19 Years Old!

We were over the moon when you changed your mind and decided to come back to Penang for the holiday. And luckily too, you managed to get reasonably priced air tickets and Alex Ku-ku and Ah Kim were able to pick you up from your place and send you to KLIA. Even better they asked you to stay over at their place a day earlier then send you to the airport the next day.

So you made it home to Penang on your birthday. We agreed on the menu: Japanese night. It was the weekend before Hari Raya and we were afraid of the heavy traffic expected in Penang. So the offer was to eat at home and we can enjoy a traffic free dinner. 

Of course, plans sometimes get messed up. Daddy and I woke up to buy your favourite CKT. Then we went home and he left to go with Ah Ma to Fettes Park market to pick up the salmon. Lo and behold.. the seller was away on holiday! Oh no! No salmon. 

So daddy and I rushed out to try our luck in Jaya Grocer. They sometimes only have trout. But we were in luck.. they did have salmon. So we bought some and headed home. Unfortunately, we did not dare risk eating the salmon as sashimi. Had to strike off the sashimi from the menu.

Your flight arrived on time and you happily gobbled up the 2 plates of CKT. Then went upstairs to sleep.. 

For dinner, we planned to start off with the appetizers. Sushi was replaced with grilled prawns and grilled saba.

Had a family photo before eating:

Cheers to the birthday boy:

Then daddy and I went back into the kitchen to cook the salmon and steaks. Ah Ma also came in to cook the vegetables. Here's the spread:

On top of these, we also had miso soup and fried garlic:

We had also bought sake a couple of days before and left it in the fridge to chill. Another bottle was the one we had brought back from Japan. Wah.. I tell you, there is a vast difference in the 2 sake!

After clearing up and letting our tummies settle, it was birthday cake time. Here's your funny smile with the passion fruit flavour which you had requested:

Happy 19th Birthday to our firstborn

💓

Date Night

Today, Mei-mei had a party to attend. Ah Ma also had a dinner with Uncle Sin Jeow and his business partner. That left Ah Kong, and as we planned to stay out the whole (nearly) 4 hours instead of going home and back out to pick Mei-mei, he was left to settle his own dinner. 

We had done so many research, but still could not decide on where to go. In the end, since it was still early, we headed to Noordin Street to check out this yakitori place called Koshien Yakitori Japanese Bar and Restaurant. We were even lucky to get street parking right opposite the shop. But as it was a corner lot where people would turn into the carpark, we decided against that slot and opted to pay for the (most likely to be expensive) parking. 

We ordered some food and started off with the snow beer:

Snow beer in the making

Koebi karaage

Then we had skewers/yakitori:

We moved on to sake (but it was not the right pick)

Daddy had placed an order for more food and just before these arrived, he went to the loo. Luckily I did not start eating, it wasn't our order 🤣

This was our last order for the night. Wasn't too great. Will give it a pass if we ever visit here again. 

It was a nice date night. Slow and easy dining. We finished a little too early to pick Evelyn, so we headed to Gurney Paragon just to walk walk until it was time to pick her up. 

Bayu Ferringhi

Ah Kong's tenant had moved out of the unit after living there for 10 years. He had asked daddy to go over and remove something (it ended up being many more tasks that that!!). So we decided to head over after karate and lunch. 

You also brought your laptop along so that you could attend your online tuition classes. You were so excited to see the condo. You obviously had no recollection of visiting it. The last time you came, you were only 1 years old! 

Here you are in the room that you "jom" to be yours:

Daddy ended up not removing the tubes which Ah Kong had initially asked him to do. But he had to move the clothes dryer to the drying yard, try to fix the dry kitchen sink, remove the screw plugs left by the tenant, fill up the holes in the wall and fix the spoilt light in the living room. 

Was chatting with Ko-ko and he asked to send photos. Here's a photo of the amazing view from the unit:

Daddy finished up just as you finished tuition. Then we hopped back into the car and headed home. 

More Drain Covers

 These are my collections:

Tengachaya

Himeji

Nara

I thought that I had taken more photos than these.. looks like you took even more than I did in the end. 

Drain Covers in Japan

Before heading to Japan, I came across many posts mentioning the many different and beautifully decorated covers. You noticed me taking photos of them and so you also started looking out for them (on top of the eki stamps). Here are your collections: