When Skunky and Mama were in Town

Things that we did when Skunky and Mama were in town (inter alia) :-

posing.. yeah, don't judge us

Korean Dinner at Hobahn's, Desa Parkcity

Road trip to Melaka and Seremban

Starbucks, Snowflake and Chatime break

shopping, eating and goofing around

Basically, we did nothing significant! Life is bliss =)

The Return of our Skunky

Waiting is a bore. Anticipation is an agony.

Those were my add-up feelings for the return of our prince in the family, my brother, Arthur a.k.a The Skunk.

My brother is pursuing his studies in Sydney and didn't return home for the summer break last year i.e. he missed the Chinese New Year break with the family. (No one in the family ever misses the Chinese-New-Year-back-to-home-holiday-break. Yeah, we are definitely one traditional family.)

So, on the 1st day of December 2011, the day has arrived. Mom flew from Sandakan on the 5.45 p.m. flight. Skunky was scheduled to touch down KLIA around 9.10 p.m.

Dad was already in KL and he had insisted for all of us to pick up Mom and Skunky together in our teeny tiny li'l car. So, Vivian and I picked him up at 7 p.m. We reached KLIA around 8-ish. (Yeah, we were early.) We parked our car and decided to wait at the arrival hall to greet him. Who still waits at the arrival hall nowadays?? Tour guide maybe yes lah. Anyway, Vivian even made a name board to greet him!

I went to look at the departure/arrival board a couple of times. Finally, at 9.15 p.m, it showed the flight from Sydney as "LANDED".

9.30 p.m.... (tick tock tick tock)

9.45 p.m.... (Okay, there's a bunch of people coming out. No sign of him.)

10.00 p.m... (Ehh..a young guy coming out. Nope, not him.)

Geeeezzzzz...

Mom came out from the domestic arrival hall and waited together.

10.15 p.m... (Eh eh.. another bunch of people..still no sign of him.)

10.30 p.m... (A young man coming out.. is that him? .. Yes YES YESSSS!!! That's him!!!! Mom and Vivian practically shouted out for his name! LOL!)

Finally, our Skunky is home! There is definitely the presence of tears of joy among us.

Snapshots of our wait:-

Cherrian Chu in Town

Cherrian Chu a.k.a Chu Chu a.k.a Mrs Kenneth Lee was in town for the long weekend and staying over at my place. Monday was a public holiday.

She's one hell of a frequent flyer; ante- and post wedding. I think she easily flew more than 20 times this year! I admire her energy. Seriously.

I've got to know her since the CLP days. A fantastic cook and baker; bubbly and full of energy. [A definite wife material but sorry guys, she's taken] At the same time, a blur prawnhead and I'd wish then to strangle myself and not her (if that's ever possible) Yet, I love her - she is definitely one true friend that I could count on.

One more thing that I could definitely count on whenever she's around - balloon with a flick of my thumb. No kiddin'!! When it comes to food, Cherrian Chu knows best. She's an avid hunter for good food everywhere. Unlike me, she definitely has the heart to go look for good places to eat. I'm so so ever glad that I have friends like her and Jazmyn. LOL!!

Crispy Roast Duck at Restoran Sunrise

Cherrian Chu brought me to have roast duck at Restoran Sunrise, 31 Jln 21/1, SEA Park for our Sunday brunch. Seriously, I've never thought of having roast duck + rice as my 1st meal of the day. Just 2 of us consumed half a duck + rice + vegetables! [waistline bell ringing] *gulps*

But I enjoyed it anyway, the skin is crisp and the meat is tender. It comes with complimentary soup. Not the normal "ajinamoto" soup like how people called it, it's sour in taste adding flavour to our roast duck.

Cherrian Chu wanted to eat the "wanton mee" which she's been craving for. I'm not a wanton mee fan so it doesn't really appeal to me. But Cherrian Chu will always be Cherrian Chu - she WILL eat it no matter how. So, the next day, her brother Brandon came (from Kuala Lumpur) to pick us up from my home (at Petaling Jaya) all the way to the restaurant (at Kuchai Lama) to eat the wanton mee. I remember Brandon complained "We come alllllll the way to eat this wanton meeeee; I want to seeeeee if it's reaaaaaallly that gooooooood! Hahaha I can see Cherrian Chu was a li'l panicky so she immediately switched to defence mode and told us not to put too high expectation on the wanton mee.

Was our trip worth it? In my opinion (who is not a wanton mee fan, I reiterate) - it was GOOD. Not the normal wanton mee that I was expecting. The texture of the mee is different. It is called bamboo noodles at the restaurant. The mee is softly springy and it seems to melt in my mouth after just a few bites. I'm not exaggerating! It was really good! Try it yourself at Nippy Noodles Restaurant located at 25, Jalan Kuchai Lama Maju 7, Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park. The BBQ slices of pork which complimented the mee were to die for.

Bamboo Noodles at Nippy Noodles Restaurant

Fried Dumpling - Yummy!!

Our itinerary involves mostly eating and eating. We braved IKEA later the day (It's a public holiday so given the choice, I would definitely NOT submit myself to the sardine-packed crowd). But Cherrian Chu wanted to purchase some pots of flowers which were supposed to "attract wealth" for her mom so we do not have the choice. I thought I could use some flowers to attract some luck and romance myself. Haha!

Alas, we did not manage to make any purchases save for the following :-

The public holiday is over and Cherrian Chu is back to Singapore. I can't help but to post Cherrian Chu's artwork here - she's into flower arrangement lately. Keep it up, Chu Chu!

flowers arrangement by Cherrian Chu

Paper roses made and designed by Cherrian Chu

Massive piggin' out at Penang

OMG. Read my lips : Oh ma.aaa gaawwd.

That's what they can make out of when I returned from my trip to Penang. I realise our human bodies can actually take more than we can consume. Don't ask me why. We can just magically do so (*sly grin*)

I received a 7.15 a.m whassap message from Jasmine saying she's on the way to pick me up. I was fumbling over to get ready, still half asleep :P 20 mins later, I'm on my way to Penang with Jasmine and two newly-met friends, Yuin and Li Tsin.

This trip is definitely what I'd described as: Makan all the way UP and Makan all the way DOWN.

1st stop - Bidor for wantan mee + yam pastry + kopi.

wantan mee

just out of the wok yam pastry

yam pastry with pork filling

2nd stop - Ipoh for tau fu fah + kopi + satay + chee cheong fan + char keow teow. Yuin bought a packet of 3-in-1 durian flavoured coffee. Okay, I'm a durian lover and a coffee lover. But the two of them mixed together? Weeeelllllll... I couldn't imagine. LOL!

Funny Mountain's soft and smooth tau fu fah

Pork satay

chee cheong fun with curry gravy

original chee cheong fun

caramel custard - order fast before it finished!

3rd stop - Penang for asam laksa + apom + rojak + char keow teow + kopi ais + luk luk + pork sandwich + fried oyster omelette + popiah+ food that I can't remember but had eaten :P

Asam Laksa at Air Itam Market

Hawker stalls

fried oyster omelette

octopus

rojak

pointy seashells?

popiah with crab meat filling. Yummy!

Uncle Apom - pancake with banana filling

Apom - 40 cents per piece

char keow teow

luk luk at Pulau Tikus

kopi ais - SEDAP!

We stayed overnight at a nice li'l heritage house-turned-hotel called Dwell situated at Bangkok Lane. There are 3 rooms in the house and a small kitchen with complimentary coffee and tea. We booked the two rooms upstairs and were lucky that the room downstairs was unoccupied during our stay i.e. we get the whole house to ourselves! *wink*

the heritage houses along Bangkok Lane

Dwell - house turned lodging

checking in at the lobby, Palanquinn

master bedroom

master bath

master bedroom - quite an "opened" concept

We brewed a cup of the 3-in-1 durian flavoured coffee to satisfy our taste buds' curiosity. Well, it's not as bad as I imagined but still, it feels weird. You know what I mean? Your coffee tastes durian-y. Halo?? Anyway, the remaining packets are safely tucked in my kitchen cabinet now so for those who are curious of how it tastes, feel free to buzz me and we'll have a cuppa durian coffee at me home!

durian coffee, anyone?

I think our eating spree finally came to an end at around 11 pm that night. Phew.

The next day dawned with a spread of hot breakfast on the wooden dining table bought by the early risers, Jasmine and Yuin. Hot pancakes + pork porridge + roast pork + roast duck + mee siam. We obviously could not finish all the food.

peanut pancake

mee siam

roast pork

roast duck

AND the makan spree continues.

We went for Penang's famous cendol after that. LOL! I wouldn't say it's great, seriously. I'd prefer the cendol in Melaka - richer and creamier.

the famous Penang Cendol - I think it's overrated

4 bowls for the 4 hungry ghosts - Are we really hungry? Can't tell.

Jasmine brought us to this quaint li'l cafe that I'm loving to bits. Amelie Cafe located at Armenian Street. You can barely notice it with all the leaves deco hovering over it. It is a small cafe operated by a couple - the husband cooks (*envy*) whilst the wife coordinates.

Amelie Cafe

It says "No Photograph" but who can resist? :P

the small kitchen

the decos in Amelie

tomato based spaghetti

custard pudding with plum sauce - Nice!

Bacon burger

cool artworks

Can you spot Amelie?

With all the food which has yet to digest in our stomachs, we decided to stroll along the streets checking out the heritage houses and shops. Yup, under the hot sun but can't complain lah - I'm a "tourist" afterall.

sunny!

walking along the streets in Penang

old buildings are Penang's trademark

blue sky

different faces? LOL!

Time to head back home. Had we had enough? Are you kiddin' me?! We are on a makan-all-the-way-up and makan-all-the-way-down trip! Of course NOT lah.:D

crossing Penang bridge back to KL

We stopped at Tambun for seafood. The food was not exactly bad but the company we had de-flavoured everything. FLIES!! *GROSS!*

This is my 1st time tasting this creature - ain't good.

salty egg crabs

scallops

steamed fish

Final stop, Ipoh again for chicken rice. We can choose home-reared chickens which have firmer meat and less fats or factory-reared chickens which have tender meat and more fats.

Ipoh chicken

chicken gizzards

In summary, that was one hell of a MASSIVE piggin' out trip (I have to emphasize that the abovementioned food were consumed in just 2 days time)!