Van Gogh Alive

Today is the day we head to Pavillion Bukit Jalil. It's our first time going to this mall. Woke up around 9am. We had nasi lemak which Ashley Kor-kor had bought from a nearby stall. When Uncle Dennis was ready, off we went in 2 cars.

We really had no idea on what to eat for lunch and finally settled on this Japanese noodles shop. Wow!

Enjoying her noodles

Then we walked a bit then split into two groups: going for the show and going for a car ride to have a look at the local colleges. 

It was an interesting experience, with many photo opportunities. You took my phone and had a heyday taking videos and photographs. There was also a video showcasing his artwork through the years, where we could see how his style evolved over time and his state of mind was at that time. 

Photo near the entrance

With Kor-kor

Sunflowers

Kor-kor's bum (?)

Display

Self portrait outline

Some of the background on the artist

We then finished the 40 minute video and headed out to the souvenir shop (where you got a Starry Starry Night magnet). 

Next, we queued to enter the immersive experience section. Kor-kor took many pictures of you.. which you loved posing for her:

The man controlling the crowd gave you this basket for your photo ops

Then we had our "portrait painted":

"Designed" the clothes of these mannequins:

Played with this umbrella:

Here  is a picture of the tags we were given upon our entry into the first exhibit:

When we were finally done, we headed off to meet the boys at another location for drinks. 

Heading to KL

As Ko-ko had a school event, we decided to leave after the event was over (and had a shower). So we dropped Mei-mei off to music, then Ko-ko and Jeanni and school. We were left with less than 20 minutes to head to Pulau Tikus to pick up Ko-ko's headset before it was time to pick Mei-mei. 

We bought lunch then headed home to eat. Shortly after, it was time to pick Ko-ko up. 

We left the house at 1pm. I had packed most of the things the night before, only putting in the stuff we needed in the morning after we'd used them. Daddy even loaded the car before leaving to pick up Ko-ko. 

Hopped into the car and off we went. Waze estimated arrival time at Ashley Kor-kor's house as 4.15... and as usual it was quite accurate.

So we had enough time to relax a little, chat with them and shower before heading to the restaurant which was recommended by Ashley Kor-kor. It was nearby and we used the newly opened DASH Highway. 

We arrived at The Honest Butcher just on time. 

Dinner was amazing!

Raw oysters

Our wine

Mushroom soup

Free appetizer - corn

Unagi sushi

Lamb Tostadas

Mushroom

Tomahawk

Chamomile tea

Madeleine and ice-cream

Yuzu sorbet

Vanilla ice-cream

We had so much fun trying out the food.

Last day of exams

It's finally the last day of exams (3 long weeks!). I'm not sure if you are more exhausted or I am.. 

Anyhow, you asked to be allowed to hang out with your friends after the paper (it ended at 9am). So you all went to McDonald's and then we picked you up at nearly 11am. We then headed to this Malay rice stall in Balik Pulau. Daddy wanted to bring us there as he was there recently and enjoyed the view and food.

Delicious food

Peaceful river with very clear water at the back where we sat

Too bad you didn't really enjoy the food, as it was fish and eggplant. But we did pack some back for Ah Ma and Kakak. Ah Ma liked the curry so much that she kept the leftover curry and planned to add more fish for another meal. 

Another weekend of home dinners

As Ko-ko was still having exams, we opted to dine in. We'd run out of ideas and in the end decided on chillie beans with sausages and bun (with cheese and sour cream toppings):

Forgot to take a picture of the bun. So here's the un-bitten portion, but my sour cream looks a bit yucky because I had mixed it into the beans. 

On Sunday, Ah Ma planned to cook fish and chips. So we had our equivalent, grilled fish with mashed potatoes. This round daddy added (quite a lot) of truffle oil into the mash potatoes. Heavenly... 

Evelyn's Pet Cactus

We decided to go out for brunch today since daddy was not playing golf. Ended up in Maccallum Connoisseurs which I had called and was told had tables available. 

While waiting for our food, you noticed that they were selling plants; cactus and succulents. You had spotted the cactus and after we'd eaten, I said that you could have it if you'd buy with your allowance. Of course, you happily agreed to that. 

Our brunch:

But I told you that it was your responsibility to take care of the cactus: watering, talking to it and petting it. You gave me this bewildered look when I said that you needed to pet it. 

Here we are at home with you unboxing it:

*If you look carefully, Ko-ko's reflection can be seen. He's goading you to pet it!

But you did pet it in the end.. much to my laughter and finally admitting that I had tricked you that the cactus needs to be petted.

 

Weekend of Yummi-ness

We'd decided to cook this weekend. Lasagna on Saturday and dumplings on Sunday (Chap Goh). 

Ko-ko licking up all the Bechamel sauce

Look at the cheese he sprinkled on top

Lasagna... drool

Evelyn and Ah Kong had spaghetti with bolognese sauce, Mei-mei eating the beef version (from the lasagna) and Ah Kong having the pork (sneaky daddy added some beef unbeknownst to him).

On Sunday, since it was Chap Goh, we decided to have something everyone enjoys. Dumplings. As usual, the final number of dumplings wrapped was around 180 (including cheese and chicken dumplings).

Dumplings all arranged and ready to be fried

Two fryers makes it faster and we also learnt to fry and eat then fry more to have warmer and nicer dumplings

Dumpling and Japanese Sochu!

We ate around 100 pieces of pork dumplings today. Our amazing fry-masters did a great job.

Happy Birthday, Ah Ma

We had an earlier celebration on Saturday. Ah Ma heard from her friend of the delicious "birthday noodles" in Mum's Nyonya. So she pre-booked the noodles which we enjoyed thoroughly. Too bad Mei-mei didn't join us as she had already agreed to attending Yuen Ting's birthday party. 

But we did wait for her to come back to sing the birthday song and enjoy "looking" at the cake. Unfortunately the cake turned out to be with peanuts, so she was treated to ice-cream from the freezer. 

Chor 3: Time to go home

As we expected the crowds to be here, the plan was to eat leftovers for lunch. Again, breakfast was yam cake and seung wan yuen and whatever we found in the kitchen/fridge.  

Love eating this

Daddy and I went out to Thean Chun in hopes that the uncles selling chee cheong fun would be open. Too bad, they were the only stall in the coffee shop which were still closed.

But... we were well prepared. Knowing that Ah Ma would be cooking curry chicken for the 2nd day's dinner, we bought dehydrated noodles to eat with the curry:

Ah Kong and Ah Ma left before lunch. While we planned to leave after dinner. So while Ko-ko studied (or played games in the room.. I do not know which), daddy and Ashley and Yvonne Kor-kor played mahjong.

Dinner was delicious roasted/smoked chicken, noodles and fried rice from Tong Hoi again. We packed up and soon it was time to head back to Penang. 

Unfortunately, the traffic this year seems different. We'd usually encounter smooth traffic heading back and watch the heavy/non-moving traffic South bound. But this year, there were a couple of stretches where we came to a full halt!

Finally arrived in Penang exhausted, but happy from a nice gathering with family. 

The Ban Generations

Took some pictures:

Youngest generation

Our generation

Oldest generation