Catching Up At Fratini's

The girls went to Fratini's for tea ...... it was great cause the place was practically empty.

Cafe Latte 

Antipasto
Loved the way the food was presented, and loved the taste of all the items there, especially the bruschetta, and the smoked salmon. 

Hawaiian Pizza

I liked the crust which was crispy and crunchy ... the topping was alright and the amount of cheese to was reasonable ... 

Great time catching up with the girls ..... 

Cheap Fritters

It was after 3.00 p.m., and I was on my way home. I thought I would drop by the market near the Pujut bus terminal to buy some fresh vegetables. Unfortunately, there weren't much vegetables, it being the rainy season.

Instead, I bought some deep-fried fritters. At the side of the market is a row of stalls, selling local cakes. And at the centre is a Chinese vendor, selling deep-fried fritters.

The vendor was really nice ... apologising for making me wait while he saw to the large purchases of a customer.

He even cared to joke.

"All for RM1.00?" I enquired.

"Not all of them for RM1.00, I'd go bankrupt," he joked. "It's 3 pieces for RM1.00".

I laughed. I had meant to ask whether I could mix and match any 3 pieces of fritters for RM1.00. I asked because the fritters were really substantial in size!!

I picked a prawn fritter, a banana fritter ... and was undecided. I saw that he had lots of freshly fried youtiao beside his wok ...

"How about the youtiao?" I asked.

"Youtiao too is 3 pieces for RM1.00," he replied.

So I decided to have that.

Only RM1.00!! 

Of the three, I think the prawn fritter is the tastiest as it is savoury. The youtiao was a tad tasteless at first ... but the more I chewed on it, the more addictive it was! The slice of banana wasn't ripe, though the crust coating it was crispy. So if it had been ripe, then the banana fritter would have been so yum. :)) 

Dinner @ New First Choice

My friend and I ran out of ideas about where to have dinner, so finally, we drove to New First Choice at Pujut 5. We ordered only 3 items - rice, a vegetable, and fish curry.

 Bitter gourd with egg, RM7.00

Well, actually, we ordered bitter gourd to be stir-fried with 3 types of eggs. But I think they got our order wrong. Of course, we did not mind at all. 

Fish curry, RM25.00

The curry here was ever so popular, and still tasted quite good. However, I think the amount of gravy that came with the curry now shrunk significantly. I also preferred the curry to be slightly more tangy. 

We were charged RM40.00 for the meal. Normally, we would pay and leave.  But for some reason, we were being extra calculative that evening. We disputed the vegetable dish, for the bitter gourd was cooked without salted and century eggs. For that, we got RM2.00 back. We paid only RM38.00. :P 

Boycotting Lunch

The canteen at my work place this year is a disappointment, serving limited food choices and charging exorbitant prices for its food.

It's been only 3 days, and my colleagues and I have been complaining over the prices ....

"RM7.50," one colleague told me the sum he paid for breakfast ....

"RM9.20," another colleague exclaimed in annoyance.

Well, of the 3 days that I'd been working, I went there twice. On the first day, I went at 11.00 a.m., and there wasn't anything to eat .... so I ordered a plate of Nasi Goreng Kampung with an egg. It looked presentable, but I found it to be lacking in taste ... Ingredients included rice, some anchovies, some mustard greens, and egg ....

 Nasi goreng kampung, RM5.00

I felt that it was a bit expensive, yes. But perhaps it was because the food was cooked to order. Hmn ... 

Yesterday, I was there for lunch again, and this time I had rice, a scoop of vegetables and a serving of chicken curry and I had to fork out RM4.50 for a meagre plate of lunch. I felt that it was certainly not worth paying for. 

Rice with dishes, RM4.50

After that I made up my mind to boycott the canteen ..... I'll pack my own lunch or replace the meal with protein shakes or have biscuits .... whatever it is, I'll not be going till they adjust the price.

"Oh no, everyone's going to be slim this year," my colleague commented. Lol. Perhaps. :P

After Spring Cleaning on Sunday ...

Lots of people are preparing for CNY starting from now ... and that includes cleaning the house. AT spent the entire day doing so .... and it was only by 4.30 p.m. that he had "lunch". I tagged along for tea, but actually at that odd hour .... hmn ... there weren't many places to go ....

Fried chicken wings, at Auntie Hong's Cafe

We went to Auntie Hong's Cafe .... and whilst AT had rice, I snacked on fried chicken wings. Freshly fried, there were burning hot and were super crispy ... quite pleasant to eat actually

After that .... we hanged out at the mall but before we knew it, it was 7.00 p.m. .... dinner time. AT had wanted to go to Sea Village ... 

 Our spread .... guessed AT deserved to treat himself with a good meal, after a hard's day of cleaning .... but hmn ... think we overdid it and could not finish the food .... 

Top left, clockwise :

Fresh coconut - just ripe, the juice was not sweet, but the drink was cooling and refreshing; and the coconut flesh was yum too. 

Curry fish - hmn ... the fish was not too big, but then it was too much for 2 persons, really. It could easily feed 3 - 4 actually. As a result, we could not finish it. The assam curry tasted sour enough, but I think the consistency could be thicker. The curry got diluted after some time ..... 

Salted fish pork belly - I quite liked this dish, whereby thin slices of pork belly were stir-fried to coat with piquant salted fish and sweet soy sauce ... yums .... 

Stir-fry cangkuk manis - the cangkuk manis was not sweet, so that was too bad. 

The meal cost us RM50.00, including drinks .... which I thought was quite alright. 

After that, we got caught in the rain .......... sigh .... 

Cincau C & Stir-fried Glass Vermicelli Noodle

I had not met my friend H for a long time, and so the other day we had lunch at Ming Xin near Hilltop Garden. And I guessed that I had really liked what I had ordered.

Cincau C, RM2.80

Somehow, grass jelly with milk was really satisfying .... but guilt-inducing ....

Fried Glass Vermicelli, RM7.00

The glass vermicelli dish was nice as well .... just that it was rather unsalty. I'd add some pickled red chillies and light soy sauce to the dish while eating. :))

Second Aunt's Ondeh-Ondeh

We had lots of sweet potatoes at home and could hardly finish them .... Mom steamed them and mashed them up, and then mixed them with flour to make bread. Second Aunt, however, also did the same ... but she mixed it with glutinous rice flour to make ondeh-ondeh.

The ondeh-ondeh were filled with grated coconut which had been cooked with palm sugar. After they were boiled in water, these rice balls were coated with freshly grated coconut .....

Homemade Ondeh-Ondeh

Second Aunt's ondeh-ondeh were generously filled ... and I got lots of coconut filling with every bite. It was really yum indeed. :))