric versions.

However, Winston doesn't believe they'll have a bigger impact than other genres.

"There's a lot of rock out there. But it's no longer... I don't think it's what our generation will be remembered for. I think it'll be Kanye West and Rihanna," he noted, while Marcus added it makes him feel sad.

"Why, though? They're so sick," Winston quizzed.

"Rihanna? I think Kanye is sick. He's the only rock star left," Marcus added. "[His show at Koko in London, UK] was f**king amazing. There were a bunch of cool London grime MCs doing stuff. But then he gets up and just blows them all away. Says one word and the whole room just... That's rock'n'roll, to me." — Cover Media

Amber Heard wants Johnny Depp to get rid of bachelor pad

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 05:42 PM PDT

Johnny first met Amber on the set of movie 'The Rum Diary' back in 2011, and the pair became engaged a year later. — AFP picNEW YORK, April 19 — Amber Heard reportedly wants husband Johnny Depp to sell his bachelor pad.

The Hollywood A-listers tied the knot in February after dating for three years.

The couple are supposedly eager to have kids and it's claimed 28-year-old Amber is asking Johnny to make room for their expanding brood by selling his beloved man den.

"It's more like a museum or a clubhouse than a place you can raise a family," a source told America's OK! magazine website. "If he wants her to give him kids, which he most definitely does, he's going to have to find them a real house in Hollywood."

Johnny, 51, is said to own numerous properties in the Los Angeles area already, but apparently Amber doesn't want to move into any of these homes.

Instead, the Zombieland actress "wants a fresh, clean start to their married life", according to the insider.

Prior to his romance with Amber, Johnny was in a long-term relationship with Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children — 15-year-old daughter Lily-Rose and 13-year-old son Jack. Johnny and Vanessa announced their separation in 2012 after being together for 14 years.

Johnny first met Amber on the set of movie "The Rum Diary" back in 2011, and the pair became engaged a year later.

Apparently Amber's independence continues to be an extreme turn-on for Johnny.

"Amber is a woman who can survive just fine without him. She is not needy. He likes that," a source told People magazine previously. "She is a free thinker. Her presence has changed his life." — Cover Media

Fishing for rusticity in Hong Kong’s Tai O

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 05:36 PM PDT

Quiet and bucolic, Tai O is a stark contrast to the bright lights and clogged streets of Hong Kong — Pictures by Vivian ChongHONG KONG, April 19 — The small roads are built for pedestrians and the occasional bicycle, AND you won't hear the honk or motor of any other vehicle. Most buildings only reach as high as three storeys while pink dolphins are known to swim in the waters. If you're very lucky, you might catch a glimpse of them on a boat cruise.

One of many simple container homes in the village (left). Houses stand cheek-to-jowl on water (right)These are not images that one typically associates with Hong Kong, one of the most vibrant and busiest cities in Asia that pulsates with skyscrapers, crowded streets and a nightlife that barely pauses for a breather. Yet Tai O is very much a part of Hong Kong, albeit stripped bare of all that makes the city what it is. Instead, this last remaining and most intact of its traditional fishing villages is the quiet to Central's buzz and the languid to Kowloon's bustle.

From the airport, a 40-minute taxi ride will deposit you at the main entryway and that's as far as any motorised vehicles can go. Tai O is a car-free village with just a few small, narrow roads running through its centre where restaurants, bing sutt (traditional coffee shops) and shops are concentrated.

Bicycles replace cars as the most popular mode of transportThe latter mainly sell seafood produce that's a local specialty and make for popular souvenirs. Wrapped in plastic or tied by the clusters and hung up like prized catches, stacked in bright red baskets or bottled in glass jars, there's everything from salted whole fish to dried mantis prawns and pungent shrimp paste. Yik Cheong, one of the biggest of such stores here, also runs a small restaurant serving dishes cooked using their own produce. Their shrimp paste is a bestseller, a versatile umami ingredient that can be used in a variety of ways: Fried with rice or as a sauce for boiled squid, for example, both of which can be sampled at the restaurant.

High and dry — homemade salted fish (left). Trays of seafood catching some sun (right)Walk around the village and it quickly becomes clear that it's not just tourists who enjoy the dried seafood. Laid out on rattan baskets and placed on top of stools by the side of the road, strung up one by one onto a wooden pole or even pegged to clothes' hangers — locals not only regularly make their own salted fish but have devised various ways and individualistic styles of doing so.

It's not surprising, given that this is a fishing village that dates back 300 years ago and the sea has always determined their lifestyles and livelihood. As you would expect of such a community, houses are built along the waterfront with boats docked at home. Constructed mostly from wood and tin but bearing no specific style, these stilt houses — called pang uk in Cantonese — were once de rigueur across Hong Kong. Most have given way to modern housing projects or shiny commercial structures as fishing villages slowly disappeared.

The outdoor deck at Solo Cafe looks out over the water and village houses (left). Tin mailboxes that are ubiquitous here and in the older parts of the city (right)Tai O, on the other hand, has managed to preserve this heritage on such a large scale that they are now its most iconic features. Grab a table on the outdoor deck at Solo Cafe to enjoy views of the waterway and stilt houses, or stroll through the warren of lanes that connect these homes to catch glimpses of the simple, slow-paced life. With most of the young seeking a living in the city, it's the elderly who make up the bulk of Tai O's population today. You may meet a cheerful grandmother during your walk, happy to tell you stories of Tai O then and now, or even invite you into her home for a look. But not everyone is hospitable to tourists; some houses display signs warning against photography, others may be less than friendly as they view tourism as an intrusion into their peaceful lives.

Indeed, Tai O is usually a cowboy town with many shops closed on weekdays. At night, you'd be hard pressed to find anything open past 8pm, except for a few restaurants where local men relax over beer and seafood. Stay over for more than one night and villagers will know you by sight, curious as to what keeps you here when the weekend has not begun.

Egg waffles baked freshly upon order over a charcoal fireCome Friday evening, the village springs to life as city folks find their way here for a quick escapade, turning the usually laidback Tai O into a noisy bazaar. Street food stalls materialise to do roaring business of grilled seafood while near the market, follow your nose to a famous kai tan zai (egg waffle) stall where the snack is made the old-school way: in a handheld pan flipped over a charcoal fire until the batter achieves golden crispness.

Homemade tofu pudding with orange-coloured ginger sugarNear the stall, an uphill road that passes under an old tree leads to the rest of the village. Across from the post office, sit down for a bowl of silky, wobbly homemade tau foo far (soya pudding). Ginger sugar, coloured a bright orange, is an option but a recommended one for adding a spicy kick to the dessert.

Further up, look out for a low wooden house with a stack of large bamboo steamers out front. This is a Tai O institution famed for steamed glutinous rice balls and dumplings handmade by a pair of brothers, who are both in their 70s and make everything from scratch and by hand. Starting as early as 4am, they roll out these traditional delicacies until about 6pm, selling as many as 1,000 of them each day.

Another authentic delight not to be missed is the sa yung, or Hong Kong-style doughnut — fried puffs rolled in sugar with crispy shells and pillow-soft insides. Tai O Bakery makes one of the best versions and they sell out very quickly, especially on weekends. Be there around noon and you stand a good chance of getting a bite.

Opposite the bakery is the village's only B&B; most weekenders rent sparsely-furnished apartments located above the shops while on the other end of the spectrum is the luxurious Tai O Heritage Hotel, a colonial-style building converted from the old police station. Espace Elastique is the mid-range option, a charming set-up owned by Tai O native Veronica Chan, who retired from a career in set design to return to her roots. She hopes to encourage more appreciation for Tai O through artistic showcases at Espace as well as the red-roofed building facing it that once housed her late grandfather's fabric store and where the family once lived.

Kitschy street art dot a small alleySuch is the allure of Tai O: Comfortably entrenched in its heritage and moving at its own pace, it's a living reminder of Hong Kong as it used to be, much like breakfast at dim sum and seafood restaurant Fook Moon Lam. This is where locals start their day as they have for years, where everyone knows everyone and the food finds its way to you in carts loaded with little steamed plates, baskets of meat-filled buns and fried favourites. It's a ritual that's repeated day in and day out but far from being monotonous, the familiarity is comforting and one that urban citizens seek out from time to time.

Vivian Chong is a freelance writer-editor, and founder of travel & lifestyle website http://thisbunnyhops.com

Our 5 favourite places for fried chicken rice in KL & PJ

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 05:35 PM PDT

Picture by Lee Khang YiKUALA LUMPUR, April 19 — There's something wickedly good about fried chicken, especially one that is well prepared with a crispy skin that cracks once you bite into it. Underneath that golden skin you will find succulent and juicy meat. Maybe that is why some stall owners have decided to offer the fried variant versus the usual poached or roasted chicken to create a niche for their stalls.

Most stalls including chap fan or economy rice places already offer fried chicken as a dish but we have excluded those places. What we reckon qualifies for this listing are stalls that pair fried chicken with a plate of fragrant fluffy rice cooked in a savoury chicken stock and a chilli sauce with a tangy kick. Some stalls even drizzle the fried chicken with their special sauce, usually a mix of sesame oil and soy sauce to give it extra flavour. Others serve it with a bowl of soup made from the chicken bones and vegetables.

Fried Chicken Stall, Persiaran Segambut Teenage (Opposite Lian Huat Kilang Kopi), KL. Tel:018-6650664. Open:11am to 3pm. Closed on Fridays and Sundays.

One can understand why this nameless shack with almost 40 years of heritage wins hands-down in the fried chicken game. Their fried chicken is so finger licking good that you will want seconds. Bite into a thin golden crackly crust to reveal juicy but not overly greasy flesh underneath it. You will forgive them for being spartan with their offerings, as all you get is a plate of rice, a few sliced cucumbers and side sauces with your fried chicken. The rice is equally good — fluffy with a light fragrance of margarine. Pour on the chilli sauce, a tangy garlic version that is appetising. As the fried chicken is served without sauce, you can add your own soy sauce mixed with sesame oil from the plastic bottles placed on the tables.

Gerai Ah Kow, Stall No. 2, Medan Selera Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, Lorong Raja Muda, Kg Baru, KL. Open: 9am to 4pm. Closed on Sundays.

This Chinese food stall is a hidden gem within a food court that is dominated by Malay and Indian food stalls. As it's the nearest eatery to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, you will see nurses walking around the food court to grab lunch or a light bite. During the mornings, you get to order curry noodles or their mee kicap or blanched noodles tossed in dark soy sauce served with fishballs plus pickled green chillies. From 11am onwards, they serve their famous sesame fried chicken — chicken legs covered with a crunchy golden batter studded with sesame seeds with a slight nutty flavour. Relish each piece of the chicken slowly with their fragrant rice which has a light savoury taste. It's delicious on its own so you won't need any of their tangy chilli sauce on the side. The stall also serves roasted and poached chicken but believe us, the winner is their sesame fried chicken.

Chicken King & Chicken Rice Stall, Kedai Makanan Uco, 1 Jalan Prima Setapak 3, (Opposite Pasar Jalan Genting Klang), KL. Open: 9am to 2pm. Closed on Mondays.

Previously located in a shack on the Fourth Mile along Jalan Gombak, this stall is a popular one with the old timers around Setapak. The stall offers fried chicken, poached chicken and char siew. They only serve whole chicken legs. Each order is served with a plate of piping hot fragrant rice cooked in chicken stock and a bowl of soup. On the side, there is soy sauce and garlic chilli sauce. The char siew tends to be on the leaner side but it's still rather delicious with slight caramelised bits.

Restoran Hoe Fong Chicken Rice, 25, Jalan 21/17, Seapark, PJ. Open: 8am to 4pm. Closed alternate Wednesdays.

This old school place is now run by the second generation of the family. The draw here is the fried chicken sans batter but with the lightest touch of soy sauce and five-spice powder. Equally good is the fried lorbak with the crispy crackly skin and a delicious pork stuffing. Relish the juicy chicken with a plate of their fluffy light yellow rice. You can also add dark soy sauce for a sweeter taste, or amp up the spice levels with their thick chilli garlic sauce topped with a dollop of pungent ginger puree. The chicken rice is also served with a bowl of comforting chicken soup.

Restoran Jiang He, Jalan Padang Walter Grenier, KL. Open: 11am to 2pm. Available only on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The regulars know the drill here, as the regular pan mee stall owner would allocate two special days in a week to serve their fried chicken rice, a throwback to those days when they ran an economy rice stall. The chicken pieces — a choice of whole leg, thigh, leg and forequarter — is coated with a batter and fried to a golden crackly crust. That same batter also coats thick potato wedges for a crispier bite. Other options are also available, like steamed chicken legs, char siew, siu yoke or roast pork and blanched chicken spare parts like liver and gizzards. The fried chicken is served with rice tinged a pale yellow. You get a choice of three types of sauces — a tangy chilli sauce, the juices from the steamed chicken, and soy sauce. Most customers like to add the delicious chicken juices to the rice to give it more flavour. If you prefer an airy space, opt for the outdoors sitting area located within the carpark opposite and under the trees.

Brussels brewer uses leftover bread to make beer

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 05:32 PM PDT

Sebastien Morvan, one of the founders of microbrewery Brussels Beer Project, displays bread and serves a beer called Babylone at Barbeton bar in central Brussels April 14, 2015. — Reuters picBRUSSELS, April 19 — A small Brussels-based brewery has embarked on a project to make beer from leftover bread, harking back to antiquity, when bread, rather than barley, was the main ingredient.

The idea for brewing with bread came when 31-year-old Frenchman Sebastien Morvan talked to a friend about food waste, specifically the bread thrown away because supermarkets, eager to offer fresh bread to shoppers all day, baked until late afternoon.

"Twelve per cent of food waste in Brussels is bread — it's quite astonishing," Morvan, one of the founders of microbrewery Brussels Beer Project, told Reuters.

Morvan calculated that about 30 per cent of the barley used in brewing could be replaced with one and a half slices of bread per bottle. Brewing 4,000 litres would use up 500 kilos of bread. A nearby social project, "Atelier Groot Eiland," arranged to get unsold bread from nearby supermarkets, dry it and cut it into flakes for him.

The oldest surviving recipe for beer dates back about 4,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia and calls for thick, multigrain loaves to be mixed with honey. The Belgian bread beer is more modern, using hops from the United States and Britain and adds yeast instead of relying on spontaneous fermentation.

Getting the recipe right took about a year. Initial trials failed before the brewers worked out the ideal ratio of bread to barley and how to cut the bread so it would not clog the brewing equipment.

The resulting beer, called "Babylone," is a 7 per cent amber brew, with a subtly salty taste from the bread and a hoppy finish. For now, most of it is being sold to local cafes and bars.

"It's fusion between maybe what they used to do with bread 1,000 years ago and contemporary brewing," said Morvan. "It might not please everybody's palate, but I think the ones who like this will really enjoy it." — Reuters

From dragon’s breath to cardboard chairs, a look at five cafés in George Town

Posted: 18 Apr 2015 05:32 PM PDT

The furnishings in B & W Coffee are made from cardboard including the lamp shades — Pictures by K.E.OoiGEORGE TOWN, April 19 – One has a black and white theme where all the furniture is made of cardboard and another has a wall full of slots for postcards that they will post for you.

There's also one full of hundreds of superhero action figures, another one that's "safe" with dragon's breath and finally, a place where specialty iced drinks take on a whole new meaning.

Cafés are popping up everywhere in Penang and though many are the usual hipster places with similar menus of pasta, sandwiches and coffee, some have managed to carve a special niche for themselves.

Here are five interesting cafés within the George Town heritage zone that stand out from the others:

In Muntri Street is a small nondescript café called B & W Coffee which looks like just any other café from the outside but when you enter through the glass doors, it is like entering a surreal cardboard shop.

Drink in a cardboard box over at B & W CoffeeYou are first greeted by a large cardboard house, almost like a children's playhouse, that's cleverly used to hide a music speaker. The next thing you will notice is the lack of any conventional furniture.

Fancy sitting at cardboard chairs? Try it at B & W CoffeeAll the chairs and tables, even the modest drinks and cashier's counter, are custom-made cardboard as this is not just a café but also a tiny space to showcase cardboard art.

If that is not interesting enough, both sides of the walls, the sides of the chairs, tables and chairs are all full of whimsical sketches, scribblings and quotes by the café's customers.

If you are wondering if the flimsy-looking chairs are safe to sit on, do not worry, these custom-made chairs can withstand up to 100 kilograms and so far, in its one year of operation, no one has broken or even dented any of the chairs.

Though the café serves the usual fare of cakes and coffee, their iced coffee is a bold, strong flavoured one served in a cute black and white cardboard box (you've got to experience it for yourself), a theme repeated all around the café.

B & W Coffee House
94, Muntri Street
Time: 11am–10pm (Closed on Wednesdays)

The safe room in The Safe Room with a love lock tree insideNext up is a place where ice-cream is made fresh, as in when you place the order, and the common popcorn is given a twist that's sure to pique your interest.

This is The Safe Room, where there is literally a "safe room" in the back of the café with a love lock tree inside and a giant Lego burglar climbing down a rope from the ceiling near the safe room.

The liquid nitrogen ice-cream is made fresh upon order at The Safe RoomOther than its interesting décor, this café serves up liquid nitrogen ice-cream made fresh from milk and fruits that's almost like a sorbet but with a creamier texture.

The Safe Room's smoking specials...liquid nitrogen ice cream, dragon's breath and mocktailThe Lego burglar climbing in on a rope at The Safe RoomAs for its signature Dragon's Breath, it is a bowl of caramel popcorn infused with liquid nitrogen and you get a smoking bowl of popcorn that is cold and interestingly, not as unpalatable as cold popcorn sounds.

The popcorn remains crunchy, savoury with just the slightest hint of sweetness. Each morsel of cold crunchiness is almost like biting into a tasty fragile ice cube which refreshingly hits the spot particularly on a stifling warm and humid day.

The Safe Room
42, Campbell Street
Time: 12pm–11pm (Closed on Mondays)

Do you wish to send a postcard to a special someone on a specific date postmarked Penang but won't be here to post it?

For future delivery, mailboxes for postcards to be delivered between 2016 and 2023Well, you can now dedicate a postcard, or several postcards, to anyone you wish anywhere in the world and Paper Pepper Café will ensure that it is posted and slotted to arrive on the date you want it to reach the recipient.

The café, recently renamed as Paris Penang Café, has an entire wall full of slots with 12 rows and up to 31 columns to represent a date on every month of this year.

More seating on the first floor of Paper Pepper Cafe, now known as Paris Penang Cafe, as you choose and fill out your postcardsCustomers can purchase a postcard from the café, fill it up, pay RM5 and drop it into the slot when they expect it to reach the recipient and it is done.

On another wall are letter boxes for postcards to be sent in other years from between 2016 to 2023.

The blank postcards, produced by the café, are all displayed on the upper floor where there is also additional seating for customers to have a drink and snacks as they take their time filling out their postcards.

Paris Penang Café
70, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling
Time: 12pm–12am (Opens daily)

If you love superhero action figures, then The Toys Café is the place to visit as this tiny little place has glass display cabinets along its walls showcasing hundreds of these toys and collectors' items.

Cakes and a peanut mocha latte at The Toys CafeAccording to the café owner, Hew Chee Kean, there are close to 500 figurines consisting of every superhero imaginable from Superman to Spiderman to Ironman to Ultraman on display.

These are all part of his private collection that he amassed over the last decade or so.

The Toys Cafe features glass cabinets filled with action figures and brightly painted walls of superheroesOther than the toys, the café offers specialty drinks such as flavoured caffé latte — vanilla, hazelnut, caramel, rose, strawberry, peanut and mint — and also flavoured caffé mocha of peanut, hazelnut or banana for those who wish to try a different twist with their coffee.

Non-coffee lovers will also be glad to know that they also offer refreshing yogurt smoothies and chocolate lovers will have their chocolate series of hot, cold and blended drinks.

There are also cheesecakes, chicken pies and some snacks to go with the specialty drinks.

The Toys Café
67, Bishop Street
Time: 11am–10pm (Opens daily)

Finally, over at the Moustache Houze where drinks are served with a cut-out cardboard moustache on the straw, their specialty is best enjoyed on a hot day.

Moustache Houze uses pipes as racks and glass covered old grilles for tablesForget about boring cold drinks that are poured over plain tasteless ice cubes because this café freezes fresh blended fruit juice into ice cubes.

These fruit ice cubes — kiwi, strawberry or passionfruit — are then served in clear shot glasses with a separate glass of lemon-lime flavoured soft drink.

Simply pour the soft drink over the ice cubes and take your time to sip the refreshing drink that is a combination of bubbly lime slowly infused with the strong brighter flavours of the fruit of your choice.

Forget boring plain ice cubes and try these frozen passion fruit cubes and chocolate cubes at Moustache HouzeThey also offer non-fruit versions — espresso cubes for coffee lovers or chocolate and matcha (green tea) cubes.

These are served with creamy warm milk, also in a separate glass, to pour over the frozen espresso, chocolate or matcha.

The resulting concoction is a thick, creamy milky drink that gets stronger flavoured as the ice cubes melts, releasing its thick flavours into the frothy milk.

Moustache Houze
24, Campbell Street
Time: 12pm–12am (Opens daily)