Miscellaneous Picture #25 : The weekend

Weekend means "kai kai" time for my family. Have breakfast, and shopping. Shopping for a wedding present for my brother. And putting on my best heels for a great weekend!

 Had breakfast in Aloha. Tried its RM3.30 fried kuaw tiaw! Yummy!

Mooncakes are in abundance at this time of the year. Mid-Autumn falls on 10 September this year. Tasted a couple of mooncakes so far.

It is our National Day today! Happy 57th independence day, Malaysia!

My new read + NoQ Store book discounts for you

Yes!  Finally my new books from NoQ Store have arrived!  I have been hanging onto the mail box for quite some times, looking out for my mail.

Here is my loot from the online bookstore of Times Publishing Group, one of the most reputable names in printing, publishing, distribution and retail in the Asia Pacific. With over 14 million titles, there are many reads for everyone!

Ranging from best sellers novels, parenting, fiction, biography to children books, you would definitely find some titles that fascinated you!

I told you guys that I have been searching high and low for this 2nd series of the Warriors of Mist and I found the novel in NoQ Store! How delighted to find it, and some more at cheaper price!

Synopsis - For centuries, the five legendary warriors of the mist have braved many battles shoulder to shoulder, but now they must divide and conquer as lone champions against evil. In this book #2, Duncan is drawn to an isolated abbey which rumored to hold the answer to fight against the temor unleashed by the evil Duke Keirthan.

This novel is as good and exciting as the first novel. Had read few chapters now and I am totally hooked by the story line. But I am dreading reaching the end of the book because it means I have to wait for the next part of this utterly spectacular series! Now I am looking out for book #3 (Honor's Price).

I think I would not be going to the bookstores anytime soon as I can easily access, search and purchase any books right in front of me. There are so many books that I want to buy!

Free shipping when you made purchase of RM50 (for West Malaysia) and RM120 (for East Malaysia). Your books will arrive at your doorstep within 7 - 14 business days.

Now, a good news to share with my blogger friends and readers! You are entitled to a 15% discount on all purchases at NoQ Store when you use the code KUCHING upon checkout. Discount is valid from now till 31 December 2014.

So, what are you waiting for? Happy book shopping!!

Packing and throwing

These days I spent most of my times with the kids. Jan is revising for her exam which starting middle next week. Both of us are recovering from our sickness.  We also experiencing bad weather lately; look like the monsoon season is getting nearer.

I did a bit of packing this week. Getting started was hard as we do have a lot of stuff. However I am trying to be rational here. Not going to get carry away with sentimental stuff. I done with a box of books, another with clutter of small stuff and reusables.  And I also managed to sort out and pack the kids, outgrown clothings in a suitcase. Thinking of giving away to their cousins when back to Kuching.

I also threw many stuff too especially the kids' toys. Most were spoiled, torn or unfunctional. So now their toy basket is not so full anymore and I do not need to worry about Jamie picking on bits and putting into his mouth. And how glad I am that I did some spring cleaning and packing. Jamie just have 2 wandering hands and you just got to keep everything away from him!

Talking about Jamie, he is getting active and naughtier. He is sure handful. More demanding than his older siblings. And now he is the one messing around the house. I have to clean up after him. 

It is not easy to keep the house clean and tidy. One minute I may have a mess-free corner but the next minute I turn away, it will be nothing but kids' stuff.  But I always tell myself, keep it real. Life with 3 kids is never mess-free. But at least I try right? 

Raise (and rest) my voice

Not a great week so far. It started on Monday! It didn't run very well, as matter of fact, it started off really bad for me and Jan!

Jan was sick and down with tonsilitis on Monday. So she did not go to school for a day. Her voice totally gone when she woke up in the morning. Some more she had dry cough so it would be good for her to rest at home. I don't know why, every times Jan is going to have her school exam, she will fall sick!  The anxiety??  Stress?  She doesn't look anxious or stress to me.  Still have time to catch up on tv and sometimes caught her watching tv while doing her school works!

And Jay did an unexpected thing on that day. Some more on his birthday! He is a playful child, we know that all along but we never expected him to be so curious and cheeky. He really pushes my buttons to the limit!  He is smart, but sometimes he can be very cocky. Want to know what he did?  He played with my contact lenses and disposed them when I were taking my nap. What would be your reaction when you suddenly saw an open and empty contact lenses cases?  I were dumbfounded for a while! 

Of course I knew it was him and started to question him.  Raising my voice on my 2nd child on his birthday!  I know it was bad enough but what could be worst that scolding and spanking him?  After a while I calmed down and thought all this through.  Maybe being a 5-years old is all about curiosity and experimental.

But he seen I put and cleaned my contact lenses before and he knew what in the cases. But what made him do it? What trigger him that day? I wish I knew because I really do not have the answer at all.

I used 2 different degrees of contact lenses.  Disposable contact lenses.  I just changed the new pair last week.  And it happened that one side was the last one.  I haven't purchased new one because the optical shop near my house did not have the stock.

Luckily I have my glasses otherwise I would be half blind for the rest of the afternoon.  But I never like to drive with my glasses as I get dizzy easily.  Don't ask me why, but I am not used to drive with my glasses. But eventually I got my replacement but different brand as the current brand I used was currently no stock due to price hike.  Maybe I may need to change my contact lenses brand if I could not find them available in the optical shops.

But what would you do if your child did second time and ignore your instructions?  Yes, that what Jay did!  He nearly peeled off the sealed pack of my new contact lenses even after my 1st warning!  OMG! Did it looked like he was seeking revenge on me? Please God, give me strength and show mercy on me!!

So, after an eventful day I woke up the next morning with a husky voice and sore throat.  I must got it from my girl.  And all those voice raising to my boy, I ended up losing my voice.  It does not get worse with me discovering I have an ulcer last night. :(

So I will have to rest my voice and throat for few days.  So no adventurous food hunting for time being.

I forgave my boy for putting me into such difficult situation but I will never forget it.  Thinking back it was rather funny and I do feel sorry for Jay. :) Today would be a better day, I know! 

A-Plus for our birthday

After read post on this restaurant from Suituapui early last week, we dropped by this restaurant for my birthday dinner last night. Ahem, yes. I am one year older but my family  still celebrating my birthday. Well, it was not all the times I got to have my birthday in Sibu, right?

Last year we had the celebration in Fisherman Restaurant which served good Sarawakian exotic dishes. As for this year we had it in an old Chinese restaurant instead. I am a typical Chinese who loves her Chinese cuisine! *wink*

But the most important was that family came together. Did not plan for anything special as hubby just landed yesterday morning. So we thought of having a simple Chinese dinner.

Happy birthday to us!

As always for the past 5 years, we celebrated my birthday together with Jay as his birthday is just a day from mine. One shot. No need eat twice! Lol!

Ok, back to our dinner. We ordered something different when we were in A-Plus Restaurant last night since it was our first time there.

Fried mee sua - we liked this very much

Braised pork trotter with cangkuk manis - very tasty but I think they overdid with the salt last night as the veggie was a bit salty

Fish maw soup - which hubby loved very much

Deep fried pork belly in Thai sauce - nothing  to shout about as the meat was tasteless as they just pour the sauce on top of the deep fried meat

Drunken prawns - not bad, very sweet and the gravy was flavourish

Red wine steamed fish - better eat it fast before it turned cold!

The dinner costs around RM160.00 excluding drink, which we thought it was normal as we have 2 seafood dishes.

And my birthday present from hubby?  He managed to get me a last minute present from Kuching airport yesterday morning! Lol!

Another Chanel to my fragrance collection

Taste the chef's cooking

I did not cooked these few days as hubby is away. So, I were on my food hunting again with my sil. She told me few weeks ago on trying this place out but we did not go till last night.  Read Suituapui's food review early this week so we decided to give this My Chef's Restaurant a try.

No!  This was not the chef I believe but could not help it and took photo of this cute pepper case

Let's get on with our order, shall we?

My SIL shared this salted fish fried rice with my Jay.  And oh boy, it tasted good.  Enough wok hei and I like my fried rice dry. 

My BIL had its Mongolian chicken chop rice.  Not what I expected.  I tasted Mongolian beef before in Kuching and it was full of spiciness.  The sauce was something unusual and full of spiciness from chillies.  This Mongolian chicken sauce from My Chef's Restaurant did not taste spicy at all.  More like mushroom sauce to me.

My girl had their crispy noodle as she did not feel like having rice.  Tasted bland to me but it was good for my girl. 

I myself had assam fish fillet rice!  It was good.  I liked it.  If only there were more fillets in my rice!

We also ordered 2 side dishes, i.e. Japanese beancurd with mushroom gravy....

and belacan kangkong.  We enjoyed these 2 dishes.  They tasted good. Not too salty yet it has taste. Just right for our tastebuds.

Overall, the dinner was good.  Just cost less than RM40 plus drink for our dinner.  Very cheap, I said. I do not mind come back and try other dishes.

A quick food hunting

We went to the Borneo Cultural Festival 2014' s food fair yesterday. Thank god for the afternoon rain so it was not so hot. And we were there very early so we could find parking and less crowd! 

We only went to the Chinese food stall. Did not visit the Malay and other stalls. Check out some food pictures I took!!

A lok-lok stall

Taiwan sausages in cooking!

So-called Kuching sio bee and other dim sum. RM1.00 each for sio bee. Tasted alright.

What was she having here? Ice cream? Cake?

It was from this stall. It was actually a pudding. How creative of them making it looks like a flower garden. We also tried out the cheesy potatoes. Good to eat when it was warm.

Oyster omelette for RM10

How mine look like once cooked and packed!

Take note there would not be any stage performances this evening as a mark of respect to the victims of MH17. Today is declared a National Mourning Day. God bless the souls of the victims and may they rest in peace.

A bit of a chocolaholic

I have a love and hate relationships with it!!  Want to know more??  Read on....

Hubby has been to Labuan last week and he bought some chocolates home. We have not yet finished up the chocolate in our fridge and now we have some more to add to the stock!

What's in my fridge?!

He knows I love chocolate.  I am a bit of a chocolaholic (if there is any such word added to the dictionary!). However I do not eat it in abundance.  Because too much of a good thing is not good either.

So when I am in the mood (good or bad), I will take few bites of chocolates.  It does help in the mood swing.  And you know how chocolate melts if you hold it in your hands for too long?  That does not happen to me because I ate them quickly.  I prefer them melt in my mouth than dirty my fingers!!

There is nothing great but to sit down on the couch in front of the tv, munching on some chocolate.  I love dark chocolate, or those with nuts.  My kids also enjoy chocolates too, but they usually prefer the nougats.

I also hate it because it adds inches to my waist-line.  And it tasted so good that I cannot stop myself from wanting it more!

So, I love and I hate it at the same time!

Do you love or hate chocolates?  Or you are also in the same status as I am? 

At the backlane

Thanks to Suituapui I have found a coffee shop that actually serve nice Sarawak kolo mee! When he told me about it this morning, without delay I dragged my hubby along to this old coffee shop behind the Sibu courthouse.

And wow! I did not even know there are few coffee shops there. Never been to this part of Sibu, so cannot blame me!  Lol!

An old aunt, in her 80s cooked the noodle in this old coffee shop (next to a bike shop). We had its kolo mee (RM3.50) which was good and they added a lot of minced meat but rather salty.  Too much msg, I think.  But we loved that they also served sliced chilli in soy sauce dipping. Very generous with the sliced chilli.

Texture was good as it was not overcooked

And we also tried its liver soup (RM10.00) with some fish balls, dumplings and other innards too. I always love clear soup where I can see its ingredients, so this one was my kind.

A bowl of yummy abundance

Don't you like the dumpling in soft and silky skin? The soup was alright but should asked the aunt not to put too much pepper in it. Lol.

Yummy dumpling

Overall, we enjoyed our kolo mee breakfast which was hard to find in Sibu! *wink* We will bring the kids over this weekend for the kolo mee.  I am sure they would love it.

Talk on breakfast

On weekday, each of us have our own breakfast time. My girl with school starts at 710am, she will first have her breakfast by herself. Something light as she is not a breakfast person. After send her to school, I will get to prepare myself a breakfast before walking up the boys.

Jay and Jamie have their morning milk. Sometimes Jay will eat a toasted bread depends on his mood. Hubby will eat around 8am before off to work.

But on Sunday, we make it a routine to have everyone together on table for business. We chat, share news and enjoy good breakfast outside. Sunday is also my off day so kitchen is close!

Yesterday was not exception. Everyone got up early around 7am. Even it is Sunday, the kids get up early. It was a very warm morning yesterday.  So we dropped by Noodle House for breakfast. Not many places with air-con open for breakfast here so this place was a good option as it has air-con and it opens at 8am.

I had its aloe vera lemon drink. Great to quench my thirst. Maybe ate too much spicy food the night before at Payung Cafe so my throat was not good yesterday.

Yummy and cooling drink

This was my first time tasted its mee sua chicken soup. It was good. I actually enjoyed it. The soup was sweet and they gave 2 big chunks of chicken meat. Definitely filling for me.

For lunch, we ordered take-away from Noodle House, ie Nasi Lemak and Braised Pork Belly Rice. We basically did not go anywhere yesterday other than here, sent my girl to her piano class and did grocery shopping in Medan Mall. Weather was too hot but luckily it rained in the afternoon.

Here I am, after the rain

Our beloved Sibu food ambassador, Mr Suituapui has been blogging about this wonderful place countless times and it is such a pity not to come and taste the food here before I am moving back to Kuching this year end.

Psst, I have been staying here for over a year and it was my first time stepping into the well-known Payung Cafe! I know, I should have come here earlier but just could not find the right time to be here. But finally I did. Better be late than never.

Indeed the place and food lived up to its reputation. I was totally impressed and mesmerised by its beautiful ethnic decor, friendly people and great food. If time allows, I will come back for more food experience!

Friday was my sil's wedding anniversary so she invited me and family for dinner here. Supposed to celebrate it on Friday night but hubby's flight was delayed and me and kids stuck in airport for an hour so we postponed our dinner to last night.

It rained almost the whole day yesterday and luckily rain had stopped in the evening. It was nice and cooling to dine in the open-concept of this small eatery place. We arrived here earlier before my sil and her hubby. So I had time to take some shots of the cafe.  However I guess by now, you all know how Payung Cafe looks like without me showing the photos. STP has great shots collection of the cafe. *wink*

View from inside facing the main road, Lanang road

Lovely water feature with flower petals

We ordered their best of the best as I have been told. Belimbing Prawns with spaghetti and Payung Rojak.

I am never fond of the local belimbing fruit because you know me. I do not fancy sour stuff but this is a dish to die for.  It was so tentalizing with a mix of spiciness and sourish flavour that it was really appetizing. This dish reminded me of tom yum noodle!  I were actually enjoyed this Belimbing Prawns!  Look at these fresh prawns!!

As for the Payung Rojak, it was truly something worth eating. The rojak paste was amazing and really addictive!  You just got to try it yourself then you know what I am trying to tell you! Everyone gave thumbs up for this rojak! Lol!

We ordered a bit of this and that to taste so everyone got chance to taste more.

Mushroom roll was a great snack with its crispy skin and cheese powder topping. I believe it was parmesan cheese powder that they used but I could be wrong...

Otak-otak was too spicy for our tastebud that we hardly finished it

This non-spicy Payung chicken was tender and tasty

This Masala lamb curry was a bit disappointment as we could not taste the spice in the meat. A bit bland.

However thanks to this Bangladesh lamb curry, this curry tasted better.

My girl had its Chicken Chop. Maybe because of the big plate, the portion looks small. The chop was not deep fried so she did not really like it.

I had this Turkish Milk Shake. Something different than my usual drink. Felt like having an ice-cream

In conclusion, it was a delightful dinner and a great dining experience. We really put our tastebuds to test! I enjoyed my time there.