Coughing non stop? Try this!!

I told my aunt about my coughing annivesary the other day when i was at malacca. I told her I've taken don't know how many bottles of cough medicine but on and off i'm still coughing, even without drinking any cold drinks!

She then brought me to her garden, and showed me a plant. A plant that looks like pandan leaves, except it's purplish green. She said I should try to boil this to drink and see if it heals my cough. My 'yi po' intro this plant to her and said it's very good in relieves sore throats and dry cough. well, y not? no harm trying wat, i want to get rid of this coughing thing!!

this is the purplish green plant i'm talking about.
looks like pandan leaves rite?
it is called Bang Hua leaves (蚌花，蚌兰花）.
It is believed that the Bang Hua leaves
helps to relieve dry cough, sore throats and etc.
(清肺化痰, 凉血止血, 止咳, 止痨伤吐血..)

why is it called Bang Hua (蚌花)?
it's because of this!
the flower of the plant.

wash the leaves and the flowers.

barley, i mixed the normal barley with china barley.
i prefer normal barley but my aunt says china
barley is better. hehe, so i mix la..

put everything in the pot and start boiling!!
when the barley turned soft, it's ready to be served.

after an hour, the water turned purple!

my aunt asked me to use the palm sugar (gula melaka),
she mentioned some benefits of gula melaka,
but i forgot!! hehe..
so i added the smaller piece.

it turned out to be quite nice!
it's exactly like barley, except it's purple. hehe..
hopefully it really can cure my cough cough cough...

Red Banana

Have you seen banana in red b4?

FL's cousin gave us this, she said she bought it at the market.
very big!!
almost 2x bigger than the normal banana.

see? so big!!
eat one already very full!
and it's very nice, sweet,
a lot nicer than the normal banana.
if you happen to see this in the market,
remember to buy it!!

Potato Chips from India

FL's cousin gave us this potato chips

where she bought from India during
her business trip.
It's tomato flavor.

all small small pieces..
well, all the way from india wor...
consider very good already ler. hehe..

big packet but inside not a lot.

well, basically it taste like the normal
potato chips we have here except...
you can taste some extra curry spices...
ya, i know it's tomato flavor, but then it has
curry spices. hahaha...
if u like mamak kind of curry, u probably will like this.

Sambal Petai

My first time cooking sambal petai. The main ingredients are PETAI, haha, and of cos, sambal.. You can also add other things, like prawns, or sotong, whichever you like. As for me, i do not have prawns or sotong, therefore i decided to make use of the vegetable ball that i bought in malacca.

this is the best vegetable balls among all
those that i've tried. If you see this, make sure you buy
1 packet and try, u will definitely love it!!
i bought at malacca, a small shop @
bukit baru, RM10 per packet.
don't think u able to get this price
at anywhere else.

i used around 10 veg. balls.
wash and cut into slices.

this is actually mushroom slice, fried.
crispy, but don't eat too much. hehe..
i normally add a bit when i cook mee/meehun soup.
not sure how much per packet, my aunt gave it to me.
decided to use some for my sambal petai.
oh ya, it's vegetarian food..

mushroom slice.
about 2-3 tablespoon.

1 big onion, cut into slices.

and lastly, petai.
remember it's better to cut the petai into half,
as sometimes there's worms inside petai
and you won't be able to notice by looking at it.
soak in ice water (about 5 - 10 minutes). why?
the ice will keep the petai crunchy after cooked.
ok, let's start cooking..

saute onion..

toss in the veg. balls & petai.
saute...
add a little bit of sugar.

add in 2-3 tablespoon of sambal.
the sambal i used is quite salty, therefore
i did not add any salt.
saute..
add 2 tablespoon of water.

add in the mushroom slice.
saute..

ready to be served!

Instant Latte

Instant Latte, RM20 per box

from Marks & Spencer

there's only 8 packets inside.
RM20/8=?
one packet how much??

pour inside a cup, and add hot water..

wow, smells really nice..
but i dun really like Latte. hehe..
FL loves it.
taste like the Latte we ordered outside too..
hmm, then it's not really expensive lar,
if u compared with the one u drink at
coffee bean or star bucks..

Sweets from Marks & Spencer ~ Fruit Sherbets

Remember the sweets from Marks & Spencer?

RM 10 per packet.

wow got 5 flavors!!

very big, if ur mouth small, u need to cut the sweets
into two only can put into ur mouth. hehe..
okok, i'm just joking too 'kua cheong' already..
but it's really nice.. it's a bit like
eating sorbet! nice.
if u go make sure u buy a packet to try!!

Domino's Pizza

We went to the new midvalley yesterday, but everything seems to be so expensive, all branded stuff so we headed back to the old midvalley and had our dinner there. Everywhere is full of ppl, buka puasa mar.. so at last we decided to have out dinner at the domino's pizza.

The place is almost full, but not a very long queue. So after waited about 10 minutes, we got our seats. Before we ordered, they already told us the thin crust pizza finished, left thick ones only.. no choice lar.. so we ordered the pizza set for 2 person. The set includes 2 soup, 1 coleslaw, bread stick and pizza.

the chicken soup, self service.
not very hot and they added too much water.
not very nice..

forgot what this thing called.
but not nice too, tasteless.. and it's hard!!

coleslaw, this one not bad,
a lot too...

and lastly, the pizza.
we ordered the Aloha Chicken, looks good rite?
taste good too, too bad the thin crust finished,
else i think it'll taste even better!!

The whole meal = RM 28.52 (include service charge & gov tax). If were to compare with the pizza hut set, i think this domino's pizza would be much much much better!!

Elextrolux Gas Stove

There are a lot of ppl buying houses, moving house this yr, a good yr to do so? hehe. i got colleagues and friends moving in to their new house, got colleague and friends buying properties, yes, all in this year!! i'm also one of them, moving in beginning of this yr. hehe...

For ppl like us, we will discussed things like, where you buy your furniture lar, where is cheap, where u buy electronic products and etc.. There's an ex colleague of mine asked me which brand i bought for my gas stove and asked me what is the reason choosing this this brand, after i explaining to her, she also get herself the same brand. hehe.. i guess i must go get commission from Electrolux lar, for promoting their brand.

While chatting with Ms.C the other day on msn, got to know she's moving in to her new condo next yr, congrats!! so again, we talked about the reno stuff, kitchen stuff and of cos we talked about gas stove.. i told her one of the reason i bought Electrolux is becos at that time, Electrolux is the only brand that allows us to remove the whole burner when we need to clean it. well, it's kind of difficult to explain without the gas stove with me, so she asked me to take pictures for her to see.. so here u go, ms C, this post is specially for you. hehe....

ok, this is the burner..

i first removed the outer part.

remove the two round round cover..

and removed the middle part.
so this is what i meant by remove the whole
burner. cos normally other gas stove
they doesn't allow you to remove the
middle part, so when u cooked, if u happened
to drop something inside, it's very hard for u
to clean it.

so these are the parts that i removed!!

I'm not sure whether now other brand's can do this or not, but when i bought that time (about 1 and a half yr ago, i tried a few other popular brands), this is the only brand that allows us to remove all, that is why i choose this brand, of cos there's other reason also lar.. it looks damn nice. wuahahahahhaa... so Ms.C, with these pictures, hopefully now u understand what i mean. :)

I need more calcium!!

I recently noticed that the surface on my nails are uneven, they are no longer smooth and shiny, when you touched it, it feels rough. At first i thought it caused by the nail polished that i just removed. Then a few weeks later, i checked my nails again and found the uneven surface still exists! I do not know what's wrong with my nails until i read about it in an article.

The article said when nails are not shiny, with uneven nails, it means we might lack of calcium. Calcium? hmm, maybe it's true. i even had leg cramps few days ago during sleep! food i take not enuf calcium, some more i drink coffee everyday, coffee kills calcium one.. die lar like tat...

i once heard my aunt told me, the chinese doctor that she's seeing told her gals not suitable taking calcium tablets.. (err, forgot wat's the reason d.. ) cannot take tablets? then let see wat are the food that contains calcium.. i should probably eat more.. milk? seldom drink, but i'm ok with drinking it. ok next time drink more milk. cheese? err, still ok lar, next time eat more.. yogurt? oo, i love yogurt, eat more eat more! yay!! soya bean? err i dun like..but have to try to drink abit lar..

so after eating more these stuff, i will.. gain more weight la. of cos. wuahahahahahaha.. :p so u know what else is rich in calcium? tell me tell me!

Char Siu Pao

Have you seen a wheat char siu pao before?

bought @ malacca,
one packet 6 char siu pao, RM 4.50.
You can keep it in the freezer and steam
whenever you feel like eating it.

delicious!!
did i mention it's VEGETARIAN??
this is the best vegetarian char siu pao
that i've ever eaten!!

Donald & Lily Corner

I've always wanted to visit this shop whenever i go back to malacca after watching one of the episode of 'Ho Chiak'. The first time i went around 5pm+, the shop already closed. So this time i went there earlier, around 3pm and luckily the shop still opened!!

it's a shop at the back lane of jonker street.

some decoration..

more decorations...

hmm, nice..

The shop only opened from 9am - 4pm. No wonder not much ppl at the shop when we were there. and we did not have any other option but to order meesiam & cendol, as others.. all FINISHED!!! too bad ... but at least still got something to eat. hehe...

cendol, RM 1.30 per bowl.
very nice, a lot of santan. hehe..

hmmmm....... yummy!!

FL had TWO bowls!!

hehe..

mee siam, RM 3 per plate.
the mee siam actually taste quite normal,
but the sauce is REALLY good.
spicy...

We had 3 bowls of cendols and 2 plates of mee siam, total = RM 9.90. Too bad we were too late, should go earlier and tried the laksa, nasi lemak, pongteh and etc.. will definitely find a chance to go again!!