18032016 My very Fiirst Curry in Kuching

I could not remember when was the last time I've actually cooked curry but I do know it was during my Uni times where my room mate from Mauritius taught me. My late Mom did teach me too but as time goes by, and with the missing recipe notebook, my Wife did all the cooking instead.

So, for tonight, I will try to remember what I did. Before I WhatsApp my Wife for help. One good thing about cooking for yourself is that if I made a boo-boo, I'll have to eat that failure myself.

Fry the garlic first followed with the onions and as soon at they smell good, put the marinated chicken in.

Add about three bowls of water, let it simmer for some time. Then Curry packet and let its simmer some more. Once I saw the small bubbles, I added in the long beans, brinjals and carrots.

And let it simmer for another 30 minutes or so

Yum-yum

Update: 19032016
The next day, I divided the curry into a few boxes for later

Yep, this would set me up for about 5 meals or so.

17032016 I will not be lonely again Pt.3

On the Eve before they're to go back, my MD rushed back and wanted to have dinner with us. And so, we were driven to Korean Goong at 101 Premier. They  had chosen this place because I kept looking for the Chicken wings for the the girls to try the day before.

Panoramic shot (L-R): The girls, my Wife, my Boss Mr. Chua, our MD Ms. Isabel and her PA, Elsa.

Dinner was good but a little long since we had to wait an hour for the chicken wings to arrive.
What's great was that they even hand delivered it to us since its quite a distance away from the Restaurant

At first, they were sceptical but after just one bite...

And so, on the next day, its time for them to leave Kuching. I know its a very short week since this was the First Term Holidays. But hours after leaving, I started to feel numb and went into automatic mode...

13032016 I will not be lonely again Pt.2

For the second day, it was more towards sight-seeing but since time is limited and we're still not familiar with Kuching, Fort Margherita was the best choice, which was just across the Sarawak River from where we were yesterday. We also planned to go to The Spring for more marketing and also, Kam Pua Noodles for a friend of mine. Other attempts to go for botanic gardens ended up with me turning in to a beautiful cemetery. But first, its off to Stutong Wet Market, the place I always went for my weekly marketing.

Breakfast was Cup Noodles which the girls bought last night.

And some Barbie animation to go with them

Mommy teaching the girls (and me) how to select and order chicken

Buying some 'lo bak kou' which the girls liked

Stutong Wet Market Fresh vegetable section

Stutong Wet Market Fresh Fruit section

We're going to have more vegetables for meals!

This is the stall I always go to, for my papayas. Here. Mommy teaching Kaelynn (out  of shot) on the different varieties of bananas

Tomato Mee tastes quite nice. It's spicy and think, used deep fried crispy kolo mee.

Kristine and her Char Kuey Teow, which compared to KL, was less oily, and not so dark. In a sense, its less aggressive on the taste buds and leaves them feeling light

Kaelynn with her real Kuching Kolo Mee

My 'drink', which is Kapit' ng. Its not very sweet nor has any flavour but then, since I ordered it...
Still, its good.

Anyway, Mommy ordered the Char Koay Kak, which is again, Kristine's favourite. Its quite nice and light and again, just unlike the ones in KL, you can actually taste the carrot cake itself while the flavourings stayed in the background. Amazingly, although its past 1200, most of the stalls were still open. Its  the same with the Wet Market below but everyone is slowly starting to close for the day.

Fort Margherita, of English design which overlooked and protected the Sarawak River

The actual Fort as realised in scale model

We were quite late coming into this attraction as you can see the staff is already closing the Doors

A few minutes into the drive, the girls were already tired. This was the shot I took when we reached Ta Kiong at The Spring.

Sad news for Kam Pua Noodle lovers out there, esp. Jeffrey as the whole shelf is gone. Even the staff at Ta Kiong is unsure when it will be restocked. No  one else bought the ones above.

We were still waiting for our 'change'. Nervous staff punched in the wrong amount...
But it would be great if they honoured  it. Heh heh.

Showed Krsitine the metal bottle Coke. After she aw the price, it was back to the shelf.
She did this due to her realisation and not by my telling her to.

Then it was back for a quick swim in the pool and we only had 10 minutes before it closes. The Sun went down pretty fast and I had to use low light setting.

Simple meal of noodles Kam Pua style with some vegetables

Strangely,  they sat down to watch Back to the Future for minutes...

And so, it was a very enjoyable and eye-opening day for all of us. Not only that, I had to keep reminding the girls to try and taste every food even though its available back home. This are very different here and sometimes, they might even surprise everyone.

12032016 I will not be lonely again Pt.1

I am in the Airport now, feeling very excited

It's because my Wife and the girls are flying over to Kuching. Not only would this be a first for the Girls, it was also a first for me where I actually had enough to buy the flight tickets. Malaysian Airlines tickets since it was the first time the Girls were flying. My Boss has kindly loaned me his car for the weekend too.

So, with only the precious weekend to spend the time with them, our plan was to drive through the City, hunt for souvenirs, spend the time at Boulevard before going next door for the Dinner Buffet at Imperial Garden. I won the voucher at our Company's Annual Dinner last month. The kids will have to be extra at a total of RM69.00, which, to us KL-lites, was pretty reasonable.

And here they are!

For the very first time, my Wife had the opportunity to see where and how I lived

The trip was tiring for them since they had to wake up very early.

Looking for the Riverside Bazaar (which was closed) was a challenge and the girls were hungry too. So, it was KFC's at the Sarawak Plaza.

Waiting in the car while everyone was hunting for souvenirs

Erm... they came all the way just to shop at Mr. DIY?

Clowning around t The Imperial Hotel

The Imperial Garden Buffet

Yum-yum!

First round: the best was the dark soya fish fillet, followed with kerabu and some sushi

The girls were crazy with the pasta where the chef will cook for them with the ingredients of their choice

Second round: In a Buffet, its never to eat all the food you see but to get small portions and sample them. Because by the time you're too full, even the most delicious food will make you nauseous.

The kerabu section. Chicken was great

This is the amount of shopping for a family per week or two. It's also four times my weekly budget of RM40.00. In the end, we did save quite a bit, thanks to my Boulevard Member's card but in reality, it is no different from shopping in KL.

10032016 Driving the Alza

I really want  an Alza now...

Guess what happened today? When the Production Director  heard that my Wife is flying over here soon, he loaned me his Perodua Alza! And so, for the very first time, I actually get to drive an Alza, one of the Perodua cars on my wishlist many years ago. If you look at it form the side, it's like looking at a MyVi stretch limo.

At that time, the Alza was a new non K-car model and also at that time, I was not really interested in the MyVi nor the Nautica, which is basically a Toyota Rush. The crazy reasoning for me was that I, too, wanted a bigger car just like my Wife's or my Dad's. But, reality sank in and so, in the end, I chose the Myvi for economical and timing reasons.

Since its dark, I can only give my first impressions. When I was driving the MyVi, light taps on the go-go pedal is enough to make it go fast. Which is the same with the Alza too, and when I pushed it a little harder, I can feel the power on tap coming into play. Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, since the Alza is company property, one must take good care like any good and sane driver, and not skid about on the deserted roads *ahem*. One thing I realised is that the car gave me a spaciousness vibe and since I was familiar with the insides of a Toyota Avanza, this car is long too! Plus, with the instrument cluster, aircon controls and car entertainment system all concentrated into the middle, I did not have much problems looking for information compared to when I was diving a VIOS. Maybe its the comfortable seating or the feel of the cabin which really made me feel laid back and washed away my fear of driving another person's car. I really felt at home with the Alza.

I really enjoyed driving the Alza and was secretly hoping the Condo was very much further. In the next few days, I'll know how spacious it really is. When it came to reversing, I did not have much problems but I do wished the Alza had a bigger rear view mirror and some additioal reversing aids such as tilted reversing mirrors or even a camera system. Checking at the price of a brand new 1.5 Alza, there was not much difference when comparing with the price of my MyVi SE.


Lastly, I came to realise that with my very 'own' transport, even for a few days, I can actually work as late as I wanted too without being 'kicked' out of the office. Its like working during the Weekends with no one to bother you and everything is quiet, save for the machinery in the next Department. Bliss!

09032016 Dinner at Hartz Buffet, Kuching

It's nice to meet up with my friend Raja Azhar. He's one of my Friends who stood by me and helped me out in a lot of ways. In fact, we were friends since we were 13 years old and all the time, he really looked out for me. My Birthday came up the other day and although I had been reminded countless of times throughout the day, it did not really sink in until the visitors had left. Suffice to day, my day went from YAY to OMG to SNAFU with full throttle into FUBAR. But miraculously, it went to PHEW thanks to my Mentor who literally saved the Day and finally, by Dinnertime, it was YAY again.

YAY because, Raja has arrived in Kuching!

Although I have started to make friends here in the Company, but when it comes to friendship nothing beats meeting up with Raja. If you want someone who is positive in everything, crack open your head with awesome ideas, advises you not to be a total dick and more, he's the guy. But more importantly, he's my friend (so you guys have to wait in line... :P ). And OK, having been here for more than 6 weeks, I'm still lonely. Heh.

For dinner, we went to Hartz Chicken Buffet. Ever since it opened in Sunway decades ago, Hartz was among the most reasonable priced buffets I like, mainly due to the mashed potatoes and of course, other side dishes. The other competitors would be Kenny Rogers and Pizza Hut but ever since they started to close the Salad bars and limit you to over the counter choices, Hartz is still the place to go and for tonight, it was the best Birthday Present I've ever had. As per their namesake, Hartz's main offering was the different varieties of chicken under one roof. As for drinks, you can choose from a variety of soft drinks, tea or even coffee. I was tempted to mix some ice cream with the coffee but that's for another session in the future. Oh, and their pasta is still great. But more importantly, there are no hungry crowds to fight over nor having to rush for 'signature' food such as marmite chicken wings which comes out at random periods degenerating everyone into hungry caveman mode.


The ambience was OK, but its still great for having engaging conversations despite the huge crowd but on a personal level, I would prefer the lights to be slightly dimmer.

So, for RM22.50 per person, this is still a great place to go to, unless your palate for the night lies elsewhere. I can't remember when was the last time I've been to Hartz but it's still great.

The wide choice of menu (apart from chicken, chicken, and more chickens) such as these side dishes and the awesome salad was the main attraction for me. 13 years on, the mashed potatoes were still my favourites.

First scoop: Chickens, chicken, crisps, stuff and stuff. *ahem*