A New Hotel In Town - Holiday Villa Hotel & Suites

Today, after shopping at the one and only shopping centre in Wakaf Che Yeh,




Mama saw there was a car parked at the newly built hotel across the road, and the passenger getting out from the car was carrying a suitcase up into the hotel main entrance. Mama realised that the new hotel is finally open for business!



Mama asked Atuk to drop her in front of the hotel so that Mama could find out the rates of the rooms and whether all facilities are ready to be used by the guests. Even the front desk staff could see Mama's super excited face and told everything that Mama wanted to know.




Yes, Mama is super excited because firstly, this hotel is near to Atuk and Nenek's house. Secondly, it is right at the hub of the fast rising new town, Wakaf Che Yeh, which is well-known for its 'pasar borong' and night market.



The children's preschool is about 300 metre away and it is in the vicinity of Mama's school too.



And for the time being (until end of February), they are offering promotional rates.



Mama hasn't had the time to take the pictures of the exterior (and the interior) of the hotel yet, but wait for the updates, okay?

As promised, here are more pictures of the hotel

Desserts, desserts and more desserts...

Today Mama saw this picture in a friend's facebook (ermm Kak Hani, this is without your knowledge and permission but Mama knows you will not kill Mama for this, won't you? Hehe).

Top left : Biji Nangka Mas

Top right: Mas Sejemput (Thong Yip)
Bottom left: Lupchup
Bottom right: Serikaya Kacang



Mama realised that Mama has never seen and  doesn't know the names for these Kelantanese traditional kuih (desserts). Luckily Mama's friend told us their names and tonight Mama quickly asked for Uncle Google's help to find out more about them.
(At the moment Mama still doesn't get much information about Biji Nangka Mas and Serikaya Kacang)

Mas Sejemput / Thong Yip (sweet egg yolk cup)

Thong Yip is popularly made on propitious occasions since its name begins with the word 'thong' which means gold and the Thais believe that gold, which symbolizes fame and wealth, will bring good luck to them.

Ingredients
• Yolks from 5 duck's eggs and 5 hen's eggs
• 3 cups of sugar
• 3 cups of water scented with jasmine

How to cook
1. To make syrup, stew sugar in water scented with jasmine in a pan until all the sugar dissolves and bubbles appear all over the water surface.
2. Whip the yolk until stiff.
3. Remove the syrup from heat and wait until it becomes still.
4. Spoon up the yolk and drop it into the syrup. Repeat this until the yolk is finished. Each spoonful of yolk will become circular in shape in the syrup that is not too thick.
5. Put the syrup pan on a moderate heat. Pour some jasmine-scented water into the pan from time to time to prevent the syrup from thickening. Turn over the golden circular pieces in the pan before spooning them into a container with some syrup.
6. Make each piece into the shape of a five-point star and place it in a china cup to allow it to firm up.
7. Take it out of the cup and it is ready for serving.

Luk Chup 
(fruit-shape desserts made of mung-bean flour with natural colouring) 

They look like various kinds of fruit and vege- tables, such as chillies, cherries, mangosteens, oranges, mangoes, bananas, watermelons, and carrots but they are in miniature. Their taste is sweet, their smell is fragrant, and their appearance is attractive and colourful. They are called Luk Chup.

In the old days, Luk Chup were the sweetmeats made for the king of Siam to have after meals in the palace. The skill of making these little sweetmeats could thus be learned only from people in the palace. Nowadays, eating Luk Chup is not limited to only palace people. However, they still preserve its position as the sweetmeats for those of high society since they are rather expensive and the Thais popularly present the dessert to their superiors and elders on special occasions like New Year's Day, birthdays, or as a gift to convey one's congratulations.

To make Luk Chup, the basic ingredients are ground mung beans (with skins removed), sugar, coconut cream, clear gelatin, and food-colouring. Ground bean paste is mixed with sugar before coconut cream is added. The mixture then is heated over a gentle fire until it becomes sticky. After leaving it cool, the mixture is taken to be molded into the desired shapes of fruits and vegetables. This important step needs good dexterity. Every curve and line requires a very gentle touch to shape the mixture into the miniature fruits or vegetables. But the size of each piece is limited by the amount of mixture that can be made to hold together. Then the little models are painted in various colors. When dry, they are dipped in clear gelatin.

The sweetmeats can be kept in a refrigerator for up to three weeks. Nowadays  Luk Chup are not as commonly found as other Thai sweets. They are on sale in only some shops selling Thai desserts.

Taken from : http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_desserts/desserts_thai_cultures.html

Henna

Mama's eyes turned as big as saucers when Mama was picking up the kids at their play school cum nursery last week. Sis A's fingers and toenails were painted purple!
Trying to act natural, Mama asked her, "Kenapa kuku Yaya macam tu?" (What happened to your nails?). She replied innocently, "Yaya lukis dengan kawan-kawan" (Yaya painted them with friends' help). Oh Mama's little girl has grown up. Oh now she's into nail painting? Hahaha.. Mama laughed when Mama was reminded of an episode a few years ago.

A colleague, who had just returned from performing the Haj, gave a small tube of henna to Mama. Sis A was nearly one year old that time and Mama was very excited to make her look pretty and be more feminine. When Sis A was sleeping, Mama carefully applied the henna to her nails and toenails, hoping that she would be as excited as Mama when she woke up.
Alas, it was not to be. Mama heard shrieks and screams of horror from Mama's little girl. She kept crying and showed her nails to Mama. Until today Mama could still remember her frantic words, "Ddaroh, Ya Ddaroh" (Bleeding, Yaya's bleeding). Oh my, she thought the red colour on her nails was blood and she was really scared at that time. So, Mama had to wash the colour off her nails to stop her hysterical fits.

When Mama was a little girl, Mama and Mama's little sister were always excited during weddings. The bride in the old days (and in present days) always wear the henna. And of course after the bride used it, there would be some henna leaves left for the children .In the old days, henna didn't come in a tube. They came from real trees which can be found in the backyard of most village houses.

From Wikipedia:

Henna (Lawsonia inermis, also called henna tree[1]) is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The English name "henna" comes from the Arabic حِنَّاء (ALA-LC: ḥinnāʾ / pronounced [ħɪnˈnæːʔ]) or colloquially حنا, loosely pronounced /ħinna/.

Whole, unbroken henna leaves will not stain the skin. Fresh henna leaves will stain the skin if they are smashed with a mildly acidic liquid. Henna is commonly traded as a powder made by drying, milling and sifting the leaves. The dry powder is mixed with lemon juice, strong tea, or other mildly acidic liquids to make a preparation with toothpaste-like consistency, which can be used to make finely detailed body art. The henna mix must rest for 6 to 24 hours before use.
The paste can be applied with many traditional and innovative tools, including resist, a cone, syringe, Jac bottle or fingers. A light stain may be achieved within minutes, the longer the paste is left on the skin, the stronger the stain will be, and should be left for several hours.

Henna stains are orange soon after application, but darken over the following three days to a reddish brown.After the stain reaches its peak color it will appear to fade, as the stained dead cells ex foliate.


Mama, cousins and aunts then worked hard pounding the leaves into paste and put everything people said would make the stains stronger (in our case, dark red). Then we would take turns putting the paste onto our nails and toenails. In order to avoid staining our bed sheets (and the wrath of our mothers), we wrapped our little fingers with cellophane tape (just like the picture that Mama found with some help from Uncle Google).
The end result? We all thought that we looked prettier with the red nails and toenails. A bit like the bride.

Captain T Restaurant

There is a new eatery in town. Finally it began its operation about three weeks ago. Mama heard that the owner is a Penangite millionaire and is so into ships and that's why the restaurants are shaped like ships.

There are two restaurants; one is on land and another is floating on the Kelantan River. The floating restaurant looked tempting but with two very active young children in tow, we decided against it. Moreover, the waitress who showed us the way told us that we had to wait longer for the food if we chose to eat at the floating one.

There are also benches and tables if you prefer to dine al fresco but we wanted to experience climbing to the upper decks and imagine that we were dining on a boat so off we went, climbing a flight of stairs and we chose the first deck (or berth?)

There are a variety of seafood offered and we chose a bit of this and a bit of that. The prices of food are a bit steep but my brother was paying for the meal so who cares? *evil laugh*.

The view is very beautiful. Mama could see the Sultan Yahya (the previous Ruler of Kelantan) Bridge in the distance, and on the other side, the Masterskill buiding (a private institution), just next to TESCO. And we could also see the unique way of sending the food that customers ordered to the floating restaurant - they used a container tied to a hanging rope. Actually we thought there was a boat that could take us cruising up and down the river, sort of a river cruise but the boat was actually that floating restaurant!
All in all, it was a nice and relaxing meal, with the soothing evening breeze.

The Food at Mr Cook

Yesterday Mama brought the children for an early dinner. Heck, Mama doesn't cook, okay. Anyway, bringing them out for meals make them happy. Yeah, very happy. And Mama was happy too tucking in her Chicken Chop.

Wordless Wednesday 15

Kelantan Book Fair

We all know the advantages of being a Bookworm -the imaginative experience, the broadening of horizons, the constant friends(a book) and vast built-up of general knowledge.
Mama loves to read and have loved reading since Mama was a little child. Mama loves epic stories, Mama loves series (especially the Enid Blyton ones) and recurring characters. Mama likes fantasy and romance (Mills & Boons, Silhouette series) most but can read just about anything if the book is decent and interesting.

Put Mama in a book store / book fair and rest assured that Mama will always find something to bring home. When Mama was a student in Penang, Mama'd scourge the second hand book shops (usually at Lebuh Macalister or the Chowrasta) for a good bargain. Imagine buying about 20 books for less than RM100 (then). Then when Mama became a teacher, Mama bought more and more books and magazines (brand new and second hand) and this time Mama shared my love for reading with Mama's students.

Last Monday Mama went to the book fair. As expected, there were many people there (mostly students) looking, choosing and buying the books and magazines. To Mama's surprise, a few of Mama's ex students were working as temporary staff there. It was very difficult to find suitable books for Bro H and Sis A but luckily the staff manning the place were very helpful. Mama was very impressed and touched. Mama spent more on the children's books. Mama was given about 10 lucky draw coupons for spending nearly RM100 but Mama guess Mama wasn't that lucky. What a pity because one of the prizes was IPad2...

Sarina Restaurant

Oh my, it has been ages since Mama updated her last entry in this blog. There are lots of events and stuff that Mama wanted to put here but as usual, Mama has lots of other things to do and she tends to procrastinate hence the silence.
Well, this evening Mama went again to this restaurant with the children. Mama comes here at least once or twice in a fortnight. The first time Mama was here, Bro H kept telling Mama about 'abang biru' ('elder brother' dressed in blue). The 'abang biru' in fact was one of the cooks there so after they finished cooking our food, they tend to hang out near the counter. The name stuck even after our several visits later although the cook didn't wear his blue t-shirt any more.
Why do you think Mama always comes here and orders the same menu (fried noodles for Bro H and fried rice for Mama and Sis A)? It's because of the hospitality they had shown Mama and the children the first time we came. When our order came to our table, Bro H refused to eat his fried noodle at first. This is because they put ground peanut on top of the fried noodle and Bro H pushed his plate away saying 'sand.. sand' (because the ground peanut looked like a small pile of sand). The waiter took it away smilingly and understandingly when Mama explained and apologized. He said it was okay and didn't make Mama feel guilty for asking him to bring another plate of noodle. Now, when we stop here, Bro H always go and watch the cooks preparing our order and they don't mind it at all. In fact, they are a warm bunch of people and understand Mama's difficulty in managing the children. They help to look out for the children when Mama is tucking into her food. They even know Bro H's and Sis A's names.
The Sarina Restaurant is not new. It has been there when Mama was still a little girl. The food is tasty of course but you can find tasty and delicious fare in any restaurants in Kota Bharu or other places but what is hard to find is the hospitality and the empathy shown by the staff there to a mother eating out with two boisterous children.

Nordin Batik

Yes, the place is only about 2km away from my parents' place but I never had the time to pay this place a visit until Hana asked me to go there for an errand. So near yet so far away because as usual, yours truly is always busy with work, work, and work.

Let me tell you about Batik first and I copied this from wikipedia :

Malaysian Batik is batik textile art of Malaysia, especially on the east coast of Malaysia (Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang). The most popular motifs are leaves and flowers. Malaysian batik depicting humans or animals are rare because Islam norms forbid animal images as decoration. However, the butterfly theme is a common exception. The Malaysian batik is also famous for its geometrical designs, such as spirals. The method of Malaysian batik making is also quite different from those of Indonesian Javanese batik, the pattern is larger and simpler. The colours also tend to be lighter and more vibrant than deep coloured Javanese batik.

But Nordin Batik, also dabbles in handicraft as you can see from my photos. Above the showroom is the Paloh Inn, managed by one of his children. Alas, I was so pressed for time that day so I didn't go to the 'factory' to take pictures of the batik printing process. As for me, after taking pictures of the gorgeous batiks and handicrafts at the showroom, I couldn't resist buying a caftan before leaving the place.

Nasi Kerabu (Herbed Rice)

Yes, I can't help talking about food. Malaysians love food and I am a true blue Malaysian. More so if you are a Kelantanese. (Kelantan is one of the 14 states in Malaysia and is famous for its delicious, yummy food). I love going for this kind of meetings because I can meet old friends (some of us only meet each other once a year for the occasion although we live in the same town / state) and go out for breakfast / brunch together and trying out new eatery/dishes at the same time.

Today, on our last day of meeting, we decided to stop at Pasir Tumbuh and try the 'Nasi Kerabu' (Herbed Rice). It is a delicious Kelantanese speciality and usually served with choices of sides such as 'ayam percik', (barbequed spicy chicken) 'sambal kelapa' , 'solok lada' (chilli stuffed with minced fish and grated coconut) and others.

Today I chose 'peparu goreng' (deep fried offal in turmeric) and 'daging bakar' (roasted turmeric beef) to be eaten with my nasi kerabu. Simple but enough to last me until afternoon.

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