Kicking Back In Kuantan

Had a 3 day-2 night break in Kuantan during the Christmas week. With the monsoon season in full swing and pictures of floods in the news we were at first a bit hesitant about going, but we had already made bookings for the accommodation and decided to just go ahead. After all, God had been kind in blessing us with good weather up in  Penang a few weeks before, so we trusted that He would be more than able to grant us good weather for this trip as well.

And so He did.

Kuantan town was flooded the day before we arrived but throughout the 3 days we had good weather except for some slight drizzle. Then the rains started again as we were leaving Kuantan town to head back to KL. God is good :)

Puddles everywhere when we arrived.

Bright sunshine and dry ground the next day :)

As is our current trend during family vacations, we went scouting out the shopping malls. The Berjaya Megamall was a bit disappointing. It used to be bustling with activity the last time we went about 2 years ago, but now many of the shoplots are unoccupied. The East Coast Mall is a whole lot better and we managed to get some really good bargains at the Brands Outlet shop. My daughter, SweetTeen, was thrilled to get her hands on her favourite RotiBoy buns as well.

On the first night we had dinner at Pak Su Seafood Restaurant which we had  visited a few times before on previous trips. The restaurant used to be very crowded but this time there were only a few tables of customers. The bill came up to around RM200 for the 7 of us (we usually travel with my parents-in-law and hubby's sis). On the second night we decided to try this restaurant that we had noticed while we were having breakfast, the Alor Akar Seafood Restaurant. This place was very crowded, the food was good and most of all the price was so unbelievable at around RM90...and it was the same number of dishes as the night before!

Steamed fish in sweet and spicy sauce.

Large and juicy 'lala' stir-fried with ginger.

We visited our favourite park at Taman Gelora and walked along the beach at Teluk Chempedak. I posted some pictures in Facebook and my sis-in-law commented that she didn't know Kuantan was so beautiful...it looked like we were in Australia or somewhere overseas!

Gelora Park

Teluk Chempedak beach

One thing I always remember about Kuantan is the incredibly large road signs which I wish we could have in KL as well. I can even read them from afar without putting on my glasses...well almost, since I'm very short-sighted!

See how the road sign is almost as long
as a MYvi?

A Wonderful Christmas

This year, SweetTeen insisted that we put up the
Christmas tree. Last year we just had very simple
Christmas decoration in our home.

It has been a very enjoyable Christmas week spent with family. My parents-in-law, hubby's sis plus hubby's brother and family came over for dinner on Christmas day. 

This year I tried my hand at roasting a turkey. I searched the internet for the proper way to do it and the result was quite good judging from the comments by my family members. Hubby learnt how to carve the turkey from YouTube....ahhh, the wonders of the internet!

The turkey came out nice and brown :)

Notice the iPad in the background?
Hubby was watching the step-by-step
video on how to carve a turkey.

Turkey...all carved up and ready to serve.

Our Christmas dinner. I over-estimated the food
and we still have leftovers in the fridge until today!

After dinner it's gift-opening time! I know
we're supposed to open them on 'Boxing Day'
but try to tell that to the very excited kids!
These are some of my presents..notice the
colour scheme? Pretty pastels!

 I suppose it's too late to wish everyone a 'Merry Christmas', so I'll wish you joy and good health in the coming year. May all your wishes come true. 

Happy New Year, everyone!!

Sleeping Positions, Slipper Positions

Some time ago I read an article about sleeping positions and how it correlates to our personality and also how it affects our health. Since hubby has been complaining about me waking him up with my snoring lately, I decided to look it up on the internet and see whether there's anything I could do to stop my nocturnal symphony.

What I found out about sleeping positions is quite fascinating. A professor by the name of Chris Idzikowski did a study on 1,000 participants and he discovered that there are 6 major positions:

Since I am no expert in sleeping positions, perhaps you could read the details in the article here. All I know is that I usually fall asleep in the 'Yearner' position and wake up in the 'Starfish' position, so does that mean I have a spilt personality? (haha) Actually it only shows why I start snoring in the middle of the night. Now if only I could somehow do it the reverse way, I think my problem would be solved!

Anyway, now that there seems to be a correlation between our personalities and what we do, I'm curious to know...how about the way we take off our slippers when we arrive home?

The red slippers are mine and the pink ones
belong to my daughter, SweetTeen.
This is how we leave our slippers when
we come home.

This is how my son, CoolTeen always
leaves his slippers when
he comes home...!

Perhaps I should do a study on this myself...it will be called 'Slipper Positions'!

Got Me An Ice Cream Maker

A few weeks ago, Hubby was browsing the Groupon Malaysia site (in case you're unfamiliar with Groupon, there are some details here.) when he came across an offer for an ice cream maker for RM189, about RM100 off the original price. I have been looking for an ice cream maker since my daughter, SweetTeen, and I fell in love with the very tasty but costly frozen yoghurt from Tutti Frutti and Moo Cow. I figured that it would be much easier on the wallet if I could make my own frozen yoghurt. 

So far I found 2 places that had ice cream makers for sale - Aeon (formerly known as Jusco) and Harvey Norman's. The Kenwood one at Aeon cost around RM230 but was perpetually out of stock and the display set was not in working condition. The De'Longhi one at Harvey Norman's was out of my budget, at around RM1000+.

The Groupon offer was really tempting although I had never heard of that brand and I wasn't sure if we could trust the company to deliver the goods once we pay up, but some friends who had purchased coupons from the Groupon website assured us that the offers are genuine.

So hubby ordered and paid online, and 2 weeks later the parcel arrived (hurray!).

My 'TING' ice cream maker...it's actually TWO mini
ice cream machines with 2 separate motors

Churning my first batch of frozen yoghurt
ice cream

Realized that I can't just churn plain yoghurt
with strawberries to make frozen yoghurt
ice cream or else it will just turn out like this...
strawberry milk shake!
Need to add some cream as a base.

The mango yoghurt ice cream turned out better :)

I tried using heavy cream for my chocolate ice cream
but it turned out too rich for my taste. Also not
good for my waistline.

The green tea ice cream had the best texture...
I made custard using milk, sugar and custard powder
and added green tea powder. Pour into the ice cream machine,
churn for an hour, then freeze for 3 hours...yum!

Eat, Eat, Eat In Penang

Took a trip to Penang with my family and parents-in-law plus sis-in-law. It's been ages since we last went there. When my kids were little, they would always look forward to playing on the beach and splashing around in the sea. Now that they have become teenagers, the beach has lost out to the shopping malls.

So this trip was a little different, with us spending a lot of time shopping and looking for good food.

On the way to Penang, we stopped by Ipoh for lunch at Lou Wong, which is famous for its chicken dish.

Now you see it...

and now you don't!

Reached Penang close to 3pm but our hotel rooms weren't ready yet, so we went in search of the famous Penang cendol. 

Now there's a proper dine-in restaurant at Komtar Walk
although the original stall is still at Lebuh Keng Kwee
off Penang Road

We stayed at the Hotel Sentral Georgetown, a small but cosy and clean place, which was within walking distance of the Komtar building, 2 shopping malls and a lot of places with good food. It's quite amazing what we can find by just travelling around on foot instead of using the car. We were walking past this restaurant when the smell of bak kut teh enticed us. 

Yi Xiang Bak Kut Teh at Macalister Road

Everything is served in dainty little bowls
instead of in a large claypot like what we
have in KL

The next morning we discovered this coffee shop full of customers, which sells fish head beehoon. What we have in KL is fish head beehoon in soup, but this Penang version looks like a plate of fried noodles with delicious chunks of deep fried fish served with a special dipping sauce. 

@ Lorong Baru

Thumbs up for this!

Did some shopping at Prangin Mall, which reminds us of Sungei Wang Plaza back in KL - lots of shops selling shoes and clothes. My son, CoolTeen, managed to get some very nice T-shirts and Bermuda shorts. 

Took a stroll along the beach in the evening

The coffee shops at the Pulau Tikus market has some really cheap and yummy food.

Nyonya kuih at 50 to 60sen a piece.

Couldn't resist the duck noodles...only RM4 a bowl.

Eating at Gurney Drive is a little pricier but
great ambience makes up for it. Haven't had
cockles in a long while...love the sauce that goes with it!

Lovely view of the sunset :)

With each of us having at least one electronic gadget,
this is what happens every night.

 Spent 4 days 3 nights in Penang. Detoured off to Taiping on the way home. My sis-in-law found this little restaurant on the internet, listed as one of the top restaurants to visit up north. The food was good and very cheap!

Restaurant Yut Sun @ Jalan Pasar, Taiping -
Hainanese oriental and western delights

Something unique - Roti Sayur, a thick piece of
Hainanese bread smothered with sauteed vegetables
and topped with a sunny side up egg. Yum!

Chicken chop

We've never eaten so much on a trip before and I think I gained a kilogram or two despite all the walking we did. Will we do this again? Definitely!