Pre-Trip

First, I made errors in the booking. Our designations were wrong, and AL's birth date was wrong. I was so careless! Thankfully, the errors could be rectified. All I had to do was to visit the Air Asia sales and service centre. I went to the outlet at Abell Road to make the necessary changes, and by the time I reached home, I had received the rectified itinerary in my email. Phew! Happy. There were no charges as well.

Then I had to apply for visa on my own. PH told me that the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre in Kuching is located at Level 2 of Wisma Naim, at 2.5 mile Rock Road. The very first time I went there, I merely enquired about the necessary documents that need to be submitted. I also collected the application forms for my friends.

After filling in everything and getting ready the essential documents, I went back to the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre to submit my application, Only that it got rejected because my designation in my itinerary was "Mr.". Wrong gender! What? Hadn't I got that rectified already? Upon scrutiny, I realised that Air Asia had amended for my friend but not for mine. Grrrr ....

So for the second time, I went back to the Asia Asia sales and service centre to change my designation. I had to give them a photocopy of my passport to prove that I was female .... and then paid an amendment fee of RM10.00. I had no choice but to do so. Otherwise, my visa could not be processed. Again, by the time I got home, my newly-corrected itinerary was in my email.

The next day, I went back to the Chinese Visa Application Centre to submit my documents. The lady accepted my documents and said, "We'll call you if anything is amiss." I made a face. "Would anything else go wrong?" I asked. She smiled and replied, "Just in case ...."

4 working days later, my visa was ready to be collected. I checked and paid RM88.30 for it. Yay. I was ready for my trip.

In case you are to apply for a tourist visa to China, these are the documents you need :
1) A completed application form
2) A recent passport photograph with blue or white background
3) A photocopy of the particular's page of your passport
4) Original passport
5) Flight itinerary details
6) RM88.30 for entry to China for 3 months

Yoshinoya & Hanamaru

First time to Yoshinoya @ Mid Valley Megamall.

Beef Yakiniku, RM13.80 (Large)'

Beef Bowl, RM11.80 (Regular)

Spicy Beef Bowl, RM11.80 (Regular)

Spicy Chicken Katsu Bowl, RM12.80 (Regular)

And from Hanamaru Udon .... 

Spicy Miso Udon, RM12.80

Chicken Karaage, RM3.80 & Egg Kakiage, RM4.80

Love all the food as they taste good! Dessert was my favourite soft serve matcha ice-cream from Nana's Green Tea, now costs RM7.20!

Simple Breakfast

Good morning from Kuala Lumpur .... Mum said she's not cooking any meals today, so we would have to buy. Bro and I shared these for brekkie which we bought from the market. There's a bit of change at the regular market that we go to .... hawkers are no longer peddling along the street leading to the market as the enforcement officers make their rounds regularly here. So, we now only buy from the hawkers selling inside the market.

Plain old nasi lemak, RM1.50 

Loh Mai Kai, RM2.80

Happy breakfast, everyone! 

Closed Because of Haze

It was 7.15 a.m. on Thursday, and the air quality was quite bad. I put on my protective mask, and walked to a classroom. The windows and doors of the classroom were all open, and the students were breathing in polluted air. Some were wearing masks, and others were not. I asked them to close all windows and doors. Better to be hot than to breathe in the acrid air.

Soon after, we were informed that the students could be let off, and the school let the students go home after recess. We teachers, however, stayed back in school to do our work. On Thursday night, news came that students did not have to go to school the next day, but we teachers were instructed to go to work as usual.

I woke up at 4.00 a.m., and checked my messages. None. So I got ready to go to work. I reached school at 6.15 a.m., only to find out that us teachers were also off for the day. What? Who said? When? I checked my phone to find a message that came in at 5.38 a.m. - which I had not read at all. Lol.

It wasn't only me who did not get the message. A number of my colleagues also came to work. So we went to Lee Coffee Shop at Ban Hock Road for breakfast - the large group of us.

Favourite Pulut Panggang, RM1.50 each

Delicious radish cake, crispy on the outside, soft and tasty inside; not sure how much as my colleague paid for it

Not knowing what to eat, I decided to try this 生肉面. The stall is in fact at Yang Guan Cafe, and not at Lee Coffee Shop .... but they do deliver to Lee Coffee Shop. Just specify your table number.

Special 生肉面, RM8.00
Thick wheat noodles, should be homemade, not springy but not too soft either; the noodles were tossed in thick black sauce - the taste wasn't too memorable


The soup was sweet, tasted like something that we could reproduce at home; there was kidney, liver, a few different cuts of pork meat, minced pork,

There's probably lots of msg ... which made me drink lots of water after that. Today also happens to be the last school day before we break off for a week ....

Egg sandwich, water, and reading while waiting for my flight ...

Happy holidays, folks! 

In Search Of Snacks

I was looking for snacks, and Aloha Delicatessen was closed .... and JSum Bakery did not have anything appealing .... so it's off to Siang Siang Food Court at Tabuan Jaya. I liked that they still had lots of kueh even though it's late in the morning and nearly lunch time.

I always walked to the food court from the back, and I see 3 stalls selling kueh at the front of the food court. Today, I bought from the uncle whose stall is on my right (nearer to the laksa stall). I must commend him on his friendly demeanour.

"Help yourself," he said to a customer who was going to use a pair of tongs to bag a piece of shao bao, "don't take the broken one....". That sure made him different from the ladies at No. 6 kopitiam and also at Yeow Kee 101. Those 2 safeguard their kuehs like precious gems. The last time I bought from Yeow Kee 101, the lady stopped me from bagging my own chai kueh .... "I take for you in case you break the others ...." Was she accusing me of doing something I haven't done? I was definitely put off.

But then this uncle was not like that. I took a bag and began to pick up a piece of egg cake .... and he informed me, "5 for RM2.00." But I only want 2 pieces, I replied. He said I could take as few as I wanted. So nice of him. I got 2 pieces, and he charged me fairly at RM0.40 per piece. I also bought a shao bao at RM2.00

The shao bao was yummy .... I did not ask where he sourced them from; but it tasted like Kuching Shao Bao, the one at Palm Road. Nice, and I liked it. The egg cake was sweeter, denser, drier and not as soft and bouncy as motorbike auntie's, though.

From the stall on the left, nearer to the economy rice stall ... 

Konnyakku jelly with lychee

These were RM5.00! So expensive! More expensive than chicken rice! These were just ordinary. I can make these on my own ... just wait till I'm free. :P

I then bought a popiah from one of the food stalls .... 

RM2.50 

I did not like this. The taste wasn't to my liking .... and you can see that it's not compactly filled. 

All these cost about RM10.00. Expensive huh? Like my colleague V always says, the value of ringgit is running like toilet rolls these days ...... :)) 

Spicy Air-fried Korean Chicken

I saw this ... and thought I would give it a try.

Here is the recipe. But of course  I tweaked it to suit the ingredients I had at home. And the result was superb. Yummy to the max!

Doesn't that look mouth-wateringly good??  

So tasty and tender and succulent .... 

I bought a large de-boned chicken drumstick from Ta Kiong. It's cleaned already, and all I did was to rinse it and then pat dry. Then I marinated the meat overnight .... 

Red hot marinated chicken ... 

My marinade :
1 tbsp gojuchang
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp sugar
a pinch of salt

I mixed everything in a bowl before rubbing it into the chicken and kept it chilled overnight. Instead of grilling it, I air-fried it : skin up for 8 minutes at 180 deg, and then skin down at 6 min also at 180 deg. If you like it charred, can air-fry it longer to perhaps 10 minutes. Happy lunching! :))

Stop The Boxes ..

I think I've had enough of boxed meals ....

Another boxed meal from Good Days Food Court, RM5.00
There's pork curry - my first time eating pork in curry. It was interesting, but the curry could have been more aromatic. The vegetables dishes were greasy ....

Tonight, I decided to cook my own dinner. Minced pork from the freezer defrosted, chopped up some mustard greens, carrots, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, shallots, soften the dongfen .... and then it's a quick stir-fry of everything in the wok .... 

Yummy :)) 

Great homecooked dinner for me :))