Last tour in Singapore... sans backpacks ;p

After the U.S.S fling we headed towards our booked hostel rooms. We almost gave up to check in there as we didn't know exactly where it was & we were dying to hit the hay! We only knew that it was in Serangoon Road. We were advised to take the free bus ride to Vivo City & proceed from there with another bus.We asked a couple of girls for directions. They were a bit uncertain too as they hadn't taken a bus for quite some time. But they were helpful enough & even borrowed their friend's phone for GPS function to direct us using the map. Luckily their friends were just lepaking nearby on the carpet grass.

They told us to cross the road to the nearby bus station & took the bus #165 (if i'm not mistaken or is it #65? :P). Unfortunately, when we reached there, there was a notice saying that the area was under construction and we couldn't board the bus from there anymore. So we had to go below to another bus stop. We actually inquired upon a bus & got assistance from yet another helpful Singaporean. However we were led back to zero. Realising also that we didn't have the bus fare card & didn't have exact money for the fare & didn't know exactly where to go, we decided to try our luck with taxi.

After signalling for like 10 taxis, finally a dark taxi came to a stop in front of us. We stood gaping as it reached us for the taxi was one hel*uva posh display?! What's more surprising was that the driver was a lady. Immediately I thought the driver must have taken curious & pity upon seeing 4 girls backpacking close to middle of the nights by the street where taxis are not supposed to pick up passengers in the 1st place :p But we were SO THANKFUL. Alhamdulillah, another blessing..."You girls just came back from camping?", was her immediate reaction as we all snuggle in the sleek ride. The taxi priced start at SGD2.80 or is it SGD5.00? :P For our 1st taxi ride, in the middle of the night, after hours of walking, we gave it a nod, surely! The lady-driver; Aunt Sally (of Masjih Tanah, Melaka origin), was kind enough to give us a brief explanation to tourist areas, which we passed by en route to The Hive. She even advised us on which bus to take/ a better route plan for our trip around town the next day.

We were warmly welcome at The Hive. We were led to our rooms & briefed upon the shared shower & toilets, kitchen and laundry area along the way. There were free breakfast, wifi & internet service. There's also a stack of free postcards by Zo Cards hanging on a wall :)

The next morning, after a satisfying breakfast of toasts with pandan kaya & orange marmalade, cereals and hot black coffee, we took a walk towards the Melaka-bound bus station. Just after we bought our tickets home for the evening at 5, the lady at the counter offered to look after our backpacks so we could enjoy touring without having to drag them all the way. Oh wow, another blissful offer! We felt so lucky & continued our trip gleefully!


We went to One Fullerton, Tanjung Pagar KTM Station, Mustafa Centre, Orchard Road, Bugis Street & Junction, the Sultan Mosque, Victory restaurant (don't miss the purportedly best Singapore murtabak there) ... Where else aa? Hehe... Of course there are still other places that we didn't have the chance to visit due to limited time. We hadn't scour the Arab Street, the cable car ride, the SkyPark at Marina Bay Sands etc. Definitely have to find time to return there...probably pay a visit to the relatives there too next time, inshaAllah...

Am I bold?

Gastronomically, perhaps...

Abah was justifying why he prefers Vanilla-flavoured ice cream compared to Chocolate (what his children favour most). He insists vanilla is more versatile & easier to match with anything especially since he wanted to pair it with his favourite fermented tapioca(tapai ubi) [although, rather, the ice cream is commonly paired with fermented glutinous-rice (tapai pulut) at some tapai stalls].
And of course we are all familiar with 'floats'; fizzy drinks with floating scoop of ice cream on top (definitely vanilla-flavoured).

I just smiled listening to him since I have no qualms abt anything quirky or fusion in terms of food & I'm not really picky abt them flavours anyway. I'd just buy/eat according to preference but make do with what is present. So i did ate the tapai with vanilla ice cream as he persuaded me to (just because I haven't try it so before). Nothing to be acquired abt it really, just a nice, sweet, cool fermentish dessert ;p

The next day, after dinner, while watching Nigella the kitchen goddess, i was reminded by her previous episode (can't remember from which series), which gives me another try out idea with the vanilla ice cream. She was adoring the Asian sweet chilli sauce readily made in a bottle. Looking at the sweet chilli sauce bottle on the table, a smirk fleets on me face ;p The sauce was there for the dip for our steam boat dinner.

The exact sauce

Nigella, you got me! And .... voila!

Looks like raspberry sauce doesn't it? :p

Verdict: I would say the same thing as Nigella did; "You should try it".


p/s: Cream crackers with sambal belacan & curry puff dipped in sambal tumis are fun & scrumptious! ;)

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Aroma-triggered memories

"Coffee gives me a pain, which is not without desire feeling. “

-Napoleon Bonaparte

When I was ten, I remember looking forward to smelling my teacher every morning at school, haha... Imagine that?! She literally smells of coffee every single time being near her. The smell evoked warmth & pleasantness of being with her.
It made me wonder really, to have the smell works as 'perfume' on you, does she like, have her home fills with wafting steam of coffee brewing in the kitchen every morning before going to work? And of course, she would always have a mug of hot coffee in her hand every time she arrives to class ^_^ I miss you Mrs. Bernstein...

I still admire & wonder abt. it now as whenever I smell coffee, be it at home/ the previous office, it never gives the same effect as I used to have 20 years ago...The smell never lasts long enough.
But at least it still triggers the pleasant memories...of her & now of my office buddies in KayeMeM ;)
I find that I drink coffee more often now... not like 3 or 4 times a day but just, daily in the morning :)

Too much of everything is definitely not good, eh? hehe... I read that caffeine is a diuretic drug. So u need to replenish your body with more water when you take coffee. Caffeine also hinders calcium absorption thus it is advisable to drink it with milk. But I know my buddies would say "Black is better!" I couldn't agree more of course ;p

Gasp...! Coffee at home is abt. to finish!?

Parents' friend got this for us when they went to Vienna

Can you smell it?

Hmmmm...smell it??

S M E L L that

Some private moment, please

Rakott Krumpli (Layered potatoes)

Eat alongside the salsa

Baked Rakott Krumpli (I didn't fully covered the top)

The 2nd Rakott Krumpli (boiled eggs substituted with steamed eggplant layers & shitake sauce-courtesy of FJ)

Refreshing salsa (too much juice this one :p)

The layering process by Ms. FJ

Saw this Hungarian dish in Food Safari, i think... Except I decided to serve it with salsa, just so something 'green' is on the plate also ;p Well, my family could never have enough potatoes, hehe... Made this twice within 8 days recently. Simply fulfilling! I'm sure you can estimate the ingredients' measurement :)

1. Sprinkle breadcrumbs (I use oats instead) & chilli powder as the base in a casserole 
2. Layer the sliced steamed potatoes
3. Layer the sliced boiled eggs/ steamed egg plants
4. Layer the sliced sausage
5. Mix fried onions with sour cream (I use whipping cream instead + milk + cheese+1 egg) & pour onto the layered ingredients
6. Repeat the layers once more & Lastly sprinkle the breadcrumbs/oats & chilli powder again.
7. Bake at 180c for 10-15 minutes.
8. Serve with salsa

 Salsa

• Cutely diced tomatoes & japanese cucumbers
• Finely chopped spring onions & cilantro/ coriander leaves
• Some sugar & salt
• Some black pepper
• Lemon/ calamansi juice
• Olive oil

Mix all & serve.

Teriyaki Eel with Rice @Ice Room, Bangi

It's been really hot these days...& we can't seem to get the word 'Ice Room' off our minds even tho' our last & first visit there was unsatisfactory (the food).

But we really wanna have some ice! So we went today for lunch at the outlet purportedly showcased in JJCM, TV3 (well, Serina's JJCM frame is on the wall there).

Alhamdulillah, no one complain abt the food we had today. I was the only one who had rice even tho' earlier on i didn't want to as I knew I'd be eating icecream :p But seeing the Teriyaki eel served with rice on the menu, reminded me of my disappointment on not being able to eat it the last time there (unavailable). So i craved for it today.

I like it but i wish they put more than just one little weeny cut of broccoli. I wish they put carrot pieces too like the one I saw from Nilai outlet. I didnt finish the soup as it tastes MSG-y

Funny, i didnt bother to take photos of the ice creams that we ordered :p

p/s: RS informed that there's still no Halal certification for IceRoom outlets. I checked also & it's true... Looks like we have to steer clear from it until then...find another outlet with best icecreams during this hot weather! *sigh* Remembering the JJCM, TV3's frame on the wall there, whylah they did not ensure halal certification before featuring it??

p/s: Bought 8 pieces of Fruttare new flavours recently. So satisfyingly, thirst-quenchingly cool!

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Michael Learns To Rock @McDonald, Genting Sempah

Man...30 minutes standing next to them waiting to order...! o_O
They had a concert the night before in Kuantan.

Paint my love, you should paint my love!~

Last day at class...

& the requested pot luck!

This was what we had to face during 3-hour lecture before the feast!

She made mean spaghetti! Yum!

Oops, sorry girls coz Dr. looks at my camera ;p

"Here's A+ to all of you in exam" ^_^

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Short Return to Aloq Staq 2

Waiting for ordered Menu

They said the Sultan's family frequent here (photos on wall)

Mr. Tan (Abah's friend) treated us here

Hmm...interesting & hot! I only managed to gobble one ;p

Mr.Tan scooping Tom Yam for each of us :)

Butik Murid-Murid (so cute laa)

Weekends breakfast stop

A.S in construction

The surau that Abah misses!

Never been here yet...

A.S in construction 2

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Emo-eating

Felt down a bit realising I need to go back to sending the car for air-cond fixing next week, plus fork out more money...hmm...
My immediate cure would be; more eating! Mind you, 2 hours before I already had a plate of fried rice! Now for 3 pieces of bread (or is it 4??), munch them with curried scrambled egg & ginseng leaves. Ish..ish...you better not follow with lunch after this, okay ;p

The plant is growing abundantly (& happily) in front of the house. I so loike! I got hooked on this leaves after we tried them at an eatery in Raub last year. The manager said it's called 'ulam Ginseng' (Waterleaf/ Ginseng Jawa). We could not believe our ears?! Later, Mak asked about it to her friend and the friend happened to have the plant!? How great is that?? MasyaAllah... Alhamdulillah...

One of the benefits of eating this ulam is 'to enhance food appetite'. Erk...


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Steamed pumpkin with grated coconut

Our breakfast for today. We bought the pumpkin at the pasar tani in yoUPeeeM last Friday. It was big. Not the round type, a bit of oblong shape. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of it prior to this :p
There was this one Ah so, she bought 4 of them!? She said she would boil them. Wah...must be a pumpkin feast she's having with her family!

Here my mom grated some coconut & mix it with some salt. For some sweetness, she made another batch & added brown sugar.

Tsk...I am suddenly reminded by the late SAK's pumpkin fritters she brought to the office some time ago... Al-Fatihah for her...


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My #th Birthday

Rainbow in my heart <3

This bear says...? :p

Wah, a card with a pin badge!? :)

Hehe, such an effort to put me name on this Tiramisu! :p

Thank you all my beloved & dear friends for the lovely wishes and prayers. Words cannot express enough appreciation on the blessings that I feel this day. I am a year older, hopefully a year wiser & tougher in facing many more challenges to come. 

p/s: Please don't remind me how old I am :p