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High On Hokkaido I: First Taste of Furano

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Just three weeks after my European pilgrimage, I was on leave again. Another two weeks off, but instead of aunties I was with my hubby to Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture. Definitely a very different type of itinerary. He had planned the trip about the same time as my pilgrimage and delayed it due to the clash. Luckily for me, my leave plans were approved. Maybe it was because I had a lot of vacation days to burn. We flew on Air Asia X at 11:35 PM. Although it was a night flight, I took the day off anyway. On that day, mum was making dumplings for the second time. In addition to the usual bak zhang , she made the nyonya variety with bunga telang and candied wintermelon. Tried my hand at wrapping and tying the dumplings. Definitely learned a thing or two, but I couldn't quite visualise tying the tetrahedral package. Left home at 8:30 PM with a taxi booking. The fella stepped on it and I arrived at KLIA2 at just a little over 9:00 PM. The flight was on time

Charlie & Jeremy

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Although OUG has a high concentration of eateries and food stalls, mum and I only frequent a few of them. One can choose to have salmon sashimi with kopi o or  wat tan hor or bak kwa bun or seafood pork noodles or wantan noodles   for breakfast, it ain't much of an attraction for us. While I was on Facebook, I saw an advertisement for Charlie's Cafe at Taman Bukit Desa. Intrigued that they serve authentic Sarawak cuisine so I decided to go there for breakfast. Guess this means that FB ads actually work. When we arrived, we were greeted by a friendly chap behind the counter whom I assume was Charlie. Only two tables were occupied at the time. I ordered the S arawak laksa and nasi lemak . Mum and I were impressed with the  Sarawak Laksa . The bowl of noodles was piping hot and the soup had a good balance of spices. However, the nasi lemak was just average. Back home, did my usual chores of sweeping the floors ( removing the roach carcasses ), mopping and spritzing the

Brian Bye-Bye

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On the second Sunday of May, a special dinner was held at MaisonSK as a farewell for Brian. He was leaving to join the migrant workforce in Singapore to enjoy the higher currency exchange rate. Been talking about it for more than a year. It was only recently that he managed to secure a job there. The Tribe, KH, #BF and Lifebook were there to send him off. Wish him all the best in Singapore. Hopefully we have jodoh to meet each other in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore in the near future. And of course hopefully he finds jodoh in Singapore!

Celebrating Mum

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My brother arrived home just before midnight on my mum's birthday. Just in time to wish her. Two days later, we had another celebration for Mother's Day. Brought my brother out to the OUG morning market so that he could get his curry noodles fix. Overheard at the market: Lady: Is this bak zhang raw or cooked? Seller: Errrm... cooked. This question comes in the midst of the pre- Duan Wu Festival rush. Seriously woman, no one sells raw bak zhang . The raw grains would leak out and the filling would not keep. The Nalanda Buddhist Society was also doing an alms giving activity on that day. Not a common sight in Malaysia. At noon, the kids came over with bouquets of flowers and personalized cards. So sweet. I gave them some additional stickers to spruce things up-- "I Love Las Vegas", "The Strip". LOL. Mum whipped up lunch and we ate together. After much deliberation, we decided to have dinner at Le Pont Boulangerie . Wanted to avoid the Mother

Guan Yu Games

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A conversation in the office : Me: What is the name of Guan Yu's weapon? Colleague: Erm... Guandao . Me: (spraying blood from my mouth) I was expecting 青龍偃月刀, but then his answer wasn't wrong.

Food Diary

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Drove to The Coffee Sessions only to find that they weren't open yet. Didn't want to wait for another 30 minutes, so mum and I went to look for alternatives. Mum ain't that fond of gweilo breakfast anyway. So I drove to Puchong Jaya's Dao Ma Qie for pan mee. Their soup is nice and pork tendon balls are great. Lunch was simple. Reheated the lo mai kai that Apollo's mum gave us the night before. Mum added on some pan-fried pumpkin slices. In the afternoon, KH jio -ed me for coffee at JEMI Cafe , Taman Desa. It was raining cats and dogs. The LINE Brown figurine you see with the affogatto was a gift from SK during her last trip to Korea. Brown with cake. Brown with Flat White. At the cafe, KH showed me his proposed itinerary for our upcoming Hokkaido trip. KH is the best, always the one to iron out the logistics. My job is to sit back and relax, whine and complain, and of course provide conjugal services. LOL. Thank you baby! Muacks.

Mum's Seventieth

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May Day was a day of makan-makan . Mum and I had a rare Thai lunch at Fa-Ying , Paradigm Mall. My last time there was in 2013 with Cutipie. We were quite happy with our choices. Seafood salad was a great starter and the tom kha kai was a great alternative to tom yum . In addition to those traditional choices, we chose a fusion item from the menu-- Anna's salad wrap. The dish is interesting because they serve you a stack of wide of hor fun  ( like those you see when eating kway chap ) that you use to wrap minced meat and fresh herbs. In the evening, we had a joint birthday dinner for mum and Little Monster at  Starlight Seafood Naturalle in Sungei Way ( KH, SK, QueerRanter-D and Apollo's mum joined us ). Mum turned seventy, while Little Monster turned four. When KH called in to make reservations ( such a dutiful son-in-law hehe ), they asked him whether he wanted seats near the stage or the aquarium. The receptionist suggested the aquarium since we had kids. The aquariu