Eya's Fifth Birthday...

Eya's birthday, as usual will fall on either Syawal or Ramadan, being a girl that was born exactly at 1st of Ramadan 5 years ago. This year, initially I was planning to celebrate it at Kepong.

As we still in Syawal, cu planned to gather all of us during his open house. He will do the cooking and later, all of the LL clan will have a sleepover at his home. So, I agreed and thought that Eya birthday should be celebrated there.

Eya, being 5 years old, know what she want for her birthday this year. Me, hubby and her opah will buy different things for her. She is not into expensive toys now, and her choices are much simpler.

She asked:

• Me: Dora stuff, so I bought her a set of Dora plate, mug and tumbler
• Hubby: Cars coloring stuff, so he bought her Crayola Cars and Princess coloring set
• Opah: She asked for masak-masak stuffs, all kind of plastic foods

Her acu bought her bedsheet + Mickey pillowcases, Uncle Shamsir bought her a set of dolls + clothes and Cik Yong bought her smurfette. 

As for the cake, I ordered a small cake with Powerpuff Girls - Blossom on it. The cake was gorgeous, and it cost RM75. I ordered from an online store that is based in Bangi, www.babycakes2u.com. Even the owner is a nice lady. Really loves the cake.

We also bought her a set of tiara and wand, as she told us that she wanted to be a princess this year. Even that two things is costly. Luckily, my friend lent her daughter's fairy wing to Eya. Another RM40 was saved.

Overall, her birthday was a nice one this year. A funny scene was when Zidane blew her candles everytime hubby light it up. She cried her heart out. We have to console her, and later she told us she cried because she didn't know how to blow the candles out. 

Eya, a princess for her 5th birthday....

Supper at Little White Cafe...

Sometimes, after dinner, I had the urge to eat something sweet. The easiest dessert will be a short trip to McD drive-through or according to Eya, the 'tingkap'. For the past few weeks, we will have that short trip almost to 2-3 times a week. Nothing fancy, just a sundae cone ice cream for the 3 of us.

Eya was given the green light a few weeks ago to eat ice-cream since my mom said the creamy kind of ice cream is ok. According to our own paed, if a child has a fever, give them ice cream. Not the iced one but the creamy kind.

So feeling a little bored with the same ice cream, we chose to recce Little White Cafe, just opened beside Amani Hotel. What attract us to the shop was its lovely decor.

We looked at the food they displayed outside, and at first glance, the price was quite expensive. So, we thought maybe the rest of the menu are ok, so we decided to give it a try.

When we browsed through the menu, everything were expensive. The menu was quite simple but the beverage choices was limited. All three of us except Eya ordered a slice of cake. I ordered the Red Velvet cake, which was priced at RM 13.90. I assumed the cake will be super marvelous due to its price but I was so wrong. The cake was just ok, not that fluffy or moist. A little hard, I might say.

The Red Velvet

The Choc Fudge...

Taste Rest has better version, according to hubby...

Abang ordered carrot cake, but he said the one at Taste Restaurant tasted better. Eya had cupcake which was quite hard, and priced at RM 4.80. Only abang ordered drinks, which supposed to be freshly squeezed orange juice, but when it was delivered to our table, the drinks came in shotglass size. Guess how much was it? The price is RM 5.00.

The so-expensive drink...

 The owner came to our table to ask why we didn't ordered more drinks, but thinking of ordering any more will cause more holes in our wallet, we decided not too. Me and adik stopped at 7-E at Shell just to buy our drinks.

Overall, I would say that the place is nice and suitable if you are on a date. If you have a family, I think it would be better if we dine somewhere else. The menu is great if you can offer it in lower price.

For me, I wouldn't dare to go there again as the price is too much for me. I'm willing to buy Secret Recipe as I can buy 2 slices with the price of their cake.

p/s: This is my opinion and if anyone feel offended or do not agree with it, I'm sorry.

Making my first-ever kuih

I never spend much at pasar ramadhan. I will only buy 1 or 2 type of kuihs for my 'break-fast'.

My favourite kuih will only be the kuih displayed below:

                                            Karipap                                          Kuih lapis

                                       Buah melaka                              Cara manis

This year pasar ramadhan was very costly. 3 buah melaka will cost you RM 1, compared to last year of  7 pieces. But, I have no options of not buying it, so I close my eyes every time I paid for the buah melaka.

Then, one day, Lida's FB status read as 'Buat onde-onde for berbuka'. Not her exact status, but something like that. So, I commented on her status that next time, if she is doing buah melaka, she should save some for me.

Ended up, she leave a message in my FB inbox with details on her recipe. It seem easy to make it but I'm not interested in making my own kuih.

So, I asked mom on the level of easiness in making the kuih. Mom said it is an easy kuih to do.

We went to Tesco to buy the tepung pulut and gula melaka to do it. For the green factor, I used pandan leaves for it. The total cost of the shopping is only around RM5.

First thing that I did was to blend the pandan leaves with water. The, sieve it to get only the green liquid. Pour it into the 'tepung pulut'. Then, using your hand, blend the pandan water and tepung until you get the right consistency.

After, some times, make the mixture into balls, place gula melaka in it. Unlike the pasar ramadan sellers, I put big chunk of gula melaka in it.

Then, hubby being helpful, helped me in boiling the balls and kaklong helped me to mix it with grated coconut.

Walla! this is the result of my first experience making 'buah melaka'. The green color is not that nice as I didn't use any artificial color. The reason why the kuih looks so tempting in param, green artificial color.

  My creation of buah melaka

With cost of doing it for only RM5, I can get only 15. I'm doing it myself, I got almost 100 of buah melaka.

LL Family Trip to Penang + Adib + Broc

Me and Kaklong had planned for this road trip a few months ago. The exact plan was to visit relative in Mata Ayer,Perlis. The plan was made as we did not attend a cousin's funeral last December. This cousin was one of our favorite cousin who had worked and lived in Langkawi. Every time one of us visit Langkawi, he will be our tour guide and treat  us to a lavish dinner at the hotel he worked. So, to make up for that, we decided to visit his parent.

 Our trip began on Wednesday night, and arrived in Mata Ayer around 6 a.m. After we had lunch at their house, we traveled down to Penang. We stopped at Pekan Rabu, Kedah as we never been there. we bought kerepek, asam jawa, all the normal stuff people buy there.

We managed to get to Penang around 6 p.m. and checked in into one of the apartment in Batu Ferringhi. As the Indians were celebrating Thaipusam, almost all hotel were fully-packed. After we freshen up, we went to our ultimate goal in this trip, to eat nasi kandar line clear.

It was 2nd time for my along + kaklong and first time for adib and broc. At first, adib told us that the nasi kandar was ordinary and nothing special but after a few hours, the taste kick in and he admitted that line clear was the best nasi kandar he ever had.

 So, in total we ate at line clear for 3 times before we went back to KL. We also tried nasi kandar beratur which was so famous for its long queue. The only difference with line clear is their rice is fluffy and delicious, but line clear still won my heart for its curry and fried chicken. So, nothing can beat my love for line clear.

And if for those who are new to nasi kandar line clear, make sure your rice is being served by an old guy wearing sarung as he is the best.

 As along is regular HRC visitor, he managed to get us in for free to see the live band. Only wearing slippers and did not have to pay cover charge, it was a great way to watch live band performs.

My family also went to try kuetieaw goreng doli in Taiping, hubby's hometown as we stopped by at MIL's house. The place was so packed that we have to wait a while before we got the table.

Overall, it was  a good trip but for me any trip with LL clan is the best for me.

Eya's eating habit...

Eya is almost 3 years old. Only a few months before she turns 3. Her weight always like a yo-yo, sometimes up and sometimes down. For now, her weight is okay, which is about 17 kg. One of my friend told me that her weight was 19kg when she was in Standard 1. A difference of only 2kg. I think it is normal for her to be at that weight for now. The weight is reflected by her tummy. Yes, I do love the tummy. She knew it and when we asked 'perut sapa', she will replied 'perut mama'.

Lately, she eats like an adult. Sometimes more than me or even her ayah. We are not worried about worms as we had given her the worms vaccine.

In a normal routine, she will eat 3 times. These meal usually will be a plate of rice, with a 'telur mata'. She likes her rice to be a little bit 'banjir', just like her ayah. So, sometimes we put her with kuah sayur or kicap. She will finish the whole plate.

As with the milk, she still drinks her milk. She drinks Nespray 1+. So, when the ads with Sheila Majid in it, she will shout, 'susu Eya, susu Eya'. A lot if I might add. If she forget to drink her milk before sleep, she will wake up in the middle of the night and asked for it. Not everyone could prepare her milk. Depends on her mood before her sleep. Sometimes it can be her ayah or me. However, I always wish it will be her ayah.

She also loves Ribena. We introduced her to Ribena upon her paed advice. When she was a baby, she do not like to drink and always got constipation. So, her paed advised us to give her prune juice or ribena. She hated the prune juice but luckily she can accept the ribena. So, its Ribena until now. However, to balance it out, we only give Ribena when she is at home. Outside, we will give her plain water.

The best thing I ever saw of her eating habit was when we ate 'nasi daun pisang' as our dinner. After she finished eating the rice, she folded the daun pisang. Just like what we normally do after eating nasi daun pisang. Someone told me that if we fold the daun pisang towards ourselves, it means we like the nasi. So, Eya did just that. We were really surprised as we never told her to do that. Maybe she watched us do it and learn from it.

My mom also noticed that when she eat spaghetti, she will use her fork to twirl the spaghetti. Only after that, she will put the twirled spaghetti into her mouth. We never taught her this but I think, again she learned from observation. She will twirl even mihun.

She also likes to have roti canai for breakfast. However, she will only eat it if there is kuah dal or kari. She will dip her shredded roti into the kuah, and eat it.

I think she learned a lot by observation and I'm sure she likes to eat. A true AL clan by heart.

Free Burger for hubby...

We had Burger King @ Alamanda for our dinner last night. Hubby being a fan of Whopper ordered ala-carte, while I ordered the medium set. As for me, I tried the new Salsa Grilled Chicken. It was quite nice.

In the middle of munching and finishing our burger, suddenly hubby stood up and went to the counter looking angry. Turned out that hubby had just bite a piece of plastic in the burger. The manager went into the kitchen to ask who had prepared the burger. We thought the plastic must have been the cheese plastic.

He apologized and gave hubby a new burger. So, hubby ate almost 2 Whopper last night.

Belanja makan...

Recently, adik managed to get back her money from her uni. So, she decided to treat us for a family dinner. Usually, we would go for western food especially Chilli's but some of us are bored eating the same dishes.

This time, to be more value for money, I suggested to have it at a Muslim Chinese restaurant somewhere near our house. We ordered quite a number of dishes but it was nice and cheap. The total was below what adik had budgeted.

As for today, mom treated us for nasi padang at KJ. The food was great for us minang people but it was quite costly, compared with what we had the last night.

Tomorrow, mom will cook us nasi lemak for lunch. Yeah!!!!

Food makes me different from you...

I'm quite choosy and picky when it comes to food. My friends always said that I'm weird. For me, I do admit that I'm quite different to other people when it involves food.

I don't like fillings, any kind of fillings especially in local kuih, especially karipap or even tarts or pastries. I will only eat the pastries.

As for ABC, I only have mine served of ice, syrup and milk. I always asked for extra milk as I don't want the extra things. Cendol, it is served only with ice, coconut milk and syrup. No green stuff for me.

I only eat plain cakes. I love butter cakes and plain cheese cakes. I don't eat cakes with creams, nuts or any extra ingredient. I loves only Indulgence from Secret Recipe and Opera from Coffee Bean. Other than that, I don't eat it.

I never eat durian. However, the weird thing is I love tempoyak and can eat bubur durian, but only the kuah not the durian. Maybe because my mom is a perakian and my abah was from KL, so I got a mixed genes.

I only eat certain types of fish. I don't eat fish that is handsome (e.g. keli and haruan). Luckily, I gave birth using normal method, so I don't have to eat haruan. Because I hate the fish, I vow to deliver my future babies normally. I only eat fish from the sea, which are kembung, bawal and tenggiri. These are my favorites. As for non-sea fish, I only can eat talapia merah. Others than that is a serious no-no.

I also eat certain fruits only. I love apple, oranges and rambutan. As for rambutan, my mom and MIL will peel the fruits and keep the peeled ones in fridge for me. At home, hubby will do it for me.

I don't like western food. If I go to Chillis or TGI, I order burger or sandwich. I cannot eat large portion of beef or chicken.

I love rice. Any kind of rice, especially the fried one. Thats why I cannot diet like other people. Rice is something that I need everyday, at least once a day.

I only loves squid. I don't like other kind of seafood. Only squid and some type of fish. If people serve me prawn, I will only eat if hubby around. Because, he will peel the skin off for me. If not, no prawn for me. I also don't like crab as it is a waste. Expensive but little meat.

I loves mamak food. Maybe because abah introduced it to me since I was small. Especially nasi kandar line clear. Really heart for it...

Happy Mother's Day, Mak....

For every mother's day, I will treat my mom for a lunch. I only buy her present for her birthday. That is my tradition since I started working.

This year as all my siblings are around, we decided to treat mom for lunch together, meaning everybody will share to pay for the lunch.

I suggested to have the lunch at Waroeng Penyet but the menu was mainly rice-based. Then, at the last minute, we decided to got to Naili's Uptown. I even browsed thru their menu at their website and had decided on what me and hubby going to eat the next day.

On that day, when we arrived at Naili's, it seemed it had been closed and being replaced by a new restaurant. I didn't know what happened to Nailis, maybe it had gone bankrupt or maybe they couldn't stand the competition in Uptown. So, adhoc decision was to go to Curve and simply chose any restaurant.

Once there, we chose to have our mother's day lunch at Vivo. The menu was so vast, and we had trouble choosing our food and drinks.

-My adik and mom...-

For mom, Happy Mother's Day. You are the best mom ever. Thanks for everything you have done for me. Everything that I do in my life is dedicated for you, mom....

Makan Besar @ Klang

My lil sis just got a scholarship for her degree studies and decided to treat the family for a makan besar. As our nucleus family is quite big, the most economical treat will be seafood.

I helped her to find the place and after a few searches on the Internet and suggestion from hubby, we decided to go to Muara Ikan bakar at Klang. As the place was known for its crowd, and we supposed to go a day before the labour day, I asked hubby to book a place.

I went there with Cu and his family, as it took ages if I had to go back home first. The journey to Klang was a terrible one, as the traffic jam started from Federal Highway. We managed to arrive there on time (afraid our booked place would be given to another person).

I ordered all the main item as adik was not that familiar with ordering food. (As usual, the elder sis had to do everything). I ordered 3 portions, as we occupied 3 tables. The usual item for seafood restaurants was ordered. It includes fish (siakap and kerapu), prawns, squid (my fav), tomyam for my maksu and all the side dishes.

The service was quick, as it was a working day and it was not that crowded. We had the longest table that night. A family came in later and asked about their reserved table. They kept staring at our table and making (angry) stupid faces, as if we had took their table.

When I arrived and asked about our reservation, the waitress simply said,"Its Mr Rizal's, right?". Yes, hubby was the only person reserved for that night and that family can simply thought that we stole their table. And another family, came to our table and waited for us to leave the table as we got the longest and comfortable table.

The most surprising thing that night was all of my siblings including my 2 cousins were wearing black t-shirt. It was noticed by my mom. And, we never agree on wearing the same color.


To adik, thanks for the treat. Couldn't wait for the time when you get your first paycheck.....

Attack of the AL's clan...

I've learned to eat sandwich during my study. Why? Because I couldn't find any nasi campur gerai or nasi bungkus at that area.

So, once here, I continue my love for sandwich. Not the regular 2 slice of bread, egg or jam but real sandwich with beef, chicken or turkey. But for me, I only could eat beef filling.

Which sandwich I like? I love sandwich from Subway, Tony Roma or O'Brien. They have nice sandwiches.

One Friday afternoon, I simply asked my family if they wanted to try eating sandwiches for dinner. As my family is food lovers, they agreed.

So, all of us went to Subway @ KJ and had sandwich for our dinner. The guys ordered 1-foot long but for the girls, we only ate the 6'.

Adib and Yop also followed us and that were their first time eating at Subway.

After the dinner, my baby who like to make new friends, who had just learn to walk, went to a table of a family with 3 boys. All of us were shocked to see Eya was so brave and went straight to the table. Even the boy's mom were laughing and shocked to see Eya coming to their table.



I really have to keep a close eye on her as she is walking full-time now.

Dinner at Santai

I don't know why but a lot of our favorites restaurant have been eliminated from our list. They used to be fast in service, nice food, good prices, etc but now everything are different.

Now, to eat, I had to go surfing to check for reviews on restaurant. Where would I check for review? It had to be masak-masak.blogspot.com. That was how I find Santai restaurant at TTDI. They are the parent company for D'Santai in Tesco, Mutiara Damansara.

The food here are nice, it looks exactly what you saw on food review website. The service was really quick and the price is quite ok. The portion of the dish was quite generous, not too much accessories like what we usually have in normal tomyam restaurant.

The first thing I would like to try was the Santai ABC. It was totally awesome. I can said that all the food and drinks was marvellous.

The total amount for 5 persons was about RM50++. It was quite cheap for me. So, I think we have a new restaurant to be added to my list.

p/s: The food pics was courtesy of my lil sis. She is a good photographer.