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.

Knit FOs: Spring and Ellis Bags

Finally, some knit FOs!

I've been on a bag crocheting spree lately - am planning to hopefully make enough to sell at this year's church annual bazaar. Here are two recently completed bags: Spring (on the left) and Ellis.

Spring just reminds me of... spring! I used milk yarn from Spotlight Singapore, a 4mm hook and pretty wooden handles from The Quilt Gallery at Bangsar Village. I've also made a little matching pink purse but no pics of that yet since I've just completed it.

Ellis is a simple tweed bag with acrylic handles, named after Mr Ellis, my economics teacher back in boarding school in the UK because he always wore tweed.

Both are loosely based on patterns from my various Japanese crochet books but I've modified them quite a bit to fit the handles and the limited amount of yarn I had of each type.

And.... here is my new toy at home! Say hello to Mac! (And hi to my little project storage table which I bring around the house to keep all my knit-related notions like scissors, stitch markers, tapestry needles etc.. On the top is the WIP Spring bag).

And in the reflection below, I'm using my other new toy - I've finally purchased a Nikon D90 - my upgrade from the D50 which I have given to my sister.

March has been a gadgets galore month... and we need to save money from now on. (Shhh... we also bought a PS3).

Piggin' Out: Penang CKT and Assam Laksa

My report on my Penang trip is out, with this pic on the front page!

This is my favourite Assam Laksa in Penang - at the Air Itam market. I blogged about it in Aug08 and Apr09... after my foodie trips up to the food capital of Malaysia.

I then found out from my limo auntie (who always chauffeurs my mom around when she goes to Penang for meetings) that she thinks the best Assam Laksa in Penang is in fact the one on Penang road facing the police station. Later my uncle who lived in Penang for a couple of years in the early nineties, agreed and said the Penang road one is the best.

Penang is also famous for its Char Kuey Teow, perhaps none more famous than the Lorong Selamat one. I initially wanted to try the Ah Leng CKT which is somewhere near Padang Brown as it has mantis prawns and duck eggs (oooh premium CKT!) but when we got to the stall, it was CLOSED! Can you imagine my dismay?

*Note to self: Ah Leng CKT is closed on Thursdays

So luckily Lorong Selamat was not too far away and we headed there instead. So much hype, so much expectations... and sadly, the Lorong Selamat CKT fell short of expectations.

Don't get me wrong. It was good, but not as good as to warrant RM7 per plate. And it was much better than its nearby competitor - Sisters' CKT on Jln Macalister. Not sure if I'll ever go back to that stall again though.

And so, I guess this means another trip to Penang is necessary - need to try out the Penang road Assam Laksa and the Ah Leng CKT!

Pride and Prejudice - Tweets version

It's been maddeningly busy at work these two weeks with me leaving the office at 10pm some nights, only to be back again at the usual 7am.

But, my sister and I managed to squeeze in time to watch the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. The movie is obviously an adaptation from Jane Austen's novel and so I set out to find out what the original story was like.

Conveniently, we have a copy of the book in our library. I vaguely remember if I have read P&P as a kid but the story line is most definitely familiar and since we have a copy of the book at home, I think I might have read it at some point. I'm babbling here. Basically, I read it over the weekend and have re-read some parts a couple of times for clarity.

Then, I joined the P&P fan club on Ravelry and someone mentioned this. It is absolutely hilarious!! Happy Reading!

P/s: I'll need to do a short post on Penang - Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow and Air Itam assam laksa! I was there for a day trip yesterday (5 meetings!) but managed to squeeze in time for CKT (we had only 10 mins to eat!) and assam laksa at the end of the day before heading back to the airport. Such desperation!

And: Rommel and I are going to the Babyface concert tonight at the KL Convention Centre!