Thursday 28 April 2016

Interior painting for our house

It has been 5 years now since we moved into our house, due to budget constraint, we only afford to do some refurbishment and painting before moving in, it was not a renovation but simply touched up on the falling ceiling and gave the dirty and peeling off walls some painting.

We have been wanting to give a new look to our house, needed a change of feng shui to enhance the good luck chi coming into our home.  At the moment, most of the interior walls are painted white except our bedrooms are pink.  It was my idea to have white walls during that time because my eye sights are poor, white tends to brighten up the house easier especially during the night.  The paint somehow faded over the years, It is time to repaint our house.

The first thing we ask ourselves is what color should we choose this time for a fresh new look.  There are four of us in the house, each one of us has different preference...blue, purple, beige, brown or combination of few colors ??   We ended up arguing, thus, the project is still on hold.  How I wish we could hire a professional painter like hingham painters to take care of the project, from initial planning, giving us the advise on the colors, the budget, time frame of completion, and guarantee of quality work done.  One thing I dislike about refurbishment is the cleaning up the mess after that.  We have to move the furniture and fittings to make way for the painting, the mobilization itself will tend to cause damage to our furniture, we have to take all these into account if we were to do the project ourselves, which we do not have the expertise to handle all these..the best solution would be to hire a professional painter to take care of this for us. 

Indian cuisine at Maimunah

We had a very satisfying meal at Maimunah, a 24-hour Indian eatery last Saturday.    

Chicken Nasi Biryani with an egg.  Lots of spices found in the rice (RM9.50), the portion is sufficient.  We ordered three.  This is far better than this one I had weeks ago at one of the Indian shop in Grace Court Sembulan.

side dish peanuts anchovies (ikan bilis)

another side dish is fried bitter gourd, my girls do not like bitter gourd but they ate this without complaint
We also ordered 2 roti canai kosong.  I realised something additional came with the roti canai, that's the sambal dip that filled up the right serving compartment, it was left empty all this while.
The total bill is less than RM40.00.

Monday 25 April 2016

Mobile coffee kiosk

We saw this little cute mobile coffee kiosk in front of KFC in Plaza Millennium.  Out of curiosity and fun of trying out their coffee, we ordered a cup of its Tiramisu (RM5).  
This mobile kiosk is equipped with seats at the side and at the back..there are spaces for them to display their products merchandises.  
The "kitchen" is at the other side of the mobile van, men with 2 staff, they were previously in Subang Jaya, trying out the business here.
the front of the mobile van

other than coffee, they add in other products like nasi lemak, sandwiches, peanuts and potato chips.
the seats at the back of the van
and seats at the side
First time trying out the tiramisu drink, the taste is fine, but it is not hot enough.  Me and my better  half shared one cup, almost finished by the time we got home.

Friday 22 April 2016

Sprouting papaya seeds

I have cut opened so many papaya fruits, this is the first time that I came across sprouting seeds inside the papaya fruit.  When removing the seeds I found they are unusual, I took a closer look at them to ensure they are not maggots or worms from a spoiled papaya fruit. 
To make sure it is safe to eat, I brought the seeds to show to my better half, he told me that it is normal, nothing strange about it, perfectly safe to eat. 
 It came to my mind to plant papaya trees with these seeds but too bad, we haven't got the suitable "land" at our backyard, furthermore, we have got our dog, Lucky, he would destroy the seedlings before they can become a tree.
 A close up look of a sprouting papaya seeds
 
I usually serve papaya like this, serve cold. 

Thursday 21 April 2016

Beverages Vending Machine

I am fascinated whenever I see this type of beverages vending machine, especially the Nescafe coffee vending machine which dispenses beverages.  Even my eldest daughter thinks I am a bit strange.

We came across one at Palm Square, Central Point Shopping Complex last weekend.  While waiting for our princesses to window shop at their favourite shops, my better half offered to get me a drink from this machine because he knows me well. 

after queuing for a while, it's our turn to buy a hot drink
This machine accepts both coins and notes..slotted in RM1.00, we waited for the machine to process our drinks..
can you see the 3 red lights ?  When the forth lights appeared means the drinks is done and ready to collect from the glass box below.
Here is a cup of hot Teh Tarik, I wanted a cup of hot coffee but there's none only cold ones available.  This Teh Tarik is a bit sweet, the paper cup is a bit small and thin, too hot to hold around the cup as well, a bit difficult to handle.  Hope there will be some enhancements when I buy a drink from this machine again.

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Papa's 79th Birthday

When we asked him what he would like to have for his birthday dinner, Papa said KFC..he has read about its new menu in the local Chinese Newspaper.  I quickly checked through the pile of old newspaper to find what he's talking about..and I found this piece of KFC's news introducing the Crispy Tenders..we later found out that the boneless chicken is spicy which papa does not like it..but we brought him to KFC for dinner anyway for other menus and also tried out this Crispy Tenders with mayo sauce.

After the dinner, we went home for cake cutting ceremony..the mango cake was bought from Uncle Biscuit..

my little nephew is helping his kung kung to blow the candles.  They live together and become very close to each other.
After the birthday songs, Papa is ready to cut the cake..opps forgot to remove the plastic wrapper around the cake.
The cake is moist, fresh and finely done..How I wish I can make a cake like this.
The actual date for Papa's birthday is tomorrow, we celebrated early on last Sunday..
Wishing Papa for more blessed birthdays to come, stay happy, healthy and long life. 

Monday 18 April 2016

Lunch for Papa on Sundays

Me and my youngest brother take turns sending lunch to our papa on every Sundays.  These 2 months is my turn..our papa is a very complacent person, hardly complain even when he is not pleased on how things happening around him.  He eats what we serve him, he will only give his comments when we ask whether the food is alright, most of the time he would just say "Okay".

We know his favourite dish is roasted pork but we can't be giving roasted pork rice every Sundays, so I try to vary the choices base on my preferences over his favourite. I would usually snap a photo of the lunch that I serve our papa and whatsapp to my siblings letting them know what he is having for lunch.  I would squeeze half a lemon for him to clear the oily meal if I find lemon in the fridge (thanks SIL for buying the lemon :D)..he would complain sour because I only put a small pinch of salt (try to avoid sugar) into the lemon juice.  He would drink it even it's very sour.
toasted pork, char siew rice with a bit of salted egg and salted fish.
fried rice with tauhu pork and chun ken (meat rolled with egg). 
roasted pork and chicken rice 

last week I prepared home cooked food for him, Chinese sausage omelette, sauteed broccoli and carrot with pork...my papa is  turning 79 years old this week.

Saturday 16 April 2016

Italian coffee 义式咖啡

I was curious to find out how this Italian coffee taste like when I saw it at the local Pick & Pay store.  It says Italian Coffee with Classic Italian flavor that you'd fall in love with..I have already felt in love with the local kopi kahwin (thick black coffee with condensed milk & evaporated milk), something has to be better to make me fall in love for the 2nd time..haaaa...
when comes to Italian coffee, my expectation goes to cappuccino and expresso, but to my opinion, this packet of coffee is too mild for a coffee drinker..  
But I like the packaging and it is convenient to bring along anywhere you go to enjoy a light coffee at anytime.

Disclaimer : No monetary reward of any kind to review this product, it is purely my own opinions after tasting the product personally.

Thursday 14 April 2016

Angry Bite

I discourage my kids eating keropok/packet chips, I do not stop them totally from snacking on  chips but merely control their intake from those highly flavoured with seasoning and colouring chips which to my opinion these snack food are very unhealthy.   

Occasionally I would indulge myself with a packet or two of chips like this one, the Angry Bite, this is my favourite, I am not a fan of Angry Birds but simply like to bite their crunchy beaks.  I suggested to my colleagues that whenever they are angry just bite these beaks..no arguments when your mouths are busy snacking..:D   

There are a few flavours of Angry Bite, I like them all.  Have you tried this snack before ? I am sure you will like it once you have tasted it.

Disclaimer : No rewards of any kind from the product owner, this is purely my own reviews / opinions of this product.

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Goreng Pisang Cheese

I hardly go out for lunch during weekdays as most of the time I would be having simple lunch at my office desk and take the opportunities to blog, like now...

I was off half a day on last week Wednesday, my better half suggested to have lunch at an Indian shop where there is a stall selling nice banana fritters with cheese (pisang goreng cheese) which he has been telling me many times over..this plate consist of about 6-8 pieces of pisang goreng topped with generous amount of shredded cheese for only RM4.00,  I do not fancy fried stuff so I only tasted one piece of the banana fritter since I also had nasi campur..

I thought nasi campur would be cheaper, but I was wrong, this plate cost me RM10.00 for 2 types of vegetable and 1 piece of fried fish..Don't you think is over priced ?  I paid for it, left the shop then realised I should have asked how much is that piece of fish.

Sad to say, eating in KK has becoming expensive.. 

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Desert Rose plant under attacked

I was very surprise to see the condition of our Desert Rose plants on last weekend, My lovely Desert Rose plant 富贵花树 has been under attacked.  It was a well bloomed plant like this in my earlier post but I was devastated to see how it became overnight.  I took a closer look and I found the culprit..   , 
can you see it?? and the condition of the leaves :(..
The culprit is just right there.....The caterpillar has obviously tired and full after chewing on the leaves, it's resting on the tiny branch.

It also caused much destruction to our other pot of Desert Rose.

My better half took it off the plant and placed it at the back of the house, but another (not sure whether it is the same one) caterpillar appeared again on the same plant the next morning.  This time he put it outside our fencing in front of our house.  It came back again on the next day, unbelievable, it's not a butterfly yet couldn't fly, we still wonder how it could find the way back to the same plant again....???
we have to put it inside a container with air holes and a piece of leave to avoid it from causing further damage to our Desert Rose and other plants.
what would you do to these caterpillars when they come visit your garden ??

Sunday 10 April 2016

Long waited rain shower

My sitting area in the office is away from the window, hence, whenever I want to check on the weather or relax my sleeping eyes I would go to my bosses' rooms where there are windows.  These are the views from my workplace.

  The huge state library is under construction and it is progressing well..the weather has been smokey and hazy.  Just last Monday, I have to ask my better half to fetch my girl home earlier from school because the haze was so bad that I could smell the smoke even in the air conditioned office.  My girl has sensitive nose, it is very unhealthy for her.
  
Fast forward to yesterday (Saturday), the haze hasn't dispersed. It was worse in Kolombong and Inanam area when we traveled to view a show house at Bukit Bantayan Residences, a condominium development by Gamuda Land. 
 at the launching tent at Bukit Bantayan Residences
On our way home, we were greeted with much awaited rain drops, at first we thought it's only a passing rain (it happened many times with the 'false rain"), we were very happy that it rained heavier and lasted for 2 hours.  We need more of these showers to end the El Nino phenomena.  
Yes, we are having rain shower again right now, on Sunday evening.