Woke up a little early today... Decided to go down to CSC for a walk, ad see if can pick up any TF I might take a fancy to... Reached Great Eastern Building at around 10.30am, so pop into Hans and had my breakfast...
Hmmm... not too bad... and finally got a chance to enjoy my cuppa coffee leisurly...
Then proceed to CSC... went a few rounds... and met CYQ, hahaha, he also came and jalan jalan... Since couldn't get anything, walk over to Hong Lim Complex and jalan, 顺便get early lunch... Bought a toy motorbike for my baby nephew over there... after that went back over to CSC for a final round of see see... Then went home, empty-handed for myself...
My supper tonight... Kee Zhang (alkaline-water glutinous rice-dumpling)... steam the dumpling first, to make it hot... taken with some fine sugar; take care not to dip/coat too much, else it will taste only sweet and nothing else... as well as some chinese tea... I got to like this dumpling and this way of eating it from my Uncle, who also likes to eat it this way... very nostalgic way of food tasting... After eating, don't brush mouth immediately, and you can feel the 甘甜 of the alkaline water mixed with tea... solid...
Tomorrow attending my ex-student's graduation ceremony in S'pore Poly... Proud of him, to do so well in Poly... Last time in sec sch he still not enlightened yet...or perhaps he met his in-frequency subjects in poly bah... My P doesn't want to attend so ask me to attend... though I know I will need to work long into the day today to make up for the lost time tomorrow, I still agree to go.... no matter what, he is my former student... Well done, CQ!
Past Sunday went to have breakfast with folks, but was about 10am by the time we reach Parkway Parade, so decides to have brunch instead... Headed over to Crystal Jade after some discussions... hmm... seems the standard has dropped a little... a least for the porridge... it is no longer fragrance... the grains are not 烂 enough... and it is a bit bland than last time (I used to eat the porridge without putting soy sauce and pepper)... luckily, some are still not bad...
(sorry for the dark photos, wasn't really in the mode to take pics that day...)
The above is the XO-sauce Fried ZhuCheong Fun... Looks ugly, but it tastes GREAT!!!!!!!! (due to the XO sauce too)...
Went to T3 to have dinner (Sat) with family, cos my eldest brother suggested. I agree to go, although very tired... 1 reason is my folks also long time didn't eat with them liao, and if I go, my 2nd brother's car will not be so packed... finally, I also want to have a good meal, wahahaha....
So drove over to T3's Imperial Treasure Restaurant, at Crowne Royal Hotel. Not my 1st time there, with not so-good experience (standard of food)... but this time round, I am completely won over by the restaurant... They have a nice decor, big tanks of seafood visible in the centre of the restaurant...
Lemme introduce... 1st, the roast meat... it was so GOOD that we have to order a 2nd plate! Crispy skin, very very crispy... meat is tender and chewy, with correct proportion of fat...
Subsequent dishes (not in order) are: (2) Wasabe prawns - quite succulent prawns, taste fresh, should not be those immerse in soda powder water type... (3) Crispy noodle with meat and 雪菜 stew - Looks plain, but taste good!!!! (4) Fried egg with bitter gourd and ... crab meat (I think) - Normal (5) Broccoli with mushroom - Normal (6) Peking Duck - TASTY!!!!!!!! First, the traditional way of eating the skin (Man, it i CRISPY! and fragrance too, taste is also good...) with spring onion and cumber slices, wrapped in a flour skin... taste is complete with the sweet sauce...
The remaining duck meat is stir-fried with ginger and spring onions.... Superb culinary skills, as my dad commented, that the plate leaves no gravy after we finish the food... If it is like the ze-char stall, most likely the chef will leave lots of gravy behind, meaning skills not up to standard... I found the wok-hei (wok's fragrance) to be of a high level, and the taste has actually penetrated into the duck meat... could also be due to the earlier roasting preparation... either or both ways... a piece of meat with a piece of spring onion (sweet taste) really brings out the ultimate taste (of course to my folks, they will add a piece of ginger too, hahaha...)
Ended the dinner with a rich almond cream (tea)... Thick but not creamy; just sweet enough.... Tasty tasty dinner...
We (CYQ, LH, DZ, ZW and wife LL) attended Gerald's wedding in KualaLumpur yesterday, taking Transtar's 1st/premium class coach... Initially tot not bad, but in the middle of journey... the air-con broke down... knn... sauna for a few hours... but the seat itself is comfortable though...
This is the on-board meal provided... hokkien prawn mee.... a few strands, hahaha.... the prawns (shrimps) are quite a lot, very springy...in fact overly springy, I suspect they are submerged in the soda powder water...
Massive jam at Singapore custom, and worse at Malaysia custom... extra 2 hours plus spent... so did not make it in time for Gerald's church wedding... we went over to Times Square for lunch instead... my first time to Times Square...
At Secret Recipe, ordered the Black Pepper Chicken meal.... SUPERB!!!!!!!! ... Meat is quite tender and best is it is marinated completely right into the meat! ... olive rice is nice too, quit some butter used, very fragrance... Onions and lettuce are ok.... And the Tropical Smoothie drink is quite rich and delicious too, except for the bitter seeds of orange that is also crushed into it...
Took a taxi to the church, manage to see Gerald and Angeline cut the very special cake, which is a lot of mini cupcakes pierced together with satay sticks, cool.....
... the cool wedding cake... (guess who's behind the cake?? heehee...)
... "beary" cute pair of bears, on the couple's wedding car... And the group of us are trying to do a "Mark Teo" (posing "professionally" to take photos), haha...
We stayed at the hotel where the couple host their dinner at... Quite a nice hotel... The the wedding dinner.... one funny item on the menu that caught our attention (and pronunciation) : Lin ~ CHEEPAK ~ Hup.... LH was trying to figure out what the hell this is, and our pronunciation leads to a near vulgarity... hahahahahah
AH, so happy for bro Gerald, finally see him getting married liao... Angeline seems so 大方得体， converse well with people.... Gerald really married a good wife... Went for a free welcome-drink by the hotel after the dinner...
Next day took a pic of the beautiful scenery outside room, balcony....
Headed to MacDonald's for breakfast before going back to S'pore... and this time the air-con is ok, but the on-board entertainment screen was faulty halfway along the return trip... anyway... enjoy this trip....
Happy 33 Years of breathing!!!!!!!! And many more to come!!!!!! Have a birthday cake bought by folks (and refuse to sing birthday song, hahaha...) ... and a ang pow....
Over the weekend went to Port Dickson and Malacca with my 2 folks & cousin... Trip includes more places, of coz, like... maybe I'll just go straight to the point...
DAY #1
Breakfast at 潮园restaurant, dim sum. Was originally not written in itinerary, so was a pleasant surprise... not bad...
Up next, lunch at the restaurant... What?!!! Lunch right after breakfast??? ... Yeap, cos it was about 10am after our breakfast... and by the time we moved on and reach this restaurant, it was nearly 12 plus... hahahaha....
Very nice dishes served... the best was that everyone has a small... eh, what do you call it... nevermind, I'll call it a small pot... of nourishing soup! ... slurp...
After lunch, proceed to fruit farm to see dragonball fruit and passion fruit...
First thing was greeted by the monkey that knows how to smoke (sorry, couldn't get good pics as the crowd is too wild...)
Notice how the twine of the passion fruit curls around, like a spring? so cool...
Passion fruits hanging, riping soon...
Next stop, the tapioca processing factory, where it makes all the tapioca snacks you buy outside... those big bags of crisps are tempting...
After the factory, we proceed to the mushroom farm. It is more focused on the Ling Zhi ( 灵芝 )fungus.
Notice the top left bench is carved out of 1 piece of log... interesting... And they have lots more of these benches inside the farm...
Ever seen pink and yellow mushrooms??... of coz they are edible...
The very famous Ling Zhi ( 灵芝 )
Close up of the pink mushroom...
Nice scene behind the farm...
Then we proceed to have dinner (lousy, don't want to talk about it) before heading to the hotel... Avillion Admiral Cove... Its more of a yacht club... supposed to be a 5-star "hotel"...
Nice scene from outside room...
And that's my room! Luxurious... spacious... solid!!!! Have a very sound sleep in the comfortable room and bed...
DAY #2
Capture this before brushing teeth, around 7am...
Went for breakfast in the hotel... not bad at all...
Strolled around the hotel after breakfast...
After checking out, we proceed to the ostrich farm...
... and saw this old ice shaver...
Next, lunch at the Nonya restaurant that was supposed to have helped in the filming of the TCS serial Little Nonya, by cooking the Nonya food and let the people use it in the shows.... but obviously the standard is... First the rice smells sour, we had to change... then all except 1 of the dishes are...pathetically simple, too simple for Nonya dishes.... could be due to that we are the tour group meal, thus the lower standard, cos when we look at the regular customers' dishes, they look nice!... strange... anyway, its over...
After some unhappy incidents after lunch (basically is tour agency boss want to treat the tour groups of all 3 buses to chendol, and the whole 3 buses have to route to the place, which is pretty big loop. But the chendol is not prepared first, and we felt like beggars waiting and after long long time they still serving, and the serving method is extremely chaotic.... a few times want to go and take after the fella brings out some, he moves to the table of the other bus to give... like we are invisible... tour guide for our bus also like disappear, did not do anything till last minute.. by then too angry to eat anything... difficult to describe, but bad mood at then...), we finally managed to proceed to the famous sites of Malacca... we as only the 4 of us, plus our tour guide... The rest of the tour group people? All stoned after eating the chendol and split up to go different places... (later we watch the LOST episode, live ...hahaha...) Earlier we objected strongly to NOT going to see the sites...
Anyway, so coincident, took a pic in the bus along the way, that looks like above... then took a picture again when touring on foot, as below... notice how similar (in angle) the 2 pictures are???!!!! Amazing....
These are metal mixed with the concrete...used in almost all of the constructions... walls, pavements, etc...
And the tour guide told us about the amazing tale of the statue...
After finishing the site, the guide left off to hunt the rest of the tour group people.... we jalan at the nearby shopping mall for a short while, then go and eat the chendol we did not get to eat earlier... of coz we pay ourselves... there's a durian flavour too, although I still prefer the gula-melaka one....
After watching the LOST show live (yes, tour group members got lost...), we proceed to buy some local goodies and head to dinner at another restaurant... Food is average...
Fried prawn in mayonnaise...
And its home sweet home... and btw, my only souvenir....
Overall, $148 for this trip is quite ok, having the chance to see the historical sites in Malacca and 1st time stay in 5-star hotel... only major angry incident would be the chendol saga... Anyway, enjoyed my weekend!
