New Year's Day

We began the day with a drive to the Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman area in Kuala Lumpur city. Our target - Chilly Pan Mee at Restoran Kin Kin. Before today I had never even heard of this place.

The shop is located along Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1 which is a less glamorous or somewhat dinghy part of the city. Most of the people we saw were foreigners, Indons, Banglas and Myanmars but as soon as we near the shop you see it packed with mostly Chinese and a few Caucasians. We ordered two bowls of their signature 'dry' pan noodles and it was very tasty. The poached egg and dried chilly flakes were simply great. Definitely will come back for more.

Next stop was the famous Petaling Street and Central Market (aka Pasar Seni). Susan and Nic managed to purchase a few knock-offs, a handbag and a couple of purses. Our next destination was the old Central Market. It began as an open air wet market in 1888. The facade (below) was only built in the 1930s and remained a major market in the city until it was closed in the late 1970s. It went through a refurbishment and has since been converted into a fully air-conditioned mall specializing in handicrafts, gifts and souvenirs.

We browsed the many outlets inside and spent over two hours. Our best experience was the Doctor Fish spa. For RM5 you get 10 minutes of rib-tickling fun as hundreds of the fish named Garra rufa nibbles on your feet. It was hilarious and I must have a lot of dead skin as I attracted most of them.

What a kaleidoscope of colors!

Our last stop was the old Lai Foong coffee shop on Jalan Tun H.S. Lee and Tun Tan Cheng Lock. It is famous for beef noodles and dates back to 1956. I swear it tasted better when I first tasted it in the 1980s but it was still eons better than anything else around. 

All in a very satisfying day where food is concerned.

Penang Break!

Sunday (Nov. 18) We headed north to Penang for Mama's birthday lunch in Seberang Perai - originally named Province Wellesley, after Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, Governor of Madras and Governor-General of Bengal (1797–1805).

 

We left home around 7am and stopped in Ipoh for breakfast. Both popular kopitiams (traditional coffee shop) Nam Heong and Sin Yoon Loong were packed with patrons circling tables like vultures waiting for clients to vacate their seats. As we did not want to waste time waiting we went to the kopitiam next door, Sin Yuan Foong (pic above) which was also starting to fill with other like-minded customers. When in Ipoh kopitiam, it is almost tradition to order the famous Ipoh White Coffee, toast and dry curry noodles. To our surprise the curry noodles were good.

Next stop Mama's place in Simpang Ampat for a brief visit and then on to Chai Leng Park for lunch.

 (above) Mama with 13 grand kids (Chee Seong's wife Jeni - extreme right)

(above) Mama with children and spouses.

For dinner we opted for the hawker food in Chai Leng Park. Main attraction was lok lok - our local version of steamboat. They had like seven different spicy sauces - fantastic! Nic chose the Angry Birds edition.

We didn't get to go for the assam laksa in Penang island this time - well, next visit then. We stayed a night and had a late lunch the next day (Monday) in Batu Kawan - a sumptuous seafood feast before leaving for home at 7.20pm.

Tanjung Sepat

Today is Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. We took a drive to Tanjung Sepat, a fishing village in Selangor 80km south of Petaling Jaya. These restaurants face the Straits of Malacca which is grossly polluted as a result of being a busy shipping 'highway'. It is reported that over 50,000 vessels pass through the straits a year transporting a quarter of the world's traded goods. You can be sure the lower value goods from China passed through here. I wonder what kind of seafood we got ourselves into.

There are a few seafood restaurants along the coastline and we took a random drive into a dirt road off Jalan Tepi Laut aptly named Restoran Fish Village (pic). As it was 1pm we were in the rear end of the wait. Glancing at the cars parked there, all were city dwellers out to get a break from monotony of work.

Nobody likes to wait but the cool breeze made the wait bearable. We waited ninety minutes before our food came. We ordered the house special, curry sting ray - liked it a lot. The stir fried 'yaw mak' (mini lettuce) was good too. The clams were so so but fresh.

What's Cookin'

 Taekwondo; Nic took her grading last week and there were a few unconvincing moves so we wondered if she'd pass. Well, good news is everyone passed. Nic is now a Junior Blue belt. I suppose passing marks are quite low.


Dinner; We had banana leaf lunch at Kanna Curry House for lunch so felt full and thought we'd have a light home-cooked dinner.  The South Indian curry house has switched from serving real banana leaves to bio-degradable paper ones. Initially it encountered much concern from patrons whether it would pose a health hazard. Apparently the product is safe and customers are now accustomed to it. We had a satisfying 'hands-on' meal.

Nic cooked her first scrambled eggs today. I'd say she did good, cracking two eggs and frying them. It tasted good too. We are considering enrolling her for some basic cooking class during the year end holidays. Who knows, this could be the start of something special!

Have a Kit Kat Break

There is no denying the power of advertisements. Just the other day Nic asked me to buy her a Kit Kat. Hey I love Kit Kat too. Here is the current Kit Kat commercial on cable tv that we like very much.

Happy Mother's Day

We celebrated with a dinner last night at Dragon Star Restaurant in nearby Kampung Tunku aka SS1. Present were Aunty Irene, Kenneth, Robert and Irene, mum and us.

The food was good - I especially liked the Prawns with Fragrant Lemon Sauce.

Denis down with dengue fever

Denis was hospitalized at Gleneagles a couple of days ago as a result of a high fever and it turned out to be dengue. We visited him in the evening and he complained of pain in the lower back area. He looked alright and with the proper medical attention I am sure he will be up and about soon.

For dinner we headed across the street to Alexis to get reacquainted with their succulent wagyu beef cheeks . Oh it was out of this world!

Setapak - Visit Grandma's Friends Pt. Two

Yes, now for the primary aim of our visit to Setapak. First stop - grandma's long, and I do mean long time friend, from age four (I think). Erm, that would be something like 70 years ago! I did not snap any pics as Nic was occupied with the family dog - Rocky. Last time we came to visit was March 2008, the day I exercised my voting rights.

Next stop, a lady grandma used to work (doing laundry) for eons ago. She is a great grandmother (pic) and at age of 92 is a sprightly woman. She is able to spot calculation errors on grocery bills and follow her favorite tv dramas. I reckon grandma last saw her over 20 years ago although they do talk over the phone regularly.

Note: Nic was amused with the classic chair (pic) - I recall we used to have those too. We really had a good time today - spending time with family (grandma and us), good old friends and enjoying a nice meal - PRICELESS!

Setapak - Visit Grandma's Friends Pt. One

I got up early and googled for places we could get a bite in Setapak seeing that we were going to visit a couple of grandma's old friends. "Setapak food places" returned 101,000 pages and the most obvious spots were Fancy Mee Pan Mee in Wangsa Maju and Hennessy Lor Mee in Ayer Panas. I decided on the latter as the bee hoon (vermicelli) in white wine with clams looked tempting.

Ayer Panas (Hot Springs) here we come! Incidentally despite living in that area for twenty years - I have never been to the actual hot springs. Oh, some other time I guess. The stall is located within a hawker center next to the Dataran Ayer Panas - an open field with ample parking bays. Next was to look out for the empty Hennessy boxes hanging from the zinc roof. We walked past a few other stalls but my mind was only fixed on the boxes although Susan was attracted by the Indian food stall close by.

First up was the Vermicelli in White Wine - best I have ever tasted. Where most cooks stinge on the wine - here the cook is generous. The clams were juicy and the fish added more flavor. Next was the "house specialty" - Hennessy Lor Mee. Again the key ingredient (VSOP) was in abundance.

The last dish - lettuce was a delightful surprise too. You'd never think a dish this simple could taste so good. The sauce was heavenly with dried shrimps, lard, etc. Ho Chiak!

Here are the coordinates for you techies! GPS: N03 11.388, E101 43.82

For the rest - it is stall number 22 and you can call 012-624 7610.

Harry Potter And The Half-blood Prince

Mandy treated us to the movie at GSC Signature in The Gardens yesterday. It was nice cos they only had 60 seats (I think) in the cineplex. As the show was almost 3 hours little Nic was crawling about her seat. I am just amazed that she stayed awake (I dozed off near the end as it got too comfy) throughout the movie as she woke up at eight in the morning in sheer excitement.

pic: Give me an N!

Next we had a dinner at Alexis (they serve heavenly pizzas) which made up for the less than exhilarating Harry Potter movie. I had the Wagyu beef cheeks (as did Sarah and Sammie) and it was superb. Wagyu beef is labeled by food connoisseurs as “the most tender, most succulent and tastiest meat in the world.” And right they are as it almost melts in your mouth. Apparently it is not by chance rather by design that the beef tastes so good. These cattle are fed the finest grains, drink beer (I wonder what brands) and sake (Japan) and receive massages. Short though their life may be but at least they lived a life sweeter than some humans.

We had Meringue (not to be confused with dance Merengue), Tiramisu and a choc cake I can't remember it's name for desert. Many thanks to Mandy and Sammie (hope it was not too inconvenient for you, snigger snigger) for booking the movie tickets a few days earlier.

Dinner @ Oriental Pavilion

Mandy treated us (many thanks again) to dinner (with reservation this time) at the Oriental last night. The place was packed as there was a wedding dinner on as well.

The food was great which was a good thing as we had to endure the entire dinner listening to Wet, Wet, Wet's "Love is All Around" as it was the just married couple's theme song on the video screen.

The tofu dish was just delightful as was the next dish of char siew, siew yoke and smooth tofu. I think dish number three was the roasted lamb which my mum was surprised that she actually liked it as she is quite averse to lamb in general. By the time I tucked into the hor fun I was quite full.

Day Trippin' - Kuala Selangor

Last week I suggested we took a day trip to Kuala Selangor (about 70km from Petaling Jaya). After all it's about time we got to know our own country. Besides we were getting bored with the weekends spent at one mall after another. I googled the net and came back with the following;

The main attraction of Kuala Selangor are the fireflies but we decided to skip that for another trip.

Kuala Selangor is the old royal capital of Selangor. It was conquered by the Dutch in 1784, when they successfully attempted to expand from their base in Melaka to control the tin trade of Perak and Selangor.

Bukit Melawati is a hill overlooking Kuala Selangor and the Straits of Malacca. The Dutch destroyed the existing fortifications on the hill during their 1784 invasion, and built a European-style castle, naming it Fort Atlingsburg after their commander. The fort was fought over repeatedly by the Dutch, Sultanate of Selangor and later the British, until all that remains today are some scattered ruins.

We left home at 9.50am and took a slow drive using Route 54 via Sungai Buloh. It was a comfortable drive as most of the way were 2-lane roads and traffic was light. We arrived at the town about 80 minutes later. It is a small quaint town with a mix of old pre-war shop houses and some more recent shop lots. As we were hungry we grabbed a bite a Aunty's Kopitiam. After a light lunch we headed to the Nature Park. You can't miss it as there's a clock tower (pic) at the road leading to it. The sign reads "Taman Alam" which translated means, yep, Nature Park.

The park was founded in 1987 by the Malaysian Nature Society and the Selangor State Government. It is a massive 800 acres of forest reserve, a paradise for wildlife until Nicole started yelling. We paid RM4 (USD1.22) per adult (no charge for kids under 7) and proceeded to walk towards the nearest watchtower about 300 meters away. This tower is a 'brick & mortar' type but I we could see the inner tower was wooden.

About midway we passed a Caucasian family with two kids (around age 7 to 10) and Nic started muttering in her 'foreign accent' at the kids and blurted the word crazy. That was somewhat embarrassing.

We walked up the flight of stairs and found a young man clicking away with his 'pro-looking' camera. He didn't stay for long as Nic began yelling out for monkeys. She was not happy with the birds flying in the distance. According to the brochure, it is a habitat for otters, leopard cats, silver-leaf monkeys, macaques, local birds (98 species), migratory birds (57 species), reptiles, mud lobsters, crabs, mud skippers (this I saw plus tadpoles and little fishes) and insects (lotsa mosquitoes yeah).

We decided to skip the rest of the sites (rope bridge, egret/pangolin trails, mud flats, etc) but hope to return another day with insect repellant at the ready. Next stop, Bukit Malawati (Malawati Hill), the site of the lighthouse (pic) and remains of the Dutch fort (pic, cannons). You can either walk or take a tram. It's actually a tractor-driven contraption brightly painted in red and yellow (pic). Tickets are RM2 (USD0.61) per adult and RM1 (USD0.31) for children. We took the tram, which dropped us off at the top where we were greeted by dozens of Silver-Leaf monkeys. They are so named because the adults have a silver sheen on their fur. The babies however have orange fur (please click on monkey pic). These primates are bags of fun as they are so gentle. As soon as we stepped down the tram a couple of them came to us with outstretched hands and those 'puppy-dog eyes'. As we were empty-handed they soon abandoned us and went after the folks with food. Not wanting to be outdone, we bought some buns from the friendly vendor cum unofficial tour guide. He warned Susan not to reveal her buns (ha ha, could not resist that) as the monkeys would snatch them. So she put the buns in her handbag and gave up when the critters became too rowdy. I promptly took over and handed out crumbs. It went well until this young monkey jumped on my head. This monkey kept doing that the whole time. All said, it was fun.

It was about 3pm and we headed towards Pasir Penambang for some seafood. It was just a few klicks away, past the new bridge. We went to River View (pics above) as my research said the view was good. Right it was as a nice cool wind kept blowing at us from the South. This beats the air-cond joints we patronize in the city anytime.

After the meal we stopped by the shops selling seafood, both dried (pic) and fresh. We left for home at around 4.45pm. Despite it being a very hot day throughout we had fun and would like to return someday soon. This time we'd like to explore the park more and stay to watch the fireflies at night.