Snapshot: Christmas Cookies ver 1.0

This year I decided to bake only 2 types of Christmas cookies due to time constraint. Okay, maybe 3 if I can manage... Can't believe that last year I baked 5 types of cookies! o.O

Anyway, Christmas is not about how many types of cookies or cakes that we bake, or the table fully laden with food; It's the fellowship and camaraderie that we experience with family, friends and loved ones that matters.

Anyone want to come over for some Christmas visiting? You are very welcome to come! :-)

Snapshots: What's For Dinner?

Can you guess what it is?

Food: M.M.P (Mushroom with Minced P*rk)

This was what I had for lunch yesterday. Lyana thought it was choc cornflakes with raisins at first glance. LOL!

This is a fairly easy and straightforward dish and it's heavenly paired with hot rice, glutinous rice and plain ol' bread... Hehe.

The Ingredients:
1 whole bulb of garlic (minced)
5 - 6 dried mushrooms (diced)
minced p*rk (can substitute with other meat ~ I think)
oyster sauce
sweet soy sauce
dark soy sauce (kicap masin la ni)
white/black pepper

The Steps:
1. Heat some oil in the wok. Add the garlic. Sautee till fragrant.
2.Add the mushrooms.
3. Add the minced p*rk. Stir everything together till it is well-mixed.
4. Add a little bit of water, not much, just to ensure that it's not going to burn.
5. Add the oyster sauce, both soy sauces and pepper to taste.
6.Fry on medium heat until the water is all gone. Remember to stir it once in a while.

There you have it... I like to eat this together with glutinous rice. Layer it on top of the glutinous rice... Mmmmmm... Yummy!

Do you like it?

Snapshot: Choc Fix

Want some?

Nothing beats having delicious chocolates for that sugar fix at the end of a (very) hectic day. I bought these during my vacation in Langkawi last month. (Got some cheap booze there too. Next time I'm going there, I'm going to get myself a bottle of Absolut Apeach Vodka. Sedap...)

Today was a very tiring day for me with a little bit of fun and pain thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed delivering my presentation on Continuous Writing Techniques for the SPM Workshop. After the presentation, I spent 3 hours with 37 students (my own class + another class: both Mickey Mouse - students) to teach them how to answer Paper 2. The students from the other class behaved themselves rather well. I guessed it must be either my colleague's doing or the kids memang naturally scared of me. Well, if that makes them behave, sit and actually learn something, why not?

The pain?
Standing for long hours is definitely unkind to my poor knee. At one point, it felt 'locked'/'jammed'... I had to hobble. Hate! Hate! Hate!

Looking forward to Saturday. Another road trip with friends. Yay!

Snapshots: Stupid Girl vs Cat, Pama' and Kasam Ikan

Ladies and gentlemen,

meet Agerl, or as I prefer to call her, 'stupid girl'...
Why?
Cause she's stupid low-IQ dog.
But not just plain stupid you know, stupid yet adorable (at least in my parents' eyes lar...).
And she likes to camwhore...


Meet Empress Pussi... She'll demand that you be her bed anytime she wants to. She's gorgeous and she knows it. *wink*

Meet Empress Pussi with the court jester. See how annoyed the cat looked here?

And I had these for dinner yesterday... Yummy!!!

Pama' goreng kicap... Yummy! Been craving for this dish for years since it's difficult to find here (near impossible)... Mum and Dad bought these from Sri Aman. Sedap weh!!!

Kasam ikan. Best eaten with hot rice.... slurpppp...

Snapshots: Hungry?

Last weekend would be my makan-makan and jalan-jalan weekend. Went shopping on Saturday with my best buddy, Kat, and with Debs on Sunday.

What to do in Sibu? Jalan-jalan and makan-makan of course...

The only thing that kinda sucked was when Debs and I went for our late lunch at Mitsu Tea House. Very slow service and the service staff delivered our food without any plates or chopsticks. Like WTF?! Don't want to work then go home la... I sengaja went to the counter and took the plates, deliberately in full view of the supervisor. Could it be the last time I'll ever go there again? Maybe... Their dim sum not that great to shout about anyway. I'd rather go to the Farley food court for my dim sum fix.. Also, there's not much of a selection of non-pork or non-seafood food. Debs doesn't take pork or seafood. We had some chicken wings and phoenix claws (that's fancy name for chicken feet).

Sweet Jelly a.k.a. Guilinggao (Damn pahit! I hate pahit food. What to do? I telan-telan je... Hehe)

The deceivingly yummy-looking but too sweet chicken wings... Too sweet for my taste.

What my nephew and I had for dinner last night. Pizza! Yummy... love love pizza :-)

Rant: Gross-est Tasting KFC ever!!!

Dear Colonel Sanders or who-ever-this-may-concern,


Fiery Crunch sucks!!!
If I want lemongrass with my chicken, I'll cook it tomyam style.
Period.

Saw the ad on TV that hot & spicy is back. After settling some errands in Sarikei, I decided to have my late lunch in KFC. Ordered Hot & Spicy (the cashier didn't correct me) snack plate. Was looking forward to biting into that gorgeous and juicy H&S fried chicken. One bite and my appetite came crashing down. Almost wanted to spit it out. Yuck!
It tasted of nothing else but lemongrass. Eeewwww... Almost like I was chewing lemongrass.
Hate! Hate! Hate!
Didn't finish my meal. Ate the coleslaw and mashed potatoes, the only salvaging point out of the whole meal.
:-(

Me. Not. Happy.

p/s: Please stuff a whole bunch of lemon grass down the throat of the 'wise guy' who created this recipe.

Sincerely,
Your seriously grossed-out customer.

Comeback / Craving

Quite a long absence eh?
Was down with flu, fever, cough and the whole shebang... Recovery was extremely slow. Antibiotics make me stupid (so I didn't take it. Bad. I know. Shhh... Don't tell Dad).
Wednesday and Thursday, back to work. I looked like a 3-quarter zombie. Freaked out my students when they saw a 'different' me, so they behaved. Even my 4 'transformers'.
Good. I was in no mood to 'tegur2'. More like in the mood to 'hantam pakei kerusi'..Haha
They said I lost weight. No appetite to eat bah, Everything taste like sand and gravel or squashed up newspaper.
Had a haircut. You know, supposed to make me well or something.


Took Brand's Essence of Chicken on Friday (guess how many teachers it takes to uncap a bottle of this). I think this really helped me because I didn't really feel as wretched as I did on Wednesday.
Rained since 4 a.m. today. So I guess I'm staying at home. Going for my major repairs, oppsss, facial tommorow. Hopefully can go somewhere nice to makan.

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Currently I'm craving for kasam semah (preserved ikan semah). Eevrytime my grandma comes here, she'd always brought some for us (especially for greedy me). Maybe it's because I've just recovered, hence the crazy craving cycle will start...

I want kasam semah... Kasam semah with hot rice... Mmmm... Sedap wor
huhuhu
.
.
.
Quick quick ring my mak siko working in Kapit
.
.
.
Yay! My uncle promised to get some for me from Kapit.... *cartwheel and sommersaults*
p/s: My colleague told me one of my car tyre 'kembang'. Bro accompanied me to the workshop. Had to change the tyre. WTF! Tyre still new ba... There goes my RM... *sob*sob*

A Day of Firsts (Huh?)

Yesterday was the

1. First time I went to Ruby (loved the prawns and the mayo pork! Been wanting to makan here but Murphy's Law dictates that things must always work against it)
2. First time I met STP in person.
Who, coincidentally celebrated the 1st anniversary of his blog yesterday. Happy anniversary! The very same person who introduced Ruby to me through his blog. Aiyo, if you're hungry please don't visit his blog. It will make you suffer. LOL! One interesting fact is that we know the same people (and loathe the same ones too!) Wawawa...
p/s: Next time it's my treat ya!

Delicious food! BTW, that's STP's hand taking pics of our food.

3. First time I went for a mani & pedi.
Huhu... I was stressed so I decided to pamper myself. Not that I'd do this everyday. Mati la...
I loved the flowers that they put on my toenails.
(my friend commented: Wa, your toenails so small la. Macam satu dot saja.)

I *heart* them flowers.
My toenails are small. I know. Shaddup!

The girl who did my toes must be new. It hurts when she was cutting the cuticles. Aiyo, so concentrate pun boleh accidentaly cut my toes ka? The other girl was much better. With 3 years experience, I'm in good hands. Hehehe...
Already hasut my friend to do this again next time. Hehehe...
Lalalalala...*admiring my shiny fingernails and toenails*

(Tuesday have to wear pumps to school so will not be able to show off my cute toes. KS is coming and he's the mean one. Not going to give him any excuse to blow steam)Took this pic while my pedicurist clipped me toes my cuticles off, hence the not-so-ikhlas smile... Hehe
But I gotta say this, the chair was heavenly.

Like STP said here, I went to Sibu for my monthly facial (major repairs lagi katanya LOL!). Very busy with work and whatnots ever since the new boss arrived (and the old one chased away transferred), so you can only imagine how stress had taken its toll on my face. Pimples sprouting here and there (even on my earlobes *Damn* that's painful tau?). By the time I reached home I couldn't be arsed to 'double cleanse' and whateverbeautyregime that I had to do. I just want to shower and hit my bed. It's that tiring okay? So, little wonder that I need these monthly repairs, oopppsss, monthly facials to keep my face glowing and smooth (okay, maybe not smooth but at least better than the sarikei-sibu road lah!)... Unless I wanted to scare a rottweiler with my looks. Hehehe

p/s: Coki, I'll do the tag when I got d time ya!..hehehe
p/p/s: Just realized that I missed my own blog's 5th annniversary on 27th February *sigh* That shows just how busy I am... -.-"

Cooking: Anakapai's Steamed Chicken

This is one of my favourite dish. It's easy and very simple to prepare. Taste a bit like pansuh manuk also, so if you can't find any bamboo to use, can try this ^_^

Ingredients:
4 pcs chicken wings
1 inch Ginger
4 or 5 pcs red shallots
6 cloves garlic
3 pcs cili padi
1 stalk lemongrass (bruised)
salt
white pepper

1. Clean and drain chicken wings.
2. Pound the ginger, garlic and cili padi but not 'lumat'.
3. Cut the shallots into quarters.
4. Mix the pounded ingredients with the meat. Season with salt and pepper (it is important to put a bit extra salt as the 'juices' will come out from the meat).
5. Arrange the shallots.
6. Steam for 30 - 40 minutes (depending on the amount of chicken used)

This is how it looks like before steaming

This is the 'after' - The gravy is simply sllluuurrrpppyyyy sedap!

TRY IT!

My veggie dish :-)

Cooking: Anakapai's Chicken Curry

Since my parents are away and I have three of my nieces and nephew staying with me and it's been ages since I cooked my feymes curry (feymes because my house mates always begged me to cook it for them), I decided to cook some chicken curry and blog about it (blame it on STP's influence..hehe)

The mise-en-place

The ingredients:
5 pcs chicken wings(marinate with curry powder)

1 stalk lemongrass (bruised)

Pounded ingredients
1 inch ginger
3 cm turmeric
3 pcs cili padi
red shallots
garlic

Curry Powder - mixed with water into a thick paste
(I used Adabi's chicken and meat curry powder)

2 pcs Chicken stock cubes

Potatoes - half boiled and quartered
Brinjals - halved and cut into 2 inches pieces.

Coconut Milk


Use some cooking oil to fry the lemongrass stalk, then add the pounded ingredients until fragrant.
Add the curry paste and fry until fragrant.
Add the chicken, make sure the chicken pieces are well coated by the paste before adding water.
Add the chicken stock cubes.

After it starts to boil, add the potatoes and brinjals (I added brinjals since my niece and nephews doesn't really like to eat veggies- this way they'll have to eat it / I couldn't be arsed to cook it separately)

When the brinjals are almost cooked, add the coconut milk. Lightly stir.
When the potatoes and brinjals are cooked, it is ready to serve. :-)

Ta-dah! Anakapai's chicken curry.

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This was what we had yesterday...hehe

Snapshots: Birthday / Sibu Trip

Check out the candles on the birthday cake... Whose birthday is it? Tell you later...hehehe
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Last Saturday my colleagues wanted to cheer me up so we went to Sibu for some R&R (more like stuffing our fat comel faces with food lah!)
Camwhoring before leaving. FYI, the blanket behind me is made by my paternal grandma. In case of emergency, it'll be one of the first things I grab. Hehehe

Okay, sidetracked a bit..

Back to the trip, we went to De Beauty at somewhere not far from Medan Mall since my friends had an appointment for a facial. The people there were so nice and the also offered me a promotional price for a facial. My verdict: their service was excellent and I liked my therapist, Josephine. The face massage and the neck and shoulder massage was heavenly. I don't really like facials since the blackhead-extraction session is bloodyawful painful, but they managed it without making me wish I was anesthetized first. I'll definitely go there again. Radiant skin, here I come!

After the torture facial session, we went for lunch at Sushi Tie @ Wisma Sanyan. I ordered the Unagi set meal and I absolutely *heart* it...Mmmmm... Unagi...I like

My two friends ordered these Gyu-something and the Chicken Teppanyaki... Nice but still can't beat my unagi lah..Muahahahaha

One thing I liked about this makan place is the free-quent refills of the drinks, in this case, green tea. I like the green tea since it is not of the jasmine variety because I hate the smell of jasmine green tea.

Post lunch, we went to Delta Mall. Went to Kokoberry and had the crepe. Sadly my crepe was not as fresh as I would have wanted although the drinks are fine. Hehe

Then we went to get some stuffs at Farley and before leaving for home, we had some tea at Farley Pinnacle. One thing I liked about this place is the ambiance and the Pinnacle Chicken Wings. Still one of my favourite place for a snack. =)

With S-min, my colleague-in-crime. Haha...
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Still wondering whose birthday it was?

It's this HOT couple's joint birthday. It was a surprise birthday do that we did for them. Hehehe... Dad celebrated his *cough* 36th birthday and Mum's 6 years younger than he is. Heheheh...


Aba & Mak,
Happy birthday!
May God continue to bless you always.
p/s: Pls nag a lil' bit less. Hehehe

Snapshots: Food Hunt

For the past few days, been eating at home. Been staying (jadi penunggu rumah) at home since my parents went berjoli to KL leaving me here slaving marking students' exam papers.. On Monday, I steamed some chicken wings and also cooked some brinjals with udang kering...

Steamed chicken wings with some bungai kechala

Brinjals with Udang kering..yummy

Yesterday's early morning rain suddenly made me crave for some hot kampua mee. It certainly did not help when someone kept mentioning how much he missed the kampua mee in Sibu and requested to tapao some if I'm visiting...

What to do lah? So early in the morning got any souls awake yet ah? So I tried calling Pooh and she was also awake but still in bed. So I hasut her to join in in my plans to conquer the world hunt for food.

We had...

Kampua Putih (mine)
Kampua Kicap (Pooh's)

After enjoying our breakfast (and annoying org itu dgn MMS of hot kampua mee), we sat back and pondered our next plan...

... which is to continue our quest to hunt for delicious foodies. Which brought us to this...
Glory Cafe's Mi TomYam Udang

Yes, the famous noodles with udang galah. It was good but should have ordered mihun instead as the noodles were too filling. Both of us didn't manage to finish our noodles. Dasar tamak haloba...
The price? RM 14 per serving...

and we also ordered this but had to tapao it as we were full already.

Yam Pork

Alas, our quest has to end since the evil pile of papers were beckoning us to start marking... Aiseh... Not for me. I went for my torture facial session. Ow ow ow...

P/s: I think it's near that time of the month since I've been craving food day and night...
PMS ---> my excuse for gluttony (at least it's better than snapping ppl's heads off kan?)

Snapshots: Foodies for breakfast

My breakfast yesterday morning before I board the bus back to small town. Grace took me to this place in 3rd mile. The picture of Sarawak Laksa is specially taken for Wis and all the others who are far from home to enjoy the authentic Sarawak Laksa. Meliur eh...

Had the laksa as well as the bak chang and pulut udang. The pulut udang was very nice and delicious. Hmm, must come here again next time for the pulut udang.

I can't recall the name of the shop, Grace, apa nama kedai tok?

Upcoming post: Ron's Wedding and Kuching trip. Will post the other pictures as soon as I get back from the longhouse.

Craving For This

When it's *cough* that *cough* time of the month, I usually suffer from cravings. Not mild "Oh, I'd love some chocolates" thoughts that flits by but it's the kind of craving that stays and gnaws at me, invade my thoughts regardless whether I am awake or even in the state of unconsciousness. It's so bad that I dreamed about it and even can imagine the succulent juicy taste.

Damn.

I'm gonna get crazy if I don't get ma seafood now. I want to go to that fabulous seafood place in Sibu but since I can't drive (I injured my wrist) and there's no one to go with me... *sob*sob* I guess for the time being the ones nearby will do.

p/s: Cuthess, we really gotta go to makan seafood. like, now.

Snapshots: Makan-makan Blogger 3

The 3rd Makan-Makan Blogger was hosted by Grace the Hornbill last Saturday. Cuthess couldn't attend as she had to supervise renovation works in her place (Nda ngawa Cath, Ila kami merasmikan toilet baru nuan..Hehe). La joined us for the first time and we had a merry time enjoying the delicious food and *ahem* singing sessions. I really enjoyed myself and hornbill's place is great. I kind of envy her house with it's own huge area and space without having to endure annoying neighbours. Nganti ku ngaga rumah ba Kim San ila kitai berjiran youuuu....

BBQ Chicken Wings, *ahem* non-halal kambing and some brinjals.
Tukang hidup api: Grace
Tukang Panggang: yours truly & niece
Tukang potong: La






" Kemaia ka mansau tuk ah?"
When is it going to be done?










Fresh kedondong with sambal belacan. *Yummy*













Anuk Tunu and Terung tunu...















*Slurrrpppp*
















Our hostess, The hornbill. Thanks for the lovely food and the ultra fresh foodies.












Singing Time