What we ate in Melaka

Great ! I finally have the pictures from my SIL and here you goes..... *it is a very long post*

Before I started the food journey, I wish to say a BIG THANK YOU to Chinnee for suggesting a few places for us to eat (she is from Melaka) and glad that we managed to find them.

Lorong Bukit Cina
First, we head straight to Bukit Cina where the famous satay celup (Capital satay) was located. We did not try the satay celup because the queue was super long ! I wonder how long should we queue before we could be seated.

Together with 2 SILs, hubby and the kids, our main purpose to Bukit Cina is to try on the white wantan noodles which was suggested by Chinnee. You may read her post here.

** CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A LARGER VIEW **

The taste of this wantan noodles are a bit bland to me. Maybe my tastebud are used to the food in Seremban as they are very SALTY. Both my parents always complaint when they dine in Seremban ^_^. The Melaka wantan noodles are very tangy and nice to chew. The BBQ pork (char siew) are very normal thou but that is the main ingredient in a bowl of wantan noodles. They served with a bowl of wantan soup (sorry no pic) and I think I prefer the wantan than the noodles. The pork is well manirated before being wrapped in the wantan skin and boil till cooked. Among the 4 of us, hubby is the only person who got hooked with the noodles. He love it so much ! Maybe he added a lot of chilli sauce (sorry no pic) into the noodles which make it Ummphh ! He will sure visit this shop again for our next visit to Melaka.

Bandar Hilir

Next, we proceed to OUB (next to Newton food court) at Bandar Hilir for some fried oyster. According to Chinnee, this shop fried very tasty fried oyster and most importance, they have less crowd. So we can avoid the long queue. True enough, this place is very quiet and we easily found a good parking.

Behind the fried oyster stall is a stall selling pork satay.

YX enjoying the pork satay.

While waiting for the fried oyster, we had satay first. The satay tasted very good. Well manirated with spices which made this skewer meat sweet and fragrant after being BBQ. However, the sauce is the down part. It does not look like the normal peanuts sauce to me, but pineapple. I'm not too sure on the ingredient but it does taste sweet and sour, just like pineapple taste. So we just eat the meat without dipping into the sauce.

Here comes the fried oyster. Yummy ! The eggs and starch are well mix together and fried till fragrant. The eggs are well spread out where you could not really feel the starchy texture. I like this kind of taste. Not very salty and best of all, not really OILY.

Next, from the same stall which sells the fried oyster, we ordered the fried carrot cakes. The taste is good - not too salty but the cake is too soft. The special part of this dish is there are actually some mince meat being added into the carrot cakes which makes it feel like home-cooked type. If the aunty added in more preserve turnips (chai por), it will make the cake tastier.

Then, we ate the Fried Indo mee (opp. the fried oyster stall). SIL loves this ! The noodles are fried till very dry and added with own-made sauce rather than those seasoning powder used by the mamak cooked. The noodles are very Q.

Jonker Street

I do not know why the pic turn so blue after uploading. ;-(

We then continue our food hunt at Jonker Street. SIL main objective was to eat the famous chendol at Musuem Cafe. They sells authentic chendol. However, it was very very very sweet !!!! I do enjoy sweet stuffs, but this is TOO SWEET. At the end, we get the boss to add in more ice for us to make it better.

To make our mouth feel better, SIL ordered a plate of Baba Chinken Rendang Noodles. Hmm... this is GOOD ! Very spicy, flavourful and tasty. Sorry, the picture was took half way eating.

With a very bloated stomach and sweet mouth, we still managed to gulp down some drinks. The one on the left is honey lemon and right is lo han guo.

Bunga Raya

After some shopping at the Jonker Street, we decided to go home. However, on the way back, we happen to passby this place where we noticed a lot of poeple queueing up. Curious, we just parked our car (were lucky to have ample of parking space nearby) and check it out. To our delight, it was selling FRIED OYSTER !

Seeing so many people queueing up at such hour (already 10.30 pm), we ought to try it out. Go here for more pictures. You will understand how crowded it is.

This is really awesome ! Comparing the earlier one, I like this better, even there is a price to pay - have to queue up. The eggs and starch are fried till CRISPY, well balance (not too starchy) and very frangrant ! This is a MUST HAVE when you are in Melaka. This portion cost us only RM5 which I think is huge.

At the same place, hubby saw the white wantan noodles again and could not resist to try it. However, hubby gave a thumb down. It is tasteless and even with the cilli sauce, it is not good. Hubby still prefer the earlier one.

Finally, after having 2 times of white wantan noodles, 2 times of fried oysters and many other goodies, we decided to go home. Our stomach was really bloated but we felt really satisfied.

~~~~=~~~

Note: Phew! I took such a long hour to write this post again and again before I finally could post up. It is easier to eat than to describe the foodies.

A short trip to Melaka

Last Saturday, we went down to Melaka for a very short 'makan-makan' trip. As Saturday is a full working day for us, we only left at around 5.30 pm which is consider early. Glad that the journey was a pleasant one as the kids did not gave us much of a problem. Baby XJ slept the whole way down to Melaka and YX was busy with his drawing board.

We really ate our heart out. In that same night, we had 2 times of wantan noodles and 2 times of fried oyster. In between, we had something else. As a results, we actually ate from 6.30 pm till 10.30 pm. Our mouth just munch non-stop.


Bought 2 dresses for baby XJ at Jonker St. RM25 for 2 sets.

SIL bought 2 rattle toys for the kids. However, MIL already consficated the toys because YX used it to knock on the glasses at home. Not only that, he even uses it to knock baby XJ's head (but very soft one because baby did not cry), and knock on the door and every places he felt like knocking. A very naughty boy indeed.

YX taking photo with the beca (trishaw). It was actually lit up with very colourful and beautiful lights, however, the photos does not show out. Maybe due to the camera flash. Or is my camera too old? We did not let him try on the beca ride because of limited time.

Baby XJ enjoying herself to the food too. She had a great time tasting all the goodies.

We left Melaka at around 11 pm and sad to say that we actually lost our way. Hubby took a wrong turn and that cost us an EXTRA 30 - 45 minutes on the road. We were all so tired, but we did arrived home safely. Both kids also slept in the car all the way back home which make the travelling easier. No crying, no whinning.

Note: Will blog about the foods in a later post due to the photos are with my SIL. Shall show you what we ate. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S !!

Helpful or not ?

I wonder why kids just love to play with the laundry basket. With cloths or without, kids just love to hold onto it. Even YX loves to play with it and when the basket is empty, he will put the whole thing onto his head and shout "MAMA....SEE" !! However, when the basket is fully loaded with cloths, this naughty boy will empty out the basket to play.

Now, baby XJ also learn that trick from him. Minutes after I took in the laundry basket, baby XJ crawl towards it. As I went behind to take a glass of water, this is what she has done....

Still very busy at emptying the laundry basket.

Curious baby trying to figure out what is the cloths doing on the floor.

And dare to smile at me somemore! Gave me an extra work to do!

Looking forward for a BREAK !

The last time hubby and I travelled for a proper holidays was in February 2006 to Bali Island, before YX was born. Oh....look at how long we did not TAKE A BREAK!!! No wonder I've been wishing and requesting to travel here and there. Why did I say proper holiday? Well, in between of these 3 years, we did travel but only for a day trip to KL or an overnight trip to my hometown in Johor. How pathetic.

Due to working and the kids, we have put off the travelling ideas. As working in a family business, it is not easy for us to apply for leave. FIL will be unhappy and nagging away. Thus, both hubby and I are reluctant to apply leave for travelling purposes. As for the kids, it is rather a hassle if we were to bring them on a plane. Not mentioning the packing on the kid's stuffs. Ahh.....I will go cuckoo!

So the best TIME for us to travel is during Negeri Sembilan public holidays (so there will be less crowd and room rates are cheaper) and the best PLACE to travel is a place easily accessible by car and short distance (around 1 - 2 hour drive), so the kids will not go cranky during travelling. After flipping on the calender, hubby and I decided to take a BREAK on this coming N.Sembilan PH (26 Oct) which falls on the Monday! Since Sunday is an off day, we will have 2 straight days off. The PH was actually an installation of the N.S newly appointed Yang Tuan Besar after the death of the former one.

At first, we thought of travelling to Penang for FOOD, but due to the journey (very long distance), we shifted our plan to GENTING HIGHLANDS. A place which we also have not been for ages. Currently, they are running a promotions (well, they are always having promotions) with a BUY 2 FREE 1 @ First World Hotel only. Bookings must be made online and ended on 30 September 2009.

Wooohoooo !!! I've made that booking and secure with payment already. Now, am really looking forward for this holidays and looking forward to breath in more fresh coooollllll air !!! If only someone can babysit both YX & XJ........how nice. ^_^ (I know I'm dreaming)

Note: The Buy 2 Free 1 meaning :
1) Buy 2 nights (1 room) and get a free 1 night stay which can be use on the day itself or for the next visit. Valid till 12 Feb 2010. Only low season applies.
2) Buy 2 rooms (1 night) and get a free 1 night same as above.

Disposable Diapers

Nowadays, disposable diapers are not cheap. 2-3 years ago, I still managed to buy Drypers brand at RM28.90 (the cheapest) for the jumbo pack ; Pampers brand at RM27.90 (the cheapest) also jumbo pack. Recently, prices has increase. The cheapest ever I managed to get for Drypers and Pampers are RM33 and RM29 respectively. I wonder why the increase of price since every, or if not every, then MOST of the household with little baby requires to use it.

It is really costly especially when baby uses a lot. Lucky MIL trained her to poo on the potty every morning after a bottle of milk. It has became a habit and she could really do her business on time. Of course, sometime she skipped her poo poo business to a later hour or day. If she poo in the potty, it will be easier to clean up the mess and also could save a piece of the disposable diaper.

I felt that I've been visiting the shopping mall very frequent just to buy diapers. Every time, I only purchase 2 packs because I'm afraid I will over stocked them. XJ is now using size 'L' . Her diaper changing timetable as below:

7.30 am ~ after bathe, 1 piece
12 noon ~ 1 piece (the morning one will be fully soaked with urine).
6 pm ~ evening bathe, 1 piece
10 pm ~ before sleep, need to change 1 new piece. Otherwise, she will wet my bed in the middle of the night due to over soaked.

~ Hope she will be fully potty trained before the age of 2 ! ~

Note : YX was fully potty trained at age of 2, but now, he is still using diaper during bedtime at night.

The little artist

There is a newly open "made in China" products shop in Seremban recently and we went to take a look. Ended up, I bought some art stuffs for YX.


Water colour in a car shape. Only sell at RM3.90 nett. I do not know if it is safe for toddler use or not, but I kept an eye on YX when he was working on it. To make sure he did not put his dirty fingers into his mouth.

YX busy with his painting.

I did some finger printings with him. However, he does not have the paitience to do that and wanted to use the brush to paint on his own way.

Stamp sets. Only sell at RM3.50 nett. Comes with a mini stamp pad, 6 big stamps and 24 mini stamps.

YX happily stamping on a piece of recycle cardboard. However, after a while...........

He started to stamp them on his palm and leg.

See ..... this boy. Only knows how to dirty his own hand. He even chop his fingers onto the stamp pad and stamp them on the paper.

After the art times, I quickly brought him to wash his hands with soap. He even tells me that both his hands got bacteria. Hahaha....he saw the advertisement by the health ministry showed on the tv about preventing virus from spreading and we have to wash hand regularly with soap. Hmm... a good message he had absorb!

Great Songs

While I was browsing the net this morning, the radio behind me was playing a beautiful song which I like it very much during my college time. Everytime when I heard this song, my mind will shift to the college scene, reflecting my housemates singing this song together. It was fun !

A meaningful and positive mandarin song by Richie Ren (任賢齊) - Xin Tai Luan (心太軟)

Check out the song here.

Shapes

YX gave us a surprise again in the car the other day. While hubby was driving, YX was twisting his hand left and right and suddenly, he said "Mama....see......

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

v

Square ! Hubby thought it looks more like a diamond, but if you see it at a different angle, it does look like a square.

Circle !

Triangle !

I'm glad he used his creativity to create something logical and can even relates them to us correctly. ^_^

Family Time

Did you go anywhere during the long break (Hari Raya + weekends) ?

At first, hubby and SIL planned to travel to Bagan Lalang (somewhere near Sepang) to have seafood and spend some time at the beach area. However, things did not work out and we were all sitting at home watching tv. Boring !

Then, hubby decided to take the kids out for bubble blowing again. Heee.....that at least lift up the holiday mood. We went to City Park, S2 for tortoise feeding before let the kids have some fun with bubbles.


The weather was perfect ! Baby XJ enjoying the scenic view.

YX and XJ enjoying their bubbles time.

That was how my holidays ended. However, I enjoyed every seconds with the kids. Looking at them laughing and playing so happily really warms my heart. How I wish I'm a kid again. ;-)

I can stand !

Baby XJ can STAND on her own without holding on anything to support herself. Hurray ! Hope she can soon walk and I will be going to hunt a pair of beautiful shoes for her.

Tomorrow vs. Yesterday

As YX speech is getting better each day, we are sometimes surprised by what he said. He always make us laugh.

This morning as we passed by a road side selling Lemang, I quickly showed him and asked "Do you know what is that pakcik selling?" Without hesitating, he quickly reply me with confidence "Nasi Lemak !" Hahaha....I never knew he knows how to say 'nasi lemak' because we never introduce this yummydelicious coconut rice to him.

The other night, while in the bedroom....

Scene 1
YX : "YESTERDAY" I don't want go to school ah. I want to follow mama to work.

Scene 2
YX : "TOMORROW" I cut my knee. Very painful.

Hahah...He is confuse with tomorrow and yesterday. But he always get TODAY right !

"Next Time...."

Every morning, YX has been a good boy for waking up without making any fuss / crying. Normally I woke him up at around 7am in order to get him ready for school. If Sunday, I will let him sleep till he woke up on his own (but normally he will automatically be awake by 8am).

However, he is soooo lazy to go to the toilet and I will have to force him by carrying him to the toilet, while he will struggle at the other end. Well, I have to force him because in the morning is a rush hour for me. So, I can't slow talk with him and everything must be done fast, fast, fast. Otherwise, hubby and I will be late for work!

Me: YX, go and shhh...shhh.....
YX : No, I don't want. I don't have shhh shhhh
Me: HUH! Impossible !!! Once woke up from sleep, sure got shhhh shhhh....Go now!
YX: No, no !!
* No choice, I carried him to the toilet*
YX : *While doing his business* ... NEXT TIME don't want shhh shhh ahhh !!
Me : Cannot! We must shhh shhh eveyday.
YX : No! NEXT TIME don't want shhh shhh.....

I wonder if he do understand the word "NEXT TIME". Hahaha.....

This goes the same for taking bathe. I do not know why he is soooo lazy to take bathe as well. When I have the time (not rushing to work or somewhere else), I will normally tricked him to the bathroom. Either playing hide and seek and lure him to the bathroom, or pick up some toys which will interest him and he will willingly goes to take bathe.

However, if I were to use force (because rushing for time), he will be crying or showing his sad face and said "NEXT TIME don't want take bathe ahh ! "

Moody

Today the weather shares the same emo with me. Its 'MOODY'. It started raining since midnight and until now, I've not seen the sun yet. Well, my mood is the same. I felt so moody deep inside. Do you feel this way once in a while?

Well, I do.

Nothing bad happen actually. Nothing unpleasant came up my way, but I just felt so moody. Lucky there is the Internet to accompany me. Reading some blogs and comments by others does make me felt better. At least, it does cheer me up a little.

Hope this moody period will sail away soon. Welcome me back with a big sunshine.

Am sure I will soon be smilling because tomorrow will be the last working day before we closed for Hari Raya holidays. I just love holidays. It makes me feel so lazy ~ because in my mind, I've already plan to wake up late ^_^ (hope my plan will not be spoilt by the 2 little ones).

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE !! Selamat Hari Raya !!!

XJ @ 1 year old

Weight : 7.9 kg
Height : 73.5 cm
Teeth : 2 at the bottom front ; 2 just started to sprout at the top front

This morning I brought XJ to the clinic for her normal check up and for a jab. Her weight did not increase a lot as the previous appointment, she weighs 7.3 kg (only increase 6oo gm). According to the weight graph, XJ's weight is at the border line towards 'underweight'. A little bit worrying ya.

Her appetite is good, based on her eating a bowl of porridge, 2 times a day. In between, she drinks milk and eat bread / biscuits. The bowl we used is approx. the size any restaurants will use for rice. Is the bowl too small?

She can now stand without holding on anything, but still can't walk without any aid. Once she stood up, she will clap her hand so happily. If she holds on something (eg. table, chair), she will walk step by step slowly. And her favourite spot is under the table. I don't know why, but she loves to play under the table !

She still can't say any word except for those baby talks like maamma, paapaa, mumm mumm, goo goo gaa gaa, and when she laugh, she will laugh out "ha ha ha". Really, you will hear the "ha ha ha" sound. As a girl, she is really a 'manja' type. Whenever we carry her, she will lie her head on your shoulder, quietly. Ahh.....nice feeling! But when she wanted something, she is very demanding and fierce. She even has the ability to pinch you!

Puzzle toys

I won this puzzle toy for YX via blog months ago. This is actually not the original winning prize, but a replacement. After the winning was announced, I received an e-mail from the organizer that they will arranged for the toy to be sent to me. However, 1 month later, I still did not receive my prize. I sent them an e-mail to check on the status and was only told that their supplier has misplaced the original winning prize and they will replace me with someting else. If I agree, then they will proceed with the shipping. Well, not knowing what they will be sending (as no picture to see), but through the descriptions, I just agreed.

And 1 week later, the prize finally arrives.............


As what was told, the above toy contain more blocks / shapes than the original winning prize. Not too bad either as YX managed to learn the shapes and colours from this toy.

Comes together with a few cards .....

And the final outcome ........

At least this toy really keep YX busy for a while and he really concentrate in doing it. He even ensure all the blocks / shapes are place correctly inside the line. He will push softly to make sure they are neatly placed.

However, as usual, after he enjoyed himself with the toys, I will have to threaten him to pick up his toys with a cane ! Otherwise, I will be the 'maid' !

Uniforms

Before YX received his uniforms, I was so excited and can't help myself wondering how he will look like when he is wearing one. Will he refuse to wear them ? Will he look nice in them? Well, when the uniforms finally arrived, now how I wish he does not need to wear that uniforms!!!

Why? Because I need to IRON his uniforms almost EVERYDAY between Monday to Friday ! Gosh ! The material of the uniforms required to be iron and he only have 2 sets. If only the materials are T-shirt like, how convenience it will be. Ya, I admit I'm a lazy mum, a lazy wife. ^_^

When I told my mum about this 'extra' work, that reminds her of my cousin (cousin M) who told her the BEST way to iron her daughter's uniforms years ago. When her daughter was still schooling (she is now a final year students in a college), cousin M used to iron her uniforms. How lucky she was!

Since she was wearing a pinafore over a white shirt, cousin M only iron the white shirt's sleeves (both side) and the colar. The middle part was left un-iron since it will be cover by the pinafore.

I can't help myself laughing when mum told me about this story !!

Too bad, YX's uniform need to be 100% fully iron ! :-(

Foods @ Regent Restaurants, Seremban

~ The Birthday girl ~ We had dinner at the Regent Restaurant, Seremban.

1st dish ~ Pai Tee stuffed with some chopped vege and fruits stir fried with sauce. The pai tee cups are very crispy while the vege + fruits are nicely blend with the sauce. Great !

2nd Dish ~ Salad prawns. A little bit sweet with some creamy taste and goes very well with the cold prawns. I like it.

3rd Dish ~ Not sure what ball (fish or meat or mix) but very tangy. Nice to chew. In the middle is fried seaweeds which are crispy and topped with some meat floss. Baby XJ loves to eat the fried seaweeds. I don't really like the taste of the ball thou......

4th Dish ~ Not sure chicken or duck skin wrapped with ham and salted egg. Nice ! The skin are so crispy.

5th Dish ~ Shark fins soup. I don't really like this because am not a shark fins soup lover. This bowl of soup even spoilt the taste because it is full of ingredient, especially dried scallop. Am not a scallop lover as well.......

6th Dish ~ Fish. Known as 'long dan' in cantoneses but I do not know what is the english name. It is a very expensive fish. I don't like it too because the meat is so tough - just like chicken meat. Normally, fish flesh are soft, but this one taste so weird. Well, I meant the texture. The sauce is nice if goes together with a bowl of white rice.

7th Dish ~ Pau and fried beancurd skin wrapped with some kind of nuts and deep fried. Nice ! I love to eat deep fried foods. Baby XJ also ate a little bit.

8th Dish ~ MY FAVOURITE!!!!! Suckling pig. The skin is sooooo crispy (I told you I love crispy foods), and not very oily. Some suckling pig are full of fats under the crispy skin, but this one is a skinny type. I ate a lot of this but later felt so sinful!

9th Dish ~ Salt & Pepper Lobster. This is also very nice. The salty and spicy taste makes you felt like wanting more and more. The chef added some cilli flakes that makes it spicy in every bite. The lobster are fresh too!

10th Dish ~ I have no idea again what vegetable is this. It taste like spring onion, but it is not. Taste a bit like spinach, but it is not spinach either. Nice to chew ~ crunchy and juicy.

11th Dish ~ Fried noodles. I did not eat this because my stomach is already up to the limit. Going to explode ! I was sooooo full and did not even wish to taste it. But heard other family members said it is salty. Otherwise, it is delicious as the chef fried the noodle till dry (not oily) and fragance.

12th Dish ~ Fuits platter. Did not eat this because I was busy taking photos. Since I'm already very full, I decided to walk around to chat with other family members and take photos. My mum said the pineapples are very SWEET!

Last dish ~ Birthday cake. This is the doll cake which we had removed the doll. Delicious chocolate cakes with not- so- sweet fresh cream. Soft and fluffy with some fresh creams in the middle of each layer. Yummy ! I lovessss cakes........

This is how the doll cake being packed at the bakery.

All above photos are courtesy of my youngest SIL ~ Again I stole them from her FB account. Hehehe.......