School Holiday Cupcakes

Its school holidays which means its FUN TIME for the kids!     Outings to the local zoo, by-the-stream picnics or a day at the mall is part and parcel of how we normally spend the holidays with the kids.    Too bad I still have a full time job and Bryan needs to stay home all day.  Will have to wait till the weekend before we take him out for a day trip somewhere (yet to decide, uuh!!)

A friend of mine recommended another friend to try my cupcakes for a picnic party the school is planning on the last day of school before they break for the mid-year holidays.   No specific request but just cupcakes for both the boys & girls in kindy.

I had cars in mind for boys naturally and for the girls, I wanted to do some flower  and garden themed design ... but I had no idea how many girls or boys specifically they had, so I changed it to colorful sprinkles and stars instead, which can then suit either a boy or girl .. just in case all the cars are taken up!

The mommy who came to collect the cupcakes was very excited to see this.  She told me that her boy would jump when he sees this!  And she also told me that she is also personally very excited and really liked the designs I made for her.

Actually this is my first time really using fondant to shape freehand.   I think they turned out ok ... they do indeed look like mini cars mah ... hehehe.   Hope they had a fun time picnic-ing in the park!! 

More designs available at www.facebook.com/ConfectionsKL.

Ti-Ratana Family Day @ Cheras

Found out about Ti-Ratana's Fun and Food Fair cum Family Day celebrations from an office colleague.    Since she knew I would be fairly familiar with Cheras, she asked me for directions which I gladly drew out a map for her .. and she rewarded me with RM50 worth of coupons!

As it was held on a Sunday and was only from 9am - 2pm, I gladly accepted the coupons as I thought it would be a nice outing with Bryan for an hour or so before he has to head off for arts and crafts class at 2pm.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived there was this cute horsie ride!  Oh boy!  Bryan was all excited and was running towards the horsie registration desk and kept hurrying his dad .. Daddy, faster pay, faster pay.   By then, our brat was already queueing up, waiting for this turn.

There were a good variety of stalls lining up the road leading to this centre.   Mostly were food stalls, some fresh vegetable stalls, clothings, toys, even mobile prepaid carts, ice-cream, drinks, cookies & cakes, etc. 

Another favourite of the brat was all the game carts!   The community centre's volunteers came up with simple yet fun games for kids of all ages.   Simple items like using bottle, bottle caps, ping pong balls, etc.

These simple games really got me interested in the sense that they are so easy to recreate them on your own, materials are cheap but they all provide heaps of fun!!   These are some good ideas on some games that you can organise at home during your kid's birthday parties, etc!   Rather than the usual clown, face painting ,etc.  I think this can be a hit at Bryan's next birthday party!!

Cars Edible Image Cake

Sharing with you an order I recently completed for another blogger mom (thanks Lynette!).   Glad she trusted me with this order and was thankful she also ordered some Teachers' Day cupcakes from me as well. 

Request was for a edible image Cars cake with the base cake in chocolate cheese.  Have you ever tried this combination on a cake?  Some are worried that 2 strong flavours may not compliment each other - but this is one good combination I tell ya!

I felt that just adding on the edible image still seemed plain, so I decided to do a little banner to be hung over the cake.  Think & think and ended up with a banner like in the pics.   Does it look ok?

This is how it looks beneath all the decoration :D

I really dont know how to explain the joy that cake baking & decoration gives me.   I remember clearly it all started from the day I ordered cupcakes for Bryan's fullmoon party (and that's 5 years ago!) and never got to venture hands-on until we moved to our own house 2 years ago.    Bought myself a built-in oven and my colleagues chipped in to buy me a KitchenAid stand mixer as a house-warming gift.  And the rest, as they say, is history :D

Celebrating Wesak with Ah Jib Kor!

There was no news in the local dailies about Ah Jib Kor visiting the Buddhist Maha Vihara Temple in Brickfields on Wesak Day that fell on 5 May 2012, so we were kinda surprised he turned up there that day.

We visit this temple each year without fail on Wesak Day and reaching there about 9.30am, we were surprised to see a few VVIP (YB Raja Nong Chik, YB Leow Teong Lai, YB Koh Tsu Koon) at the start of the road leading to the temple.  Lots of policemen too.  So we knew some big shot was scheduled to arrive soon - but we never expected Ah Jib Kor.    We entered the temple and soon it was confirmed cos his handsome face was splattered across a large backdrop behind the stage. 

This is the closest that I have ever went near a Malaysian Prime Minister.  Hemsem boh?  My mom say he look a bit like matsalleh wor.  Got meh?

Too malas to listen to his speech, so we proceed to do what we came to do - to pray and receive blessings on this special day.    Bryan was excited about the blessed water sprinkles (he thinks its fun) and also queing for his bottle of holy water. 

We are proud of him as this is the very first year he manage to sit down throughout the prayer session.  

He was also very keen to donate money to the temple .. so I offered him to get a balloon with him making a donation into the donation box.  Explained to him what is donation .. hope he understands.

We are on full vegetarian on this special day (except Bryan of course) and very early this morning, I headed off to the wet market at Taman Yulek to get some precooked vegetarian dishes.  They were delish!!!  And cheap - only RM16 for all the below!!

The prawn si beh real!  Tasted so crunchy like real fresh prawns!   Told myself that if the 1st and 15th day of the month (fullmoon) falls on Sat or Sun, sure I will go and tapau this for our meals :)

For dinner, I made a reservations at Kechara Oasis located at Viva Mall.    They were hosting a wedding that evening but we managed to get a table for the 4 of us for an early celebrations of Mothers' Day with my mom.   Food there is really expensive but quality was there.  My mom said - next time go pasar buy that cooked vegetarian meals better lah .. aiyoh, my mom dear mom.

Teacher's Day Cuppies

A simple treat for Teachers' Day at Bryan's kindy.   Something small, something sweet and something equally delicious.  And not forgetting - it will surely put a smile on her face :)

Its base is vanilla butter topped with creamy buttericing and decorated with fondant cut-outs and flower cut-outs.     Nicely boxed into boxes of 4 complete with a self-print "Thank You Teacher" label. 

I think I made enough to give ALL the teachers in her kindy LOL!!

Teacher sms'd me the next day ... thanking me and also mentioned that they taste great!  Well .. happy teacher makes a happy kid and in turn, makes a happy mommy .. hahaha.

Tang Yuen @ All About Sugar & Gifts, Penang

When it comes to Penang food, no one ever thinks about good dessert in Penang.  The nights are usually spent in Gurney drive or some late night food court with more char kuay teow or similar.   

All About Sugar & Gifts offers some really decent dessert.  There is a long list of tang yuen varieties to choose, from chocolate, durian, red bean, and even of course the king of fruits, durian.      

 

For 5 adults, we initially ordered 3 bowls to share .... but .... but .... we ended up having NINE BOWLS!!

 

They offer 3 varieties of base soup (1) ginger soup base (2) brown sugar soup base (3) soy milk base soup.   All 3 are nice and in fact taste light.     A bowl of tang yuen typicall consist of 3 large balls of the filling of your preference accompanied by several smaller tang yuens without any filling.     Other types of dessert include peanut & pulut rice based desserts - which was quite yummy too.

Equally nice was the simple but striking deco of the shop.  Its in CNY RED both inside & the outside with quaint wooden stools.  Its a small but very cosy shop.  

All About Sugar & Gifts is located at Lorong Susu, Off Jalan Macalister and is open till 11pm.

Khunthai Seafood @ Teluk Kumbar

This is our surprise find in this trip.  A pleasant surprise indeed.     Seafood was good & price was good too!    And a perfect place for some nice beach front seafood with a clean beach for the kids to play!     Better environment than Hai Boey and service is good.

If you are driving, Teluk Kumbar is located after the Bayan Lepas Airport.   There is ample signs along the road to lead you to Teluk Kumbar from here.  And the road leading to Teluk Kumbar is a single lane narrow road with some kampung feel along the way.

I'll just let the photos do the talking.

Khunthai Seafood is located on the right, before Hai Boey Seafood.   There is a huge directional signage once you are at Teluk Kumbar road.  Wont get lost, cos got only one main road.

Hai Boey Seafood @ Teluk Kumbar, Penang

My first time eating here and definately not the last.  Good food at reasonable prices.  And most importantly, is much cleaner than Teluk Kumbar Seafood restaurant.   Also perfect for us cos the beach is clean and the restaurant operators were smart to build a few swings & slides for the kids to enjoy while the parents enjoy the food. 

A decent and clean beach front, for the kids to have a fun-filled time with sandplay.  Dont worry about washing up, cos the toilets are CLEAN.

Cannot remember the names of all the dishes cos we had so many rounds of food in Penang.  But no worries, cos if you are here, you will notice a large noticeboard with all their chiu phai choy indicated there.  

The below coconut prawn curry is exceptionally good.  Very aromatic!  Wish I had some bread to dip into them!!!  MIL could not stop scooping :D

So creative of them to built this aquarium beneath the tap.  So imagine la, how many times Bryan wanted to wash his hands LOL!!

Oh ya!  I heard the men's toilet also similar concept wor ... while you are aiming ah ... there will be fishes beneath where you aim wor!   Too bad I cant go in take pics la!

For 5 adults + 1 kiddo, our bill was about RM130.

Satay Teluk Kumbar

This is probably one of the best satays I have ever tasted.  Past few years and also now.  In KL, I only know how to buy from Haji Samsuri satay originated from Klang but when in Penang, I never ever miss the chance to enjoy this!

Satay Teluk Kumbar is located at the Teluk Kumbar Seafood restaurant.   If you google, you will find plenty of review on it.   But I find the place a bit dirty already.  Place is not well kept and a lot of ants & flies also... aiyoh.  Cheap la but there is also a cheaper place in Teluk Kumbar for seafood.  In fact, there is 2!    Share with you in my coming posts, but this satay ..  I share with you some pics first.   

Big, fat & juicy!!!!

The last time I came, it was RM0.50 per stick.  Now its RM0.80 sen.   Still worth it.  Very moist meat and special cos all the sauce is already on the meat, so they dont serve additional peanut sauce as sides for you.

Lorong Selamat Char Kuay Teow, Penang

If you google for "lorong selamat char huay teow" you will probably end up with hundreds of posts on this.    This is one place you should not miss if you are in Penang searching for good food.

There are 2 stalls in this lane but the more famous one is the stall with this lady.   People say she damn lan si.  Yes she is.    We overhead her telling her customers that they need to wait at least an hour for her char kuay teow.   We immediately moved on to the next stall in the next kopitiam.

The next stall's char kuay teow is cooked by a man.  The plate below cost RM7.50.  Not cheap eh?   Taste wise, ok.  Not bad.   But quite small portion.  

Did you know that if you sit in that kopitiam and eat the char kuay teow but dont order drinks, they still charge you 50 sen per head for drinks?  Yes.  Welcome to Penang's Lorong Selamat kopitiam.    Lagi kau kau than KL man.

Lorong Selamat is also off Macalister Road.   Just after Sunway Hotel on your right, keep extreme left and its one of the lanes on your left.

Look out for my coming posts on a really nice seafood place we accidentally ventured into in Penang!   Love that place!  Will surely go again & again if we are in Penang!!

Kek Lok Si Temple, Air Itam, Penang

MIL and SIL wanted to see Kek Lok Si Temple.   The last time they visited Penang was close to 10 years ago, so this is a must-see place for them.   For me, I think I must have visited it almost 15 years ago cos I hardly come here when I am in Penang. 

Other than the large kuan yin status (which was pitifully "downgraded") cos I heared it was so massive in size that the authorities had to ask them to bring it down, the most exciting part was actually getting up there to see the status.   You can drive your car all the way up but we took the inclined lift.  Why?  Cos we are tourist ma.  Have to spend some tourist dollars la .. hahahaha.

The first thing that attracted me in this temple .. was its ceiling!  The designs were so beautiful!  Reminds me so much of my visit to the Vatican City ... enjoying the designs in the ceiling sampai neck also pain .. hahaha.

Aren't they really really beautiful?  I really enjoyed the few minutes of peace I had inside the temple enjoying this.

This picture above of me and Bryan ... now I see clearly how his features are so much like mine ..kekekeke.  Sorry hubby :D

A cute moment of bryan and the "stoned" puppy.  Haha. 

The above is the view from the inclined lift going down back to the ground level.  Its just probably a 2-3 minute journey.  You get to see the newly built monk monastries on the way.   The inclined lift cos RM4 for 2-way journey for adults and RM2 for kids 7-12 years old.  So it was free for Bryan la.  Should have sent him up and down for few more rounds since he enjoyed it so much ..  hahahaha.