Homecooking Malaysian Style In St Jose

BACK TO NORMAL ROUTINE...

After a week vacation at Hawaii, everything goes back to normal, the young adults go to work and yours truly is back being a home ministeress again.... LOL....

Wake up around 8am, take my breakfast and then wait for baby to get up, which is often around 9am plus or so.  Every two hours, he will take his nap and in between his naps, I will quickly prepare food for adults which is normally lunch and dinner.  Lunch is always simple, sometimes just noodles or bread or when really too busy, it will be online delivery... 

Being here makes me realise that back home in Malaysia, food is so easily accessible... I mean Chinese Asian food, curry mee, prawn mee, wanton mee, fish ball noodles... nasi lemak.. economy rice.. LOL.. you name it, we can get it in Ipoh... whereas over here, we have to do these from scratch or do your own homecooking which tastes similar to the food in Ipoh.... and that was what we normally do..... 

We even have to do our own roasted pork....

And any leftovers will be kept for the following lunch.... 

Frozen dumplings plus some greens and meat... 

Reminds me of Ipoh wanton noodles... LOL...

No meat will be just eggs and greens with Kampua noodles....

I like taking noodles for lunch....

(after this posting, I will start to cook Taiwan noodles!!)

Dinner is normally a two dish thing.... 

Assam sambal fish curry... 

TEAN packet bought over from Malaysia.... 

Stir fry kailan with prawns and leftover roasted pork....

Capsicum from the garden.... 

On another day, another two dishes....

Pork ribs with radish..... sweet and sour.... 

Another spicy dish to go with the meat....

Yeah, that is the roasted pork we did.... 

Looks like a lot of dishes... but as usual two only...

Goes with pumpkin rice.....

And on another evening, just chicken claypot rice.... 

With spinach.... and cherry tomatoes from the garden.... 

Simple food and yet satisfying on cooler evenings now....

Winter is here!

 

Our Scrumptious Dinner In Hawaii

HUNGER FOR FOOD.... After the 3-4 hours of hiking, ascending and descending or the other way round, we were so hungry!  Snacks in the car took place while driving back to town, almost a two hours drive before reaching the restaurant which I could not recall the name but the food there was just fantastic!

We made reservations through the phone beforehand so that we could have a table by the time we reached the place.  Quick, quick... please just order any food... I could eat almost anything without any fuss!

We ordered three main meals..... 

Poke again, yes!

Must not leave Hawaii without eating them.... 

Fish Tacos!

Sprinkled with some sweet mayo and mango slices...

Love them so much!

Grilled Salmon... comes with 2 servings...

Brown rice and wild ferns aka paku pakis!

I am surprised they have these ferns over there too!

The food was really fantastic....
not because we were super hungry....

maybe partly....

They were great in fact!

We bought the gift card from Costco... 

Paid $70 for a $100 card...

We even have balance to take home a packet of crispy pork belly... 

So all in all, we paid $70 for a $100 dinner!

p/s:  once I get the name of this restaurant, I will put it up later.... hehehe...

My Most Thrilling And Adventurous Hike At Kilauea Iki Crater

 NEVER EXPECTED.... When my daughter-in-law suggested going hiking and seeing the volcano crater, I was not prepared to have the longest and the most dangerous walk I have ever experienced in my whole life..... 

As I mentioned before, I did not know what to expect from this Kona trip, I just tagged along, expecting to have a relaxing time in the resort and eating to my heart's content.  That was what I was prepared to... LOL... however on that day, I was stretched to the fullest of my stamina, hiking up and down a volcanic mountain and walking across the crater which has exploded just two years back.  If I have known this earlier, I would say... "hey, you guys go ahead, I will wait for you all in the car.... " 

On this adventurous day, I experienced going through a lube, a pathway created by the volcanic eruption, it was like a cave... dark and moist inside and we need to switch on our handphone to go through.. isn't that adventurous?  Reminds me of the Famous Five from the Enid Blyton books except this cave is created by the volcano.

So what volcano did I walk through?  That much I only found out after we finished the thrilling hike... it is called Kilauea Iki Crater.... 

2-3 hours of walking.... 

it is like going up and down a 40 storey building as it says here...

but of course, without ascending and descending the rocks... 

that is the frightening part....

Initially started with just a light and easy walk up to see this crater.... 

I thought... hey, that was easy.... 

took a few pictures and away we drove away.... 

Then we joined in the hiking into the mountains...

Seniors were in front of me....

Aanother reassurance... if they can do it, so can I....

But halfway through, they detour ....

And.....

.... after an hour of descending hike, we were on flatland...

This is the hole left by the volcano....

And we had to walk through the crater which has some parts still steaming out smoke...

Isn't that frightening?

I mustered up some courage.... in the middle of the crater.... 

And off again we walked across.... to don't-know-where...

I just walked on and on...

it seems like an endless walk to me...

Cracks along the way....

I dare not even looked in..... 

Ending the walk on flat surface, we had to ascend these rocky parts...

And there I was.... huffing and puffing...

There was no turning back... 

we just had to go up and up... 

Now thinking back, I wonder how I made it through....

Thank God for His Protection....

My most thrilling hike at the age of 60+.....

A Day Tour Through Waipio Valley, Hawaii

TOURING DAY AT HILO...  or did I mistaken the name for another.... 

Started our day trip at around 10am and stopped at a flea market to walk around and ended up buying two Hawaiian papayas for $5.  Small, short and rounded...  that was how they looked like.... and we saw some rambutans being sold too.  We asked the seller and he couldn't tell us the name of the fruit... LOL.. and we told him that they are rambutans and we were from Malaysia, that was how we know.  He was amazed and he told us that his friend gave him some seeds to grow in Hawaii... this friend must be a Malaysian... LOL... 

Walking around the market.... nothing much really except for the local food and fruits.... 

Then we drove further to another part of the town... 

Kamehameha The Great, the first ruler in the kingdom of Hawaii...

Walked a few minutes down the slope ...

Where the tourists are.... 

To catch some scenic pictures...

Beautiful scenery from where we stood....

And we could go down to the beach if we wanted...

That would be another half hour walk..

But no, we did not walk down.... 

Too hot and too far to walk...

We had another place to cover anyway..... 

So let's just take a picture to mark my presence!

Fine Dining At Canoe House, Mauna Lani, Kona

ONCE A LIFETIME OR SHOULD I SAY YOLO? 

Yes, we only live once and we should enjoy to the fullest... within our means, of course!  LOL...And that was what we did. 

On this special evening, my son booked a reservation at Canoe House in Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts for dinner.  I did not know what to expect except that he told me that it was a fine dining open air restaurant overlooking the sea.  

When we reached, I felt that I was home in Penang, very similar except for the beautiful sunset and cooling wind... and of course the food is different too.  The three of us ordered a 5 course set, not knowing what to expect except the best... LOL.... It cost $95 per pax and I think it is really worth trying.  As I mentioned earlier... YOLO... You Only Live Once!  LOL..... 

When we entered the resort, we felt that we were being "stared upon"...

Yes, no kids, no babies in sight... nor Asians too!

Some were looking at our baby in the pram, cooing to him.... 

Oh I guess this hotel is not for kids...

I asked my son... "did we come to the right place?"

We had our dinner here....

here.... 

Looks like our Malaysian beaches right?

the sun was going to set....

lower and lower.....

So beautiful....

Catching closer glimpse of the sunset....

The love birds went to capture these before the food arrives....

And soon it was nearly gone...

First course....

I finished to the last drop or piece.... LOL...

Second course.... 

Third....

Fourth one...

And dessert as the 5th course..... 

And this was complimentary cos of wedding anniversary.... 

Don't forget to mention during the reservation!

LOL...

Yes, our life time experience...
or should I say, that is my once-in-a-lifetime experience.....

LOL.....