Tag Archives: exploring Malacca

Luncheon at TWS, Bukit Beruang

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things, Mini Project by

Organizing an event after the Raya holidays require determination cause not a lot of people will be in the mood. However, having this luncheon is important as it is a farewell ceremony to a very kind and hardworking Family Medicine Specialist (FMS) at our clinic. At first, I had wanted to wait it out and let someone with more calibre take on the reins and organize the luncheon. Time passed and the silence got more deafening, triggering this anxiety within me to just take the plunge and be in charge.

Good Luck in finding colleagues better than us 😛

At first, we wanted to do the farewell at the clinic but the usual seminar room is already booked for another function. A colleague suggested we bring this outside for a change. I welcomed the idea and soon enough we chose The Windmill Station at Bukit Beruang as our venue. I wanted to make the reservation a few days in advance but the manager told me to make the call again on the day of the event.

I really wanted this to be a luncheon fit for Pinterest. On a budget.

So, I had a few ideas in mind. A decorative table, door gifts and delicious lunch.

Decorative Table

I enlisted the help of my colleague, Erenna who is known as The Decorator. As usual, she makes decorating so easy and I tried my best to be of help by getting some stuff that may be useful for her project. I made a trip to Kaison and got some beautiful trinkets and fairy lights for the table. I was selective in my choices because I wanted things I could reuse later for other social events and even for my own home decor. Erenna helped me to choose some flowers and matching vases to go with it.

Door Gifts

I started very early with my Teacher’s Day gifts by ordering some Indonesian brand coffee, mini spoons and packaging. I thought I could prepare the same for the luncheon. Indeed I spent a few minutes of my night after work putting some love into the labour of assembling this door gift. I also packed some chocolates I got from Langkawi into small packages as an extra touch. I just hope they loved it. I DIYed the frame.

As for the farewell gift, I made the trip to the new IOI City Mall in Putrajaya to get a bag from Sometime for the boss. IOI is huge and I feel it’s a great place to hunt for gifts which are exclusive by our local designers. Will blog about it in a different post.

Delicious Lunch

Everyone gets to order an ala-carte meal with drinks with a budget of less than RM30 per person. On top of the meal, I also bought a cake from my favourite, Italy Bakery. This time I tried something new – Cranberry Chocolate cake. A small one with enough portions for 13 people and extra for the guy on lunch call.

Craving for Nasi Goreng Tomyam

Organizing a social event is fun when people cooperate and you have the money to do so. I am excited to take on further mini-social projects in the near time which include Bridal Room Decor (for Matin), Eid Adha, Aug-Sept birthday party, clinic Open Day, listening party etc. In the meantime, Semester 11 is starting next week. We will see if I have residual social stamina to keep going.

Trying something new – #CoffeeO’Clock

Posted in Food and Drinks, Places to Eat by

The coffee-drinking culture has somehow evolved over the past few years. There is a growing rivalry with giant chains like Starbucks and Coffee Bean from hipster cafes and local eateries. Perhaps it is due to the rise of KDrama and their Americano. Or maybe we’re all just yawning our way through our daily activities in need of a caffeine boost more regularly. Although Melaka is a small state, it also has its own coffee bubble waiting to be discovered by ….. me. So I am going to call my little coffee exploration project #CoffeeO’Clock.

So far, I have managed to enjoy coffee from a few outlets such as our beloved ZUS Coffee and 434 Kopitiam. My go-to choice is always a coffee latte from ZUS because I find Americano too strong for my taste buds. I was a tad adventurous end of December though and made a visit to Aniss Cafe.

ANISS Cafe

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cmsr2VfvovA/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

This cafe is located along the AMJ highway. I love the fact that it is easy to find parking and it is not crowded. To be fair, I did go there before lunch hour hence the patrons have not arrived. I ordered a cafe latte, a bowl of Laksa Johor and croffles for dessert. I took my time to devour my meal and felt at ease even though I was alone. The cafe music was pleasant. The aesthetics of the place was so bright, K- Dramaish and welcoming. The Laksa Johor was acceptable but the croffle is super delicious.

TED COFFEE

Earlier this month I had brunch at Ted’s Coffee. Its adverts often pop up on my newsfeed on Facebook. Hence, I was intrigued to give it a try. The interior of the cafe was painted in a very classic black. The place could do with more decorations and timely background music. It was a bit too quiet when I entered the cafe. The walls were empty with not much to look at and so I had to sink my thoughts into my phone. Here, I ordered a cafe latte and a croissant sandwich. I was dying for a croissant because Instagram made me do it. Ha ha ha. The croissant is too simple for cafe standards – it looked like something I could make at home if I had a croissant in the first place. Maybe they could create a special sauce or some form of ‘different’ cheese to go with it. I did not order desserts for this brunch because I was pressing for time. However, looking at their Facebook page, they do seem to have a variety on display.

Ted’s Coffee was mentioned briefly in this Youtube video of mine. It is admittingly quite a boring video. Ha ha ha.

I have searched for quite a few places to try their coffee for a few months to come. Maybe I will go to one every month or so. This is because I am still watching my calories. Despite the subtle body-shaming and sabotage, it is still a consistent effort on my part. Wish me luck.

Eating in Melaka 2022

Posted in Food and Drinks, Leisure & Travel, Places to Eat by

GrabFood and FoodPanda have always been the ones we go to. Then the usual fast food outlets and pasar malam food of course. There wasn’t much stuff sold in our clinic’s Food Whatsapp Group that I wanted to try. So, let’s see where we ate as a family this year. A glimpse of it. Nothing extra special. Do not expect long, food blogger-ish reviews.

MAMAK FOOD : You can never go wrong with mamak food. My favourites to get recently is the tosai cause I liked the white, yoghurt sauce that comes with it. And the usual Neslo.
BAYVIEW HOTEL HI TEA BUFFET: It was one of those rare days when we felt like eating something at the hotel. The adults’ payment is RM 48/pax, children RM33/pax and senior citizens RM37/pax. There were a few grave reviews on the FB page but honestly, it is priced at less than RM50. I mean what do you expect, grilled lamb and steak? Of course lah tak.. the falafel and western dishes were delicious. sushi was a bit dry but mostly it was OK for a low-budget HI-Tea.
SAI KEE KOPI 434 MUAR (Melaka Branch): I accidentally ordered 2 glasses of its iced Hainan coffee and got a massive headache from it. It was an unusual mix of coffee and santan. Like omg.. I could die. We ordered mi bandung and kaya toast. The noodles were a bit too spicy for us. Both of us have a very low threshold for spicy food. The toilet was cute and very fashionable. Very Instagrammable but I didn’t take any pics of it.
NANDOS : This is a family favourite for its tender chicken and delicious sauces. I especially love the Garlic and wild Herbs sauce on my lemon chicken.
GPR All you can eat: Located in Kip Mall, Melaka. You can order as many times as you like at RM19.90/pax for food with an extra cost for drinks (unlimited). I feel that the charcoal burger was a menu worth ordering multiple times already. the Korean chicken was lovely too although the sauce was too heavy on the flavour side. Kind of salty. Delicious but salty.
GPR Food as well.
ME’NATE: Posh yet family-friendly. It was my first time ordering lamb quesadilla and it was delicious. The pizza too. In fact, everything was great. I have to admit. the food is mouth-watering.
MELANTAK : This is another place to go for Western cuisine. Like Me’nate, it’s got steak and stuff. The servers are robots. Which was cool. The kids loved it. I think I ordered something sizzling here.
TRULY TWO CAFE : Went here for my son’s birthday. It seems that they serve hot dishes too nowadays. which is a good move cause I can’t stand the all sweet, too-sweet dishes. I kind of stopped at the sight of glasses being plastered with chocolate and sweet sauces. I just can’t. Maybe other people can. The nachos were weird. It’s like they microwaved the whole thing cause the nachos underneath the cheese are not crunchy. the huge croissant was to die for and I loved the beef pepperoni pizza. However, I am on an ongoing diet. So, I really watched my portion.

Kudos Salon

Posted in Everyday Life, Reviews by

The last time I went for a proper haircut was in 2020. Then, COVID19 happened and all the non-essential services were forced to close. I was dying for a trim and a head massage and so I thought I’d go to the salon that I used to go to before this. A familiar place for an introvert like myself. Alas, when I arrived at the doorstep at the supposed opening time, the doors were shut. I sent a WhatsApp message to the store and made an enquiry. Turns out they are going to open later at 12noon instead of 10am. I was dismayed as this was not conveyed on their social media page.

I decided to try a new place. I went to Kudos Salon at Aeon Bandaraya Melaka.

They were very kind to provide a private room for hijab wearers and I had the best hour of my life. I ended up with not only a haircut + wash but also scalp treatment. Just that morning alone, the salon managed to get RM310 from me for their astounding services. Winnie, my hair stylist recommended me to do some ‘hair relaxing’ in the near future which I will consider when I have the opportunity to take leave. They use Kerastase as their choice of product at the salon. Which is OK I guess. I look forward to my next session at this place, maybe September?

Hiking at Bear Hill

Posted in Everyday Life, Good Things by

It was my 1st time to Bukit Beruang to hike. Our clinic has this health programme to combat obesity among staff by organizing activities such as running, Zumba and sports. This week we went hiking and Ya Allah.. nak terputus nyawa. I could feel my heart rate elevate and then my body heated. It was a good workout and I am considering going there again sometime in the future, maybe with friends but not kids. It is a bit too strenuous for the little ones.

There are a few entry points to the hill but we went to the one in the residential area which is Taman Melaka Raya. When we arrived at 830am, there were a lot of elderly Chinese folks already going down the hill. They must have started early which is like Wow. It makes me wonder what the other non-Chinese elderly folks do in the morning for their exercise. What would be their chosen activity? Would you know?

We went up the hill using the easy-intermediate level tanah trail and made our way down by the tar trail. Even then, we were already very very exhausted. I could sense the euphoric sense in completing this feat though especially when you’ve gained enough stamina to go on longer and more challenging trails.

Excited chipmunks.

A friend of mine shared a few tips to help us with muscle recovery. Some of her suggestions include;

  • proper warm-up, stretching and cooling down
  • wear appropriate clothes and shoes
  • eat a light breakfast and bring water
  • after the hike, bath in cold water to decompress
  • have high protein food
  • sleep with the legs elevated at night

The next day I did not have any muscle aches at all. It was amazing.

Snippets of moments at Bear Hill in this video