Little Chumsy's Blog

Meeting Up With My Special Friends

I mentioned in my earlier post that I met up with some special people during our trip back to Ipoh for Chinese New Year.  I got to know them through blogging and we have been ‘online’ friends for a few years already. We planned to meet up last year but at the last minute, there was a change of plans and we couldn’t meet up.  So this year, I was determined to drop by and meet these lovely people.

Can you guess where this place is?  I love these beautiful century-old shady rain trees in this lake garden.  Some of the branches even went across to the other side of the road.   That’s the hometown of my dear friends.  We were in beautiful Taiping on Day 3 of the CNY.

I finally got to meet the 4 pretty ladies in Taiping. They are Sheoh Yan, Yvonne, Angeline and Hayley.

Ashley with cute Avery, Yvonne’s daughter.  These 2 girls were so shy and didn’t even talk much.

Besides treating us to a sumptuous meal, these ladies even gave us some delicious cookies from Taiping.  I also received a nice top from them.  Forgot to snap a pic of it though.

Thank you very much for your hospitality.  It was great to finally meet my dear friends from Taiping.  I hope to meet all of you more often.  Taiping is such a lovely town.  So peaceful and scenic.  It has been more than 8 years since I last visited Taiping.  We’ll definitely be back

helloooo …….

We’re finally back.  Home sweet home.  We went back to Pomelosville for Chinese New Year celebration as usual.  Had tons of fun seeing my relatives and bffs.  I also got to meet some very special people during this trip. I’ll blog about it next.   Ashley is very happy because she doesn’t have to go to school this whole week and has been receiving lots of angpows   Here are some photos taken a few days ago.

Posing at the lobby of the hotel where we stayed in

Offering customary tea to Gung Gung on the First Day of the Chinese New Year

Ashley had a fun time in the pool at my friend’s house.  The mommies were busy chatting while the kids were in the pool.

Another round of eating last night. BBQ at a friend’s house.

In 2 more days, school will resume and so is work too.  Boo Hoo….the holidays are over!  Since we were away for so many days, there is a huge of pile of laundry to do and cleaning around the house.  Some of the things in my to-do list are to go on a diet after a few days of eating non-stop and also to check out the sterling silver earrings at ZuluMoon.com.  So how was your CNY celebration?

pressies

This is another post about my birthday.  Sorry to bore you all.  Just want to record everything down for memories   Last Saturday, my buddies, Annie and Elaine had a belated celebration with me.  We went to a seafood restaurant in Taman Midah for dinner.  Annie’s birthday is also in January so it was an early birthday celebration with her too.

Birthday cake baked by dear Elaine for us.  Awesome cake made with love!

Our yummy seafood dinner which consists of steam crabs with eggs, lala with noodles, succulent prawns, vegetable and sweet and sour pork.

A beautiful pearl necklace, a Jamie Oliver Cookbook and another set of accessories.  The ladies know how much I love pearls and Jamie Oliver   Thank you very much my dear buddies   It was wonderful to celebrate my birthday with all of you.

a fabulous one

Happy Monday peeps.  The weekend went by so quickly.  I had such an awesome time with my BFFs.  It was a few days of laughter, tears (from laughing so hard), good food and great fun.  We checked into a hotel in Pomelosville for the gathering, went out for a sumptuous dinner at a Chinese restaurant and sang/dance the night away at a Karaoke.  We sang songs that are the soundtrack of our lives, you know…. those that bring back childhood memories of our friendships, first love and all other memories…. Sometimes I wish that I could go back into time when everything seemed so carefree and much simpler.

We had JJ Swiss rolls – Chempedak, Durian, Coffee Walnut and more, all in the fridge in the hotel just in case we’re hungry

One of my friends brought some Red Ginseng Collagen Essense masks for everyone to use so that we’ll look good and refresh the next day after a long night   So thoughtful eh?

Yes, I brought the little one along with me and she also had a great time singing her fav songs at the Karaoke.  I feel so old when she’s singing songs by Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry!  We left the place at 2am and she only slept around 3am.

The weekend was too short for me and I am missing my girlfriends badly   Can’t wait till we see each other again.  Till then, we just had to make do with facebook, msn or skype   I am so thankful for my friends.  They keep me sane and grounded.  Hope you all had a fab weekend.

friends

I love this quote which I saw online. I can’t remember where now (if you do, please let me know).

This is exactly what I am going to do for the next few days. Can’t wait to see my bunch of crazy girlfriends.  We have been friends for over 30 years It was so much fun during the meet-up we had in January and since we all miss each other so much, we are going to have another reunion now   Not easy to get everyone together as some of them are residing overseas but we managed.  Hope you’ll all have a great weekend.

things she said

It has been a year since Ashley started her Mental Maths class and just like other subjects, it gets harder at each new level.  She is now doing multiply and 4 digit additions with the abacus.  Ashley told me that the maths is hard and she always make mistakes.  When I reminded her of her Maths class on Saturday, she whined and said, “I want to DELETE the Maths class“….muahahahahahaha.  I think this is the case of too much computer.    I hope she doesn’t delete people from her life.

Having said that, you know how kids are…she would sometimes come home from school and tell me that she doesn’t want to friend so and so and then next day, she’ll say that so and so is her best friend.  I hope she will know that many people will walk in and out of  her life.  Sometimes friendships don’t last and it is ok to feel sad or disappointed but only for a wee bit.  There are always good friendships waiting to be discovered.

image via pinterest

Restaurant Pin Xiang, Aman Suria

Last night, we were invited to a sumptuous dinner with my good buddies Annie & family and Shireen & family.   The dinner was at Restaurant Pin Xiang in Aman Suria, Damansara and is co-owned by local celebrity Alan Yun.  He is the handsome actor from my favourite movies – Sepet and Gubra.   I was giddy with excitement that I can meet Alan in person    Pin Xiang is a simple  no-frills restaurant which serve fresh food at affordable prices.  The restaurant was packed so you can guess how good is the food huh?

Can you see the crowds?

I was pretty star-struck when I saw Alan at the restaurant   Annie took this photo of him.  Alan is very humble and down-to-earth.  He even went around serving us rice and the dishes.  Ahhhh….ate a lavish meal and being served by a star is such a rare treat   Ok, let me show you what we had last night.

I had Fu Chuk Yee Mai (Fresh Beancurd Sheet with Barley) which is Pin Xiang’s speciality.  This delicious drink is smooth and thick, just how I like it.

Yam Ring with Sweet & Sour Pork.  Something different from the usual Kung Po style.  I love the texture of the yam and Ashley can’t get enough of the sweet and sour pork.

Pin Xiang Fried Tilapia.  The fish is very fresh.  Its skin is crispy while the flesh is soft.  I love that there are so much fresh garlic on top of the fish.  My hubby who is not fond of fish ate quite a bit of this dish.

Kai Lan with Braised Yam.   The creamy and mushy yam go so well with the kai lan.  It is not a dish you can find in other restaurants.  If you are a fan of yam, you are going to love this dish.

Mongolian Style Crispy Pork Knuckles.  This is a must try dish at Pin Xiang.  The meat is tender and juicy and it is very crispy on the outside.  It tastes excellent with the sauce.  Also together with the dish are some fried mantou buns for dipping into the sauce. Très Délicieux!

Here’s another favourite of the night – Yin Yang Prawns.  The creamier looking prawns are cooked according to Alan Yun’s concoction.  They have a salty, sweet and sour taste.  Yummy!  The other half of the prawns are cooked in soya sauce.  Very tasty!

Champagne Spare Ribs.  Succulent and flavourful spare ribs are served in a nicely carved watermelon.  Those red balls beside it are fresh watermelon.  This dish is lip-smacking!

Pickled Lettuce with Bitter Gourd.   This is a dish which I have not tried before.  I don’t eat bitter gourd but I really like the crunchy pickled lettuce.  A very refreshing dish.

Assam Petai.  I did not try this because I don’t eat petai.  My husband loved it and ate almost one third of this dish.  He said it’s better than his mom’s

Signature Fried Tofu with Minced Meat.   This aromatic dish is one of my favourites.  The tofu is very soft and cooked with minced meat and choy po (preserved radish).

Sweet & Sour Crab.  Just when I thought my tummy is going to burst from all that food, Alan came out carrying a plate of Sweet & Sour Crabs.  Since I love crabs, I had to take a piece.  The crabs are very fresh and I just love the creamy gravy.

Lastly, we were served some Homemade Shanghai Mooncakes which were made by one of the owners for dessert.  Since Shanghai mooncake is also my favourite (now you know why I can’t lose weight), I took a piece.  It was really good!

We will definitely visit Restaurant Pin Xiang again and try the other dishes.   Perhaps I should make a trip there in the afternoon for some Char Siew Egg Noodle with Wantons, Crispy Roast Pork Belly (siew yok) or Fragrant Chicken Rice. Pin Xiang is a restaurant which everyone should go for good Chinese food.  It is reasonably priced and the service is excellent.  Best of all, I didn’t feel thirsty after this big meal which means that no MSG was used in the cooking

We had a great time last night.  It was great to catch up with my good friends and the kids had a wonderful time playing with each other.  As for the men, well they were busy drinking away and chatting too.

Restaurant Pin Xiang Seafood, Chicken Rice & Noodle House
H-18-G, Jalan PJU 1/45,
Aman Suria, Damansara,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel: 016 276 1438

Continuation of our road trip

After having the delicious ice cream, we made our way to Raub, one of the oldest town in Pahang, which is about 20 minutes away from Bentong to visit a friend.  Our friend brought us to an old Hainanese coffeeshop called Tong Nam Bee.  This coffeeshop, located on a row of pre-war shophouses, belonged his late grandfather.  It is famous for good Hainanese coffee and delicious kaya (a spread of eggs, sugar and coconut milk) and butter toast.

Pic via http://jackyltroy-morethanwords.blogspot.com/.  This Hainanese coffee shop has been around for over 50 years.

The Hainanese bread was so soft and the dolop of homemade kaya was heavenly.  We wanted to buy some kaya back but they were sold out

My glass of strong ice coffee.

Then our friend walked over to the famous Ratha Restaurant which is well-known for its fish head curries and bought some roti canai back for us to try.

He also bought some really spicy curry chicken to go with roti canai.  *burp*

After some food, we proceeded to our friend’s house to enjoy some countryside fresh air, lots of lush trees and hills.  The road trip to Raub was wonderful.  We will definitely go again, when the durian season comes again.  I’m not a fan of durians but I want to go to our friend’s house to pluck mangosteens   He has a huge garden with many fruit trees.

Udonlicious @ Sanuki Udon, Taman Desa

I guess from the title of the post, you all know what I can’t get enough of these days    Last night, we went out for dinner with my brother-in-law at the Japanese BBQ in Taman Desa (the one I blogged about earlier) but before we went there, I asked hubs to detour to Sanuki Udon to takeaway some udon to the bbq place.  I’m not a big fan of BBQ and I prefer the udon.  Since these 2 places are opened by the same person, the hunk Mr. Seiji Fujimoto, it was ok to bring outside food to the BBQ place   Didn’t take any photos of the BBQ or the udon last night.  I was still in the mood for udon today so we went to Sanuki Udon A-G-A-I-N for dinner

This is the famous Sanuki Udon restaurant located in a quiet neighbourhood in Taman Bukit Desa. There is only one row of shophouses in this housing area.  Photo is via http://jon.peachjon.com.  What’s so special about this place is that the udon is made fresh every day.

Ashley had Kitsune Udon (RM6) which is a bowl of simple udon with soup, beancurd and egg.

Enjoying her meal

This is what I had – Dry “Cha Cheong” Style (RM6).  It is udon with minced meat and bean sauce.  Slurpilicious!

We ordered 2 sets of karaage (deep fried marinated boneless chicken)  I can eat this every day.

We also ordered 2 sets of Kakiage (deep fried mixed vegetables @ RM 2 per set)

Sanuki Udon also serve yakitori (grilled skewered chickens) from RM 2-3 per stick after 5.30pm every day.  The price of the udon and food range between RM5 to RM8.  The side dishes are around RM2 to RM3.  Very reasonable huh?   Cheap and good Japanese food.  I’ll be back to try the Steamboat soon (RM15 per person).  Udon fans should not give this place a miss

Japanese BBQ, Taman Desa

Last Saturday night, we had an early Father’s Day celebration with Annie and her family.  We went to this open air Japanese BBQ place in Taman Desa, a nice and unassuming eatery.  This open space is in between 2 rows of shoplots.  There are no airconds, fancy furniture or decor.  Just a few tables and chairs and patrons will dine under the stars and moonlight.  Hubs and his friend know the owner, Mr Hunk Seiji Fujimoto, who also own another restaurant – Sanuki Udon in Taman Desa.  (note to myself – I should visit Sanuki Udon soon).

Got this pic from Annie.  Only a small part of this place is covered.

We were given 2 charcoal stoves like this for the bbq.  The stoves look like goulds pumps to me. The above dish is lamb with cabbage.

Meat we ordered – belly, shoulder, tongue, etc   Oh, the cabbage is for wrapping the cooked meat and dipped into the special sauce

Our food on the grill.

While the men had beer and sake, Annie and I had green tea and nescafe

The Hunky Dory daddies   The hunk owner, Seiji is the one wearing the blue denim.  Luckily he was around that night   As you can see, the missy was holding tight to her daddy.  She didn’t want him to take a photo *slaps forehead*

Below is the address of this eatery :

Gerai Makanan Japanese BBQ
Center Court, Plaza Faber,
Jalan Desa Jaya, Taman Desa off Jalan Klang Lama,
58100 Kuala Lumpur.

Non Halal

Opens daily from 6pm until midnight