Pilrimage to Melaka - AGAIN!

ok ok ok... here's the Melaka trip post :P

it was Agung's birthday and we (the dugongs) celebrated it by going on a road trip to melaka, land of history and food! we skipped the history part and went straight for food cause we ALREADY had history the last time we went. history doesn't change isn't it! lol

so one car drove from PG straight to melaka and the other car from KL to melaka. the two cars met up half way at Subang Jaya toll to go together to melaka.

madam rosie and moi

uncle and moi

first up was home cooked peranakan/baba nyonya food at baba ee's place. as always we headed there for our first meal (and yes, there will be a second one before we go back!!) dishes are usually the same great ones, but maybe different sides. whatever it is, it's all goooooodddd... (i'm hungry now, writing this!)

kangkung belacan, keluak curry, ikan cili garam, roasted duck and pork with special chilly/peanut sauce to go with it - YUM!

and by the time we finished lunch, we hung around the kampung hse, chit chatting, getting hot (with the heat)... we got to our accomodation (friend's holiday hse) and cleaned up, rested, sorted our sleeping places, set GPS and then it's ROUND2!!! Satay Celup!

yea now they got signs saying that they only have one shop - the next door shop has NO relation whatsoever!

the line gets long by the minute, starting at 6pm

and why are the girls waiting in line?

here's a clip on what's being added to the satay celup gravy, there's extra peanuts, serunding/krisik spices and sugar..... yum yum.. their secret recipie! very thick and nice! (not spicy though but it's better that way!)

here's my kangkung celup :)

so then after lots of celup-ing, tummy full already, we decided to walk to Jonker's Street, knowing it's just round the corner, we didn't know WHICH corner, GPS didn't work cause it didn't show "Jonkers Street/Walk" and i suggested it was Jln Hang Tuah (which i really thought it was) in the end, it was actually Jln Hang Jebat... sigh (sorry guys! hey at least the walk did us good with our full tummys!)

so we passed St Senget church (hahahah) and surprisingly the river had clear water and not teh-tarik water. there were even a couple taking wedding photos...aawwww....

so here's a clip of gula ketuk @ Jonker's Street
the whole family chips in to help ketuk the candy - here is the sons' turn




and here is one of the many line dancing groups along Jonker's Street
- note the guy is leading the troup

so after Jonker's Street, we went to Seafarers to meet up with uncle's friends. it's a nice place, out over the beach/sea, warm winds (or sometimes no winds at all) and chilled drinks. a place to hang out, eat, drink and catchup with old friends. (see if u can spot the "ghostly" figure in the pic)

so the next day, after a good nites sleep (it RAINED!!! thank God!) we headed to Jonker's Street again for lunch. we wanted to go HERE but the line was oo long, we couldn't wait. so we ended up to Famosa Chicken Rice Ball.

yea, we over ordered chics and balls... HAHAHHA

then we walked along Jonker's Street to relax our tummys, but the heat was sooo bad that we didn't really shop. we headed to one of the cendol shops and i got my DURIAN cendol, nice.... :D later we met the rest at one of the alleys.. look what Mr Capel bought! love that shirt!

after a long hot day out, we went back, had a shower and rested. this it is to get ready for the next feast - Alaa Seafood! here they server nasi lemak as their rice. this nasi lemak is abit different - sambal at the bottom, rice on top, so when u open the packet, you would think it's just white rice! but it's not! :D

upside-down nasi lemak

the food we had, bamboo lala and squid

fresh ikan bakar - we also had pari but pic didn't turn out nicely

and that was DAY 2! hahaha after seafood, we in the end ended up at Seafarers again because it was a saturday, and there was a river festival happening in town and everyone suggested NOT to go to town because of the traffic jam, so... where else to go to chill? Seafarers! lol this time we stayed abit longer as we did have naps in the afternoon.

the next day lunch, we headed back to baba ee's place for our final lunch in melaka, home cooked food again! yum! this time we had different dishes!

pickled green chillies

pongteh - chicken and pork

lemak fish - we also had itiktim (duck sour soup) and it went like hot cakes!

after lunch we just chilled in the hse, trying to tahan the heat. uncle had friends over to help with the food so we just rested before our long journey back to the north - of course we camwhored too!

i like this pic! thanks rosie

must have group pic!

here's baba ee's homemade melaka belacan

what's the BEST way to end your holiday in melaka? i'll tell u what! it's with Bukit Rambai kick-ass Cendol!! omg! this is the best! and it's only RM1.50 (though u need to wait quite abit for your order as there will be LOADS of ppl in line and only one lady to do everything). price may increase over time but at this time its RM1.50. it's all home made, and santan is thick!

the kidney beans and cendol - the pink and white ones are for ginger syrup dessert (name of it is not popping out from my head at this moment)

mother of all cendols!

after a bowl each (becks and i wanted seconds but it was too long to wait) we all headed back to our cars and started off our journey back home.... so sad....

the car that lead the other KAR around

we had a slow ride back as there wer lots of traffic on the highway heading towards KL an around Ipoh area. by the time we reach penang state it was dinner time. so we headed towards Nibong Tebal for choo char. quite good food i'd say :D

lemon chicken

scallops
octopus - yum!!

too khar (pork knuckle)

and again, the trip was great! abit too hot this time but it's all good, we had rests inbetween and didn't really stuff ourselves non-stop - not like last year. thanks rosie for planning this trip once again. so for next year (or next trip) hope to have a portugese meal at the Portugese Square :D

* side track abit - Nyonya Chang (pics below)

here's the famous Nyonya Chang! it's been YEARS since i had one (when i was like 7 years old or something?) my grandma used to make at home, and even made to sell at one time! bought about 10 and is now sitting in the freezer - we're treating it like gold, wanting it to last

Kelly THE swimmer!

here's my lil cousin Kelly, she was competing in the Speedo Dubai meet.

this pic of her was the 200 meter Individual Medley (under 10) race which she, btw, WON!!

(beating 2 boys yo!! check out her timings! faster than the boys!)

* Results a curtesy from RSH Speedo Swim Squads

the pool was the 50m Olympic pool! not some kiddy pool kids swim for fun! LOL

(don't think i can even do a lap! i'll be breathless!!)

Way to GO, Kelly!!!

Keep it up!!

Cheryl's Birthday

i'm so bad at this, blogging on something that happend 1+ months ago!! *shy*

anyway, it was Cheryl's birthday in May and we got together for some lovely buffet @ E&O. then to calm our full tummy's we walked around the hotel grounds and camwhore-d abit! hehhe... it was quite a nice day, cloudy at times, sunny at times, quite a relaxing afternoon.

later in the week or two (can't remember) we met up with the other dugongs for dinner! this was at TopTop, one of the houses behind 1-stop (Midland Park - does ANYONE still remember that place? LOL). this meet up was my first time having the gang try my cupcakes and also got cheryl a birthday cake! nice one!

Cheryl, hope u have a wonderful time with us and pigging out. hope we all can meet up again to catch up! HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY!!

1st few experiments

so i'm planning to start something here, something i LIKE and ENJOY doing (unlike my day job). but because i have no experience, it's all from scratch and bottom for me. i'm learning to make cupcakes (and other stuffs in future) from 0. i've been researching recipies, reading, youtube-ing on techniques and below are a few of my experiments.

i'm glad to say i'm improving but, not good enough to be marketed and be sold. so in the mean time, my friends and family will be enjoying free cupcakes and are my guinea-pigs! lol sorry guys!! until i'm confident (and they look better enough) to sell them!

leave comments on what u think or your suggestions! greatly appreciated!

my 1st attempt! the cake was ok, but somehow the papercup didn't stick to the cake, so once the cupcake was cool, the paper started to remove itself from the cake, so didn't really look good. this was also my first time experimenting with butter cream icing - i never tried it before, came out ok, but the texture is not fine enough and had air-bubbles in the piping bag.... also, i did a boo boo with the colouring... hahhah

this one, don't know what i was thinking, the cake became, dry, also i didn't put enough batter in the papercups thus, again, the papercup didn't stik to the cake once it was cool... :( icing this time was better as i stuck to what i knew best - royal icing!! this time i experimented with different icing nozzels. am quite happy with this - the icing, NOT the cake!

this was a dissaster! it was a very rushed job! i wanted to make choc cupcakes but i didn't prepare enough. i didn't have coco powder so instead, i used milo instead. gosh! the taste was ok but it was harder than brownies!!! not very nice! though this time the papercups DID stick to the cake! LOL. the icing however, also a disaster, it was purely buttercream (different recipie) and well, didn't really turn out properly... not very happy - waste of time and resources

this one was my best! and what i'm scared is that i won't be able to do this again - you know how cooking is, if u're that type of "cook", u can never get the same results the second time even if u follow the recipie properly... yes, i'm sort of THAT cook.

anyway, found some preserved strawberries in the freezer. and thought, strawberry cupcakes!!! so i googled and found Martha Stewart's strawberry cupcakes! (i'm not sure why the readers didn't like the result of this recipie but mine came out alright - i have ppl to testify, maybe it's because of the ingredients that are different from Malaysia and USA) it was somehow easy to follow and had practically all the ingredients. so i tried it and there you go! lovely cupcakes!!

this round was perfect! the cake texture was just right, not so hard, not so soft, the papercups stuck with the cake! and this time i did my royal icing and came out lovely! just need to improve in my designs!!

one of my friend, Marlina Sara joined me in my mum's kitchen one day to make cupcakes. she wanted to learn from me on how to ice! omg! me??? teach?? hahahah... but it was all good, we had some good laughs and fun time mixing the batter and making the icing and decorating. the mistake i made was that i used a new recipie for butter cream icing and well, i wasn't too sure if it did turn out correct or not. i should have stuck to royal icing. anyway, i did teach her the basics of icing, like how to hold the bag, how to squeeze the bag and basic designs. she's a fast learner and i'm glad we did come out with some funny designs! hahahah we even forgot to take pics of our final products!!

i've been wanting and excited to make somemore but my working shift is back to normal ppls shift - mon-fri/ 9am- 6.30pm. so, i don't have muct time to do it... :( hope i can get back to my actual shift and start mass producing cupcakes again!!!

MyviC TT - May 09

it's been a while since i went for the clubs TT, this time, i told myself to go, i owe it to these ppl to show up! they some sort fill my friday nites! hahaha if not i'll be home, dateless, watching tv, going online. so just thought i'd hang out with real ppl instead of ppl in screens.

so yea, we met up at Nasi Kandar Fantasi in Bayan Baru, then convoy-ed to Esplanade. i actually suggested that place, thinking we would just hang out by the sea and makan, but when we reached there, i remembered the building and everyone thought alike, to park near it!

luckily there were ample parking space for us, and we managed to arrange and park and take pics! check this out, black cars on left, white cars on right, and coloured cars in the middle. one observation we made was that there were 4 black cars and 4 white cars AND they were PH* plates! the coloured cars were PG* plate except for one Kedah plate car... chun right?!! hahaha

this time i brought Melissa with me, just thought she would like a nite out too :D

after picture taking, we were very hot as that nite had no wind! very humid. we wanted to go some place cool and in the end, ended up at McD Farlim. McD Green Lane is closed for reno and McD Gurney - no place to park... it was quite a good TT, didn't waste time, knew what was planned and had many turn up for it! nice nite guys!

Penang Singles

To those who are in Facebook and is in Penang AND who are single,

feel free to join this group!

Penang Singles!

This group is for all single Penangites, looking for company, looking for new friends, looking for other singles, looking for new friends and most importantly looking for dates!

Feel free to let your single friends know about this group, so that when we have enough of members, there'll be events organised for all members!

Winter Warmers, Penang

i've eaten at Winter Warmers a few times, the one in Gurney Plaza and the one in Sunway Carnival, Seberang Prai. i got to know bout this place for their tea-for-two sets. hmm.. don't know why i didn't take any pics of the 3 tiers! hahah next time i will.

anyway, after some time, they came up with meals, and fusion food. it's not THAT bad, but CAN be better. what i like about this place is their English style deco. they have many types of English tea, with milk, black tea, ice-blended, iced.. and also varieties of coffee too. and also, they server their teas and coffee in English styled cups and pots! so sweet!! i think the famous drink here (i see alot of ppl drinking it) is their fruity tea, where it's mostly punch-like type of drink, mixture of fruits with pulps and fruit bits. for me, its alright, but i'm an actual TEA drinker so i'll always go for tea. :D

here's a fusion set, vegetarian baked rice (with croutons) with pasta

i think this is baked spaghetti

i think it's another baked rice! lol
their spaghetti bolognese

caramel tea! lovely cute cups right?

tuna pizza.. yes they have pizza too!

a kind of milk tea-can't remember (and in the background its the fruit tea)

LongBeach @ Perhentian Kecil

just realised i didn't post my pics on my 2nd Perhentian trip with my cousin Tom! i'm sure those who are on FB would have already seen it, but dun worry i'll put the best ones here!

this happened somewhere in March. Tom was around, had a week or 2 to spend here in the north of Malaysia and i had like 4 days off, so heck! we went to Perhentian! and since i've been there with one of my best bud, i knew the likes of getting there and moving about. same way, we got up early morning, drove the Kuala Besut, got on the boat and headed to Pulau Perhentian!

Tom's "bible" said the best for backpackers and had more young-er ppl was at Perhentian Kecil, so we headed there to LongBeach - Perhentian Kecil. too bad we didn't see any elephants on the way there.. sorry Tom!

on the boat heading to the island! yippie!

lovely water!

doing the handstand!

as usual before a holiday, i always do my research, on how to get there, where to go, where to stay, prices...etc etc.. so i had it printed out and in my head roughly on what is to be done, unfortunately, when we got to the island, the place i thought it would be lovely AND affordable, sea facing and stuff... was burnt down, the whole lot of chalets were burnt!!

so, we had to find for the neighbouring chalets to see if they had available rooms, which were quite hard as some how that time, everyone was holidaying there and everywhere was full. thanks so much to Tom, he went around somemore to find a room, i was too tired, carrying my bag and walking in the sun, in the SOFT sand! u know how hard that is?!! finally he found a room in Moshin Chalets, had to climb 4 flights of stairs just to get to the room, BECAUSE the rooms were on so-called stilts facing the sea from highland... sigh, but it was all good, this trip didn't make me feel guilty for missing gym, cause with all that walking and climbing stairs! that did it! LOL

our first night, dinner was lovely, i tell you! LOVELY! i'm drooling just typing this. i had the best bbq fish EVAH!!! RM18 for bbq fish, side veg, potato, fruit and drink! not bad what! so the pics shown here is what i had - BARACUDA!!! with percik sauce, and my cousin, he had SHARK!!! with sweet sour sauce. i had a bite at the shark (that sounded... err funny) and i loved how it tastes! we ate in silence!! hahahah

the time we went, it was full moon! the sight was lovely! and Tom was to be at Koh Phang An for the full moon party the next month!! i couldn't go because no more flights!! aarrgghhh.... but it was ok, i went to Dubai instead! LOL. but i'll DEFINATELY go there one day! just for the full moon! anyone interested?

the beaches were lovely, just like how i remembered the last time i went there (to Perhentian Besar).. this time, there was SUN! and it was HOT! love it love it love it! my favourite place right now!!

we did a half-day snorkeling trip, the guy took us to coral bay, turtle bay and shark bay... i did abit of the coral and turtle. i didn't do the shark site cause i sort of scraped my knee while going into the boat from the sea! and was bleeding! blood and shark - do not go together! damn the boat! it was like a piece of flesh/skin just peeled off from my knee. it's healed now but there's a scar. anyway, i'm not a good swimmer and at shark bay there was nothing to see except go swim to find the sharks, so, i stayed on the boat, just like the first time. i don't like the deep sea and i dare not go far away from the boat, so that's y i pass on the shark site. Tom did see a few huge ones though! hahahha good for him!

just loooook at that!!

i HAD to!

it was a great relaxing 3 days, we just lay on the mat on the beach, slept, talked, drew (yea i drew abit but in the end, it came out to be too childish, kinda hated it), burned, talked somemore (mind you we didn't talk cock - we did abit, but we had deep, mind bogling talks too - thanks to Tom! lol), thanks to great company, i felt more like myself, and relaxed...

when we left, the morning we were about to leave, it started to RAIN!! not piss rain but CATS AND DOGS!!! rain! we were drenched walking from the room to the beach to get to the boats, and even the boats were not really water-proof, we had sea and rain water splashing on us during the whole journey back to the main land, luckily my bags didn't really get wet (only the bottom) and i still had decent clean clothes. changed into them, got abit dryer and started to drive back... even Perhentian was sad to see us leave!!!

gosh! lovely memories, lovely place, had a great time Tom, thank you for following me on this trip. Missing you lots! and to Perhentian Kecil - I'll BE BACK!!

SMILE!

:D

sixthseal visited my site!!

:D