Happy Chinese New Year People!

A decorative lion.

Remember that day which I didn't made it to Aquaria?  Well, as mentioned earlier, I hanged out with a good friend instead.  From KLCC to Petaling Street (for a particular special brand of 'sweet meat' my in-laws fancy), from Petaling Street to MidValley.

It was at MidValley that I took all these photos.  At least my day was not wasted.  Still managed to capture something worthwhile.  But then again, on second thoughts, it won't be that wasted also since I have great company entertaining me throughout.  Lols...

They had little stalls set up in the main concourse of the mall selling/exhibiting many different crafts, goodies, cookies, candies which can only be found during the Chinese festive season.

This lion head is so clean and fluffed up unlike those we usually sees at shop openings, business launching, house warming, Chinese New Year & etc.  And I really love the blue too!

Note from Wiki:

During CNY, lion dance troupes from the Chinese Associations (martial art & etc) will visit houses & shops to perform the traditional custom of 'chai ching' (採青 - plucking the greens literally). It is actually a quest by the 'lion' to pluck the auspicious green (usually lettuce cause in chinese words, it is pronounced at 'sheng chai'生菜, which also sounded like 'grow fortune') which are hung up in a high place together with a red packet containing money (hong bao).  What happen is, the 'lion' would dance and approach it like a curious cat, supposely "eat" the green and then "spit" it out in a nicely arranged auspicious character.  As for the red packet, the troupe get to keep it as a reward!  All this drama is to bring good luck and fortune to the business or households.  :)  Interesting huh?

A 'chinese wooden hand drum toy' for children.  Just spin the handle back & forth, the little beads that are tied to it will hit the drum skin making dum dum dum sound!

A granny sharing her stories of the 'hand drum' with a young girl manning the stall.  I like pictures like these. It would have been better if I've caught the facial expression of the granny.  Well, there is always another time.  

These dough figurines are also one of the many folk art of the Chinese which has a history of  more than 2000 years.  Of course the characters in this photo is somewhat UNIQUE in this era of 2011.  A long long time ago, the art is much much more commendable.  :p  They don't make 'Mario', 'chinese ghost' or 'pile of shit' as the photo above... hahaha...  Those days, they make little figurines of famous Chinese heroes & warriors out of few coloured pieces of dough within minutes!  I remember mom mentioned before that during her childhood, she will be able to find these 'lively' looking dough figurines for sale outside temples which has chinese opera shows going on.  I remember having one myself too.  Can't remember the character though.  All I know is, I found it eaten up by insects years later. :p

Typical Chinese New Year goodies year after year.  Sugar coated dried coconuts, preserved plums, gingers and etc. 

The more modern days goodies.  Fried ngaku (arrowheads), fried lin ngau (lotus root), green peas cookies, peanut cookies, love letters and etc.

These have nothing to do with the festive season.  But it was my childhood.  The junkfood from my era.  Lols.  I remembered 'Ding Dang' used to cost RM0.50 and that was considered really expensive ok.  Inside the box, we'll find a pack of cheap chocolate and a small toy!  Usually we will just tossed out the chocolates.  We only wanted the toys!  Hahaha...

 

And here, is a very distinctive visual art of Chinese handicrafs known as the 'Paper Cutting', originated in the 6th century which are used during festivals as decoration.  A long long time ago, they are cut out of paper with scissors and engraving knife and requires remarkable skills.  These days, I believe they are just cut out of moulded machine.  Still nice nevertheless.  Just lack that special something.  If you know what I mean.

  

 That's more or less what I captured on that day.  Hope you enjoyed a little of our culture in my words (of course Wiki's too).  Anyway, for those of you travelling home, have a safe trip!  Don't over indulged on those goodies, drink more water ya!  Here wishing all of you out there who are celebrating Chinese New Year,

'Shen Ti Jian Kang 身体健康'  (Good health)

and 

'Wan Shi Ru Yi 万事如意'! (Everything follow your wishes)

Fried Rice (with corns)

In lieu of all the money spent on shopping for Chinese New Year, a gf of mine, Florence, who was here last Wed to learn how to apply fake lashes, suggested that we have fried rice for dinner instead (save $$) and she will bring over the can of luncheon meat which she wanted to eat very much yet not able to cook them cause she is not allowed to do any 'heavy' cooking in the kitchen of her landlord.  Lols...

Coincidentally, I have some leftover rice in the fridge and so, we had fried rice, with a twist - the corns.  :)  Those corns were also from her which she bought from Cameron Highlands over the past weekend.  I totally forgotten about it until I opened the fridge for the rice.  :p Cleaned it up and tossed them into the rice cooker steamer while I cooked a little extra rice.  

Ingredients
Some cooked rice (qty depends on your requirement)
Mixed beans
Onions (because I've them in my kitchen)
Few eggs beaten (add dash of salt & pepper to taste)
Soy sauce (quantity to taste)
Luncheon meat cut to mini cubes

Methods

1) Heat a little oil in wok.  Pour in beaten egg and turn the wok to spread.  Cook until firm underneath, then break it up (like scramble eggs like that).  Remove from wok and set aside.

2) Add a little oil to earlier wok.  Saute onion till fragrant.  Add luncheon meat & mixed beans.  Stir fry till cooked.  Remove from wok and set aside.

3) Heat a little oil in wok and toss the rice over high heat for about 2 minutes.

4) Mix in all the cooked ingredients ('scrambled' eggs & luncheon meat) and sprinkle with soy sauce.  Continue tossing over high heat for few minutes.  Ready to serve. :)

On the side, I fried extra eggs (hor pau dan = purse egg) to spread on top of the fried rice so that it look more presentable... :p  Yes, presentation is important in my kitchen.  Lols...  As for the corn, had it rolled in butter and sprinkled with a little salt before serving.  Another satisfying simple dinner!

Tips: Besides luncheon meat, you can use Chinese Sausages or Charsiew (BBQ pork) or shrimps or chicken.  In fact, anything at all.  I would usually just cook with what I can find in the kitchen.  Treat it as clearing out all the food stock :p

And yes, we managed the lashes too with full make up.  Hahaha... And now, she says she wanna attempt the lashes and make-up for work next day.  I hope her colleagues wouldn't think it's Halloween. Hahahaha....

10:00am Placed orders for some stuff for CNY

10:15am Breakfast

10:45am MidValley to purchase hampers

11:30am Kota Dsara to purchase dog kibbles

12:20pm Lunch with girlfriend @ Solaris

03:00pm Aquaria @ KLCC

05:00pm Incense shop @ OUG

06:00pm Houseworks which include cleaned & fed doggies plus a little gardening.

08:00pm Met up with The Fernandez for dinner @ New Paris

11:00pm Followed by coffee at Tropicana Mall

12:00am Watched 'Shoalin' midnight show

03:00am Home

Amazing huh?  All in one day!  I was a superwoman last Friday.  Crazy.  

Pertaining to whether there is a Part 2 to my blunder on Thurs (i.e. no ticket to Aquaria), hmm.. well, actually, no part 2. :p  I ended up calling my friend who I supposed to meet for lunch that day around 2ish to come early and spent the whole afternoon doing a little CNY shopping, window shopping plus coffee!  I wouldn't dare to inconvenience the husband to bring me the ticket while he is at work doing 'serious' thing since one of us (me) already doing 'not-so-serious' thing... hehehe.  Afterall, Aquaria wouldn't run away! :) As you can see from above, I eventually went on the next day (Fri)!  Will write more about it on a separate post. :)  Stay tuned ya!

A Dog (or a mole?)

Name: Lucky Boss (Male)

Breed: Mongrel

Age: > 9 years

Colour: Black & Butterscotch

Peculiar habits: Love to sleep on shoes but fear of being reprimanded by shoes too.  Extra big flying shoes especially.  Love peeing on the master's wheels.  Never on the mistress' cause she will morphed into an 'evil-step-mother mode' if it happens.  Have an issue with thunders and rain but never brought it up with the creator of it.  Instead, will try his mighty most wriggling thru tight windows or door, into the safety of the house.  Or, he would just dig a hole out of the largest flower pot, and bury his head in the hole.  Did we have a DOG?  Or a mole?

I woke up early this morning, packed up my camera, lenses, spare battery, make sure the memory card is in the camera (remember that hot air balloon incident?) and got out of the house by 10am.  Drove over to Bangsar to run some errands before heading down to KLCC for Aquaria - An Ocean of Discoveries.  Remember the free ticket I got for Christmas?  Yeah, wanted to utilize it before it expire end of this month. Wanted to be there by 11ish, so that I can 'zen' myself looking at the many colourful fishes there for 2 hours, before meeting up another friend for a drink/lunch at about 2ish.  

Got there about 11ish as planned.  Parked the car, grab my stuff and off I went heading towards Aquaria.  I was a little excited even. :)  It would be nice exploring it out on my own and go trigger happy with my camera.   A little happy even that the day started off as planned.

As I was enjoying the 'feeling' of excitement while walking, I suddenly remembered something.  I DID NOT BRING THE TICKET!  Believe it or not, despite of all the excitement that has been building up for the past few days in anticipation of this day, I somehow managed to not bring the ticket!  I do not have the ticket with me and it didn't even crossed my mind at all.  This is really like so WTF!!!!!

Sigh........ I sms-ed the husband and he replied...."Normal la u..." and laughed a hundreds 'haha'.... Felt so 'consoled' right?    >.<

RIP Poodle Puppy :(

My heart is so heavy now.  How could anyone do this?  Why would anyone do this?

It has been confirmed that the abuser is Champ Tan & Doreen Loo on Facebook. I am so glad that poodle puppy has gone to heaven.  RIP poodle puppy.  You are safe now. 

Potato Chicken + Cordycep Soup

I cooked these for dinner last week, and the kitchen was closed after that.  Inspiration-less.  Lols...  Picture above was just a simple chicken dish cooked with potato = Potato Chicken.  Nothing much to this post.  Just something to share. ;)

Ingredients:

Some chicken cut into pieces

Some potato cut into cubes

Some oyster sauce + some dark soy sauce + a little sesame oil + cornflour + little water

Chopped some garlic

A little chinese wine

Methods:

1) Heat wok with a little oil.

2) Saute some chopped garlic till fragrant.

3) Add in the cut chicken pieces and cook for a minute or so.

4) Add in the cubed potato.

5) Drizzled in the sauce mixture.

6) Cook on high heat for a short while till boiling.

7) Reduce heat to low and cover with wok's lid to simmer for while.  Hmm... approx. 10minutes.

8) Remember to stir it every now and then to prevent burn.

9) Last but not least, drizzled in some chinese wine, off the fire, ready to serve. :)

For simple chinese cooking, I usually just go with 'a little' of this, or 'some of that'.  Not sure of the exact amount.  Hahaha... simply only.  Go with the 'feel'... hahaha...  Luckily it turned out pretty yummy. :p

Boiled Chicken Cordyceps soup too.  I remembered grandpa used to boil cordyceps soup for me when I was young for I was an asthmatic + coughfy child.  So I thought this should be good for us too since both of us have been experiencing coughing spell since the recovering of the nasty cold.  Though these are just some cheap cordyceps, well, it's better than none at all... :p  I bought the herbs off the supermarket shelf.  Pre-packed.  Easy peasy! ;)

1) First, scald the kampung chicken (village chicken, small black ones) for awhile in a pot of boiling water.  This is to rid the raw stench (smell) and 'remaining blood' so that the soup we boil later would turned out clear and not choky.  

2) Then, put the scalded chicken into the slow cooker, throw in the herbs (washed) and filled up the pot with water (normal temperature), amount as indicated on the packaging of the herbs.

3) Set cooker to 'high'.  When boiled, switched to 'low' and let it cook for 3-4 hours.  Ready to serve.

4) Salt are optional :)  

  

Besides Kampung Chicken, you can boiled with lean pork meat, normal chicken, or any other meat you prefer (or no meat at all).  I chose Kampung chicken cause I was told they are good for health.  In what ways, I don't know.  Probably less chemicals.  Hahaha....

Tips:

If you are working, you can use the 'auto timer' adapter to boil soup.  You know those plug which you can set when to turn on or off?  Just set your slow cooker on 'low' and your 'auto timer' to on for 4-5 hours. By time you get home from work, you'll have hot yummy nourishing soup waiting for you at home!  :)  So what I usually does is, I'll set the adapter to on at 10am and off at 3pm.  Then on again at 6:30pm for half an hour so that the soup would be hot at dinner time :).  You get what I mean?

These are the expensive cordyceps.  The cheap ones are plummer, rounder and whiter.  Hmm... go zoom in on my soup picture.  You might be able to see some.. lols..

Medicinal uses of Cordyceps:

Replenishes energy, alleviates cough (bingo!), expels phlegm (bingo!), relieves lower back pain and aching joints.

Personal verdict:
I think the soup does help with the coughing.  We cough lesser and almost recovering :)

My First Wearable Piece ;)

I sew this over new year eve and new year.  Supposed to be a cozy up cardigan but it turned out looking more like a Japanese Yukata.  I guess I should have used a softer cuddlier material instead of this one (I bought this fabric last year cause I thought the print was rather funky.). But it was alright though.  Pretty satisfied with my work. :)  My first wearable masterpiece.  So it has to go to mom. Lols...  I followed the size 'S' measurement on the book yet it turned out to be so huge.  Mom gonna swim in it.  :) Hehehe...

An Afternoon At Emage Grooming Boutique

Was invited by Evie to join her as blogger to attend this 'Wardrobe Fengshui Tea Talk' organized by Emage Grooming at their brand new boutique which recently open it's door in Kota Damansara two Saturdays ago.  Emage Grooming Boutique, founded by Evelyn Ch'ng, is Malaysia first one-stop image and fashion store under one roof   

 

The interior of the boutique, painted in turquoise and white, were rather cozy.  Always love turquoise.  It feels bright, fresh and sunny!  Unlike other boutiques which are usually filled with racks of clothes, rows after rows, Emage was totally different.  It has a big open space with a red lazy couch in the middle where you can sit to admire the racks of clothes surrounding it.:)  I love this kind of shopping.  I called them lazy people shopping.  Hehehe....  If you are lucky, you might not even need to worry your pretty head on what to pick for you might get the chance to get styling tips from Evelyn personally.  I did said, 'if you are lucky' right? ;)  After all, Evelyn is a busy girl!

Evelyn Ch'ng, a certified Image Trainer by Lynne Marks since 2005, has established herself as one of the most sought after confidence guru in South East Asia.  Amway, Alliance Bank, P&G are just few of the many big names under her belt.  For the long list, do visit their website. :) 

 

At Emage Grooming Boutique, other than the interior that is not typical, even the collection showcased were slightly different too.  They don't showcase the same label throughout.  They invites different International designers to showcase their collection here every now and then.  And currently, in the house, you will find Venezuela designer Nila Palacious and her Latin influenced designs (I love the yellow piece she wore in that photo), Dutch jewellery designer Siska with the colourful and vibrant accessories and a local jewellery designer Angi who specialized in pearls pieces.

From the short talk, we learned that each of us have our very own set of colours that are suitable for us based on our date of birth (strange but it made some sense when I was there).  And then, there are two main groups of colours and they are the 'warm' and the 'cool' and these two are further broken into 4 categories namely, winter, spring, autumn and summer colours.  And upon analization (processed) by Evelyn, each of us would have our very own set of colours that flatters us.  Meaning, people will turn their head when we walk past as if we are superstar like that. Get it?

When they mentioned 'one-stop image and fashion store under one roof ', they really do mean just that.  Other than showcasing designer pieces, they also offer grooming & social etiquette courses, image consultation and many more.  Both for personal as well as for corporate.  If you wish to be an image trainer yourself, you can  check them out too.  They have a course called "Train the Trainer".  I know, it's interesting. :)

Other than the many self image improvement courses, every month, Emage conducts various topic of sharing by prominent speakers which includes image (of course), fashion, beauty, nutrition, entrepreneurship, investment and even spiritual stuffs like fengshui & astrology. It is Emage's objective to groom ladies and even gentlemen, not only on the outside, but from inside out as well.

And here's the good news.  In conjunction with their opening, Emage is running a promotion of FREE 1 day 'Brand New You' workshop with a minimum purchase (I can't remember exactly how much. I know I should've noted it.  Just too bad.).  You can call 012-3927848 or click 'LIKE' on Emage LifeStyle Club in Facebook for more information on the special promotion they have every now and then.

 

For those of you who always have 'fashion issues' and are dialling 911 for help, I hope this little entry of mine able to point you to the right direction in creating a brand new you for 2011. :)

Of Gleaming Kitchen & More Cushion Pillows!

Yesterday, when I got home from the vet, decided to clean out the kitchen.  Did just that and cleared out a bagful of expired stuff (time to go shopping!) and reorganized everything.  It kinda disturbing that things are all over the place.  It's personal.  When things are messy, it somehow able to disturb my mental peace.  :p  Now it felt so good to be in the kitchen knowing exactly where EVERYTHING is. :)

And today, it was the big bag of leftover polyester stuffing which I bought to make that blue cushion pillow for mom, disturbed my mental peace. :p  I just can't stand seeing the big bag sitting there day in day out.  So, I sew three white cushion pillow bags and stuffed them full with all the leftover polyester.  Finally, got rid of all those polyester! :)

I thought I would be happy after that.  But hell no!  The newly stuffed pillows without covers soon became an eyesore to me.  And so I decided to make them covers.  Again, with whatever balance fabric I have in my 'fabric box'. ;)

First, I made this.

Then I made this.

After that, this. :) 

 And finally, sticking on these red diamantes one by one. :)

Taa daa!  The workmanship may not be perfect.  But they are good enough for Chinese New Year!  Gong xi, gong xi, gong xi ni! Hehehehe.... :)

p/s: Am I suffering from something?  Lols....

How Much Is The Doggie At The Window? (think twice)

Having furkids are so much work.  Not to mention, costly too.  Bathed Rumba & Sunshine this afternoon with help from the husband blow drying them.  :)  Lucky!  At least half the work is done.  :)   

Brought Sunshine back to the vet after that for another follow up after the ops.  She has more or less healed.  The wound has fully fused leaving no scar at all.  Amazing.  While we were there, the vet did a blood test  before vaccinating her for heart-worm plus her other annual vaccinations (which we had skipped for couple of years :p).  And all that, cost us RM315.  Plus the cost of her ops last month, in total, almost RM1500 *faint*.

Every 3 weeks, we'll need to replenish the 15kg dog kibbles that feeds 4 doggies which cost approximately RM190+.  Not forgetting grooming cost, it would be RM80/dog and for two (only 2 requires grooming), it will cost  RM180/month.  

Plus food and everything else, broke or not, we would have to dish out RM400/month *doubly faint*.  Now you understand why I groom them myself?  It is definitely NOT because I enjoy doing it.  :p  But since I have to do it, I might as well TRY to enjoy it (eg: the 'LOVE' shape).

And the other chores that come with it too like feeding, cleaning out their den, picking up poos & pees... dear me!  And they are just doggies.  Imagine when the real babies comes?!  o.O

I wanna be a billionaire... so freaking BAD...... lalalala....  

Domestication Starts Today - I made dinner, doggie treats & chilled with Ruby!

My 'be more domesticated' resolution for the year already been kick started today!  Not only did I made dinner, I baked two trays of doggies treats too from a recipe Evie shared on her blog. :) Though mine didn't turned out quite as nice as those she made, it was ok (I think) *total satisfaction still*.  Hehehe...

Sometime ago, when Sunshine was sick, I made some mixed vege soup with rice for her and the husband went, "Sigh...sometimes, it is better to be a dog than a husband.  At least the dog gets ABC soup!"  hehehe....

As I was driving home from work this evening, I decided to make dinner tonight.  Afterall, the poor husband caught my virus and was resting at home.  Nothing elaborate (I always have the tendency to overcooked for two), just ABC soup and a simple steamed chicken drumstick with chinese sausage dish drizzled with a little chinese wine.  It was good and he enjoyed it.  :)  No picture though.  Totally forgotten about it. :p  My bad.

When he was almost done with his dinner, I asked... "So, being a husband is not that bad after all huh now that he still gets the soup?"  He just laughed.  Hehehehe...

After dinner, we took a drive out to meet up with Aunty Ruby who is in town for holiday cause her little resort is in monsoon season now.  Yeah, THAT obnoxious Aunty Ruby of Ruby's Resort in Cherating... my favourite resort. :) Big Cow was there too and we had such great time. Though it was just a short meet up, we shared plenty of laughters from plain craps to politics! Hahaha...  

Another Friday ended perfectly and I simply love a day like this. :)



ABC Soup = carrot + potato + tomato + onions + peppercorn + chicken stock

I Bumped Into A Blogfriend!

This is interesting.  I bumped into a blogbuddy today.  What's the odd right?  Bumping into somebody you meet in the www.  Like another friend always say, this is called 'affinity'.  Hehehe... getting deep.

Decided to check out the fabrics in Ikea after the hair colouring thingy (cause I seriously hate those in Kamdar and everywhere else).  As I was walking around checking out some cabinets instead (well, women usually does that.  Go for one purpose but ended up with lots of other purposes!), I thought I felt someone watching me or that someone was looking at something past me. As I continued on checking out the cabinet, I replayed the vision I had prior to the cabinet in my head and the first name that came to my mind was Mun.  Yeah, Mun, my blogbuddy.  Never met in real life.

So I turned around and there she stood, :) smiling at me.  This is amazing or what??!  Hehehe... and so, we introduced ourselves. It felt weird but good kind of weird. Weird cause it felt that I've known her for a long time yet it doesn't quite felt like that. You get what I mean?  In FB's term, it would be 'Complicated'.  Lols...

At least now you guys can rest assured that we really does look exactly like the photos we posted on our blogs!  No photoshop.  Hehehehe...

*A big shoutout to Mun* Nice meeting you (in person that is)!!!


*******
Mun just updated her version over at her blog.  Go check it out.  It was kinda cool reading her version too! :)

Colour & Go

I've been having some 'downtime' since last weekend.  Practically slept thru Sunday and Monday, day dreamed thru Tuesday and Wednesday, though I was working on Wed, groggily that is.  I think I gotten a cold, but the congestion in my lungs are more significant than those from my nose and nothing seems to be coming out no matter how hard I coughed.  And the coughs are exceptionally bad at night when I tried to sleep.  Sigh...  When I finally fall asleep without another bout of cough frenzy, the new poodle puppy next door would start whining or the darn dog in our porch would start barking at every damn thing that he glimpses.  OMG...  All these are just plain irritating.   

Finally feeling slightly better today and dragged myself out of the house this morning for I just couldn't stand the grey roots of my hair that has grown almost an inch since my last touch up about a month ago.  Yeah, believe it not, I have grey hair issues.  It's genetic.  They just start popping up the moment I hit 30s.  So punctual like they are preset or something.  

What I've been doing all these while was to head down to my regular hair saloon nearby, pay RM165 and waste away my 2 hours (if I am lucky) sitting there doing nothing while the colourist touch up my grey roots follow by a hair treatment.  Honestly, 2 hours is an understatement.  Sometimes it takes as long as 3 hours!!!  I seriously hate going to the saloon.  That's also one of the reason why I decided to keep my hair long again.  At least I don't need to worry about having it trim every 3 weeks or so.  My goodness, I really can't keep up with all these things.  

While going thru some flyers at work yesterday, I came across this 'Colour N Go Salon'.  Same concept with those 'Cut N Go Salon' where they offer no frills hair cut services for RM15 or something?  Their flyer says:

Cover grey hair within 5-10 minutes

Korean product with 6 different colors

Cut & touch up grey hair (in 1 hour) = RM65

Trim & rinse = RM25

Shampoo & blow = RM25

"No itchiness, scalp irritation or smelly chemical like ammonia."  

Interesting isn't it.  Not only does it cost less than half of what I usually paid, it only need 1 hour max and ammonia free!  There is exactly where I went this morning to touch up those horrible grey roots.  :)

End result

It was as good as advertised.  No itchiness, scalp irritation or smelly ammonia.  It actually smells pretty nice.  The colourist told me the colors they used are organic.  All done within 1 hour.  In fact, their work is neater too as compared to the regular salon I used to frequent.  Like they won't accidentally coloured your ears, hairlines and etc.  Though the set up was rather bare; only for practicality, I think I would go back again. If you too share this 'monthly' problem like mine (besides the other monthly problem), and wanna give 'Colour N Go' a try, go check them out here: website.  :)  Save time and money too!

Ho Ho Steamboat Restaurant

I know it is food again.  I simply have to share this. :)  Met up with friends for a steamboat dinner two days ago (the day after Saffron) at this place called 'Ho Ho Steamboat Restaurant' in Sri Petaling.  It was good!  Real good.  

Used to like the other steamboat restaurant called "Bee Ho" over in Subang Jaya.  Unfortunately, since our last visit there about 2 months ago, thought otherwise of it.  Not only were the service sucks, the standard of their food dropped too.   So imagine my delight when I was brought to this new steamboat restaurant that goes with my palate!

They served fresh seafood (not many steamboat restaurant do) and as usual, I couldn't resist to order one or two fresh crabs.  Always love crabs cooked like these.  Simple and not complicated.

Other than the standard platter (which consists of a variety of steamboat food) and crabs, we ordered another side dish of pork strips too.

How you do it is, just dump everything into the hot soup, cover the lid to the pot and wait for it to boil.  Once bubbly, it's time to dig in.  Seriously that easy!  And not forgetting drizzling in some shallots oil.  A steamboat meal would not be complete with shalots oil and yummy chilli sauce.

This Ho Ho Restaurant is pretty clean too (compared to Bee Ho).  Service is good.  I would definitely be back again!  For more info on Ho Ho Steamboat Restaurant, check out their website here.

A Visit To The Giants (Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary)

This is a long overdue post.  With festive season, there are simply too many things to blog/update and just can't squeeze everything in one shot.  :p  

Anyway,  joined buddies from our salsa group to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary sometime last month and it was awesome!  Never knew there is such a place so near us till that faithful day.  Approximately 200km away, a 2 hours drive!  Take the (E8) East Coast Expressway (Exit 819), turn left into Lanchang and turn right into Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre.  Signboards are aplenty after the exit. :)

It was a pretty interesting place.  There is no entrance fees required (donations are welcome though).  What you do is, upon arrival, head down to the main office to register yourself.  You'll then be given a sticker to be sticked on your shirt.  There are two kind of stickers; yellow & red.  The yellow ones only allows you to pat & feed the elephant while the red one allows you to go on elephant rides and bathe in the river with them (if the water is not too deep).  There are limited number of red stickers per day though.  So if you really wanna do all those, go early or call them to check it out.  Not sure if we need to pay for red stickers or not.

For once, we get to see the giants up close and personal.  Picture above shows a baby elephant having it's shower after a field day out playing in the mud before feeding time.  Totally enjoying his/her waterjet spa!  Lols...

The elephant lifting it's hind leg for a good wash... hehehe... adorable isn't it?  During feeding time, baskets of fruits will be provided by the sanctuary.  You don't need to bring own fruits to feed them.  :)  But if you really want to, they love peanuts and sugarcane!  I actually saw a baby elephant spitting out carrots... hahahaha....

Ahhh.....to the right, to the right.... yeah... right there!  Super shiok!

The mahouts brought some of the elephants down to the river for a bath.  The elephants were having so much fun!

All done now... time to go! :)

I know this is disgusting.  It was pointed out to me by the husband.  This is one big pile of shit man!

Love this.

Da dum! Da dum! Here comes the elephant!

Love this shot.  Intense.  Wonder what the elephant was thinking at that very moment.  Those fine lines, creases.... nice.  The skin must be super thick too...hehehehe...

Pat, my instructor, somehow got a red sticker stuck on her butt when she sat on the floor in the mini theatre to watch a documentary at the sanctuary.  And that red sticker got her a ride on the elephants.  She went like... "I knew this big ass is capable of something!"  Hahahahahahaha...

That pretty much concluded our visits to the giants mammoth.  For more info on this place, you can check out their website here and here.