Teh,Tea,Cha, Teh ri....more & more of it.

What is the first thing that pops up your mind when some one mentions Cameron Highlands? Cool weather, tea,strawberry,scones, steamboat etc....the only place you can feel English. That is what my Junior will tell me.
Over the weekend, we had a good short break up at the highlands, the weather was cold & rainy. We had a few recommendations to try out some places in Cameron, but because of the rain, we could not go to many places.
The 2nd day, the weather was better & we decided to drive up to BOH, Sg Palas Tea Centre. If you are staying at Equatorial, it is only 5 mins down the road, the signboards are at the left side of the road which takes you up to Gunung Brinchang as well. The journey is 9km from the foot of the hill to BOH Tea Centre, the roads are very narrow & it is 2 way. This is where your driving skills come into practice, please make sure you horn at every corner because you never know if there is another car coming from the other side.

The drive was not only challenging but the view was just so nice & serene, it was low harvest season so there was not much tea plucking activity. The first thing we did when we reached was to look for food..... :) Tea & Scones...yum...that was on our mind the whole day. Here are some pictures of the view from the deck (sorry I could not take a picture of the deck as it started to rain, while we were walking up )

Isn't it beautiful....the creation of God :)
And ahh...yess...i remembered to set my dates for my camera this time around :)

These are the workers quarters.

Scones with strawberry jam & cream

The scones texture was soft & warm, it was freshly baked ahahhh....i think the whole atmosphere made our meal just so warm & fuzzy :) The ones that we get in KL are either small or medium size, this was big and at RM7.50 per pc, I think it was worth it. However, they used whipping cream instead of clotted cream, which is the actual type of cream used traditionally. What is the difference you asked? Actual clotted cream is made out of full cream cow's milk & indirectly heating the milk using steam or water bath & then leaving it in shallow pan to cool slowly. During this time, the cream content rises to the surface & forms clots.

As this method is just too tedious & time consuming, most of them use double cream & whip it up for quick use.Never the less, all I can say is that the scones served at Boh Centre is just yummy. We had a few more & even packed it back. Greedy, right. But hey, since we had driven up 9km of tedious turns & curves, we might as well made the best of it, right :) So this was double thumbs up from the lil' kiddos

Strawberry tart....

OK...when we saw this tart, we just had to have it thinking that it will be oozing with strawberry fillings. But it was quite disappointing, it has more pastry crust then strawberry filling. At RM3.50 per pc, I could complain much about it, but the taste was alright. So rating from the kiddos, the response was just "ahh ya ya ok ok"...so that was the rating .

This was the ultimate cake la...Butter Lemon Cake. The texture is soft & buttery, it was that fuzzy warm yummy feeling again. The lemon topping was not too over-powering, so that you can enjoy the buttery cake. The price is reasonable, RM3.50 per slice & of course we tapau extra slices for our supper. This was given double thumbs up from all of us, including 8 mth old kiddo hahhaha.... 

It went very well with our Boh Teh Tarik, kurang manis (less sweet). The variety of tea available was just too much to absorb, so the best is our favorite "pull cha". Teh tarik is priced at RM3.30 per mug, this came with good weather & view. So don't complain it is expensive.

We wanted to take a tour of the factory, but due to low harvesting season, the tour was scheduled earlier & it was closed for the day. The staff told us that July/August is low season due to the rain. The best time for harvesting is November/December, so you can take your family up & do the tour thingy with them. After spending about  2 hrs plus, we drove another 1.5km up to Mountain Strawberry Farm to pluck some strawberries. 

So, what is my 2 cents worth on this? Take a drive up to the highlands once in awhile just to get away from the crazy city & it is all worth it especially when your love ones are there with you. Being with your children & bonding with them is the love message for this time around. Be there & enjoy their company. Peace out my friends!!

Oh ya...just found some nice traditional Scones recipe from the beautiful Nigella Lawson, try it & share your thoughts..ok

TRADITIONAL SCONES

INGREDIENTS

• 450g SR flour
• Pinch baking powder
• Generous pinch salt
• 50g caster sugar
• 110g unsalted butter, diced
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 50ml double cream
• 200ml milk
• 1 egg beaten with a little water to glaze

• METHOD

  Serves: 12 - 14 scones
  1. Sift together the dry ingredients. Stir in the sugar. Lightly work in butter using fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg, cream and enough milk to moisten.
  2. Mix well until you have a soft, doughy texture.
  3. Lightly roll dought out until it is approx 2.5cm thick. Cut out scones and transfer to greased baking sheet. Brush scones with egg wash. Bake in preated oven at 180C for 15 - 20 mins or until well brown