Counting down the days to...

Happy Chinese New Year!

Wishing everybody a prosperous year of Ox ahead.

Pinkiest of health.

Exuberant happiness.

Flourishing wealth.

I'm so looking forward to it this (and every other) year! Bro will be touching down to KLIA on Thurs night. Aunt L, bro and myself will be car-pooling back to Taiping on the same night.

I'm taking french leave on Friday (23/1). AND on top of that, I have my bedside exam on 29/1 (4th day of CNY) and theory exam on 30/1 (5th day of CNY).

Regardless of all that, nothing is going to stop me from celebrating my CNY!

I shall update again soon after I return. Until then...

Memorable Weekend

If you've known me for some time, you'll find that I have problems remembering or recalling incidences or events, sometimes even significant ones(!). But I believe that last weekend will be one of the few experiences that I'll always remember and cherish. Not because I'm writing it down here, but because it was very special to me in many many ways.

I was looking forward for the weekend the whole week. And it finally came. It was actually a weekend visit to Malacca by aunty L (coming down from KL), cousin PW (from Seremban), and sis (coming all the way from Singapore).

The Saturday morning started off insignificantly, with my having to attend a 3 hours session of students' presentation, called common programme, on bronchial asthma. It ended earlier than usual at about 11.15am, and L and PW were supposed to reach by 11.30pm (calculated based on the driving speed of L with extra time allocated!).

Anyway, I gave PW a call to see if they were about to reach, only to find out that our dearest aunt L's "BMW" got overheated and had to be fixed in Seremban, which had caused their delay. They were just leaving Seremban at that time. By then, sis was already reaching Melaka Sentral. So, M and I went to pick her up and we went for a "light" lunch at a hainanese chicken rice shop.

After lunch, M dropped us back to the hostel, to wait for the arrival of the rest of our "weekend gang" members. They reached at about 12.45pm and we went for lunch at sis' favourite bak kut teh shop in Malacca.

Food was just average. For that amount, it was over-priced. And as for the service, it was a disgrace. No extra soup was given, it was finished apparently. What is bak kut teh without liberal amount of soup?

For dessert, we went to a Nyonya place behind Jonker's street, called Donald and Lily's. Here we ordered their famous cendol with gula Melaka and sago and toufoo rojak.

Below:

This is how PW looked like when I asked her to show her expression into the camera,

as though she's seeing me for the first time after many, many years.

She looks more like she'd just seen a ghost!

After stuffed with food, we went off walking along Jonker's Street towards a smaller lane, where L wanted to get a chinese traditional basket. I've got her one before (sis paid for it, as L's birthday present), but she wanted one more for decoration. That was the intention she told us, and we believed her. How silly of us! When we reached that shop, she started calling her friend quoting the prices of the basket. And she ended up buying a big one for her friend and only a tiny one for herself. I wonder if the small one was just for show, so we won't bug her life!

Below:

Sis with a very typical chinese pose!

Below:

Look at the size of the basket L's holding, which she's buying for herself!

Compare it to the one on the table in front of her, which was for her friend.

Below:

A modern golden variant. More expensive.

Apparently real gold coating.

Below:

Other decorative items for sale in the shop

Below:

These mandarin ducks cost RM108.

Made of some crystals.

Below:

Promoting the other things that we bought at the shop along Malacca river,

which you can go for a boat ride.

After much bargaining at the basket shop, it was almost 5pm. Tea time! This place where I was planning to take them to, specialised in different types of sweet desserts. And it is situated at the foothill of a 19th century chinese cemetery called Bukit Cina. Many of the tombs had collapsed but the surroundings are well looked after by an association. In the evenings, there'll be alot of uncles walking and exercises along the pathway in between ths tombs.

As we were heading to the car, we bought vegetable roll (popiah) at Jonker's street. The secret ingredient was sprinkling oil made of pig's fats! Well, it's not really a secret. EVERY chinese knows that nothing tastes better than food cooked in that kind of oil!

Below:

My favourite dessert from the stall at the cemetery.

It's made of barley, called pai mai (directly translated as white porridge)

After persistent hinting, they finally realised that I would like to go back to my hostel room to handle some "business" in the toilet. So off we went to my campus!

Below:

My door deco to uplift the CNY mood!

While I was in the bathroom, 3 of them were outside chitchatting. Not long after, I could only hear sis voice relating some angry stories to L, in an angry manner and rather loudly. Every now and then, I heard L's voice asking questions or giving comments. Neither did I suspect, but by the time I showered and came out, PW was already sound asleep! Nobody needed to whisper or speak softly, cause she was already in her La La Land...

Anyway, we woke her up after we got ready. Then, it was straight to our next food destination! We went to pack putu piring, which has gula Melaka as filling and eaten with coconut. I'm not sure what putu means, but piring probably came from it's shape. It's basically a different version of Indian putu mayam or idiapam. It was introduced by sis when I first came to Malacca. It was a small time family business, with the shop right in front of their house. Very good business, usually sold off by 10pm, even on weekdays.



We had the putu piring at a famous satay celup restaurant along Jln. Ong Kim Wee, eventhough there was a sign board saying, "No outside food allowed" (some people just don't understand instructions! Hehe....).

Satay celup as the name indicates, is nothing but lok-lok dip straight into hot satay sauce, instead of normal boiling water. There's a pot in the centre of the table containing the sauce, which is continuously being heated up by a gas stove. A must try for all tourist. Abit too expensive for locals, as the size of the lok-lok is getting smaller by the week.

Not to disgust you, but how hygienic do you think it is? For those who only dip new ones everytime, that's ok. But what about those who repeatedly dip their half eaten lok-lok into the same sauce, that will not be changed until the end of the day? Hmm... Maybe that's what that make this so tasty.... The germs and diseases!

Continuing with the dinner, from local delicacy to North Indian cuisines. This place is called Pak Putra, located adjacent to Jonker Street, which only starts operating at 6pm, everyday except Mondays and during fasting season (they are Indian Muslim). They are famous for their tandoori chickens and nans. If you like cheese, their cheese nan is not to be missed!

The special thing about this place that stands out from all others, is their method of cooking. For the chicken, it is skewered and the oil is allowed to drip, while being cooked in a big clay barrel. Beside it, in another clay barrel is where the nan is cooked. It is stuck on the inner side of the barrel, and also cooked without oil. Healthy no?

Below:

The end result.

Served with mint sauce.

Below:

Potato nan,

apparently not available elsewhere according to L.

That was what we thought the last meal of the day was, cause by then we were all having problems breathing from congested abdomen pushing up our diaphragms! So off we went for a walk along Jonker's Street, where the night life is...

Below:

In one of the shops.

We just had to take a picture for remembrance

that we accidentally "colour-coded" on that day.

Below:

Some tid-bits that we tried in Jonker's.

Rt: Fried prawns

Lt: Fried baby crabs
I supposed they would have been nice if they were hot.

But they were not, so....

After the walk, after the food digested, off we went for some asam pedas fish in a Malay stall, just a walking distance away. This was recommended by sis. But what a disappointment. It was "pedas", but there wasn't any "asam" taste in it. Rather blunt, in fact. But it sure was cheap, just RM3 for a fish.

We initially had plans to go for a drink at Geographers (a strategic pub at the centre of Jonker's Street), but prolonged and sustained hyperglycaemia finally kicked in, and we were all too tired and decided to call it a day.

Back in our family suite...

I don't even know where or how to begin describing the hotel... How do I put it in a nicer way? Er... It was utterly disgusting! Haha... Now before you say, or even think anything, this was actually the second time I booked this hotel. BUT, this was the first time we were using the so called family suite. The standard rooms that i booked previously, were satisfactory, I even checked them out first before booking. And having some confidence in it (which was absolutely wrong!) I booked this hotel again, as other hotels were already full. To be honest, it was actually our last affordable option!

To our horror (and just to point out a few problems), the bathroom was dirty, with black stains on the floor and wall. Shower and heater were not working properly. The comforters were yellow (God only know how often they wash them), but luckily there was a layer or white sheets underneath.

We did fall asleep after chitchatting awhile. We were too tired to stay awake, no matter how hard we tried.

I for one, did not step into the bathroom! I showered when we were back in my hostel earlier in the evening. I did not pee. And I did not brush my teeth before sleep or after waking up!

We checked out at 6am and went straight to my hostel! Haha...

We took our sweet time there. Listen to live radio from internet, online shopping, try on my clothes, etc. Slowly one by one took turn to shower.

We went for dim sum for breakfast. Dearest L, were still thinking of yesterday's bak kut teh. She even suggested that we bring one of my bowls from my room, go and pack the bak kut teh and eat it at Dim Sum Garden! We told her to go sit at the next table on her own!

M joined us for breakfast. For once, he did not complain about being full and refused to eat! Good boy. (All because L was there, I think! Hehe...)

After breakfast, M left for his place to continue sleeping, while we head off to Dataran Pahlawan for some shopping. By then it was around 10am and we shopped until 2 something, before starting to leave to go for lunch at the same chicken rice shop as yesterday. By the time we actually left, with the jam and all, it was too late for sis to join us for lunch, as her bus was leaving at 4pm, and her bag was still in my hostel.

We collected her bag and sent her off to the bus station. Poor fella...

Anyway, M joined us for lunch too. We ordered a mixture of steamed and roasted chickens, stewed pork with eggs, deep fried prawn dumplings with bean sprouts in salted fish.

After lunch, L and PW started their journey home to Seremban. L was prepared to wash and vacuum her car there (She even brought her own vacuum cleaner all the way from PJ!).

I left with M. We guided them to the road leading to the highway. Just between you and me, we kind of took them one big round because we did not show our signal early enough for L's liking (or skills) and missed a turning! Sshhh...

Anyway, after that instead of going home, we went to a sports shop and M finally bought his second long overdue anniversary present.

How I Spent my Christmas '08

I don't celebrate Christmas. But I do enjoy the season of giving (and taking), for all the creative decorations at the malls, the beautifully wrapped gift items, the sales, etc. And most all, I love this Christmas all the more because i have 5 and half days off!! which is a very rare occurrence at my college.

My Christmas presents from M and his family.

My holiday mood only filled the air at noon on Christmas Eve, immediately after my case presentation on a preterm twin baby. It was the fear of the unknown (or not knowing enough) that made case presentation a stressful routine. But that morning came and went like a breeze, taken by a wonderful teacher and paediatrician, Dr. J.

After that, it was just countdown until 4pm to start our journey home. 3 of us carpooled with R to Ipoh. I am a regular with R. And parents usually have to come down to Ipoh to pick me up, but not this time....

Why?

This is how my holiday begins.

I put a night at 3 Kor's place in Ipoh, as parents and the rest of the family were coming down to have dim sum for breakfast and shopping for CNY. But what they really came to Ipoh for was the dinner. A course dinner so-called "Monk jumps over the wall" (directly translated from Chinese). I have no idea what monk or which wall. But what I do know is that it costs RM200 per person. And there were 33 of us!

So what's so great about this dinner?

Dish 1.
Abalone and huge mushrooms with broccoli.
Each mushroom was proximately from the tip of my finger to the base of my palm. I'm not exaggerating. And meant to serve one for each person.

Separated into individual bowls.

Served sizzling hot.

Dish 2.
Herbal ginseng soup with some extensive ingredients.
Huge enough to serve 3 separate times with all different ingredients for each person.

Dish 2, Soup serving 1.

Shark's fin with some salty stuff (don't know what it's called. But it's something people usually put in porridge)

Btw, I did not eat the shark's fin. I gave my portion to sis.

Dish 2, Serving 2.
The white piece is some huge fish's stomach and the brown one behind it is sea cucumber.

Soup 2, Serving 3.
Some deer's cartilage or something.
Abit soft and gooey.

Dish 2.
This was the ginseng that was used to boil the soup.

Dish 3.
Assorted dish.

Dish 4.

Remember the earlier ginseng from the soup dish?

Fried ginseng roots.

Taste like crunchy chinese medicine.

Dish 5.

Fried noodles cooked with abalone gravy.

Dish 6.

By then, most of us were too bloated for anything else. And we were yet to have our individual mushroom. So instead, we told them to serve ONE mushroom for EACH table. Even with that we had difficulty finishing it! So imagine how full we were, or how big the mushroom was.

Dish 7.

Fruits with blended ice for dessert.

My niece No. 2 and her granny

The dinner would not have been possible if it wasn't for the great generosity of my cousin PW and hubby WW. Thank you both for the wonderful dinner!

For the rest of the holiday, it was all about food! One big family dinner after another. Although there's strong family history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and other closely associated diseases, nothing could stop this family from enjoying good (but high in cholesterol, salt, ajinomoto, etc) food. There were attempts to "neutralise" the dinner food load, by cooking porridge for lunch! Like it'll make alot of difference.


One personal favourite was at the outskirts of Taiping, called Parit Buntar, about 30 minutes away. The road leading to the "restaurant" (not sure if it's appropriate to be called as one), is not fully tarred and only wide enough to accommodate one car at a time! It's the kind of place, where you would not have gone to or would not have imagined having an eating place. I did not take any pictures, but will do the next time we go (probably during CNY). The place was recommended by me Dad, who had been there once with his friends some time ago. He never fail to amaze everybody on the different places to eat or anything related to food. If you believe in the phrase, "You are what you eat", then me Dad is a living prove!

Anyway, that place serves the freshest seafood, and probably one of the tastiest I've ever had. Having only one cook, who's also the boss, an old lady (probably his mom) to help set up the table, and a foreign helper to catch the seafood from the tank, the place functions like a well-oiled machine. Quite a fast service actually, considering the fact that my family alone used up 3 tables full. And the price was rather reasonable too, I would say.

And this dinner was thanks to my other constitutionally (sometimes, pathologically) generous Tua Kor!

That very same night (27 Dec), we celebrated sis birthday, as she was leaving the next day. PW and I went to order the birthday cake at Secret Recipes. Sis had 2 birthday cakes this year! (Not to signify your increasing age sis, just simply because there were too many people at home!). One chocolate moist cake and one mocha cheese cake. So to avoid suspicion, Y helped collect the cakes before dinner instead, and bring them home to keep them refrigerated. It somehow caused some delay for them to reach the dinner place. After giving directions to them through the phone, Seh Han Chek accidentally let the cat out of the bag, saying something about "collecting cakes". Sis, being a thick skin that she is, caught the cue, and said, "Wah! You all bought cake for me? Thank you ah!" I was too shocked to think of something to cover up. And SHC was probably wondering what was actually going on. We were all dumb founded.

But anyway, by the time we reach home, her thick skin was too prevailing.

While everybody was occupied by this cute little girl, and busy trying to catch her attention, a funny dialogue between a hubby and his wife overrides it:

WW: Ah Wen ah!!

PW: Yes?!!

WW: I need toilet roll!

PW: Ha, ok!

Everybody burst out laughing!

Tua Kor: Pang sai is it?

2 Kor: The elder one?

Mom: Constipated.

Tua Kor: The elder one is constipated hor?

The rest was too blur, I can't remember what they were saying either.

It was a wonderful holiday. And truly, truly a family affair.