30.5.14

In my last post, I mentioned about giving my kids some workouts. Somehow, that prompted me to share again the goodness of exercise. Hope I am not too long winded here, just some sharing on healthy living. :)

 I find that exercise is really important as it's really good for our body and mind. So far, two doctors commented the importance of exercise and one doc told me it's like a medication which we must take regularly. To me, I find that it helps to manage my blood pressure, cholesterol level, keep me fit, controls my weight, reduce my stress and most importantly, makes me feels good. I always feel like a zombie the next day , whenever I don't exercise the evening before. I can say I am addicted to the feel-good feeling of exercise. LOL ...  Do check with your doc if you have not been exercising for a while and go slow first.

Anyway, after a 2 hour badminton session yesterday evening, I opted for Aglio Olio at Pastamania for dinner.

Basil Chicken Aglio Olio without chilli 

Mushroom soup and Ice Lemon Tea
The Basil chicken was a bit too salty but it blended well with pasta which I chose Linguine. Added some cheese and it was really good but too bad, the portion seems small. I like the mushroom soup, it was thich enough. Altogether, this cost around S$15.

Let's sweat it out , folks !

27.5.14

My two kids were down with throat infection, cough and running nose over the weekend. The elder one got it first and then, it was passed to my little princess. Luckily,  the elder one got better after a day of meds and rest. When I brought him to the clinic, the gym-siao doctor again commented my kid is too skinny and seems not doing enough exercise. I do agreed with the doc as his routine was too packed where he got to school in the early afternoon and got back in the evening. And, since JB's weekend was Fri-Sat, I only had time for him on Sat but we needed to attend the evening church. Waking up early is not an option...that's the only day we can sleep later. Thus, I was thinking hard on how to make him run again. I used to bring him out for short runs during weekends last year on Sat and Sundays. Maybe I will run with him earlier before the church service and send him for some sports classes on Fridays.

By the way, we still managed to catch a good lunch on last Saturday. Back at Lavender since we needed to run some errands, we decided to have a light meal. And...strawberry short cake again for my girl... oh no ..she's addicted! LOL ..

But I must say the strawberry short cake is really good ...not very sweet and lots of strawberry slices!


I get myself a mushroom and egg fried rice as I was craving for it! 

My kid had a teriyaki chicken rice , which he shared with his sister

Fried vermicelli for my wifey 

And, my cuppa of Americano
 We didn't go anywhere after that so that my kids can have a good rest.

26.5.14

I am back to Paparich after a while in JB as I feel like having their coffee. So far, they make the best coffee in JB , as far as I am concerned. However , the food is average compared to the past. 

Nasi lemak with chicken rendang .. not too bad but can be better

I still love their coffee ..very fragrant and kao

My wifey had a chicken hor fun ... just Ok and I really miss ipoh hor fun.

Mutton curry for nann ..only few pieces of meat

The nann was oily and I prefer the original type. Anyway, it's crunchy.
Well, I still like the atmosphere in the restaurant as it was relaxing and quiet. I guess it's still a good place to hang out for a coffee and wind down.

After that, I went over to get my medical report and I am glad that everything looks normal. I guess the supplements I bought from amway helps a lot especially in my cholesterol management and fatty liver, and not forgetting my workout regime lately. I will try to maintain it. Have a good week !

23.5.14

Had my body medical check-up last Saturday at a pharmacy near Sutera Mall. It's been a while since I had a checkup where I used to do it every quarterly in the past, just to check my cholesterol level then. Since it's been almost a year already, I sign up for a more comprehensive check-up which includes prostate cancer markers. I guess its a good idea to have regular check-ups in order to prevent something worse to happen or to give us some peace of mind. How about you ? How often you check-up ? 

After the check-up, we drove to the happening Bukit Indah for breakfast. It's been a while I had hawker's kopitiam style breakfast and I am glad to get a bowl of prawn noodles and kopi. Nothing fancy, but nice to have some simple food, before we start our weekend. :)




21.5.14

My kid received a surprise when his tuition called my wifey to inform that he was one of the most improved student in his recent school exams. He was invited to an award ceremony organised by his tuition centre and of course, the whole family was invited too. I was extremely pleased with his tuition centre for organising such event annually and even handed out RM1K+ cheques to high flyer students who did very well in their PMR, SPM as well as UPSR exams. As for me, I always promised him a reward if he did well in his exams and he can named a gift (which is not too expensive, of course :P ). I got him a watch this time around while in the past, he asked for some slightly expensive toys. Rewards always work , I guess. :)

After the ceremony, we decided to celebrate at a nearby Japanese restaurant since all of us are Japanese food lovers.

Some vegetable sushi ...can't remember the name. My wifey always like to order this. It taste like popiah...lots of crunchy stuffs inside.

Kani sushi and sake sushi 

Edamane - My little princess favourite 

My Salmon teriyaki Bento set.... as usual...

Fried pork (Katsu) rice ... my kid wanted this and it's the most expensive of all at RM32. The pork was imported from US.

Curry that comes with the katsu rice above. I think I can have the rice and the curry anytime. No need any meat.  LOL

I got myself a Salmon Sushi
It's a great night for my kid and I hope he continue to get more recognition in the future for academic excellency . Of course, EQ is also important and not to be neglected and I hope his church school will help in that. Have a good week !

18.5.14

REST! That's a very important thing to do during weekends, whether you have been working hard in office, exercising hard at the gym over the last few days, charity work, cleaning the house, cooking for the family and etc for the past week. Today I woke up late and nap again about 4pm after running my errands as well as lunch with family. Nothing beats having a good sabbatical rest day on a Sunday after a week of work in office, gym , blogging and studying. And, it was so refreshing after the rain! I had a short , relaxing slow jog of about 2KM near home. It's always good to keep a day just for rest.

I was at Lavender Bistro for lunch today before we start doing our shopping for groceries. I am glad Lavender has restored back some of their meals in the menu especially the mushroom and egg fried rice, which was my kids' favourite.


Fried Egg and Mushroom Rice - My wifey had this with my little princess 

Strawberry short cake again for my little princess

The expression on the face give all away on how delighted she was!

Ham and Cheese Ciabatta with fries - That's what I had for lunch today and it's my favorite meal too. Light and delicious.

And, not forgetting an Americano for both my wife and myself
Thus, remember to put aside a day to rest .... just do nothing but rest and rest ..... and enjoy recreation!

16.5.14

It has been a long day at work... and finally it's weekend again! As usual I had my dinner alone before leaving for home after a good run in the gym just now, and I thought of having some comfort food - Steak. I went to Kungfu Paradise again in Bedok Point and order a rib-eye Steak. It cost me S$14, but I guess its still affordable la, for a steak.

The steak seems not very big but however, it's just nice for me. It came with some green salad, fries and pepper sauce.

And, I had their house coffee to refresh myself.
It's always feel great to exercise especially doing a long run like 5KM at the treadmill. The body was so relaxed though tiring after the run while the mind is like being rebooted. All the stress and negative thoughts seems melted away. Things that seems stressful and serious are not so serious anymore after a workout ...lol. A nice hot bath will be next follow by the slumber! :)

Happy Weekend!

14.5.14

Though my family have tried the noodles already, which were imported miles away from Sibu by a kind blogger, STP, I only managed to eat it today. It was also due to the fact that I always went out and eat out with my family during weekends and I seldom have chance to cook something simple at home. Thanks to a rainy day in JB last Sunday where I finally can savoured this kampua noodles.

I unpacked the noodles which came with a pack of oil and black sauce. Then, I dump the noodles into boiling water and cooked it in a microwave for 1 min. Once done, I rinsed off the noodles with cold water before mixing it with the oil and black sauce. And, there you are - a simple instant kampua noodles.


The black sauce was nice and the noodles were smooth and soft. I don't really know how to describe the sauce but it was very good and fragrant, unlike those you found in normal instant noodles. And, I am not trying to please STP here! LOL...  I finished it very quickly and followed by my cup of 3-in-1 instant ah Huat kopi.

I hope to try the real thing in Sibu someday!! :)

11.5.14

Nothing grand in celebrating Mother's Day for my wifey as there was replacement class on Saturday for my kid and he needed to go to school on Sunday. Unlike previous years, my sis-in-law and family and will join us but this year, they decided to celebrate in Singapore. Thus, I decided to bring my family to Umatei restaurant again since their Japanese food are not bad and my family loves Japanese food. It seems crowded everywhere yesterday in restaurants.

A small fountain greeted us as we entered the restaurant

My kids wanted to sit on the row of single seats, despite there are rooms around 

I ordered a salmon sushi. It looks good and delicious. The rice were also sticky and not easily fell off, unlike some sushi.

A macro shot of the sushi.

My wife wanted to have california maki.

While my kid decided to go for a tempura Udon. The tempura was not in the soup and before I managed to snap it, he already dipped in the sauce and into his mouth... :P

As usual, I had my favourite Salmon bento but this time round, I have to order teriyaki sauce instead of Shioyaki since my little princess wanted to share this with me.
And, that's it, just a simple dinner for my lovely wifey where the kids love the meals too! Happy Mother's Day to all Mums! :)

9.5.14

I am not sure if Kemayan in Seremban was a famous place for makan. However, there seems a couple of restaurants there, be it chinese or malay or mamak. When I show the food pixs as well as the restaurant pixs to my nieces, they immediately know it's Kemayan. Thus,I guess the place is famous for makan. LOL. I visited my in laws in Seremban and we had a simple dinner after we reached. 

Deep fried fish - Nice, very crunchy and the fish meat is soft. My kids loves this especially the soya sauce.

Vegetables ...since most of the folks here are middle-aged.

More vegetables. .... cannot afford too much meat

And, the best of all ... braised meat.  Very appetising!
I always like simple dinner like this, which was close to home-cooked food with a teapot of chinese tea. Probably, I always ate alone during weekdays at food courts or a single mixed platter of food.

Have a good weekend! :)

7.5.14

I had BKT each in two days ! After enjoying the Kota Tinggi's famous BKT, the next day we went to Tampoi for another famous BKT in JB. The surroundings was very 'kampung' like and it was quite hot there too. This place was also quite crowded but we were there at 2pm and its lesser crowd.

Hin Hock BKT in Tampoi

Inside the place

Getting ready the condiments

White tofu ... it was very soft and smooth

'mei' chai .. very appetising

The BKT ... too bad I didn't notice the reflective blue ceiling which spoilt the picture, somehow. Anyway, there was a lots of herbs and you can really taste the chinese herbs! 

This is the best dish - fried fish. The meat was soft and tender. And, only RM20 for this fish.
Altogether, this cost RM49, which I guess it's affordable!

6.5.14

I think I had a good long weekend over the Labour Day holidays. I worked from home on last Wednesday and had dinner at home where my wife cooked, instead of my usual eating outside after work. The weekend was well-spent though it's the usual routines like shopping and cari makan.  However, I always realised that I seldom helped out on house-work and over the last weekend, I really did a lot like washing the plates after meals, boiled water, cleaning up and vacuuming the floor. And, not forgetting the fun part, bathing the kids. On top of that, I also drove my sis in law to enquire about her new car and helping her out with some IT stuffs. I guess the best part was really helping out. The Saturday evening church service was great though it was raining heavily but refreshing!! It was also my kid's return to the church school after a month.

Thus on last Sunday, I rewarded myself with a nice tea time at Lavender Bistro. My son was at school thus we brought our little princess along. And she had her favourite strawberry short cake again!

It looks yummy and was really yummy...!! Lots of strawberries in the slice of cake.
 My wife and I shared some kaya toasts. It was freshly toasted and was crunchy! The pandan kaya makes the toast even nicer!!

Kaya Toasts - Light enough for a refreshing break
As for me, I had my usual coffee, and I ordered a cappuccino this time round.  I noticed Lavender has changed their cup and the size seems smaller but the coffee remains fine.

My cuppa of cappuccino
Have a good week, folks!

4.5.14

 It was a Saturday morning and my sis in law suggested we drive to Kota Tinggi to try the famous Kiang Kee Bak Kut Teh. This was a famous eatery in the south and as if you google it, you can find lots of entries on this restaurant. Though it was closed around 1pm (opens at 7am), most of the time, the BKT will finished by 11am+. We reached there around 10am+ . It was a bright sunny morning which makes an enjoyable drive,  though it was slightly jam after Ulu Tiram.

It was not difficult to find the place as it was located by the roadside. If you are coming from JB,  it was a short drive  after the junctions to Desaru and Kota Tinggi and located at the right

It was already lots of crowd when we reached there

One nice thing is that the claypot are cooked with charcoals. There were so many pots there!


Busy preparing the food

We ordered a pot of BKT, fried beancurd, otak-otak and a small plate of vegetables.

The BKT was very 'kao' and it was really good. The meat too, was well-cooked. Not too hard and soft , jut nice! There was also lots of mushrooms.

Vegetables - 'mui' choy

Fried beancurd in BKT soup

Otak-Otak - it was spicy!

Enjoying the BKT with a nice pot of chinese tea

Love the environment there. It was cooling under the shades.

 Address - Batu 8. Jalan Mawai , Kota Tinggi, Johor.
Tel:- 07- 8821290

 I will planned to come again and next time, will visit Desaru which is around 45 mins drive from here.