Happy Anniversary

Today is our 2nd anniversary. It's been another wonderful year for both of us and we thank God for that and also the little one whom we're looking forward to.....

Baby's Head already Engaged!

We went for routine check-up last sat. After doing the scan, the gynae told us the baby's head already went down completely and engaged. So it could be anytime now until due date. He briefed us on what to look out for and when to come to hospital.

Wow... we're excited but still hope the baby will come on time, which is near full term so that she can gain on more weight eventhough she's already 2.8kg now hehe.....

ok, the 'emergency bag' is ready, but the mummy is still not mentally prepared =)

Well, just have to take it easy and let the baby decides when she's ready to come out!!!

I still managed to cook Curry Chicken for saturday's lunch, didn't snap any nice pic cos someone is so hungry and started attacking the chicken already.

Anyway, this is Ken's breakfast today, fish fillet croissant and grapes:

Birthday Celebration @ Elcerdo

El Cerdo = "The Pig" in Spanish.

We went on Merdeka Day, the place was packed, you won't be able to get a table without reservation

Starter - Pork Sausage & ham in 'jelly'

The piglet in the washroom hehe....

Green bean with pork soupPork ribs - very crispy and juicy

The whole piglet before it's chopped

The guy from the restaurant, who looks like Jamie Oliver, explained, according to Spanish customary, the piglet was chopped with plate to show how crispy it was. Brandon was asked to make a wish before he proceed to 'attack' the piglet
'Jamie Oliver' shows the right way of chopping. Then followed by Brandon chopping the tail. Julian was shocked why these two 'ko ko' want to 'kill' the pig...
The plates were broken into pieces by throwing them into the bucket filled with stones. You can hear the shatterings in the restaurant the whole night. I wonder how many plates they break in one night.
The piglet then sent to kitchen to be chopped (again)
Garnished with mini potato

The b'day girl with her creatively-decorated 'b'day cake', which comes with a 'lucky pig' too. They played the b'day song which goes "Happy B'day to you, oink oink". It's so catchy and the very first time we heard such a porky b'day song hahaThe lucky pig - only for b'day girl

The strawberry dessert - with choc ice-cream, nuts, cream etc

Complementary from the restaurant - Martini Lemon, Vans & the kids were served with apple juice

Besides, we'd had salads, pasta and rice. so much and we didn't snap any pic of it cos we're busy eating then.

Nice place to go but the price is on the high side.

El Cerdo

Anyone been to El Cerdo? Next post will be on El Cerdo, where we celebrated Vans' sis birthday.

Stay tune for the "porky" post.........

New Recipes Try-Out (II)

Wan Tan Mee with Dumplings Soup

Wan Tan Mee with Curry Chicken & BBQ Pork

Cucur Bawang (Ken's fav)

Egg Tarts - 100% Home Made

Yummy Egg Tarts =)

Bento Craze

Recently, i had been searching for Bento accesories at ebay. Unfortunately, it's either too pricey or they charge unreasonably high postage. Actually, we do have local online store for Bento making acessories but the prices are abit on the high side, most probably they have factored in the delivery cost from Japan as well. Read from some blogs that bento kit are also available at 100 Yen shop but there are not many varieties, like those can be found in Jusco.

Then i found a lady who works in Japan at one of the parenting forums, who is willing to help to purchase those accessories and post it to M'sia.

I've bought a few kits to start off with. While my nieces were in KL, I had tried to make the eggs using the egg moulds, sausage with the wieners, and breads with the cutters. Didn't manage to snap the pics of the sausages and breads cos i was in hurry to bring them out for shopping. Definitely, the kids like it very much. And I'll surely make time to make a complete set of bento using my new kits hehe

Bento Kits

Moulded egg using Rabbit shaped mould

New Recipes Try-Out

Yesterday, both of us were on leave. I cooked something different for breakfast. I have this phobia to fry noodles ever since the last failure last year hehe....

So this time, i decided to give it one more try. If it didn't turn out well this time, i'm not going to fry any noodles anymore.

This is the Black Pepper Fried Udons, abit spicy cos i put too much black pepper but overall it tastes ok, at least Ken said so......

The prawn fritters i made couple of weeks ago:

My Recent Adventure at Bukit Putih

My good friends Ah Lim (surname Ah) & Kue Lin invited me for a hike up Bkt Putih (i think that is what its called) 2 weeks ago and I gladly obliged, thinking of it as a good challenge and a fitness benchmark for myself. I've tried walking on 15% gradient for 1.5km on the treadmill twice the week before I ascended the hill and I managed to do it without too much fuss, so I reckon I was ready for this challenge.

We started out at around 7:45am and the weather was perfect that morning. I was briefed that there is 6 Levels on this hill and the trail will branch at Level 5, with one way leading to Level 6 and the other leading to the waterfall. We managed to reach Level 2 before we took a rest. Both the guys weren't in their best form that morning and urged me go on while they take their time to ascend to Level 5. I managed to get to Level 3 where most people stop and go round to descend the hill. By the time I hit Level 4, there was literally only a handful of people on the trail.
As usual, you'll find ants and other insects in fallen trees, which is aplenty along the way up.

It was hard work getting up to Level 5, I almost gave up along the way.

Once you reach Level 5, there will be a road on the right leading to a waterfall which according to this sign is only 30 minutes away. According to regular hikers, it could take up to 1 hour to reach for first timer and the track is tough.

The height as Level 5 was 1215 feet. I waited for the guys at Level 5.On the left will be the trail to Level 6, which is supposedly "The Peak". But when we arrived there, we saw a signboard that pointed us to another hill, Saga hill which was approximately 28 minutes away. We decided to try it out.

After exactly 28 minutes, we reach this sign and saw alot of folks there exercising. Whole families hiked up the hill together. It looked like a planned gathering. It was almost 10:30 when we reach Saga hill top.

We found this mysterious sign enroute to Saga Hill. Just goes to show that there is no escape from politics :) An this staunch supporter can't help but gives a thumbs up.

Drenched in sweat and tired, we tried to muster a smile during photo time. By then, our legs were getting tired and we dreaded the descent as it will stress the already over-worked calves.By the time we descended the hill and returned to civilization, it was already 12pm. We drove over to reward ourselves with some dim sum in Cheras before heading home with a wide grin and satisfaction deep down. Little did I know that the following 2 days I will experience a strange tinggling sensation on my calf that will prevent me from doing the following things :-

1) Walk properly

2) Walk down a flight of stairs

3) Communicate effectively, as I spent half the time groaning in pain with each step I took

Basically my life grinded to a halt and I rested for 2 days before I was back to normal. But it has not deterred me from conquering this hill again. I shall be back, hopefully before end of August as the schedule for the next couple of weekends are already occupied.

Our Recent Weekend Food Experiments

Both Yen and Vans were very in the mood for cooking last weekend and I was treated to some great food over the weekend.

On Friday nite, we were treated to a strawberry sponge cake that Yen baked. It look intricate and well decorated for a first attempt :)



Vans experimented on baked pasta and it turned out pretty tasty :)

What will Vans experiment on next? Stay tuned :)