A feast, day or night

It is that time of the year where many weddings will be held.  Everyone is rushing to get married before the New Year.  I have attended few weddings this year in Sibu.  3 weddings to be exact, and did not count those relatives' and friends' weddings that I missed out, it was around 7 in total. 

Most receptions that I attended are dinners. Seldom been to lunch reception other than my SIL's wedding early of the year.  It is not such a culture in Kuching to have lunch receptions for weddings, but pretty common over here.  Or maybe we have a lot of venues in Kuching unlike in Sibu.  But still, we have to make early reservation for venue like a year or so in advance.  I remember I confirmed my wedding reception hall in a hotel about 8 months in advance.

My brother is getting married next year in September while a cousin is having his in June.  My brother has booked his venue last month, as most venues that he wanted initially has all been booked.  So we would be going back to Kuching for the 2 wedding receptions.

Ok, enough of wedding talk for now.  *wink*

Last night we had a sumptuous feast at home, as a friend is back from China with her Chinese hubby and baby. They are back for a wedding reception this afternoon.

We tapau-ed dishes from Hai Bing Restaurant at Jalan Maju.  The friend wanted to eat crabs but unfortunately they did not have crabs last night.  Or probably has been pre-booked by patrons??  So, we ordered other seafood instead. 

I enjoyed its bamboo clams in curry and spicy lemongrass and soy sauce cockles very much.  Very fresh.  And also the river snails that I used to love to suck as a kid, but always have problems sucking the flesh out from the shell!  Lol!

Bamboo clams

River snails

Cockles

Our dinner costs RM140.00 which is rather pricey to me.  But I guess that is the price of seafood in Sibu. 

School holiday activities: Kumon

Enrolled my daughter in Kumon class today.  Learnt this brain development and enrichment tuition classes from a friend here and since it is school holiday, I decided to let my girl start this class next month.   Their classes are every Tuesday and Friday, and subjects are English and Maths.

Kumon is based on Japanese learning skill. Developed by Mr Kumon in 1954, a high school Maths teacher. The objectives of Kumon are to develop self-learning, independence, confidence and learning ability of young children.

Kumon centre is situated opposite the old Everwin branch in Jln Pahlawan.  This afternoon, she has her assessment test as each student needs to sit for the test before teachers place them accordingly in the class.  It is based on how fast the students can answer the questions with correct answers within a given time frame. 

My girl sitting for assessment test. Answered all 70 questions correctly within 8 minutes (time limit is 10minutes). She is given Primary 2 Maths set paper.

Planned to enrol my boy too but that would be next January. Having hard time teaching Jay and he does not listen to me. So I decided it is high time to get him started early in Kumon.

When at the centre, teacher will give out a set of questions paper to student to finish. Students are to time themselves. After finish the paper, they will pass to teacher to check and revision with student. Not so of a classroom teaching concept here. More one-to-one most of the times. Students would need to bring back few sets of papers home to be done and timed at home. Parental support also play a part in a child development here.

I will try to update on my kids' progress in Kumon in few months time for sharing. *fingers cross*

Thanks to both

Yesterday I checked the house mail box and found this letter. From Libby, Singapore where I won a prize in her recent blog giveaway.

A very cute coaster. I like it! And so is my girl who loves anything pink.

Met up with Suituapui yesterday for breakfast and he brought these yummy goodies for me. Ooh, I have been longing to try the instant kampua after he blogged on how tasty they are and indeed, they do.

Thank you both for making my day!!

Goodies from Kuching

Some delish goodies I brought in from Kuching for relatives and friends!

The rice crackers (bee pang) from Padungan, sio pau from Hong Kong Puff Co, and salted terubok and eggs from Satok. They caused me to pay extra for surcharges of exceeding mycheck-in luggage weight in airport!

Sio Pau

Terubok eggs (RM20 per pack)

Fresh salted fish

End of Kuching holiday

Our 9 days holiday is coming to an end. I just reached Sibu this evening. What I miss about Kuching most is definitely not the traffic jam. Lol.

Let me share some food that I manage to eat there. Except Laksa, I have tasted almost all the food I want to eat.

Tomato kueh tiaw from Stall 17 Ngap Kiang  Kenyalang market

Have breakfast with mum in Woon Lam and I had char kuaw and kuah chap while kids had kolok mee. Woon Lam is famous of char kuaw and kuah chap. I like its char kuaw as fried to crispiness.

My Miscellaneous Picture #10: Joy of Christmas

The Christmas mood is in the air. Just a month away. Are you ready for it?

No Christmas tree set up and decoration at home this year so we just enjoy the decorations in the shopping malls in Kuching. 

P Cafe, what a name

Before we went for our movie this morning, we went for a breakfast in the coffee shop in Wan Alwi road. We tried this newly-opened cafe in the vicinity. P Cafe, located just across Choice World supermarket.

This cafe is pretty impressive with its computerised ordering system where you can browse through the menu and self-order from your own table on the touch screen. Other than that, the price is pretty impressive too. Interior is simple and food is so-so.

We ordered its laksa, kampua, kolok mihun and meat ball noodle to try. Except meat ball noodle which cost RM4.50, other dishes cost RM3.50 each. I do not think I would want to go here again unless I am not paying the tabs. Lol!

School holiday activities: To the cineplex

We are going to catch this movie in MBO this morning. I am sure the kids will going to enjoy this movie. A little treat from my sis. A treat for the kids who did well in their exams. :)

Yesterday I sent them to ex-nanny as the kids have been persuading me to do so for few days. So let them had some bonding time with their beloved nanny. And I had some peaceful time to catch up on my new novels and cross stitch. And also have brunch with friends and went for a facial in afternoon. *wink*

The old time

Feel like walking down the memory lane when I had a short walk and lunch in Padungan on Thursday. It does feel like yester years when I have pork leg rice there. Used to go there almost every Sunday for its famous pork leg rice as kid because my dad loves it so much. And my dad is its regular till they automatically served him a glass of iced lemon tea when my dad goes there.  And I think I inherited the love of eating this food from my dad. 

The shop is just facing the famous Padungan clock tower and it is the first shop. You would not miss it. Last time this family operated pork leg rice only but now they have laksa, kolok mee and sio bee stalls for you to choose from. 

A serving of 4 costs you RM22.00 with rice and serving of soup and curry soup. Used to be cheaper but everything is increasing in price now.

The old man that serves drink is still there. He knows my dad, not me. The old man must be over 70 now but he still look fit. The son is still the same. Busy cutting and serving the meats. What surprised me is the interior of the shop. Not the same like how I remember it. More modernised and it even operating a homestay above the shop. That is very enterprising! So now you have Chai Suan Soon coffee shop with homestay business.

School holiday activities: Outdoor fun

Hope the weather is kind on us this evening. Plan to let the kids have some outdoor activities. Have not yet decide whether to allow them to cycle or walk around the neighbourhood or a dip in the pool. 

Suppose to go for a bike this morning as my girl is eager to try her new bike but we woke up late today and the sun is so warm even around 7am. If the sun not too hot in the afternoon maybe I can bring them to the weekly pasar tani. 

Hustle and Bustle

It feels great to be back to Kuching but never knew till now that there is so much works to do around the house.  All the cleaning, dusting and tidying.

It rained everydays in Kuching. Told my girl we do not have snow but rain is good for that cooling Christmas feeling.

I also manage to squeeze some times to meet up and yam cha with few friends.  I feel happy to meet up with my friends.  Make me feel connected again.  Lol!  Probably I do not have friends in Sibu so it makes me appreciate my friends in Kuching more!  *wink* 

Since I moved to Sibu I feel every places in Sibu are near and just take few minutes to reach the destinations.  But after came back here, suddenly everything is moving fast. I am back to more cars and jams on the roads.  Times are pretty tight here.  The hustle and bustle of big city do not fancy me anymore.  Or have I grown fond of my new life in Sibu??  Slower and less complicated. I don't know.

School holiday activities: Blast at the arcade

2 wonderful and fun evenings at CityOne for the kids. Kids. Never grow tired of playing while we adults bleeding by spending on those coin tokens. Lol.

Let the pictures tell you how great times they had there.

School holiday activities: New books to collection

There is 2nd hand book sales in Hills shopping Mall so without hesitation we went there this morning to hunt for books. Too many books to browse through till my eyes turned blur and bringing kids along is not good idea for some peaceful time. So I spend about an hour hunting for kids' reading materials as well as my novels.

Heard there is also a book sales in Hock Lee but that would be more Chinese materials there so not my kind of genre.

My loots! 

The donation fountain where you drop your coins and see them spinning all the way down to the centre hole.

And there is a donation fountain for the Haiyan victims in Hills and we made some small donation for the Philippines.

In the afternoon while I read my new novel, both kids did some homework. My girl did some Maths and Chinese papers as requested by her school teachers. So she does not only havefun during holiday but still did some homework.

School holiday activities : Dino Trek

It was drizzle almost the whole day today in Kuching. I woke up around 6am this morning, did some sweeping and mopping. The kids also woke up pretty early, before 7am. So we went out before 8am since there are few places to go.

First a stop at ex-babysitter's house to pass some kompia to her. Then pick up my mum for a kolok mee breakfast in Noodle Expert, Kenyalang. I had Seafood kolok mee.

Then we visited my grandma in Bintawa before heading to Tun Razak museum for the actual agenda of the day. The Petrosains Dino Trek. The boy was relunctant to go because he scared when heard the roaring sound from the entrance but after a while he followed us in. It felt like walking in the Jurassic Park.

It was packed with school kids as a school was having a group of kids visiting the exhibition. So my kids did not get much chance at their games but they still enjoying themselves.

Don't mess with them!!

I am coming home

Yes!  School holiday has started.  And I am bringing my 2 older kids back to Kuching!!  Our little baby will be staying in Sibu with baby sitter for a week plus.  Luckily the baby sitter is hubby's aunt, so we feel relieved to leave our baby behind with her.   But I know I am going to miss my baby when we are going back to Kuching.

It has been almost 5 months since we left Kuching!!  Miss our home, my parents, and the food.  And I missed my car too. 

I have booked air flight tickets 4 months in advance.  Cheap rate.  Me and the 2 older kids will be flying back on 17 November evening.  And now we can check in and print our boarding passes 14 days earlier.  Hubby has gone back for training on Wednesday morning and back to Sibu on 17 November evening.  He would not be staying back with us since he could not take leave from work at the time being.  So we would not be seeing him till we are back to Sibu on 26th.

Ooh, so look forward to going back to Kuching!  There is a list of food that I want to eat, i.e. kolok mee, bak kut teh, pork leg rice, braised duck noodle.  But I am going home with a toothache. :( Have toothache for few days and went to see dentist this morning. I never like to visit dentist unless necessary. Dentist could not find the cause of my pain so prescribe anti-inflammation and painkiller and I need to go back to her after finish all the med. Sigh! 

I don't usually add video clips in my blog but there is always time when I feel like sharing few nice songs with you. I enjoy listening to Michael Buble as he is a great jazz singer with beautiful voice. One of my favourite is "Home". The lyrics are beautiful and meaningful. AndI only knew recently that the talented and acclaimed country song artiste, Blake Shelton (you may know him as one of the judges in The Voice) also sang this song. Not bad too. Which one do you prefer?

I still love Michael Buble's rendition of the song. :) Maybe I am more of a jazz-y person. :) 

Happy holidays to all the kids out there and happy weekend, guys!  Until then, chow!

Not you see it everyday

I were driving along this road this morning; on the way sending my Jamie to baby sitter's house and I saw this man standing at one of the junctions.  Wow!  Saw him yesterday afternoon when picking both kids from schools.  Imagine you standing under the blaring hot sun.  I salute this man for his endurance. 

First time I seen this type of advertisement on the road.  In Western countries, it is pretty common to get people to put on cardboards or shirts promoting some products or shops, but it is not so common over here.  I don't see this around in Kuching either. 



Ex-psy-ting

The kids followed hubby to Durin on Sunday afternoon for a cousin's birthday party.  The house is situated in the family's logging camp along Rejang River so it was a nice treat for the kids to experience nature that closely. 

I did not follow as I were lazy to bring Jamie along and it was rather warm on Sunday afternoon.  I also did not feel that well because of a dry throat. 

At first the kids were a bit subdued because not familiar with the surrounding and cousins, but after a while, they started to mingle around.  You know, when there are kids, noises, fun, dirts and cries followed.  The kids played at the front deck of the long houses and walked around the vicinity while the adults having bbq and some Iban dishes for lunch.

After he started to feel the heat and joined in the run

A group photo

They even caught a monkey in the cage.  What is this animal called?  At this moment, I could not remember its name. *slap* Can someone refresh my memory??

And my darling hubby's birthday is today, but we celebrated it last night. Just a simple homecooked dishes of hubby's favourite and a cake cutting.  Hubby will be going to Kuching tomorrow for few days training till Sunday.  But we would probably seeing him end of this month.

I asked my friend to custom-bake his cake.  People commented that hubby looks like the Korean Psy when he wears sunglasses, so I gave my friend the theme and she comes up with the design. Nice or not?

Happy birthday, darling!!