Feast in Ipoh

We had an amazing time in Ipoh. Spending time with 2 Chim Poh, Kor Poh and Chek Kong and enjoying funny moments. Best of all was the amazing Ipoh food which we got to slowly enjoy over a span of 3.5 days; our usual favourites and even new discoveries.

We wanted curry mee, but decided that it would be better to pre-order so that we get the best soup. So we headed to Thean Chun for kai see hor fun only to find that the shop was closed. Then we tried our luck with the curry mee, it was only 9.30am and he was already done cleaning up the shop!! In the end, we decided to buy chee cheong fun and coffee from Sun Yuan Loong, then headed to another shop to buy what Chim Poh says is a nicer version of kai see hor fun.

Crowded Sun Yuan Loong

Our Kai See Hor Fun

For dinner we headed to "The Museum" where we ate a delicious spread of noodles, chicken and lala. (forgot to take photos).

On Thursday, daddy and I went out at 7.15am to pick up our pre-ordered curry mee. 

The coffee shop was full too!

And that was our lunch for the day. Mei-mei had her clear soup hor fun. 

Later in the day, we decided to try out this boulangerie that I had found online while trying to find a place to buy cakes. It's called "Ferment Boulangerie", which is a house turned into cafe in Canning Garden.

Nice interior

Dinner was in our all-time favourite restaurant, Tong Hoi. Chim Poh had already booked a table and dishes in the afternoon with the head chef/owner. 

When we arrived, the inquired if we would like to have the lou sang which we agreed to eat:

First lou sang of the year

Yong toufu

Steamed Temoleh (freshwater fish)

Marmite pork

And there was a vegetable and fresh fruits to finish off. Boy, were we stuffed!

Friday was another day of exploring something new. We Googled ice-cream and decided to try out "C'est Si Bon". We were lucky to get a parking spot not too far from the shop and walked over. Not too many choices, but even then it was hard to pick one flavour!

Double scoop with free waffle cone

My rum and raisin

Lave cake with vanilla ice-cream and a tiny waffle cone

After ice-cream, we made a round back to Ferment Boulangerie to get another loaf of bread and a pain au chocolat for Mei-mei

We went home to find out that Tiger Chim Poh had helped to book the dinner location and it was at 6pm! Oh dear.. 

The restaurant was very near, and we had so many dishes (again!). Not too bad, but a little on the pricey side considering it's more like a "chu char" than a restaurant like Tong Hoi. 

JJ Fish

Tofu

Marmite pork (again)

We realised that there were a lot of Penang cars around and even noticed the family at the next table speaking Penang Hokkien. Looks like many folks ran off from the state to avoid the water issue.

On Saturday, we woke up to eat bread, and even the leftover chee cheong fun. Lunch (or brunch) is dim sum. We went to Dynasty Palace Restaurant and ate a lot!!

I think there were some plates/baskets which were already cleared when I took this photo

And so ends our food holiday/remote working/online school adventure in Ipoh. While the water had come back sooner than planned, we decided to stay on up till Saturday as originally planned. I'm glad we did that. We got to enjoy so many choices of food in Ipoh. 

Study time

I told you to study.. and when I walked into your room, I see these on your table. 

Online Learning

One good thing which came out of the Movement Control is that the school is ready to conduct online classes when there is the need. As the scheduled water cut was to last 4 days with sufficient notice from the government, the school issued a notice that classes would be conducted online even before the new year rolled in. In the week leading to the water cuts, teachers even had sessions to train children on the usage of electronic devices and how to log into MS Teams and attend classes.

With that, we all decided to move our "office" and "school" to Ipoh. Yay! There is water... and there is many opportunities to eat the yummy food in Ipoh which we miss so much. 

Evelyn's first day of online lessons

Evan's New Room

.. for the next 1.5 years... 

As we had to rush back to Penang (Mei-mei had school the next day), we quickly picked up the keys from the agent (he was still cleaning up the place), did a quick check on the room and then headed to Grand Imperial where the rest of the clan were waiting to have dim sum with us. 

As Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis had headed home, we asked them to help bring along your 2 big luggage with them. After lunch, daddy headed back to Cyberjaya as he wanted to fix up the light in Yvonne Kor-kor's house while we hopped into Uncle Dennis' car and went to Pyramid to quickly buy mattress topper before heading to Geo Sense. 

They provided some input on the layout of the room and we reshuffled the room. 

Then we headed back to Denai Alam where daddy met up with us. We had an early dinner at Mozer's before heading back to Geo Sense again. After much persuasion/discussion, we finally agreed on another layout. Helped you to measure the available space so that you could buy the correct furniture for the room. The next day, Uncle Dennis picked you up to go to Ikea to pick up your stuff. After buying the stuff, he also helped you build the shelf and set up everything. Ah, I think your room looks quite cosy now.. just a matter of whether the table is big enough for you.

And of course, after all that hard work, you were treated to Jyuraku.. lucky kid!

Happy New Year 2024!

As we were in KL, the initial plan was to order in and have a little dinner party in Ashley Kor-kor's place. But then the plan was suddenly hijacked and turned into a BBQ party at Yvonne Kor-kor's place as Chek Kong, Chim Poh and Kor Poh were also around. So we were supposed to stay the night at her place. Well, she did invite us to stay over at her place, so that we need not move around so much, but we preferred Denai Alam which is nearer to Sunway. 

So before we arrived, we had bought the slab of beef and 1 tomahawk from Penang. Upon arrival, we bought the ingredients for vegetables at the nearby Jaya Grocer. The one challenging item to get was the red onion (we didn't want China ones) and in the end, as a last resort I had to buy yellow Holland onions. Oh well... 

We left in 2 cars, 1 in search of onions and another to buy some light snacks for lunch. 

Shortly after we arrived in Cyberjaya, daddy started the fire on the BBQ grill. It was just 2pm, so he slowly roasted the Japanese sweet potatoes. 

Then, hungry Check Kong asked if that was all, so daddy grilled 1 packed of sausages (from Honest Butcher):

 

Italian Dinner

While we waited for the rain to stop in the Klang cafe, everyone searched for an Italian restaurant for dinner. In the end daddy found "Portofino" and everyone agreed it sounded ok to try out.

Managed to get a table for the evening. Turned out that the restaurant was relatively empty... for a Saturday night. But the food was quite good actually.. 

My blurry photo of the Four Cheese Gnocchi

Tagliatelle Bolognaise

Lasagna

Seafood risotto

Pizza Margherita

We decided to add another risotto, the Mushroom risotto. It tasted nice, unfortunately the risotto was rather undercooked. 

And we finished off with some dessert:

Visiting Klang

Thought of trying something new, so we went to Klang to eat their version of BKT. There was first a wait for our table then another wait for our food. It took a little longer than other people as it seemed that the person who took our order missed placing it in with the kitchen. 

Dry version

Soup version

The verdict.. Penang version is the best, with the herbal flavours in the soup.

After lunch, we headed to a cafe called "Blackstone Bakery Cafe". There was a little store upstairs which sold locally crafted gifts. So we got some stuff from there before heading downstairs to have a drink and a cake:

It started to rain quite heavily, so we sat abit and waited for the rain to let up a little before running to the car, which was conveniently parked just across the street from the cafe.

Cheeky Girl

This were the faces you showed me when I tried to take photos of you eating the ice-cream in Family Mart while we waited for daddy and Ko-ko to clean out his room in Waterfront Residences. 

Driving Test

Long, long day for you. We dropped you off at the learning center (the exam is held here) at around 7.40am. Then we headed to Kg. Jawa to eat the CKT and also to pack back for you, seeing that today is your last day in Penang for your December holiday.

We assumed you should be done quite quickly but it just kept on dragging on and on. At 10.30am, you had just completed the driving portion.. 1/3 of the test. Then you said that you were hungry. Had not packed any snack nor drink, thinking there was a vending machine there. Unfortunately, it was out of order! So we had to bring you some Panettone (CKT was rejected.. ) 

Snapped a quick picture as I passed you the food

Then we headed back home and waited again. At around 2pm, we went to wait for you, thinking that you should be about done. But in the end, we had to head home as you still had to wait for... something...

You were finally done at 3pm. Brought you home to eat 1.,5 packets of the CKT (despite all the remarks about it not being as good as eating there, the egg being too cooked.. bla bla). You rested a bit and we packed the car then off we went to KL. 

Grandma/Tou-Tou's 95th Birthday

The planned big bash was supposed to be on the 17th of the month. Unfortunately, many of the family caught Covid, including Tou-tou. So it was postponed to 1 week later. With that, it was a clash for daddy (golf December birthday celebration), Mei-mei (ballet rehearsal before the evening performance) and me (needed to send Mei-mei to USM). But in the end, ballet school requested for Mei-mei to arrive by 12pm. So Ah Ma, Ah Kong and Ko-ko headed to the restaurant, while I went later by Grab after dropping her off in USM. 

It was a long drive for me (heavy traffic), but by the time I arrived the luncheon had not yet started. And at long last at around 1.15pm, we were served the first course:

Four Season

Soup

Duck's crispy skin on sushi rice (with cheese)

Peking Duck 

Fresh water prawns with noodles

"Fa gau" dessert

The kiddies got to collect an ang pow from Tou-tou:

And before we had cake, birthday pau and red eggs, there was a photo session. Here is one of all the folks who made it for her birthday celebration: