Miscellaneous Picture #15: In February

Have received a lot of chocolates this month. Few boxes and packets of different chocolates from the CNY hamper basket and then SIL bought Toblerone assortment of chocolates for us.

A lovely gift from a friend when attended his wedding.

One of our holiday destination this year. But wonder whether we should postpone or not due to security reason. Sigh!

Got myself a new Zebra food storage containers set. Could not resist this lovely stainless steel set.

A very warm month.

My weekday walk

Every weekday I would go for my morning walk. Not in the park but in the vicinity of my girl's primary school. Her Primary 2 class is at the end of the school compound. So every morning I would park at the front gate of the school and walk to the last block. About 3-4 minutes walk.

From the last block view to the front gate at the end

There is a race track in the compound. I believe it is 100metres. So one way is 100metres and more and every day I walk 4 times (morning and afternoon; back and forth). That is good enough exercise for me. *wink*

Vegan eating

We tried this vegetarian cafe which is next to SCR (the shop across Delta Mall) on Sunday. I do not mind vegetarian food as good vegetarian food can be delicious and interesting. 

This café is called "My Healthy Cuisine", so you can find their food to be less oily and all are using vegetarian ingredients.  The price? Pretty reasonable I said. Don't expect much when you are having vegetarian meal.

There are 3 types of seating for you to choose.  One I called it a Japanese style where you need to take off your shoes and kneel to your table, the other one is normal square table and last is the high table type.  Since we have kids, we choose the Japanese style.  And next to our table, there is a small selection of comic books and healthy living books for you to read while you are waiting for your food.  But fear not, as the food is pretty fast.

We had its charcoal sandwiches set (RM7.90). The charcoal bread is nice, with delicious vegetarian ham, cheese, cabbage and dressing, but the French fries is rather soggy.  They used white earwood fungus for the coleslaw, which I did not enjoy much.

Jay ordered its fried mihun (RM3.90) which is rather alright in taste.  He ate half of it, so you bet it is good enough for him.

SIL tried its special of the day, Bak Kut Teh.  The soup is very mild.  Cannot expect much for a vegan bak kut the.  Quite a lot of beancurd, mushroom and vegetables, and it comes with fried cha kueh too.

Lastly, my order.  I tried its healthy nasi lemak (RM8.90).  It comes with vegan sambal and homemade chili sauce. 

Hair chat and Weekend Menu #57: Salted mustard & ginseng chicken soup

How was your weekend? I went to salon to do digital perm on Saturday. Sat there for 4 hours and yet I still think this was not what I want. I wanted a big wave curls but ended up not the curls that I want. Or maybe the stylist put too much spray and my curls look stiff and volumising my hair further. I look like that legendary Alleycat singer! Maybe after a good wash, my hair will look more natural. Can't wait to wash it tomorrow as the stylist reminded me to wash on 3rd day! But what done is done. I know, cny was over but that not the reason to style my hair. It has been more than 5 years since I curled my hair. I have decided to highlight my hair in few months time to enhance the curls.

I know I look like the pitiful exhibit plugged to a machine. Can feel my hair been toasted! All for the name of beauty! 

The result.....

My boy did not like my new hair style. Probably he never seen me with curls before so he kept complaining that it is not nice and looks messy. Lol.

Going to let my hair longer and try that half lenght perming like the Korea perm. That may have to wait end of the year at least.

Did not do much on Sunday as hubby was not around and I have to hold the fort with my 3 precious "treasure". Taught the kids on school works while Jamie took most of my time entertaining him. 

Cooked a simple chicken soup yesterday.  Long time didnt take ginseng and since I have some salted mustard in the fridge, I decided to cook salted mustard ginseng chicken soup.  Simply love the fragrant and taste of this soup, as the salty and ginseng taste like is appetizing. 

Learnt this soup recipe from my mum.  It is very simple and the ingredients are chicken, salted mustard and ginseng roots.  Nothing else.  Can add a bit of salt to the soup if you want it to be more salty but it can be omitted since the kiam chai is already salty.

Just soak and rinse the mustard, and then slice into smaller pieces. Wash and rinse the ginseng root.  Scald the chicken for few minutes to get rid of the scum.

I used slow cooker for this soup.  Just throw everything into the cooker, let it cooks for 2 to 3 hours.  Add salt to taste and 2 tbsp light soy sauce (optional) at the end of the cooking.

Result?  A flavourish soup to go with any meals.

Love it at first taste

We don't eat out that often. Hubby always work till around 8 or 9 something at night and most Saturdays, he will goes to office. So I usually cook dinners. But when hubby is travelling, my SIL will treat us to dinners. I haven't had much chance to eat and try new food and eating places in Sibu.

Hubby is travelling again yesterday so SIL and I brought the kids to Italian cuisine treat last night. When think of Italian cuisine, one would think of its pasta, cheese and thin crust pizza. 

After confirm the location of this cafe from Arthur, we found the place without trouble. Bistecca & Bistro like every other Western cafe, has nice and cozy ambience and true enough, the menu is very impressive and extensive. Too many dishes we wanted to try but for the 1st time, we opted for something simple.

My drink for the night is Summer Sunset. Nice colour. Very passionfruit taste.

We ordered its salmon salad, spaghetti carbonara and pizza Italia to share since only 2 adults with 2 kids that have small appetite. We are in love with its pizza, and the kids enjoyed it very much with their coke. Rich of cheese (3 types of cheese - mascarpone, parmesan and mozarella) and the savoury hams.

Nice white pizza (RM29)

The carbonara is creamy but I think it is rather tasteless or maybe the chef forgot to add some salt. In the end, we ordered some salt to add to the carbonara.

I also enjoyed its salmon salad as the smoked salad is fresh and they are generous with the lettuces and toasted bread cubes.

A very nice 1st experience in this cafe. I will definitely come back here to try other dishes on the menu. 

New Note 3??

I have been using Samsung mobile phone for 2 years now.  Hubby bought for me the Samsung Galaxy SII on my birthday 2 years ago.  I like its chic design as well as practicality and user friendly.  Of course from one mobile phone to another it took some times for me to get used to its setting and apps but after that, everything comes easy.  Now I am too used to touch screen mobile phone that I have some problem with the other phone brands.

I could not live without my mobile phone.  It is a must-thing to bring even ever I go out.  And I rely on my mobile phone GPS to show me directions in Sibu.  Really help a lot and save my times.

Now I am aiming at the latest Samsung Galaxy Note 3.  Hubby is currently using Note 2 and he is planning to buy the new Note 3. He wanted to pass his Note 2 to me while he uses the Note 3.  Of course I am trying to make him buy one for me as well since this mobile phone is on offer. I love that rose gold black casing.

Oh yeah, if you are looking for special offer and great bargains on mobile phone, camera, laptop or tablet, do check out iPMart Malaysia and here is the discount code for you to use when you purchase online at iPMart.

*RM15 discount for minimum purchase of RM100
*Unlimited usage
*Offer valid until 31 March 2014

Lost

I have to drive all the way to Ulu Lanang to go to the Pos Malaysia to retrieve a mail on Tuesday.  A gift for being top commentor in Sherry blog for January.  Thank you Sherry for the lovely gift.

There were few mails that lost or rather I did not received at all.  Never had such problems in Kuching.  So far I knew I did not received blog giveaway prizes from Libby and Kelly Siew.  :(

This was my first time driving that far to Ulu Lanang.  I wonder why they have to build the post office this far, but at least I get to see all those industrial shops and learn new place and new roads by myself.  If not for the still under-constructed road, I am sure the traffic would be smoother.  It took me about 20 minutes to reach my destination, and if not for my GPS, I was rather unsure of where to go initially. Some more I have to rant over here on certain drivers.   Right lane is for speeding.  For those drivers to cut and not for you to drive slowly.  Some more they are heavy vehicles and they drive slowly on the right lane.  Damn!  And I also hate those drivers who never bother to signal before they turn.  Hubby used to complain about those inconsiderate drivers, but till I encountered them myself, I understand how he feels.  *wink* 

After collecting my mail, I went for breakfast with hubby in Jalan Kampung Dato.  Never try this laksa in this coffee shop.  I forgot to note the name of the coffee shop but it is the corner shop facing the garden.  Same row with the coffee shop selling bak kut teh. 

Rather spicy, hardly can taste the fragrant laksa paste.  RM4.00 per bowl.  The portion was alright but not the best laksa I had in Sibu.  But at least I have tried and can do some comparison here.  *wink*

Sick boys and their remedies

A tiring weekend as I was busy taking care of my 2 boys. Jamie was having shingles and I brought him see a Chinese sinseh to kill the snake rash. The red rashes was on and off since then especially on his face. Hope he recovers soon. Actually I never knew babies as young as Jamie could develop shingles. Must be the weather or some viruses spreading around. And another concern I have is the dengue outbreak as I just heard from my SIL of the high numbers of cases of dengue in the area where I stay. Sigh!

My 4-year old boy was also not feeling well. Had vomitted twice on Friday morning and he slept most of the afternoon as well as Saturday morning. Must be the weather as he has been following around under the sun few days before that. 

Luckily after a good rest he was fine yesterday and back to his cheeky self again. I was a bit concerned as he has stomach infection last year when ever he has flu. But luckily this is not the case this round otherwise it would be worse.

I cooked him some chicken porridge on Friday evening. He ate a bit citing stomachache. He worried he will vomit if eat too much. Lol.

It is a simple porridge. Learnt this from my MIL. Just throw some chicken wings (cut at joints) together with washed rice in slow cooker. Add water and some tung chai. Let it cook for about 3-4 hours and when ready, add salt to taste. I also add few tbsp sesame oil too.

Chap Goh Mei - steamed abalone

Eating abalone is considered a luxury among Chinese. But this delicacy is easily avalable now either in fresh form, dried form or packed in cans.

Last week I put my cooking skill to test. My very first attempt in steaming abalone. Knew that abalone is tough in texture so I steamed it for about 15 minutes. Outcome?? Not that tough although I still need to cut with some effort. At least it is edible. Lol.

Only 1 1/2 abalone in the can. I used up the 1/2 for my shark fin soup. I never enjoyed abalone so hubby was lucky to have the big share of it.

Just throw some sliced gingers on top of the abalone. Add one tbsp cooking wine to the abalone and let it steams for 15 minutes. While it steams, in a pan, heat up few tbsp cooking oil. Once the oil is smoky, add to the abalone. Drizzle 1 tbsp light soy sauce. Turn off the heat and garnish with spring onion.

Chap Goh Mei - shark's fin soup

Prepared these dishes for Chap Goh Mei. First time cooked shark fin soup and steamed abalone but luckily they turned out fine. Got the shark fin and canned abalone from the unwrapped CNY hamper so I put them to use on Chap Goh Mei.

clock-wise from top: french beans with dried shrimps, fried anchovies omelette, shark's fin soup, fried ngoh hiang and steamed abalone

I will share the Shark fin soup recipe in this post. Sorry to those against eating shark fin. I do not strongly recommend or oppose eating shark fin but since I have it at hand and no one to give out and do not want to just throw it away. Could not find canned or frozen crab meat so I omit it. I used a bit of abalone meat and chicken meat here.

 

100g shark fin, soak in water for 10 minutes (at least)
sliced ginger(thumb size)
shredded chicken meat
sliced abalone
A handful of bean sprout, head and tail discard
1/2 cube chicken stock
Shao xing wine
2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp light soy sauce

1. Rinse the shark fin and boil in water for about half an hour. Add ginger and wine to get rid of the fishy smell.
2. Discard the water and rinse the shark fin.
3. In a pot, toss in chicken stock in boiled water with the shark fin for 30 minutes.
4. Add light soy sauce, chicken, bean sprout and abalone. When ready to serve, add cornflour to thicken the soup.
5. Serve with black vinegar

The bouquet of love

After read Wenn's post yesterday, I decided to pen down this post. When it comes to February, I would associate it with Valentine's Day.  The beautiful roses that become the symbol of love. :)

I love receiving flowers. Who doesn't? ;) Let me see...

My first roses was from an old friend. My college classmate who had a crush on me. He was in Sibu that time and he got 2 male friends (also classmates) to send to me in my work place.

Then my first bouquet of 12 roses from hubby (then boyfriend) in 2012.

Another bouquet from him on Valentine Day in 2013.

A beautiful champagne roses on my wedding day.

2 occassions when hubby surprised me by delivered flowers to my office.

And not forgetting the latest virtual flowers he send to me via whatsapp few days ago. These 2 lovely roses pictures above. It has been long since I received a real bouquet. Well, they were not real but I guess it is the thought that matters. *wink*

But I had a surprise last night. It came a day late  but what a surprise. He gave me a new watch. A Balmer.  It has been more than a year I did not wear a wrist watch, and I am used to it.  But so sweet of hubby to buy me a watch. Now I don't need to look at my phone to check the time whenever I go out. :)

Not the best

When I read about this kolo mee stall from Suituapui the other day, I could not resist to give it a try yesterday with my girl. No school for her as it was chap goh mei celebration.

Not hard to find as we have been to this area for dinner. Used to go to the corner coffee shop (facing the main road) for dinner and I always saw this coffee shop when passed by.  Used to notice that most coffee shops at that area closed at night.  But with the new supermarket opened up, I wonder they still close at night or not.

Since my sore throat was not fully recovered, I did not dare to try its fried dish and laksa, so I opted for kolo mee with my girl.  Indeed cannot compared to the kolok mee in Kuching, but like the Chinese saying "No fish, prawns also can" applied here. 

The noodles too soft for kolo mee and they are rather stingy with the char siew.  RM3.20 per bowl is indeed not worth it.  But my girl finished up her bowl.  I guess she misses kolo mee very much.

Few nights ago we went to Zen for dinner as I were lazy to cook and not much times to prepare because I was handful with other stuff that day. So we decided to give Zen, a Japanese cuisine a try. Nice ambience and service was alright. Food also come pretty fast. Probably only 4 tables (plus ours) that time so we didn't wait so long for our dinner.

We had sushi and other side orders. Price came up to RM136 which is what to expect. Nothing fancy to shout about, although I heard from others the raw seafood not so fresh but we have an enjoyable dinner with no fuss from the kids at all. 

There should be other nicer place to go for Japanese. But the kimchi beef rice in Zen is nice, I have to admit. *wink*

Miscellaneous Picture #14: Romantic Day

So coincidence. Today is 14th Feb. It is Chap Goh Mei and also Valentine's Day. And this miscellaneous picture series is number 14!

So, wishing everyone a Happy Chap Goh Mei and Valentine's Day! Btw, Chap Goh Mei is the Chinese version of Valentine's Day too.

What goes to your mind when you think of Valentine's Day?

Simply lemonade

Everyone loves a nice glass of iced lemonade on a warm day!  Who doesn't??  To make a perfect lemonade, it is just as easy as 1, 2, 3!  Just 1 cup of lemon juice + 1 cup of water + 1 cup of sugar!!  To those who does not like sweet lemonade, you can reduce the sugar portion to 3/4 or less, or even better, use honey (about 1/2 cup).  Taste nicer!

Lemonade is great for relieving sore throat.  I had sore throat and flu for 2 days now; under the weather lately.  My cousin gave me some lemons when I visited her last week.  Initially planned to use some of the lemons as natural air freshener and fridge deodorizer, but now I used them up for lemonade. 

1. Make sugar syrup - just dissolve the sugar in the boiled water. It tasted better and sweeter to have dispersed sugar syrup than having the sugar sink at the bottom.

2. Squeeze juices from 4 - 5 lemons to make 1 cup of lemon juice.  Add sugar syrup to the lemon juice.  Stir well.  Add 3 - 4 cups of water to dilute the mixture.

3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Serve with ices and slices of lemon.

Just mumbles

The current burning climate is driving me nuts. Keep drinking lots of fluid, eating fruits and staying indoor as much as we can.  Thank God that there is some changes in weather today when I woke up to the morning dew and cloudy sky.  The sight of rain (or probably I should said, drizzle) is very welcoming.  It did bring down the temperature a bit. Better than nothing!

I was a bit blur this morning.  Disoriented.  By the way my stomach was better, no more diarrhea and vomitting.  Thank you all for the concern. 

The day started off as usual; after sent my girl to school.  She has a slight flu like me, who has been sneezing for couple of days.  Told her if she did not feel good, get the teacher to call me or hubby and we will bring her home.  But she was doing fine in school. 

I seldom did this, but this morning, I kept checking my kids' school bags to make sure their water bottles and snack boxes are in.  Worry I left them out. 

After dropping off Jay in his kindergarden, I brought my 5-months old baby Jamie for his vaccination this morning.  Spent RM155 for his vaccination!  That the price of going to specialist.  As I do not have the patience of waiting in policlinic with a baby, I still prefer the speed of private clinic when it comes to baby.  So, after all done and settled, I went to open my SIL's shop as she went to KL for 2 days meeting. 

I was standing outside the shop, trying to unlock the padlock and I took a long 3 - 5 minutes to figure and trying out every keys.  Then I realised I took the wrong keys. Suddenly my brain cleared up and functioning again!!

I realised that I took hubby's office keys instead of the shop keys.  I actually have a phone conversation with my hubby while I were in the clinic when he told me I have locked him in the house.  But I guess eventually he found his own key and let himself out.  But that time, he did not told me I took his office key.  I guess he was in the hurry for a morning meeting that he even did not realise his missing keys! Hubby has the company key chain to distinguish it from other bunches but still, I took it instead.  Alas!  Luckily the house is very near, so it took me less than 5 minutes back and forth to take the right bunch of keys and open up the shop.  Huhuhu!! 

Well, I guess everyone has their moment when everything seemed blur and something is not right.  I had mine this morning!

And I leave you with a beautiful photo of a snowy hill in Korea Ski Resort courtesy of my sis who came back from the trip.  Been there personally back in 2010!  Had my first ski experience then.  It was beautiful view and cooling with the thick snow.  Missed the white snow.....

Valentine's Day giveaway winner

After 2 weeks of contest, we are proud to announce the winner of the Valentine's Day blog giveaway that brought to you and co-sponsored by Jascraft.  Thank you to all the participants and friends for comments and supports.

And the winner is......(drum beating) IRIENE! Congratulations to Iriene with her entry as follow:

A "black & white photo" showing my mum carrying a 2 years old me....She basically carried me to see chickens at her self-made chicken coops in persuading me to stop crying - a diversion effort :)

I love this photo because it shows my mother's tender loving care, taking time to spend with me despite having  millions of task to do outside in raising 8 children. I love you, mum "Happy Valentine's Day!"

I have sent notification to you, Iriene. Congrats once again and thank you all for the lovely comments.

Blog giveaway - Heart Locket and L.o.v.e. Wristlet

(Please scroll down for updated posts, thank you)

Rose World together with Jascraft is proud to bring you this Valentine's Day giveaway to my fellow bloggers and readers.

Jascraft is an online fashion site that features creative and unique costume jewellery and accessories for the trendy ladies. All are handmade and price is reasonable.  You will also find interesting themed designs every month to cater to different tastes.

This lovely set are from bright silver and worth RM60 from Jascraft

If you want to win this lovely necklace and bracelet set from Jascraft, just enter this blog giveaway and you may have a chance.

Rules of this giveaway are:

1. Open to residents of Malaysia and Singapore only and this giveaway will run till 9 February 2014 2400hrs
2. Follow Jascraft facebook page by clicking "Follow"
3. Like Jascraft facebook page by clicking "Like"
4. Leave comment in this post by telling me one non-human thing in this world that you love the most and why so.  Each participant is allowed to enter one comment only
5. Also leave your email address so I can contact the lucky winner.  No anonymous name is allowed so you must leave your name and email address for verification.

Announcement of winner will be made on 10 FEBRUARY 2014.  The participant with the best and most sentimental comment will be declared winner.

So ladies, what are you waiting for? And gentlemen out there, you are welcomed to join too.  Whose know, you may win this prize and present it to your loved one.

All the best!!