Alhamdulillah....tahniah Alia

Tahniah Alia...5A UPSR. Terima kasih kepada guru-guru yang tak jemu2 mengajar dan doa dari kaum keluarga terdekat. I know it's not a smooth sailing journey for you but i'm very glad you did it. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdullilah...

masak-masak

We have been getting our supply of fresh seafood from Bagan Pasir for almost a year now.  These are some of the seafood that I've been cooking for the family. Some of the dishes, after I cooked for 2-3 times, my maid can easily reproduce it.

 Ikan tenggiri tiga rasa

 Butterfly cut prawn-masak tiga rasa.

 Creamy butter prawn - the kids really like the sauce, I always made this with extra sauce, usually using 3/4 to 1 can of evaporated milk. Anything less will not be enough.

 Udang masak merah..tuan punya tangan kat belakang dah tak sabar nak makan.

Pan-fried tenggiri slice with baked macaroni and salads

 Prawn with dried chillies - sort of kung pao chicken but with prawns

 kam heong crabs - also made lala using this recipe

our latest favourite- salted egg yolk crab. Initially I cooked 1.8kg of crabs with 6 salted egg yolks...not enough. So the second time I made this I used 8 salted egg yolks for about the same amount of crabs...yummy...calories, cholesterol salt content-- belakang kira. what to do with the leftover salted egg white pun belakang kira.

Not in pictures but our favourites too- Ikan kembung percik, ikan cencaru sumbat, ikan bawal masak portugese style, asam pedas ikan jenak/tenggiri.

Bangkok trip

Last month DH had a conference in Bangkok so of course I tagged along....Dh bought a roaming service in KLIA and had to look for a simcard in Bangkok but the queue was very long at the airport so we thought I was better to buy it at a convenience store...but we were wrong...bought a simcard pack but simcard was a different size...haihh...nak communicate pun not that easy here.. So terus pergi our next destination, Wat Arun

We took a Chao Phraya tourist boat and were waiting for a smaller boat to cross the river. If you know where to stop, no need to take this boat, just take a local boat  that cost much cheaper.I guess the only thing good about taking this boat is that they give you a booklet of all the attractions and which pier to stop and since it's an unlimited ride, better to start in the morning.

Dah sampai....just look at how steep the stairs behind...gayat oo..looking at how difficult it was for one lady to go down, i decided not to take it...kesian betul, sampai almost sitting down nak turun tangga, so I explored the middle part while DH went to the higher level to take photos.

Next stop, Wat Pho

Reclining buddha

This reminds me of one of the earlier season of Amazing Race, the contestants kena pilih one bundle of coins and fill one coin in each container and the last coin mesti isi the last container, anything more or tak cukup, choose another bundle of coins and start again - a gay couple managed to do it on the first try, if i'm not mistaken.

posing

 Nak pergi Grand Palace tapi almost dah tutup. Jumpa one halal gerai by the roadside near the pier..terus duduk order pad thai.. yummy

and mango sticky rice

Back at the pier..that's the tourist boat, but we just take a normal boat after that since it's peak hours and there were too many tourists at the pier...mesti nak naik tourist boat kan? We drop off at Khao San and walk and walk and walk sampai penat but not reaching our hotel, last2 just took a cab, can't waste time walking when you can do many other stuff. 

View from our hotel room

Malam pergi MBK using BTS to settle DH simcard. Bila dah settle makan kat Yana restaurant on Level 5. This is beef with basil if I'm not mistaken. We ended up having our dinner here twice and I had lunch once.

tomyam.. with a bit of santan.. sedap, i just had this with rice during lunch.

red rubies, ok

Next day Dh starts his conference, I bought a BTS day pass and start exploring...hihi tak pegi mana pun, just went back to MBK to borong NaRaYa stuff, I dont like their bags because of the big ribbon but i bought tissue covers, cosmetic bags etc. Malam we went to Asiatique using the shuttle boat, can't remember which BTS station we stop to get to the pier though.

Makan kebab and explore...jumpa some halal gerai near a mosque, beli some of their stuff, they don't know english, so i don't really know what exactly we are eating, some fried rice balls and savoury kuih. DH took the Mekhong ride, I tak naik, not really something that I enjoy (gayat remember?).

Next day ready to go to floating market

speed boat ride to the floating market

some of the view along the river

other tourists

dah sampai flating market, tukar naik paddle boat (if you want, if not just walk along the market) this is the ride along the floating market

trying to bargain the price for saffron, found out later that it's actually safflower, not the real saffron, hmmh, patutlah murah

another view of the floating market

view from the top

before balik makan coconut ice cream...sedap. we actually ask for the tour to floating market from our hotel, and ended up they brought us to a few more places and have to wait for some time cause they change vans/ car depending on your next agenda, would be better if we just take a cab, cab will bring you to straight to the floating market (no speed boat ride along the river though), wait for you dah siap terus balik, no need to waste time singgah mana2 since we have other places to visit. cab price is slightly more expensive than the tour but you can save some time.

so this is the place they brought us..

look at how intricate the design, wonder how they managed to carve this

Next stop-the Grand palace, entrance is 500 Baht...huih...mahalnye

with the guard

fooling around

if you want to go, do so during weekdays, some parts are closed during weekends.. Jalan2 lagi after the Grand palace, got lost nak cari Hard Rock cafe, pakai waze pun sesat :-(

on the way back to our hotel (we changed hotel by the way - stayed at a boutique hotel after DH conference) saw this place offering foot reflexology, last night nak pergi tak sempat, so terus minta one hour food massage from this lady...pure bliss, sampai terlelap sekejap.

along the way nampak orang jual like some sort of roti canai, ordered  roti telur but it goes with condensed milk, not dhal or curry..

next morning, Chatuchak market-  this guy is making teh/ kopi tarik...sampai berpusing2 lagi. bought some stuff and souvenir here, didn't really explore the whole market, just get a map and go to your area of interest.

the clock tower, to get your bearings right

a halal place near the clock tower

makna pad thai lagi..eventhough with ketam/ udang, it's not as nice as the one I ate by the roadside. Balik hotel and pack up.

Bye-bye Bangkok!