The gluttonous journey: Thai Fish Farm

Little did I know a hidden Thai Seafood haven was just so near to my home! 

Thai Fish Farm in Hulu Langat. 

So how did I get there? Definitely by car, and if you have a 4WD, then it's even better. Why? You have to go up the hill and then go down the hill, and lots of uneven road. 

When I got there, there were plenty of parking space. Only few cars. It even got me thinking, do people really come here? 

The entrance

As we walked into the restaurant, I can see there were a sea of tables and chairs. So they must be expecting a lot of people, right? Well most of it were empty anyway. So that gave us the freedom to choose where we want to sit.

I chose a tablet at a corner of floating hut. It has the view of the hill (that was coming to sunset) and also the view of another small floating hut that was used for live entertainment. There were lots of fish on the pond! Usually, places like this will have a certain unpleasant smell. But here, it wasn't, thank goodness for that!

The entertainment hut floating on the pond

Anand and I were hungry! The menu given to us was BIG. So that saved us the time of browsing and we went straight to choosing!

First, was red tom yam seafood! The down to squid... then butter prawn.... followed by deep fried spinach and we MUST have black pepper crab! Yum yum...

Food came fairly quickly - so quickly that I did not have enough time to snap more pictures of the place.

View from our table.

The food was just awesome! Simply delicious... one of the best food I have eaten. I managed to refrain myself (and Anand) from whacking the food and take some pictures before the food disappeared.

Black pepper crab

Fried Spinach

Seafood tom yam

Butter prawn

We took one hour to finish our food. We devoured the food slowly, loving every bite of it. By the time we left (oh, not to forget we had dessert - thai mango sticky rice and thai red ruby), it was dark. When I stepped out of the restaurant, there were so many cars parked outside! And as we drove through the dark roads to our way out of the hill... there were many more cars turning into the restaurant! So, we went there at the right time - right before the crowds gathered.

And I thought who comes here. Gosh!

Happy New Year! Keep calm and eat cupcakes!

Here we go again! We are back at the start of another exciting year ahead. I am so looking forward to 2015 - it's the year where my resolution is to read more books, travel to more places and eat healthier meals!

Last year was hectic for me. I suppressed my need to travel to the very least. Anand and I took a short one-day breakaway to Malacca after my maternity leave and we also went to Genting Highlands with my mother-in-law and our daughter, Anooushka. That was it! Just two trips. Why?

Deciding to travel in a year filled with air disasters, natural catastrophe and wide-spread diseases was certainly difficult. What more, with a baby at hand whose immune system was still maturing - we did not want to take the risk. (Well, to be fair, Anand did suggest a trip to Bali for my birthday. But I just can't seem to comprehend what is there in Bali that everyone raves about. I just can't bring myself to even try to look the pictures online.)

So this is it. This IS the year for TRAVEL. Keeping fingers crossed :)

The new year's eve was at a cousin's place. They got a new house with a cool pool. It was a great get together with all those far and near and dear. I decided to be extra hardworking (ok Anand had to help though) and made cupcakes for the party (plus for my neighbours!).

Surprisingly the treats turned out well on that day and I loved how my cupcakes swirls behaved! I made my mocha cupcake + espresso buttercream and vanilla cupcakes + vanilla buttercream + rainbow sprinkles. 

My cupcakes nicely boxed and fresh from the fridge.

Just a few weeks back, I also did peanut butter cupcake + peanut butter buttercream + homemade strawberry jam filling. It was just heavenly...

Follow me on my Instagram for my next cupcake adventure!

Feeding the little mouth

Just like any other working mother out there, I want to give my baby home-cooked food. It is cheaper and I get to control what goes into my baby's diet. But then, there was a problem. I can't be making the food everyday.

I leave to work at 6am everyday. And it wasn't 12 hours later that I step my foot back home. In this case, how do I prepare food daily? I was giving pureed sweet potato, pumpkin and carrots which were frozen into small baby cube containers. My mother-in-law would heat them up before serving it to my baby. But as she grew, pureed food wasn't enough. As I moved to feed protein (chicken, fish), the idea of feeding frozen porridge with fish or chicken wasn't really appealing.

So, I devised a solution. After much researching, I invested in two kitchen gadgets. I now thank myself for making this decision earlier and not wait for the immense need for it to arrive. What tools?

A slow cooker and a hand blender.

Honestly, this is by far the best investment I have made to prepare my baby food. I did buy a mini food steamer but it was only useful when my baby was into pureed food. As she went into more coarse type of food, the steamer lost its usefulness though I still use it to steam fruits to be pureed which can be added into breakfast cereal for my baby,

I bought the 1.5L Morgan slow cooker from Lazada. Every night, I will place washed brown rice, some vegetables and some pieces of protein into the slow cooker,.After filling it up with enough water, I'll set the cooker to "Low" settings. 

The next morning, the porridge will be ready. All I have to do is stick my Philips hand blender in, and mash up the contents. My hand blender has 16 different speed settings, plus a turbo option. I usually will set it to level 1 settings, which will blend the porridge in a coarse consistency. 

And because it is a stainless steel hand blender, I don't have to cool the porridge down or transfer it to different container. A quick stir, and I'm done. The slow cooker will keep the porridge warm until it's needed.

This allowed me to cook porridge for my baby girl everyday, with different flavours and ingredients. The amount is usually half pot, which is enough for 2 feedings, or 3 at most. But what I like about these tools?

I don't necessarily use it for making baby food alone :) Cleaning up is just SO easy. Because of the ceramic pot, the slow cooker is just so easy to clean, without even much effort. The hand blender just needs a quick rinse under tap water, and it's done! Phew! Who invents these things?!

The sinful bliss!

Baking, oh baking! How much I missed baking!

Anand finally transported my oven back from Penang. I now have a proper oven that I can use to bake for him! Armed with couple of baking books Anand gave me last year as gifts, I set out to accomplish the first mission - chocolate brownie, just because I didn't have a cupcake pan. My version had cherries and white chocolate in it! :)

The finished product tasted so good and it tasted even better with ice cream.

Then the next mission was to bake cupcakes. The cupcake book had a recipe for vanilla-flavored watermelon cupcake. Right out of the oven, after cooling and frosting, the cake tasted good. But after keeping it in the fridge overnight, it tasted even better! I can't even begin to believe I baked those cupcakes.

My third attempt was red velvet cupcake. The cupcake turned out well for a first timer but the cream cheese frosting was a disaster. There were various techniques out there and so happens the one I used crashed my dreams of sinking my teeth into the nice velvety cake I baked on the same day. The entire night I researched, trying to find where I went wrong. I attempted to get my cream cheese right and my second attempt went ace!

Now, 4th mission in planning...

Oh well it's still Friday!

Taking time off at Dome@The Gardens Midvalley mall.

Friday finally!

A traditional cup of "kopi susu" to kick start the day!

Break from routine

One thing that I did not expect is losing weight after delivery. If anything, I anticipated weight gain not weight loss - and I have lost 7kg from my pre-pregnancy weight!

This new me has landed myself into another dilemma to deal with - clothes that doesn't fit anymore. My skinny jeans are now baggy and my shirts are hanging over my shoulders. I obviously needed some pair of new pants. Nothing fits anymore.

Today was a day that I looked forward to. Anand and I finally found some time to hit the mall. We took Baby ma along too. 

We headed to the Gardens Mall in Midvalley, straight to the Gap store. I tried on their skinny jeans which I was after by the way, but I liked none. In the end, I decided to deviate from the norm and got their slim cropped pants. Yes, it looked fashionable yet formal. And I liked it. The hubby paid for it of course. :P

Then we went to Baby Gap store which was just a floor above. There were pretty dresses and shirts and ... sigh... I really wanted to get some for Baby ma, but the fact that she grows so fast kept me thinking whether I should really be spending so much. Furthermore, Anand just spent a fortune on Baby Gap shirts for Baby ma few weeks back. I decided to wait until she is 6 months old to get her some new batch of clothes.

By the time I'm done, it was almost lunch time. And I know Baby ma will start screaming for milk. The three of us headed to Manhattan Fish Market (MFM) to redeem our Groupon offer. I purchased Groupon deal from MFM for RM49 which basically gives us the flaming seafood platter (values at RM55.90), Ceasar salad (values at RM12.50), mussels in garlic herb sauce (values at RM10.90) and finally 2 Tropical Breeze drinks (values at RM8.90 each). Oh, did I mention the voucher includes the service and goverment taxes as well? Yes, indeed it was a deal. I love the seafood platter so, this was a jolly good deal! :)

As we expected, MFM was packed with people who were redeeming their groupons as well. We were seated after few minutes of waiting. While waiting for the food, we fed Baby ma. By the time she is done, the food arrived :) Perfect timing.

After lunch (the queue to enter MFM got longer!), we headed back to the Gardens mall. We stopped to buy a new Samsung battery for Anand and continued to Marks & Spencer to find some additional pair of pants. This was when we had our first explosive session with Baby ma.

She pooped. While in her Boba. And some splashed on Anand. Lol :D

Good thing I packed extra clothes and the rinse-free nappy cleanser. The good thing about Gardens mall? They have pretty good facilities there. The baby changing room is located right next to Isetan and it was clean. So, we dropped our shopping session and got Baby ma cleaned. It was a good teamwork between Anand and myself. He helped to wash her soiled pants and dry it using the hand dryer while I cleaned Baby ma and freshened her up. 

We headed back to M&S and I found two really skinny pants (those are called "jeggings" which is the short form of "jeans leggings").

Of course, the day would not be complete with some ice cream from Baskin Robbins, would it? :)

We're ending the day today with couple of sticks of chicken satay, nasi himpit, wine and football game. Today was a breather for us. A break from the usual hectic, full of stress routine.

Got milk?

I remember sitting down on my hospital bed, at the verge of breaking apart as I struggled to express colostrum for my baby. I was really looking forward to the breast crawl experience.  But as the nurse whisked my baby away to the NICU, I knew I had to wait.

It was only 2 days later I was allowed to carry my child. It was just out-of-this-world feeling. I still had to express my colostrum which was no way anywhere near the required amount. I could not breastfeed yet and my baby needed milk to survive.

Seeing me struggle so much, Anand tried to help. He spoke to the nurses, doctors and lactation consultant. He also searched for articles and videos on how-to correctly express the milk. In fact, if it wasn't because of him I would have given up. I persisted and finally I was allowed to breastfeed my baby!

Initially I was nervous. This was partly because during my visits to NICU I often see mothers trying to get their newborn to latch and oh my, struggle they did! The babies scream and often refuses the nipple despite numerous attempts by the poor mother! So I wondered, how would Baby ma react?

The nurse placed a breastfeeding pillow on my lap, carried my baby and placed her on the pillow. Almost immediately, my baby latched and started suckling! Again, it was and extraordinary experience and I definitely felt relieved. And at that very moment my journey in breastfeeding begins.

It has been close to 3 months now and my still breastfeeding my baby. I aim to feed her exclusively with breast milk at least for 6 months - longer if possible. I'm grateful for all the awesome gadget Anand got for me to support my breastfeeding journey. The best of it all was the breastfeeding pillow. I cannot imagine going through this challenging moment without it!

Of course there are those who were skeptical and who thinks breast milk reservoir will dry up in first month. Those who also thinks babies who cry often after a feeding is not getting enough milk and immediately departs their wisdom to you to feed the baby formula milk.

It wasn't easy I tell you to fend of the remarks from "non-believers". But perseverance was the word and I had to turn deaf and believe Kelly's Mom is right.

Learning as I go, I'm very certain breastfeeding has helped to bond my baby to me. And it's such a beautiful bond. 

Entering the zone

This year marks an important milestone in my life - reaching the big three-zero zone. I should have, theoretically speaking, figured everything out about life by now. Well, not really.

Learning is a process that never stops. The day you think you've known enough is the day you stop living life.

Anyway, being me and my tendency to reflect on certain things, I came up with a list of things that I am glad I have discovered by the time I'm thirty.

What you eat matters. 

In today's world, food industry has been twisted in so many ways that some people actually think eating French Fries at McDonald's is considered "fresh" food. Just because some food are cooked just before it was served to you, doesn't mean it is fresh. I learned a lot about food, its nutrients and the importance of removing processed food from your diet while I was caring for my husband, Sathyan. The information I gathered and learned blew me away. The experience changed my perception towards food and health, and I learned, for you to live a good healthy life you must have a balanced meal. There is no exception.

Points to ponder: Being vegetarian doesn't guarantee you against a disease-free life. Most of the cancer patients I have met during my stay at the hospital are vegetarians who practice some form of meditations. The only difference eating healthy and regular exercise makes in your life is how your body will be able to better resist itself from disease invasion, hence increasing your chances of survival.

Not every relationship matters.

And you cannot make everyone happy. This is the most important lesson I learned. Somehow, you will come to realize the true intentions of people around you, and when that happens you will know whether the relationship is worth saving or burning. In my life, I thought if I lose certain folks from my life I won't be able to live. That is not true. Relationships are like clouds - when one goes away another one comes along. You just need to learn to accept, adapt and appreciate. No point taking a step backward. Always look for a better day by moving forward. And some relationship, no matter how hard you try, will not return :)

Knowledge is power. 

What you learn in school or university is not going to help you. Any fool can know, the point is to understand (Albert Einstein). You are always on the winning side if only you invest some time to learn something new and understand the impact that knowledge would give to you. Make use of it - in every positive way. This is the most important lesson that I learned at hospital. Although trusting your doctor is essential - I often do research on my own to counter some diagnosis and prescriptions given by doctors to my husband. That amazed the doctors so much, that my husband's case was handled with extra caution because they know, the wife (me) will not let them go off-hook easily if I found out something went wrong.

Do what will help you to move forward,

and ignore those that drags you backward. I learned to keep positive-minded people around me and that helped me to come out from a lot of poisonous moments throughout my life.

Keep a hobby and take a break.

When stress builds up and I am at a breaking point, it is good to know that there are some things that can take my mind away. I love to cook, take photographs and travel - these things make me happy and something that I enjoy doing. So if you think keeping hobby is a waste, think again. They actually keep you alive as humane as possible.

Only four things? It took me 30 years to learn four things? Well, not really. There are some lessons that are basically tucked within my mind that should not be released for public reading pleasure. But one thing for sure, I think I have a lot more figured out in my life than some girls of my age. :)

It's November...

An evening that began with...

Followed by...

Topped with...

Ended in

And not to forget...

... who kept me company :)

Yummy Red Velvet

I am not really a fan of cakes. But I do love those that comes with ice creams (mud-pie types and ice cream cakes). So, it was indeed surprising to even myself that one day I decided to have coffee and cake at The Coffee Bean.

The cake was really sweet - and the only reason I chose that over the rest was because, it looked different. Almost like out-from-a-recipe-book kind of look. So, Leena must photograph it (even though she couldn't finish eating it in the end).

This was taken some time back in April. I finally had the time to process and upload it today.

Had some time to kill...

... and decided to have these uploaded.

Dessert selection at Eastin Hotel, Penang

My Sprocket Rocket!

Lotus at a Buddhist temple, Thailand

Artisan sculpting Lord Ganesh's statue, Thailand

Close up of the dessert, again.

Copyrights reserved.

I ate this.

All you need is a little sweetness in your life...

A cake should do the trick. :P

A rose without thorns..

...  is like love without heartbreak - it doesn't make sense. 

And so what am I without the dearest of my dear friends? (I would probably make more sense, maybe?) :)

My birthday cake this year from the devils! :)

Prior to my birthday (which happened to be yesterday), I wasn't really looking forward of celebrating it. It's just never the same without Sathyan - the master of surprise planner in our group. Every year he will organize massive dinner plans, inviting every single person near and dear to me - to shower me with love and smother my face with cake! Even when it is his birthday, I'll get the cake all over my face - somehow! Every restaurant that we go to will definitely end up in disaster. 

Cakes everywhere except on our plates and stomach.

I still remember the time he made me stand on a chair, sing a song at a pepper mill and blow my birthday candles almost two feet away while still standing on a chair at a restaurant! Oh, not to forget the time he tried his best to cook something up for me on my birthday and the best he came up with was egg and cheese sandwich - which still had egg shells in it. It was really cute! The look on his face when I pulled out the egg shell, was priceless. I still ate it :)

I celebrated my last birthday with him last year - at that time I didn't know it will be our last celebration together. Yes, even at the hospital the cake got on my face as well...

I'm forever grateful for the wonderful girls who has always been with me and made my life and day much brighter yesterday. I thought I would be sitting in a corner of my room, keeping to myself and cry from the break of dawn till the wee hours of midnight. But that wasn't the case. And I am also so very deeply grateful they did not waste the Baskin Robbins cake on my face or the floor! It would have killed me instantly to see an ice cream cake die tragically outside my mouth!

So here's a BIG thank you to everyone who made it a wonderful day. I know Sathyan is smiling - he left me in good hands. :) But sorry girls, I still cannot promise a place in heaven for all of you though (I know my place is already reserved :P).

We had lunch at Golden Triangle - Sathyan's favorite restaurant. I could just feel him all around me yesterday :) My favorite was the prawn of course. Here's a picture of the big juicy prawns we had (I finished most of it anyway).

Yes, that wasn't the kind of treat Sathyan would give, was it? I know, I know... So, I will plan for a better one. He's going to be so proud of me. ;)

Pictures taken using SGS2.

It's Friday! I made it alive!

Work has been tight and Friday came today as a breather. Finally I had no meetings (had one but got cancelled) and I was not on-call. Of course I had lots of things to follow up and resolve, but today seemed much brighter than any other day.

I thought finally I could have a "free" Saturday tomorrow, but nope, that's not the case then! I have to go for work on Saturday and Sunday. I've been working for every single weekend for the past three weekends. On a brighter side, I'm glad I have my work to keep me occupied. It seems like a better thing to do than sit at home and look at the blank walls and... look at another wall. Haha...

Since it was Friday, Puspa and I decided to make it a day to ...erm.. celebrate... because...ermm... it's finally Friday, of course! So what did we do? We headed to Secret Recipe and bought a slice of cake each. Yummy!