A Stop Over Trip - Sitiawan

In June, the girls have a week of holidays, and despite the crazy schedule at work, we managed to plan for a weekend holidays to Perak. We signed up a 2D1N package to Pulau Sembilan, and because we had to be at the Bagan Sungai Burong (双武隆渔村) by 7:30am to leave for Pulau Sembilan, we decided to spend the night in Teluk Intan, which is around 1hr away from Bagan Sungai Burong. We decided to spend the afternoon in Sitiawan, as it seemed to be a nicer town to explore compared to Teluk Intan. My BIL is from Sitiawan, a couple of whatapps later, he told us where to have lunch and which gong pian is good. Both my BIL and sister recommended lunch at Lido Restaurant (52, Jalan Dua, Taman Sitiawan Maju, 32000 Sitiawan). This ugly looking plate of fried fish was so good, ok? The oyster egg was delicious! I'd not eaten oyster egg this nice in Malaysia. After lunch, we searched for the gong pian that my BIL recommended. Actually there were a few he recommended, but searching for the one near the 'yellow' old Courts Mammoth building was the easiest, i.e. Sitiawan Cheong Cia Gong Pian (曾家福州光饼） (12, Jalan Tok Perdana, 32000 Sitiawan) By the time we arrived, that batch was sold out and they were going to make a new batch which will be available in 2hours time. We told them we came from KL, and asked if they have a piece or 2 to let us try. They did! It was still warm, very crispy with a very flavourful onion filling. It was so good! Guess what? The hubs decided to stay and watch them make the next batch. O.o The owner Mr Cheong, is more than happy to let us watch and photograph him, since it'll be free 'advertisement' for him. Gong Pian/Gong Piah/Kong Piah/Kompia is a traditional Fuchow biscuit baked in an earthen oven, it can be plain, savoury or sweetish. Cheong Cia's has only one flavour, which is the onion Gong Pian. We saw them mixed equal amount of chop shallots and lard for the filling. No wonder it's so fragrant, and crispy! The dough stuffed with the filling was then flattened into disc, and stuck to the earthen oven to bake. Once they were done, they were 'scooped' out, and ready to be sold. 2hrs after the previous batch was sold out, the next batch of gong pian was ready, and the crowd started forming. We spent so much time watching the gong pian making that we didn't have much time left. Out went our plan to visit the near by Teluk Batik, supposedly a beautiful beach. We headed towards Teluk Intan instead, and checked into our hotel, Yew Boutique Hotel for the night. There's nothing boutique about the place, but the facilities are still quite new, and rooms are clean and comfy.

Favourite Authors By Zaria

July and August have been extremely busy for me, hence the lack of posting. Zaria has turned into a bookworm this year, always holding a book whenever she's not playing or watching TV; even at the mall! At times after we made a visit to the bookshop and she got her a new book, she would be reading it while walking with us in the mall, totally absorbed in her own world. There are a couple of authors she likes, and always asks us to buy her books by them, or tries to borrow it from library. I asked her to write about the reasons she finds these authors' writing interesting, and here is what she's captured. Mind her spelling, although I think she summarised the reasons pretty well.