Sights of Penang

Penang has the best of both worlds. Modern Buildings and Malls and the simple lifestyle of the local folks. On my trip there, instead of hitting the malls as we usually do in the past decades, we now head more for the heartlands area. Heartlands meaning, local markets, shop houses, coffee shops, hawker fare and just taking in the smell and sights of Penang like they were in the old days.

Of course the kids complained every now and then because these places are void of air-conditioning and there's bound to be some kind of weird smell or stench, I still enjoyed every moment of it. This is what aging is all about. Grasping on to whatever childhood memories I had here and also to ground me and realize how much times have changed.

Compared with Singapore, you can see much rubbish strewn all around the roads, exhaust fumes and cigarette pollution and rubbish dump alleys but this is an education for my children that I don't want them to miss. I had to explain to them that this is the norm as MANY other countries are bigger and have more population, hence take time to develop and clean up, compared with a small country like Singapore. Many buildings in Penang are not maintained, looks forlorn and diapidated and is in need of a new coat of paint.

As a matter of fact, Penang looks much cleaner now, except for her congested looking roads and messy directions.

I consider these part of life lessons for Rae and Lea and hope that someday, when they do travel or go to other parts of the world, they will learn to appreciate the beauty of the local lifestyle and their friendliness of the people.

We drove to many parts of town and even got down for the kids to relieve themselves. Ah Boy remembered a public toilet at the old esplanade when the girls were screaming urgent and true enough, the toilet is still around and looks very enchantingly retro, to me. I can't help taking shots of it. I even took shots of an old car because in Singapore, we hardly get to see cars that are older than 10 years.

We even took a wrong turn to the Chowrasta Market on one morning only to get caught in the massive human traffic market along the streets... Embarrasing situation as we slowly edge our way out while the locals looked and stared at a car in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Penang and it's many sights

Tua Pek Kong Temple at Pulau Tikus

Times Square (Is this opened?)

Streets around Georgetown (where shopping was best in 70s!)

Tunes Hotel (errr... where'd such a hotel come from??)

Parking lots that had no lots... Our car under the tree.. Safe to Park?

Pulau Tikus Market Still Standing Proud..
Where the goods are most expensive..sigh

Tandas (old fashioned public toilet) near old Esplanade
Ah Boy must have used this many times!! He knew this place!

A familiar sight of a typical sugar cane drink stall
I love this type of pure sugar cane juice!

Our wrong turn to Chowrasta Market...
lucky we finally cleared *embarrassed to look back*

It was exciting driving around Penang. The familiar sights, the familiar buildings and the names of the roads. And most importantly the best place for FOOD!

Read about my Food Hunt
Char Koay Teow
Curry Mee

Back to Singapore

Aaah I'm finally back in Singapore after a week's holiday in Penang and Genting Highlands, Pahang. We started driving from Singapore from about 5 ish. We used the Tuas' custom entry to get to Johore because we were worried that there might be a jam due to after-work-hours as many Malaysians travel to and forth Singapore for work daily.

After clearing the customs and getting our passports stamped, it was about 6pm. In case you were wondering why didn't we start travelling from morning, it was because Ah Boy had to work that very day and because it was a Monday, he needed to clear emails first and complete all the paper work early. He managed to get off work about 4pm and got home, have a shower then helped to put the luggage into the car.

Weather wise driving in the evening was really very nice. It wasn't hot nor humid. However it got a little stressful when it was dark. At about 8 - 10ish, Ah Boy was still fine. I kept conversation going during the trip because I wanted to make sure he was fine and still alert. If really need to, then we can switch places but i've never driven on his Honda before. His car does not have a hand brake but has a pedal brake on the far left instead of a clutch pedal. So from the left are, foot brake, middle-foot brake and right is the accelerator.

Dark unlighted roads @ 12.51am

Anyway, driving later into the night got a little stressful not because traffic was heavy. It was because roads are not lighted except for the luminous signs painted at the sides of the road to guide you along. If there was a car in front it was easier but if there were no cars, you'd be squinting your eyes out to make sure you follow the luminated signs! YIKES!

Altogether, we took about 3 toilet breaks. The girls were watching their favourite movie Enchanted and Mr Bean along the way. About 10pm they were all asleep. I kept a watch for the road for Ah Boy. Just to be safe because it was our first drive at night.

The total trip to Penang from Singapore was shorter than we expected. It was about 8 and half hours.. I guess we made a record time compared with the 10 hours drive back previously during the day. Traffic at night consists of more Trucks and Heavy laden goods' vehicles. There were some buses but not many because many buses do not leave Sg as early as us so it was only after the Selangor/Perak state we saw more buses from KL/Perak heading north.

We are almost almost reaching! It was about 12.59am in the morning!

Reach Toll! @ 1.00am

We finally drove across Penang Bridge @1.04am

All in all, it was a heck of an experience driving at night. Thank God we arrived safely.

To read about my food haunt in Penang, click below:
Char Koay Teow
Curry Mee

Chinese Characters Make me Dizzy

I spent a good part of this morning looking for the Chinese character of my little girl's middle name. The only copy I had of her name is from the birth certificate of hers which I had conveniently stick a typed-out character which was sent to me by the girls' Godma. This name was specially selected for her at birth then and I wanted to print it out on sticker form so that she can have her Chinese character name stuck on some of her belongings that called for Chinese characters.

I looked and looked for the character, by which the Hanyu Pinyin was Li. There were so many types of 'Li' available but none I saw had hers. I remembered it was selected from a special book on names so perhaps that is why it is not as common everywhere else? I found some characters that had the first part of her name and some had the second part of the name. But I had no software like Freehand which I could convert them into outline form to cut and paste from.

The only thing I knew how to use was the Paint program... and I had no Photoshop in my pc... Darn!

I played around in Paint for a bit then decided that it could be done. I had copied the two characters in Word and I increased their font size larger so that when it is reduced, it will be sharp. I made sure the two characters had the same size, then copied them into Paint. In Paint, I erased the parts I did not need and then close them up by selecting the needed characters close to the other one and...

Voila! I have her 'Li' finally!

Ah... so Paint is not as daunting as I thought.. though I wished I had Freehand or Illustrator... really.

Need More Moolah

I've been on a buying spree. I think it's stress. I need more money but I am doing just the opposite, spending more. The month of Jan and Feb sees me poorer by a lot. Kid's education are high in the first months, because of books, uniform and extra stuffs. Not to forget Chinese New Year clothings for them. Gosh, then I've been feeding my passion of cooking, baking and shopping for those ingredients are just costly. And when I'm fueled by this passion, I want to perfect a recipe in a single day instead of over a time frame. I even baked cookies 3x in a single day once recently because I wanted to perfect it to a T.

Oh, and I had to make some decisions about my blogging. Some decisions have to be made and it's not easy. I am sure those who blogs for some pocket money is facing the crossroads too. It's one or another.

Any of you made some decisions yet.

Vain or Not

Little Lea came home over the weekend telling me that her friend Juventis (if that is how it's spelled) had nail polish on her nails and it was so pretty. Normally I let my girls do their nails during the school holidays but not on a school term. I wasn't sure if the teachers in her Kindy would approve of it. Even they are not allowed to have coloured hair bands, clips and hair ties except for blue, black and brown. And I'm talking about Nursery and Kindy, not Primary School.

But Lea was adamant in wanting to be a Princess nowadays. She had become very girly girly lately, perhaps following her sis' footsteps. She is learning to like Pink stuff, Princess stuff and all that girly things Rae has always liked.

On Sunday morning, I came down and saw Lea on the floor, wearing a crown and painting her nails! Gosh my 4 year old is getting quite vain, eh? Rae wasn't even aware of things like these till she was about 5 or 6.. I cleaned out the nail polish on Sunday evening and she threw into a tantrum...

Cool Hot Weather

The weather gets pretty hot in Singapore lately. In Singapore recently, we had forest fires blazing away because of the heat. And in the concrete jungle in the city, the haze is more prominent as it gets trap among the tall buildings.

It may be hot in Singapore but perhaps after living in the tropical city all my life, our body is already 'seasoned' to withstand the heat. I suppose if you were to put me in another country like the deserts in Australia or Arizona deserts in United States, it shouldn't be a problem. The only difference would be the humidity levels. Arizona is known for its desert climate but compared with Singapore, at least it still has it's winter and cool breezes. November through February is considered cool winter months with temperatures of 4 deg C - 24 deg C and summer months of about 32 deg C - 48 deg C.

I definitely prefer to have some cool months like those in Arizona because the only cool temperature of below 24 deg C in Singapore means we are in the mall or in our own home enjoying the air conditioning. Time to look at what the homes in Scottsdale have to offer. We are talking about big open spaces, big homes and rooms, perhaps a possible cactus garden and a real garage for the car. How about a space for a swimming pool? It does sound tempting.

Awarded

I received two beautiful awards from my favourite bloggers, Claire and Jo-N. Claire gave me a Best Mom Award. Jo-N awarded me an Awesome Award.. WOW! How Flattering these awards are!

Thank you for your thoughts and thanks so much for the continuous support both of you have been. It is not easy to find many good friends especially bloggers but I have found that in both of them, among many others too.

A meal for her Collection

I was a sea shell collector in my youth. I collected large milo tins of various sea shells and when i was in my 20s, my island hopping trips like Langkawi, Phuket and Tioman made my collections bigger. I even bought big sea shells that had been varnished from vendors and wanted to dressed up my home with these shells cemented on the wall. However when I had both my daughters, I decided to throw them away for hygiene purpose. It was quite a shame to do that.

My eldest daughter now loves sea shells. And she would probably have loved my collections so she really has to start her own collection. In Singapore, we hardly could find shells on the beach. And what made it worst was a request from her art teacher to bring shells to school for art..

So what did I do? I went to the local market and bought a mixture of clams and shellfish! hehehe What can I do? I can't get them if we do not have the time to go island hopping right?

See, we cooked a variety of Chilly Tomato Clams and Shellfish... had a good meal then wash, soak and clean the shells for her...Good Idea?

My Kids, My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!

The girls have been secretive in the past week. They talk in whispers and they walk like crab in front of me (walking sideways) acting suspiscious and hiding things behind their backs. As much as they try to do things not to make me aware, I knew what they were up to because they whisper so loud, act too weird and my younger one tries to sneak colour paper IN FRONT of me and hide behind her back thinking these actions are invinsible. Well, nothing escapes mom's eagle eye.

They were making me a gift (stringing a necklace of Beads) and making a Valentine Card for me of course. And I have to pretend nothing happens of course, not to spoil their fun. And I had to also pretend nothing happened when I was on the dining table and my elder girl was still stringing her beads under the table while eating breakfast. Once she dropped the chain and I could hear the beads dropping one by one onto the floor... and although I wanted to help her pick them up, I had to turn a deaf ear on it since she pretended nothing happened but her eyes and mouth open wide when it happened!

Then this morning, they both came to me with a wrapped envelope sized gift for me.. Mommy, we have something for you... I opened it and saw their lovely patient gift of a beady necklace and cards they painstakingly took a week to make for me. I was so touched and happy. Gave them hugs and kisses.

A beautiful necklace using beads.
It even has a string of word - MUMMY.. I was so touched.

Cards made by Lea and Rae.

Oh I also bought them Valentine gifts... something they both WANTED BADLY! A Ben 10 watch with sound effects! They were both ecstatic of course!! They wanted to zap everything they see and they spoke in unusual alien languages...

Ben 10 Fans!

Lea Dances

Lea loves to dance. Any type of song that she thinks is worthy to. A facebook friend shared an indian upbeat song and dance video recently. Lea heard it and quickly moved to action. Indian dances usually have quick dance movements and very active. But that doesn't stop Lea from trying to learn it. Watch and enjoy how she does it.

Hmmmm for a four year old, I think she has a little potential, don't you?

Salivating over Biriyani

I'm in this delirious craving for Indian food these days. If Ah Boy was around for dinner, perhaps we can take a walk into Karu's curry for some nice Masala Curry or something. Ohh and those papadums that are free flow.. makes my mouth water already.

I bought a pack of Basmati Rice last month. I have to cook it by hook or by crook one of these days. So I dropped by at Sheng Shiong on Saturday and bought this pack of Biriyani Masala powder. I am not sure if it's good but this beats all the spices that I am not too sure about. There is A Lot of work in cooking Chicken Biriyani and the Rice, 'Dum' style. I am thinking of challenging myself to try it.

So when should I be trying it? Perhaps on Saturday? Or on the next few days.. I've been reading up on the recipes and methods for Chicken Biriyani. Anyone has cooked it before?

Read About My Garbage Enzyme Post

Following the previous post about Garbage Enzyme, check out the MY FIRST GARBAGE ENZYME on my other blog, fadaboutfood.com

I posted some photos of some steps and the recipe of Garbage Enzyme. It is not yucky at all and should not be foul smelling because the dregs are mainly veg and fruits. No meat, no oil, etc.

I would like to encourage my readers here to try it, for the sake of our environment. It is very simple and can be done in your kitchen if you cook everyday. Keep the vegetable and fruit skins and parts of the vegetable you are going to throw away in a bag and save it for making garbage enzyme. You can start making it right away. Be sure to measure the weight of vegetable dregs you add each day as you add into the container. For me, I actually collect those dregs in a bag, keep it chilled in the fridge for 2 days and weigh them and made it. But you can measure the sugar solution in the container, leave it aside and add the veg dregs in daily too. Once the right weight of dregs are in, close the lid tight and mark your dates.