Wednesday, May 20, 2009

PAPPA KOPITIAM - Selayang Mall, KL

Over the last ten years, there are so many cafes mushrooming all over major cities of Malaysia. I remember during the good old days, upmarket coffee drinking places usually will be at the hotel lounge or coffee house. Then we were introduced to Coffee Bean, Starbucks etc. Later, the local entrepreneur came out with many localised cafes equipped with air-cond and wi-fi environment and the most successful so far I think is Oldtown Cafe.

Initially, I really like Oldtown Cafe as a change from the old, hot and not so hygienic 'kopitiam'. But nowadays, I don't like that place as the food is not tasty and the milk tea has too much milk added. The only reason I go there because they are almost everywhere and the price is still reasonable. Luckily, there are a few cafes nearby my place besides the Oldtown and Pappa Kopitiam is one of them. It is located at the lower ground floor of the Selayang Mall in Taman Utama Selayang.






These are our drinks. 1st son had Black Jelly Ice (Cincau Ais) - RM4.50, 2nd son had Iced Lemon Tea (RM4.50) and Kopi-O (RM2.60) for myself.

This Nasi Lemak (RM8.90) is very tasty and not as dry as the Oldtown's.


This Dried Koay Teow Prawn (RM8.90) is really yummy.

But this Chicken Chop (RM12.80) is really disappointing. I don't like my chop served with rice, I am not Jap/Korean although many people say I look like one if I keep my mouth shut. The Jap/Korean like to have everything served with rice. I prefer they serve with butter/bread or mashed potatoes instead.

This is Soy Milk with Glutinous Ball (RM4.90). Three type of filling ie red bean, groundnut and black sesame inside each one of the ball. This is good and definitely will order this whenever we come here.

Overall the food taste better than The Oldtown but the price is more expensive. But I find the place a bit dark and hope they will brighten up the place a little. Definitely will go back there again!



P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Late Afternoon Coffee Break

Instead of sipping tea and eating scones and sandwiches the English way, we Malaysian have many varieties of food to choose from when come to tea/coffee break such as Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai, Dim Sum, Roti Bakar, Tong Sui (eg red bean soup, bo bo cha cha), economy fried meehoon, yam cake and drinks we have Kopi-o, Teh Tarik, Milo and Barley.

Today's coffee break, I have my favourite childhood snack 'yu cha kueh' with hot kopi-o (black coffee) near my son's school.

My way of eating this is : dip the 'yu char kueh' into the black coffee first before eating........it is so yummyyyyyyyyyyy!

Mainland Chinese/Taiwanese eats 'yu char kueh' with Soy Milk; Hongkie eats with porridge; Malaysian eats 'yu char kueh' with coffee, tong sui, bak kut teh or kaya/jam whatever you can think of..... Yong Tau Foo even have 'yu char kueh' stuffed with fish paste.
My coffee break costs me less than RM2.....kopi-o is RM1.10 and the 'yu char kueh' RM0.60 per piece. These food is common everywhere in the street of Malaysia.


P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Coconut Drink - Kelapa Pandan

My mother and I love coconut drink a lot. I remember once we went to Thailand, we had the coconut drink from day till night whenever we passed by any coconut stall. They are selling cheap too, about 20baht per coconut. Thai coconut is smaller and very sweet.

In the street of KL especially around the housing area, small trucks selling coconut like the picture below are quite common. There is one around my son's school and I buy a few for my family as coconut has cooling effect like herbal tea.

The boss sells two type of coconut, they are Kelapa Mawar and Kelapa Pandan. Kelapa Mawar is bigger but not sweet. Kelapa Pandan is smaller, sweeter and it is more fragrant (like daun pandan smell).

Load of coconuts in his small truck.
One coconut is RM3 and four for RM10. I bought four. I ask the boss to cut the coconut in a way so I can easily open it at home. He applies some 'asam' on the surface of the coconut and according to him this will keep the coconut fresh for three days without refrigerated. Anyway, I chill all the coconut straight away upon reaching home because I prefer to drink it cold especially with the recent hot weather.




P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Air Panas Wet Market - Chee Cheong Fun(CCF)

There are three CCF stalls in the Air Panas Wet Market. The one located in the center is my favourite. It is the only CCF stall served with curry and sweet sauce whereas the other two only have sweet sauce. The CCF is the Ipoh type with dried shrimps.



I usually order one piece of fuchuk, one fishball and two pieces of CCF and it costs me RM2.40. I like the curry gravy instead of the sweet sauce. The CCF taste good with the curry!



Yummmmyy......shake more sesame, boss!




That's my breakfast whenever I do my marketing there.




P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Butterfly Farm - Lake Garden , KL

After Vesak Praying, I took my children to sweat out in Butterfly Farm in Lake Garden, KL. Actually, both of my boys were indecisive as to go to the Bird Park or Butterfly Farm but finally the eldest son said he wants to see giant millipede in the Insect Section of the Butterfly Farm so there we go.

The farm is covered with net to prevent butterflies/moths flying away.




That day was not very sunny but there are many trees and plants provide shady path for walking.



A small area for turtles. Not impressive but at least there is something extra item besides the butterflies.



Koi Fish Pond and man made waterfall make the farm interesting.


Sword Fish Pond.


There are many different color and shape of butterflies and moths flying freely around. Some are simply drop dead on the ground, I guess their life span is short.



More butterflies..........I saw many photography enthusiast keep snapping photo and I also 'kiasu' and keep taking photo using my digital camera (of course just the normal type of camera, not the DSLR type...lah!).







Flora and Fauna. This Fragipani (Daun Pandan) provides sweet aroma to the place.





Our National Flower......Bunga Raya (Hibiscus).




There is an indoor section exhibit all the insects like Scorpion, Beetles, Grasshoppers, Millipede and many other weird but interesting kind of insects. Too bad I was not able to take picture here as my camera was run out of battery. It is really an eye opening experience to see the insect world.
The entrance fee is RM8 for adult and RM4 for children. RM1 is charged for camera and RM5 for video camera.




P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Wesak Day

From Wikipedia............Vesak is an annual holiday observed traditionally by practicing Buddhists in South Asian & South East Asian countries like Nepal, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan and India. [1] Sometimes informally called "Buddha's birthday," it actually encompasses the birth, enlightenment Nirvana, and passing (Parinirvana) of Gautama Buddha.

The exact date of Vesak varies according to the various lunar calendars used in different traditions. In Theravada countries following the Buddhist calendar, it falls on the full moon Uposatha day (typically the 5th or 6th lunar month). While the Vesak Day in China, it is on the eighth of the fourth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. The date varies from year to year in the Western Gregorian calendar but falls in April or May.

This year Vesak Day, I took my children to this Siamese Temple behind the Perkeliling Flat in Kuala Lumpur. There was a Kampung Siam ( Siamese Settlement/Village) in this area long before Tawakal Hospital and the rest of the shop/office area were built. The village had long gone but this Siamese Temple remain. The Temple is not visible from the main road as it is blocked by a Mosque. You only see the Mosque on your left hand side at the Perkeliling round about if you are coming from PWTC.

The name of the temple in Thai, Wat Meh Liew. My Mom brought me here when I was 7 or 8 year old.


Decoration for Vesak Day.

In Buddhism, Gautama Buddha is our Spiritual Teacher, the Awakened One or the Enlightened One. You can find out more in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/buddhism.


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The main entrance of the Temple.


南无本师释迦莫尼佛。

合十






P/S : All views and opinions expressed here are based on my own personal opinion. Nobody pay or threaten me to say good or bad things about the food I eat!!