Miscellaneous Picture #32: December favourites

Few of my favourites for the month of December....

A new star for our Christmas tree

Love this gift set from Modbox

Thanks to my sis for the Christmas present, now I am very hard-working in losing my fatty abdomen!

Cute fellow that I found in the children's treasure chest

2014 may not be a great year but it would not be forgotten easily because of what has happened. All we could do is wish for a better year ahead. Everything is in the hands of Almighty. We are forever his humble servants.

To my friends and readers, thank you for your continuous support in my blog. Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to all.

Warm in a claypot

We kept our Christmas tree and decorations into boxes and storage containers on Saturday afternoon. They shall be kept and stay idle for another year. ^^

Everyone were hungry after the clearing. Thought of having something warm as it was a cold rainy evening, so we drove all the way to Rubber road for claypot chicken rice.

Used to have the claypot chicken rice at this Fu Xiang Food Centre when hubby had a textile shop in Satok many years ago. We could have it almost every night. It is not the best in the city but for this far side of the city, it is nice on its own.

Fu Xiang Food Centre is located in the same row with SCR in Rubber road. It is the corner coffee shop, opposite AIA building.

The couple that operate the claypot rice is there after all those years. Now even the children are helping out. Used to remember they were smaller back then. Now they are all grown up.

We ordered 2 big pots of claypot chicken rice for 5 of us. Extra salted fish, of course.

RM8 for this big pot

Need to wait for them to cook. They really cook the rice grain from scrap using the claypot so do not go on empty stomach as you may need to wait very long if there are many customers. But when the rice comes, it is smoking hot and oh boy! We just love the warm rice with sliced sausages and chicken pieces. The rice is fluffy, one grain by one grain. Not too dry and I don't like it lumpy and wet either.

We also love to scoop the burnt bottom of the claypot. Hard and fragrant rice scraps!

And each claypot chicken rice comes with a warm bowl of ground nuts soup. Extra bowl of soup costs you RM1.00. You will find chicken feet too other than ground nuts and red dates in the soup.

There you are

This cafe has been around for few months now and I did not try it till early this week.

Opposite the Big One Food Court

I noticed there is a kolo mee stall when I drove by this cafe. Well, what is new in Kuching? We are well known for kolo mee so almost in every coffee shops, there would be one kolo mee stall.

So my first thought would be it must be like other ordinary kolo mee. Nothing special. Some more this Ice Buddy Cafe was not full of patrons whenever I passed by or have my meals at the coffee shop across it. So, I think the food would be either not good or service is lousy. But I decided that I should try it myself, at least once to have my own verdict on this cafe.

There are 2 kolo mee stalls there. One opens in the morning while the other one is in the evening. To my surprise that the morning kolo mee stall used to operate at the food court across the road. They are selling the famous Batu Kawa meat balls to go with their noodles. Well, I love the springy Batu Kawa meat balls so I am happy to have my kolo mee there any time.

Not many stalls operate in this cafe. Saw a curry rice/noodle stall, lok lok, Foochow fried special and chicken rice but some not open. Still looking for tenants as I saw the "for rent" notice on the stalls.

Just next to the Batu Kawa meat balls kolo mee stall

The 2nd time we went there was one evening after picked hubby from airport. The other reason was the 2nd kolo mee stall with its sign saying "Joseph kolo mee". The only Joseph kolo mee I knew was in this coffee shop. Over there, they served super tasty kolo mee. And not only that, it comes with crispy bacon slices!! You don't believe me? Let the picture says it all.

However the last time we were there, apparently the so-called Joseph guy was no longer there and his business was taken over by the owner of the coffee shop. Not bad but somehow, different hands, different taste.

So, when I saw the Joseph kolo mee stall in Ice Buddy Cafe, I assumed that it  must be the same guy. Maybe he has moved there. Must go there and check him out.

So we were happy to see the same guy mending the stall. There was slight difference in the kolo mee. Taste the same but the sliced bacons were smaller and lesser compared to the previous one.

We also had the bbq pork from another stall. RM10 for this delicious and juicy slab of pork belly. I love the spicy chilli dipping. 

Glad that my curiosity gets the best of me. Found the kolo mee that I missed and meat balls that I loved. Both are easily available as near my place some more. 

Relaxed Xmas and almost another year

How was your Christmas day? Can't believe that Christmas has come and gone, just like that. We did have a wonderful and relaxing Christmas this year.

Christmas morning was fabulous. We went to the church and enjoyed the repertoire although I had a difficult moment controlling the children' voices down. And the kids got gifts from the church too.

Lovely coin boxes. And each got different box!

Then we had a good rest at home. Everyone must be exhausted as we slept late on the eve and woke up pretty early for the church service.

Early on the Christmas morning, I were awaken by some noises in the room. Guess what? The kids greeted me with a Christmas greeting before they were off to collect and open their presents that we hid under the tree after they were off to bed! How happy they were with their presents!

Some of the presents

Play, play and play

What we did too on that day...

Read Christmas-related books

Children bibles are great and colourful to read on Christmas Day

Playful Jay with his remote control car

We had a good time catching up on some DVDs. The old movies such as Frozen. Kids would never be bored of it! We also watched the old Star Wars series from episode 1 to 5! Wow! I did enjoyed them very much.

This year flies so fast and many changes and events have happened to us. I have decided to stop making new year resolutions because I know I will never achieve them. *wink*  So much for the resolutions making.

However I would love for 2015 to be a wonderful year where everyone stays healthy and happy together. And wish hubby has a great and better year too. And my wish for myself? A more determined and strong person for my children. *wink*

Home for Christmas

A simple but wonderful dinner on the Christmas eve.  Hubby flew back on 23rd evening and will be on leave for 2 whole weeks till next year.

This year we are glad to have the company of my parents, sis, bro and sil as well for the Christmas eve's dinner.

I have prepared my menu for the evening. Simple and our favourites to prepare and cook.

Our star of the night - whole roast turkey. No, I did not cooked this but ordered from Tom's. Who doesn't love the good old-fashioned favourite on Christmas?

My home-cooked dishes to go with the turkey.

Fried noodle

Lamb stew

Mixed veggies

Kids' favourites -nuggets and Taiwan sausages

Now, don't you think my food all looked kind of red and yellow? I just realised the colours when I upload the pictures here. Lol.

And we did prepared some presents for my family.

Kids' presents are from ToysRUs!

Our fabulous home-cooked family's Christmas eve dinner. I love it when everyone gets together and enjoy a nice dinner with few glasses of red wine.

Hope you had a wonderful dinner on Christmas eve too.

Tale of our Christmas tree

Think of it, this is actually our 2nd Christmas in my house. Moved here in 2012 and had our very 1st Christmas decoration around the house. Then we moved to Sibu end of June 2013 and spent our Christmas that year driving back all the way from Sibu.

So many ornaments to choose from

This year we set up the Christmas tree for Jamie's sake as it is his 1st Christmas celebration here. We bought new Christmas ornaments in addition to what we have for the tree. Don't ask me what is the color theme this year but it looks like purple, silver and blue to me. What most important is that Jamie was excited seeing the fuss and decoration around the tree.

The curious one

Everyone was very excited when setting up the tree. With Christmas songs playing in the background, we decorated our tree gallantly.

The busy elves

After all the hard work

Our very own Christmas tree

Ornaments that we bought this year

The kids are looking forward to their presents. The thought of how their eyes shine and happily opening up their presents is a joy. Christmas is all over love, sharing and giving.

So I have readied the presents and shall place them under the tree tomorrow evening. I could not wait to see their reaction when they wake up on Christmas Day.

And I got myself this cute elk key chain!

Not forgetting to thank Sharon from Singapore for this lovely Christmas card. It has a place on my Christmas tree too.

Spot your card, Sharon?

Last but not least, I would like to wish everyone, A Blessed Merry Christmas. May God bless you all.

And Happy Birthday to Jesus too!

Sumptuous dinner in 8 road cafe

We joined my family side for Winter Solstice dinner last night. Since only me and kids, it would be fun and merrier to have dinner with them. *wink*

My boy as my reluctant model was holding the door

My dad suggested dinner at this newly opened cafe near his place in Taman Supreme, Lorong Wan Alwi (the new row of shops next to Choice World Supermarket).

I am not sure what in the name. Maybe 8 symbolized good luck as 8 in Chinese pronounced as "fatt". 

Let have a look at what we had last night. 

First dish was the roasted chicken. Very nice I have to admit.

The captain recommended this yam basket so we gave it a try. True to her word, the mixed vegetables in yam basket was very tasty. Soft inside but crispy outside. 

Another recommendation from the captain. The salty fish bun.

It was actually tilapia baked with salt in an aluminium wrap. It was good to our surprise. The fish was very fresh and marinated well with salt. No "fishy" smell even it has cooled off. 

We also had this stir fried yew chai. Loved this crunchy vegetable very much.

Lastly we ordered a 1kg of this buttery and salted egg crabs. Could not get enough of this tasty, salty crustacean.  They put a lot of butter in this dish so I enjoyed it very much. Plus the crabs were very fleshy so it was very worthy dish.

Thank you, dad for the lovely dinner. And Happy Winter Solstice. 

Not short of food

We were here for breakfast on Sunday morning. Bored of the food in MJC so I drove slightly further to this food court. Sing Garden in Hui Sing. Need to be early to be here otherwise it would be hard to find parking and seats.

Luck was on our side as I could find nice parking as well as good table. I used to come here a lot last time so some of the stalls operators recognised me.

You could find almost everything here from kolo mee, laksa, chicken rice, porridge to banana fritters and popiah here. Too many choice to choose from.

Sis wanted to try the Hakka Lui Cha from this stall. I told her it was good. And glad when she tasted it, she agreed with me. She had the normal bowl whicj was RM4.50.

The only lui cha my hubby loves is from this stall. Not too bitter and yet full of flavour from the vegetables and blended soup. The taukeynio was very generous too, she would give extra peanuts if you requested.

My girl never failed to order the breakfast set (RM3.50). I could make it myself at home but I don't usually cook on Sunday. ^^

Jay initially wanted kolo mee but unfortunately the stall was not open, maybe of the Winter Solstice festival which falls today, so I ordered this fried taugeh noodle (RM3.00) for him. Not bad, I tasted. Business was good. 

As for me, I was annoyed because my initial order of fresh milk fish head vermicelli did not come. They forgot my order and I were told to wait for few more minutes while those came later than me got theirs first. Why would not they served me first since they made mistake and forgotten mine? Instead I have to wait again? So, I cancelled it and ordered laksa. Not so tasty looking but alas. It filled up my tummy. Not cheap for this bowl of laksa. RM4.

After our breakfast, we went grocery shopping. Need to get ingredients for my Christmas eve's cooking. Have you done shopping for your Christmas dinner?