Hong Kong Day 1

Internet!!! 

After 1 whole week finally the internet at home has been fixed. Surprisingly, it wasn't that tough living life without internet, but discovering free wifi outside is like discovering money on the streets. Or discovering civilisation, as Esther would call it lol.

So last week during Raya the sisters and I (the 3 of us) went to Hong Kong with a tour group. I know some people might ask why we didn't do free and easy since HK is not that big and we can speak Cantonese yadda yadda yadda... 

First of all, it was a very last minute plan to go to Hong Kong. Second, our 12YO sister was coming with us, it definitely was not a good idea to do free and easy with only the 3 of us girls, whatmore one is so young. I wouldn't say going with a tour group is bad, it's summer in HK so moving around in an air-conditioned coach was definitely a big plus. It was so hot it's not even funny ok. But I would say our itinerary was a little on the poorly planned side. Long story short, the tour leader was quite shit. Aaaaaand, some of the tourists from our group super 'hak yan zhang' (annoying to the max wtf).

Anyway, we were told that we had to be at the airprot by 4am, we had to wake up at 2am to get ready and drive to the airport. Which means I didn't get enough to sleep, which also means I was super kao cranky. And plus I hate(x129831) flying. When the tour assistant gave us our boarding pass, we realised that the 3 of us were seated separately! How fucking ridiculous is that?? Never mind, the best was about to come. The flight was 4 hours. Upon arrival, there was a LOOOOOOOOOONG queue at the immigration. It took us more than 1 hour just to get through. Never mind...

Once we met our tour guide, we were quickly brought into the coach. We were told that the tour of the day would start at 5pm. It was around 12-1ish. We will first be sent to our hotel and checked into our rooms. Lunch was not covered so we were supposed to look for it ourselves. I was looking forward to checking into the hotel already because I was super tired, all I wanted was at least 10 minutes of being idle.

When we were at the hotel, guess what? Everyone else in our tour had a room, but OUR ROOM WAS NOT READY.

In our tour, there were 2 families which needed a 3 bedded room, and one of them was us. But only 1 room was ready, the other would only be ready at 4pm! To be fair, the tour guide suggested that we (other family and us) leave all of our luggage in the room, go out and grab lunch, and then come back and decide who takes which room when the other room is ready. In other words, nobody takes the room yet.

I thought that was alright, but of course the other family didn't. I don't even remember how it happened, in the end the room was given to the other family.

At that point, I was seriously, seriously pissed. My level of tulan was way over the bar already. But I was too tired to even say anything. My expression told it all though. Even the tour guide got scared when he saw my face hahahaha. Seriously, we paid for everything already. At 1pm how can they  not have a fucking room ready?? But all he could do was apologize. So whatever lah.

We stayed at Happy Valley or Pau Ma Tei, literally means horse-racing ground. We walked around and quickly looked for a place to eat and decided on this random Yu Dan Meen (fish ball noodle) place.

First thing I wanted to try in HK was of course their Nai Cha (milk tea).

It was very very different from all the milk tea I've tried, both HK (Kim Gary, Wong Kok and Pacific House in Melbourne) and Malaysian (teh tarik) styles. There's something about the milk they used, or the tea, I wasn't even sure.

Little did I know at that time that the first Nai Cha I tried in HK that day, was also the BEST Nai Cha I've tried throughout the trip in HK itself. During that trip I've been to other places and tried other Nai cha only to realise nothing compared to this! My only regret was not having the chance to drink it one more time before we left HK.

Noodle and soup was nothing to shout about. The soup was white, which made us wonder what it was made of. The Yu Dan and Yu Peng (fish cake) was quite nice.

I'm not really a fan of fishballs and noodle soup but I would recommend this place for their Nai Cha.

維港魚蛋麵小廚
11 Shing Wo Road, Happy Valley

Btw, there's no English words in their menu. Not even in the shop sign. And this is the same in almost ALL eating places. We were struggling to make our order because except for my youngest sister who had only 5 years of Chinese language education, my other sister can't read at all. I can read a little but most of the time I guess.

After lunch, we walked around the area since our stupid hotel room was still not ready. It was damn hot and sunny.

Mannings is like the HK Guardian.

The density of buildings is so high it's crazy.

The hotel we were living in which didn't manage to get a room ready for us, does not provide free wifi, and charges HKD130/day for it.

The Central-Mid-levels escalators, the longest escalator system in the world.

Dinner wasn't that good which was why I didn't bother taking a picture. And besides we were eating with the other tourists, a bit paiseh to take picture also. Not that some people didn't do it though... haha. But really, it was not fantastic. Some random restaurant in Klang serves better food lor. It was supposedly a Siu Ngo (Roasted Goose) dinner. Honestly, I prefer the taste of duck than goose. Or maybe the restaurant suck at preparing the goose, I dunno.

After that we headed to Victoria Peak, or The Peak, or Tai Ping Shan for a night view of HK.

Gotta say the view was breathtaking.

But it was SUPER PACKED WITH PEOPLE. There's no way you can take a picture with no Tom, Dick and Harry around. Actually got, but must pay wan.

After that we went to Madame Tussauds. If you don't know what Madame Tussaud is, it's a wax museums with wax figures of famous people.

With Pablo Picasso!

Teaching Mozart the violin... :P

After Madame Tussauds according to the itinerary given to us, we were supposed to go to Lui Yan Kai (Ladies' Market). Guess what the tour guide told us this time?

He said if there was any of us who would like to return to the hotel, the driver would send us there. If we would like to go to Lui Yan Kai, he and driver would DROP us there but we would have to go back at our own expense!

WHAT BULLSHIT IS THIS.

If they're not going to send us back why put Lui Yan Kai as part of the stupid itinerary?!? Who's gonna feel like going there after one long day and knowing we'll have to figure out our way home ourselves in the middle of a foreign country late at night?!? CHISIN.

In the end only a couple decided to go to Lui Yan Kai, the rest of us decided to head back to hotel. Especially because the tour guide mentioned that the next day is gonna be a long long day, starting early and finishing late.

33 degrees

I am home!!!

In a new home some more hehe. My family shifted early this year before CNY. Coming back to a new place felt a little awkward at the beginning... I didn't know where the plates or cutleries were kept, didn't know how to turn on the TV, there seems to be a million switches and I had to try a million times to be able to switch on freaking fan -.- 

The moment I stepped onto Malaysian ground, there's only 2 words to describe my feelings. SIBEH HOT! Wtf.

I don't know if it's just a transition from winter to a tropical weather, or the weather has just been super hot lately. Hazy too! I feel sweaty, oily and sticky all the time ughh.

Doing nothing much but watching AOD (Astro On Demand). This is a long awaited break for me, obviously I have to be doing nothing ;) Went to this new mall about a week ago!

Not bad lor quite big, got cinema and some nice shops too. My sister wanted to meet up with her friends there so we (other sister, grandma and I) tagged along. Wanted to try the dessert place Tong Pak Fu but it was so packed. Not bothered. But I tried Gong Cha! And I loved it!

It was my first time trying so I didn't want to be adventurous. I tried their milk tea with pearls, very nice! I can even say it's nicer than the Chatime in Melbourne, don't know about the Chatime here, haven't tried yet. I can't wait to go back for my 2nd time :D

While waiting for my sister we shopped around. Ok more like I shopped around hehe. I haven't been properly shopping for more than a year already ok! I'm so shopping-deprived lol.

I spotted this small nude patent leather shoulder bag with chain straps (not seen) and detachable studded straps. I was contemplating for a really long time whether or not to buy it cos the pricetag was rm100 which I personally thought was expensive for such a small bag. BUT I REALLY LIKED IT! It was originally rm140, with rm40 of the price it's still quite pricey. There were many black ones of the same design, but there was only ONE left of this nude colour. After thinking for almost 20 minutes, I decided to get it. When the cashier scanned it, she said "rm70", which of course surprised me. When she saw my surprised face she asked me "rm70 kan?" and I stupidly asked her back "bukan rm100 ke?" which she then looked at the pricetag and decided to ask her colleague to check. At that point I seriously felt like a complete idiot and I should have kept my mouth shut. But thank goodness, her colleague came back and confirmed that it's rm70.

SCORE! :D

Also went to Daiso and bought some random stuffs. Julienne peeler! I can't wait to try it. If it works well, Imma make some Thai papaya/mango salad. Julienne means to cut food/vegetables into small strips. Bought a skimmer cos the skimmer I have at home in Melbourne is hopeless.

Apart from AOD I've also been helping my grandma with cooking dinner. My mom bought some tin gai, paddy frogs, the other day so I decided to give it a try. Made Gong Bou Tin Gai. Paddy frogs are similar to chicken, except that frog has less fats, is smaller in size and so cooks a lot quicker.

That's all as far as my Instagram pictures go. The sisters and I are going to Hong Kong this weekend/raya! I don't really like crowded places so not looking forward to that but definitely looking forward to the food! Egg tart, polo bao, dim sum... I'm too old for Disneyland but it's my first time so maybe I should be looking forward to that too? I don't know.

Market finds

Yesterday we went out for dinner with Michelle and Alvin. We wanted a place that is cheap so we picked this Korean place that looks pretty shabby from the outside lol. Michelle said it's not bad so we decided to give it a go. When we looked at the "Mains" which comes with a rice and a side dish, it was priced at around $12-16, which we thought wasn't that cheap actually. We went on and ordered a main each anyway. Honestly, I thought it was a single-serving dish and so did everyone. Wk's plate of Chicken Bulgogi with Cheese was the first to be served and when we saw it... our eyes bulged and our jaws all dropped.

IT WAS MAAASSIVE OK!

Look at the abundance of cheese! And X 4 for the four of us wtf. We ordered different stuff but they were all equally humongous! They tasted pretty good too. The place is called CJ Lunchbar if anyone's interested. Cheap but generously portioned, tasty stuff. I had the Spicy Beef Ribs (Galbijjim) and I loved it.

The other weekend when we were at the market in Footscray we spotted these pomfrets! I grew up with pomfrets. The sight and taste of it instantly reminded me of home. Unfortunately we couldn't find the big ones, these were small pomfrets which are usually better off fried. But it was still good to have since I haven't had it in a while now. Super easy; clean the fish (intestines), season it, simply steam it with some spring onion and ginger, pour the sauce over, crisp up some chopped garlic and then drizzle the hot oil with garlic over the top. This step is extremely important, I find that doing this pushes the sauce and the chopped spring onion to a whole new level.

That same day in the market, we were looking for some fish fillet when we spotted this tray of fish steaks going at only $5. I think these were baby mackarels, not sure but whatever. They were actually quite fresh for only $5. I panfried them after seasoning them with salt and pepper and coating them with a little bit of cornflour. Then quickly stir up some sauce and chopped spring onion and drizzled over it. The amount as a main served with rice was enough to serve 4!

Omg did I sound like an aunty talking about buying cheap fishes in market??? Lol.

Lastly, what else but a dessert.

This is my 3rd attempt at lemon meringue tart(lets) now and I'm still not happy with the way they turn out. The first time I made it, the pastry was as hard as rock, the curd was spongy?! The second time, everything was good, good curd, good flaky pastry but I oversalted the pastry it was disgustingly salty. This time, I decided to be lazy and entrust the pastry bit to premade frozen shortcrust pastry. I followed the cooking time in the instructions behind the packet, but the freaking pastry didn't cook enough. -.- AAAAAGH. 

I think the next time I do this I shall do it with limes since I prefer the taste of limes anyway. And originally this was supposed to be in a pie or a big tart shape but I only have little tartlet tins so have to go with that hahaha.

Ok time to finish up my assignment and clean my makeup brushes because I am supposed to do a photography makeup unit tomorrow! Yay can't wait :)

This is what we've been up to.

An ordinarily special day.

10 years ago, who knew what's going to happen today? No one. Starting off as lovebirds in high school, we went separate ways after school, we were thrown the long distance challenge for 4 years. We embraced it, we learned from it and grew with it... 10 years later, look where we are now! It's like a test which we've passed with flying colours. It's been a year and 4 months since we reunited, it's like a roller coaster ride but it's a good ride :)

Happy anniversary to the both of us. *virtual champagne toast*

Dear readers, friends and family, please stop asking "When are you guys getting married?". Being together for so long doesn't define "just get married". Marriage doesn't only need commitment, it needs money. $$$. Cold hard cash. In case you didn't know, you need to work hard to earn that shit. Unless I grow a money tree, that's a different story. Until that shit piles up, I'll say wait patiently :)

I have no idea what title to put.

Day 4 of flu and I'm finally feeling much better. Finally able to eat without having to throw up hours later, which is the worst feeling ever. Yesterday I threw up the cereal I ate in the morning which I ate dry because I wasn't bothered to mix it with milk. Wk thinks it needed some 'lubricant' to help with the digestion that's why I threw up hahaha. Ok TMI...

This is the 2nd time getting influenza this year and the last I had was in what? March? Wtf, that's less than 2 months ago! I don't remember myself falling sick so often in Malaysia except when I'm extremely stressed or exhausted which of course, doesn't happen all the time. Seriously need to consider getting one of those flu jabs but then again, I hate jabs or any sort of needles, with a passion. Aaaagh. 

You know what completely sucks when you're sick? It's when you feel so headache-y or exhausted that all you can do is lie down otherwise you'll feel like crap. And when you lie down too much, you get a backache. And despite having those fantastic time off work or school, you can't enjoy or do anything productive because you're so bed-ridden.

Ok enough of the whinging.

I made Chai Kueh 菜粿 around last week. My mom used to buy Chai Kueh on Sunday mornings when she goes to the morning market to get groceries. My favourite, favourite part of eating Chai Kueh is dipping it into the sweet, garlic chilli sauce which usually comes with it. I couldn't find a recipe to the chilli sauce so I dipped it into a regular garlic chilli sauce and it tasted perfectly fine. As you can see, my skin is on the thicker side. The thinner the skin, the more translucent it'll be. I guess I need to practice my wrapping skills then because I couldn't roll it any thinner without puncturing the skin while wrapping it. Please ignore my hideous wrapping lol. The skin didn't taste like what I remember them to be... it tasted more like.. Har Gau skin? Which isn't bad but just different. Maybe it's because of the thickness, I don't know. 

This stupid cake was supposed to be a Purple Sweet Potato White Sesame Marble Pound Cake. I know that's a mouthful, and I know cakes have no inteligence for me to call it stupid but so many things went wrong with it... aaaagh. So frustrating. The cake may look good as a whole here but only I know what's wrong with it and I wish I can just pick it up and slam it onto a wall until it breaks into a million pathetic pieces, just to show how frustrated I am with it.

We were at Prahran and I discovered this Japanese supply store which made me really happy =D I love walking in specialised food supply store. There're so many things there that I wish I could buy everything! Decided to give this Daifuku a try since I've seen many recipes of it but never tried one. It's basically glutinous rice cake with adzuki bean paste as filling inside. Tastes pretty interesting. It's soft, sweet... and freaking powdery. As I was eating it the corn/potato starch coating was flying everywhere. My mouth, my jeans, Wk's jeans... goodness.

Awesome, awesome drink from PappaRich. Don't remember what it's called, Ribena something. Basically it's Ribena, with either watermelon pulp or blended ice, and then there's watermelon spheres in it, Nata de Coco, and canned lychee. YUM! So refreshing that I didn't even bother about it being a cold drink eventhough it was so cold outside that day. This reminds me so much of those crazy, funky drinks you can get at SS2 Murni.

 

This however, was a complete disappointment. It's their Roti Telur Bawang with Curry Chicken. I was craving for roti that day and I was sooooo looking forward to this and all I got was some sloppy, soggy roti. How outrageous! Just looking at this picture can already tell you how 'soft' it looks, how it's lacking some serious colour which depicts the crispy texture a roti should have. Aaaagh disappointing. Come on PappaRich, I've had good roti from you in the past. What's with the inconsistency in quality! I can easily get a perfect Roti Telur Bawang from Modern (mamak in Klang)!

What's best for a sick person and it's freezing cold outside? Congee takeaway of course! =) Congee with the classic pork and century egg.

Alright time to start on some assignments. Waiting for Wk to come home with my lunch. Can't wait, I've been food deprived for daysssss.

Foodventure: Sichuan, Vietnamese, Asian

Sichuan House

I love Sichuan food period. My favourite Sichuan dish by far is this Fish Fragrant Eggplant. So good! The Cumin Pork Ribs are really good as well. There's also another very popular dish, Spicy Fish, its good but I'm not crazy over it. Sichuan food is all about rich, full-bodied flavour using chili and Sichuan Pepper which gives a numbing effect, very addictive!

Dong Ba

Never been to Vietnam, never had Vietnamese food until I came to Melbourne. Some of their popular dishes are noodle soup and rice paper rolls. Their soup are always rich in flavour, noodles are springy, you usually eat it with fresh Asian herbs and bean sprouts. The rice paper rolls are eaten with dipping sauce. Packed with fresh ingredients, its very refreshing. I like how most things are eaten fresh and raw, so healthy! Dong Ba is a place owned by my classmate's relative. I tried their Spicy Beef Noodle (bún bò Huế) and it's really good! It's not chili spice-y, but more lemon grass spice-y. The broth flavour is stronger than the regular pho though.

Red Spice Road

Decided to give this place a try when Beatrice wanted to meet up while she was here for vacation. Oh my their pork belly was heavenly! The other 2 dishes were great too but nothing beats the pork belly! I would so go back just to have it. This place is quite similar to Gingerboy, serves South East Asian cuisine, but it's a lot more casual than Gingerboy (more posh and atas feeling). Guests are seated around communal tables so it's perfect for groups of 2 and above.