Serikin Marketplace

The last time we drove over here was during last Hari Raya when our KL friends came over to visit us. Unfortunately not many stalls opened that time due to the festivity.

The weather was very nice last Saturday as we had rain in the morning. We decided to have an impromptu drive to Serikin and thankfully it didn't rained when we were in Serikin marketplace.

Surprisingly the marketplace has grown bigger and more stuff to see and buy. After paid our parking ticket of RM2, we started our long walk. We walked for more than 30 minutes and we finished walking the whole stretch of the road. And we did bought quite a lot home.

Batik shirts for the boys, a cowboy hat for hubby, woven carpets, raw honey, sewing machine, decorative stuff and salted egg instant noodle.

Very fruitful trip, I have to admit.

Birdcages

Decorative and wooden craft

Collectible 

Snacks

Rattan produce

Instant coffee

Indonesian products

The acclaimed Indomie, RM5 for 3 packs

Helmets

No, this bike not for sale. An Indonesian plated bike

A staple-like sewing machine

Batik

Fruits which I haven't try 

Back for more (on Chap Goh Mei)

The children were not schooling on Chap Goh Mei so I took the time to have my new car servicing that morning after our breakfast. It was first service so it took less than an hour.

In the afternoon, we had our lunch and afternoon nap. It did felt like a relaxing Chap Goh Mei for me and some more I didn't require to cook dinner.

In the evening, we invited a friend and his family (Australian PR who are on business trip and summer holiday) to a Chinese dinner. A Chap Goh Mei dinner.

They are Malaysian (hubby is a WM while wife is from Sibu) with 3 young boys. Friendly couple they were, and we had good time talking and promoting Kuching and its places of interest to them.

We were back for more seafood in Topspot after our last dinner celebrating my parents' birthday  Yup, just over a week ago.

However this time we went to this well known and much preferred stall, no 25 Bukit Mata seafood.

No long waiting time. Very soon the food started to flow to our table one by one. And once all the dishes were out, our invited guests came and we started our dinner without delay.

Butter prawns

Boiled cockles with nice spicy chilli dipping

Belacan midin

Clam soup

Oyster pancake

Steamed seabass

Crabs stir fried with Salted egg 

And our guests? They complimented that the food was nice and fit their palate more than the other stall that they tried previously, which we did agreed. Not overloaded with MSG, that was for sure. 

It happened on Valentine's Day

There wasn't any special celebration on Valentine's Day, as it has been so for few years now. But I made a special breakfast for my other half that morning. His favourite breakfast.

I didn't expect any flower or present from my other half this year.

But it so happened that on that day my reliable smart phone (just over a year) suddenly jammed on me. Alas, I couldn't revived it so left with no choice, I had to send to phone shop for checking in the afternoon. Either software or LCD problem, I have to leave it for checking.

And I told hubby about my phone and he suggested I bought a new one on the spot. But I liked my phone and reluctant to get accustomed to new phone so I didn't bought any. I guess I could survived for 3 to 4 days without any phone. I thought I could use one of my kids' phones for few days.

Anyway, to cut the story short, at night I got a surprise gift from my man. A new phone! This must be the best Valentine's Day gift ever. Practical too.

Oh, thank you hubby for the gift.  I am so blessed to have such thoughtful and sweet hubby. I loved it! 

My first photo that I took with my new phone was Jamie with his favourite soft toy. He purposely closed his eyes. And he gave us a Valentine card made from his kindergarten.

I was happy to receive his card till I read the 'baby sister' in his card! Hmm. Why is it written in it??

As for my old phone, we decided it wasn't worth repairing. 

Early birthday dinner

My mum and dad's Chinese birthday fell on 7th and 8th day of CNY respectively and as both days were weekdays, we decided to treat them to an early birthday dinner last Sunday.

Topspot was our birthday venue. We were early that evening as we didn't managed to book a table. To avoid crowd, we had our dinner around 6pm. 

Most stalls had opened by Sunday but this stall never short of customers. Business was a brisk! And they opened on the 3rd day of CNY to cater to their customers!

Ling Loong Seafood was our option as we had been to this stall few times in the past. The food was nice and fresh.

Kuching O' Chien (oyster pancake) was a must and we had this nicely made pancake before the kids helped themselves to breaking and eating the pancake.

Before

After with broken sides!

I spotted a container of bamboo clams while ordering so we also had that cooked with curry powder. Fresh and succulent with that fragrant curry taste, I loved it that way.

My very pregnant sis reminded us no belacan beforehand, so for vegetable, we had this stir fried midin with garlic. Simple but crunchy and tasty.

Remember that last year when our KL friends came over and we had their special butter salted egg yolk crabs for the first time? Unfortunately  no crabs last week so we opted for their soft shell crabs instead. It was much better and tastier than the normal crabs. The crabs observed the taste well and I love how buttery and salty the crabs were.

Next was the steamed prawns. Never could go wrong with steaming prawns. They were fresh and sweet.

Last but not least, we had steamed sea bass (siakap) which recommended by the stall worker.

And if that wasn't enough, hubby ordered 20 stick of lamb satay (RM26) from one of the satay stalls but oh my, they were good. Could taste the fatty and tender parts, not too tough to bite into.

Our dinner overall cost RM322 exclude the satay and drinks.

And we hope mum and dad enjoyed the feast and company that Sunday. Wishing both good health, joy, happiness and great blessings.

No cendol from Penang!

This is one new outlet in Aeon Mall that I told myself that I got to try it when it opened and I did. Not when it was New (although it wasn't that old as it opened last year) but I only got the chance to try last weekend after all those months.

Anyway, after our church service we went to the mall to walk around, admire the CNY decoration, shopping and dining.

It is Valentine's Day today so wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

And this was the outlet that we went to. Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul.

True true Penang food. No need to fly all the way to Penang to taste its well known food, appetizers and desserts. Lol.

Anyway what I really wanted to try was its chendul (cendol) but lucky star wasn't on my side as they ran out of cendol!! Sigh! A bit disappointing but since we were there, might as well settled our lunch instead of wandering around hunting for food.

We had to order and pay at the counter and the food and drink would be sent over to our table.

As for me, no famous cendol from Penang, ais kacang also would do! Original ais kacang for me. The shaved ice almost melt so it didn't looked tall and good when it arrived on our table. Taste-wise, it wasn't too sweet and I liked it!! Except the green jelly balls, some wasn't cooked well.

For lunch, we ordered few dishes to try. Namely this Kway Teow soup which was mild for the children's palate.

For the adults, we shared this Penang prawn noodle. It was flavorful and slightly spicy, with mix of yellow noodle and vermicelli in the broth.

The nasi lemak was good, I would highly recommend its nasi lemak. 

We had 2 plates of nasi lemak; namely nasi lemak ayam kunyit and nasi lemak sambal spring. 

Overall it was a delightful first dining experience there. Hope to come back to try its cendol though.