Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease

We were the unlucky few I guess. My daughters fever turned out to be the hand, foot and mouth disease. I spotted the oral ulcers, blisters on my little girl hand this morning and suspected it might be this and quickly took them to the clinic. She also has some tiny red spots rash on her foot, hand and buttock areas which we first thought might be heat rash and sort of ignored it. And then my older girl started to have high fever early this morning and not feeling so well. So, I suspected she might contract the same disease as my little one. True enough, both of them have hand, foot and mouth disease and it needs to run it course in about a week. No wonder my Edda has no appetite at all. She was the one that help herself on food first and suddenly she was like pushing the food away. She also became very cranky and kept crying for no apparent reason (reason being painful ulcer but at that time I had no idea). Now we know. The doctor gave them a medicine for fever and drops for reducing pain and fever. I hope they will feel better soon as we will be heading back to U.S. this Sunday.

Because of this we won't be able to visit Sentosa Island. My girls have to be in quarantine until they recover simply due to the fact that this viral is highly contagious. Guess I also won't be able to visit Daiso and meet E from Precious Moment due to this short coming. :(

Sharing Some Random Pictures

AFormosa Safari near the entrance. Frankly I was quite disappointed in this. Pretty small and the western show suck, couldn't understand a word came out of their mouths.


This must be her favorite thing to do in the Safari: Pony ride. By the way, only cost $4 for a round.


Waiting for the multi-talented animal show to start. Look at her rosy cheeks, you know how hot it was.


Edda happily smiling for the camera in a Thai restaurant. Usually she would look down or side way to avoid looking at the camera.


Their favorite ride in Genting resort while waiting for the grandparents who were playing slot machines inside the casino. Edda was sitting alone in the third car. Lost count of how many rounds they were in it.

Pork Floss n Egg Hot Dog

This was what I did with my leftover two hot dog buns before I came to Malaysia. Each package of hot dog buns came in eight but it only had six brats in a package, so what to do with the other two hot dog buns? I decided to make myself some Pork Floss n Egg Hot Dog for breakfast. This was also to answer Tigerfish's question as to what other ways I used the pork floss. Check out Tigerfish version with peanut butter.



I spread the hot dog buns generously with butter on both sides and grill it in my indoor grill. Pour the beaten egg in the grill as well (since I'm too lazy to wash any extra pan) and stir to cook the egg. Then, just put the egg in the hot dog buns, spread some pork floss on top and drizzle with some Malaysian chili sauce. Hmmm...if only I can have some "bak kwa" too!

Back in J.B.

Finally back in J.B. late last night. We were planning to visit Sentosa Island tomorrow but it has to be postponed because my little girl has a little fever due to the heat. Just fed her the fever medicine and hope the fever will go down soon and her appetite will return. The time spent in P.J. went like lightning and in few days time we will be flying back to U.S. My brother wedding went well, and I got to see or meet my relatives whom I haven't seen for more than 15 years. It was nice to see their children all grown up.

Sid from Big Boys Oven managed to catch me on Friday for brunch before some of my relatives arrived from out of states. I would love to thanks Sid for bringing us out to try the famous melt in the mouth Seremban char siew and Hakka noodle. I would have to get the address from him so that my parents and family will get to try it too as I have no idea where it was. The char siew is really melt in the mouth soft (sinful also lah) and I really like the hakka mee. Some of the bloggers/floggers posted this place before but I forgot who already.

Fat liao Fat liao

How can I not putting on weight? All the yummy food, three meals a day plus all the food I wanted to try....siao liao lor. Furthermore, I have more than one week of makaning before flying back to U.S. Man, not sure to cut back on eating or what! Gained 10 pounds already and still eating.... *pengsang* Really have to go on diet and exercise when I go back to U.S.

Just got back from Genting Highland and really enjoyed the weather there, not as cold but at least it was not hot. My girls were having fun at the indoor theme park, really worth it for the whole day pass. I managed to try the Durian and Pandan tarts at Gotong Jaya. Not bad lah, not really crazy for it!

The other day we bought some D24 durian at Giant. They cut it fresh in front of us before they wrapped it. It was selling 2 for $20 and we started chatting and the friendly uncle gave me a package of local durian ($5) free. Very nice hor? My hubby even get to sample the D24 durian to make sure it was good before buying. My Evy refused to eat durian but my "thiamjiak" Edda ate everything even the durian. I think Edda is just like the mommy who "sapu" or eat anything, that's why both of us are so chubby...hahaha...

I tried King Crab restaurant recently and really loved it. Hor Jiak leh! The salted egg yolk squid, oh my goodness, so sinful and yet so delicious, I couldn't stop eating it! The Guiness Pork Ribs also one of my favorites, the flavor is just so nice. I'm actually debating on whether to go back there again or try other new restaurant like New Formosa restaurant.

Easy Cold Tofu

This is one super easy home cook dish that I ever came out with. So easy that everyone can make this and no skill needed. Just cut some soft tofu and use the sauces that you already have at home and it's ready if you like it cold. If you prefer it hot, warm it in a microwave oven for 2 minutes and you have yourself a delicious dish.

Ingredients:

1 box of soft tofu, sliced into pieces (I only used half packet above)
Drizzle some oyster sauce on top
Drizzle some dark soy sauce on top
Drizzle some sesame oil on top
Sprinkle lots of fried shallots on top (I used store-bought crispy shallots that I keep in my freezer once opened, ready to use whenever I needed some, very convenient!)
Chopped fresh scallions for color (I didn't have any but would add this if I have some)
Chopped fresh red bird eye chilies (optional, for extra spiciness and color, and if you don't have kids sharing your food :P)

I don't think I need to write down the direction/method here. Try it for your family dinner tonight!

Here in P.J.

We reached PJ this morning. So, we will be here until the 25th. Going up to Genting Highland on the 19th and 20th. Have to get use to the weather here again, thus far it's very hot. Didn't manage to go to the Jonker street pasar malam. With a picky hubby who doesn't eat Hainanese chicken (white chicken), we have to settle for AFormosa Chicken Rice Balls on Jonker Street. Since over here, we had the choice of siew yoke and baked chicken. Nilmandra, you were right, nothing to shout about. I prefer the fluffy chicken rice anytime. Took a walk along Jonker street, but I couldn't find any famous spicy shrimp hiong piah? Also, the prices there were for tourist, all very expensive. Managed to stop at Jonker Dessert 88 for some durian ice cendol and Gula Melaka ice cendol plus the Nyonya Laksa. When we returned to the car, we found a $30 parking ticket on our window wiper. Aiya!!! We didn't know we have to buy ticket and just happy that we found a parking space. Luckily we met someone who was very helpful and helped us to bargain and cut the fine to $15. Managed to stop by at Jing Yuan Biscuit and Bakery and bought some mini tau sar piah and hiong piah to bring it here. Had to miss the satay celok because it only opened at night and it was hard to drive all over here again at night to eat. It was about 30 minutes drive from the place we stayed to Melaka, so after the Safari, swimming in the swimming pool, got shower, we were all dead tired.

Steamed Green Tea Cupcakes

I love the steamed banana cupcakes so I decided to make other variety of steamed cakes. Since I really love green tea flavor so this was an easy choice. For sure I will try out different flavors in the future. I steamed this in my newly acquired diamond shape Wilton's silicon cups. Hmmm...looks like these steamed cakes want to play "pee ka boo" with me! LOL!


How it looked when I took it out from the silicon cups and turned it the other side so that it didn't look like these cuppies were saying "pee ka boo". These steamed cuppies are soft and light, I really loved it. I also made it healthier by using skim milk and oil.



Ingredients: (yield 11 diamond shape silicon cups)

(A)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

(B)
67g canola oil (or vegetable oil)
180g skim milk (or any milk you have)

(C)
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp. green tea powder

Method:

1. Beat (A) with an electric beater until double in size.

2. Add (B), whisk to combine.

3. In another bowl, add (C), whisk to combine. Add into the wet mixture. Mix until incorporated.

4. Pour into the silicon cups and steam in a steamer for 15 minutes.

5. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and release from silicon cups and let cool completely before storing in air-tight container.

Melaka, here I come!

We will be heading to Melaka tomorrow. Going to stay in AFormasa Resort at Alor Gajah for two nights. Will bring the girls to the Safari and probably outdoor theme park. Not sure about the water park yet since I heard it's mostly for adults. So, probably will skip that. Can't wait to eat the famous Chicken rice balls that I have read all these years in Melaka and pay a visit to the popular Jonker Street for more makaning. Oh yeah, beachlover, I will remember to bring the mosquito spray. ;)

We will head to PJ on Thursday and stay until the 25th. During my stay at PJ, will sure go visit KLCC. Oh yeah, we will be heading to Genting Highland on the 19th and 20th. Feel free to say Hi if you recognize my girls through my blog ya. I probably won't have excess to the Internet during my stay in Alor Gajah and Genting Highland.

Update!

We are postponing our trip to Sentosa Island until the end of May. In case you don't know, all Malaysian get to pay half price at Sentosa on May 23rd - June 30th. Just show your Malaysian passport at the ticketing counter. We can even pay the equivalent prices in Ringgit! What a great deal!

The weather here is actually not too bad, lots of rain and thus not very hot. We haven't encountered the mosquito problem yet, thanks God. Guess what happen while we went to eat dinner yesterday? We saw a police man with a gun man standing outside of the restaurant and kept shooting at the birds on top of the trees! No wonder the birds were so noisy flying around. The gun shots were loud and the birds were as loud, what a way to have dinner. Sister in law said they are shooting the birds down because of the over population. Got to say this was not an easy task because the birds came back in the evening, so shooting at black bird at evening time was not easy at all, and how many could they get? 10-20 the most! They better just chop off the tree in half. :P

Flaky Pie Crust

This is for Gert. I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com. I love this basic pie crust recipe and has been using it for all my homemade pies. I even used it to bake curry and pork floss puffs. For the above chicken pot pie, I used two pie crusts.

Ingredients: (yield one 9 inch pie crust)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cold, cubed
5-6 tablespoons ice water

Method:

1. In a food processor, add in the flour, salt and cubed cold butter. Pulse a couple of times.

2. Add in Tbsp. of cold water while pulsing at the top opening until a dough is formed.

3. Turn the dough on a plastic wrap, wrap well and refrigerate until ready to use.

Fried Rice w/ Egg Roll

I was invited by Mochachocolata-Rita to participate in her first ever virtual party to celebrate her 88th post in her blog. She wanted us to create a dish that resembles the Chinese Take-Out and we can be creative with the recipe. Since I'm leaving to Malaysia in few hours, I could only make some fried rice with a real Chinese take out egg roll. We love to order chicken fried rice and what's better way to accompany the fried rice but the Chinese egg roll. Rita, thanks for hosting this Chinese take out party!



Here's my simplified fried rice recipe using the leftover grilled chicken from Famous Dave restaurant.

Ingredients:

Leftover cold rice, about 5 cups
Grilled chicken breast, shredded
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
2 eggs, beaten

(A)
Oyster sauce
Chinese white white
Soy sauce

Method:

1. Heat wok with oil and scramble the eggs until cooked, dish out and set aside.

2. Heat wok with oil again and add in the chopped garlic. Stir-fry until slightly golden, add carrots, bell peppers and grilled chicken. Stir well and add the white rice. Stir until mix well and add (A) to taste. Stir-fry until the rice is jumping in the wok, dish out and serve.



Check out the Chinese Take-Out Party on May 12th.

Here at Last

Yes, we are finally here in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Getting use to the hot and humid weather again but this time I find the weather is tolerable. My girls are doing good as well, at least they didn't complain they are hot. Going to Singapore this weekend, at least my girls will have some fun visiting Sentosa Island and Vivo City and their relatives. Here in J.B. is pretty boring, nothing much to do and nothing special to eat. Thus far, my hubby got his new passport done. It was done in few hours, surprisingly fast, went there in the morning and collected the passport in the afternoon and I waited 3 months to get my passport from U.S. Will update more after the trip to Singapore.

Green Tea Oats Cookies

I was browsing through food blogs and then some and then I felt my hands itchy again. Itch to have some action and then my mind started to wander. I wanted to make something very easy without taking out my electric beaters and incorporating green tea powder (as I love it) and sort of healthy at the same time and thus this was created.

If you like crunchy oats cookies with green tea fragrant, this is the recipe for you. I used this Oats Cookies but instead of vanilla extract, I used 1/2 tsp. of green tea powder, omitted the raisins and choc. chips and used 1 cup of oats instead.



The resulted cookies of the day! The color and shape of this cookie seem to me very suitable to serve on Halloween. :P I can imagine adding two tiny choc. chips as eyes and I will have myself a plate of little green goblins starring at me. LOL! Surprisingly, this cookie was well received by my hubby and two girls.

Vacation Finally!!

In few hours, I will be on the plane heading back to Malaysia. I will be back for a month. First stop would be Johor Bahru where my in-laws are. This is my long awaited vacation to Malaysia. I also get to attend my brother's wedding banquet in P.J. at the end of the month. We will visit Singapore, Melaka and Genting & Cameron Highlands in this trip and I can't wait to visit Sentosa Island after 20+ years. I also can't wait to eat my way through Melaka and visit the Jonker Street. Stop at the Ostrich Farm at P.D on the way to P.J. And visit my high school friends whom I haven't seen for 14 years!! Cool down at Genting Highlands and Cameron Highland (will be needed for sure) and let the kids have some fun at the theme park, shopping at KLCC and visit more friends from college days. Can't wait!!!

I will keep updating in Malaysia whenever I have access to the Internet. I also have some drafts that I will be posting in Malaysia so stay tuned! Oh by the way, I might be late in responding to your comments, but rest assure that I will, just a bit late! :o) Also, I might not be able to visit your blog often or in the month of May at all, sorry in advance ya!

Chicken Pot Pie

I made Gert's chicken pot pie the other night because I have all the ingredients at home. I omitted the potatoes because we don't really like it and added the corn kernels. I made my own pie crusts as well. With a food processor, pie crust is very easy to make. I did the lattice by hands, didn't know we get to buy the lattice pie cutter these days, can really save a lot of work.



Since I used raw chicken breasts instead of cooked and omitted the potatoes. My cooking method was slightly different. First, I had to saute the chicken until cooked with the onion, and I only used one cup of water since I didn't have to boil cook the potatoes. Lastly I thicken the sauce with some cornstarch.



A slice of the pot pie the lazy way (instead of the individual ones, Gert & I made it into one big pie)! My hubby actually liked it and had three huge pieces. Edda liked it too except the picky Evy. I think that was because she didn't like celery but she did finish the top crust and most of the filling. Gert, thanks for sharing this recipe. :o)

Editing to add:



This is what happen as of now, cloudy with heavy snow falls !! And it's MAY 1st TODAY!!