The Giffo Sentry

Look who's hangin' around.

Courtesy of housekeeping @ Oasia.

Chapter 4: Kiasuland

Long hiatus from blogging, but there's a perfectly good reason for doing so! It's been almost one week of relocation!

Prior to moving across the causeway, I was fearful of adapting to a more hectic lifestyle, doubtful of my ability to cope with work, not to mention possible work and peer pressure!

Ah well, there's pros and cons everywhere you go I suppose.

All my belongings squeezed into a large luggage. The morning of my flight, I was already up at 6am, had a final meal of toast and cham peng with PCC and she dropped me off at KLIA.

My luggage went beyond the baggage allowance by more than 4 kg! But luck was on my side, when I checked in, the staff didn't even bothered to weigh my things! Yeah :D If she had, and they were strict about the luggage weight, then that would damage my pocket by SGD40 :S

Leaving the city (that I won't exactly call home) where I spent close to three years in.

Arrived in one single healthy piece, with all luggage safe and sound, thank goodness. MCC and IKK graciously picked me up at the airport, and transported me back to their place where I konked out for almost 2 hours.

But what's even more interesting is the hotel room!

I love that corner next to the TV where you can lounge and sip coffee, read a book, even. I'm really going to miss this luxury :(

Sun deck sits on the edge of the pool itself! I only have a couple of weeks to enjoy this place though :( Hotel's great, sits right next to the MRT, breakfast is huge, has a pool and gym, both of which I sorely need... sigh. But strangely though, the carpet on the hallway leading to the hotel room kinda smells! Ok, but let's not go there....

And guess what we had on my second night? Very authentic Penang food!

Hokkien mee. I think this was between $6-9. But it was reallllyyyy good... It tastes really authentic, best of all. Yeay got place to go d whenever homesick.

They also have laksa, nasi lemak, char koay teow. But my fave is still the hokkien mee. Then CKT not really that special, but no complaints though.

Okies, will try to update more once I have the time!

Read my other 'chapters' here :D

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chronological Events to Sakitdom

I have no one to blame except myself. I just went all out, not knowing when will be the next time I savour these delicious meals hehehe. 

 If you're starving, or home-sick, you're in big trouble! :D

Day 1 dinner - assam belai, honey chicken, stir fried vege and ulam with sambal. Tua Ee's assam belai is superb! Very spicy and sour. I had second helpings during dinner, then again when TY just reached SP :D 

(Ok, I realized my blog is turning into some sick kind of platform where I not-so-sheepishly reveal my pig-outs).

Back to business!

I think it was the combination of the assam belai and second day brunch of extra spicy hokkien mee that triggered the throat to rebel. Plus the day was really hot, and the lack of water was a sure fire way to get sick.

And if all that heat wasn't enough, I was treated to more! Sambal petai again, thanks to Tua Ee :D This time she made the more watery kind - with generous portions of prawns. I like it, but I still preferred the dry, heh bi version over this one.

Mum's steamed fish with julienned carrots, mushrooms, minced pork....I really like the addition of minced pork into steaming the fish. Makes the fish really sweet. Plus, I'm not a big fish person (hence the bad memory LOL nah I''m just making excuses).

See yong chai th'ng also courtesy of Tua Ee. She really pulled out all the stops when I came back this time around. She also went through the hassle looking for petai and all that. Best aunt.

And mom's stir-fried spinach! Both TY and I were huffing and puffing trying to finish everything up, there was just so much food :S

Stir fried pumpkin. One of my faves... Too bad I was really, really stuffed...

Breakfast Day 3: Tuna sandwiched in two 'premium' wholemeal bread and romaine lettuce.

 ***

Day 3 pig-out was one of the massive ones yet.... whole day makan trip in Penang. I'll be putting up another post on that by itself... Thought I should just include the home-cooked ones in here. Anyways by Day  3 morning, I was already feeling the sand paper-y feeling on my throat. It came so sudden. Normally I'd feel something funny with my throat the night before and I will get the chance to gargle with salt water or something, which usually terminates any buildup of bacteria to stop  the sore throat. But this time around, it happened so fast! Woke up and felt horrible immediately :(

Fast forward to Final day lunch... when I was already down with the flu and sore throat got worse...

Lub cheong with onions, and stir fried bittergourd with eggs. Mum pulled all the stops this time. She cooked 5 types of dishes, excluding frying daun kaduk rice for me and TY to tapao back! Is she awesome or what? Mum, if you're reading this, I appreciate all your effort :) Btw, Mum's daun kaduk fried rice is the best! Never had anything like it and doubt there is anyone else who makes the same!

Herbal soup and steamed salted egg custard.

 One of those entries that I wouldn't say have a perfect ending.... still loads of home-cooked food, so there's no reason to complain, right?

Mum's Favourite Chu Char

I'd just landed in Penang, close to lunch time and I was thinking of visiting this favourite 'chu char' haunt of mine while I was a student in uni, but Mum had other plans *grumble grumble

So, instead of settling for something quick, we drove all the way to Jelutong. But it was a nice path taken down memory lane, I'd almost forgotten about this place that my family used to frequent whenever we visit Penang.

 We used to come in here along with a line of generation... hehe.... Ah Kong, Ah Ma, Sien Ee, etc. This place was established since 1985 (gasp! as old as I am!) and it's great that it's still going strong. Even as we ate, there was this group of senior citizens ambling/limping/shuffling in for lunch kekekeke.

 Stir fried sambal kangkong. 

 Eam Huat's signature dish- bayam (or spinach) braised in soup with salted egg, century egg, little anchovies and a generous dose of garlic. Salivate. Very sweet.

 Another signature dish - deep fried kuchai (Chinese chives) fritters with Thai chilli sauce dip. Deep fried food is always good :D

 I think this is called garlic chicken. Caramelised chicken with more generous portions of garlic.

 Cleaned up!

 What can I say, a great welcoming meal hehehe. Great place for lunch if you're bored with the usual hawker fare. I'm definitely coming back whenever I get the chance to.

Eam Huat Restaurant
352, Jelutong Road,
11600 Georgetown
Penang 
Tel: 604-2815969
Tel: 604-2817068

Stinky Beans Love Chart

It's been a week of good food, comfort food and some food that eventually speed-tracked me into a few days of tissue-blowing  and raw red nose.

(Blogging while drinking guai lin gou - some herbal jelly tea, sort of like cincau, but slightly bitter and supposed to reduce heatiness)

 My love for petai is like an inverse-relationship curve with the length of time abstained. So when MY was close to my workplace, I suggested Madam Kwan (now, seriously, I have never suggested Madam Kwan for any eat-out before. I find it overpriced with very average food, you could get way better ones back home, but then again, nothing beats home-cooked food).

It's the dry sort of sambal petai, the type that I preferred, but of course lacking in a few key ingredients ;) But it was otherwise good enough for me to re-set that little craving graph. It had a few (five, to be exact) large de-shelled prawns and finely chopped chillies in it. Not spicy at all, but then again, sambal petai isn't supposed to be the mega spicy type (at least, for me). But thank god it didn't have cuttlefish pieces in it. I find that those are usually the bane of good sambal petai.

 Courtesy of MY's request - fried chicken wings. Greasy, yummy and sinful :D

 One of my fave dishes, stir fried mix vegetables lotus root! With celery, carrots, sliced lotus root, snap peas and cashew nut. This is one of those dishes that I gotta learn. Love the flavours and crunchy texture.

Look at her eat ... :D

Stink Beans, Runny Nose and a Birthday

A little sneak peak on what went into my stomach during the long weekend.... And what later came of it :(

Down with sore throat and flu..... Btw, a huge happy birthday to SJ! :D

Slurping Up Udons

This is probably the first time (or in a very long time) I'm actually blogging right on the same day as the occurrence of the contents. Yea, I know, I'm hardworking :p (Update: I actually got tired, went to bed, and only finished this the next day :D)

TY was up in KL again for a marathon and boy, I am pissed! He told me we will have lunch together, so I tried looking up on potential places for lunch which of course has to be nice and different. Even called up a KL friend for recommendations. Then that bugger had the nerve to oversleep (he claims that he was already up early and had to work during the morning), gotten his own lunch at Ipoh, without notifying me, while I waited patiently here for him to arrive #$*#&^*@^^#%@. So we missed the initially planned udon lunch  at Sanuki Udon because the place closes at 3pm. Well anyways we had that for dinner -.-

Ah well, in my consolation, God will be fair!

 The House Special with Egg Udon.

No frills bowl of noodles. Just udon, one perfectly poached egg, with a sprinkling of spring onion garnish. I like!

TY's cold wakame udon with extra egg. Udon in cold broth with seaweed and sawi lol. The secret is in their handmade udon me thinks! It's so simple and yet satisfying.

There are many ways you can vary your bowl of udon. Hot or cold, with a variety of curry udon, 'cha cheong' style, or you could opt for additional toppings like egg, kakiage, wakame and prawn tempura, just to name a few.

 Ebi tempura and kakiage.

I really liked their ebi tempura, though I find their kakiage (a variety of shredded vegetables deep fried in tempura batter) a tad oily.

 Japanese green tea in a Danish beer mug. Their tea tastes very diluted! But at RM1 with free refills, it's ok la.

 When we first ordered, I was a tad concerned that the small serving may not just quite cut it to fill us up (especially that glutton TY). Well guess what? We were stuffed by the time we're done! The udon noodles were handmade by the shop owners and they felt really dense. Sanuki Udon sells these handmade udon by the bulk too.

 As soon as TY was seated, he took a brief glance at the menu and exclaimed "Gizzard!" like an overexcited 12-year-old kid about to receive his first bicycle. Yakitori is served only after 5:30pm and is available in two different types, salted or light soy sauce.

We ordered the shiitake mushrooms, momo (translated leg meat rofl but it's really just chicken meat), zuri (gizzard -.- ) and hatsu (chicken heart... gross). The mushroom is only RM2 per stick, which I think is super affordable. Anyway, I tried the chicken heart... to my surprise, it was really good! It's sort of caramelised on the outside and slightly chewy.... yum yum but the thought of all those spare parts and uric acid content stopped me from ordering more. lol.

The dining area is a tad warm and stuffy. There is no air-conditioning, just ceiling fan/wall fan. But as famous as it is, I liked how the place is still very humble in its appearance. No showy interior or fancy decor. Just good quality udon.

Sanuki Udon
No.9, Jalan Bukit Desa 5
Taman Bukit Desa
58100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-7980 3704