Play Play With Play Dough

Playdough is one of Elgin's favourite games. He received a set when he was 4-year old. The problem with play is it sticks to surface of table when dried up. I would have a hard time cleaning up. Eventually the playdough will harden and Elgin would start bugging me to buy him new ones again. It was rather costly to get the child proof type as I was afraid he was tempted to put it into the mouth since the colors looked temptingly edible. So eventually I decided to make a playdough with safe ingredients myself.

Found some "recipes" for making playdough using flour. Basically 3 main ingredients are needed. Flour, salt, oil and baking powder. Then you just have to mix it with enough water and "cook" it using microwave. The salt, oil and baking powder function as preservatives together it will make the playdough stay fresh, soft and pliable for at least 2 weeks. In fact, we can keep the unused playdough in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for longer than a month. I was so glad that I finally discovered a safe and cost-saving solution. This is a perfect game for him as he can play alone.

Elgin loves to shape the playdough into all sorts of things he sees and the common ones are food items, animals or kitchen utensils. As he always observed me preparing food or making buns in the kitchen. His favourite shapes are rolled buns, plates and cups.

The playdough that I prepared is always plain as I do not want him to stain the table. When he was six, I sent him to art class and he started to learn using water colour to paint the playdough. One day when I reached home, Elgin showed me all his shaped playdough completed with paints which he placed on the table to dry up. I was so astonished to see that at this tender age, he already had a wild imagination.

Curiously, I point at the shaped dough one by one and ask him, "what is this babe?"

Take a look at the pictures below.

According to Elgin, it is (clockwise from top left to right)

A bell

A mug

A hammer

A hat

A snail

Need a close up? This second pic was taken with a flash light and from a different angle. What are you imagining about?

Baked Seafood Pasta

I love to play play with food. This recipe is similar to macaroni cheese baked. Except that you add in some seafood to call it seafood pasta. You can replace seafood with any other ingredients available from your kitchen. eg. ham, bacon, sausages, mixed frozen vegetables or even any left over cold meat. For a more extravagant treat, just replace shrimps with Lobsters and crabs and you can call it "seafood au gratin". Simple recipe and quick to make. Cheese lovers will love it !

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups of colourful shell pasta (i mixed shell pasta with fetucine)
2. 1/2 can Campbell Cream of Chicken and Mushroom soup mixed with equal amount of water
3. Some seafood:shrimps, calamanri slices, white fish fillets, crab sticks and etc
4. 1 beaten egg
5. 1 onion, sliced
6. Few cloves of garlic, chopped
7. 1 capsicum, cut into cubes
8. 2 tomatoes, cut into cubes
9. 1 cup milk
10. 50 g of Edam cheese/cheddar cheese/any other strong flavoured cheese
11. Some parmesan powder or mozarella cheese slice (basically you just add any cheeses and amount according to your own preference- you can call it 3-cheese pasta if you add 3 varieties)
12. Chopped fresh parsley /basil/ cilantro/oregano (whatever herbs you preferred, dried mixed herbs are okay too)

Methods:

1. Cook pasta in boiling salted water till tender, drained.
2. Heat up a little oil in the pan, fry onion and garlic till fragant, add in pasta and the vege and stir fried for 5 min.
3. Transfer all the ingredients including the seafood into a baking dish.
4. Pour in the egg mixture with Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup and enough milk to cover the pasta.
5. Stir well with the mozarella cheese slices
6. Top with more cheeses
7. Sprinkle the top with mixed herbs
8. Bake covered for 15 min at 220 degree celcius. Then another 15 min uncovered to brown the cheese topping.

Korean Village

Went with my sis in law to look for her friend at Korean Village yesterday. This is a little Korean residential in Ampang. A popolar place to hunt for authentic Korean restaurants and stuff. My sis in law recommended to look for Korean-made ice creams which she claimed really delicious. As I was craving for the 3-in-1 Korean coffee beverage sticks which are not easily available. So thought it's a good idea to just hop into one of the Korean mart to get it . There are more than 4 groceries marts in just few rows of shoplots. We hopped into one shop which was situated at the corner to look for ice creams. I was fascinated with so many made-in-Korea stuff. I made the mistake for not comparing prices. Some items are sold without price label so it is always wise to check the price before paying. When we got into other shops later, we realised that the prices for the groceries sold in the corner shop seemed much dearer compared to other outlets in the intermediate lots. Also, goods at the smaller outlets are cheaper too. Despite these are all supermarts, the price from one shop to another may vary in a region of 10%-30%. For example one packet with 100 sticks of 3-in-1 coffee in one shop costs RM65 and in another shop only costs RM40. However when comparing with Jusco and Cold Storage, some of the Korean stuff here are relatively cheaper, according to my sis in law, some items are more cheaper here than paying it in Korea. For example my favourite Korean noodle (pic below) costs RM13.90 at Jusco but only sold at RM10.00 in one of the marts.

This is a watermelon shaped ice cream- are you tempting to get a bite?

The honey dew ice cream is creamily yummy with mildly sweet and refreshing honey dew flavour. It is a must-try! Bumped into one Middle East shop, the punget smell of the Middle East spices really kick your senses up. Met the eyes were many more unique items, for example this one "garlic shampoo" in the pic below. Dare to try?

It's soon passed noon time and our stomach started to rumble. So we decided to have our lunch at one of the Korean restaurants. I decided on Nak Won since I have not tried this one before. Ordered a set of BBQ Pork Ribs, Kimchi Pancake, and Bibimbap(pronounced as "Pibimpap"). The order exceeded RM35 and a bowl of steamed eggs (taste like chawan mushi) was given on the house. Later we realised we have ordered too much food for 3 person and have to get the waiter to bungkus half of the Kimchi pancake for take away. Total food bill came to RM66.00. Service charge was waived as we paid by cash.

This Bibimbap resembles our claypot rice with crunchy vegetables.

Look at the groceries I bagged home from 3 shops!Below is my favourite Korean coffee!

Bon Ga - Korean BBQ Restaurant, Mont Kiara

My parents in law and Elgin have never had Korean food before so we decided to take them to Korean Restaurant during the recent long holidays. The weather was rainy and gloomy therefore suitable to eat barbeque.

There are many Korean restaurants around this area and we stumbled upon this one since it looked like brand new. The atmosphere was cool and pleasant without the stench of smoky BBQ and oil smell. I have always love the floor sitting arrangement as it makes me feel like home.















As usual, an array of up to 10 types of sweet, sour and cold side dishes (Banchan) were served varied from cold vege salads tossed in sesame oil dressing, stir fried brinjals, cold starchy noodles, cold boiled beansprouts , long beans in chilly paste and etc. Of course, it is not an authentic Korean meal without the conventional side dish-kimchi . Our concern for the waitress is "oh my god..so many dishes and plates to be washed after a meal.."


The side dishes were very appetizing. I particularly like this one




Clockwise from left:
Samgye Tang (sounds like "sam kai tong" which is ginseng chicken soup) -RM30.00
Gimchi jeongol (kimchi soup) -RM35.00
Daeji galbi (BBQ pork ribs) - RM28.00
Haemul pajeon (seafood pancake) - RM35.00
Bibimbap(Vegetable mixed rice) - RM19.00
Samgyobsal (Pork belly meat) - RM25.00







Bokbunja - Made in Korea raspberry red wine, goes well with BBQ



















The ais kacang with mixed fruits dessert was on-the-house.










Same goes with icy Korean coffee..hmm..my favorite.









My mom in law always relates to Korean food as a tableful of fermented, cold and sour dishes. In fact, Korea has never been a country she wish to visit. This meal really changed her impression on Korean dishes. Bon Ga is located at the Mont Kiara, Solaris. It is visible from the main street towards Cold Storage direction.

Chilling Waterfall, Kuala Kubu Baru

Owing to Youngman Lim's good planning, our waterfall trip finally materialised. This is the largest ever self-drive family excursion I had experienced with Elgin being the youngest one, aged 7, and the most senior are some of our parents aged 60-70++. Undoubtedly, this is one such waterfall that is meant for people of all ages. For there is not much of climbing and walking required to reach the stream. Thank God the mosquitoes here are also less ferocious and hungry as compared to other waterfall spots I have been in other parts of Malaysia. Although I was obliged to donate few drips of my fresh warm blood to one or two of them..

The park has a wonderful name in Malay, "Santuari Ikan Sungai Chilling" which means "Chilling River, the sanctuary for all fishes". Perhaps the name holds truth for the fact that this wonderful waterfalls spot is not known by many as the development seemed to be minimum. As such, wild life especially the fish seems to stay away from danger of predators and they can happily take refuge in the Chilling River. There is no commercially own chalet nor operators of any outdoor activities. In fact, no entrance fee is imposed except a charge of 50 cents per head for unlimited usage of washroom. The waterfall is located within a protected rain forest. To reach this waterfall, you need to take the exit at Kuala Kubu Baru, go along the same direction that takes you to Fraser Hill.

After passing a dam, about 100 meters away you will hit at the entrance to the waterfall park which the entrance sign is clearly visible at the right side of the road.

Few steps from the entrance, a signage was put up to inform the public that entry without permit is prohibited, failing which, there will be a jail term of 3-year. I believe this is not put enforced as no authorities nor rangers was around to stop us from entering.

You need to thread along a small muddy path and only within 10 minutes' walk you will reach an open field with a canopy erected beside the river bank which we have assumed it as our picnic spot.

According to someone, you have to cross through 3 rivers to reach at the upper streat to view the legendary fall. We did not pursue on such mission due to the weather condition. The above pic shows the first river which is connected by a hanging bridge constructed by suspension cables. Kids get either nervous or excited with their wobbly feets up on this bridge.

Look! Little Janice got carried away with the splashing joy..

Poor Christina was thinking real hard whether to dip in with me in the water- I supposed she was torn between getting the fun from soaking wet or looking good

We are at the lowest part of the stream. Obviously the water is not crystal clear, but as the name denotes, the river water was indeed very chilling.

Thanks to Winnie for her generosity in sponsoring a 2kg yummy chocolate cream cake for everybody.

Not forgetting Youngman's turkish coffee to go along with. Lots of food and snacks brought by our team members. From crackers, peanuts, beanpaste pastries (tau sa pia) to pan fried bun..Yeah! Christina's tea eggs were yummy! Gosh! My Elgin ate 2 at one go!! Just imagine we could still stomached in after a heavy lunch at Kuala Kubu town.

As usual Lam took his heroic guts to fight with the rapid flow in confirming a safe spot for the group to play while Franco cautiously test water using his feet.

More pictures are available on BRP Line Dance Blog http://cllinedance.blogspot.com/

Family Trip To Singapore

It's been a long time I didn't plan for a family trip. This trip was rather a last minute arrangement. Thank God I managed to get a good deal directly from the Parkroyal Hotel, Beach Road itself. The rate was relatively cheaper compared to other online booking website. I booked for superior rooms but upon check-in, the hotel was kind enough to automatically upgrade my rooms to deluxe. Nett price after tax per room per nite was S$151. Not bad!

The sad part about this trip was my hubby fell terribly sick upon arrival. He suffered terrible migraine followed by fever in the middle of the night. So he has thoroughly "enjoyed" sleeping for good 2 days in the hotel room while we hang out at the shopping complex.

I have requested for adjoining rooms with king size bed. The hotel did not disappoint me either.

Except that the king size bed is slightly smaller than the standard king size bed

With UOB Card privilege, we were given free breakfast for 2 person per room per nite.

Breakfast served were varied choice of local delicacies like fried radish cake, nasi lemak,

porridge, fried noodles and and international favourites.

Fascinated by the real orchid plant outside the spa and recreation area.This lively orchid flowers at the reception counter was magnificent too.

It rained the night before. Elgin enjoyed a real cool dip in the pool

Caught my eyes was the "Eyes of Singapore", not this self-conscious fella who turned away from me when my camera was aiming at the former.

Within vicinity of the pool, the 3 cascading tower is the casino under construction, to be run by the Las Vegas Sands Corp.

The largest street shopping location in Singapore- Bugis is withing walking distance from the hotel.

The hotel provides free shuttle service to Orchard Road and Vivo City
Elgin fell asleep on the journey.

Vivo City-the largest shopping mall in Singapore.

It was refreshing to see dense trees and lush green landscape. Singapore is indeed a vibrant garden city.

On the way back to my homeland, stopping by at Skudai to have their famous teochew braised duck and side dishes.