Être Patisserie and Restoran Yum Yum, Ipoh

On the 3rd day of CNY, we were free from carrying out all our customary CNY obligations.  Since we had one more day in Ipoh before returning to KL, our 'Chor 3' was spent cafe hopping and binging in Ipoh. This is my hubby's ideal kind of holiday, where he doesn't have to do much except hunting for good eats and relaxing at the cafes.   The hubby is a foodie who lives by the stomach and he gets upset should any of his loved ones reject his food hunts 😂.   CNY is the only time of the year that the hubs gets to rest and have a holiday.

After our breakfast at Kong Heng, followed with coffee and camwhoring at Platform 9 1/2 Harry Potter themed cafe and a walk down Concubine Lane, hubs hunted for the next cafe on his list - Être Patisserie @ Canning Garden. As of typing this post, this cafe is temporarily closed as they have moved to another location and the new outlet is still undergoing renovation works. Être Patisserie will reopen in a new location in March 2020.

For pastry and cake lovers who get turned on by food aesthetics, this cafe is the right place to hangout where you can savor out-of-this-world exquisite cakes, so sublimely and thoughtfully crafted out that you don't have the heart to put them into your mouth! This is definitely a cafe to go to for some insta-worthy shots.

Check out hubs' picks from  Être Patisserie:




Pink beauty with edible 'diamond'.  By the look of the cream and decor on the cakes, we'd thought that they look cloy but they're aren't. They're not overly sweet and not only do they look exquisite, they're eye-rollingly delish too.





CNY themed tart.




Source - Être Patisserie








Dinner was at Restoran Yum Yum, a Nyonya Thai food eatery owned by hubby's erstwhile school mate's family. It's our first time to this restaurant and everyone, especially hubs enjoyed the food thoroughly. After 3 days of feasting on CNY dishes, having Nyonya Thai food was much welcomed to break the monotony of Chinese dishes. The Nyonya and Thai flavors gave everyone a nice jolt to our jaded taste buds.

Yum Yum’s extensive menu is an intriguing mélange of Nyonya and Thai flavours with Chinese influences thrown in. In operations since 1991, Yum Yum’s sister outlet in Kota Damansara, KL is called Little Yum.  Both outlets are pork-free and offers almost similar menu.










Since it's a holiday, I acceded to the girls' request of bubble tea after dinner and hubs brought us to the Bubble Tea Street. It's pretty hard to choose which shop to walk into when almost every shop sells the same kind of drinks, so we randomly chose the shop below. This is not to be confused with Black Whale.  I can't remember the name of the shop though. I must admit that after being on a boba tea frenzy (sans the pearls) for almost a year, our craze seems to have fizzled out. Before we even realize it, I think the boba tea bubble will burst and another kind of craze will be born into the money-making beverage industry! Just you watch and see...



Yum Yum Restaurant Ipoh (Pork Free)
5 Persiaran Greenhill (New Town)
Tel: 05-253 7686
Business Hours: 12 -3pm and 6pm-10pm
OFF: Wednesdays
Prices: GST applicable.

Sherilyn's 15th Birthday - 16 February 2020

We celebrated Sherilyn's 15th birthday at Bangsar Shopping Centre on Sunday. Hubs had to be at a client's function in Bangsar in the morning. So we Grab-ed our way to BSC to meet him for lunch. Hubs asked the birthday girl to pick her choice of restaurant at BSC and of all the restaurants there, she chose Chilli's.

I was mad as hops when someone took my phone to use and didn't put it back in my handbag. How can I celebrate Sherilyn's birthday without my phone to snap pix? I had to rely on hubby and Alycia's phones for the photography and I am not 100% satisfied with the quality of the photos 😡






After our meal, the staff brought out ice-cream (complimentary) and sang the birthday song. We went into a fit of laughter when the staff pronounced the birthday girl's name as "SHE-LE-LINA" 😆



The birthday girl's next request was to go to Niko Neko The Concept Store @ Bangsar for her favorite matcha latte and matcha desserts. Just like her mom, Sherilyn is a matcha devotee.   As it was a Sunday, the store was packed like sardines.  The store is not very spacious and with so many people queuing to enter the store, to order food and to wait for a table, we felt suffocated in the store cum cafe, thus only stayed there for about 15 minutes and left with take-away matcha desserts.










Photo credit - Niko Neko Facebook




The birthday girl's wish was to have tarts from Encore Patisserie and matcha brownies and matcha burnt cheese cake from Niko Neko.


Sherilyn's birthday - 16 February 2020 vs 16 February 2008.

Here's a blown-up photo for a clearer view to see much our girls have grown over 12 years. In this photo, Sherilyn had a plaster on her forehead. These two monkeys were so happy when their daddy came home for our Valentine's Day celebration (14 Feb 2008) that Alycia gave her little sister a piggyback ride and when the big monkey stood up, Sherilyn came tumbling down and knocked her head on the sharp corner of the wall. We rushed to the A&E of the hospital with blood gushing out from Sherilyn's forehead, with my clothes stained with her blood and thank God no sutures were required. What an eventful Valentine's Day celebration we'd had that year! I was 7 months preggers with Cass.  Till today, there's still a scar on this Drama Queen's forehead.


A week later, Sherilyn had another birthday celebration. This time it's a joint birthday celebration with Asyura, her classmate since their primary school days at a Chinese school. Asyura is still her classmate in high school.








The party was held at their classmate's mom's cafe.

Update on Alycia's Flu

As a precautionary measure that Alycia doesn't spread her flu bugs to her classmates and teachers, she stayed home for 4 days. Her fever subsided on the 3rd day and I told her to stay home for one more day to rest. I didn't want to receive a call from school requesting me to bring her home. All  schools have been put on high alert on students with a temperature ever since the Covid-19 Coronavirus outbreak which has escalated into a frightful global emergency and epidemic.

I even bought a new no-contact thermometer so that I can check everyone's temperature several times a day.  This forehead thermometer from Big Pharmacy cost me a frigging RM193. I also hoarded packets of wet wipes (super size) from Guardian Pharmacy when the stock finally arrived 😂




The mil cooked a big pot of roast pork bone porridge but Alycia pouted her lips at the sight of porridge. She only had the appetite to eat cucumber sushi, so that was what she ate for 3 days straight 😐😷


On top of supplementing the family with vitamins, Izumio hydrogen water, Super Lutein, essential oils (topical application and diffusing), fruits, vegetables, coconut water, barley water, chrysanthemum tea and all that jazz, we drink matcha green tea (quality matcha powder from Japan) everyday.

Did you know that green tea is an effective alternative anti-infectious agent against Influenza virus? And this is scientifically proven.  In a study in Japan, it was found that green tea catechins and theanine (an amino acid found naturally in green tea) might be an effective prophylaxis for influenza infection.

On the first day that Alycia was down with fever, I was also feverish that night with chills and a 38C temperature. I was worried sick that everyone else would be bitten by the flu bug too.  I downed packets of Izumio, popped my Super Lutein, applied Thieves and Oregano essential oils on the soles of my feet every night, drank matcha tea and popped Esberitox. I gargled on a concoction of sea salt water mixed with Clove, Melaleuca + Peppermint essential oils throughout the day and applied propolis throat spray into my throat several times a day. Thank God on the second day, the fever subsided.

The mil boiled a big pot of mung beans with 'stinky grass' when Alycia was down with fever. This concoction is a good detox and can expel heatiness from the body.



Green bean (also known as Mung Bean) has been long known to have a “cooling effect” on the body, with the ability to clear body heat, toxins and acne. Traditionally, green bean soup is an extremely popular family dish in China during summer.  The 'stinky grass' is planted in a pot at our tiny balcony. Though it has a moniker of being called 'stinky grass', most people find the grass very aromatic. However, it may be an acquired taste for some, just like 'stinky bean'/petai.

Throughout the time that Alycia was down with flu, she had no appetite for oily food. She survived on cucumber sushi, mung bean + stinky grass sweet soup, sweet potatoes, fruits and organic sweet corns.


These purple sweet corns are from our regular organic vegetables seller. It's very rare that she brings purple sweet corns from her farm. In my 10 years of buying vegetables from her, I've only seen purple sweet corns from her produce several times. These purple sweet corns have a slightly chewy texture.

Bored to her bones for being 'quarantined' at home for 4 days, Alycia got a little cheer when she successfully sold her old novels at Carousell.  She made RM95 for selling her pre-loved Spirit Animals series! 💪💗


The transaction was made to my bank account and I helped her to post the books to the buyer.

Tuesday, 11 February 2020

I got a scare last night when Alycia came to me and asked me to touch her forehead. She said that her body felt hot and her throat hurt slightly. I checked her temperature and it showed 40C 😱 With the 2019-nCoV spreading like wild forest fire to 25 countries including ours, I can't discount this as small matter. I told her to skip school tomorrow (today) and sent her to bed early.

At 6 a.m. today  her temperature shot up to 41C. I quickly fixed her a glass of Panadol Soluble and got her to guzzle down a packet of Izumio. After my morning exercise and sending Sherilyn to school, we went to the clinic. I don't normally bring the girls to the clinic at the onset of a fever. I usually self treat them at home. But because of the Coronavirus scare and also Alycia's school requires an official MC (failing which marks will be deducted), I took her to the clinic. She was prescribed with Panadol and some lozenges.

After sending Alycia home, I went to e-Genki for a 1.5 hour massage session, which the hubs has pre-booked for me. He recently signed up for a RM2k+ massage package that comes with 10 sessions of massage.  e-Genki is a fusion form of modern bioelectric meridian therapy and traditional massage. I needed it to fix my aching shoulder blades and frequent stiff neck. My only beef about this massage is I had to strip down to my underwear and donned on only a pair of disposable undie provided by the centre 😂







I will have to monitor Alycia's temperature closely. Her fever is under control though she's only taken one dosage of Panadol Soluble. I think 'll keep her home for another day. Her teachers and classmates won't be too happy to see her in school if she went back to school tomorrow with a slight temperature.

Platform 9½ Cafe - Harry Potter Themed Cafe in Ipoh

Calling all Potterheads! Whether you think you’re a wizard/witch, or a Muggle like our dearest Cass who's a huge Harry Potter aficionado, this is cafe is made just for you.

On the 3rd day of CNY, we were free from all obligations as we had done all the necessary visits and stuff on the first two days of the Lunar New Year.  Yet we got up early. The kids were all very excited, especially Cass. Hubs has agreed to bring everyone to the Harry Potter themed cafe at Concubine Lane, a cafe that Cass has been longing to visit since its opening recently.  We reached Kong Heng and Thean Chun at 10 a.m but the entire street was already ultra busy with super early birds waiting to have breakfast at the world-renowned Kong Heng and Thean Chun coffee shops.  All the patrons, including us were warned by the 'kai si hor fun / ngar choi kai' vendor that waiting time would be 45 minutes. But we waited anyway and ordered other Ipoh favorites as well.

Opened in late 2019 on the famous Concubine Lane (opposite Kong Heng and Thean Chun coffee shops), Platform 9 1/2 has some other noteworthy neighbours including BookXcess situated at Kong Heng. This new Harry-Potter themed cafe is definitely a showstopper with the window-front resembling Diagon Alley’s windowfront. With two bulging and curved windows accompanying the front door, this is the first Instagram spot in this cafe. Instagrammers can don on wizardry props and costumes complete with Harry Potter's accessories to have their perfect shots taken at this spot, like what Sherilyn did.

Staying true to Ipoh’s heritage area, it appears that Platform 9 & 1/2 retains some of the features of the heritage building. Nonetheless, there are still so many Harry Potter-themed spots! One of the most standout beverage would be butter brew float, or commonly known as butter beer, a beverage enjoyed by wizards and witches in Harry Potter. It is made with butterscotch and whipped cream and tastes like A&W root beer.  Cass and Sherilyn loved it.  Patrons can also try other beverages such as coffee, tea, juices, etc.  Besides drinks and tidbits, this cafe does not serve food though.














Crowd at the famous Kong Heng coffee shop. This is NOT the place to go to during peak holiday season if you have no patience.








Cass choosing Harry Potter snitch for her 2 BFFs, Alysa and Joslyn (who are both Potter fans), which she bought with her ang pow money.  Concubine Lane is Cass and Sherilyn's Disneyland - there are stalls that sell all their favorite trinkets, costume jewelry and of course Harry Potter souvenirs, along with stalls that sell Instagram worthy snacks like rainbow colored cheese toast, pastel colored candy floss, ice popsicals and much more.

A word of caution when you walk on the ever crowded Concubine Lane. Something unfortunate almost happened to me had I not been extra vigilant, paranoid and bitchy. As I was inching my way on the street packed with people, a male foreigner suddenly hit my shoulder very hard with his shoulder deliberately. I snapped at him loudly. When I turned back to look at him, he turned back to look at me too.  Minutes later when I was at the stall with Cass and her grandaunt to look at Harry Potter snitches, the same man walked back to my direction and looked at me suspiciously. I glared at him and pointed at him, quickly put my gold chain inside my blouse and warned the seller about the man. We left Concubine Lane quickly for our next makan destination.


Platform 9 ½ Cafe is located next to My Home One along Concubine Lane.




Opening Hours: 9am -5pm everyday
Directions: Google Maps
Social Media: Facebook Instagram

BFFs

Last Friday I had a mini gathering at my childhood friend, SF's house. Jo, my friend since primary school was back from San Francisco to celebrate Chinese New Year. It's so good to meet her again. The last time we met was four years ago in Ipoh.


We definitely don't look like we're almost reaching our big 5 in three years, eh? 😎
Jo and I stay in the same neighborhood in Ipoh and still do.  We used to go everywhere together from school to tuition, cycling, trips, parties, shopping, camping, mountain climbing to even dating 😁



Friends for over 30 years.  Jo's little girl (in red) is oh so adorable!