Malacca - Part 3

After better planning on my 2nd day, we made our way to A Famosa. Who would have thought when this place was built that it would one day become a tourist attraction? I still have hope for charging an entrance fee in the future when folks come into my house to see my "memorabilia". Mrs Pitt will beg to differ and say that they're rubbish. Whaddaya mean rubbish? Bah! Rubbish! Oops, got derailed...Ok, back on track. It was a scorching afternoon and after climbing the stairs, we were perspiring like crazy. So thank goodness, we had some cool breeze when we reached the top. Apart from the peddlers (selling t-shirts, key-chain, water...), there were a lot of students scattered across A Famosa, doing their sketches.

See what I mean by scorching ???

And here's what he was drawing....

It was an interesting journey through time and this is one of those time I felt is about the closest I can get to be a part of history. Well, after spending about an hour here, we then left as our stomach was beckoning us for food! Having had brunch earlier, we looked for some tea time food. I drove to Jalan Bunga Raya to look for some food but had problem finding for a place to eat. Most stalls were either closed at this time (around 3) or haven't opened! Sigh, we walked around and chanced upon Mei Sin Cafe which is your conventional coffeeshop with food stalls. We ordered satay and on seeing something that I haven't come across in KL/PJ (the closest would be lobak), I ordered a plate of assorted snacks.
The snacks were pretty average and the satay too. The satay was only very lightly marinated and it's saving grace was the peanut gravy. It has a hint of pineapple (a guess), making it tangy. Something different but nice. Wonder where I can find such satay sauce here in KL/PJ.

At this point mom was saying that we should most probably pack some food back and eat in, not wanting to risk getting lost again at night. It's a shame to stay indoors but with my bad eyesight, I didn't have much of a choice. We went to look for the famous popiah (fresh spring roll) located in front of Madam King's departmental store. I found it when I saw a stall surrounded by customers. I had to wait a while as there was a lady who ordered about 20 pieces! A regular size costs RM2 whereas big (huge enough to be a meal itself) costs RM2.50. Here, the filling's chunky and there's a magic ingredient that makes it taste so good. What magic ingredient? It's crispy lard! Not to be missed if ever you're in Malacca! Err...unless you don't like crispy lard.
We then went into Italy Bakery shop and bought some buns and I picked up a Pineapple Cupcake. I have not seen any Pineapple Cupcake like the ones here. Topped with pineapple pieces and with added raisins, it looked so nice. I just had to try it and luckily, it tasted as good as it looked. All was good that night. Ha ha ha....What was planned for the next morning? The Malacca Zoo awaits...

To be continued ...

Sarawak Laksa, Gembira Restoran

After reading about masak-masak posting on Sarawak Laksa in Bangsar, I was reminded to try the other stall in Taman Megah at Restoran Gembira (Happy Restaurant). KA and I decided to eat breakfast there as we drove pass the area one morning.

The lady cook dons fancy hats, fashionable yet hygienic. Hee Hee...She is helped out by her husband (I think). However, they are not friendly people though they are operating from "Happy" Restaurant. They are not rude, is just that they are not smiley people. Smiley people are always in my good books (unless they are the sinister kind! LOL) Anyway, they also have Sarawak kolo mee apart from Sarawak Laksa. We both ordered the Laksa.
As compared to the one in Bangsar, I found the Sarawak Laksa here was served in a "rough" manner. I can't seem to find the right word for it. Rough as the shredded egg were in large pieces and the vermicelli was also quite thick. It was less refined than Nam Chuan's, to put it another way. However, the soup tasted better here. It's slightly thicker than Nam Chuan's. So, plus points for that. Well at RM4 a bowl, one can't expect a lot. I'm not sure which is the original style, less or more refine?

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. ~ John Gunther

Orisinal.com - Unwind Here!

Feeling stressed? Life a little too hectic of late? Feeling down? Or simply killing time? Go visit "Orisinal", you will find a cure here! Believe it or not, it was Zahara who told me about this site. Having some time to myself tonight, I decided to check it out and found myself thoroughly entertained. Some of you might know of it as it has been around since 2001. I took a couple of screenshots from the website to post here.
Orisinal is actually a flash game site but it's a completely different kind of game site that one normally comes across. It's art! Games here are designed in mostly pastel shades with soothing background music. If one needs to wind down, this is the online place to do it while having some fun playing games. Like the cute "These Little Pigs" for example, it has Canon in D Major playing in the background (those piggies are so darn cute!). The games may come across as kid stuff to some but most of the games appeal to adults too. I am so in love with this site and amazed at the simple yet addictive games available here. I have yet to go through all the games (57 in all) but my favourite right now is Midnight Serenade. Here, you are playing the guitar and serenading your love one. You are to collect as many roses as you can while avoiding the vases, bricks and bottles that are being thrown by your neighbours (for making all that ruckus! Why else?)

Two other cute games are "Cranky Crabs" and "The Three Monkeys". In the former, you have been bitten by the cranky crabs once too many time and it's time for revenge. The objective of the game is to hit the crabs with your yo-yo while avoiding beach balls and coconuts that roll across your path. In the latter game, you click on the monkeys to either catch or duck the fruits and bombs that rains on them respectively. Fun stuff! There have been no updates since November 2005 and I only hope that it means there are more games being developed.

Look around and you'll find an online store where you can buy all the cute characters that are printed on clocks, mugs, apparels, boxes and bags. Click around the other buttons and you'll find that Ferry Halim has created a page called "Raindrops" depicting rain. Apparently he loves the sound of rain, so do I. Then there is another button to send e-flowers to your friends. Here you "pick" the flowers and "arrange" them yourselves before you send them off. Wow! Games and all these? I felt refreshed after checking out this website. Of course, there are wallpapers for one to download too.

The only area where you will find "louder" music is in Trailer where there is a short intro of Ferry Halim's work. However, the cutest button of all has to be the guestbook. Here you can leave messages but you have a choice of an avatar from 8 types of animated characters, 60 shade of colours and 8 types of facial expressions to choose from. After submission, move your mouse over the character and your message will appear.
Gosh! The site is so beautiful that not only am I in love with it but I could possibly be in love with this Ferry Halim, the creator! LOL....I'm not a programmer but I can truly imagine the time and effort spent on such details. I can only see one bad thing arising from this website. What you may ask? The danger of spending all your waking and free hours here and ending up being some sort of a Rip Van Winkle before you know it! Ha ha ha.....I better stop waxing lyrically about Orisinal. I'm really in amazement and awe. Check it out and you'll know what I mean (but don't blame me if you end up spending your entire lifetime there! he he he...).

I do believe in love at first sight. Who? Bah! It's Orisinal!!!- wmw