Mummy's Little Kitchen Helper

It is the Winter Solstice festival today. Although we don't celebrate this festival, mummy and I made some "tang yuan" (glutinous rice balls) because mummy has not eaten this in a long time. The tang yuan that we made today is almost organic. Except for the ordinary glutinous rice flour used, the rest of the ingredients are all organic... from the peanuts, sugar, pandan leaves to the colouring (organic red dragonfruit juice).

Before making the tang yuan, mummy first made some peanut butter. After she had pan-roasted the peanut kernels, I helped her to remove the peanut skin.

100% homemade organic creamy peanut butter

Note: Peanut butter is very easy to make... just blend the pan-roasted peanuts into a paste (add a dash of sugar and salt for taste) 

Next, she boiled some pandan leaves with sugar

Then came the most fun part! This was also easy to make... just add water into the flour and mix well. Mummy added red dragonfruit juice to make the pink dough

Roll, roll, roll the balls... I rolled all the pink balls (plain ones) and told mummy "this is like play dough but dirtier" haha!

Mummy rolled the white ones with peanut butter fillings

Done! All the pink ones were done by me :) 

Tang yuan with pandan syrup

Yum yum... I like!

We have never made this before. Considering this our very first attempt, the outcome was not bad :) 

Pricked By My Enemy!

I hate durians. I do not eat it and I will run as far as possible from anyone who is eating it. Last Sunday, something happened at our usual fruit shop in Seremban when Gung-gung was busy picking some bananas while mummy was going through a crate of guavas inside the shop. Suddenly, they heard a commotion and when mummy came out to check what was going on, she saw me holding back my tears!

Apparently, while jumping around (I was restless like a monkey after a hearty breakfast) at the entrance of the shop, clumsy me had tripped over a small step right beside a pile of durians. In that split-second of my fall, I ter-grabbed a durian to support myself and break the fall. OUCH!

The scene of the thorny accident

Luckily it was only a light prick but it was painful enough to cause me a few hours of agony. Actually two of the "holes" were quite deep and were near to bleeding. I did not move my hand for quite a while until we reached home and Gung-gung applied some "magic" medicine on it haha!

Later that evening, I had pink polka dots on my palm hehe!

Oh yes, right after the accident, Gung-gung bought a few durians from that pile (for revenge) and they all had a durian feast at home. Of course, I quickly ran as far as I could, away from their stinky indulgence!

The Stairs Challenge

It all started with this conversation...

Me: Mummy, are we going to move to a new house?
Mummy: Huh?? (No, we are NOT moving anywhere)
Me: I wish we can move to a house with stairs. I love stairs!
Mummy: Eh, our house also got stairs wat... in fact, there are so many, many, many stairs that you will give up walking on them!
Me: Really?

Heh heh heh... that's because we are staying in a high-rise... a 24-storey one to be precise. Our talk about "stairs" soon launched daddy and mummy into a new exercise routine. Instead of conveniently pressing the lift buttons everyday, they challenged themselves to take the stairs as often as they can (esp when they are not lugging heavy stuff like groceries).

Initially, walking up 8 floors to our unit was quite strenuous for daddy and mummy. However, for me, it was simply "no sweat" from the very beginning! I didn't even need to stop while the two of them panted and paused to catch their breath midway haha (that shows how unfit they are!)

One day, curious to find out how far I could go, mummy suggested going all the way up until I stop. Well, I never did stop. I walked and walked and went up and up and up until the top floor!

V is for Victory! I walked up 24 flights of stairs (equivalent to 400+ steps) without stopping! Is this a great feat or what hehe.

Walking up more than 400 steps was still effortless to me and I showed not sign of weariness. I'm as fit as a fiddle! This stairs challenge soon led us to another "expedition"...

Batu Caves! 

We decided to stop here cos it was just along the road on our way home from Fraser's Hill. 

Are you ready?

This is like only 272 steps away... of course no problem for me!

On the way up, we saw A LOT of monkeys as well as some banana peels littered all along the stairs. Slipping hazard... must be the work of these monkeys hehe. 

Flashing my victorious smile... I did it again :)))))))

Inside the cave... we walked all the way in

Standing right under a huge stalactite *yikes*

View from the top

Time to go down... not for the weak-kneed :p

I counted the steps all the way down. Daddy and I counted 271 but we later checked and found out there were actually 272.

I had a good time chasing the pigeons there

Birds of a feather flock together

After a "workout", the sight of this pile of coconuts made me very thirsty hehe

Aaah! Refreshingly thirst quenching!

Weekend Getaway in Fraser's Hill

10th Dec 2011, Saturday:

We spent a very relaxing weekend in a small, quiet and tranquil town called Fraser's Hill. (It's just too unfortunate that our visit to this idyllic hill resort was marred by the deplorable condition of the hotel. Hotel update: Mummy emailed the "Discount Company" to voice out our dissatisfaction. The "Discount Company" replied promptly, apologized and offered us a REFUND. Yay!!)

We left home in the late morning and took the Karak highway to Bentong where we broke our journey for brunch. Wantan noodles seemed to be the most recommended food to try there, according to results on Google search. We managed to find the best wantan noodle in town (the one in the unnamed shop next to the Chinese Town Hall). We also ordered some sui-gao (large dumplings) noodles to try.

Fork-licking good! (Mummy prohibits utensil-licking but I find this bad habit hard to kick!)

Noodles for brunch (RM3.60 and RM3.70). The wantan noodle looks messy cos daddy had it stirred (couldn't wait to eat) and then failed in his attempt to undo it back haha!

From Bentong town, it took us slightly more than an hour to reach Fraser's Hill. Daddy was driving at snail's pace because the roads were very winding, narrow and steep. 

Along the way, we passed by many fruit orchards and saw hundreds of durian trees with fruits hanging on them. This was indeed a rare sight for city kids like me ;) 

At the foothill of the long and winding road (about 10km) leading to the hill resort. There are now two separate roads to FH so we do not need to observe the odd and even hours for one-way traffic.

Finally there! The clock tower... the most prominent landmark of FH

This was my very first trip to FH well as daddy's. Mummy has been here twice before, the last was way back in 1991. Although this was her 3rd visit, she noticed that nothing much has changed. It is still as undeveloped and unspoilt as it was 20 years ago.

The very "cincai-looking" hotel lobby 

Upon check-in, we were so disappointed with the miserable and shameful state of the hotel that we quickly settled down with our things and fled as soon as we could. We tried to minimize our time in the hotel and stayed out almost the whole day, exploring and walking leisurely around town. Basically, there wasn't much to see or do here... perfect for boring people like us who love to unwind and walk around aimlessly doing nothing hehe :)

There is a public golf course right in the middle of the town

Obviously, I am not big enough to cover or hide the bin hehe!

Taking a photo here is a must-do!

Yipeeeeee! *happy*

Pretty blossoms adorn this charming little garden

Good weather... it was very bright and sunny but we didn't feel the heat at all :)

We had 4 things on our to-do list... afternoon tea at the Smokehouse, playground-time for me at the Taman Awam (public park), horse-riding at the paddock and an evening at Allen's Water (a lake garden).  

First stop... Ye Olde Smokehouse

Afternoon tea in the garden terrace

 Look mummy, got swing! The service was quite slow so while waiting for our orders, we walked around the garden.

Devonshire tea set (RM18++) which came with 2 warm scones, strawberry preserve, chunks of butter, fresh cream and tea for one (but it came in a pot so we just shared)

Daddy also ordered a Chocolate Lava (RM4++)... oozing with warm, not-too-sweet chocolatey lava... yummy! The scones were very nice too.

The afternoon tea here was lovely and satisfying. We also went inside the Smokehouse for a self-tour...

A fine, vintage style sitting room

Cosy and homely interior

Next stop, the public park of FH... the main attractions here include a mini bike track, miniature golf and children's playground. There's a food court here too.

Our plans to the Paddock and Allen Waters had to be put on hold due to bad weather. Soon after leaving the playground, it rained the whole evening :(

After the rain... it was very cold and misty

After dinner, still reluctant to go back to our hotel room, we went for a spin and spent some time in town again 

It rained the whole night and temperatures dipped to around 16-17C. Somehow, it felt much colder than 17C in reality! The next morning, the town looked like this...

Blanketed in thick fog. Notice how dull this picture looks? It was taken with normal mode and not set to black and white!

Misty, rainy, windy and chilly.... brrr!

Hampered by bad weather, there was nothing much we could do. We also gave up hope on going to the paddock and Allen Waters so we packed-up, checked-out and left. We took the same route back and stopped by Bentong (again) for lunch. 

Both daddy and mummy are no foodies so they encountered a bit of difficulty finding food there. After circling the town a few times, daddy drove past a coffee-shop where we saw a mile-long queue. Curious to find out what these people were queuing up to buy, we parked our car nearby and got down to find out. Oh, it's chicken rice! The long queue simply indicated that this chicken rice was worth a try...

Daddy and I devoured these delicious meaty rice while mummy ordered something vegetarian for herself (mummy doesn't eat meat). The rice was indeed very tasty... fragrant and fluffy! (RM9.50 for both including a glass of herbal tea)

After lunch, we headed to a shop named Kow Po for some dessert. This shop is famous for its homemade ice-cream and local icy delights. 

Mummy had cendol with durian and pandan ice-cream while daddy had ABC with peanut and coconut ice-cream (RM3.80 each)... however, they both look identical here.

Ready to attack! I had a single scoop of banana ice cream (RM2.80)... slurp!