Overnight Trip to Mesilau Kundasang - Day 1

We went for an overnight trip at Mesilau Kundasang last weekend, stayed at Kinabalu View Chalet.  Mesilau is the highest accessible point by road at the foot of Majestic Mount Kinabalu.

.  

Our double cab was loaded with the necessities for us to have a comfortable stay at the cool climate.

As usual we had a brief stopover at Tamparuli town to have its famous Tamparuli mee before continuing our journey.  After 2 hours + road journey from Kota Kinabalu, we arrived at the chalet.  Mount Kinabalu was fully covered by thick cloud throughout our journey there, we were unable to have a glimpse of it. 

Our family members occupied the whole 3 chalets, which is good that we can make the noises without disturbing others.  Each chalet has its own kitchen equipped with basic utensils, the set up of the room are very basic with the feel of staying in the kampung.

Not long after arriving, Clet has started to set up the BBQ while waiting for the rest to arrive.  

The only set back of this place is the flies, there are up to thousands of them sticking and flying around.  Even the smoke, flies repellent spray could not chase them away.  We have to cover our food while eating that has totally spoiled my appetite. Those flies disappear when sun set and come back in the morning, yuck!! The same situation happened when we stayed at one of the chalet around that place many years ago.  I was told that this is because of the fertilizer used at the surrounding farms and also the cattle farm nearby.  I believe there must be a way to keep these flies away.

Forgot about the flies.  We walked around taking photos of the flowers in front of the chalet.  

Clet set up the tent for the kids to play but  it is too small for them to stay inside, our kids has grown up my dear.

The highlight of the night was the double celebration of SIL's 50th birthday and Mother's Day.  Both the homemade mango cake and cheese cake are so delicious, I had slices of both cake and hot coffee for dinner.  

Mezzaluna Ravioli - Stuffed Pasta

My Sister in the USA sent me this packet of CoraBella Mezzaluna Ravioli last year.   My daughters like pasta with lots of cheese.  I thought they would love to try this pasta stuffed with mozzarella cheese as Labour's Day holiday breakfast.

I can smell the cheese upon opening the packet, 

served with mushroom sauce

After a few scoops, they started to take out the stuffed mozzarella cheese

and ate them just plain like this. It is hard to assume our kids' choice of food. 

Pineapple cookies

I baked these lots of Pineapple cookies for Chinese New Year of Goat,  I did a lot of other baking before and around the new year until I got sick for being too much time spent near the oven.  It took me more than 1 month to recover from the bad cough. Now, just a recap and share my venture into making the Pineapple cookies. The pictures say it all...:D

Made 3 small containers.  Not long after new year, I brought the last container to the office, my office mates helped me to finish off before the cookies become expired.

Tau Sa Piang 豆沙饼

Another trial recipe - Tau Sa Piang.

This was the second attempt.  Its taste was alright when fresh from the oven, but the crust turned hard after a while. I always bring my homemade products to the office, my colleagues did not mind the texture, all were consumed in a day or two.

Verdict : Since it was not a successful bake, I prefer not to share the recipe.  :D

Heat Resistant Pot

During the extended holiday weekend, I managed to do some minor rearrangements and did some cleaning and tidying up my humble kitchen.   The heat resistant pot has been sitting on the very top shelve for a long while which I have no time to check on it.  It was given by a friend of ours many months ago.  

Still new in the box.

It is a very small and cute pot that I do not know what to do with it.  Too small to boil soup for the 4 of us. At the very moment, I can only think of cooking 2 packets of Maggi mee just enough for myself as breakfast.

Since it is a heat resistant pot, it can be transferred straight from stove to table.  However, because of the heat retention, my mee became soaking very fast.   

Nevertheless, it is a nice piece of cookware, the colour of orange itself adds colour to my dull kitchen.

UFO cake

I have attempted numbers of baking in search for products for my shop for the last few months.  Nothing had come out with what we were looking for.  

One of the recipe that I have tried is the UFO cake which is a famous dessert in Sandakan, a city at the east coast of Sabah.  I personally hadn't tried the real one from Sandakan yet.

These UFO cake from my oven is a bit too sweet for my liking.  Though the 1st attempt did not turn out well, I decided not to go for 2nd attempt.  Would not want to waste my energy as no one in the house is excited about it.  

Verdict : Failed Attempt.  

The grilled brown meringue

Before grilling

And...Decision has been made

Business has been bad for the past one year..it is obviously not getting any better after the implementation of GST.

After much discussions and considerations, decision has been reached and that we are closing down our 2 years 5 months business for good.  We did not make the decision alone but with the guide and grace from above.  Feeling a bit sad but with much relieve.

Since we do not have to get ready stuff for sale at the shop at night like we used to, I am able to do the things I have neglected all along.  The top priority is to spend time with my little daughter on her homework and revision each night.  We have set a target for her to meet under this special tuition.

I am also recollecting my concentration on my work after my shop is officially closed..and I hope to get back to blogging and visit my blogger friends more often.

Angpows for Chinese New Year

Red is an auspicious colour in Chinese festivities.  Chinese New Year is the time to give and receive Angpows 红包。

It is fascinating to see the various designs of Angpow packets from the banks, companies, hypermarkets and other organisations who give out Angpow packets (empty ones of course) to their customers.  They have different  designs each year. My collection of angpow packets has becoming more and more each year too.

I have collected so many that I have difficulty in deciding  which design to use to stuff the Angpows money.  

The eve of Chinese New Year 2015

I like the fragrance of pamelo leaves, it is so refreshing and full of Chinese New Year festive smell. 

It is a tradition in our home to shower with boiled pamelo leaves water on the eve of Chinese New Year to wash off the bad chi before our family reunion dinner.  I guess most of the local families do the same.  I brought together this tradition into my own small family after  marriage.  Clet will also splash our cars with boiled pamelo leaves water after washing them.

This year, we celebrated our family dinner at youngest brother's home..we were very disappointed that our papa admitted to the hospital the day before due to lungs infection.  Instead of having dinner at home, he had it in the hospital  with  the  packed dishes from home.  He generously gave away his hospital food to someone in the hospital as a gesture of good deed.

Thanks to the  effort of Albert and SIL Shirly for preparing nice and special dishes for us on this  eve of Chinese New Year.

Home baked cookies for Chinese New Year 2015

My oven has been made full used of on this Chinese New Year after more than 3 years sitting in the kitchen.

I have attempted 5 types of cookies this time with 3 of the recipes shared from a cousin whom baked cookies for sale for the past years.  She didn't  bake any this year because she has started a full time job.  While the pineapple cookies and colourful butter cookies, I found the recipes online. 

Now then I realised making cookies for sale is not an easy task as I first thought.  It is not just time consuming, the produce are not as many as I expected, the cost of ingredients also becoming costly..the profit margin is not as good. 

I made some for sale, some to give as gifts and whatever left are for self consumption.  The most satisfying cookies that I have made would be the pineapple cookies.  It is also Clet's favourite.

Pineapple cookies

Chocolate rice peanuts cookies, Butter Cookies and Cornflakes Cookies

Butter with Chocolate rice cookies

Butter Cookies

Colourful Butter Cookies

2015 Year of Sheep / Goat

Don't you think these golden sheep / goat stuffed toys are cute? It's a gift from my colleague Cindy.  She never fails to bring back gifts for us whenever she goes travelling.  She didn't  travel far this time, merely had a short trip to KL.  Little gifts bring joy to all of us.  Perfect gifts for 2015.

Li chun 立春 04.02.2015

This is the first time I try to stand the eggs on Li Chun 立春。Said to bring good luck if one managed to make the egg stand on its tip on this very day.

I find easier to stand the eggs on the floor than on the table top..I managed to stand 3 eggs, the rest belongs to my colleagues..after that what should we do to the eggs, I asked my colleague, bring home cook and eat la..;)

Wishing all of us good years ahead from this very day..

My birthday 2014

Another year older..just a short post to acknowledge my birthday this year 2014 before we welcome the year 2015.

A birthday cake specially made for me by my sister in law, Catherine.  She notified me via facebook message, at a glance, I thought she bought a cake for me from the bakery shop.

After dinner, we went to Bro's house to have the cake cutting ceremony.  Kids are particularly excited with the candles lighted on the cake.

Nona Moist Luxury Double Chocolate Flavoured Cake

Looks like I can resume my baking activities after more than 3 years of putting my cake baking stuff into the store..I have to dig them out to make a bread yesterday (which turned out to be slightly  softer than a rock).

Tonite, to respond to my daughter's  persistent requests, we made chocolate  cakes together.  I bought a box of Nona cake mix for convenient sake.  I let her read the instructions  and get ready the ingredients needed.  I only came in to do the tedious part and the best thing is she promised to do the washing which she did. 

I followed exactly 55 minutes of baking.  The cake was partly  burned on the top and bottom.  After cutting off all the burnt parts, only leaving the middle part of the cake for them to enjoy.