In this moment

I am currently enjoying a beautiful morning in Sri Aman. It feels so good to wake up to such beautiful scenery.

Batang Lupar river

Will post more about my holiday and in the meantime, I will leave you with this lovely view from Sri Aman.

To all my Dayak blogger friends and readers, Selamat Hari Gawai. Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai. Happy holidays.

Can you feel the holiday?

Yes and yes! School holiday is here! Everyone (especially the kids) screams with joy and relief. School is out and a long 2-weeks holiday is right on.

And you must be wondering why I am up early today where I should be cuddling in bed. Well, one thing for sure. The kids are up, mummy is up too. *wink*

Today would be a busy Saturday.  A little packing is in the list. We will be going somewhere for a short break.  Will update you guys on our holiday soon. 

In the meantime, I leave you with some shots that I took few weeks ago. A Gawai decoration in Tun Jugah Mall where they showcased the traditional Iban musical instruments.

And another nice decor set up in The Spring Mall.

Selamat Hari Gawai!!

Honey lemon with minty twist

It has been freaking hot over here during the day and one could not think of anything but way to cool yourself down.

For us, this chilling and refreshing honey lemonade with fresh mint leaves drink works wonderfully on warm day. And I had a mild throat discomfort few days ago and this drink works well to soothe my throat.

Ingredients:

600ml warm water

3 slices lemon

2 tbsp raw honey or add more to taste

Handful of mint leaves

Methods:

1. Add everything in a teapot with sieve.

2. Let everything sit for few minutes before serve.

3. To serve, add ice cubes in a glass. Pour the drink into the glass and topped with few mint leaves.

Not so little

It was my weekly breakfast day with my mum. Did not know what to eat but I need to buy some apples as gifts for Teacher's Day (which is celebrated in school today), so I suggested to mum to go to 101 Premier, Jalan Kempas for breakfast. After breakfast, we could hop into the supermarket for fresh apples.

We never had high hope to have breakfast in Yeow Kee and true to our words, the coffee shop was packed to max!

We decided to try the coffee shop behind it. It was called "Little Cafe". A corner coffee shop. Never been there before, but I did remember that someone told me once that the kampua there was good.

There is a kampua stall, kuih stall, kolo mee stall, fried stall and this noodle soup stall in Little Café.  Business was not as good as the other coffee shop, but they do have decent food to offer. Mum and I tried the noodle soup stall because we both felt like having soup that morning.

The photo of the fresh fish vermicelli soup looked delicious on the stall, so I went for it. RM7.00 per bowl.  So luckily when it came, it was not so little and the soup was nice.  They added some chilli and chilli flakes to the soup, so it was rather spicy beside the sweet and sour taste. So much vermicelli and I hardly could finish it up.  Only wish they could add more fresh fish fillets to it.  I have 2 slices of fish and few fish balls beside the beancurd cubes, tomato wedges, vegetable and salted mustard.

After our warm breakfast, we went to the nearby supermarket to get some groceries. My not-so-little boy was more than eager to help me pull the basket around. At least he did not helped himself to the stuff and toss into the basket.  I know some kids do that! For time being, he is just too happy to help in pushing the basket around.

On Monday evening, while hubby was on leave, we brought the kids to a movie treat.  They have been waiting to catch The Angry Birds movie so I pre-purchased the tickets online that morning.  It was a weekday, so did not expect many people.

Everyone had a good laugh and surprisingly, it was a very entertaining movie.

Rojak

It was a Sunday when we dropped by here for a quick breakfast before heading to the church.

I thought of having something from Indian stall such as roti canai but they only had rojak that morning. So I went for its normal Indian rojak.

It has been a while since I have a plate of Indian rojak. Hubby and I used to go to the famous Muhammed Kucei rojak in Batu Lintang back then for breakfast. Just the two of us. Alas. Now with kids, we hardly go there. Kids don't eat those food.

Normal Indian rojak (RM4.80)

So this Indian rojak could satisfy my craving for the sweet and spicy rojak. The assortment of sweet vegetable fritters, taufu, half slice of hard-boiled egg, shredded cucumber and beansprout in a pool of spicy and sweet gravy. Slurp.

Miscellaneous Picture #54: wheels

Those wheels displayed on the bookshelves in hubby's office room. 

I like this miniature bicycle

The bicycle and motorbike were bought from Indonesia

Meant for the boys but since they are bad keepers, we keep the Beetles safe on the bookshelf

And these are the wheels that roam in the house

Done with exam

Finally!! The school exam is over and everyone could have a breather this weekend and the weeks to follow.

They may be done with the exam, but not school works, dictations, tuitions and afternoon classes. Everything is usual except lesser schoolworks. And not a big deal if they laze around the house doing their own things. My kids. You wouldn't believe what they do.

The eldest loves to stay in her room, either reading her story books, colouring or texting on her phone. The second one just like a young scientist or inventor, sticking or putting stuff together in his room. As for the youngest one, he is the noisiest as his shriek could be heard from far away, and he tends to disturb whatever the other 2 is doing.

Think tank

Holiday is in a week time. Need to plan some outing and playdates for the kids. Something to keep the kids occupied and happy besides staying at home. After all the hard work that they put in for the 1st half of 2016 school calendar, it is at least what they deserve. *wink*

Dressed up for buffet lunch

It is that age that most of my friends are married and have kids by now.  And I were equally happy for a girlfriend of mine that she has finally found her love and settled down.

My girlfriend got hitched this month and last Saturday, she held a buffet lunch at her home. 

I attended the buffet lunch with my kids; we were actually car-pooling with another friend and her kids that morning. Both husbands of ours were busy that day so it was a no-husband affair.  *wink*

And I wore this dress that I bought a couple of years ago for my bro's wedding.  I think I presently fit better in it than 2 years ago where I still have not shed those post-baby fat!

A little accessories and a simple make-up; and I were ready to go (party) with the kids!

It was a nice morning with a light shower, but the bride shone brighter and everyone had a jovial time catching up and enjoying the food.

A page in the wedding album

Door gifts for guests

The lovely gift

Spread on the buffet table

Congratulations, my dear friend. May your days filled with wonderful blessing, joy and love.

Good news from EnviroHome

Everyday is laundry day with EnviroHome!!

My morning starts early with laundry.  Having 3 young kids, my baskets are always full with dirty laundry. Thanks to EnviroHome, its Laundry Detergent makes my job easier and cleaner.

EnviroHome Laundry Detergent combines the natural power of cleaning with marine extract and botanical formula, to achieve brilliantly clean and natural unscented laundry.  Even when I soak my laundry overnight, there is no mildew smell.  And totally no odor problem when I hang my laundry in my laundry room in the house.

You could read my other reviews on EnviroHome Food Wash and EnviroHome Top-To-Toe Baby Wash. Look up at their official website to learn more about their products too.

And I have some good news to share with you here.  EnviroHome is having a special 15% discount promotion on all normal priced products for all my blogger friends and readers from now until end of August 2016.

To enjoy the 15% discount, only 2 easy steps to follow whenever you click on to www.envirohome.com.my to make your purchases.

1) Type EHMsia as coupon code,

2) Type: Rowena16 in the box of "Add Comments About Your Order".

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Dinner on a beautiful evening

It was a Sunday. A day after the state election. Mother's Day fell on that Sunday. It was a nice cooling evening after the rain.

We went to our new found restaurant in Batu Kawah for dinner. Not only us but we invited my side of family too; a reunion dinner cum a treat for my mum on Mother's Day.

The first time we had this salted fish pork belly, we fell in love with it.  It was so good with white rice and everyone agreed it was tender, juicy, flavourful and delicious. It did not failed us this round as it was equally good. The cook definitely was not stingy when it comes to salted fish (kiam hu) in this dish.

Of course we could not go without beancurd. This was their signature beancurd dish. Soft beancurd deep-fried and then topped with mince meat gravy.

Next came this tasty, succulent roasted duck. The meat was tender and I ate a lot of it that evening. Mind the cholesterol level afterward. *wink*

Vegetables! 2 plates of vegetables; namely stir-fried cangkuk manis with egg (above) and stir-fried kangkong with belacan (below).

It has been a while we have this simple soft toufu seafood soup. It felt nostalgia to taste this soup. Reminded me of my childhood where we mostly had our Sunday dinner in Open Air Market and this soup is a must-order! Now I hardly go to Open Air Market.

All that I could said was it was a sumptious and very filling dinner on a beautiful evening with my family. Everyone enjoyed the wonderful food and nice evening sky.

Double Happiness

No, no one is getting married or anything. Just that the name of this cafe is called Double Happiness.

This cafe has been in my to-try list for quite sometime but every time I gone there, it was either too crowded or no parking space. Not much of a happy thing to me.

Heard of good comments on this Double Happiness Cafe; they serve more and better food choices and this shop is definitely a crowd puller from the surrounding coffee shops.

One thing for sure, the owner must be smiling from ear to ear, full of double happiness (like the cafe's name) on how good his business is. Some day the place is so full till you have to sit under the sun to eat there.

There are few tables placed on the pavement for those who would not mind sitting under the sun and passing cars. Definitely not me!

Ok. So what is the fuss here? What's good to eat in this cafe?

I am not too sure though.  They have almost the same food as everyone else, so I guess we need to give them a try to compare.

For starting, my friend and I tried the Foochow stall. We both went for something soupy that morning. Dian bing hu for my friend while I went for red wine chicken mee sua.

The dian bing hu was plain, so my friend needed to add some Chinese red wine to taste. As for mine, I think it was alright.

My friend recommended the nyonya kuih here as they are delectable and fresh. But we both were too full so we did not try any.

Photo courtesy of my friend

For lunch, I tapau-ed a pack of nasi lemak with chicken curry from this stall and chicken rice from the stall next to it.

And only after I paid, did I realised an old classmate operating the nasi lemak stall. She was in the stall cooking with her back facing me so I did not see her earlier.

We had a chit chat and knew she has been doing this for more than a year now. I think since leaving secondary school, we did not meet up other than update in FB! Very happy to bump into an old classmate!

Her nasi lemak with chicken curry (RM5) was good. Maybe the rice could be more lemak and sambal could be spicier but I guess it fits those who does not take too spicy food. But the chicken curry was good although it was oily. I like the curry.

And the kids' lunch of roasted chicken rice (RM5).

I wouldn't mind coming back to give other food a try if I could find good parking and table. So, till then.

Somewhere there

After our morning dip and splash in Matang Family Park, we drove back to Matang-Batu Kawa road for lunch.

We passed by this roadside shop when on our way to Matang and we had set our mind to stop there for lunch after the outing.

You Fook Seafood, Batu Kawa

The rain started to pour down as we were almost at this roadside eatery. The eatery is called You Fook Seafood.

It is just after this row of shops (where 100% is located) but on the opposite side. Anyhow, it is somewhere there; you wouldn't miss it as it is by the roadside.

You Fook Seafood's operating hours are 10am-1pm and 4pm to 10pm except Tuesday which only opens at night.

Very simple old shop design; and it feels like you are in the rural area. It is not the case here as very near to Batu Kawa old town.

You could see the kitchen and the cook in action. As I were saying, we were having our lunch at the roadside, which you could see the passing cars. It is a busy road, even during holidays. The rain getting heavier while we were having our lunch there.

Saw some free-range chickens hang to dry so we thought of a dish of free-range chicken. 

Our dishes came out pretty fast. First to come was this stir-fried midin with belacan. We loved it! Very crunchy and flavourful.

Next was this salted fish pork belly. So so good and delicious. The meat was tender and rich of salted fish.

Their signature fried beancurd with minced meat sauce was good too. My kids developed love for beancurds lately so it has been a must-order dish for us when we dine out.

Last but not least, the free-range chicken with ginger. I always love free-range chicken. Its meat is tasty but tough and chewy. We couldn't finish the chicken so we packed it for dinner that day.

By the time we finished our lunch, it was almost 1.30pm and they started to close the shop. By then, the rain has stopped too. For us to pay up and leave. Plus drinks, our lunch costs RM74.60. 

It is not far; about 15 minutes drive from our house. We will be back.