On to Melaka

As mentioned on my tweets and facebook updates, we headed to Melaka after breakfast last Monday. The trip to PD this time brought a couple of Anita’s aunties as well as her cousin. Since our driver was from Melaka, we used the coastal road, via Kuala Linggi, passing by Masjid Tanah and Sungai. That certainly brought back a lot of memories as both Puan Anita and myself went to the same college in Kem Terendak.

On the wayTurn to my old collegeA quick stop for cencalokWe arrived in Bandar Melaka in time for lunch, which we had at Dataran Pahlawan. My mother-in-law wanted to take the river cruise, but since it was rather far to walk, we decided to charter some trishaws - beca - to take us around town first, like what we did the last time we were in Melaka. The trip actually took us a couple of hours.

We were taken to the usual spots, with stops along the way at Stadyhurst. The ride along Jonker Street was quite fun but my children were too restless to stop. When we arrived at the riverboat jetty, Idlan was already asleep and everybody was already tired - in was already past 5 pm then. We decided to head back to our driver, who took us to Sungai Baru for dinner as mentioned in the last entry. I’ll put up the photos of Jonker Street on my next entry.

Seafood at Kuala Sungai Baru

As soon as we decided to head for Melaka, one thing that came out of Anita's mouth was seafood. She wanted to go to Serkam, but that will be out of the way from Port Dickson. Our driver, Pak Cik Sufian, originally from Melaka had another idea. Apparently, he knew of a similar place near his kampung, which is halfway between us and Melaka.

On the way back after our outing in Melaka - which I will blog in another entry - we made a stop at Kampung Kuala Sungai Baru, which is near Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM). He grew up there and his sister and relatives still lived at the kampung. The place was only open after 6 pm, so he made some calls, and by the time we reach the place, just before Maghrib, the food was already on the table for us! All we needed to do was eat! Just as well.

Fresh sea prawns. You can taste the sweetness still.Seafood-filled fried tauhuIkan goreng tiga rasa - delish!The place is a small complex, converted from an old jetty. The fish and seafood were brought in the same day, and cooked fresh at the restaurant. Since most visitors liked to pick their own fish, it will involve a slight wait for the food to be ready. Since Pak Cik Sufian sorted the food early for us, we just sat down and enjoyed. The particular restaurant was apparently best at the area - there are a few more fancy ones just across the bridge. It was comfortable, in an open air setting by the jetty overlooking the Straits of Malacca. They had TV, and very clean toilets and surau. The challenge was to drive in, since I must say, I would have probably missed the entrance - all it said from the main Kuala Linggi road - M143 - was ‘Kompleks Ikan Bakar Kuala Sungai Baru’. I don’t think you will find it on any of the GPS system. If you are interested, it’s 2.353887, 102.033762.

If you fancy, you can have your food outdoors.The food were really fresh, and the fish was best enjoyed with some nasi lemak. We had fried squid - highly recommended - and ikan masa tiga rasa. All the standard seafood were there, but it will be at the mercy of what caught on the day. In terms of cooking style, it may lack the variety of Kuala Selangor, but still well worth a visit.

Sorry about the quality of the snaps as they were taken using my iPhone 4. The quality was not as good in low light I'm afraid.

Another PD weekend

The school holidays were almost drawing to an end. A couple of Anita’s aunties dropped by from Kelantan, and we thought it may be a good idea to take them for a short stay at our apartment in PD. We filled them up into the minivan and off we went yesterday. Today, we drove them to Melaka - our driver did the driving, and it helped since he was from there.

Heading to MelakaDinner at Kuala Sungai Besar

To Melaka we went, had a nice day being taken around on the trishaw - beca. On the way back to PD, we had a scrumptious fresh seafood dinner at Kuala Sungai Besar, near our driver’s kampung. He definitely had an inside knowledge of the area, and knew what to order. I just arrived at back to the apartment, had a shower and ready to hit the sack. Will update the blog a bit later in the week with the pics and stuff.

Gingerbread Man part II

Waiting for the bake.... continued from yesterday .....

While waiting for it to be baked - took about half an hour - the children were given crayons and papers to draw with. Anita and I went for more food. When the biscuit were ready, it was time for the icing. It started again with explanation from the teacher, what to do, how to apply the icing. But by the time the children got hold of the icing, all those lessons went out of the window. I didn’t remember any instructions about putting icing on faces or other part of the body.

Out of the ovenAnd the real art begunAfter the icing were done, it was time to pack up. All together, it took two hours from the beginning to the end. Therefore, long concentration span was essential. None of the children in the class threw a tantrum however as everybody had fun pretending the dough to be like plasticine. My boys certainly did. How did their baking tasted? A bit too cinnamony if you understood what I meant.

Irfan preferred white. Splat!Mum also joined inAll spentIrfan especially enjoyed his experience even though he was rather apprehensive in the beginning. They both looked cute in their aprons and hats - unfortunately they did not get to keep the apron. Come to think of it, such baking activity made for a great birthday party. As Irfan’s was due in six weeks, we might actually plan to have it here. Maybe with a bit of baking activities thrown in. So watch this space.

Gingerbread Man part I

The boys with the original gingerbread man .... Daddy!During the school holidays, Marche has always been good at organising fun cooking classes for young children. Last year, Idlan enjoyed his pizza-making outing. This year, we signed both Idlan and Irfan up for gingerbread man making class. The class was available through-out the whole weekdays, but since I was only free yesterday afternoon, we signed them up to do it then. And oh boy, they had great fun.

Getting psyched .... Irfan warning his palmsGetting into gearIrfan preferred the sailor's lookThere were about 30 children who participated - a full house. We arrived early to have lunch - ironically, the boys had pizza. After the crowd gathered, the class started with explanation from the resident chef - the teacher. He explained all the ingredients, how they were mixed and took through the dough preparation. It was basically butter, self-rising flour and wheat flour, plus eggs. But the thing that made it brown was not exactly ginger, it was cinnamon. There was so much flour that Idlan started sneezing. Luckily, it was not into the mixing bowl - it might have tasted better then. The ingredients were mixed and it was passed around for everyone to stir, including Irfan. And stir he did.

Listening to the teacherShall I just eat it whole?... and the pounding begins ...... tong tang tong tang!And a bit of elbow greaseOnce that was done, the students were separated into their own little stations and given some pre-prepared dough and some flour for them to start flattening and banging. After the dough was flat, out came the shapes. Most of them made stars, snowman, and of course the gingerbread man shape. Irfan managed to squeezed out 10 pieces of biscuits from his little dough. Once those were ready, they were put onto baking trays, and were taken off into the over.

More squeezingIt was finally taking shapeInto the oven they went ......Due to the exceedingly cute photos, I had to split the entry into two parts …… to be continued …..