Sitting Pretty

Ayan, napagkatuwaan lang ng mama ko ibili si Marianna ng inflatable na upuan. Si strawberry shortcake yan, di lang kita yung mukha kasi nasandalan nya. Picturan ko daw. At ayan na nga isa sa mga kuha nya, sitting pretty habang nakatingin kay Mommy.

Restoran K.T.L, Cheras

On a rainy evening, abner had to collect something from Cheras, and asked me if I'll accompany him. And of course there's a catch..where are we eating?

Didnt take him too long to decide, we were having piping hot steamed fish.

We were there about 7:30pm, it was full house, and people were waiting next to any tables that looks like the diners will be leaving soon..stress..stress.

So we waited....and waited..

Finally, we got our table, and we ordered the famed steamed fish..

Owner : Steamed fish? No more la..aiyo, why didn't you order when you were waiting for your table? Then you would have gotten one! Everyone does that..*smiley face*

Me: Arrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

But it was still raining and we were starving..so we had to settled with whatever's available that night (which was nothing much). :(

One thing interesting about KTL was all the food are steamed/ boiled. And so we ordered steamed eggs, boiled veges and steamed pork ribs..

While I was still sulking and abner was still being apologetic, the owner came over and happily announced that they had 'miscounted' and there's still one more steamed fish left!

Happy happy joy joy..

I get to have the fish after all ..hehehe

The vegetables..

Light and fresh. The garlic, shallot bits added more flavour to this dish.

Th steamed egg

Ultra smooth, just glides down my throat! Need to have it piping hot, more enjoyable that way.

And the last dish (we cancelled the pork ribs :p), the steamed fish..

KTL is not famed for 1 type of steamed fish; basically you choose the type of fish thats available that day and the type of sauce you'll like to have it steamed with. Since we got the last fish (the tilapia), we had it steamed with ginger and garlic. It's yummy as it was served piping hot, eat the steaming hot fish with the spicy ginger garlic mix and ooh, satisfaction. I guess it's not the 'power' of any sauces, it's more of getting the fish (any fish) piping hot, the waiter running to your table saying "yeet, yeet, yeet ar!" (hot, hot, hot!) and tucking immediately.

Restoran KTL is actually a stall, without any signage. But you'll not miss it, the queue there is unmistakable. It's smacked in between 2 copy-cat steamed fish stalls. KTL is located at Gerai 30A, Jalan Manis, Taman Segard, Cheras. Just a few roads from Cheras Leisure Mall.

If you really want to make sure you get the fish of your choice, it's wiser to call them to reserve the fish. Call 017-8727567/ 014-3223613 - Wilson. If you're there for dinners, be there early..everything's sold off before 8:30. Opens for lunch too.

Scrappin Mondaze 8: Marianna's Playtime

This is my entry for this week. As usual, i love taking pictures of

my precious daughter anytime of the day and these are taken during her playtime.

Seafood Terminal Restaurant

Adakah anda berminat dgn makanan laut? Seafood Terminal adalah pilihan yang tepat.. kami menyediakan pelbagai jenis makanan laut yg anda inginkan. 3 in 1. Ada Grill, steamboat and steam. Makan sebanyak mana yang anda inginkan as long no left over. Hanya RM 39 Nett utk satu kepala. Harga yang berpatutan!! Jangan lepaskan peluang untuk makan di Seafood Terminal.

Subak, Bukit Lanjan, KL

Bollywood Queen always have me in mind whenever she comes across a new place to eat.

XOXO girl!

So obviously, when Farid introduces her to this new makan place, it didnt take her long to bring us there :)

When Bollywood Queen drove us there..deep into the Bukit Lanjan area, I thought she was bringing us for a ride. It was rather in the 'jungle' area, when sudden we see it, Subak, perched at a higher ground surrounded by trees and lots of greens.

We were there for dinner, when it's all dark. And the first impression I get? It's reminiscent of a restaurant I went in Bali, called Tepi Sawah.
The warm, cozy setting makes me feel at ease immediately, and the well mannered, friendly staff adds more brownie points to this place.

We took our seats, got comfortable and let BQ do most of the ordering...

Our drinks...

BQ's teh tarik which she absolutely loves..

Amy and I had Blue Coraco (or sounds like that)

Looks pretty but I didnt like the taste..

Compliments from the chef...Rice sheet with veg filling. A refreshing piece, reminds me of what I had at Bobby Chinn's, sans truffle oil and fresh mushrooms.

Our starters was served soon after..

Ibu Yati's Gado gado (RM10)Though the portion's rather dainty, I find it absolutely scrumptious! It's the peanut sauce that got me hooked; it's extremely aromatic, almost like eating freshly roasted peanuts. Very good stuff.

For soup, we had Pak Ajelan's chicken soto(RM10)..The soup looks murkier than the usual soto I had, but it's delicious. Subak's very generous with the ingredients, there were lots of nasi impit, shredded chicken, beansprouts etc. Well, not that the ingredients swayed me over, the soup was good enough pull for me to order this again on my next visit.

Mains up, I wanted to try the Balinese Fried rice with seafood skewer (RM25)..It looks very much like what I had in Tepi Sawah, bali . And tasted lovely too! The fried rice had good wok hei and nice aroma to it. Seafood grilled was fresh and sweet; and I liked the plum acar, goes well with the fried rice.
Sizzling honey spring chicken (RM32) was a hot affairSizzling alright..the chicken was served on a bed of summer vegetables- squash, zuchinni, brussel sprouts and new potatoes. The chook was tender and moist; the creamy sauce goes nicely with the sides. Though tasty, I still prefer the asian dishes we had that night.

And how can we end the night without desserts?

BQ chose the tantalizing Glutinous Rice Tapai with Vanilla Ice cream. (RM8)One of the fusion that works. The vanilla ice cream complemented the pungent, fermented flavours of the tapai. A good combo that has to be savoured slowly..

Overall, we had a good time at Subak. I guess for those who miss Bali and want a break from the bustling city; Subak may just be the answer for a few hours of unwinding :)

Subak is located at Lot 3213, Jalan Penchala Indah, Bukit Lanjan, KL. Click here for Subak's map n directions

7 Tools of Happiness

I have been reading Bo Sanchez's Blog on How do you want to be very happy and in this is what he considers as his 7 tools of happiness. Lets see how I level to these tools.

1. Happy people create their destiny.

* Hmmm, did i create my destiny? I think I somewhat did. I had my first boyfriend when i
was already 23 years old. And hoped and prayed that he'll be the one that I'll eventually
marry. And it came true. After 5 years, my bf then became my ex when he became my
husband. Am I happy? Of course. I love him to death. Who wouldn't be happy to marry
their first love and one and only love of their life?

2. Happy people like themselves a lot

* Do I like myself? I do but not a lot. This is I have to get used to, to be
really happy. Not for being a narcist but for inner contentment.
People nowadays, including myself are not really happy of how they look like or what
they have. And happiness is not having everything you want but in being contented
for what you already have.

3. Happy people nurture connections

* I do this now more than before i got married. Friends adds happiness to your life. I stay
connected thru emails and the ym but if i have time, i do met them once in a while. Having
friends aside from your immediate family makes you feel glad inside. And the ones that
are there to listen thru happy or bad times lessens up your burdens or multiply your
gladness.


4. Happy people find delight everywhere

* This one I truly believe. It makes you very happy to have delight on simple things like
a good nights' sleep, the smell of fresh linens, the smile of your daughter or a free jeepney
fare courtesy of an office mate.

Being appreciative lightens up your burden. And if used to this habit, you may not
even realize you're experiencing one.

5. Happy people embrace change

* Do I embrace change? I don't really, but i accept it. I don't go against it. And accepting
change doesn't bring headaches. People without headaches should be happy. He he.

6. Happy people trust deeply

* This one I have trouble with. I don't trust 100%. Its only God who I trust all the way.
But I do agree that when you trust deeply, it makes you truly happy since you don't have
any doubts and having doubts decreases the level of happiness.

7. Happy people work their purpose daily

* What is my purpose anyways? Now, I believe my purpose is to be a good daughter to
my parents, a loving, faithful and understanding wife to my husband, a patient, loving
caring mommy to my daughter and a good employee to my bosses. In my assessment,
I'm doing an ok job. But still needs improvement. My additional purpose? To someday
pay back God for all his goodness and kindness in spite of my shortcomings.

Fried snacks and Tau Foo Fa, SS2

A short post today..some snacks that we take after lunch if we're at SS2 (other that the giant curry puff at SS2)..

Noticed this (van) stall parked right in front of Pelita Nasi Kandar?

Though they sell lots of fried snacks, I'll eat only one type..

The fried 'neen gou' with yam and sweet potato..

One bite and you'll get oozing, stickin neen gou sandwich between the soft, powdery texture of yam and sweet potato. This is tasty, though not the best I've had as the fried dough was a tad too hard. Some said they added melted plastic to get that crunchy 'kruk kruk' texture..hmmm, hear say...what do you think? I thought it's nonsense :p

WF said there's a really smooth tau foo fa infront of the convenience store (cant recall the name). Same row as KFC..

Seen him before?

Anyways, I was unimpressed. The Tau Foo Fa was not smooth and the soy had the 'burnt' taste. WF said it was never like that. Hmmm, just my luck?

Scrapping Mondaze 7: Summer

This is my entry for this week's theme

These pictures were taken in Coco Beach - Puerto Galleria Mindoro almost 5 years ago

New York, New York, One Utama

No, not the song..but the restaurant chain in One U.

Was there a few months back, just realised I've not done a post on this yet. And yes, the restaurant is still there in One U.

Some drinks to cool us off while waiting for our food..

SH had Caribbean Breeze (RM6.90)

She didnt like it. Some concoction of berries and something sour. I dont like sour stuff, obviously I didnt fancy it either.

I had Oreo Chocolate Chip Shake (RM8.90)

Nice, creamy thick with bits of Oreo. Yummy.

NY, NY's rootbeer float (RM7.90) is supposedly famous..

So Bollywood Queen and Amy had that..

Came in really tall mugs, they both liked it.

SL was not well so she had some Pumpkin Patch soup (RM6.90)

Cute name but when we saw the colour of the soup, we thought it looked very artificial. Sort of bright yellow. Hmmm. Taste wise, rather bland.

Some Freedom Fries (RM8.50) to snack on..

Fries with generous dollop of sour cream and cheese. Sinful but wonderful to snack on. Have it when it's hot, else the cheese hardens..

The World Class Caeser salad (RM12.50) was next

Quite generous portion but a tad too much on the mayo. And the mayo was the creamy, buttery texture type which I find way too rich for me.

Pepperoni Pizza (RM16.90)

Bollywood Queen absolutely loves this. Rather than the conventional pizza, NY, NY's pizza looks more like bread baked with toppings. The base was not the pizza base I'm accustomed to, it's very pita like, only even lighter. Almost melts in mouth when you bite into it. Call me old fashion, but I'd prefer the normal pizza.

Spaghetti Alio Olio with mushroom (RM15.90)

This was more fusion that Italian. Hmmm. I imagined mushrooms to be brown, whites or abalones, but we got chinese black mushroom. The pasta was aldente, cooked with olive oil and chili padi. Taste wise it's pretty good, just that I felt this looks like something we can cook too.

We decided to have some dessert as it looks darn good in the menu.

Mudpie with Ice Cream (RM11.90)

Ok, this was much larger looking in the menu. The choc tart thing was quite small, but tasted quite nice with the ice cream and warm choc sauce.

Deep fried Mars Bar (RM11.90)

This was the only dessert that managed to keep BQ's mouth shut for about 15 seconds (yes, she's the chatty type :p). Not that the dessert was good, simply because the melted mars bars solidifies in our mouth the moment we have it with ice cream. The result? Everything gets stuck in our mouth. This was definitely a weird combo, I'm never ordering this again.

Though my experience here was just mediocre, NY, NY's sandwiches, burgers and sundaes looks great. Think I'll try that one of these days.

New York, New York is located at LG311, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Selangor. It's at the new wing, facing where Giant used to be.

Kreativ Blogger Award

Wow!!! A Kreativ Blogger Award from Peachy . Thank you so much Peachy. Pero

as Cherrie Gil said I'm only a second rate, trying hard, copycat compared to you .

Walang sabuyan ng wine ha? he he

Here are the award rules:

Name 7 things that you love and then pass the award on to 7 other kreative bloggers.

1. I love my sweetie and my daugther Marianna.

2. I love my family and friends.

3. I love God of course!

4. I love dogs.

5. I love chocolates.

6. I love potato chips.

7. I love scrapbooking. Whether paper o digital.

Im passing this to my digi scrap palls namely: Z, Ebie, Carlota, Arlene, Chuchi, Elvz and to

my dear friend Laarnie. Girls feel free to get your award from me .

Remembering Papa

Sa Saturday, March 21, birthday ng papa ko. If he's alive today, 59 na dapat sya. He died of cancer in 2004. Im a papa's girl and i miss him everyday. My papa is a diciplinarian. Sya yung tipong di ka talaga papalagpasin pag mali ka. I still remember when I was in grade school, we have a machine shop sa ibaba ng bahay namin. I don't know why i acted that way then na parang pinag malditahan ko yung isa naming tauhan sa shop. My dad confronted me pero di sa harap ng mga tauhan nya. He talked to me privately. He told me na di dapat ganun arte ko kasi pare pareho lang kaming tao and are just doing decent jobs to earn a living. Salamat sa papa ko, i think it made a big impact on me para maging down to earth. Hala, i hope this does not count as being mayabang when im telling everybody that im down to earth. he he. My papa calls me "pangit". Lambing nya siguro sa kin nun. Im "Boyang" and he is "Boy" and they say we look alike kaya ako naging Boyang. I miss his lambing. Malambing ang papa ko. One time i can still recall, dalawa lang kami sa room, then he stood up and dialled the phone. Sa kwarto kasi nila ni mama sa taas, dalawa yung phone, extension ng phone sa office nya sa baba ng bahay. Then the other phone rang. I stood up to answer the phone syempre kasi alam ko he's calling someone sa kabilang phone. Then when i said hello, pigil na pigil yung tawa nya. He's the one calling in the other line. Ang kulit ng papa ko. Tapos kiniliti ko sya sa tyan. Tawa sya ng tawa. I love you so much papa. I miss you dearly. I hope and wish that you're happy wherever you are. Nakita mo na ba si Marianna? 3 na apo mo sa min papa. Its a shame that you were'nt able to see them. I know you love kids so much and would have been a great grandpa. Don't worry, mama is a wonderful lola to them. We love and miss you so much.

Scrappin Mondaze #6: Aspiring Singer

This is my entry for this week. Immediately after giving her toy mike, my daughter hmms like as if she's singing .... An aspiring singer perhaps?

YogurBerry, Giant Kota Damansara

Was at nearby Kota Damansara when Bollywood Queen suggested to pop over to Giant, she wanted to check out some 'stuff'..

We were at Giant KD in a jiffy, it was not that crowded..guess it was relatively new.

YogurBerry caught my eye, and we made a detour for some cooling treats :p

You can have plain frozen yoghurt or like us, frozen yoghurt with our choice of toppings (there were quite a wide range of toppings to choose from).

Bollywood Queen order frozen yoghurt with cornflakes, oreo, mango cubes and chocolate sauce (RM6.50)..

The combo was ok, just not really what I'd fancy on my frozen yoghurt. BQ seems to enjoy it nonetheless.

I had my frozen yoghurt with mangoes, kiwi, banana and topped with blueberry sauce (RM6.50).

The combo's fabulous, the slightly sourish frozen yoghurt goes very well with the sweet fruits. And mixing the blueberry sauce sort of makes my frozen yoghurt tastes like vitagen.

It's a lovely dessert, I believe it's also healthier, frozen yoghurt's very light in texture and low in sugar. My only little gripe would be the thickness of the frozen yoghurt; Yogurberry's version melts rather fast; I've tried other frozen yoghurt which was firmer and thicker in texture.

YogurBerry is located at Lot G-19, Giant Hypermarket, No 16, Jalan PJU5/1, PJU5, Kota Damansara, PJ. Other outlets are here..

An Old New Kitchen Island

Since the time we first bought our house, about 9 years ago, I really wanted an island in my kitchen, but since we added a two-story addition, there just was no money in the budget to accommodate that fantasy. Every time we have visited a house with an island, I have just loved how an island, even a small one, can enhance work flow and provide additional prep space. This most recently was brought to mind when we stayed at the beach house for the girls' birthday last April. The house had a small granite-topped island(right) that served as a baking center with all appliances, equipment and accessories for baking collected in one place. Since this island was in the center of a kitchen about the same size as mine, I started thinking that this is something that would work and so I started looking around for some alternatives that would not require demolition and construction.

The first alternative we thought about is an old butcher block, something my husband has always wanted. But while they look awesome and offer some prep/counter area, the drawbacks are that they are extremely heavy, and they offer no additional storage, something I was really hoping to gain.

I started looking at a kitchen-cart type of island. I thought that would give me space, and I could position it where I wanted to provide extra workspace and flexibility. I checked several sites including my staples Amazon and Overstock, as well as some others such as ekitchenislands.com
and Kitchen Island Superstore. I was impressed with the versatility that there was- so I knew I was not the only one with "kitchen island envy".However, I had a hard time finding something with the features I wanted in my price range.

Then a possible solution fell into our laps. We have been buying furniture at auction for most of our married life, and our favorite haunt is the Phoebus Auction Gallery. Their catalog for each auction is online so it is easy to find whatever you are looking for. And if you know what you are looking for and set yourself a spending limit, you can get great deals on furniture, rugs, art...just about anything you could need for your home. Which brings me back to my island.In looking at the auction catalog, I saw an antique store counter made of oak and it occurred to me that it might make a good island, offering both the prep space and storage we wanted, with the added bonus of being a real antique. After taking the measurements, it appeared that it would fit so we prepared to bid, but we had an alternative - we thought if it didn't fit well in the kitchen, we would use it in the den to hold our TV. Since most of the full-featured kitchen carts run in the $300-$600, we thought if we could get this piece for under $300 we would be happy. Since the piece had some character, even including original square head nails, we thought it would blend well with the whole feel of our house.

My husband is the auction bidder, but I watched the action in real time from home on Proxibid,and we got the counter for $250!! It is now in our kitchen, and the longer it is there the more I wonder how we lived without it, I bought baskets and made extra storage on the shelves. and the top provides a great place to put groceries on the way to the fridge or pantry , and extra space for chopping (on a cutting board,of course) Our dilemma now? Originally we thought we would have a piece of granite cut to cover the top to protect the wood, however, the wood surface has such a beautiful patina that we are rethinking our decision.



So now - see what you think about our makeshift kitchen island. I would love to hear what you think, and whether you think we should cover the counter or not. Do you think it looks out of place in our traditional kitchen? Should we move it to the den for the television or does it look right at home?

Emperor Q, Pavillion, KL

Have been many months since we met ES, so we decided to pop over to Pavillion for lunch for a lil bit of catching up..

Since ES works around that area, we got him to suggest a place for makan.

Emperor Q..the reply was almost immediate.

Ordering was quite easy; we wanted to snack on some dim sum, ES wanted his rice and boss wanted noodles. Me? I'll just eat what ever they ordered :p

Some High Mountain Tea before we start our meal...ES insisted we should have this famous tea from taiwan. The colour's light but flavour's pretty intense. Leaves a slight bitter fragrant aftertaste.

Somehow our orders were slightly distorted...the mains came before the dimsums..

First was ES's must have; Cod fish rice in hot stone. (RM13.50)The small chunks of cod fish was served raw, give the rice some good stirring and the meat's cooked. The rice was fluffy, had yummy sauce base and of course, had the charred bits which i like. And the cod was cooked just nicely, giving some juicy bits to bite into. Good stuff.

Boss wanted some noodles, so we had squid mee sua (RM20.80)

Ok, this was definitely not what we saw in the menu. But never mind, this portion looks bigger. aherm. Their mee sua is thicker...more ramen like actually. The soup's herbalish, thick. I thought I tasted something nutty in the soup base, boss and ES thought I was nuts. Oh well. Boss really enjoyed it nonetheless. The squid was mediocre, a tad chewy. I like the egg served in the noodles, hard boiled, but not thoroughly cooked. Lovely texture.

And our dimsums were finally served..

The fried carrot cake with shrimp (RM10.80)

Large portion of carrot cake with lots of shrimps.Was pretty good though more wok hei would have been much better.

Siew Mai (RM6)

Very juicy and sweet. Springy pork texture, I find this tasty.

The Char Siew Bao (RM5.80 for 2)

Though the bun's fluffy, it was slightly thick. But it was alright. Nice to have it steaming hot.

Last of our orders, deep fried yam dumpling (RM6)

The yam paste was creamy, the exterior crisp. The filling was delicious, just the right amount of tender, well marinated meat. Delicious.

We decided not to try their dessert, we went somewhere else for that..hehe (yes, we still wanted to eat..).

Emperor Q is located at 1st Floor, Pavillion Food Court. Next to Mercato.