Eating out: Shanghai, JW Marriot

non-halal



Dad wanted to dine finely on the eve. Since we're in Pavilion, we headed to Shanghai Restaurant in JW Marriot Hotel for lunch. 5 of us, with popo and yima, had dim sum there. We always like its dim sum, with a kick of Shanghainese flavor.


Braised duck tongue, RM16

I don't eat spare parts at all, but this is an exception. This duck tongue can totally quack! I mean delicious :P It can either be eaten as either cold/hot appetizer.


Baked Biscuit, RM25

This is absolutely a must if you're there. The outer layer is crispy and soft filling. In it, there are spring onions, diced mushroom and other ingredients. Caution: hot filling!


Shanghainese Ramen, RM18

This is so-so. Nothing to brag about. Other than this noodle, we had the transparent flat noodle. That is much tastier.


Stir-fry Yam Cake, RM9

Totally different from the usual radish/turnip cake. This tastes better, non-oily and refreshing as it's something different.


Prawn & Scallop Cheong Fun, RM12

The flat noodle is really soft and chewy.


Pan fried vegetable dumpling, RM12.50

I absolutely love this vegetable dumplings. The lower layer is crunchy and top layer is chewy, combined with the spring onions filling, made it perfect.


Custard Bun, RM15

For dessert, each of us had custard bun. The filling oozed out the moment we split the bun into half.

Other than these that I posted, we also ordered Siu Long Bao, Salmon Yee Sang, noodle and few other dim sum. In total, we paid about RM300. Worth every penny as you can't have this elsewhere, especially the duck tongue and the transparent flat noodle. A great way to end the year with great food!



CarolineL wishes all of you a fantastic 2009!

A weekend that was

We were back in Ipoh for a wedding dinner. We reached in the morning and hung out at my grandma's place. For lunch, we drove over to Menglembu.



We dined at East Ocean Restaurant. We had a total of 5 dishes, in which I forgotten to snap photos. Anyway, seen here from left is my nephew, cousin-in-law, pretty Annie and Eddy. After lunch, we checked into Hotel Excelsior. We had to as all the rooms in my grandma's house are occupied :/

The wedding dinner held at Oversea Restaurant, which is just opposite the hotel. It's pretty convenient for us.



Seen here are all my cousins: Christina, Annie and Jared. The one standing beside me is Nicholas. Tina is only 13+ but she's already much taller than all of us! Except for Gan :P





With my leng leng Annie Lee :)



With Florence, Elson and my yima.



Yima and popo. Popo is hitting 80 next year. Doesn't she look young? Perhaps good genes will pass down to granddaughters too :D



Yima, mom and popo. A mother and her 2 daughters :)



Finally, there's us, hehe :D

Season's greetings

pix sourced from email

The season of good cheer and joy is here. May this Christmas brings this year's beautiful moments and happy memories in your home as you welcome the new year with family and friends.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Eating out: Oversea Restaurant

This particular Oversea Restaurant is located in Sri Petaling. We were there for the first time after noticing it for quite some time.


BBQ Pork, RM25

We had the famous char siew. In every Oversea Restaurant, its char siew is roasted to perfection.


Stir fry beansprouts and dried scallop wraps, RM30

This dish comes with fresh lettuce. You need to wrap it with the lettuce, like a spring roll. I still prefer the seafood wrap of Extra Super Tanker Restaurant in D.Kim.


Fish with Spring Onion & Ginger, RM30
Hong Kong Choy Yuen, RM18

The choy yuen is really soft and the siong thong makes it sweeter. As for the sliced fish, the fish is really fresh. Good to go with rice.

Kuching Escapade

I'm back! December is month of R&R. If it wasn't for hubby's leave cancellation, we'd be enjoying our month-long break.

Anyway, we were in Kuching during the past weekend for a 2-night stay. I last went there 14 years ago. Not much changed except for more housing projects and shopping complexes.



We stayed at the new 360 hotel. It's only RM147 nett a night including breakfast for 2. The room is spacious and had a great view of the city.



On our first day, we joined a local tour to Cultural Village. This shot looks a little like a volcano on the edge of erupting.



Gan, standing in front of Rumah Cina in the village. Nothing fancy about this house.



Me, by Rumah Melayu. In this house, there was a man dressed in baju melayu performing a dance.



Rumah Orang Ulu. I never heard of Ulu tribe before, I think. Have I?



Gan went into the Ulu house and this is how it looks like.



Then there's a pedestrian bridge made of bamboo.



A moment later, there were cultural show for all visitors. The show lasted for about 30 minutes. It was OK.



Then there's a famous cats statues, in front of Holiday Inn and Crown Plaza Hotel. Though we stayed in 360 Hotel, but we had breakfast in Crown Plaza for free. Why so? :P



On our last night in Kuching, we had dinner in my uncle's house. We had seafood 9 tai kwai (9 dishes) for dinner. We only managed to squeeze 7 dishes on the dining table. We had to place the 2 other on another table.



Seen here are Gan and my little cousins: Joel, Julia and Daniel.



Everyone digged into the scrumptious meals. Seen here are Daniel, yi ma, popo and Uncle Albert. It's been awhile since my last 9 tai kwai. In the end, everyone was stuffed! Great way to end a short trip with family :)

Bridal suite getaway

I got a free one-night stay at Bangi Equatorial Hotel's bridal suite since I had my wedding banquet there. I didn't use it up during the dinner so that Gan and I can enjoyed the getaway later on. That later on fell over the last weekend :D



We checked in around 2pm to suite 531. To the left of the living hall is where the sofas, chocolates and fruit platter were.



And to the right, is where the tv and the door towards the bedroom were.



Our king-sized bed for the night.



This is the very spacious bathroom. On my back, there're bathtub and standing-shower.



A closer look of my new hair style, short!



This is the view from our suite.



A closer look of the fruit platter: bananas, apple, orange, pink guava, dragon fruit, mango and grapes!



In the midst of enjoying a movie, someone came knocking and sent us a bottle of sparkling juice. We wasted no time, popped the cork and finished by dinner time :D



We took a stroll in the evening. This is how the hotel looks like from front.



A big Christmas tree welcomes guests in the lobby. We dined at the Cafe Lavista at night.


Onion soup, RM14.50

Hubby and I shared the soup. It tasted lovelier when shared :P


Chicken Tikka, RM32.50

Look at the portion! There were 6 slices of naan, but Gan could only managed 3 slices, and there were 6/7 pieces of Tandoori chicken. Again, we couldn't finish it.


Nasi Goreng, RM24.50

I had the nasi goreng. Well, nothing to shout about except for its satay. It was really good, IMHO, it is even better than renown Haji Samuri's Kajang Satay!

After dinner, we took a stroll around the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the evening :)

Honeymoon in Bali - Part II

continued from Part I



We continued touring on the third day. Wayan took us to Tegalalang for its famous rice terrace. As there are hilly areas in Bali, you can find many rice terraces across the island.



We were driven to Kintamani for lunch later. This restaurant has a magnificent view of the Mount Batur volcano. This volcano last erupted in the 90s.



We treated ourselves with scrumptious buffet whilst enjoying the beautiful view of the volcano. It was really a relaxing moment. A mouthful of food and a sight to look at, splendid! The buffet for 2 costs about RM50.



After lunch, we descended from Kintamani to Tirka Empul temple.



This temple is a sacred place that offers cleansing baths and rituals. Devotees come here to cleanse their sins away.



After a number of Balinese meals, my husband finally needed a break. For dinner, we headed to Kuta. It's time for western food, Hard Rock Cafe!



There were many Malaysians(I think) dining there. I don't see many caucasians. Perhaps they'll be there later at night.



I ordered the Honey Citrus Grilled Chicken Salad. I haven't eaten a light meal for days when I was there. It was time for something light, especially for dinner. In it, there's cranberries, capsicum, lettuce, nuts, cheese and other goodies.



Gan had the Pork Burger. To my surprise, he didn't even finish half of the patty. He said the pork had an acquired taste and he couldn't eat another bite. I think the way they slaughter pigs is different from ours.

The bill came upto about RM120. After dinner, we headed back to The Westin for our much needed rest. Because of the pork scare, we didn't try the Babi Guling during our stay in Bali.



The next day, we started our journey after our big buffet breakfast. Wayan drove slightly over an hour to Taman Ayun temple. Nothing much to see there, so we continued our journey again.



We stopped over in Pacung for lunch. This restaurant yet again, has a maginificent view. This time, overlooking rice terrace.



I ordered the Ayam Panggang with rice. It wasn't anything to shout about. It's basically grilled chicken with 2 satay sticks, crackers and some vegetables.



Gan had the Nasi Goreng. We paid about RM40 for the lunch.



We finally reached Bedugul about an hour later. This place housed the Lake Bratan temple. Look at the misty mountain across the lake. It is much better looking in real life! It was quiet, holy and the breeze was cooling.



This is another side of the previous photo. This temple is well maintained and clean. Totally a must-see spot for tourists.



We left for Tanah Lot after spending over an hour in Bedugul. It was really sunny when we reached Tanah Lot. We didn't stay long as it was too early for sunset. So we quickly leave for our hotel.



And we managed to catch the sunset on our last night in Bali :)