Our House :-)

Today, we went to get the keys to our new home.

It was confusing!

Hubby received a call from the developer, saying that today was the last day to collect the keys, and that we had to go to their office in Glenmarie to get it, or so he understood.

When we got there, the office was closed even though according to the person who called him, they'll remain open through lunch.

Then, when we finally got to see the Miss who called him, we were told that the keys wasn't there; we had to go to the Management Office in Puchong. FINE!

Then there was the 'thing' about calling to make an appointment first, then we could all go with a rep to see what was not right so that we could fill in the defect form. Problem? The appointments were full till mid-March or so!!!

Since we were made to understand that today was THE day to take the keys, the lady I called at the Management Office was nice enough to entertain us, but we had to do inspections on our own, or wait until there's an available slot.

We decided on the former.


The very fussy beams are sooo unappealing that we're thinking of covering it up all together. It will bring the height down, but so what??? It'll be much to crazy to think of a solution on where to put in the lights and fan for the dining area!!

In the pic above, it's weird that one room had the points all in place, and the other only had wires sticking out...

Here are some pics we snapped that we found deserved a mention in the defects form :-)

Although we cannot start any work on the house without the temporary CF and permit from MPS, we are planning to get some *real* quotations so that we know where we're headed....




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Seafood Dinner :-)

Time for some recipes :-D

For dinner, after our scrumptious dim sum brunch, I grilled some baby octopus and prepared Sweet Sour Udang Galah which hubby caught. I only used half of the udang galah, as I may want to make something else with the rest of it, ehehehe...

Grilled Marinated Octopus

you need:
baby octopus, cleaned and scored
light soy sauce
finely diced fresh red chillies
finely diced garlic
minced ginger

how to:
leave to marinate about 1/2 hour, then frill until cooked through :-)
serve HOT!

These huge (very sweet) strawberries were brought back by hubby from Japan. Needless to say they were marvelously sweet and fragrant :-D :-D :-D

Sweet Sour Udang Galah

you need:
Udang Galah (or any other type of shellfish of your choice)
garlic*
ginger*
cili padi*
(pound together all * ingredients)
1 large onion, quartered
oyster sauce
tomato sauce
sweet chilli sauce
water, as preferred
a dash of fish sauce

how to:
heat oil in wok and fry the pounded ingredients until fragrant and almost brown. add in the cleaned udang galah and cook until they turn almost totally pink. pour in the combined sauces, mixed with a bit of water, together with the quartered onions. add in the fish sauce and check seasoning. continue to cook until done, and serve HOT with rice.

This is Aina,watching her favourite Winnie the Pooh video, Stories from The Heart :-D :-)
This is her usual place to 'stay' when we need to do other stuff, and even though there are probably hundreds of debates about using the television as your 'nanny', sometimes it just can't be helped!!




AM

Dim Sum Feast, AGAIN!!

It was another makan session for us today.

Initially, reservations were for 16 pac, but in the end there was only 13 of us :-)
As usual, the dim sum venue was Quality Hotel KL, and this time it was Sunday brunch.

The first to arrive was my expecting niece with her other half, and we would have been earlier had hubby not taken the wrong turn, LOL






Seated nest to me is my preggy niece :-)
(Kak MaDiHa kalau baca posting ni, itu la anak buah yg teringin rasa roti gulung akak ari tu...)



Aina had chicken porridge, a bit of the fried goodies (which I of course chewed to bits first) and also a bit of honey dew for desert. The face you see below is the result of boredom, as she wanted to go see the fish swimming in the restaurant aquarium.







This was what happened to Aina finally, as it was time for her nap. After 'chatting' endlessly and going from one person to the other, she finally 'landed' on my shoulder and promptly fell asleep :-) LOL LOL LOL

We finally left at around 12.30 to go and see Nenek, the whole troop! LOL LOL LOL




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Post-Vacation...

ehehehhe... In my previous entry, I didn't put in this bit about the yummy laksa stall. Just thought I'd put all of Aina in one entry...


You can find this stall at the road leading from the airport to Pantai Cenang, just at the curve of the road. Used to be just the little van and a few tables, but now there's also another van that sells noodle soup, in addition to the existing laksa 'power', rojak pasembur, and cendul.

Why laksa 'power'?
Just take a look at the amount of chopped cili padi in there, and that's your answer :-P



On Monday, I took leave from work as I usually take an extra day to wind down after going on a break somewhere... but this time, I attended the above. Her 'official' workshop will be held in April and May (originally planned for March, which I cannot attend due to a wedding in the family), and I will just join the practical session then :-)

I was also sort of a guinea pig for her since it will be her first time conducting such a class.

material and notes for reference

Anyway....... from the workshop yesterday, I played around with my humble D40 taking pics of Aina :-D


Anyway, I am hoping to practice more over the weekend, if I can find the time!
I have numerous things planned out... ahahahahaha

Till then... here is a video of Aina to entertain whoever feels like watching it :-)







AM

Aina's Trip - Langkawi

Hello! Hello! Everyone..... especially Babah who's still in Japan. We just got back from our little trip to Langkawi... :-)

We left on the 13th, but our flight was delayed an hour... so the start of it was not so good... Aina fell asleep in Mama's arms in the waiting lounge, and slept through until we were descending.


The stroller that Aina is sitting in is permanently in TokMi's house so it's convenient for everyone, especially me, saving me having to take it back and forth.... Seems we now have to self-check in for domestic flights, and thank God someone was there to assist...

I arranged for the car rental there, and managed to get a good deal -- Sentra for RM150 for the whole duration :-D :-D :-D

We immediately headed for lunch at the ikan bakar place we usually go to, although at that hour obviously there was no ikan bakar yet... then we checked in at Aseania. Nothing fancy, but they HAVE improved quite a bit compared to the last time I was there.


That afternoon, since it was boiling hot, I decided to introduce Aina to the swimming pool...

That little floaty thing's sooo NOT ours! As there were a few just laying there by the pool, I just grabbed one and put Aina in it. Initially she was a bit apprehensive, then as she grew more confident, she even waddled a bit, imaginging I guess, that she was in her walker... making her way around....


The next day, we went to Kuah Town to shop for stuff -- mainly chocolates and perfume. Well I had to buy my perfume as I've already run out.

Then for lunch, we drove towards Beringin Beach, but took the turn towards the Bamboo Beach Restaurant. Sorry no food pics as my hands were covered with sugar and butter from Aina's bread, which we bought for her lunch.



After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for Aina to nap for awhile, then decided to take Aina to the beach. Unfortunately, she was not too comfy with the waves and started to cry a bit, so we headed back to the hotel to take her into the pool again.
















This hotel boasts the longest swimming pool, and it is LONNGGG!!!

The sunken bar is in one area, separate from the kiddie section.


For dinner that night (Valentine's) we decided to have dinner at the hotel as they were having a BBQ fare... Even Aina had a bit of fun at dinner.

She had some potato salad, minestrone soup, caramel pudding and some bread pudding which she didn't really enjoy :-)




























Throughout dinner, she somehow decided that the baby chair provided by the hotel was not comfy (or whatever!) and insisted that her TokMi carried her the whole time!

Her poor TokMi had to rush through dinner to take care of the michievous Aina.... LOL

In between, Tok Ayah and myself, together with TokMi took Aina on buffet rounds just to keep her occupied...




The spread consisted of grilled/BBQ'd chicken, lamb chops, skewered prawns, corn and sausages, along with Pineapple Fried Rice, Singapore Noodles (first time I've seen the noodles black i.e cooked with soy sauce), and also Portuguese- Style Grilled Fish.

As the weather was hot and dry, I added 100 plus to our beverage of WATER :-) :-D :-P






















The next day, we checked out at around 11am and headed to the airport for our flight home.

Unfortunately, we were told that our flight had been cancelled, and the next flight was t 14.10am!!! Imagine...! Being stuck at the airport with this very restless, cheeky minx!!!

Lunch time was another matter - there was a food court at the mezzanine floor so we decided to head there as Tok Ayah was not partial to Kenny Rogers or Starbucks fare, but turned out that there was no lift to take us up there!!

We had to take a chance by carring Aina in her stroller up the stairs...!!! Our hands were full, there was no way we could carry her and carry her stroller separately. In the end, when we were having our lunch, I moved around a few things and managed our 'trip' down the stairs a little more bearable with me carrying Aina and Tok Ayah carrying the stroller, and TokMi carrying bags.

It's ridiculous that an International Airport like Langkawi has no basic facility to cater for the disabled. Yes, they have food at the lower level but not everyone is partial to Starbucks and Kenny Rogers!!!

Anyway, the flight back was uneventful, except for the fact that Aina was so excited that she screeched so loudly in the plane until she finally fell asleep!!

Thank goodness the plane was a huge one, ahahahahhahaa..



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