Knit FO: The Mistaken Pumpkin

Really sorry I've been away for so long. Lot's of things have happened, but to keep things short: I resigned from my old job 2 months ago, went away to Europe for 3 weeks and start my new job on Monday!

And so, I return to this forgotten blog with a completed FO! I present The Mistaken Pumpkin.

Inspired by our first trip to Scotland (and by the fact that we were going to be there in autumn), I decided to make use of the Pumpkin Latte yarn I purchased from the Plucky Knitter in 2008 and found an extremely easy to understand and really pretty pattern: The Mistaken Shawl.

Completed in early August, I washed and blocked it immediately and eagerly waited to take pictures of it "on location". The perfect opportunity presented itself when we visited Roslyn Chapel, just half an hour away from Edinburgh city centre. The weather was sunny for long enough for us to take these pictures, before it started raining again.

I used 2 skeins of Pumpkin Latte and 4.5mm needles.

I'm still here

Yes it's been over a month since my last post. It's not that I haven't been going to places to eat, nor does it mean that I haven't been knitting/crocheting... I just haven't had the appropriate time to blog about them! Internet's been a bit iffy at home and I try not to blog too much in the office!

On the knitting front, I am currently knitting the Mistaken Pumpkin - with the Mistaken shawl pattern by Kourtney Robinson and two skeins of Pumpkin Latte superwash merino wool in fingering weight by The Plucky Knitter. Quite a bit of modifications to the pattern, which calls for 12mm needles vs the 4.5mm that I am using. Had to double the number of repeats on the main pattern and I am now on the edging, while I will most likely double as well, depending on how much yarn I have left.

I have been busy crocheting bags with the intention of selling them in church some time in future. I initially targeted the SFX Family Day in mid July but because I didnt have time to make as many as I wanted, I've decided to sell it some other time - maybe Christmas. No specific pattern was followed, mostly I came up with them myself.

Recently completed FOs also include my Black Purl top, a crocheted top from one of my Japanese pattern books and Lorna Laces Swirl DK in Black Purl. Really love it - finished it in about a week - so enthusiastic I was about it!

Food-wise, I need to start uploading all my photos!! Eep....

Adeline's 16th Birthday

We celebrated cousin Adeline's 16th birthday this weekend (see previous post about the cooking lesson that was part of the party). Cousin Melissa came up with the birthday cake design and got it made by a friend's mom.

Family pic!
(L-R) Uncle Thomas, Andrew, Kelvin, Adeline and Auntie Poh Har.

Nicholas was all hyper that night... I'm not sure what he was trying to do here but it was funny!

Oh, and one of the decorative sugar pieces almost got burnt. That was how we blew out the candles - frantic puffing to put out the fire! Luckily no major damages...

Happy Sweet 16, Adeline!

Cooking lesson with Master Chef Tan

As part of cousin Adeline's 16th birthday celebrations, a cooking lesson with our master chef in the family, Uncle Tan was arranged. I believe all should realise now that this family's lives all revolve around food!

Uncle Tan makes one of the best mein fun kuey or pan mee. Essentially homemade wheat flour noodles in a rich anchovy broth. Instead of using the pasta maker to make noodles as is more commonly done in the shops, one tears thin strips of the dough by hand and drops them into the broth. Essential condiments are the deep fried anchovies, potato leaves and crispy fried onions. Optional condiments are fishballs, meatballs, pre-cooked boneless chicken pieces, clams, prawns etc.

Instructions for making the dough:
Put 1 tsp of salt, 3 tbsp of olive oil, 2 cups of water, 2 tbsp of cornflour and a packet of wheatflour into a deep dish.



Handknead until smooth and all the floury paste no longer sticks to your palms, adding water gradually. This is the tricky part because there is no exact measurement - it's all by the feel of the dough.
The broth is made with dried anchovies and chicken bones. The optional condiments listed above may be added before the dough is added to make the broth sweeter. The dough is torn and stretched as thin as possible. Too thick and it's not nice. Next add the potato leaves.

Once the broth boils up again and cooked for a few minutes, it's done.

To serve, fill up a bowl with a mixture of everything in the pot and add the fried anchovies and the deep fried onions. Another important item is the sambal belachan, a spicy chilli and fermented prawn paste combo that completes this dish. I will need to learn that recipe from my Auntie Mag next time.
Of course, since we are greedy, we also had other dishes along with the pan mee. From the front, chicken curry (with no coconut milk because some in the family can no longer have such luxuries in their diet), yong tau fu and beef rendang.


YUM!

Knit FO: Pumpkin stole

Here's one project I forgot to post about... I completed the Pumpkin stole in early February and gave it to Auntie Sze Peng as a birthday gift soon after.

I somehow forgot to record what yarn I used and I cannot recall which one this is except it was bought on sale from Spotlight and is very soft! I improvised the pattern from a poncho pattern in one of my Japanese magazines and converted into a stole instead.

Apologies for the lack of details here!

WWKIP 2010 - 12th-20th June

This year's World Wide Knit In Public Day (WWKIP Day) is held from 12th to 20th June. Knitters all over the world group together to knit in public! (It can't get any more straightforward than that!)

Here are the details for the KL WWKIP event:

Venue: Starbucks, Bangsar Village 2

Time: 2.30pm onwards

Activities:

-Bring your current knitting project to Knit in Public.

-Bring or wear one FO for show and tell.

-Brown Bag Exchange - Put two balls of yarn and some goodies in a paper bag (preferably something not plastic since Saturday is no plastic day) for an exchange. Min value RM 30.00.

For more details, pls refer to our Ravelry thread. See you there!

p/s: Yes, I used the Europe WWKIP logo because I prefer it to the Asia one which is black and white.

My first sets of pearls

Yes, I said sets as in more than one!

My sister and her colleagues invited me to join them for a girly lunch at the Carat Club in Bangsar today to have a look at pearls. They had a trunk show collection of Japanese Akoya Pearls. Sit Yin had already purchased a very lovely pair yesterday (she collected them today and we all said they suited her very well) and got us all interested in a girly pearly lunch!

Our free lunch turned out to be an expensive affair. In fact, as I was typing the paragraph above, my bank has just called to ask if I had signed for something at the Carat Club. I sheepishly had to admit that I did.

Okay it's actually not too expensive for pearls, I tell myself. I reason with my conscience that these are my first sets of pearls. I cannot guarantee that it will be my last, though, since they are so lovely.

Description of my two sets:
Set 1. A string of light peach pearls that are "deformed" (I cant think of a nicer way to say this). But they are really unique given how the pearls were formed which, when put together, looks really cool and modern. It retails for RM439. I had 2 pearls removed to be made into earrings.

Set 2. A string of greyish pearls, rounder and less deformed compared to Set 1. It's really difficult to describe the colours as it looks very different in different lighting and skintones. It retails for RM649 and I had 3 pearls removed - 1 for a pendant and 2 for earrings.

My sister the brat bought 2 strings of pearls that cost RM1890 each. Admittedly, the difference in quality resulted in the difference in price. Her pearls were mostly similar in size, shape and colour compared to mine. She plans to wear both necklaces together but has the option of just wearing one if she wants.

So that was a productive lunchtime indeed! Although, I still think I prefer diamonds to pearls. Diamonds, after all, really are a girl's best friend!

P/S: Pictures only after we get the necklaces, which should hopefully be next week!

Andrea Bocelli in Singapore this weekend!

I can't wait!

Rommel and I scrambled to register online for the Andrea Bocelli tickets that YTL was giving out. We didnt get it though...

Then I found out my mom had tickets but gave them to a client without knowing that we wanted to go. I was upset of course but couldn't blame her really since the client wanted it.

Our luck changed last week when I got a call from Tan Sri's office asking if I wanted tickets! I nearly screamed into the phone. I was jumping all over the office that day though, so happy I was.

So it's set. We booked the flights and hotel last week, collected the concert tickets yesterday and I have my yarn crawl through Singapore planned (not that many places lah - just Spotlight and Golden Dragon really because of lack of time).

We're going to be ambitious and also visit the casinos. And I want to go to Universal Studios as well. I love amusement parks and am a huge fan of Disneyland (where one can never really grow up) so since this is the nearest "quality" amusement park to us here in Malaysia, I have to visit. (which reminds me, I need to plan a visit to HK Disneyland soon, it's the only Disneyland that I haven't been to.)

Do you think that's too much to do in 2 days? I dont know. I know I'll be exhausted!

Piggin' Out: Imbi Market

One fine Sunday morning, we were invited to breakfast at the busy Imbi Market by Uncle Lee. This is one of his breakfast haunts (although he has many food haunts) and he regularly packs the famous beef noodles for us.

Since my mom no longer eats beef (just because she doesn't want to), he ordered some other dishes.

Prawn mee

Mee jawa

Assam laksa

We found it really amusing that he ordered so much for her, considering the fact that my mom usually barely eats more than a quarter of a regular bowl of noodles. But anyway, we all got to try them!

Verdict: All three were good but somehow, cannot compare to what you'd get in Penang!

And now, the highlight of our trip: BEEF NOODLES!

The Imbi Market beef ball noodles were my mom's favourite when she was growing up in KL... so much so that she threw away her no-red-meat philosophy for a few seconds and ate some! (That's a very big deal because my mom has very strong willpower when it comes to food, unlike the rest of us!)

I like how this picture below came out. It looks like I stuck two pictures together! Anyway, beef balls on the left, brisket on the right.

The noodles were served separately, with the option of horfun, meehoon or mee.

I chose horfun, my favourite.

Shen took the mee, since she apparently abhors rice noodles for some reason.

The shopowner gladly posed for me.

After the feasting, I had great fun taking pictures of some of the other stalls. We also bought our weekly chicken, fish and vegetables at the market. A bit pricier than the Old Klang Road market but much cheaper than The Village Grocer, of course!

I was so excited about seeing this apam stall and planned to come back after taking all the pictures to buy some for myself. When I got back to the stall, they had just sold the last piece! I guess that means I have to go back again for more nom!

I'm not that big a fan of apam balik, on the other hand. But hey it looked really good!

Knit FO: Travelling Woman No.2 for Su Ling

For my cousin Su Ling's birthday, I gave her my second Travelling Woman shawl. My first was given to Rommel's mother for Christmas last year - details here.

I love this pattern - so easy to follow and a pleasure to knit. Small enough to take along for holidays too!

Details:-

Ravelry link: here

Pattern: Travelling Woman by Liz Abinante

Yarn: Ancient Threads Sockittome - handdyed yarn I bought at iKnit last December.

Needles: 5mm circulars.

Piggin' Out: Monte's @ BSC - revisited

Another lovely meal at Monte's, located in Bangsar Shopping Centre...

* read about my previous post on Monte's here*

Pumpkin soup: creamy and always consistent in taste

Warm buns with butter


Garlic toast: a classic...



Another classic: the escargot...

Deep fried oysters were good too...

I had the grilled snapper fillet with garlic butter sauce, something that as a kid, I used to order every time I came to Monte's. Still good!

Rommel stuck to his usual ribeye steak, good as always.

And my sister ordered another familiar dish - peppermint lamb.

We polished the night off sharing dessert:

Definitely one of our favourite restaurants in KL - for its good food, convenient location and value-for-money portions.

Spaghetti with Rocket, Chilli, Prawns and Clams

Spaghetti with Rocket, Chilli, Prawns and Clams, originally uploaded by shira.C.

My sister's second attempt at cooking this dish at home - and it turned out successful! It was a simple Sunday night dinner, cooked with fresh ingredients bought that afternoon...

March 2010 birthdays

The night after our Restoran Homey feast, we had a triple birthday celebration party at our home with the god-siblings.

We had many options on how to feed a whole bunch of adults - cooking (but who was going to do it? I was lazy and Shen was busy that day), buying from food court (but we always buy from the food court and I'm really bored of it), ordering from roomservice.com (but we couldn't decide what to order)......

So, after our Homey feast, we decided that it was probably the yummiest option. Plus, we didn't mind eating it two days in a row.

The tables were set....
.... and the candles were lit....

....the birthday song was sung...

Happy Birthday, Sandra, Kok Beng and Stella!

And finally, a model in the making - Isabelle...

Piggin' Out: Restoran Homey - revisited

I've been happily playing with my new camera and new lens... Here's pictures from a recent meal at Restoran Homey, Kuchai. (for my previous posts and restaurant contact details, click here and here)

Indonesian mud crabs steamed with egg - perfect to start the meal with. My dad usually calls up before we leave the house to preorder this, and it arrives at our table just moments after we sit down. (We've timed it all to perfection by now, given the number of times we come here)

Next up is the mantis prawn stir-fried kung po style, served in a deep fried yam basket. Fantastic..

My mom always remembers to order the Hokkien-fried meehoon, amazingly stir-fried in loads of lard.

That day, we brought our own fish there... Deep fried to perfection, of course.

And to end the meal - the chilli crabs - same Indonesian mud crabs, cooked in a different style and served with deep fried mantou buns.

Definitely my family's favourite place to eat. My brother's booked it as his first meal when he comes home for Easter next week.