Sunday brunch with the Make-make Girls

As do most people, I have several whatsapp group chats representing different groups of loved ones whom I try to meet up as often. Schoolmates, Uni friends, Work colleagues, Family members, etc. It is definitely a good and easy way to keep in touch and gather certain groups of friends to meet up that jive with each other and all. Too large a group usually makes it difficult to get the most suitable time to meet up.

On this particular Sunday, it was a meet up with the Make-make girls. Make- make girls? Yes, as in make-make (Makan-makan in Kelate slang) girls.

S recommended Dua in TTDI.  It's situated in the same row as Ismail and right above Domino's. Food were not bad at all. They serve a selection of Malay dishes and desserts. The pricing is also good given their large portion. I give an A for the authenticity of their local dishes. They didn't lose that essence of our local dishes like most new hyped places.

I ordered the Soto. Terkezuts once I saw how big the bowl was. Yes, I tak habis. I tried though...oh how I tried.

S, J and I i.e. the Make-make girls. 

Once we were done for brunch, S suggested we move along to Foo Foo, TTDI for dessert. Perut dah nak meletup but if dok rasa-rasa and share-share ok lar.

Choc and orange combo is always good. Don't exactly remember the name of the dessert. Those white bits are candied nuts by the way.

With awesome desserts at Foo Foo, no girls would leave unhappy.

S happily snapping at my jakun reaction. That Hot Choc is to die for by the way.  So rich with a dash of spice.

Balsamic Vinegar Ice Cream on Strawberry Tart. Again, sorry, I didn't memorise the exact name of the dessert. It was awesomely lovely. 

You can also see how rich my hot choc was.

Side profile of the ice cream and strawberry tart. 

We were laughing and chatting most of our Sunday away sampai lupa dah kahwin kot. Got a call from Hubs asking when I was coming home cos' he was already hungry. Jahatnyer BINIE!!! Tak BERHATI PERUT!

Yer lar, gatal kan offer tapau Nasi Tomato from Dua for him. That was for BRUNCH. Balik pukul 3 petang pulak bini dia! Sorry yer Sayang! Lama tak jumpa the girlies.

#DuaTTDI #FooFooDessertsTTDI

Lunch at Greenhouse by Muir

It was close to a year till both my friend and I finally decided and get to meet.

Lama weeeihh...

And the location of choice?

Greenhouse by Muir.

I didn't know there was such a place nearby. Selalu gak pass by biler lalu Gleneagles. For those who are interested, it's located exactly next to Gleneagles, Ampang. 

The reason we chose this place was we both wanted to sample their red velvet waffle with fried chicken. Sounds interesting right? Well, too bad we went on a weekday. Only upon arrival, we were informed that it's only served during weekends for breakfast. 

Bummer... 

But alang-alang dah sampai, and both of us belum pernah makan sini, we went ahead and had our lunch here as initially planned.

I love how the building stands out among the trees. Steel meets a bit of nature...just a tad bit. Not too many trees surrounding it.

So on the ground floor, they serve Japanese. 

Do you like oysters?

Look how pretty the fish is. Eyes are clear. It means it's fresh right?

The selection of Japanese food to choose from.

Fish heads and octopus.

There are those pre-packed for those on the go.

The selection at the Japanese Pastry shop are very tempting too.

Macha Croissant anyone?

Droooooool...(waist and hips screaming Nooooo while I drool)

Ooh, there's also a florist on the ground floor. Famous gak dengar kata.

On the 1st floor they serve Tex-Mex dishes. The place we opted to have our lunch.

Nampak bestkan? This is the red velvet waffle. Alas, tatap wajahmu ajer lah Red Velvet Waffle. Next time round.

To start off, we opted for the deep fried cheese cubes served with lemon dip. Ayoyooo...sedaps tapi bagi yang nak berdiet, buang idea tu jauh-jauh luar tingkap k?

Beef quesadillas. Not bad.

Nyumms...make way for the Buttermilk fried chicken with two sides. For the sides, we had grits and mac and cheese. Sinful yet satisfying.

We also managed to try their beignets for dessert. 

Hmm...unfortunately nothing special. However, I think the head waitress noticed we were first time visitors and was asking how our meals were. We gave an honest opinion, highlighting that the beignets fell short of our expectations. 

You know what she did?

She apologised and took it out from our bill. Informed us they will improve next time and thanked us for our honest views. That's tip top customer service babes!

Korang jangan ar nakal gi melantak semua and kata semua tak sedap to get a free meal. 

In our case, it was evident we didn't touch the beignets as much. Both of us had a bite of our beignets and letak balik. Too doughy. The sugar was fine and coated the dough fairly though.

Domestic Goddess In Progress

Those who know me are aware I'm no expert in the kitchen. Some dishes are good to go and edible to say the least and some are total failures. 

Recently Hubs went on an impulse purchase and bought lots of bananas. I mean lots...Why? 

"Cos they were pretty". 

Keep in mind it's just the two of us. 

Obviously it went way ripe before we could even finish the first bunch.

Friends gave suggestions on what to do with the remaining bananas and all. Out of all the solutions, I picked Cekodok Pisang. I've never made them and sounded quite simple to make.

I was WRONG. 

W.R.O.N.G.

The remaining bananas. Pretty and ripe. Ready for my attempt to make cekodok.

Banyak giler pisang kena potong. Penat lenyek!

With the amount of bananas mixed with flour, sodium bicarbonate, sugar, salt and a dash of baking powder and me trying to get the right consistency, it took half a day to mix them. Serious penat mix. My legs were wobbly by the time the batches went into the wok.

My first attempt was too watery. Though it smelled and tasted right, they were floating and reminded me of SHHH...hmmm...so added more flour bla bla bla to get the right consistency.

The second batch looked better. But huge as F***. Hahah...pardon my language, sorry not sorry.

Besar dooooh...

These were just half of the mix. Damn banyak. Gave my neighbour loads to feast on.

One fell, sounded like a whoopee cushion. Heavy and made a "floop" sound. I was lucky it didn't turn out like one of those brick like cekodoks.

These I kept for the both of us.

I told hubs the next time he decides to go on an impulse purchase, I'll be at Chanel going on impulse purchases with his credit card. He came back from work and I forced him to give me foot massages. Penat weiii...no joke.

He had a taste of the cekodoks. His comment? 

"Tak rasa cekodok. More like kek pisang. Next time kalau I nak cekodok, I beli kek pisang ar."

He was lucky I was kind enough to not give his face a taste of the whoopie cekodok.

#nodomesticgoddess #amateurcook

Raya Haji di Kelantan

Hubs and I spent our recent Raya Haji in Kelantan. Overall, it was a good 3 night stay.

It's the second time I've ever been to Kelantan. The first time was with friends and we stayed at one of the hotels in the city. This time around, I get to experience the real kampung life.

To start off, the food was and is awesome. I am still sticking to my guns...the food here trumps whatever they have in Penang. I swear! I know I may be getting a lot of flack on this but I don't care. You don't know food if you have not eaten here in Kelantan.

Only one of the two sweet drinks I had in Kelantan. Above is the pic of the Teh Tarik Madu each of us had. Serious nampak menarik but damn sweet. Most of the time I survived on air kosong with my meals. Giler manis ar their drinks. Food kalau pedas pedas betul. Some say their food manis but so far I takder lar encounter any sweet nasi dagang or what not.

Pagi Raya Haji...hubs' cuz prepared her Nasi Lemak Meletops...She better bukak kat KL soon. Memang best!

Home-made tapai you alls. I was looking for some good ones during the trip. Terharu when both his cousin and aunt made home made tapais.

Nyummmssss...Nih his aunt's version of the tapai.

Benda nih some grilled etok which is basically a type of clam (not sure whether sungai or laut tho). Sedaps and berlemak. But damn susah lar nak bukak. Took me an hour just to peel three of those. Beli satu bag last last give up kasi the local relatives hentam ngan best while I looked on. Bohooo. Nasib baik gigi tak pecah masa nak bukak.

Colek Ayam is a must. Serious nampak simple but gawwwd...I shared with Hubs cos' jeans dah ketat tapi nafsu nak rasa tetap ada.

And a MUST MUST MUST...gi borong serunding, dodol and food stuff kat Pasar Siti Khadijah. Batik pun ada tapi taknak bore you with my Batik purchases. 

Oh, and jangan lupa makan roti titab kat kopitiam kita. Serious best. Roti, telur separuh masak, butter...waaah...meleleh air liur teringat. Mana nak cari yang best kat KL whoaaa.

The Little Things

These days, I don't get too many off days. Unless I decide to be naughty and reschedule my plans and spend some time with Hubs of course.

One morning, I decided to make a simple fare of a breakfast for hubs. Sausages, toast, eggs, baked beans. Husband walked in the kitchen and kantoi'd what I was frying for him in the pan.

"Where did you get that?"

"Arghhh maaan. You weren't supposed to be in the kitchen. Dah lama dah. Got it when I went to New Zealand for my meeting."

He walked out of the kitchen laughing.

Why was he laughing?

Well...cos' I made his sunny side up in a shape of a heart.

Seee???

This is a picture of his heart-shaped egg with wholegrain toast before plating all those beef sausages (his fave by the way) and baked beans. 

I try to show some love in anyway I can...big, little to the teeniest way I can.

Healthy Eating

Lately, I've been forcing my healthy eating habits at home. Well, trying to would be a more apt description of my efforts.

Since Hubs was ill and I was off and on ill as well during the weekend, what better time to go healthy right?

First, no more mixed white rice and brown rice. I was too lazy to go through all that effort. We went all the way with brown rice to much of Hubs' dismay.

Next, chicken soup. Using only lean meat and those I've already boiled to get rid of the fat. Loaded the soup with plenty of veggies too.

Then, came Sunday. Salad for late lunch. No snacking. Hubs was already pissed by this time.

"Boring ar all this healthy stuff!"

After our lunch, I went to our front yard to hang some clothes. Came back in to find Hubs in the kitchen wiping the floor.

"What happened?"

"Botol sos cili pecah. Dah you letak kat corner tu I tak nampak, jatuh, pecah ar"

Haizzz...he was trying to take out the snacks from the cupboard and in the process broke the unopened bottle of Life Chilli Sauce.

I felt totally bad ok. I may be able to withstand a bit of starvation to get to our goals but it seems Hubs is not ready yet.

"Come...I'll cooked some scrambled eggs"

"I don't want anymore healthy stuff"

I cooked it anyway and shared it with him. Gave the excuse I was feeling munchy. Even put a bit of butter to cook the eggs with for taste. At the same time assured him that what he got was not the healthy version. If it was, it would have been only egg whites, less salt and cooked with no oil or just a dollop of it.

How do I make clean and healthy eating more interesting?

Valentine Breakfast

It was too lovely of a Sunday to spend most of my day cooped up in class.

Plus, it's Valentine's.

So, I skipped my Evidence class...haiz...to my Husband's delight.

Feeling partly guilty and partly elated for being able to spend our lovely Sunday together, we decided to keep the day simple.

We started off our Valentine's with breakfast at Levain's that morning. 

I love the smell of freshly baked pastries in the morning! I can feel my thighs expanding from just smelling those awesome sugar and butter coated carbs!

Look but don't touch!

It was these chocolate chip bread or the danish pastries.

Croissants anyone?

Look at those Octopus buns.

Me with my English tea.

By 1030am, we were done with breakfast. We felt it was too early to go home so we headed to Pavilion to kill time. 

Made a minor purchase at one of the shops in Pavi and with the shop's Valentine promo, got a free Teddy Bear keychain. Since hubs paid for the purchase, I was keen in displaying my appreciation and love by immediately hanging that said teddy bear on my Anya.

"Just for today yer! Spoil the bag's classy look"

Ermmm...dictate much...

Noonish, we were already home with my head buried in my Criminal Law books.

To avoid the Valentine dinner crowd, we continued our celebrations at Menate and by Maghrib we were already done with dinner. 

Though simple, both of us enjoyed our simple lazy Sunday. 

Time to Cook

Remember the frozen seafood we bought from KK?

Well, among them included a bag of mantis shrimps. I've never cooked one before. I googled for recipes and found two that was kind of doable sans some ingredients I didn't have at the time.  

I was absolutely intimidated by the size. There were three of them in a bag so I decided to first experiment with the largest one.

" How the bleep do I cook this thing? It's bleeping huge!!!" 

"Look at it?"

"Do I cut it? How laaaar?"

All my watsapps with pictures were greeted by Hubs I dunnos and lots of LOLs.

Google was my saviour. Turns out to dispose of the dirt sack is similar to how you would do for  shrimps.

Yes, I'm about to cook an alien life form. It's bigger than my face!

Arrrrghhh!!!

This is Hubs fave picture by the way. On two different occasions he resent the pics from work to emphasise that this is his all time favourite picture.

Hubs gave an A+ for my first, ONE AND ONLY, attempt for Butter Oat Mantis Shrimp. Please google the recipe as I didn't have all the ingredients needed and had to combine two different recipes and just winged it. Luckily it turned out ok.

The remaining two mantis shrimps will most likely be steamed and eaten with butter sauce. 

Yup Yup...This Mak Cik knows how much work went into it.

Shopping for seafood in KK

It was the day we were scheduled to fly back to KL.

So, after checking out the wet market nearby with the added information from our own surveying done throughout our stay, we decided to purchase our frozen seafood from this shop. It's located near the hotel and comparing the selection from other shops, we felt here was the best place with more choices and comparatively moderate prices.

We didn't get the lobster but opted for these giant tiger prawns. You won't get them in KL for the price you pay here in KK for sure.

Other assortment of frozen seafood.

Prawns, prawns everywhere.

We left the shop with two boxes of frozen seafood. Any purchases made here are packed according to airport restrictions so you guys don't have to worry. Also, you won't need to pay extra for the packaging services at this shop.

Oooh, something to point out here. All transaction are done in cash. Cash business only yer! They don't accept credit cards.

Of course we made sure we bought dried seafood too. 

Memang borong ikan bilis Grade A banyak-banyak, cumi kering and a bit of the ikan kurau masin.

They were just packing the udang kering. Of course I just had to buy them. Tried them in my cooking once we got home and was definitely happy with our purchase. They were fat and succulent and weren't overly salty.

This was the dude whose shop we bought the dried seafood from. All were good purchases. 

However, upon our return, despite all the extras he gave, we felt the price he quoted was slightly on the pricey side. Just slightly, nothing too drastic. Definitely still cheaper from anything you would get in KL. 

I would still recommend a visit to his shop. His is situated at the front part of the Filipino Market, near the main road. Somehow I felt that his shop had more good stuff and definitely more selection to choose from. Just look out for the Afro dude and you won't miss his stall. 

Maybe those visiting KK soon may want to try buying from the shops inside? Or bargain harder with the Afro dude?