During our courting days and days before our 3 angels arrived, hubs and I used to dine quite a bit at Monte's Restaurant And Bar @ Bangsar Shopping Centre. It has been aeons since we last ate there and we made a trip down memory lane to Monte's again recently.
The food tasted ever so delish. We ordered what we used to ordered : spring chicken, mushroom soup and cheese baked escargots. These were and still are our favorites at Monte's. We also ordered soups, a baked cod fish, specially for Baby who loves fish, pasta, a salad and banana split for dessert.
Baby enjoying her warm bun with butter....
Mushroom soup and pumpkin soup...
If I can remember correctly, I think this is a bowl of onion soup with cheese and spring onions topping...
Our favorite cheese baked escargots...
Salad for the health and fitness freak....
Spring chicken, which is really finger licking and bone sucking good....
Baked cod fish...
Creamy seafood pasta for Sherilyn, who is noodles crazed...
And banana split for dessert. We used to relish on Monte's tiramisu but this time, we gave that a miss as hubs wanted to grab some pastries and cakes from O Gourmet.
Rating: Food presentation and taste : 8/10 Ambience : 8/10 Price : a tad pricey (6/10)
I feed my girls fruits in the morning, half an hour after their milk. For Baby, she eats fruits on an empty stomach every morning. Half an hour later, she'll have her cup of milk of about 4 ounces. And half an hour later, she'll have 3/4 of an egg from a free range chicken. Sometimes, she will eat some biscuits and bread.
On the eve of Chinese New Year, my hubs brought me for a foot reflexology session. The foot reflexology center is housed in a very run down shop house located at Jalan Imbi but the foot reflexologist is really good. This man claims that he can cure people of ailments including cancer. My hubs often goes to this center to have his achy joints loosened up and pains on his legs removed by the foot reflexologist after his basketball matches. Before we left the center, we found out that this man is a dog lover. He reared 2 dogs in his run down shop cum house. When he called out to his dogs, I was looking everywhere for a dog cage or perhaps some dog beds but I was shocked when I saw the dogs appearing from the bedrooms. The dogs actually slept with his children in the room or perhaps on their beds! Though I am a dog lover, I would never allow my dogs to sleep in my room!
Of my 3 kids, Baby is the most accident prone, followed by Sherilyn. I guess the most mischievous and the cheekiest kid is always the most accident prone eh? Just last week, she slipped on the wet floor and had a big bump on her head, with a little crack and some blood oozing out. The next day, she tripped, fell and knocked her mouth on the floor. Bleeding again! On the same day, she knocked her forehead and had a bruise there. Sigh, sometimes I have thoughts of dressing her up with some protective wear like some mma gear and a helmet to protect her from injuries. If I can’t stop her from being active, at least I can prevent injuries on her body.
I think it is a norm for every Chinese family to have tai yue tai yoke (big fish, big meat) dishes during CNY. As with every CNY reunion dinner, our dining table was filled with plates and plates of meat dishes and only 1 plate of veggie dish on our CNY reunion dinner last night.
For the first time, hubs bought a pre-packed of yee sang from Jusco BUT it tasted awful. The crispies tasted rancid and the colored pickles and veggie tasted weird. The whole plate of yee sang went into the bin.
A big, fat chunk of siew yoke (roast pork belly) with crispy skin which cost over RM20 from our favorite Sing Kee Kitchen restaurant.
Everyone's favorite kon cheen har loke (shallow fried big prawns with soy sauce and Chinese wine)...
Waxed meat - a must-have for CNY. Damn salty but damn appetite whetting. I especially love the cholesterol and high blood pressure inducing siew cheong (sausages made of intestines and wine). Steam these waxed meat together with rice and I am sure you will gulp down bowls and bowls of the aromatic rice.
Steamed promfret fish - Baby's favorite...
Braised sea cucumber with dried scallops, mushrooms and chicken feet. I was surprised that Baby loved the sea cucumber, a dish which not many kids will fancy because of the texture of the sea cucumber.
Steamed yeam kai (castrated chicken). What's unique about this bird which cost over RM150 each is that the taste and texture of the chicken are of superior quality. It has the aroma of chicken and the meat is firm.
My mil also boiled a pot of good soup with abalones, dried scallops, 3 chicken carcasses and wai san.
Remember the sweet corn incident where Sherilyn begged Cassandra for a bite of the corn? The next day, it happened again. I had bribed Cassandra with a Magnum ice cream so that she would stay still while I used ice cubes to rub on the big bump on the back of her head after a fall. When Sherilyn saw Baby enjoying the ice cream, she ran to her baby sister, sat next to her and whispered something into her ear. She was trying to sweet talk her baby sister into giving her a bite of the ice cream. But Baby retorted and said this to Sherilyn "cannot eat ice cream. Mummy said you are punished remember?" I ran to grab my camera and while controlling my laughter, quickly snapped this picture for remembrance!
Here's wishing all my blog readers Koong Hei Fatt Choy and may the year of the rabbit bring everyone good health, good wealth, peace and happiness.
Baby was eating sweet corn the other day, bought from the pasar malam. When Sherilyn saw it, she ran to Baby and pretended to beg for food like a doggy - with tongue on chin and 2 hands on her chest. But Baby refused to share the sweet corn with her jie jie and snapped at her "mummy said you are grounded!" I burst out laughing on hearing that coz I have always been telling Sherilyn that if she does not do her Kumon Math or homework, she will be grounded!
Baby has been very unlucky for the past few days. 2 mornings ago, while my maid was mopping the floor, Baby slipped while running on the wet floor, fell and knocked the back of her head on the floor. She gave me a heart attack and I could feel fear and worry coming out from every pore on my body. I shall blog about this in my health blog.
Today, she tripped while walking and hit her mouth on the floor. There was BLOOD in her mouth! Another major scare. I quickly wrapped some ice cubes in her hanky and applied the ice on the injured part to reduce the pain and swell but this fler sucked and ate the ice cubes instead! Next heart flat line moment was a few minutes later. While sucking on the ice, she suddenly cried out in pain. I was on the phone with a customer. I quickly hung out and threw the handphone on the floor. I thought she had choked on the ice cube. I kept hitting her back and positioned her head to face down, in the hope that the ice cube would shoot out. My mil heard the big commotion and quickly came to my rescue. She turned Baby upside down (well, almost) while I hit her back. Baby cried till her face was crimson and her lips almost greyish. Goh, I tell yer, I really thought she would die! But God has been very kind to Baby and she's A OK. She survived the fall and knock on her head. She survived the choking or was it she bit her tongue? Whatever. I'm glad she's ok. Thank God, amen!
Alycia followed daddy to a staff's wedding last week. It was a Malay wedding. She didn't eat much as most of the food was spicy. After the wedding reception, daddy brought Alycia to McDonald's. He bought 2 sets of Happy Meal and got this very cute original My Melody rubber stamp. I think I was just as excited as the girls when I saw the My Melody rubber stamps as I used to be a My Melody fan when I was young. Well, I still love My Melody up until now!
When it comes to getting rascal #2 do her homework or Kumon Math, I can never leave her out of my sight, not even for a minute for this rascal will be up to 101 tricks. She will discreetly put her coloring books or sticker books under her homework book or Kumon book. The second I turn my back on her, this fella will bring her fun book up. Or she would have a pair of scissors and some colored papers next to her, all geared up to cut them into her creations the second I turn my back on her. That's why each time she does her homework, I'll make sure that she is seated next to me and within my radar!! But I must also give Sheriyn lots of credit for her creativity and novelty. She will excel in a field that requires creativity and imagination. She has loads of them.
Her chair next to mine and almost touching my chair. I can never let her seat behind me or nothing gets done!
On the eve of New Year's Eve, we went to Palm Square @ Jaya One PJ for dinner to celebrate my hubs' birthday. After dinner while walking to Starbucks for coffee, we saw a new restaurant there. The place looked comfy and the dishes on the menu looked unique and tasty. I told hubs that we must try this restaurant the next day. And so it was set. We had lunch at Gao Ren Guan Restaurant the next day, which was New Year's day with my parents.
Here you go, the dishes that we ordered for you to drool on...
Stuffed tofu pok with minced pork and preserved veggie. This is one of their signature dishes.
Stir fried fish fillet with spring onion and sliced ginger. As usual, the fish dish was specially ordered for Baby who is a big fan of fish.
Can't really remember what dish this is. I think it is a chicken dish....
Stuffed bitter gourd with the same stuffing as the tofu pok. This is also one of the restaurant's signature dishes...
Stir fried french beans and fried pork ribs, which was very tasty and tender...
Deep fried nam yue pork slices, which is also very delish...
Stir fried assorted veggie with mushrooms, bean curd sheets, glass noodles and wood ear fungus...
Stir fried glass noodles for my noodles crazed Sherilyn, which is also very delish. And oh yes, we also ordered a Yong Chow fried rice for my 'fan toong' Alycia who loves rice.
Actually I was eyeing the cookies (supposedly made by the restaurant owner) the day earlier and that's one of the reasons why we came to this restaurant.
Dessert - gui ling gao and chilled sea coconut with longan and lemon juice...
After lunch while we were at the counter to pay for the cookies, we saw huge dumplings at the counter. So my foodie hubs ordered one which cost a whopping RM8!
My choice of cookies... almond cookies and green bean almond cookies.
The damage was RM289.65 for 6 adults and 3 kiddos and the 2 jars of cookies.
Rating : I would rate the food 7/10. Would definitely visit this restaurant again. One downside about this classy restaurant is that the loo is miserably small and squeeazy. A pregnant woman or a larger size person will definitely not be able to enter the loo!
Sherilyn had her very first spelling yesterday. To my surprise, this girl came home and told me that she got a yellow star from her teacher for scoring full marks. Bravo to you Sherilyn!
It took lots of threats and reminders from me on this rascal for her to memorize her words. And I have to do this for the next few years.... almost everyday of the year for spelling, ejaan and ting xie. Gosh, my hair will shed further having to go through this!! After Sherilyn comes Cassandra who will start pre school next year. That's one of the throes of motherhood!
Our Xmas tree was still up until last week when hubs finally had the time to dismantle it. Hubs spent about an hour dismantling the tiered tree and keeping all the decor and baubles nicely back into the boxes. These will be kept in his office store until November this year. Now it's time to decorate the house with CNY decor! Tomorrow is pasar malam day, so we will choose some red red, nice nice and cute cute decor to decorate our home. Hopefully choy sun yeh (God of Prosperity) will like the decor and pay us a visit this year hehe...
On the eve of New Year's Eve was hubs' birthday. We had dinner to celebrate his birthday at Tak Fok Restaurant @ Palm Square, Jaya One PJ. This restaurant specializes in crab dishes and one can order crab dishes cooked in a whole new range of delish ways. The chief chef and owner is a Hong Kie, that's why the dishes here have a distinct taste of Hong Kong cuisine.
We had these mouth watering dishes:
Homemade Foo Zhou bean curd. I love the smoothness of the tofu, which is drenched with hot oil and has generous topping of minced meat and preserved vegetables... This dish will surely drive you to chomp down bowls of rice!
Lala cooked in superior soup with cili padi. I find the soup too spicy from the cili padi..
Baked crabs....
Steamed fish. Baby loves fish and we always order a fish dish when we eat out....
Roast pork ribs...
Crabs cooked in lai yau, which I find too creamy. I still prefer crabs cooked in sweet and sour sauce or with salted eggs...
Braised pork belly with yam...
Sharks' fins soup for the birthday boy who is a great fan of sharks' fins...
My dad suggested longevity noodles for the birthday boy and so we had this noodle dish which was very tasty...
Tak Fok Restaurant also has a branch at Desa Aman Puri, Kepong. We will surely patronize this restaurant again to try their crabs cooked in other styles.
After dropping Sherilyn off at the ballet school just now, I went to Guardian Pharmacy to grab some toiletries. While I shopped at Guardian, daddy took Alycia to the nearby 100 Yen Shop to get a bowl of Snow Ice. After happily choosing my toiletries, I brought them to the cashier and wanted to pay. The cashier looked at me and said "today no plastic bag ah".... Oh sh*t, I then recalled that effective this year, most of the shopping malls, big pharmacies and some mini marts will also follow the 'no plastic bag' ruling. I didn't want to spend a few ringgit to get a green bag from Guardian. I rummaged through my shoulder bag and thank God, I managed to find a small plastic bag, phew!
Alycia and Baby enjoying strawberry Snow Ice...
All stuffed into one small plastic bag, luckily the bag didn't give way, else I would have to pick up all my stuff from the road!
When I reached home, I quickly put a lightweight and foldable green bag into my bag, just in case I am caught in a similar situation again in future!
When I saw Baby asleep in this position on Alycia jie jie's bed, I just had to snap a picture of my cutie pie. My 3 kids may drive me up the wall everyday and say things that I regret (I say words and hurtful things which I terribly regret afterward).... but when they are asleep and look so demure, so innocent and almost like a baby... like how they were like when they were little babies who would melt my heart, I would give them each a kiss on their cheeks and say a little prayer for them.
When Baby was lying in the hospital after her first surgery in May 2009, she was throwing up profusely for 2 weeks. She went through x-rays everyday, ultrasound scans and even a CT scan of her abdomen but nothing was conclusive. The scans were not clear enough to diagnose the problem. The surgeon suspected that her intestines may have been kinked. He said that if she could let out gas, this would mean that her intestines were not kinked. So everyday, I sat next to her on the bed, waiting to hear the sweet sound of her fart. But nope, she did not let out any sound but only cries. I was depressed and stressed to the max. Though I could not exercise for 3 weeks during our stay in the hospital, my weight did not go up. Stress and a lack of appetite to eat were the best fat burners for me. I never want to go through those days in the hospital again, ever. You can read more about our experience in the hospital in my May 2008 archive on the right of my blog’s side bar.
I bought some very yummy peanut candies during my trip back to Ipoh last month. It’s by far the tastiest, freshest and crunchiest peanut candy I have ever tasted. We got them direct from the factory. A big bag of 500gm peanut candies only cost RM7. I bought a big bag, gave some to my parents and whacked the bag of candies almost all by myself. I may be a health freak but I still fall for certain snacks. Now my stomach would turn at the sight of peanut candies and anything that has peanuts in it LOL! Thankfully zits did not pop out after my sinful indulgence in the peanut candies, else I would really need acne treatment to rid them.
Loh kai (braised chicken) is one of the easiest and most convenient dishes to prepare and it tastes really good. Almost every child would love this dish. Even Baby can polish off 2 drumsticks within minutes and can wallop the 3rd piece if I would allow her. Each time before her trip to HK / NZ, I will always request my mil to prepare a pot of loh kai sauce so that I can use it whenever I don't have the time to cook dinner. When there's loh kai placed on the dining table, I can be assured that there's no complaint from my fussy eaters.
We had spent the whole afternoon at Mega Kidz @ Mid Valley Megamall. Baby was climbing, crawling, running and jumping non-stop like a little pup let off the leash. By the time we had lunch at 2pm, her batteries had almost konked out. While feeding her, her eyes were almost shutting and she had no mood or appetite to eat even her favorite food. And I think she looked too cute too. I tried so hard not to let her doze off in the car on our way back coz if she really dozed off, she would have to sleep on our bed without her shower. You know how dirty these places are and how germ covered kids are when they are out of these places. Call me a health and clean freak but no way am I taking a chance of letting my kids contract HFM!
