Lunch @ IKEA

IKEA Food Court

No. 2 Jalan PJU 7/2, Mutiara Damansara

47800 Petaling Jaya

We took Brendan out to lunch today to treat him for doing well in his recent mid-term exams.

what, no shades?

off with the shades, its time to give the fedora a chance

They had Swedish meatballs, as usual..

but I went decidely English:)

absolutely ravenous boy!

We've been noticing a marked increase in Brendan's food intake nowadays. Heck, we're not complaining as his meal portions used to be bird-sized.

He now eats more that Cat and I combined.. kanak-kanak membesar, hehehe:)

Restoran Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh (revisited)

Restoran Yu Kee Bak Kut Teh

54A, Jalan SS 14/2

Subang Jaya

47500 Selangor

Coordinates: 3.072724, 101.590367

Yes, we're back and yes, this has got to be a firm favourite of our family as we've been coming here close to 10 years now. In fact we've mentioned this place here and here before.

To reiterate, I know there are 'better' and more authentic BKT shops in Klang (a dime a dozen if you ask me), but my idea of a BKT fix is when the broth is absolutely black and 'herbalistic'.

Brendan and his preoccupation with sunglasses

that's more like it (Mom's into sunglasses too)

shades off, its down to business:)

lovely lovely BKT!

i can almost smell the herbs:)

Introducing My Daughter..

This is something I've been putting off posting for a while now. If you've noticed, there's a pronounced gap in my postings between February and May last year.

It was because we went through a personal tragedy during that period. We lost our daughter (7 months stillborn) in March 2010, and despite what everyone has to say on the matter it will still take a while for us (me, at least) to get over.

Thing is, I don't know if you can "get over" something heart-breaking like this. The best you can do is to "get with" the pain, and live with it, pick up the pieces and live through it.

Okay, enough with the melodramatics. We've decided to honour her memory by celebrating Bethany Joy Lim Jia Qian's (that's her name, in its full glory) birthday as we would our own, and we've adopted her due date as her birthday.

Bethany would have been a year old toddler today, so enjoy the photos. I've deliberately refrained from commenting on the photos so as to not trivialize the occasion. Sometimes pictures do paint a thousand words.. Enjoy:)

Aysa's Wedding

HGH Convention Centre

475 Jalan Peach Ave

Sentul

51000 Kuala Lumpur

+60340456166

info@hghconvention.com

Coordinates: 3.179786, 101.693244

Our neighbour's daughter got married today, and we were of course invited to make merry and join in the festivities. The wedding was held in a rather upscale and posh looking school hall in Sentul.

We were not even aware this function/convention hall existed until we received the invitation from our neighbour. If we're not mistaken this 'convention centre'  actually belongs to Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Sentul.

Aysa's mom..

Aysa's dad and siblings..

my son the poser (gets it from his mom, definitely)

the bride and groom making a grand entrance

the chicken was to-die for!

while the mutton was divine!

ooh la la..

great decor and ambience:)

Aysa and hubby leaving the hall

managed to sneak a shot with them:)

This has definitely got to be THE best indian wedding we've been to..

CK Kopitiam Corner

CK Kopitiam Corner

Jalan Galian 3/93

Taman Miharja

55200 Kuala Lumpur

Coordinates: 3.124167, 101.723889

After 'migrating' to Kuala Lumpur in September 2002 we lived for a while with my sister in Subang Jaya before finding a condo to rent here in Taman Miharja, so coming back here every once in a while is pretty nostalgic. For a while, Brendan used to attend the kindergarten 'Tadika Intelek' nearby. The roar of the trains (from the LRT tracks a stone's throw away) was something we eventually got immuned to.

This is one of our fav mixed rice shops. Why? the price! You can hardly get mixed rice for under RM4 these days, and CK Kopitiam Corner is one of the last few.

as the name suggests, its located at the corner..

The 1st shop after exiting Jln Cheras..

before reaching Miharja Condo

unfussy about his choice of dishes

This cost more than RM4 tho..

Restoran Win Heng Seng

Restoran Win Heng Seng

183, Jalan Imbi

50100 Kuala Lumpur

Coordinates: 3.145486, 101.715000

Brendan had extra classes at school today till 12:30PM, and he's due for tuition at Ampang 2 hours later. We decided to have lunch near our home, and ended up in Imbi.

We've seen this restaurant before but parking is quite a challenge in this area. We ended up paying RM4 just to park nearby.

Pressed for time, and being new to the place we played it safe and ordered 3 plates of Wan Tan Mee.. and guess what? It was divine!

Its the shop at the corner

Right on the main street

Brendan still in uniform

Eat and run (to his next class)

A bit pricey (RM5 per plate), I guess that's the going rate in Imbi?

But in the end it was well worth it, I guess

We found out later the kueh tiau soup here is quite good as well (we noticed quite a few patrons ordering bowls of it). We'll be back soon!

Caveat Emptor - Restoran 9898

Restoran Nine Eight Nine Eight (9898)

Jalan Pandan Indah 4/10

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Coordinates: 3.131643, 101.752989

This time we've not writing to recommend a shop. On the contrary, its to issue a stern Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) statement.

Its Sunday afternoon, and after a leisurely drive around Ampang we found ourselves at Pandan Indah, and in particular along the street where this restaurang was located.

Looking like any other run of the mill  chinese restaurant, we decided to have lunch here.

Restoran Nine Eight Nine Eight

or is it Restoran I Ate I Ate (your money)..

Do you suppose their prices are due to their 24 hours status?

The photo below is of the chap fun stall we (Brendan, Cat and I) had rice. We each had only two dishes, but the total came to almost RM20!

The offending chap-fun stall

The drinks were another thing. Cat's  herbal tea cost RM1.80, Brendan's can of 100-plus was RM2.40 while my customary iced coffee was RM2.00.. can you believe that?

The guy in the center nonchalantly recited the mad prices to us!

We don't know about the rest of you, but we distinctly had the feeling we were victims of daylight robbery. This is definitely a place we'll avoid like the plague in future.

Malacca In A Day..

We were supposed to make a day trip to Malacca yesterday, but a bout of diarrhea put paid to that.

We reached Malacca at noon with thoughts of having lunch at one of the chicken rice ball shops. Alas, we found Jonker Walk swarming with cars from Singapore and Johore. Not wishing to be caught in the ensuing ruckus, we made our way to Melaka Raya where Brendan found a chicken rice ball shop.

EE JIN BAN Chicken Rice Ball in Melaka Raya

Patiently waiting for our food

Couldn't help noticing the murals

Pretty interesting stuff

We had a side order of sotong sambal as well

Cat trying to ask for some non-plastic utensils

Brendan has this every time we visit Malacca

Absolutely delicious sambal sotong

For dessert, we headed to Bukit Cina for some iced cendol. The stall is located at the foothills and is surrounding by gravestones!

Cendol!

Eerie..

The place was packed, so we ate on our feet

We found some vacant stools later

Our tummies full, we took a drive and found ourselves at Ujong Pasir (Portuguese Settlement, my spiritual homeland). We took a walk along the Benteng and took in the sights. Its been awhile since our last visit and we were pleasantly surprised to find a jetty there.

The jetty

Some kids were fishing here before we came

The Malacca Straits in the background

Posing..

and posing..

My fav shot!

One last shot before we left

Lisbon Hotel at the far end of the pier

How Ujong Pasir has changed

Brendan's sunglasses broke soon after

Crowd or no crowd, Brendan would have been crushed if we did not pay a visit to St. Paul's Hill, our next destination.

Where else?

But St Paul's Hill

Brendan comes here religiously

Quite packed that day

Cat looking lovely as ever

Making a wish for his exams

My stylo-milo son

And his artso-fatso dad!

Me taking a photo of Cat..

.. taking a photo of me.

Spooky

She loves self-portraits

The iconic A Famosa

Inside..

Didn't know this place existed

right beside the hill, apparently

Last shot before leaving our beloved Hill.

Later that evening we parked our car some distance away from Jonker Walk, and made our way to the open air night market area. We found a quaint and rustic kopitiam right in front of the stage where people gathered each weekend to sing and dance.

It even has a boutique hotel at RM180 per night

Having an early dinner

Brendan loves the decor

Waiting..

.. for our food to arrive.

Brendan amused himself with the stool and barrel outside

Dinner is served

Brendan had the nasi lemak

I had the fried rice

While Cat had the curry mee

Brendan goofing around with my beer

Till he accidentally swallowed some!

Cat and Brendan then went gallivanting around the night market, while I stayed back at the kopitiam to enjoy my beer, the sights and sounds of karaoke from the stage nearby.

The 'japanese garden'

They stumbled upon this at Jonker Walk

A Dragon, an Ox..

and an Elephant.. we had no idea what it meant

It was already dark when Cat and Brendan got back from the night market, by then I was halfway though my second bottle of Guiness Stout.. (hic!)

(hic!)

Seriously, two small bottles will not render my senseless..

Brendan with his new sunglasses

After some hot cups of coffee, we left Malacca late that night. This was actually our first time doing a day trip, and I think we'll be doing more in the future.