ding cha cafe

Visited this cafe called Ding Cha at Uptown for dinner few days ago. The deco was really interesting. All woodsy...I think they try to do it Mongolian style. There is even a big red door (dummy). The toilet has swinging wooden doors with wooden tubs for sinks (may not be wood).

The menu....pan mien and rice (suppose to be mongolian style). I thought pan mian is chinese.

 I love this hat. I want to get one for myself when I go under the sun to dry keropok or when I do gardening.

 Daniel had minced burger rice. He said it is very delicious. It's just minced burger meat on rice, I think.

 My coffee...big mug. Ok...tasted better coffee elsewhere.

 The tables are all wooden...small and quaint. We sat in a corner...a little squeezed. It's ok as we didn't order dishes.

 This is apple juice in their special cup with their logo.

 See the deco....lots of chinese writing on the wall,  red lanterns etc. I like the deco.

Lyn and I had seafood pan mian. The pan mian is a little too rough and thick. The hawkers that I know (who sell pan mian at the most RM4) make really smooth pan mian that is easy to swallow. I couldn't finish all the pan mian because kind of get stuck at the throat.

He he......so much for eating outside.

rise of the guardians

Went to watch this movie with the kids. Brought Silas and Lucas with us too. Lucas was feverish but didn't want to miss out on the fun. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch before going for the movie.

I didn't know what the movie was all about....thought it might be nice. Should have read the synopsis before bringing the kids for the show. The kids enjoyed it so much. I was half dozing in the middle of the movie but heard lots of laughing and commenting. In my mind I was thinking....what crap....totally wrong.

Easter bunny, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Bogeyman, Jack Frost....characters from fairy tales which kind of blind the truth.....like Easter brings hope but who gives that hope actually? Not mentioned. We know Christmas is not about santa claus. If it is about santa claus....woe to me for celebrating Christmas.

After the movie I told the kids whatever is shown in the movie is not true. Well, Lyn actually got upset. She said I would say such a thing. She wanted to enjoy the movie as it is....I don't know. I've been brought up to revere Easter and Christmas...they are sacred to me.

Not too comfortable with the show. Anyway....it put me to sleep...so I think it isn't that great after all. I'm looking forward to Hobbits come December.

faith, hope and love....

That's from 1Cor 13:13. I read this passage for Nee's wedding on Saturday.

The last week had been dramatic....happy and sad. We were looking forward to going home for Nee's wedding on Thursday. On Wednesday evening, KC called to say MIL was on her way to hospital. When he reached home from work, we rushed to the hospital. She had breathing difficulty and chest pain. We decided to cancel our trip home.

We checked on her on Thursday and Friday. She knew we were supposed to go home to attend a wedding. Told us to leave. Kept saying there is nothing we can do.

We visited her early Friday morning. She wasn't getting better but not getting worse either. We decided to go Ipoh for the church wedding and return on Saturday so we can still visit her in the evening.

On Saturday after the church wedding...we rushed off. We had to send Lyn to a camp at a forest reserve in Puchong. We reached Puchong about 4pm but reached the camp site past 6pm because the address wasn't clear and we spent hours circling round and round. Sigh. Simple route and the organizers could have given map and clearer instructions. GPS, Google map and what have you was of no use.

By the time we reached home, visitation hour was over. KHoe said mil is still the same. So we skipped visitation that evening.

Sunday came. KC was in the hospital the whole afternoon. MIL had difficulty breathing and talking.  KC came home and told me of the plan he discussed with KHoe. Monday, Ah Yean will visit in the afternoon and I do the night. Tuesday : Khoe will take leave. Wednesday : I will go again. At the same time KC called an agent who promised to send us a maid in three weeks' time.

Monday came....we got ready for KC to go to work. I felt uneasy and told KC I will go to the hospital in the morning to give MIL some milk as she had not been eating well. We were about to leave when KC felt his phone vibrating (his phone is forever on silent mode). He checked....23 missed calls since 3am. I knew I was too late...

We tried calling KHoe...no response. Went to voicemail. He returned the call past 1pm. Apparently his phone wasn't working and he went out to buy a new phone during lunch hour. Sigh again....what can I say? These two men frustrates me over and over.

We brought the body to our house. We had already made preparations for MIL to stay with us. (Ing had taken my mother to JB the previous day). That is my regret; that she didn't come to stay while she was still living. 

She had fought a good fight. After FIL passed on, she was determined to stay strong to take care of SIL. She refused to move from 7R because of sil. After 3 days in the hospital and still not getting better, she just let go....

During the service in church, KC gave the eulogy quoting from 1Cor13:13. There things he shared of his mother. a. Faith....she made sure he attended church and sunday school. 

b. Hope....she always hoped the best for her children.

c. Love....he was the beneficiary of her love and her grandchildren too. Both Dan and Lyn gave a brief sharing of their Mama after that.

MIL was a gentle, unselfish woman. She always gave the best to her children and husband. She would be the last to eat after everyone else had eaten. In everything she would try her best not to inconvenience us...(which can be a problem because she wouldn't tell us if something is wrong). She hardly complained. She was totally devoted to caring for sil.

Now for the living to continue her legacy and to care for sil.

azuma

After the durian hunt and feast, we needed dinner. So we chose the direction of S2 and I suggested Uptown. The driver confidently drove real fast up the bridge and under the passover. 'That's not the way to Uptown...!' I shouted.

Well, poor sad fella doesn't know where Uptown is. So we directed him there and saw this big Japanese restaurant which we've heard people talking about. That was our destination. Real cool place, big with nice deco and ambience. Rotating belt in the center. Dan quickly took his seat next to it and I could see his sepet eyes scanning at the variety and his chubby hands itching to grab the food that were passing by.

We place our order first and I reminded him not to take too many plates of the sushi and what not that were passing by as he ordered a plate of fried rice.

Lyn and I shared this bowl of udon kimchi beef noodles. Very very nice especially after a whole afternoon out in the rain. The hot soup and spice warmed us up. The serving was good for two as it leaves us room to eat other stuff. Beef very tender and nice.

 KC's boring plain udon. I think if we have not tasted the kimchi udon we would have appreciated this.

 The tempura basket....which was over doing because we had already eaten plates of other finger food that passed by. By the time this came, I couldn't eat anymore. I could see Dan over-stuffed but he dared not complain as I had warned him not to be greedy. He sportingly helped his sis eat one piece.

The plates of finger food on the rotating table were very nice too though my focus was mainly on the baby squids and all other sotongs which Dan took wrongly and didn't want to eat. A bit pricey but I think this place is the best Jap restaurant in Seremban.

Azuma.....don't know what name it is. We will return again soon with an empty stomach ...durian and Japanese food in a night....gluttony.

on a durian hunt....

 Kids smelt durians in Aunty Justine's house last Saturday and ate a few there. Since then they had been asking for durians. So we decided to go for durian hunt today. We know some places in town that have durians but we thought we would like to travel to the kampung to look for it. So we picked Kuala Klawang as none of us have been to that place before.  It's a two in one trip...durian and discover a new place in NS.

It's about 35km from Seremban. It seems whenever we want to explore a new place in NS, it has to rain. Rained cats and dogs all the way there after Ampangan. We were quite familiar with the road up till the SAINS station at Pantai (which is no where near a beach...it's surrounded by hills and in the interior).

After that, the names and sights were all new to us. I was on alert to take pictures and keep an eye on the driver. The road was winding (but the road is good...four lanes) and it's uphill; like going to Cameron Highlands but not that high.

This is what we saw along the way.....due to the heavy downpour, rivulets formed along the retainers. It's not surprising to hear of landslide especially after a heavy rain. I can imagine it happening along this road. Later when we returned, there were lots of stones and pebbles washed to the road.

 Jeram Toi...heard of it but never visited it. This is a forest reserve with waterfall. I think it's something like Ulu Bendol. Now we know where it is and have seen the entrance.

 Finally Kuala Klawang town. Nice little town surrounded by hills. We wanted to look for a kopitiam to have tea but couldn't find any eateries open. Dan was shocked that there is no KFC or McD. No durians either. There is a lady outside of the town with a few durians. Decided not to stop as we saw a big stall near Ampangan...more to choose from. Infact that was the only durian stall we saw. Our conclusion: buying power lesser in villages as they have their own durian to eat. So the durians are sent to towns like Seremban and Ampangan....that's why we see durian stalls everywhere in town. (Finally we bought our durians closer to town).

 On our way into KKlawang, we saw a nice waterfall by the roadside with clear water cascading. Told KC we must stop on our way out to take some pictures. Imagine our horror when we saw this.....the waterfall had turned into a frightening gush of angry water. From where the car was parked, I could feel drops of water sprinkling.

 The road after the waterfall was flooded.

 Slightly closer to Pantai, we saw this huge building. Real big and quite a few storeys with big steps in front. No name ....don't know what it is.

  Before turning into the main road home, we stopped by stall we saw earlier for durian. RM8 per kg. With the rainy season, I think the durians are not that good. The seller had to throw out quite a few that he opened to get the ones which we were satisfied with.

Not that bad....quite creamy and bitter. I still think it will taste better if there is not so much rain. We finished all the three durians we bought in no time at all.

It was a nice adventure.....

the Orange Frog

I hate frogs. Disgusting. Wanted to wrap the book at first so that I don't have to touch the pictures. But they are so many frog illustrations in the book that I got used to looking at it.

The book was given to KC by don't know who. It just appeared by the bedside one day and I saw him reading it. It's pretty thin...69 pages with colourful froggy illustrations.

One night I wasn't able to sleep...stressed by school. So he told me a bedtime story....the Orange Frog. I fell asleep.

So when I started my reading spree, I thought this book should be easy to read as it is real thin.

A motivational book Shawn Achor who taught Psychology at Harvard. A book on positive thinking in a story style using frogs as characters. How frogs who were originally orange turned to green because of an infection. Then came along a frog who had orange spots and more spots appeared when he dared to be different and can't be bothered with what others think but just enjoy what he enjoys doing.

Well....that means standing out for who we are....simple book to encourage us to continue doing what we believe in even when others pressure us to conform to the norm. Stand out and dare to be different. Not easy .... but reading it is easy. Just words. A feel good book.

domestic violence

Interesting how many different covers this book has. This is the cover of the book which I have  just finished reading. It was given to Lyn by her friend Anarista. She has not read it herself though she has lent it to many of her friends. She screamed when she saw me bending the book too much. How on earth am I to read if  I can only open the book in the shape of a small V??? It has to be bent and arched...that's the way to enjoy a book. Even Dan has been trained by her to open the books real small....funny to see a huge boy holding a book in a gentle way and like peeping into it instead of reading it fully!!!

The story is about this woman Katie who ran away from her abusive husband. The trauma and psychological effects on her. My second time reading a book on domestic violence.

Just wondered why she didn't just file for a divorce and let the court keep her safe? I suppose the story won't be as interesting as to having her husband hunt her down.

Like all other NS books.....sweet and nice and this one has a good ending but a little weird. Won't spoil the fun by telling you what is weird...

I'll rate it 7/10.....

book reading spree

I saw this stack of books on the table and just took a shot. I am sure somewhere in the house especially in a particular person's room, in the midst of the mess there are lots and lots of books which I have not read.

My mission this holiday is to dig into those books and read real books and not e-books!! I've not spent much money buying books nowadays but just last week Lyn spent more than RM100 buy six books. So I have a great selection of books to choose from. What a waste if I don't read them and at the same time check what she is reading.

I've started on my first....Nicholas Sparks. Later I'll probably read one of the books I bought from Doulos....(was it last year?)

The Big Bad Wolf Sales is back again. This time it's at Mines Convention Center from 9th Dec to 23 Dec. Books are below RM10 and it will be a crime if we don't visit it. Maybe twice because Lyn says at the aftermath sale, books drop to RM5. If you have a teen who is all crazy about books.....

What a relief to know that holiday is round the corner.

Time flies...

 It's year end again...How time flies. Just last Sunday we attended Edwin and Priscilla's tenth wedding anniversary celebration. Ten years ago Lyn was the flower girl at their wedding. As we didn't have a digital camera that time, I don't know where the pictures are stored now. So we flicked through their wedding album and took some pictures.

While we were in the car, I checked the camera to see what pictures KC had taken. I was surprised when I saw the above picture. I had to pause for a while to think why he looked so familiar and was he the speaker in church that morning. Then it dawned on me ...that is the late Reverend Paul George....he was the minister at their wedding. How could I forget...how time flies...it's more than 6 years now I think that he had gone home to the Lord.

Here is the picture of the bride with the flower girl and ring boy. The bride has three children now and her dear husband is recently promoted to Associate Professor. Both the kids are in their teens and I am sure the ring boy is taller than the flower girl now. How time flies.....

Was pleasantly surprised to meet an old school mate and MYFer at the party (Priscilla's boss). We have not met after we left high school (I think). We exchanged news and saw each other's kids...(she has 5). Oh my .... how time flies.

Yes....it's year end again...time to reminiscent. It's also the time for me to start making a check list of what I want to do during the holiday so that time will not just slip by. It's the time to rest, be lazy.....time to start making keropok (unfortunately it's been raining everyday) and prepare for Christmas.

Yeah....year end and holiday!!!!