O Gourmet, Bangsar Shopping Complex

One of the places that we like to frequent to pick up good snacks is at O Gourment @ Bangsar Shopping Complex. The bakery at O Gourmet has a good range of healthy bread for the health freak and diet freak (like moi) and delish cakes and pastries. My hubs lurves the danish pastries from the bakery. He normally buys like 10 pieces and they are all chomped down in less than an hour by us all. The bakery and cake store at O Gourmet are frequented by many Caucasians.

A galore of healthy nuts and they are a tad pricey. I bought some organic flat almonds, walnuts and almond flakes. I normally munch on nuts when I'm hungry.

The girls were lucky as we bumped into a Santa Clause (a gwai lo one some more haha!), who gave the girls very good pressies - teddy bear for Baby, stickers and nail stickers for Sherilyn and some sparkling paint for Alycia from ELC. Check out Baby staring at the weird looking man muahahahah!!

After lunch at Chillis, we bought some cakes from the bakery ...

I'll bet you would want to pick a slice of everything as all the cakes there look so sinfully heavenly!

This is where we got the cakes from...

And we picked these 2: tiramisu (love this) and a cherry cheese cake...

... and also a chocolate walnut brownie (not in pic).

Zhong Meng Restaurant, Tapah, Perak

There is this 'tai chau' restaurant in Tapah that serves really good 'sang yue' (ikan haruan), 'wong sin' (eel) and 'theen kai' (toad) dishes. The restaurant has been around for many years. I think the owners get their supply of these fish and toad from the nearby rivers and jungle. My dad loves to bring us to this tai chau restaurant to savour their few signature dishes. Price is very reasonable too.

Here's what we had the other day, on our way back to KL from Ipoh at Zhong Meng Restaurant, Tapah:


Sang yue (ikan haruan) cooked with vermicelli. MSG is 0% and the soup is not salty. The only ingredients that I could taste is sesame seed oil, some pepper and salt. This dish is suitable for kids as it is rather bland yet tasty. The fish is very fresh.

Stir fried sweet potato leaves with fu yue (fermented bean curd)...

Stir fried sang yue (ikan haruan) with spring onion, big onions and ginger. This is really good, very fresh and tasty, iLike~

Stir-fried wong sin (eel)...

We also ta pau the eel dish for my hubs and mil to sample the freshness of the eel.

So if you are making a trip up North, remember to stop by this tai chau restaurant to sample their sang yue, wong sin and theen kai dishes. Oh yea, they have petai dishes too. One thing you have to bear is the restaurant's loo! Can't help it as the restaurant is housed on a pre war shop.

Konnyaku Jelly Craze

Whenever we are back in Ipoh to my parents or whenever my parents are here in KL, Alycia will surely bug my mum to make Konnyaku jelly. She enjoys helping my mum cut the fruits into bite size and throwing them into the jelly moulds.

Here's our pineapple flavored Konnyaku jelly with red dragon fruit and kiwi fruit, ready to be put into the fridge...

Of all the flavors, we love strawberry and pineapple the best. I don't allow them to eat too much though as there are coloring and other food additives in the jelly powder. The best is still to make agar agar from dried agar agar strips. Those are more natural.

Flowers For Christmas

Christmas is just a week away. During my trip back to Ipoh last week, we had done our Christmas shopping for my dad and mum. We also had a Christmas celebration done early before we returned to KL. For those of you who will not be going back to celebrate Christmas with your loved ones, you can still send them a gift. Fresh flowers ordered from Tampa flower delivery will surely put a smile on your mum’s or your wife’s face.

Sleeping Kids

This is how the kids slept during our stay in Ipoh last week (in my bedroom):

I have no idea that it would be such a breeze to wean Baby off co-sleeping with us. Now, she no longer wants to sleep on our king-size bed. She only wants her jie jie's bed! And she actually sleeps longer on her Alycia jie jie's bed than on our bed.

Another Tooth Dropped

One of Alycia's bottom teeth had been shaky for the past few months. She had been spending her past time shaking the tooth with her fingers and tongue, trying to shake the tooth out. Finally the tooth came off while we were in Ipoh. We were in the car and then all of a sudden she happily announced that her tooth had dropped haha!

Gross stuff...

That night, the tooth grand-fairy aka granny came and put an angpow under Alycia's pillow when she was fast asleep and she woke up to a pleasant surprise to see 3 RM1 notes in the angpow.

Tsunami Village Cafe, Penang Island

On our 2nd night in Penang, we went to this place called Tsunami Village Cafe. This restaurant is located midway to Tg Bungah / Batu Ferringhi. The cafe is by the seaside. We wanted to have something light for dinner as we were all stuffed with Pasembur rojak, char koay teow, ice kacang and chendol, which we had in afternoon. By the time we reached the restaurant (took us half an hour from G Hotel to this place), it was already close to 10pm. Too bad it was pitch black outside the restaurant and we could not admire the scenic view of the beach.

Stir fried lala...

Steamed fish...

Inchi cabin chicken (hubs seems to love this chicken!)...

Plain baked crabs....

Cheese baked lobster with button mushrooms - very cheesy. Baby loved this dish. It has all her favorite ingredients in one appetizing combo...

Everyone has been telling us that the seafood here is very good but honestly, I was too stuffed to appreciate the food. I only nibbled a little of everything and drank a whole coconut to expel the heat from my body. I had stuffed myself with too much heaty food the past 2 days. Plus it was already 10ish pm... eating supper is a no-no for me.... bad for health and bad for my waist line too! When I went back to the hotel, I quickly made myself a glass of freshly squeezed lemon juice haha. I never leave home without my lemon or lime, health freak hor.

Aigner Bathroom Set In G Hotel Rooms

I was pretty surprised to discover Aigner body shampoo, Aigner hair shampoo and Aigner body lotion in the bathroom of our room at G Hotel, Gurney Drive, Penang. Wow, not bad for a room that costs around RM300+ a night! There is even complimentary soft drinks and Kit Kat in their mini bar, apart from the complimentary bottled mineral water, coffee and tea. The only downside is that the bathroom is not fitted with a hand-held shower faucet. The toilet is also not fitted with a faucet. That will be very inconvenient for guests with babies and toddlers.

But don't you think that the Aigner bathroom set is free hor... use all you want when you are a guest there but those are not for keeps k. Don't put them into your luggage or you will be asked to pay hah!

Pool Side Fun At G Hotel and Gurney Hotel Penang

During our recent holiday cum surgeon appointment in Penang recently, the girls enjoyed themselves to the max at the pool side of the hotels that we stayed in. On day 1 we stayed in G Hotel, a trendy hotel located along Gurney Drive and facing the sea. On day 2, we checked into Gurney Hotel. While the girls had fun playing at the pool side, we adults (hubs, MIL and moi) ate everything that was on our eating list. Nothing was missed out this time. Hubs even went to this restaurant by the sea named Tsunami Village Restaurant near Tg Bungah for seafood, on the recommendation of his friend. We were supposed to have dinner there but only reached the restaurant at close to 10pm and ended up having supper instead!

At the pool side of G Hotel...

Jacuzzi at G Hotel...

Baby who was not allowed swimming at public pools could not contain her excitement and when I wasn't looking, she stripped herself down and wanted to jump into the jacuzzi to join her 2 jie jies and daddy, muahahahaha!!!

I promised Baby that if she continues to be UTI-free for another 5-6 months, she can go swimming when we go to Penang in June next year for her next post-surgery ultrasound scan.

Me, paint balling @ Gurney Hotel. The activities and facilities at Gurney Hotel are much better than G Hotel and the hotel is more kids-friendly...

Pool side fun @ Gurney Hotel.

We will definitely check into Gurney Hotel again next June. We find that the rooms at Gurney Hotel are more kids-friendly and the pool side area is a haven for kids. Among the facilities available are archery, billiard, paintball, gym, a huge sand-pit with beach sand for kids to build sand castles and super duper fun slides at the pool. My girls lurve the pool side area!


Though G Hotel is trendy and new, I find it not very kids-friendly. Imagine there is not even a hand-held shower in the bathroom, so how to shower a toddler? Thankfully Baby had no problem when I put her under the shower and told her that it's raining... and she thought that it's cool haha!!

Lunch At Hai Nan Town, at Tanjung City Marina Weld Quay, Penang

On the day we reached Penang, we had lunch at Hai Nan Town Restaurant. This restaurant serves very tasty Nyonya and Hainanese food. Hai Nan Town is located next to QEII at the Tg City Marina Weld Quay and is a trendy eatery facing the scenic waterfront.

The facade of the restaurant...

We saw a Star Cruise ship decked at the marina... and hoped that one day we can hop on board one and cruise to some parts of the world...

Assam prawns... tastes as good as the ones from Sin Kheng Aun coffee shop in Penang...

Braised chicken with hard boiled eggs. This is a hit with my girls...

Braised turnip...

This pot of assam pomfret fish is simply delish and tastes as good as if not even better than the one served at Sin Kheng Aun. It has generous amounts of ginger flower, big onions and other spices which makes the sauce really flavorful...

Loh bak and deep fried popiah...

Chicken curry - very delish!

We liked the food so much that on our last day in Penang before we returned to Ipoh, we made another stop at this restaurant and ordered the assam fish and braised chicken again. This time, we tried the chicken curry, loh bak and deep fried popiah. We will definitely patronize this restaurant again when we make our next trip to Penang in June 2011.

Penang Here We Come!

We will be traveling to Penang in a few hours. Yesterday during our drive back to Ipoh, hubby and I were discussing where and what to eat. We have roughly planned what to target in Penang this time. Since we will be staying at G Hotel @ Gurney Drive this time, walking to the hawkers centre at Gurney Drive is not a problem. Oooh, I am so going to attack the Pasembur rojak, prawn noodles, lobak and fried koay teow! Hopefully I won't pile on the kilos after this trip as I won't have the time to exercise for 3 days.

And oh yes, I finally bought a new lappie yesterday!! Have been meaning to buy a lap top for years and finally got to do so, just in time to bring it with us to Penang. My main intention of getting the lappie is to let the girls while away their time doing more useful things like reading and practising Math and playing educational games on the internet rather than stay glued in front of the idiot box. The lap top will also serve as my back-up just in case my desk top computer konks out. This will be my birthday present to Alycia who will turn 7 in 2 days. Expensive birthday present hor? RM2,500 for a birthday present, she's one lucky girl!

Oriental Pavilion @ Jaya 33, Petaling Jaya

Oriental Pavilion @ Jaya 33, PJ serves delectable and sumptuous Chinese cuisines. They have dim sum too. If you do not make a booking in advance for lunch or dinner on weekends or public holidays, you can be assured of joining in the long bee line at the entrance of the restaurant.

Here's what we had for lunch:

Peking Duck...

Deep fried crispy Peking duck skin wrapped with egg sheets, spring onions, some sweet bean sauce and cucumber....

Stir-fried assortment of veggie. Love the fresh lily bulbs and macademia nuts...

'Ngap sow' - the meat of the Peking duck is diced and stir fried into another dish. The meat is then wrapped with fresh lettuce leaves...

Baked crab with cheese...

Hokkien 'tai loke meen'. The toppings on the noodles are deep fried 'jie yau jar' lard. The generous amount of lard makes the noodles very flavorful. But I only ate a spoonful as this dish is super fattening and artery clogging!

We also ordered an assortment of dim sum. I would rate the food 8/10 and the ambience and cleanliness of the restaurant 8/10.


Oriental Pavilion
Lot P104, 1st Floor, Jaya 33,
Jalan Semangat, Section 13,
Petaling Jaya
Tel : 03- 7956 9288

Always Wants To Be Different

Rascal #2 always wants to be different from the rest. On regular school-going days, she would dilly dally and refuse to go to school. On the last day of school last Friday where she was not required to wear her school uniform, she wore her school uniform after her shower upon returning from school... and wore the school uniform to attend her Mandarin tuition class!

On one afternoon last week, she worn her Disney sunnies during lunch time. See how silly she looks here...

Check out the half sliced lime on her cup. She pinched that lime from me when I was making lime juice and stuck the lime to her cup! I guess she's pretending she's having a tropical lunch by the beach haha!

Effective Hair Loss Product

I thought that my hair shedding problem will stop once I stop breastfeeding. I thought that the hair shedding problem was caused by hormonal changes but nope, the problem ain’t ending. My hair is still shedding and my scalp is getting more and more visible. I really need to get to the root of the problem and find an effective product to stop the hair loss. There are plenty of websites where I can learn more and find suitable products. Do you have any effective products for hair loss to recommend to me?

Kids Can Make You Age Faster!

Lately Baby has been waking up really early in the morning, sleeping late at night and does not nap in the afternoon. She has been bugging me and breathing down my neck. I have no me time to do the things that I like. I cannot even have my half hour of quiet me time in the morning when I work out in the gym or run outside. She is also turning into a rebellious rascal and making my blood boil all the time. I hope I won’t succumb to high blood pressure. I hope I don’t need to use anti wrinkle face cream. Kids! They can really make you age faster!