Victoria Green Corner

Victoria Green Corner is one of the most intriguing cafes that we've been to in a while. It serves hearty, Nonya-influenced dishes but in a retro chic ambience. It's located just opposite the field at Westlands High School (pretty close to the old CRC restaurant) and parking is relatively easy during non-schooling hours. 

I fell in love with the place the moment I saw its cool door, complete with an old bicycle at the side and lots of greenery in the tiny garden.

Potted plants that dot the inside of the cafe add a cosy touch and what made the place even more inviting to me were the piles of books on shelves all around Victoria Green Corner . I can see myself spending many an afternoon just flipping through the books.

Antiques, such as this vintage mirrored sideboard and framed Chinese robe adds to the appeal of this place.

The assam laksa was the star dish with its thick soup generous with fish chunks and perfectly balanced with the right amount of piquant sweetness. What differs Victoria Green Corner's assam laksa from the rest is its use of sardines, instead of the more commonly used ikan kembung. An old friend's mum told me that sardines make the spicy broth taste sweeter. Even Hubs who usually can't stand the strong, fishy scent of sardines had to admit that this soup was superb.

Hubs ordered a medley of dishes with rice for Bubs: teriyaki chicken, sweet and sour pork and stir fried veggies. It made for a very pleasant dinner.

Victoria Green Corner
Telephone: 604-2275311
Address: 43, Jalan Padang Victoria, 10400, Penang
Opening hours: 10 am to 9 pm. Closed Mondays

Bits and Pieces

D finds it amusing that I usually teach Bubs based on hands on activities. When he was a toddler, I introduced the alphabet by letting him trace letter shapes in coloured salt on a tray and forming them with play dough. We explored addition and subtraction by counting marbles. Science was in the form of freezing tiny toys in ice blocks and using them as bath toys to see what could melt ice the fastest. 

She asked me to think of a fun concept to teach Malay.

Challenge accepted.

I present to you ... the penjodoh bilangan tray. Penjodoh bilangan is known as classifiers in English (I'd to Google that), eg: school of fishes, slice of bread, stick of butter. I wrote some commonly used penjodoh bilangan from his textbook, such as biji, batang, etc and gathered objects for him to match them to the correct classifier.

Bubs was excited because we usually use workbooks to practise Malay. He was hard at work grouping the items together.

The only tricky bit I had was including 1 of his milk tooth as an object (sebatang gigi if you wanted to know).

"Mummy, I thought the Tooth Fairy took my tooth away!"

Just finished Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. It's an easy read with short chapters and spiked with cute illustrations but really thought provoking.

My bonsais are in tip top shape at my dad's friend's bonsai spa :)

Fashion Friday: Flirty Florals

Here're a couple of outfits during weekends that have been lifesavers during this hot and humid weather.

I couldn't say no to a 20% off for my birthday month at Warehouse so I added a couple of tops that I hope I'll be able to get heaps of wears out of them.

Most of the shops are still stocking bardot and cold shoulder tops but I don't want to spend too much on what I think might be just a trend so I got this Warehouse piece which comes in a cute tropical print. I paired it with an old Forever 21 tube skirt that I found at the clearance rack which has a quirky asymmetrical waistband and hemline.

I'm a huge fan of florals so I couldn't resist this magnolia print sleeveless top. I think I also have a bit of an obession with black pencil skirts which I find so versatile.

The cutest part of this top is the scoop back fastened with a bow.

This is an old Miss Selfridge crop top and has all of my favourite elements: baby blue, florals and a ribbon tie at the back. 

The Ais at Chulia Street

Sis-in-law brought us to the Ais, a cafe serving artisan ice cream crafted from with uniquely local flavours at Chulia Street, as a Mothers Day treat and I think we've fallen in love with the place. The owners pride themselves on serving delicious, low sugar and all-natural frozen treats. So passionate are they about their offerings that they not only generously invite you to sample their wares but also patiently explain the ingredients behind it. Some options are sugar-free and there are even vegan options (dairy free). Also available on the menu are waffles and kefir.

There were interesting ice cream flavours such as butterfly pea, Horlicks Kit Kat and even Nutella Guinness (yes, they have a liquor-base range as well!). Each one of them tasted so good that it was hard to narrow down our choices.

Bub's choice was a no brainer: chocolate on a cone. This is one of the Ais's sugar-free choices and the intensity of the chocolate really shone through. I was more than impressed with both the flavour and texture; it's usually difficult to make ice cream without sugar as you'd usually end up with a grainier texture, but the Ais's version was good. The owners mentioned that they had many trial and errors in whipping up this for diabetic friends and it was such a hit that they decided to start marketing it.

Hubs and I shared a double scoop of Horlicks Kit Kat and charcoal cheese. The Horlicks Kit Kat was a crowd pleaser with everyone as it wasn't overly sweet. It had a pleasant, malty taste with bits of Kit Kat and a creamy texture. Charcoal cheese was definitely a unique pick: think of a milder, less salty version of Cheezels but in a vanilla base. I really liked it and it's a flavour that I'd return to.

The owners mentioned that during durian season, they add in seasonal flavours like durian and cempedak so I can't wait for them!

The Ais
Telephone: 016-7223843
Address: 473, Lebuh Chulia, 10200, Georgetown, Penang.
Opening hours: 2pm to 10pm. Closed Mondays.

Of Mini Celebrations and Updates

Happy Mother's Day to all that are celebrating!

Bub's left me at a loss for words with this beautiful pink paper bloom that he made for me. Hubs shouted a dinner at S.Wine Queensbay where the food was great and service was top notch. This was the beer brined pork chop with bacon fried potato cubes.

We all loved the desserts: chocolate orange cake - of course Bubs had to had the fondant Lego minifig and S'mores cookie with a giant dollap of peanut butter wedged in between.

Presents from friends for my birthday.

My dad's friend is an absolute artisan when it comes to bonsais and I loved how he helped arrange the layout of my latest acquisitions. This is my ginseng bonsai, I can't wait for the aerial roots to form.

I'm not sure of its correct name but both the nursery owner and my dad's friend calls this one as a rosita. It has sharp thorns when mature, something I'm not too keen on but it looks amazing when potted with a rock.

Bubs is nuts over badminton lately and begs Hubs to play with him on a near daily basis. If you're looking for kids sized rackets, the factory outlet at Udini Square carries a decent range.

He's also trying out busking part time ;)

And though his spelling leaves much to be desired, Bubs has been on a scribbling craze, doodling on spare bits of paper with little stories and comic strips, which gives me the fuzzies more than any store bought card <3