On the 1st Day of Chinese New Year

My true love gave to me ...

A surprise as Bubs grabbed my clutch, hung it around his neck and ran off with it. He loves a good accessory like his mummy.

Bubs and I matched each other in blue. My dress's shade of blue reminds me a little of a schoolgirl's pinafore. Those are my gold diamante flats that I have lived in since Bubs was born and they go with nearly everything I own.

My parents did their usual buffet lunch and invited all the relatives over. I don't know how Mum managed this amazing array of food whilst recuperating from kidney stones.

There were sparklers after dinner at Hubs' parents' place. Bubs looked both fascinated and confused with the little bursts of sparks and flames.

Family. food and fun, what better combination is there? Hope you're all enjoying the festive season.

Happy Chinese New Year

May the year of the Dragon bring you and your loved ones much joy, love and luck. Have a fantastic Chinese New Year filled with plenty of ang pows (receiving and giving) and steamboats!

Italiannies and Meet Fresh at Gurney Paragon

Hubs and I loved Italiannies when we were at KL and I was delighted that they opened a branch at the new Gurney Paragon which used to be an international school and has been revamped as a condominium and food & beverage mall.

The St Joseph's Novitiate building was constructed in 1925 and after the De La Salle Brothers moved out in the 1980s, it was used by an international school as part of its campus.

 

Italiannies Gurney Paragon has both indoor and outdoor sitting. There aren't that many tables indoor so I'd suggest calling for reservations to avoid disappointment. It features an open bar and chefs preparing pizza right in front of you.

The service was really good with the staff being extra attentive. When our waiter brought out the trademark complimentary herb & white bread, he explained how to dip the bread into the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Most of the mains and appetizers come in 3 sizes: small, regular and large so you could order a variety of small dishes to share. Like TGIF, children under 12 can choose one free meal from the kids menu with every adult main course ordered.

Bubs surprised us by eating the bread dipped into olive oil and balsamic vinegar which at first I thought he'd reject because of the sharp, sourish taste. The signature Italiannies meatball didn't disappoint (check out the size of it!) but the pasta sauce was a bit on the salty side though we finished everything. When the staff came over to ask how was our meal, Hubs pointed it out and the staff was really nice and gave a comment card and told us to write all our feedback down on it. Most restaurants would have taken great pains to avoid you from putting those kind of feedback down in writing ;)

 

After lunch, we decided to try Meet Fresh, another Taiwanese dessert outlet there. As with all Taiwanese dessert stores, they had a gimmicky kind of gizmo. After we placed and paid for our order, we were given a "bomb detonator" (Hubs words) like device that would vibrate with a red blinking light when our order was ready. Bubs found it immensely fascinating. 

The mango shaved ice was kind of meh for RM9.80. There was a huge mountain of coarsely shaved ice with small cubes of mango around the sides and syrup drizzled on top. Bubs enjoyed eating the mango chunks while Hubs and I had to do with the roughly shaved ice flakes. Some of the other desserts weren't ready yet because when we tried to order the mochi, we were told it's unavailable at the moment.

Char Koay Teow at Kimberly Street

A and his wife was back for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations and I asked him what did he miss the most about Penang food? He provided a really long list and we narrowed it down to char koay teow at Kimberly Street.

Parking around there is tricky and pretty much depends on luck and the time of the day. We parked a little further up and took a pleasant, short stroll. Don't you just love the heritage buildings around these areas? They survived the Japanese bombardment during World War II but I doubt they might survive rapid development soon. So many of these are being demolished for ugly so called modernised shop lots.   

 

We passed a bak kwa (roasted meat) shop and they were busy stoking the giant vats of charcoal to grill the slices of meat. It's a scorcher of a day and I think it wouldn't be much fun to stand in front of the fire grilling the meat for hours.

Onto the highlight: char koay teow. I flipped out when the lady said it's RM6.30, I thought I ordered noodles, not a plate of gold. The mantis prawns were huge though. I loved every single bite of it, there was a beautiful smoky flavour (if you're looking for charcoal stir fried stalls, this is one of it), the bean sprouts, the flat noodles, the egg were all morsels of perfection! Can't believe I've never tried this before :)

Fashion Friday: In the Mood for Chinese New Year

It's the last weekend before Chinese New Year and I thought these photos of Maggie Cheung from the movie In the Mood for Love showcase the cheong sam perfectly. Will any of you be wearing a cheong same this Chinese New Year? Have a lovely weekend and for those heading home, drive safe!