A Meal at home

SE asked how come I only take photos of meals outside.  So here are photos of a meal at home.  The photos are dark and don't focus on the food haha.  Anyway dishes are kangkung adobo, sambal petai and a mushroom-pork dish.  Rice is our usual blue from the butterfly pea flowers planted outside.  The kids will have soup - I don't bother for adults.  Hubby either arranges soup for himself or goes without. 

The girls have graduated beyond these kiddy plates for meals - don't know why they were used for this dinner.

I will eat fast if I like the food. Else I will dawdle and take ages

Me too

Our maid is the cook.  I don't cook any more - Jane is a better cook than I am anyway, I am lazy and I really don't have the time since joining this company.  In no particular sequence.  :)

Messing around

The kiddos love messing around with things.  Somehow they love soap.  Shower gel and shampoo is a controlled item in my house else these would be gone in no time!  They would get poured on the bathroom floor to make it slippery enough to skate on, poured into pails of water to make bubble baths for toys, etc.  Now our maid puts small amounts into small bottles so I don't go broke buying soap.

Kiddos always help themselves to liquid soap if available.  Took some photos recently... 

 

Wow, soap! And it's all automatic!

Tee hee hee

JE: I have a whole bunch!

SE: Wait I need some more

We have SOAP!

 Had to drag them out of there.

While on leave

I have finished my leave and gone back to work.  Purpose considered achieved as I feel almost back to normal - with occasional flashbacks to the mental torture but that's ok.  So what did I do for 3 weeks plus?  My aim was mainly to heal my mental state by doing what I haven't had the chance to do in peace for over a year - relax, read storybooks, take naps, go swim, waste time surfing online.  And of course EAT.  I actually lost 5kg during MCO as I was too stressed to enjoy food.  Half of that weight has been regained by now hahaha.

Also took JE out for lunch twice.  First was for Indian food at Chettiars near my old client location.  They didn't have my favourite veg pakora but JE enjoyed the food and requested to return for the lamb curry, potato masala, papadums and teh tarik (forgot to take pictures). The second trip for Malay food at Warong Ambo didn't fare so well.  I'd thought she'd like the many things on sale if not the food -  this part was totally scaled down due to the MCO.    

The syrup bandung is the best thing about this lunch

I could do with more days like these! 

Split the chopsticks

At Tampopo in Genting since it was such a long wait for food.

Let me split these chopsticks

HaikkkMmmmkkk!

Oh. No good

Try with another pair

Mmmmkkk!

Oh I give up

And it shall be our last visit.  Food tasted all right but it was very slow, not much variety and rather expensive.

Sekinchan

We got back from our Sky mirror experience in one piece.  :)  The sea was nowhere as choppy as in the morning so the boat was able to speed back.  After that we dropped by Auntie Foo cafe since it consistently pops up in the lists of things to do in Kuala Selangor.  Nice enough place but nothing that special.  We had coffee, cendol, ABC, coconut shake and some nasi lemak.

 

Kuala Selangor, that's where we are

I'm eating sugar! Tee hee hee

After that we headed to Sekinchan since it's just 30mins away.  Went to our usual places - the paddy museum for fish crackers, fish balls, ambra juice and then the beach.  Lunch was at Loong Hua, our second time there.  Decided that food isn't that nice there compared to Cha Po Tion though.  Next time we will go somewhere else.

The girls were skilled at posing already after our morning!

Giant yellow duck

What's with JoJo's butt?

Show my butt also

 A bit of traffic jam going home after that since it was a public holiday.  

Sky Mirror

Took advantage of the long Merdeka weekend to try our luck for the Sky Mirror.  Why "try"?  Well a friend of mine went all the way only to find the water level too high and no mirror was to be found.  We got a post-MCO promo rate of RM60 a head (apparently normal price is RM80).  This included the boat, the guide/photographer and some snacks.  We set out bright and early for our 730am meet-up at at the jetty in Kuala Selangor.  There is only one trip a day and the departure time depends on the tide conditions.  

Welcome to Kuala Selangor!

There were 200 people going for the trip that day.  Some were dressed nicely for photos.  We were asked to wait near our car to avoid crowding the little area before the jetty.  

I'd expected the kids to enjoy the 30-min boat ride.  But it was a VERY bumpy one!  Apparently the waves were high due to it having rained the night before.  We were really glad to reach our destination.  Which was basically a huge sandbank.  

Safely arrived at the Sky Mirror

The guide/photographers set to building their photo booths, smoothing the sand etc.  The kids were perfectly happy playing with the mud-like sand and the plentiful small creatures in shells crawling around.  Took the chance to practise some posing too (which unfortunately we forgot later haha). 

Tra la la (I wish we had remembered this one!)

Pose and hold

Building of the photo 'booths' took about half an hour.  The water level kept dropping and revealing more of the sand.  Then the sun rose higher and our guide found the mirror effect was spoilt and had to move to another spot to build afresh.  Hmmm would there be enough time....

The booth

Luckily the second spot was judged to be good.  The guide took photos of each group on the boat in turn with some suggestions on what to do.  We could take photos ourselves as we wished of course, but wouldn't achieve the same results without the booth.  Noticed the guide and the assistant continuously checking the water and smoothing the sand.  Finally, the photos.  These were the ones I liked best... 

Circle

Jump!

Whee!

Hold the tower, SE!

One more jump

Turned out pretty nice, I think!  And it was so fun.  :)

Genting trip after MCO

The kids chose Genting for the school holidays. Even after I kept asking if they'd prefer a longer trip to Ipoh, Melaka or Penang instead.  Actually it turned out to be a good choice... I'd mistakenly thought these holidays were a week instead of 5 days it actually was.  While packing, I realised this would be my first trip in 1.5 years that I didn't have to bring my computer along - a very good feeling indeed!

First a stop in Goh Tong Jaya for lunch at Chuan Kie.  This was yummy and cheap! Totally over-ordered though. We had the signature pork belly, a huge pot of lala soup, sambal petai and tofu topped generously with enoki and shredded carrot.  Four dishes for 2 adults with 2 kids who didn't eat much.  Ended up stuffing myself (yes finished up everything) and having to waddle out of the shop haha.  

Nope I will stick to my half plate of food, thank you

We were in Genting in early March right before the MCO and this trip is our first one after MCO.  It  surprised me to find that restaurants belonging to the Genting group were closed, as well as most of its hotels and casinos.  Would have thought the priority would be to get these running ASAP?  Visitors-wise though, it was definitely way more crowded compared to our last trip.

Kids hit the bath-tub after a happy iPad session...

  

Check out our beards!

Our first night was in Genting Grand, the second in First World. Having stayed in the latter once before, I'd expected a tiny room again.  But it turned out pretty nice.

Our room is not too shabby, eh?

Met up with the cousins the next day.  JE and SE were excited to be going for rides together.

Hello! We are happy girls!

This isn't a good time for rides though. The crowd wasn't as bad as it was before Covid, but ride seats were alternately blocked off due to social distancing. Rides were also routinely stopped for 15-min sanitisation sessions. This overall brought to long waits for their turns.  Luckily closing time was extended from 10pm to midnight.

Sky Towers 

Power Surge

Our final day there, it was birthday lunch with my father at Steam Era restaurant.  Food was good and prices were reasonable.  Pictures of food didn't turn out well so not posting them here.  Erm no cake this time.  

Happy birthday to Ah Kong!