Packing Up

Today, we planned to clear out your room. But before that, brunch. We drove to a cafe nearby in 2 cars. It was a little wait for our table. Placed our orders and soon our brunch was served.  The food was quite good. 

Then Mei-mei went home with Kor-kor while the 3 of us headed to Geo Avenue to pack up. We slowly packed up the clothes, determined what to do with the table lamp and you sifted through the big stack of papers to decide which is to be binned. Daddy then went down to Mr DIY to see what can be used to fix the patch on the wall (caused by you sticking a hook on the wall and removing the paint along with the hook). Well.. he found a white marker pen and bought a tub of putty too. The fix looks quite ok. Only noticeable if you look really closely. 

The initial plan was to bring the shelving units with us as we were to pass them to Alex Ku-ku when we met for dinner. In the end we managed to load the car with everything so we wouldn't have to come back again. Tried to contact the agent, but by the time he responded that we could just leave the keys in the room, we had already left. So we would need to go another time tomorrow to drop off the keys. 

Well, time to say Sayonara to your "home" of 1.5 years!

Whole Day of Outing

Today Ko-ko said that he'll need to catch up on his sleep and that he would have lunch or dinner plans with friends. So we decided to head to this place that Ashley Kor-kor and I had seen on Instagram for lunch. It's called La Spiga D'Oro. The drive was rather far, but it was a good thing that we arrived early (before noon). There was a 15 minute wait for our table and once we were seated, we placed our orders. 

First up: Insalata Caprese

Then the sandwiches. They all tasted different and was very delicious. The focaccia was heavenly. 

After lunch, there was a long queue of people waiting for a turn to dine in the restaurant. We overheard the waitress informing them that the wait would be an hour! Thank goodness we had an early start to the day. 

Next stop was The Gardens. We did a little shopping there and then headed to another place what we had seen in Instagram. It's called Brewmaster. They had their own beer on tap, which Ashley Kor-kor and I picked (daddy was attending a meeting). Er.. not the best place and not the nicest beers. So this place is striked off our list. 

It was nearly 6 and we decided to head to another place called Monster and Beer. We had been there to pick up some beer the last time we were nearby for dinner. 

We were not really hungry, so we ordered some light bites from their menu. Then Ko-ko said that his dinner plans was cancelled. We told him to pack a bag and take a Grab over to us. He was still looking sleepy, but hungry so we ordered something for him to eat. Then also ordered roast duck from the nearby shop to eat at home.

Now we have both our babies with us. 

Graduation Trip

Quite a while back, you mentioned that you wanted to go on a graduation trip with your classmates. After a lot of back and forth on where to go.. there was silence. You said that everyone could not agree on a place to go. In the end, you all finally agreed on visiting Kota Kinabalu. 

It seemed that the plans were set in motion quite quickly: tickets bought, accommodation booked, and even driver booked. 

So after you came back from Johor for the competition, you had to quickly wash the clothes you needed and off you went to Kota Kinabalu.

We're happy that you shared some of your experiences and plans even while on holidays.

Here are the photos of your AirBnB in Kundasang:

And then another photo of a super yucky food which you regretted ordering. 

You sounded like you had great fun. Drinking (in moderation as you claim) and doing a lot of activities. 

And by the time you landed in KLIA2 from the trip, we were already in KL all ready to bring you back to Penang. 

In KL Again

Phew.. we've made so many trips in the past 2 months. But each time was filled with fun. Well, except for the heavy traffic we seem to keep encountering these trips. We left at 5pm today and only arrived in KL past 9pm. We had to find the dinner location which would still be open and be near enough from the nearest toll. In the ended we decided to go to Publika which is very near to the Jalan Duta Toll Plaza. 

Arrived shortly after 9pm. Waze brought us to the carpark which lead us almost directly to the restaurant, Ma Maison. Mei-mei got to eat the Tonkatsu which you have been wishing for (which Ko-ko is not too keen on.. he's been eating it I guess). 

After dinner we had to rush to Kor Poh's house. She had made yam cake for us to bring back to Penang. Daddy even scored 2 custom made dumplings from her (lucky him.. as the ones she had given him were eaten up before he had a chance to eat them). 

Then we pumped petrol for the car and started to make our way to Ashley Kor-kor's house. As we were driving, Ko-ko messaged to let us know that he's landed in KL. So we sent him this photo to tell him that we're in KL too:

He seemed surprised that we had already arrived. I guess we did not really tell him the actual plans on when we'd arrive to pick him up. 

We tried to stay up to ensure that he'd get into his Grab. Poor thing.. took the Grab nearly 2 hours to pick him and his friends up. Daddy had to be on standby in case he needed to pick him up from the airport. 
 

Birthday Celebration

Today's dinner is to celebrate Chek Kong and Kor Poh's birthdays. As usual the venue is in East Ocean Restaurant. What a pity Ko-ko could not make it to Ipoh as his team decided that they would be leaving for Johor on Sunday morning at 9am.

We went in 3 cars. Upon arrival, the first thing requested was fried fish crackers. 

Soon dinner was served. This dish unfortunately had peanuts so Mei-mei could not eat. 

Nicely presented

After being mixed up

Of course, we had their signature prawn dish:

Suckling pig, but in a different style. It had glutinous rice under the skin and salad in the middle:

Stir fried duck with some condiments and served with the fried mantao:

My assembled mantao

As Mei-mei was weary of the duck having peanuts, Chim Poh ordered a serving of fried rice, which was mainly eaten by Mei-mei and Martin:

The third dish utilizing the duck was the glass noodles:

And since it was a birthday celebration, the chef also suggested noodles (a dish usually served for birthday dinners: signifying longevity). So we had a small portion:

And most importantly is the dessert followed by fruits:

Dinner is not complete without alcohol!

Just as we started our journey home, I noticed that Waze indicated police on the route home. So changed driver (Ah Ma), took a longer route (Uncle Dennis) and took the risk to drive home (Yvonne Kor-kor).

We finished off the celebration with cake at home:  

Happy Birthday Chek Kong and Kor Poh!

Evelyn's First Attempt

Today, we decided to have home cooked food instead of buying lunch after piano classes. So we asked Kakak to steam up the potatoes which daddy and I had bought earlier ready for us when we come back. 

I had also defrosted some sausages, so while I fried up the sausages, you prepared the mashed potatoes..

Well, you seemed to be able to follow instructions and made a rather tasty batch of mashed potatoes. Good job!!

Dim Sum Lunch and off to Ipoh

Yesterday evening, we decided to have dimsum in Grand Imperial for lunch. We also invited "Yam Cake" Kor Poh and Kor Teoh to join us for lunch. The food here is always very impressive. Except today, Ah Kong and Ah Ma over ordered the food.. wah.. we had to stuff ourselves with the food. 

Enjoying our meal

Daddy finally got to order the roast duck which he keeps eyeing every time we are here to dine:

It was delicious!

After lunch, Mei-mei and I headed to Sunway Pyramid in search for the Pop Mart shop. But they didn't have what she wanted. The rest of you had gone to drop off the leftovers at your place and to pump petrol. After picking us up, we headed to buy the cake which Kor Poh had requested from you. Ah Kong had gone back first with Uncle Dennis. 

Dinner was at Lam's Kitchen before we dropped you home and started our journey to Ipoh.

Celebratory Dinner

Tonight's dinner is at your favourite restaurant. We decided to go for the Omakase course. It was certainly a good choice. You headed there with Uncle Dennis in a Grab (so that you all could go home in Ashley Kor-kor's car after that) while the rest of us went in the Mazda. 

We started our meal at around 7.30pm and by the time we were done, it was past 9.30pm and the staff were already cleaning up. It was an amazing feast and we were treated to many different flavors in Japanese cooking:

And daddy and I were so proud to see that Mei-mei did not shy away from the different types of food given. You only about gave up at the last 2 dishes of somen and sushi. But then you suddenly had space for the ice-cream!!

Enjoying the oyster!!

Of course, the amazing waitress also helped to take a family photo for us:

It was a wonderful dinner and thanks also to Ashley Kor-kor and Uncle Dennis who helped to arrange for this Omakase feast... and to our paymaster, daddy 😜.

Loved the double celebratory dinner.. both for Ko-ko's graduation and also our 21st wedding anniversary.

Graduation Day and a Spanish Feast

We had to wake up early as the plan (before I went to sleep) was to leave the house by 6.30am. When I woke up and had showered, I was wondering why daddy had not woken up yet. Turned out that there was a change of plans and he had forgotten to tell me. We would be leaving the house at 7am instead. 

Anyhow we managed to leave the house on time and we cut the time taken to exit the housing estate by following the directions from Waze. Traffic was havoc. But we made it to Sunway at 8am. Even then, the parking in Sunway University was already full. So we headed to park in Sunway Medical Center. 

As lunch would be late, we decided to eat breakfast in the Coffee Bean in the hospital. Unfortunately the food took too long and we had to have them pack it up and then headed to the Jeffrey Cheah hall where the ceremony was being held. 

We were given the QR code for the event and got this too:

You had collected our "entrance" bands in advance and we met up with you to collect them before you headed back to have the robes pinned while we found our way to the hall. 

The hall was already very packed, but we managed to get quite good seats. 

So many graduands for this round!

They shared photos and I managed to get this shot of your class:

You received your scroll from Professor Elizabeth Lee, CEO of Sunway Education Group:

After the 100+ students from your batch received their scroll you messaged us to leave the hall. You had "escaped" with some of your friends to take photo. 

Since you had grabbed everything, we could leave after taking some photos. 

It was around 11am when we headed back to the hospital to eat some breakfast while you headed back home to shower and change. Then we picked you up and headed to Marta's Kitchen where we met up with Ah Kong, Ah Ma, Mei-mei and Uncle Dennis. First things first is the drink which you requested to have: Sangria. Cheers!!!

Family photo

We had so much to eat.. almost everything was delicious!

As it was still early, we headed to Starling where we had the craft beer at The Great Beer Bar.

Uncle Dennis later left a little earlier while the 3 of us hang around before also heading home to rest a little before our dinner feast.

On to KL

As Ah Kong and Ah Ma were joining us to go to KL this trip, we could not fit into 1 car and we only had 1 driver who's familiar with the roads in KL, we decided that 2 of us would head to KL separately. The initial plan was for Mei-mei and I to take the train down. But by the time our plans were firm, the (very early) train was full!

In the end, the two of you headed to KL by plane which was not much more expensive than taking the train. In fact, when factoring in the Grab cost, I'd say the plane was a cheaper alternative.

So early today, we left at 8am to pick up the kuih with 6 of us in the car. Then we headed to the airport and dropped the two of you off. We then made our way to the second bridge. The traffic was crazy! 

We finally exited the second bridge at 9.20am. 

Daddy took a slow drive with Ah Kong and Ah Ma sitting at the backseats. You'd both arrived and headed to college to pick up the graduation robes. Then headed to Ko-ko's condo to rest and for Mei-mei to eat teottboki (which was supposed to be upon arrival, but ended up just as we were reaching the condo, making us wait for the two of you!!)

By then, it was nearly 1pm and then we headed to Kor Poh's house to drop the kuih and then we went to our next stop for lunch. It was quite heavy traffic to go to the famous Village Park Nasi Lemak. By the time we arrived, it was 2pm and yet the shop was quite full still. Luckily we didn't have to wait for a table, we took one upstairs. 

Our orders came quite quickly, perhaps not as fast as Ko-ko reckons it usually would (or maybe we were hungry and thus impatient). Everyone had the fried chicken set, while I tried the beef curry set. We all agreed that it was so yummy and worth the price of around RM13 for quite a large portion. 

Then we headed to Ashley Kor-kor's house. Uncle Dennis was home, so we unloaded and rested a bit before it was time to head out to dinner. 

There were 14 of us at dinner. The 2 Kor Poh's were treating us to dinner at Restaurant Gold Dragon City. Wow! They sure ordered a lot of food. We left the restaurant feeling very full...

Headed home to shower and then get ready for bed. We have to wake up early the next day to arrive in Sunway College by 8am.

First things first!

First meal back is curry mee (since it's a Sunday and CKT was not open). But on the very next day, this was what you had for breakfast:

My happy kid..