Restoran Bali Hai @ Gurney Drive Penang

When we were in Penang recently for Baby's bi-annually ultrasound scan, we indulged in a very sumptuous seafood lunch before we headed back to Ipoh. This restaurant is located along Gurney Drive, facing the sea and is a popular place for tourists to tuck into some very fresh and tasty seafood. We loved every dish that we ordered and we will definitely come back again. The only thing that I didn't like was that it was freaking hot at the restaurant. We went there on a sizzling afternoon and this restaurant is not air-conditioned. I was so hot that I went up to the big misty fan and stood right in front of it to cool my sweaty body down haha!

Go and drool over the pix now .....

Mantis prawn - deep fried with sauce



Salt-baked crabs...




Sherilyn dozed off while wiating for the food to come...




Colorful plastic balls were hung on the ceiling, to create a World Cup atmosphere...
You will find just about any type of live edible sea creatures in the long display of water tanks. I so wanted to try the Geoduck. I think it will probably cost all that I earn from my online shop if we were to choose just one Geoduck!


The restaurant is located along the famed Gurney Drive... it's partially open-air, so if you go there on a sweltering afternoon, be prepared to don on your skimpiest outfit.




Crabe meat shark's fins soup...




Stir-fried fresh scallops with fresh lily bulbs, brocolli, carrots, baby sweet corns and button mushrooms. The fresh scallops were indeed fresh and springy.




Braised yee mein with lobsters...


We had a finger-lickin, lip-smacking good seafood meal and we will definitely go there again, this time for dinner when it's cooler at night.

At The Height Of Terrible Twos

At 2 years 3 months, Baby is at the height of her Terrible Twos syndrome. I hope this phase will not escalate into the Terrible Threes syndrome coz it happened to both Alycia and Sherilyn. In fact, Sherilyn is in her Very Terrible Fives now!

Baby now likes to bawl and throw herself on the floor when her whims and fancies are not met. She will pretend to cry, close her eyes and then open her eyes a little to peep at us LOL!! I normally ignore her.




She loves playing with forbidden things like the scissors (she can always find this no matter where we hide it!), our mobile phones and my calculator. She even yanked off my entire calculator!!



I have since gotten myself a new bright red calculater and this time, I make sure her hands are off limits on this calculator!

She Spilled The Beans

Alycia spilled the beans, literally! But there's no secret to reveal lar... she's just full of beans and shoke too hard! She made a maraca shaker in Sunday School out of 2 styrofoam cups filled with green beans. Back home, the 3 girls were full of beans shaking the beans-filled maraca shaker and then all of a sudden, the celo tape sticking the 2 cups together tore and the beans all spilled out o_O!! The rule at home is 'you messed up, you clean up'... and Alycia and Baby had to clean up the mess!

Steamed Minced Pork With Water Chestnut And Dried Portobello Mushrooms

My mil can dish out very tasty steamed pork dishes. Before she left for Hong Kong, I asked her for the recipes and special instructions for all my favorite dishes and memorized them by hard.

After she left, I made this steamed minced pork dish.

To get steamed pork with a perfect smooth texture, make sure that you buy pork with a little fat. After mincing the pork and the fat, put the minced pork in a large mixing bowl. Pour in some sesame seed oil, pepper, salt water and all the other ingredients like diced water chestnuts and dried portobello mushrooms and stir in one direction. Steam for 10 minutes in high flame.




Steamed Minced Pork With Water Chestnut And Dried Portobello Mushrooms.


Why not also pop over at my online store to check out my new range of ladies and kids collection? I'll bet you'll find something nice for you or your little ones at really affordable prices :D

Here's the sneak peak into my store's closet :




8522 1-Piece 1 Shoulder Pants Suit



WDSLT2465: Greeny Cocktail Dress



WDSDC2450: Circle Print Dress



5610 Chiffon Dress




Skirt leggings



BUSHA 1 PLAYPANTS (short)






Nissen Boy T shirt (Design #10/11/12)



Coolbaby Navy Romper with Skirt -red

Sedentary Lifestyle

Having a sedentary lifestyle indeed helps you to put on the pounds really quickly. I gained about 1 pound over one week when my movement was limited due to a badly sprained back. Not only could I not run, I could barely walk with a straight back. I was seated most of the time. When my sprained back was healed, I worked out doubly hard in the morning. I also went on a diet and went to bed with a growling tummy for almost a week. I have now lost the 1 pound that I had gained in 1 week :)I don’t need to go to www.sensascam.net to search for the best weight loss products anymore :)

Pain In The Legs

I used to have pain on both my feet whenever I walk after being in a sitting position for some time. I also used to have pain on my knees whenever I run in the morning. I did some reading and found out that I may lack calcium. So I increased my calcium intake and took a good brand of calcium supplements. I no longer have pains on my feet and knees now. But I still have a mild Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on my right hand and the pain and numbness usually come at night. My hubby has pains on his legs and feet too and this normally happens after his basketball matches. He is now getting treatment for his feet. I think the both of us are getting old! We should learn more about how to care for our bones so that we don’t have to suffer more pain as we age.

Unhealthy Guts

My mum has been suffering from stomach pains for the past few years. She finally went for a ‘scope’ procedure at a private hospital yesterday. She was under GA. The gastroenterologist found many polyps in her colon – over 50 of them, gosh! He removed several polyps yesterday and the remaining polyps would have to be removed at a later date. Removing all the polyps at once would cause heavy bleeding. I wonder what causes the polyps to grow in the guts. Is it because her colon is not cleansed? I must ask my mum to ask her doctor what causes the polyps. Meanwhile, I am going to read up on some colon cleanse reviews and why polyps develop in our colon.

Bi-Annual Haircut In Ipoh

How often Baby gets a haircut is how often we make a trip back to my parents in Ipoh. This unassuming hair saloon named Orkid is housed in an old shophouse at Kg. Simee and charges the cheapest no-frills hair cut ever at only RM6. Even I have my hair cut there and the sifu's skill is good! Back in KL, the hubs has to pay RM35 to have Alycia's hair cut every month! And all because Chinese schools' ruling is that the back of the girl's hair cannot touch the collar of the white shirt! Silly ruling I think! My princess wannabe better learn how to tie a bun coz her daddy wants to send her to a Chinese school (only buns are allowed in Chinese schools) and she wants to have her hair kept long... and she is the world's no. 1 'lau hei' (dilly dally) little girl I ever know o_O

Homecooked Dishes

Check out my mil's homecooked 'sau sai' (culinary skill)....

Fried fish... my 3 girls are absolutely crazy over fried fish!


Bitter gourd omelette with onions and fresh basil leaves...


Braised pork ribs with 'hoisin' sauce (seafood sauce). This dish is really delish, YUMS! In the background are stir fried veggie and steamed brinjals seasoned with soy sauce, fried garlic oil and toasted sesame seeds.

Now that she's away in HK, the dishes I place on the dining table are pretty simple, nothing elaborate and every dish is eash to prepare :D I might consider getting catered homecooked food soon!

Google Searchers Turned Customers

Many of my online store (Old And Stuff For Sale)'s customers make up of my blog readers. And a handful of them comprise of 'google searchers'! One customer of mine was searching for 'buckwheat' and landed on my blog. Another customer searched for 'breastfeeding', one searched for 'hotpot', one on homemade kaya, homemade jam, etc. etc. and they all landed on my blogs and then became my faithful blog readers... and eventually became my customers!

Today, someone called me on my mobile phone. This lady was also a google searcher, in search of a kids harness for her gallivanting toddler and landed on my blog. She told me that she does not trust buying things from the internet and wanted to come to my place to get the harness. I sold the kids safety harness to her :D

Hmmm, I think I should start writing more articles on popular-searched keywords on Google to attract more readers to my blogs... and eventually to my online store *greeeeeeeedy grrrrrrrin*

Maid Stories Again

My helper is always driving me crazy with the things that she does. Just a moment ago, I told her to prepare 'york choy tong' (herbal soup). I took out a packet of herbal mixture and left it on the kitchen counter top. I also told her to cut up some onions, carrots and tomatoes so that I can cook spaghetti for lunch today. She has been doing these for me for the past 2 years+. When I checked on her just now, I got a shock when I opened the lid of the pot. I saw all the onions, carrots and tomatoes inside the pot of herbal soup!!! Freaking mad coz when I told her, she kept saying 'ya ya ya' and she had done this umpteen times!! Now, she is fishing out all the tomatoes, carrots and onions from the pot of soup. I don't know if I can still re-cycle the tomatoes, carrots and onions and cook spaghetti with them! Darn mad with her now.

Of Alycia And Her Progress In School

Lately, Alycia hasn't been getting enough sleep. When my mil is around, she will ensure that the 2 older girls hit the sack by 9-9:30pm. She helps me to 'force' them to bed by the stipulated curfew hour. Now that she's away in Hong Kong for a few months, the girls are like rats when the big cat is away LOL! I force them to go to bed by the curfew hour too but when I am busy with Baby, they tend to take advantage of the situation and stay up late, sometimes only going to bed at 10-10:30pm. Consequently, Alycia feels sleepy during the day. She can even fall asleep while having her lunch, in her school uniform!



On another note, yesterday we went to Alycia's school to collect her report card. I did not expect to see the kind of results in her report card. It was beyond my expectation. She did very well! Her position was among the top 10 in her class of 32 students and she scored As in all her subjects except for Pendidikan Seni and BM Lisan which she scored B. She got 99% for her BM paper. The 1% deduction was from a careless mistake - she left out the letter 'h' in the word 'tujuh'. I did not expect outstanding results from her as I must admit I did not do much revision with her. The most I did was 1-2 hours of quick revision with her on the eve of her exam. The teachers had favourable comments on her. I am so very proud of my precious baby!

Random Pix - School Holidays

These pix were taken during the school term break recently. My 2 older girls were helping me wrap up a parcel for my customer who lives in Germany. It was my first order from Europe. I used 2 pieces of gift wrappers, wrapped inside out. The clothes were put in a clean shoe box.

Alycia modeling the new Zara Kids dress that I bought for her. This dress was a big hit in my online shop - Old And New Stuff For Sale and all the sizes were sold out. This fella only likes dresses with collar and sleeves. She prefers jeans and tees. She is really conservative and unadventurous and has not-so-impeccable taste in her clothes, unlike Sherilyn who is one lil fashionista and likes girlish stuff, pink, Princess and all things nice and pretty.

Since I am on Alycia, this girl has been telling me how her partner - Adam (a handsome Malay boy who sits with her in class) has been following her everywhere in school! They share food during recess and 'loan' each other things - mechanical pencil, pens, et al. Alycia told me that Adam even wanted to loan her his PS2! And she was badgering and 'threatening' me to get a PS2 for her, else she will take it from Adam *slap forehead*

New Paris Restaurant

One of my favorite 'tai chau' restaurants is New Paris Restaurant in SS2 PJ. This restaurant (called 'Par Lai' in Cantonese) used to be housed at a dilapidated zinc roof old shack in PJ (next to the Jasmine Towers). The dishes were very tasty and cheap and business has always been incredibly good. I still remember seeing cages full of really HUGE tin kai (toads) at the road side, waiting to be slaughtered and put on the tables.

Apart from the famous tin kai dishes, these are some of the popular dishes among diners, which we had:

Claypot tofu with fresh mushrooms...



Stir fried veggie...



Watermelon Chicken... you will notice that this dish is on practically every table!



Steamed fish...



Phai kuat wong (deep fried pork ribs in sweet and sour sauce)...



Stir fried tin kai (toad) with ginger and spring onions...



Address:
New Paris Restaurant
No. 62, 64, 66, Jalan SS2/72,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Tel: 03-7955 9180, 03-7955 0186

Business Hours: Opens daily from 11.30am - 2.30pm and 5.30pm - 10.30pm

Halal: No




After lunch at Paris, we had cendol for dessert.



We stopped our car by the roadside at S17 to get cendol from this Indian man who sells cendol and rojak on his van.


It's a common sight to see a long bee line at the roadside next to this van...

The cendol was nice but the rojak was just so-so. Nothing beats the Pasembur Indian rojak from Penang. I so miss Pasembur!

Time To Clear My Inbox

Can you beat it that I have over 5,000 emails in my inbox? I always tell myself I must delete all the emails that I don’t need to refer to anymore but I keep procrastinating. I had kept all those emails including some holiday invitations emails thinking that I will refer to them in future but I never refer to them. I MUST spend at several hours to delete all these emails from my inbox before it becomes full.

How Do You Wash Your Kitchen Towels?

This is how my mil prefers the kitchen towels and any cloth used to wipe our bowls, plates, etc to be washed:



She boils them in a pot of soap water with bleach to kill all the germs 100%!

I don't think I will have the time to do this when my helper leaves soon. I'll just dump everything into the washing machine haha!

How do you wash your kitchen towels?

Restoran GoodView Hakka Food, PJ

This is a back-dated post. We went to Restoran GoodView Hakka Food at Paramount Garden in PJ about 3 weeks ago. As the moniker suggests, this restaurant serves Hakka dishes.

We had pig's intestines soup with fresh golden needle mushrooms and oyster mushrooms...



Steamed fish Hakka style....



Stir fried 'suen poon cee' (which literally means beads of the abacus in Cantonese). This is a Hakka dish and the 'abacus beads' are made of yam and rice flour. It is fried with dried shrimps, wood ear fungus, pork, shredded mushrooms and garlic.


My favorite 'cee geok choa' (pigs trotters in black vinegar). But I eat no fat, just the lean meat and love the broth. This is my favorite confinement dish.


'Mui choy khau yoke' (braised half lean-half fat pork with preserved veggie), another popular Hakka dish and confinement dish.


Steamed 3-types of eggs...


'Sam Pei Jie'. This is a Taiwanese dish. The chicken is cooked with sliced ginger, Chinese cooking wine and basil leaves. My mil cooks this dish very well.

We also ordered an assortment of dim sum from the coffee shop next door...


I would rate the Hakka food 6/10 and the dim sum 5/10.