Johor-S'pore Part 1: Batu Pahat

This was such a last minute trip that I'm still left reeling from it! A fren I met from Perth had so kindly offered me a place to stay in Batu Pahat and I thought, why not before I start working and holiday will be an issue? So there we went!!! Thanks Wan Ying!

BUT

Before BP, me and Justin stopped by in Melaka for lunch....

Sorry Mr, didn't mean to take a pix of u

Jonker's Dessert is one of the most famous shop in Melaka. Ofcos the durian chendol is the star but don't look down on their curry laksa or nasi lemak!! This curry chicken was absolutely delicious!

So was in BP and went to the malls (knowing me, BUT OFCOS!!!) and found some really interesting wedding pix concept.

I AM NOT LOOKING FOR WEDDING PIX NOR AM I GETTING MARRIED SOON SO PLS DON'T JUMP TO THE WRONG CONCLUSION.

I just think these are quite special. Enjoy!

Open up to this...

And this is another example...

And ends with this...

Ain't it cool??

Source : Forgot the name of the studio but it's in the top floor of Summit Parade, BP

On the road... blurred pix cos WY doesn't really like her pix posted. SORRY!!!!

After walking the two malls (which took less than 2 hours...) then DINNER TIME! WY took me to a fishing village nearby called Segenting and was warned that it'll be horribly smelly. But being a city couple, we were keen to try eating in it! (and imagining how cheap the price would be totally helped!!)

On the way... dusk!

Now ain't this an idea?

Isn't this divine? On pix ofcos...

You know what they say...

You can take a city girl out of the city
but NOT

the city out of the city girl...

Lol... I plagiarise horribly.

Looking at all the crazily expensive strollers arnd KL, this is a shocker... I was walking in MV looking at the simplest stroller I could find and this totally takes the cake! Why do we need super expensive stroller again???




In the fishing village is actually a popular temple (which I didn't even know was there until we got there) and in it, hosts the biggest fishes I've ever seen so close up!!!

On top of this small little pond, there's a bridge and if I'm not wrong, it's called Lover's Bridge. Quite a nice place to drop by!

And onwards to the main agenda for the evening/night!

There are two rest.s there and this one is right before the temple.

Yay! Right on time for sunset!

The main itinerary... salted egg crabs!

The freshest and best that I've eaten so far!!


A surprising entry

Never seen a pari cooked this way...

And it was great too!!

... and the rest of the casts!

Three ppl... FIVE dishes...

... and the price was?? *drums roll*

Not too cheap but if you take out the crabs (RM45 per kg), we only paid RM34 for the other 3 dishes!

Then we headed to WY's place and planned for supper for the nite but unfortunately... we were too full and it was raining. So all of us tried to recover at home from the bingeing. But it was worth it!

So the next day, BEFORE we headed to JB, me and Justin had one last meal in BP.

Cool holder.

Starter : Thai style fried tao hu
Review : DARN GD. The thai sauce was sour enough but not too much and the cucumber goes well with it as well as the tau hu. Always a classic!

The portion is big too for 4.90. In KL, it'll prob be 8-10. :/

Black pepper chicken ramen
Review : Great ramen! Doubly great if you like black pepper!


The pièce de résistance... Sizzling ramen with Karaage
Reveiw : It so remind me of the one I had in Perth... it has a little taste of ginger with it and the fried quality is just heavenly! Only RM12.90 (arnd there)

WHY DON"T THEY OPEN IN KL???
Currently available in Singapore, JB and BP

So this last stop concludes our stay in BP. Next post will be on JB!

What is a bday without good food for PS?

Lunch
Venue : Ribs by Vintry, Medan D'sara (behind Victoria Station and Jake's)

I can't recommend this place highly enough. Great place for great food. A little pricy (main meals average 35. The most expensive is RM68, I think) but the food is great. More so if you like to enjoy your wine and chill after food... or just chill with your company and wines. Been there once before which was the reason I ordered my cake from there. The lychee cheesecake was PERFECT! Never even heard of lychee cheesecake but oh, will I remember it now!!! The cheese is in no way overpowering nor was it too sweet PLUS you can still taste the lychee!!

But this time, I ordered a mango cheesecake

Costs only RM75. Apparently the baker is the sister of the owner of Vintry which was why I can pick up the cake from there. Another reason for me to have lunch there. If you're interested, the cake is by Su. A little free advert for her here but I only recommend gd stuff so there!


For starters, we had chilli mussels, something that is HUGELY popular in Australia (or maybe it's just Perth?). Not a fan of mussels but if you are, you would like it. Lil spicy but all good.

Mine : braised pork with white wine

Tender but just so-so. Liked the salad though

Oh! Did I mention that they have special lunch menu where some stuff are 31.90 only? I think that's pretty fair, hey!

Mum's seabass and darn!

It was damn gd. Totally international standard.

Don't believe me? Go and try it yourself


This you gotta try. BBQ pork ribs!

So 5 adults went and it costs only RM220. We had a salad, chilli mussels, two pork ribs, one seabass and a tenderloin. Not bad! More expensive at night but I reckon they provide better service at night too! At least they have locals that could understand us at nite... :/


Cutting cake
Venue : home
Time : before dinner


Okok, I know my hair looks a fright but I was rushing!!!

Look at his concentration on my cake!!! After letting him cut, he came at me with a knife... AGAIN! And really, he exerted force to cut that cake!! He is really one 'wai sik mao'.

Since I let Aidan cut, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't invite Lex Lex (though Aidan did it without invitation). It's really hard to get the kids still AND looking at the camera for a pix to be taken!

Me and grandpa who also celebrated his 93rd bday recently.

Only one word : fantabulous!

Not sure where I've seen that word

Can u see bits of mangoes in it????

Might look too cheesy but really is not!!!

Dinner
Venue : Cafe Cafe, KL

Me and a cup of Baileys

Cafe Cafe is beyond cool. Price is a bit pricy (expect hotel prices) but the environment is amazing! Soft lights, great curtains and with xmas trees (it is xmas time), I have to say that this is the most PERFECT PLACE in KL that Justin can bring me to so cheers!

Thanks B!!! :x

Complimentary appetiser. Damn gd bread.

Would it be insulting to them to compare it with Italliannies?


Looks bad but it's actually buttered mashed potato (I think) and lamb.

Loved the potato (though Justin was disgusted by it) and the lamb was so so (not a big fan of lambs).

His lambshank with coriander and orange... with spinach and ricotta on the sides

I know... orange?

But it was not bad! I stress again, I'm not a lamb-lover...

but I'm a huge HUUUGGEEE beef lover!!

Introducing tenderloin with foie gras reduction... whatever that means. The tenderloin actually came with wasabi cream but I don't like wasabi so I asked the waiter what other sauce I can have. He said cream sauce and I was like... beef and cream sauce?? Hmm... then he recommended this sauce which actually went with another thing on the menu and it is FREAKING DELICIOUS! No idea what sauce is it but I'm guessing it has to do with goose fat liver??

And I was quite fussy as well! I actually was considering the beef vs lamb but as you now SHOULD know, I prefer my beef but I prefer the sides of the lamb (pumpkin puree and spinach cum ricotta) so I basically asked for a tenderloin with a different sauce and different side dishes. Lol! Ofcos being the professional and upper establishment that it is, they humoured my whims. :)

Ahh... what a night!

Chocolate tart and ...

... a lemon sorbet to finish a perfect night...

Though if you've seen Justin's face when he had it, you might not think so.

And I have the pix to prove it!!!...

But I suspect he will not take it too kindly if I post it here...

So in my private collection it shall stay!!

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Yr everyone!

p/s: Oh! N the dinner bill came up to RM200+

Second thoughts...

I always thought that the Star newspaper is quite trashy with their biasness and New Straits Times provided SOME form of more REASONABLE news.

W R O N G

Came down from my bedroom on a blurry Sunday morning thinking 'why am I awake on a Sunday morning?'. Looked at the Sunday Times (NST) and saw the headline:

Sex and the hubby

Was trying to figure out which husband and wife is so important that their private lives is put on NST front page so I read on. Here is the gist of it...

There is still a high demand for prostitutes in Malaysia... And one of the reasons for this steady demand is apparently busy, career-chasing wives...

Women’s Aid Organisation vice-president Vicky Alahakone said in some cases, the wives were partly to blame for their men straying as they had unwittingly “abandoned” their husbands while trying to juggle careers and the household.

OOOHHHHHH.... forgive us women who wants to give our family a better life.... In our stupidly highly inflated price with no labour union power to fight for a better pay to keep up with the inflation... Why not the woman just stay at home... see how the guy can get enough for the 10,000 kids some people seem to need to have....

But NO! That's not possible because....

“Some husbands seek prostitutes to escape the dreariness of their daily lives by injecting some excitement into their mundane routines.

So even though the woman stay at home and be the good little housewife, it can still be mundane, therefore leading to the same outcome... Hmmm... A Catch 22?

But some men go to prostitutes to exhibit their masculinity and dominance over women, according to a sociologist from Help University College who did not want to be named.

Smart move there.... If I were the Help sociologist... I wouldn't want my name to be on this article too.... I agree with what s/he says... they are trying to place a TINY AMNT OF BLAME on the right party here BUT... my main point is...

WHAT THE F***KING HELL IS THIS ARTICLE DOIN IN THE FRONT PAGE OF A NEWSPAPER ON A SUNDAY?????

Here's the link

p/s : Really thought I was over the 'comment on what politicians/newspapers says' because it is plain rubbish and not worth my time but this really takes the cake...

pp/s : I wasn't wrong that the Star give more trashy news... I was wrong that I felt that NST was better... so now... both of them are trashy!

Oh! And if you're interested... here's a link on a really disturbing semi-political news involving a SUPER WELL KNOWN FAMILY and the stupidity that is our country's Muslim laws...
Summary :

“Therefore, the assets should be immediately returned to Tan Sri Lim’s name, and then redistributed to his Muslim heirs (if any) according to Syariah law. If he has no Muslim heir, then the assets shall be given to the Islamic authorities and they can do whatever they wish. The non-Muslim children are disinherited.” The Syariah Court ruled.

“Even though it is 19 to 1, but because the non-Muslim witnesses refused to swear on the Qur’an before they testified in court, we could not consider their testimonies. In any event, even if they did swear on the Qur’an, the dhimmis… sorry, the non-Muslims would still carry less weight when compared to the testimony of 2 Muslim men. It is not about the number, it is about quality of the witnesses.”

A first time for everything

On Friday was the first time that I brought Maxine out in my car since Odie passed away...
OK... I can still pretend that Odie is still somewhere because I have brought Max out without Odie before...

Yesterday was the first time that I had to feed Maxine with Odie's food...
Ok... I can still pretend that Odie just don't wanna eat his food... which was why I gave it to Maxine

Yesterday was also the first time that Odie didn't find me when the thunder was so bad...

Today was the first time I brought Maxine out without Odie for his walks...

I can't pretend anymore that he's hiding underneath somewhere that I can't see him for so many days...

Because I have NEVER brought Maxine out for walks without Odie...

There wasn't the frantic barking in his excitement, there wasn't me yelling at him to shut up...

I didn't have to use two pails to scoop the water for them to drink... there need only be one...



I asked my cousin... "Where is Odie? I have been protecting him for so long... I need to know where he is and if he's alright..."

She said, "Odie is in heaven right now... with many angels looking after him..."

I hope they are cos Maxine misses Odie too...


I dreamt abt him the night before... my reasoning for him being there is that he hadn't really passed away... that it was all a mistake... and the crazy thing is... I accepted that reasoning!

At least I got to pat him again... :)

There shouldn't be a first time for everything.... really shouldn't....