Lisa's Pad: Thoughts and Rants

Last weekend was the first I'd not attended church this year. Instead I joined my friends and we went back to M's hometown - where else but Bidor!   M'd just finished his nightshift when the loving couple pulled up to office to pick us up.   We were going to make one stop to rest the car and for toilet break etc.  However, after M'd opened his present from G & L - a keroro, we launched into our childhood memory and chatted about all the cartoons that we use to watch.. and totally forgotten about the stop!  As we were looking for a stop the turn off to Bidor appeared!  We then went to M's favorite Konlou Meen stall.  It was delish!!!! We encountered a friendly ginger cat there too :)

 

Next it was lounging at M's place.  They'd started playing Mahjong (without money of course).  Since few of us really know the game, it was more like a lesson in Mahjong.  Half way through I got bored so proceeded to watch TV while the rest of them played on.  Mahjong sure was addictive - they'd played from 12 - 3pm, and only stopped when the rest of the gang arrived.  Then on we proceeded to the waterfall.  The water was cool almost to the point of chilling.  After playing in the water, eating snacks in it, climbing the rock and see the people there, and a few attempt to swim in the pool (which proves to be difficult at the shallow part as I'd grazed my knee and the rest of the gang were either scrapped or bruised), we proceeded back to the ice kacang stall, only to find that it was closed.  So we went back to our host's new house which served as our accomodation for this trip, freshen up and went for barbeque dinner.  The barbeque dinner was something else - M's mom was a skilled cook - she made excellent fried tomyam meehoon, fried nooodles, and that excellent dutch appetizer... I cannot remember the name - but it is crepe roll with chicken pie filling, dipped into bread crumb and fried till golden brown.  Thinking bout it is enough to make me salivate again!!! M's mom also'd marinated chicken in percik sauce and did up some wildboar satay for barbeque.  I didn't taste the meat but seeing how much of them was consumed I can only assume it was really really great :D  Aside from the gang, M's neighbours/relatives also came to enjoy the wonderful food.  We also barbequed a couple of marshmellows.  Desert was agar-agar made by J, M's sister - it has three layer - top later i can't remember what was the flavour but the middle was dragon food and the last has small pieces of fresh coconut flesh in 'em. There's also sliced mango from the tree in front of M's house.  One of the best mango I'd tasted - sweet and sour all at the same time!  After dinner we went back to the new house and started to play black jackmahjong/cho dai di.  All the time I watched only and didin't play.  We didn't stay till late and went to bed around midnight.  It was a sleepless night - my body didn't recognize the mattress as a resting place and refuse to relax, couple with S's loud and erratic snore - few of us got any sleep.

 

Lack of sleep did not dampen our spirit to HAVE FUN.  Sunday morning we went to Bidor's market to have kon lou meen again, this time with thick soy sauce.  The  'yong tau fu' that go with the noodle was excellent though - the fish paste thick and fresh and the price is less than those we get in Klang Valley - truly PLC (peng = cheap, leng = good quality, cheng = wonderful)!  After that we went to the Taman Rekreasi Air Panas Sg. Kelah.  Paid entrance fee of RM5.00 to enter - first we went to the scalding therapeutic pool and 'cooked' our feet, then we proceeded to the boiling pool to cook eggs.  From there we saw the spirit of community 'gotong-royong' at work - there is still hope in mankind!  As it was our first time to this park, we didn't know that in order to cook the eggs, we gotta have some container holding them in and lower them into the pool.  We also didn't remember that we don't eat eggs without seasoning.  However the people there was kind enough - some lend us the container, some shared with us soy sauce... :)  After that we went to the mountain spring to have a cooling dip.  The man-made waterfall and cave was fun.  My skin was sunkissed which turned to mild burn when came the next day.  We return to M's home at around 3 and had lunch M's mom prepared for us at almost 4.  After lunch we went to pan chan and shopped for some souvenir and then shoot back to KL. 

 

Overall it was well organized, and we all had a good time... birthday cake you say?  well we kinda forgotten :P

I started to like my own photos since Paul's wedding.  Yes there's still fat hanging about, my arms looked like popeye's perpetually, and my hair is not sleek and silky but messy and all over the place.. yet I still like 'em lots.   Thanks Justin for them nice candid shots.. my fav photo is me standing behind leah... i'd cropped and use it for all my profile photos :D

 

Can't wait for raya... I wanna sleep sleep sleep... and just do nothing for the 2 days - sleeping in on Saturday is out of the question as church duty calls.  Then i wanna bake bake bake cookie, muffin, cake... i wanna make tiramisu also...

 

Haiz all this cooking n bakin sure will cost me and I'm already in debts... have to concentrate on things not needing $$$

Things I enjoyed today:

 

Had a cup of LiteYo Green tea & Aloe Yogurt for breakfast.  Green tea in yogurt?  Might sound a bit weird but I love it!  I shudder when I think of all the fruity yogurt sour.. but the sweetened aloe makes it all better.  My favourite yogurt is still Vanilla flavour (which no local brands carry hmmmph) but this probably can come next.

 

Stumbled upon this bunny cartoon site while doing my rounds of reading on the wellness blog on my list... this is very funny! I can't believe I'd watch some of the clips twice:  http://www.angryalien.com/ - it's a 30 sec reenactment of some well known movies by bunnies.  I love the voice talents.. and their themesong is annoyingly funny :D

 

Was thinking about this in the car the other day when I heard "If I ain't got you"...

Love songs that makes me swoon everytime heard on radio (in random order)

If I ain't got you - Alicia Keys

In the still of the night - Boyz 2 Men

More than love - Los Lonely Boys

Misty

Let's get it on - Marvin Gay

What a difference a day make - Jamie Callum

 

I suppose i should get on with doing up the accounts for August....

 

 

 

 

 

Face is rather parched since last saturday - got myself orange peel masks, avene mineral water spray and RoC Hydra+ 3 in 1.  Roc Hydra+ is pretty good in keeping the face hydrated but probably last about half a day only and need reapplication around mid day.  I hate the feelings of tightness around my lips - upon touching it feels alright and the lips are smooth even, but i just kept picturing a very thick epidermis around that area.... The RoC cost me RM58.00... and the mask n spray RM38.00 (after RM5 discount)... total spent on skincare - RM100.00 nearly *sigh*  Probably should also cut my hair shorter to skim on shampoo...

 

C & I are planning a trip to Paris sometimes next year.  Her friend suggested minimum of RM6k to make the trip.  I'm just wondering how we could get tat much money within 6 months if we were to go in march...

 

Had something really unhealthy (tempted by some foodie blog from singapore) last Saturday evening.  Here's the recipe

 

Deep Fried Egg Mee Sua (can't remember this is the proper name.. i just made it up)

 

1 roll of mee sua (thread-like wheat noodles)

1 eggs, beaten

Salt and sugar for taste

Oil for deep frying and pan frying.

Water

 

1.  Boil water in a small pot.

2.  Scald and cook mee sua till soft in pot of boiling water (takes about 1 - 3 minutes).

3.  Drain cooked mee sua.

4.  Heat oil in wok.

5.  When oil is hot enough (bubbles when u stick someting wooden in), pour (gently!) mee sua into wok.  Spread it as much as one find possible so its thin and form a patty/pancake.  Fry till golden/light brown on the edge of the pancake.

6.  As much as possible let all the oil drip off from the pancake, soak with kitchen towel/tissue if you must.  After that spread the egg mixture on and around both side of the pancake.

7.  Spray a pan with cooking oil, heat and panfry the pancake as you would a normal one.  Turn over and fry the other side.

8.  Dish out the pancake.  Spread on top icing or castor sugar or normal sugar...

 

This dish is supposed to be a breakfast dish - indeed it tasted wonderful - as in all other things that's cooked with lots of oil and fried egg... however I imagine the nutritional value ain't too high and it is considered one unhealthy dish for me.  I don't think I'll ever make them for myself again.

 

Oh yeah, I'd been looking high and low to find out how to cook mee sua and glass noodles without them sticking together.  My normal way is soak and cook - as suggested by Amy Beh in her cook book.   It doesn't work though - the glass noodles always stick together forming a disgusting looking agar-liked paste.  I found a site with recipe for thai fried glass noodle - it suggested soaking, and then cooking them till soft and plump.  I had my doubts - won't the cooking release more starch that cause the gumming effect?  Then I remembered for pasta one could keep them from sticking after cooking by putting them under running water or in cold water.  Thought maybe i could do the same with the glass noodles.  I tried it and it worked! :D  Yay :)

 

For the mee sua, one typical dish my mom used to make which i quite like was mee sua with chicken soup and shittake mushrooms.  One thing not so nice bout mom's mee sua is it's always one big lump sticking together.  I like my noodles to be stringy not lumpy... the same method of cooking glass noodles can be use for mee sua also.  However the last part about running water can be skipped for mee sua.  I always thought with Mee Sua one has to cook it with ginger... so I'd done all my mee sua with ginger as the fragrant item instead of shallots or garlic.  I also like to take my mee sua ala loh mein style - with lots of dark vinegar... since I don't have chinese dark vinegar at home, I use balsamic vinegar instead!  It tasted just as nice though :)