Gifts from Sibu

Annie Q came back from Sibu recently and came back with these goodies.

Dabai (sibu olives) pickled in soy sauce and sugar. I like the nutty and buttery taste of the dabai. Annie did give me some dabai from her previous trip. I pickled those myself but somehow it didn't taste as nice as these, pickled by Annie :

 

Tasty, buttery fresh olives. I chomped down the dabai on the same night, didn't save any for dinner the following day although Annie did say pickled dabai goes well with rice. 

Annie also passed me some goodies from Arthur (aka suituapui), the famous Sibu godfather. I've never met him but I like to read his food posts a lot.

 These mooncakes are Sibu populars and hubs like it. Simple and unassuming delicious mooncakes. Hubs couldn't wait to chomp these delicious golden pastries and we finished it way before the mooncake festival.

 

Non-halal biscuits from Sibu (read : **mengandungi lemak babi**)

These cookies contain pork lard, butter, flour and peanuts and the pork lard gives this crumbly cookie an aromatic flavour. I brought these cookies to a company gathering along with some local mooncakes and everyone snapped up the lemak babi cookies instead. :D 

Thanks Annie and Arthur. I must make it a point to visit Annie whenever she returns from Sibu.  Surely a lot of goodies to share.. :D :D :D :D

Very Pretty Pretty Gingerbreads

Having had a disastrous attempt with the gingerbread-man-on-the-tree project, a very very kind and sweet lady - Javapot, personally made me some gingerbread man to hang on our tree.

Look closer .... aren't they too good to eat  ? Look again... real close :

 These very pretty pretty gingerbread man are hand stitched by Javapot.. Thank you so much.. My tree is filled with a special selection of ornaments we love very much and your gingerbread man tops the list !

 Pretty eh ? I truly admire your fine craftsmanship. I feel so proud to have the handsewn gingies hanging on my tree.

 Our tree, filled with all things nice and pretty.

Thank you Javapot. Thank you millions ! Wishing you, your hubs and master prince very Merry Christmas filled with love, good food and all things nice !

p/s  you got me started on sugar cookies already !

Let's Go To The Zoo

Remember the KFC song ? 

Let's go to the zoo.. there's lot's of things to do..

And the food is finger licking good.

There's elephants, tigers, big sunny bear

Birds and tigers, without a care

or so .. that's as much as I remember of the KFC song but alas.. KFC closed shop and is no longer there.

We live close to the zoo and Amber always ask why we don't go to the zoo. Always.  The best she gets is the faded plastic model elephant on the gates of the zoo.

Quite shameful too, I must say. Living so close to the zoo and not having been there before. I was always afraid of being disappointed with the lacklustre animals, facilities and service.

I was wrong. The Zoo Negara is much better than I had expected although it still has many rooms for improvement such as better signages and directions. Our Zoo Negara is funded by collections from visitors and donations and every little bit of our contribution helps. 

I promised Amber a trip to the zoo for good behaviour and for BETTER behaviour, her good friend, Ashley cheh cheh will come along. Throughout the whole week, we've been bribing and threatening her if she does this, this and that.. she gets to go to the zoo, if she's extra nice, she'll get to go with Ashley. We parents are soooo good and knows when and how to carrot her :)

So, on a bright and early morning, we met Barbara and her family at the zoo. Amber's good friend and mei-mei, Sharon came along too. The more the merrier.  Luck was on our side, weather was cooling and it only poured cats and dogs when we reached home.

The kids, they just couldn't wait to go to the ZOO

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Our first stop was giraffes and elephants. I kinda pity the elephant, held in captivity for our human's viewing pleasure but the kids were awed. I put myself in their little foot and thought ... isn't is SO SO AMAZING to see a life giraffe and elephant ? At such close proximity ? I mean.. the zoo to me, is just an outing out with the kids but for the kids, it's more than outing, it's getting up,close and personal with animals they see on tv, the animals they learn to write and spell in school and the animals they were asked to color. I mean..  this is it. staring at a very tall Giraffe :

 Amber was anticipating the giraffes and elephant but Ashley couldn't wait to see flamingos. The moment she entered zoo, she was looking for flamingos, frantically. She asked me for the map searched for flamingos. 

The zoo had quite a collection of storks though and here's one :

 and some pelicans

 but no flamingos ! Ashley didn't complain much, she too, was awed by so many live animals

 Our 3 little princesses

 and getting up close and personal with the King of The Jungle. Majestic. Awesome !

 

I think this is a seladang.. the sign boards were not very visible or informative, and with 3 running kids, I can only guess the animals but not have time and read their literature, something I'd love to do.

 a tiny green frog.. very tiny, about the size of my thumb but looks magnified here.

 and a phython

 

 komodos - triple decker..hmmm.... i wonder why they like to stack each other up. Ain't it a bit heavy for the one below ??

 

and the giant tortoise getting a bite. See how she tip toes ? Hard work just to grab a bite !

 

We were in the Zoo by 9am and out by noon. We skipped a few sections, namely the monkeys, orangutan, gorillas, camels and also the savannah. The kids were already hungry and screaming for McDonalds and so were the adults. After many hours of walking, I just wanted Coke. Too bad KFC closed down, we went to McDonalds, which is just up the road from Zoo.

Luck was on our side, the weather was perfect for a day out to the Zoo. It rained cats and dogs only when we reached home.

Zoo Negara, we'll be back. I heard there's a multiple entry pass for kids and I must check that out.

Weekend With Friends

Last Saturday we had a great gathering with Jaclyn and Collin over at our place. Collin is an old time friend of mine, known him more than 10 years and Jacss is a friend I got to know through blogging. KL is such a small city and one day Collin called me to support and vote for his friend's wife's bento contest and I thought that sounded familiar as I just read about javapot's bento contest from another blog.

Here is me, Jacss, Stephen - her hubs, Colin and his mom and sister and Amber.

Jacss and me !

I had a great time preparing dinner. It's been a while since we had a gathering at home anyway. Hubs was itching for roast pork (again !!! ) and I did just that. Not many dishes, just a few :

Home roasted pork. This time, i managed to get the skin crispy and crackling, much crunchier than before. I think it must be the quality of pork. I got the premium belly from TTDI wet market, Lee Wah Trading. A premium belly is perfect for roasting as the thickness of the rind and meat was just nice to yield a juicy and tender roast with crackling skin.

Hokkien mee, the traditional braised method. Everyone said it was good. *burps*

Pretty easy to cook, no need the big flame charcoal fire like those 'tai chows', I just braised them slowly and the secret ingredient I added was 'flounder fish broth'. To make a good hokkien mee, the base broth is very important. A tasty broth makes a tasty noodle.

Curry Chicken, nothing to shout about but an easy peasy dish that everyone likes

Lap mei fan - forgot to take photos ! I think not hubs favourite.. otherwise he would have snapped all the way.

And for desert, we had lemon cheesecake, fruits and Aunty Mary (Collin's mom)'s jelly mooncakes. Everyone was happy and so is the host. I likee when my guests enjoy their meals, including Amber, who loved the Hokkien mee .

 

I finally got to meet Stuart, Jacss bao bei. I've missed his full moon, his 100 day celebration and was so glad to meet him. Jacss bao bei is really one special kid. He was so obedient and didn't cry or make a fuss at all. All of us went ooohh - aaahh over this handsome little boy with pink complexion.

Us and our kids.

The highlight of the evening for Amber was Pamelia's presence. When she stepped in to our home, Amber asked her "Aunty Pam, can you paint my nails or not ?"

and she kept asking .. and asking .. and asking until Pam opened her treasured kit :

Pamelia is a music teacher and she has a talent of nail painting which she does as a hobby. And we are her lucky friends who got our nail painted, especially Amber, who kept close to Pam all night long.

Look at the detailed flower and design on Amber's little fingers. Very nice.

And this is so perfect. A small Barbie like imprint on her tiny little thumb

And I got my nails done too. I last did my nails during for my wedding and that was such a long time ago. I was all giddy and excited to get my nails done. I told Pam I wanted something that can withstand housework and washing and she came up with this :

Japanese inspired stamping on a clear glittery base. She chose a clear base for me and should the paint accidentally chip off, it won't be obvious or noticeable. All I had to do was apply top coat every couple of days. One week on and my nails are still good.

I sooo love Konad nail art and can't wait to get my startet kit from Pam. Amber too is excited and keep reminding me to apply 'top coat'.  'Top coat' is a new word she learnt and I keep hearing top coat every other day. That little busybody keeps reminding me to apply for her and myself !

All in all, it was a great night for all 3 families. Nothing's better than a good makan at home !

A Stopby at Ipoh

Last week, we made a short getaway to Camerons, partly a work trip as hubs had some tasks to do there. I hope he has more things to do at Camerons, that means we get to go up the highlands more often. YAY !!!

As usual, we'll not give Ipoh a miss, not a chance. I need to have my Ipoh white coffee fix before heading up the highlands. I arranged to meet up with Claire and Agnes, at unearthly morning hours on a weekday. Claire, took time off from her work and luckily she still hold her job now :) and Agnes had to drag Maine up from bed to meet up with us.. as if I'm VIP eh.. but thanks ladies, thanks for dragging your feet to Old Town that morning.


There's Agnes and Maine, me, Claire and a Agnes' morning yum-cha kaki, who happens to be Claire's good friend from school. What a small world eh ? You get to meet your school friend from a blogger's meet ?


and there's Maine, the cute cute Maine, very clingy to Agnes but she allowed me to carry her around the coffeeshop and stopped to ask for an apple. Very cute !

A very rushed and quick meeting, nonetheless, a fun one too. Meeting up in such a crammed place at Sun Yuan Loong coffee shop at Old Town Ipoh is not the best place to chit chat but we'll be back, for sure !

Claire and Agnes gave us some Yee Hup biscuit. Thanks ladies!!

Before heading up to the highlands, we had to complete our all round Ipoh ritual by stop at Funny Moutain tau foo far and pick up some yummy fluffy kaya puff at :


Sin Eng Heong
64, Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri (previously known as Clare Street)
30300 Ipoh, Perak
Tel : 05-2439659

At 70 sen a puff, it's worth every calorie.
They bake 70 puffs per tray and gets snapped up very fast. Patrons order by the boxes of 10, 20, 50 and some even 100. To avoid disappointment, order first. We ordered 50puffs on our way back and didn't have to wait. I walked in with a breeze and smiled when I saw a long queue waiting outside. You can see the queue from the photo above. So, please call, the number is above :)


The kaya puffs, close up. Heaven sent ! and it's non-halal (patutlah sedap !!!)


Another new discovery, their heong peah is fantastic too. 50sens a piece, the cheapest heong peah by far and very delish too.

And so, with a satisfied tummy, we went up the highlands, approximately 1.5 hours drive away.

Our Saturday

Last Saturday was a busy day for us. Hubs had a full day class and since I've got to be the driver, sending him to class and fetching him home, I took advantage and went 'lan kai' with Amber.
Very rare to have a Saturday all to myself and Amber, must take this opportunity to kai kai to the max !

Met up with Annie at Barb's place. We had brunch at the famous kon-lou pan meen near Barb's house. With 4 kids, and loads of shopping from pasar pagi, it's impossible to take a photo of the food, esp when Amber is a fussy eater, playing with the food and not eating. .. . haih..

Then we proceeded to the 100yen shop while Barb looked after the kids at home..**BLISS**
Annie, the bento queen, wanted to add on to her already-mountain-high collection of bento stuff. :D.. and one 100yen is not enough, we went to the Kuchai Lama bento shop and the kids had snacks of snow desert -- the ice kacang like kinda desert and jelly.

We also went to Shireen's house to pick up another loot. I bought a couple of blouses from Shireen's online shop and I also wanted to meet her 3 lovely princess very much. I was her silent reader for some time and I stumbled upon her blog when I searched for "cambodian maid".
She inspired me to start my own blog.

Shireen manages 4 blogs of which 1 is an online shop. I wish her success and with her very reasonable pricing and good customer service, I'd choose to buy from her anytime.

We grouped the kids to take a photo before we left. Not easy task, can't blame the kids cos with 4 cameras clicking, they don't know where to look first.

Here's one reasonable shot of the kids :

Baby Cassandra- who will always be a baby for us who followed her traumatic experiences, Ashley, Amber, Fearles, Cruz, Sherilyn and Alycia.

Saturday was a very fruitful day for me and Amber, we shopped a lot and met up with the lovely mummies - Annie, Barb and Shireen.

I really should send hubs to training more frequent.. .hahahahaha...

Handmade Dress by boeyjoey

When I read boeyjoey's post on the little red dress she made for QQ, I liked it so much, it was on my wishlist. I can never find nice cheongsam in the market for kids.

I like this dress for the babydoll cut. Amber's still a kid and looks good with babydoll cutting. I asked Pei Yee (boeyjoey) if she can make one for Amber. I also asked her to take her time, no rush as it's meant for next year's CNY.

Last 2 wks, the cheongsam arrived. Amber very kancheong, kept asking whose baju was it and she thought CNY was around the corner.

I made her promise to wait another 6 months before she can wear it for kai-kai but I allowed her put it on to take some photos.

See, nice or not ? The baju, I mean....

Babydoll cuts are roomy and allows flexibility, very suitable for active kids. I like the puffed sleeves and elastic garters at the sleeves

Boeyjoey will be starting her own handmade collection, soon to be available at :

Congrtulations to her, a supermummy turning her hobby into a little business. I believe happiness is doing something we love :D

Her handmade items comes with care instructions too.

And she also made these clips to complement the starking red cheong sam. Lovely !

A close up look at the cheong sam, see the detailed and fine stitching ?

I'm sure boeyjoey will have lots of quality and personalized offerings. She's currently working out her blogshop at www.nivnivhandmade.blogspot.com. Watch this spot :D