A Nice Evening Dinner At Weng Kee Restaurant, Ipoh

CONNECT GROUP....

My ex-colleague invited me to attend her Connect group last night and I readily agree to do so.  It was my second time there and I like the company.  It was a small group of 10 and they are so friendly and nice.  Met a few new faces last night and there was one in particular I wanted to mention.  This sweet young lady walked in and before my friend could introduce me to her, she said, "Hi, You are a blogger, right?"  Oh, I thought my friend must have told her about me earlier but no, she said she recognized me through my blog posts.  Oh.. oh... I was indeed startled... she has a very good memory!  And that made me realize that... is it a good thing to publish me, my face apart from the food pictures I put up.... *ponder*

Back to my foodie post, here is an evening meal taken at Weng Kee Restaurant, Ipoh Garden South.  It has been a long while since I went there.  We ordered 4 dishes and in my mind, the bill would come to around RM80.  I was wrong.... Surprised that the bill came to RM57, quite reasonable, I would say.

My friend and I like this dish..

Steamed yam with dried shrimps...

Their signature beancurd dish....

Sambal Kangkong....

And their famous Kapitan Chicken... 

Yeah, now looking back, the price is justified.... 

These are not expensive ingredients...

Worth coming back here once awhile...

Tea Time Break At Petite Mary, Ipoh

NO FOOD...  My fridge was practically empty yesterday and I was too lazy to drive out in the hot sun.  Went online to look for Foodpanda but ended up not getting anything.  Lots of variety but I have no appetite for those.  Then someone saved me... my neighbour!  She must have 6th sense cos she "donated" a big plate of noodles for me!  So really nice of her...

This morning I made it a point to go marketing and ended up buying at least a week's ration!  LOL.. The greens that I bought can easily last me 4-5 days, just in case I experienced my laziness mode again.  Took my sister along for the marketing spree, and after that, we went and relaxed ourselves with an hour foot massage.  Hmmm... Bliss!  After "caging up" for so long, it is so good to be pampered.  And....after our massage, we adjourned for our light lunch at Petite Mary, Ipoh Garden.  She loves bread and coffee and I had an urge for croissant sandwich.

Pumpkim soup with 3 fresh bread which was still warm to the touch... 

My giant croissant!  

Forgot to open it up to show the two lumps of tuna... 

Our Tea Time break.... 

Oh my, the portions are really BIG!

Definitely have to Share!

Places To Go For Walks In Penang

SWEAT.....

Hot weather is here in Ipoh as well as in Penang.  I really do not mind the Hot these days, I heard that hot temperature kills the C-virus, yes?  I hope it does!  With this global disease these days, I heard so much on what-to-do and what's-not-do.  Questions like... "Have you store up your pantry?"  Why?  I asked... Do I really have to?  So far, I did not, I only have a few packets of dry noodles which are going to expire soon and a small tub of fragrance rice in my fridge.  That is all...er... . I think Ipoh is still "safe." 

Talking about the hot weather, I went out for evening walks even though the sun has not set yet.  It was still sunny... well, who cares now.... let's go for sun-bathing.... kill the germs!  LOL...

Here comes the sun... and I say... Its alright!!

At the Botanical Gardens at 6pm... 

At the Air Itam dam.... I love taking walks here too...

Walking along the nature and dam area... 

At Bukit Dumbar where I walked three big rounds.... 

Then it is time to fill up the lost calories again!

My Food Adventure In Penang

MISSING IN ACTION AGAIN?

Yeah, from my blog, that is... It has been a number of days since my last post.  Where was I?  What have I been doing all these while.... why am I so lazy when it comes to blogging now?  For all I know, I have been going here and there despite the virus-mania thingy.  Someone spread me some virus, I have been coughing out lots of endless phlegm, whitish in color, not greenish... urghhhh.. and I have been to the doctor who prescribed me a bout of antibiotics to clear my throat.. three types of cough mixture I had been consuming and what else.... hmmm.... oh, no fever... Thank God for that...

No, I did not go around spreading my germs, in fact I have been cooking a lot at home, porridge and stuff.. that was why no foodie posts.  And NOW... I AM BACK!  Back to my old self and going up north, eating whatever my heart desires, it is like paying back time!  My weighing scale just informed me that I have gained 2kg already!  Serious!  Anyway.... no regrets la.... It is good to be back in my eating form after astaining for so long!

Food that I took in Penang for the past few days....

From Habee's Kitchen, Nagore Road.... 

Something appetizing....

Fish slices in tomato broth...

I like the bitter gourd soup too....

Around RM14 per bowl... 

With "fu pei" RM8

I like economy noodles too....

This is taken in Tye Sin Street....

The taste of the noodles reminded me of my childhood days...

This meal set gives me full satisfaction!

Springroll and Lobak to go with the noodles....

Famous wanton noodles at Chulia Street.... 

Fragrance from the Lard!

Hawker vendor selling Yong Tau Foo.... 

 I yearned for it the next day but unfortunately it was not opened....

Followed by 5 pieces of Apom by an elderly lady just opposite the Wanton noodles.... 

One piece 50 sen....

Ended the meal with a bowl of cooling Ching Poh Leong at Kimberley Street.....

Next night we had Mala Hotpot at Xiang Guo Burma Road.... 

Oh, by the way, this does not belong to us..

The waiter took it away after realizing his mistake...

This is ours... not a nice sight, right?

Taste wise... ok ok but a bit pricey.. RM38 with one bowl of rice and drinks...

And this was taken at Moh Teng Pheow Nyonya Koay at Jalan Masjid....

I was super full that time... so I just ordered a plate of Ju Hu Char RM13

And a few Koays to go with my hot lemon honey.... 

How not to gain weight?

I have to justify the food with long walks in the evenings...

 Botanical Gardens, Bukit Dumbar and Ayer Itam Dam...

LOL... 

Vegetarian Dishes On First Day Chinese New Year

FIRST TIME... on the first day of Chinese New Year, we went for vegetarian set meal at My Home Noodles in Ipoh Garden.  Yes, first time for us to go there during CNY... normal days, yes, I love the food there, price is reasonable and the taste suits me real fine.  During those years when my late mom was around, she used to fry vegetarian meehoon and a mixed vegetables dish called Loh Hon Chai in Cantonese.  For desserts, she would either boil red beans or "Ching Poe Leong"... I really miss my dear mom... ever since she passed on, my siblings and I celebrate reunion in our own separate homes... It is so different altogether...

For this vegetarian meal set, it cost around RM238 and these are dishes we were served...

I don't mind coming again the next year... 

Not so much on the food but family togetherness... 

Face Masks And Big Onions Against Virus?

OF MASKS AND ONIONS.... What do these two have in common?

Due to the Wuhan/Coronavirus scare, I have been receiving a lot of news via my mobile phone plus lots of do and don't-s advice.  On top of that, even audios are forwarded, these knows-a-lot current affairs coming mostly from aunties speaking in different dialects.  With these tensing up situations due to the virus, many could not help but hearing and reading what is being sent out.  Of course, many are fake news, many just forward to others without verifying... like one video which actually happened in Singapore, they wrote Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur.  Cases like this really make people panic for no reason.

Anyway, lets use our discretion... do not simply forward news which some can be really outrageous, such as foetus eating was widely spread by some.... sigh... already people is so paranoid, some more want to add more flavour to the current pandemic....

Which.... motivated me to write out this post today....

I do not use masks as yet... but I want to buy them for my kids.  Kiasu or kiasi… they need to have these masks on their face since they are working down south.  But for the past couple of weeks, each pharmacy I went do not have stock.  So much so, some even displayed notices outside the shop "No Masks nor Sanitizer" … "No stock".... Well, I managed to get two small bottles, one given by my friend and one from a pharmacy which I have been before this thing happens.

However, this morning I managed to get.... for the very first time... 3 packets of mask.... 10 in each packet and each customer is limited to buy 3 packets for RM15.  I am going to send them south to my kids and I hope they won't be "hijacked" along the way... LOL....

Yay! 6 packets for both of them to share.... 

And a packet of amazin' grace for Mama!

On the lighter side, my friend followed strictly to the messages received on Whatapps… 

Onions in the house....

Mind you, they must be big giant ones too!

Purpose:  To absorb all types of Virus-es!!

Well, believe it or not... 

No harm putting one here, one there and everywhere!!

Talking about viruses, I am also considering to get a home carpet cleaning service 

and mattress cleaning service to keep them clean!

LOL.... 

CNY Lunch And Sweet Temptations In Ipoh

NOT A GOOD IDEA to eat out during the festive season but we did it anyway.... LOL...

Reanaclaire's kitchen has been closed till further notice after the third day of Chinese New Year even though her kids were still around for the whole week.  We ate out almost each day, either in our relatives' houses or eatery outlets in Ipoh.  Two meals are sufficient, heavy breakfast in the morning, home snacks during the whole day and another light meal during dinner.   Many times we asked each other why we did not feel hungry even when dinner time approached.... Yes, we know the answer and yet we still wanna ask why!  Obviously our tummies worked non-stop due to the variety ofcookies, prawn crackers, BBQ pork jerky, carbonated drinks.... etc etc... all these "unhealthy" and yet so yummy delicacies during this festive season.  OK, just once a year affair so I guess it is totally fine to indulge into them....

Back to my post today....

Before they left Ipoh, I took them to Wong Koh Kee restaurant in old town, this shop has been around since the 1970s.... and still standing firm, I am glad to say.  However one word of advice, do not go during festive season, the food is somehow... er... slightly off from the normal days, I would say... Well, that is a common statement anyway....

So... we ordered these dishes.....

Wrong choice... clams aka Lala in Cantonese....

Why did I order this dish during CNY??

Lesson learned...

Another wrong choice... Steamed fish....

Ordering fish means higher bill on CNY...

LOL...

Only not wrong is the greens....

This is their signature dish... 

Watercress with roasted pork...

Whole bill with 3 dishes one soup came to RM82

Maybe it won't be so high if we go on a normal day....

Saved by the day are these cupcakes from Nancy Chong Bakery....

Costing RM3.50 each, we must order at least 10...

Mini sized ones... 

However we decide to stick to 1kg of butter cake the next round which cost around RM60 maybe?

Or perhaps "Reanaclaire's bakery" can help to do the pound cake....

Must look for a really nice recipe... 

Any recommendations, anyone?

My Dishes For Chinese New Year Eve

GONG XI GONG XI.... 

This year Chinese New Year Eve reunion was different from the previous years.  For the first time in history, I did all the cooking!!  For many days before the real day, I did some serious homework and research, wrote down what I needed to buy and getting some tips from the "cooks."  When the real day finally arrived, a few dishes were "born"... from Reanaclaire's kitchen.  LOL.... 

Started the eve of CNY early by preparing all the ingredients needed... most of the time were spent washing and cutting..... cooking them is easier...  Now looking back, I am amazed at my late mom, she really did a lot for our whole family plus extended ones during festive season.  How she managed to cope up with endless dishes without any complaints is a real wonder!  Now it is my turn and I only did less than half she used to cook....  

My dishes for the eve of Chinese New Year....

Opened a can of abalone and added in Chinese cabbage and broccoli... 

A vegetarian dish... 

Steamed chicken... 

Ju Hu Char... special request from my girl...

Chicken soup with pig stomach... 

Now looking back, I only cook five dishes....

Not much but a Big accomplishment for me!  LOL... 

4 dishes and a pot of soup in fact...

And yet I felt so exhausted by the end of the day!  

Today is the 8th day of CNY.... 

Not too late to wish my readers... 

A Happy And Blessed Chinese New Year!!