Tag Archives: public holiday

Home cooked food – Kimchi Fried Rice

Posted in Everyday Life, Food and Drinks, Online Store by

It’s the Awal Muharam public holiday today and I am very relieved to not be oncall.

Special occasions like this are usually times when ‘home chefs’ get a break from the kitchen. Eat at the restaurant or something. I on the other hand had a particular craving for something Korean to eat. So we stayed in and had home cooked food. I whipped up KImchi Bokkeumbap for lunch  – in other words Nasi Goreng Kimchi. 

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I bought my Kimchi through a local online seller. The IG account looked legit @kimchimalaysia. In conjunction with #mycybersale2015, it costs RM22 for 500g worth of kimchi (discount yay!). I had the kimchi as a side dish, as bits in my cucur/cekodok ..  I gave part of it to my Mother-in-Law just in case she wants a taste of the kimchi as well. The few final spoons were used for my fried rice. I managed to finish the kimchi in less than a week. Sedap sangat!! 

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Recipes are everywhere. I basically had garlic, splashes of oyster sauce and kimchi in the rice. It tasted OK. Very sour. it leaves this zing! in your mouth on your tongue after the meal.

I will definitely order this again when the next craving strikes!

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많이 드세요.

[Mani tuseyo.]

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66 Hours in Phuket : What We Did

Posted in Travel by
Itinerary ⌉ Our Hotel ⌉ Halal Phuket Food ⌉

In short, there were 2 highlights of this trip.

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First is the Phuket FantaSea and the other is Island hopping specifically to James Bond Island since we’ve been to Phi Phi Island when we were in Krabi.

PHUKET FANTA-SEA

 

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To me this place is a mix of a mini theme park and a circus show. Its not a big place nor is the show heavy and elaborate, but it was entertaining nonetheless. There were lots of picturesque or cute locations to take photos and just hang around.

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Prior to this trip, Hazeeq have been watching Dr Seuss’s Horton’s who – this story about an elephant who is on a mission to save a world on a speck. Hence, my boy was very excited at the sight of elephants performing on stage at The Elephant Palace. To be honest, I don’t totally understand the storyline of the play yet I remained enthralled by the beauty of their graceful traditional dances and costumes. The show lasted for an enjoyable one hour and we hastily proceeded to the buffet area.

Phuket Fanta-Sea was very kind to provide a Halal buffet spread which we enjoyed to bits. It is however sad though to see some patrons wasting precious food. Some cakes were untouched after a flick of the fork at its icing. Oh dear, why can’t these people just finish what they took. Or shove it into their partners mouth or something.

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We spent roughly 3 hours there before the transport man picked us up as scheduled. Money well spent!

JAMES BOND ISLAND HOPPING (Phang Nga Route)

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I had no idea that this trip was relatively safe for a toddler like Hazeeq. I was a bit apprehensive when they mentioned canoe-ing as part of their activity even though they say ‘can bring baby – no problem’. To be more safe, I brought Hazeeq’s swimming vest for him to wear on board. We were not taking any chances.

Subhanallah, everything was just beautiful. Whoever discovered these islands are pure lucky – bless  those who choose to share this with the world. And of course earn money from it.

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Lunch was at Koh Panyee – a  floating Muslim fishermen village. Populated by nearly 200 families who although lives surrounded by the riches of the sea still needs to go to the mainland for dry goods and fresh water. Electricity is supplied by a generator to function during certain hours of the day. Tough life.

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Followed by a 90 min free and easy activity at Naka island. Our guide was ethical enough to inform us against taking picture with the ‘baby monkeys’ on the beach when approached by the locals. He said some of them went to the extremes of killing the mothers of these baby monkeys so they would be attached to their human mothers. He didn’t really say “Don’t” but mentioned he thought he should just let us know – for he fears paying the locals for a photo with these monkeys will fuel their ‘monstrous activity’.

Most tour participants swam, sunbathed, drank cocktails and stuff. We were on the other hand itching to go home as my boy was already sleeping. So we just sat there, meditated, took a nap. .. until it was time to leave.

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All in all, it was a good trip.

Raya 2014 : Salam-salam, jalan-jalan, kenal-kenal, makan-makan …

Posted in Everyday Life, Travel by

How do you spend your first day of Eid? 

After the Eid prayers and breakfast, we’d usually start the day with a formal salam-salam ceremony. My parents (who looked like royalty this Eid with their yellow outfit) would sit and ‘bestow’ forgiveness and money to their ungrateful, degil children. Hehe.

Mr Husband finds this ritual kind of humorous as this was his 2nd time having to again, salam and cium lutut. Even Hazeeq could not escape this adat. 

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Then, a couple picture with the royals. With a few selfies along the way.

 

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Later, a mini convoy to our relatives houses for their food and famous layer cakes. My kid has yet to understand the joy of duit raya but that did not stop him from making a collection from the elders and stuffing the envelopes in his little pocket.

Upon bringing Hazeeq berjarah, I learnt of an old adat as well. Adat sambut anak sulung. Intrigued by its name, I asked Father what it was. He said old folks believe that if you bring any eldest child of the family (anak sulung) to any house for the first time, you should spray him or her with perfume and such. This is to prevent the living spirits in the house from befriending and attaching themselves to that young sulung child and cause mischief. Itu kata orang2 tua lah. The good thing is Hazeeq smelled nice for the whole day. He he.

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Highlight of Raya 2014 was when we visited another aunt the following day, who was staying at the house Mr Husband and I rented when we first got married. We couldn’t resist taking a quick picture to wrap up the Raya. Smile.. KImchi!

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Raya 2014 : Homestay Taman Lavendar

Posted in Everyday Life, Travel by

People often ask,

“Siapa ada di Kuching?” after knowing very well that my parents have migrated to Semenanjung ever since I was 12 years old. I have lost my grandparents when I was very young which means my parents loss their parents at a young age too. But we still have blood ties who are still alive. Mainly our cousins, their siblings et cetera. And this is enough to make Hari Raya a festive season for all.

This year kita raya ala-ala merantau di bumi sendiri. We do not have our own house in Kuching. Hotel rooms are way expensive hence we chose a neat homestay for the Raya week.

Homestay Taman Lavendar,
No 25, Jalan Depo,
93050 Petra Jaya,
Kuching, Sarawak

Owner : Encik Rahman
Tel : 016 867 3565

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The single storey terrace house had 3 bedrooms with air conditioning in each room. 2 toilets with one in the master bedroom fuly equipped with a hot water heater. A small, cozy kitchen with its kitchen appliances, even a fridge to store our ikan masin and kuih lapis. A front porch that could fit two cars – our Persona and Myvi that we borrowed from a relative. A TV with Astro.

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NO WIFI. But who needs it anyway during Raya, kan?

All this for MYR 250/night. 

I felt it was reasonable for our party of 10 people ( 8 adults, 2 toddlers). My younger brothers slept in the living room which was equally  comfortable because of its nice sofa and air conditioning!!

Overall, the house was clean and most importantly near Matang where all the relatives live.

Raya 2014 : Travelling under WPUA with Air Asia

Posted in Everyday Life, Travel by

Selamat Hari Raya everybody. Camne Raya kitak tek? 

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As a civil servant from Sarawak working in Semenanjung entitles me to a special ‘treat’ from the government. That is a once a year FREE FLIGHT back to my hometown whenever I choose to use it. And these free expenses cover Mr Husband and my son till the age of 18 years.

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Air Asia’s smart top people have introduced the Waran Perjalanan Udara Awam (WPUA) flying programme to kind of bring them closer to public agencies and truth be told, I felt like a First Class passenger on board the flight under this WPUA.

In short, we get pre-selected Hot Seats, Hot Meals with a snakc box and most importantly FREE 40kg worth of baggage space each! That’s enough to bring back lots of kuih lapis for a home business. Hehe.

My brother who was using his warant as well under MAS even envied our food selection and ‘special seats’. He got an economy class seat of which he said was far more cramped than the Hot Seat in Air Asia aircraft. Now that he’s mentioned it, I am choosing Air Asia again next year.

PUTRAJAYA CENTRAL – EXPRESS RAIL LINK (ERL) – KLIA2

We traveled from Malacca using our own car and parked at Putrajaya Sentral. The facility charged us MYR4/overnight parking which was a cheaper alternative to park at KLIA2 itself. Then we took the ERL for a mere, very comfortable 20 mins journey to KLIA.

The transit train was well on time and we noticed other young families doing the same.

Adult fees were MYR6.90 per way.

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KLIA2

As most people have commented elsewhere, it does involve a lot of walking. A bit of a challenge for the elderly or small children but if you know where to ask for help, I’m sure the relevant authorities at KLIA2 could help make your journey smoother and more convenient.

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KLIA2 was an airport connected to a shopping mall –  which makes any woman scream for a bit of  ‘light window shopping’   prior to boarding.

We checked in at the counter as the computer system was down and had plenty of time to just rest before getting on our flight. Hazeeq enjoyed his Upin Ipin movies and snacks while waiting.

Already we were hearing familiar Sarawakian accents at the airport by staff to passengers during boarding.

“Mintak boarding pass kitak kak”

“Kitak tiga nait sama kah?’

“Kitak nait dolok.. embak miak”

Hello Sarawak. Let the fun begin!