Since I'm the only one at home (older sister working, younger one at school), I was his chauffeur on a few occasions, as well as his meal companion.
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We made a visit to my mother's friend's place. To imagine that the aunties that I see every year have known my mother for over, what, 20 years? Yeah, I think so, since they talked about my older sister waiting for my mother after work. Around 20.
Korean liner. Did it by accident, actually, but I kind of like it~ |
This is Cookie. Only half of my face shot because she was moving too much. |
And I've developed a liking for "wiener" animals - like Dachshunds, corgis, and Munchkins. All long, and short-legged. =D
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On one food adventure, while accompanying my father to the hardware shops around the area looking for mosquito netting, we stopped by a restaurant for lunch, one which I often overlook, located right beside my old driving school (the lady at the counter still recognizes me, I guess it's because of a really f**cked up incident).
论茶篇。Chinese literary work about the different topics that different types of people talk about over tea. |
The place was furnished in what I would call a semi-village way - there were faux bamboo/wood furniture in old Chinese styles, but the flooring and the kitchen were all quite modern. No idea what the menu looks like, because the menus were sent for updating when we visited.
My dad took care of the ordering, and this is what we had for lunch.
Beancurd with pumpkin sauce, topped with minced meat. |
Chinese wolfberry chicken. |
Super le expensive... |
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I had finally completed my Japanese sesame seed pestle-and-mortar set. I found the bowl at Daiso Mid Valley, and the pestle at Central Hypermarket. Both about RM5 each, and then the next day after visiting central, we found the set at Daiso, complete with the pestle, all for RM5. RM5 wasted.
I actually wanted to purchase the suribachi mortar and surikogi pestle for one thing - BLACK SESAME ICE CREAM. I have developed an innate taste for practically anything Japanese. Well, I found the recipe, but I was too damn lazy to move everything off my laptop to look for the bookmarked website to copy down the recipe, so I resorted to a black sesame recipe by Cooking With Dog.
Ingredients: bananas, soy milk, honey, grounded black sesame, and ice cubes. I would freeze the banana(s) before hand, and PEEL THEM BEFORE FREEZING. I thought it wouldn't be a problem so I just popped the bananas, unpeeled, into the freezer. BIG MISTAKE.
Instead of peeling off completely as it would usually, the skin of the banana just separated, and it took a small paring knife and a few minutes of work to completely peel them.
The first time I made actual healthy smoothies, without adding tons of Oreos, chocolate, and/or Kit Kats into the mixture. =D |
The combination is good for your skin (black sesame), and a pretty good source of protein (soy milk), and B vitamins (banana).
***
My dad was out, sister at school, mother at work, so I had to make my own lunch. I didn't want to eat instant noodles already, because all the flavors available were spicy. There was some leftover fusilli pasta at the back of the cupboard, so I thought I'd use it up.
The first time I went into the kitchen and produced something impromptu that is actually EDIBLE. |
Cleaned them, seasoned them. Then did some random stuff to them. I kept the nicer looking prawns for something else, roughly chopped the rest, put in too much cornflour, sauteed some garlic, then pan-fried the "prawn patties" with the garlic, while cooking my pasta (more al dente than usual) with garlic.
Drained the pasta, put in some olive oil to the pasta, back in the pot, then stir fried together with the rest of the prawns. I swear, I'm gonna die indirectly oh high cholesterol. I added some dried herbs, whatever I could find in my pantry. Turned out pretty good!
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Happy Cafe, nice place for a nice meal out. |
Creamy salmon pasta. Choice of spaghetti, macaroni, and fettucine, I think. |
Grilled lamb chop with red wine sauce. No alcohol~ |
***
I've a friend from another country who's coming in March, and I've been wondering where to bring him for food. Being a traveler and a pretty good cook, himself, I would assume that he's tried out the local stuff already.
Suggestions from friends included fish head bee hoon (one of my own favorites, but the good one is at Taman Desa), or nyonya food. Nyonya food is characterized with the fusion of Chinese and Malay cooking, which is a reflection of the Chinese-Malay Peranakan culture.
Just a few doors up from Fusion Haven and TM Point, a nyonya restaurant called Familiar Faces was recommended by Ken Min. We had a rather impromptu appointment for dinner, and Familiar Faces was where we went.
I swear, I'm never going early to any social appointments anymore. Sure, I'd give you 5-10 minutes, because I know how hard it is to find parking, and maybe something came up. Boh? But any more than that, I'll get pissed off.
The texture was like... tender beef/pork? Nothing really special, but at least I tried. Never gonna try dog meat, though... |
Red star. |
Stir-fried paku veggies with sambal. |
Deer meat with black pepper sauce. Ratio of veggies to meat is 1.5 : 1. |
Thai-style fried tofu. Comes with a sour-spicy sauce. |
Fried egg fu yong. |
My favorite - salted egg squid. Almost any sauce that is made from salted egg yolks is awesome! |
***
And yesterday, on the 23rd of February, I embarked on a journey with my parents and my sister to Mid Valley (again, again). The main reason was to pick up some stuff from Harvey Norman, but we walked around the mall for a bit while waiting for the targeted shop to open.
Next to a juice bar. Only could get a tilted shot because of said juice bar. |
Ace Hardware, you need to get someone to proof-read your price labels before printing. Only 8-digits? |
Nando's has some very creative ways of transmitting information. |
Lemons are a good source of vitamin C, and is a good bleaching agent. This is how I look when I wake up 4 hours too early, with no coffee and no make-up. |
F1 racing, anyone? |
There were trips to Monaco up for grabs, and there were "racing booths", complete with F1 sound effects, and almost the real thing. To win the prize, one has to beat a certain time record, I think.
My new dream car, alongside the Nissan Skyline, and the Hummer. |
Grammar!!!!!!!!!! |
It's been a while, Paddington Bear. I used to delight in watching this cartoon. So cute with his coat, hat, and marmalade~ Oh, childhood! |
According to this book, Italians don't have breakfast, and all of them have a very good sense of style. |
This book describes everything down to your diet to maintain healthy skin. |
Even the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows cost only RM24.90, when the original price was RM109.90. I'm definitely getting all my books here from now on. Crazy cheap prices!!!
Caramelized macadamia cheesecake. As it is, I don't really like macadamias. |
Before getting home, we stopped by Padi House for lunch. My dad ordered some set, which included a cappucino, and a cheesecake of his choice - caramelized macadamia cheesecake. Nothing much to shout about. The cheesecake was delicately flavored, punctuated by the slightly bitter caramel.
Grilled salmon. |
I usually reserve the melted mozzarella-pesto "sheet" for last. Note: SNAP YOUR BLOODY ASPARAGUS, don't cut them. By snapping them, you will be able to find the tough, stringy parts. |
***
Right now I'm having almost nil privacy. Being used to having the entire room to myself, and doing whatever I please until daybreak was a habit. Now I can't even keep the light on for too long... And worse: NO MUSIC. There are so many videos on Youtube I haven't seen, but hey, hakuna matata!
UPDATE: Upon closer inspection, and clarification from a friend, Italians do have breakfast, but not the hearty type that we're used to. Instead of nasi lemak, or a full English breakfast, they make do with a small pastry and a cup of coffee/cappucino.
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