East Coast Part 1 - Chukai, Kuala Terengganu, Summerland Retreat,Pantai Telaga Papan, Pantai Rhu Sepuluh, Kampung Mangkuk

During the June holiday, we decided to take a road trip to the East Coast of Malaysia. It's a long long drive, covering coastal area of Terengganu and then all the way to the Thai Border in Kelantan, but this part of Malaysia is beautiful, especially the beaches.

♥Jun 1st Sunday♥

We started the journey noon time, lunching on sandwiches in the car.

Back in 2009 when we visited Cherating, we had tea at the famous Hai Peng Kopitiam in Chukai, we recalled it was really good, so we drove into Chukai town thinking of taking a tea break there on our way to Terengganu.

Arriving at Hai Peng Kopitiam, we found that the shop has closed and relocated, and it has also been renamed, due to some 'family ownership' dispute. It's now called Sukiyang Kopitiam (located at : PT11283 Jalan Belatuk, Taman Chukai Utama, Fasa 3, Terengganu).

We went searching for it, and arrived to find the Kopitiam almost full house.

What is the verdict? Service was lousy, had to wait so long for our toasts and drinks (coffee, tea and milo), and everything was just so-so. I bought a pack of ground coffee back, and it's RM17.90 for a 200g pack, very expensive for local coffee. The worst is, this is not the same 'kopi' as what they served in the kopitiam, it was darker and not so aromatic. I . felt . being . conned.



Pressing on, we arrived at Kuala Terengganu at dusk. Not knowing where to eat, we used Tripadvisor to look for a restaurant and decided to try Adeq Sue Ikan Bakar (located at : Batu Buruk, 20400 Kuala Terengganu). We followed the Tripadvisor map, but it was WRONG! Googled more, and finally found the place using this map.

Worth it? YES YES YES!!

The 2 grilled fish with sambal petai was so spicy and so yummy; the girls loved their ayam goreng kunyit (fried chicken with turmeric) and fried kangkung; and the best dish was the Tomyam Poktek. A creamy tomyam filled to the brim with a variety of seafood (clams, crabs, fish, prawns), it was so full of flavour.



The place wasn't easy to find, but it was worth the effort.

Another hour drive after dinner, and we arrived at our accommodation, Summerland Retreat which is located at Pantai Telaga Papan. So tired after all the driving, we went to bed after a shower.

♥Jun 2nd Monday♥



Summerland Retreat is just a 2 rooms vacation home set in a big piece of land. The friendly owners of the place, Oya and Ena, live about 50 meters away in another building.

We only took one room at the vacation home, the other one occupied by an Australian and Irish couple.

Room is clean and modern.


The charm of the place actually lies in the surrounding. The garden is beautiful, and there were the occasional Iguanas and birds that can be spotted.




A quiet beach, Pantai Telaga Papan, accessed/used mainly by the occasional locals, is only 100m away.





Sand is clean, soft and fine.


And the sea, clean, clear and calm.

We spent the morning there strolling at the quiet beach.




We then took a drive up a little North along the coastal road. Stopping at Pantai Rhu Sepuloh, a small fishing village with a beautiful beach.

Fishing boats used were pretty traditional, some were beautifully decorated.


We came across a Budu maker at Pantai Rhu Sepuloh.

Lots of anchovy like fish were being dried.


Budu is a kind of fermented fish sauce used as seasoning and eaten with rice or fish. The fermentation takes place in cement urns like these.
As it was not season to make Budu, according to the worker there, the urns were empty, but still leaving a strong fishy smell.

Driving further North, we wanted to have lunch at the famous Terrapuri at Kampung Mangkuk. Terrapuri is a resort with old Terengganu Malay Classic houses turned into villas.

Alas, they didn't even allow us to enter the resort compound, claiming there were busy preparing for a big group of visitors arriving, and did not have enough staff to serve us.

We just explored the surrounding beach filled with tall coconut trees, with cows grazing peacefully among them.




As the hubs wanted to go back to Kuala Terengganu to photograph the Crystal Mosque at sunset, we took the 1hr drive back to the capital city.

We wanted to check out China town in Kuala Terengganu, as there were a couple of eateries listed on tripadvisor. Unknowingly we parked near the Turtle Alley (located at : Jalan Kampung China, Kuala Terengganu), and had a chance to check it out.

Just a small alleyway sandwiched between 2 prewar shop houses, it's decorated turtle mosaics art, teaching the public about turtle conservation.








And at about 5pm, China town is almost dead. Most of the coffee shops are already closed, no opportunity for us to try out Madam Bee's Kitchen.

We took one last stop near Crystal Mosque, just to view this beautiful mosque from afar, and then headed back to Merang area for dinner.


Continues here.

Making Zong Zi (粽子) or Glutinous Rice Dumpling

I love to eat zong, probably because I love glutinous rice.

My early memory of zong was my Ah Ma's (maternal grandma for Hokkien), with black eyed peas and fatty pork, which is out of this world. I remember she made them all by herself during the Duan Wu (端午节）or the Dragon Boat Festival or as and when someone was visiting my uncles in Taiwan, and she wanted to bring them some.

I remember she would prepare the ingredient, put them in small little bowls, then she would sit on a stool, meticulously filling each one up and wrapping them into pyramid perfection.

As I spent my first 3 years of primary education living with my Ah Ma, my early childhood memory of food was her cooking. Her simple but delicious kon-loh-mee (干捞面）ladened with deep fried lard cubes and a sprinkle of ajinomoto; and her dried vege pork soup (菜干汤) were some of the best food I'd tasted. Her bak zhang (Hokkien for pork zong zi) was also a legacy, no other zong zi I'd tasted later are up to par.

My Ah Ma has passed away many years now due to her grief for the loss of my mum (who lost her fight with cancer). I didn't learn up her bak zhang's recipe, as I wasn't interested in cooking back then, when both the family's greatest chefs were still around. My loss really.

Due to a vow I'd made I'd not been eating pork for almost 20 years now, finding a good tasting pork free zong zi is very difficult, most of them were expensive with not much fillings except for glutinous rice.

So 4 years ago, I decided to make myself, using good ingredients, replacing pork with scallop following a pork zong zi recipe, and I used split mung beans instead of black eyed peas like my Ah Ma's.

The difficult part in making zong zi is not in preparing the ingredients, but in the wrapping. The 1st year I made them, it took me so long just to wrap them properly and secure them with strings (yes, most of them have to be tied with 2 strings or more!); and about 1/4 of them burst open during boiling. 2nd year was better, but still took me a long time, and a couple still burst opened.

Last year, I watched this recording from Wendy Kong, and that's when I really learnt how to wrap them properly. With right technique, I spent less time wrapping them, they are better secured and fewer zong zi unwrapped itself during boiling.

Last Sunday, while the whole world is celebrating Father's Day, I decided to use that free day to make some.

This is the recipe I used, adapted to our taste over the years.

(Estimate to make about 30 zong zi, but can be more or less depending on the size the zong zi, so usually I'll prepare more ingredient except for rice and split mung beans, mission is accomplished when the rice is all used up)

Ingredients:
1kg glutinous rice (rinse and soak in water for ~4hrs）
500g split mung beans (rinse and soak in water for 3hrs, then drain thoroughly)
30 chestnuts (soak overnight, pick out the skin and boil until soft about 1hr)
hand full of dried shrimp (rinse and soak in water for 10mins then drain, then fry till fragrant)
30 dried small scallop (rinse and soak in water for 20mins then drain, then lightly fry till fragrant)
30 salted egg yolks
30 mushrooms (I soak overnight, then stew them in some sugar, salt and oyster sauce)
60 bamboo leaves (soak overnight, wiped and clean each leave and I usually prepare more just in case any of them are torn)
30 strings

Spices for the rice
9 tbs oil
12 cloves garlic (remove skin and chop)
15 shallots (remove skin and slice them thinly)
3 star anise (rinse)
6 tsp oyster sauce
1 1/2 tsp five-spice powder
6tsp light soy sauce
6 tsp sugar
4 1/2 tsp salt

For the rice
1. Heat up oil in wok, stir-fry garlic, shallot and star anise until fragrant. Add in oyster sauce and stir until fragrant. Add in drained glutinous rice and stir well.
2. Add five spice powder, stir fry until fragrant. Lastly add in soy sauce, sugar and salt, stir evenly. Set aside.

Wrapping and cooking zong zi
1. Wrap and tie Zong Zi following this recording, fill the cone with a layer of glutinous rice. Add other filings, top with split mung beans and cover with another layer of glutinous rice.
2. Base a big pot few bamboo leaves (I used the torn ones), add in 2 tsp of sea salt and water (3 cm from the dumpling surface after they're placed in), bring to boil over high heat. Add zong zi, bring to boil again. Switch to medium heat, continue boiling for 2hrs.
3. Remove one to check if the rice has been thoroughly cooked at the end of 2hrs, if not cooked, continue boiling for another 15, 30mins (adjust your time accordingly based on your observation of the 1st zong zi).
4. Hang the zong zi in a well ventilated place in order to allow the water to evaporate.

In photograph, these are what we used.
















Wrapping them take some skills and will improve with practice.




Boiling them take some time.


Hang to let the water to evaporate.


Viola, home made zong zi adjusted to our taste.


Duan Wu is almost 2 weeks ago, this recipe came a little late for this year, but who said you can only eat zong zi during Duan Wu? As long as you can find the leaves, this can be made any time of the year and adjusted to your own preference.

I'd made some according to the girls' liking as well. Zara didn't want the salted egg yolk, so I made a few without yolk for her, and double the amount of mushroom. Zaria didn't want anything except a slice of mushroom.

Zaria asked as well, "Why do you make the dumpling using the same ingredients every year? Why can't you change? Like putting sausages or bacon (what she likes), and instead of green beans, why not put baked beans?" Maybe I'll accommodate her next time (but not baked beans zong zi though, that's just too YUCKS).

Zaria's Poem - Today I Roasted A Bunny

Recently, Zaria wrote this in her journal instead of writing a diary entry.

A poem which she said she made up.

School Holidays - What A Child Can Do

So the parents' nightmares school holidays have started.

This is what Zaria wrote in her journal yesterday.


So yes, she can do lots of fun things, but of course, mummy has to spoil their holidays by giving them work to do! That's what mummies are for. :P

Every Child Is A Creator (Of a Gadget)

Unlike most urban kids, our girls don't own an iPad, don't have free access to one (they can only use it as a dictionary freely), and neither can they watch TV as and when they like. They are only allowed TV or the iPad time if they have earned it, such as, they have done a page of writing, or some worksheets I'd given to them, etc.

Today, I went out for a long lunch, and came home to find the girls have created their own toy with a box which was used to deliver my shopping 2 days ago.

They have created a vehicle which they claimed can be converted to a ship, a car, a plane.


With a very special control console.

I asked Zaria who was 'driving' the vehicle, "How can you have games on your console, you can't play games when you are driving."
She said, the car drives automatically without human control.
But of course.

They created a smart phone too with all the Apps they are interested to have.The 1st app on the right on the 2nd row is photo gallery according to Zaria.

The paw is an Apps for animals, and she hasn't figured out what it can do yet.

And of course, how can someone do without an iPad, loaded with all the important Apps.


Love to see the girls do this instead of just being glued to the TV or gadgets.

Learning Biology Through Our Dog Bubbles

Bubbles has been with us for more than half a year now, and the girls treat him like a brother. Our conversation revolves around him a lot, and through him, sometimes Biology is learnt.



One day.
Zaria : Ma, how come Bubbles' penis has so much hair?
Me : Err, because dogs don't wear underwear, the hair is to protect their penis.
Zaria : Oh, he needs hair on the penis so that even when he doesn't wear underwear, people cannot see his penis.
Me : yeah, something like that.

Another day.
Zaria : Ma, Bubbles pole dancing on me.
Me : Bubbles, no pole dancing! Shuu...
(Bubbles climbed down from Zaria, then after a while, climbed on her again)
Zaria : Ma, Bubbles pole dancing again. Now his lipstick is showing.
Me : Bubbles, stop it!
(Bubbles climbed down from Zaria)
Zaria : Ma, why can't you allow him to pole dance on me?
Me : Because he cannot! It's not right.
Zaria : Ma, actually what is he trying to do?
Me : He's trying to mate with you Zaria.
Zaria : But he's so young ma, how can he mate with me?
Me : In animal years, he's old enough.
Zaria : He doesn't know I'm too young to mate is it? And we're not even married. o.O

Taiping Dec 2013 - Glorious Food, Around Town and Sentosa Villa

(What we saw and where we visited in Taiping during our year end visit is captured in the earlier post.)

Possessing local knowledge helps tremendously in a trip, with this Taiping trip, we just referred to our "Where to eat" list from Zaria's teacher, not having to hunt around or experience any disappointment during meal times.

One of the places that should not be missed is Restoran Kakak 家家茶室 (111, Jalan Pasar, Taiping)

The kuey teow soup is supposed to be famous, with a choice of your own topping (fish cake, fish ball, stuffed tofu etc) tasted alright with a nice soup and smooth kuey teow. And we saw lots of people ordering the chicken feet, which we should have tried but didn't. What we really like is the Kakak Ping 家家冰, which is a cold Nescafe mixed with barley drink; a unique combination, which made the Nescafe has a slight malty taste.

The place is opened early in the morning, and sold out quickly, especially the Kakak Ping. We went back the following day at noon, missing the Kakak Ping already only to find they have sold out.

No photos were taken at the coffee shop as it was a mad morning rush when we were there.

As the coffee shop is located in town, we had a stroll around town after our breakfast.

The girls were fascinated with a shop next door to Restaurant Kakak, which sells animal food, chicken feed and also chicks.


The road that attracted Zaria, Jalan Boo Bee (just because it sounded like boobies) is just nearby.


Nice pre-war shop houses around town.


And we like all these old style shops.


Here are some other places we'd been for something to eat..

♥Siang Malam♥ (Jalan Kota)

It's a bustling hawker centre beside the KFC Restaurant in town.


We went there for supper, and hence couldn't order much, but the cup of tea made by one of the stall was really good. The 'barista' deftly made cups of coffee and tea from the tiny kitchen was interesting to watch.


We tried the chee cheong fun (flat rice noodle) there which was drenched with a reddish sweet sauce with generous topping of friend shallots and toasted sesame seeds. Unlike the brown sweet sauce we get in KL, this red sweet sauce is nicer and more fragrant.



♥Larut Matang Food Court♥ (Jalan Panggung Wayang)
Best place for lunch I believe, as we went three times, once late afternoon, where some of the stalls were finishing up and closing, another before noon, but the Nonya kuih stalls were just about to start their business, and another time slightly after lunch, and the stalls were all bustling with activities.

Famous stalls include, Fishball kuey teow (stall number 78); it's actually like a dry soy sauce fish ball noodle getting fried before serving.

Unlike the fried kuey teow that we are used to, this one is a little wet, and the noodles are thicker cuts; I think we prefer the usual fried kuey teow.

Red Bean Soup 红豆水 and Groundnut Soup 花生汤 (stall number 40); We can just keep going back to this stall. The red bean soup is so rich and thick (but not bitter); while the Groundnut Soup is so fragrant, with melt in your mouth groundnuts. Best of all, only RM1.40 per bowl!





All stalls in Larut Matang Food Court have sign boards which indicate their stall number.


There are also two traditional nyonya kuih stalls (in front of the fishball kuey teow stall) which sell a huge variety of nyonya kuih.

♥Restoran Mr BBQ♥ (Jalan Maharajalela)
This place was so good, we had dinner there two nights in a row.

The BBQ stingray is not to be missed, but the asam steamed fish is also fantastic.






On the eve of Zaria's birthday, she, who's the only pork eater in the house, wanted sweet and sour pork for dinner, so we ordered this for her in Mr BBQ. She said it was really delicious as well.




♥Ipoh Bakery 怡保面包西饼屋♥ (144-146 Jalan Taming Sari)
We chanced upon this when we googled for a bakery to get Zaria's birthday cake. This bakery has been operating for more than 90 over years, the bread and the chicken pies are famous. They have also progressed with time and now they make fondant cakes as well.



Besides getting a slice of cake for Zaria, we bought lots of buns and bread too, and they were all quite nice, some of the bread like the cream roll, sure brought back some childhood memory.

Zaria said the slice of cake we got her tasted very much like my cake, meaning it's very home-styled.


♥Restaurant Tepi Sungai(十八丁海上食店)♥ (150 Tepi Sungai, Kuala Sepetang)
Kuala Sepetang has many seafood restaurants but this was recommended by our friend. The fried little crabs are not common, but I think the fried little shrimps are nicer. They are so tiny they could be eaten whole.


We tried the Bismillah Cendol (Jalan Barrack) as well, but maybe because we are not cendol connoisseur, we didn't find it that nice (Just like we didn't find the famous Penang Road Teo Chew Cendol nice as well).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♥Sentosa Villa♥

As for hotel, we stayed in Sentosa Villa which is at the fringe of the Lake Garden. We got a family room at the main hotel block. Room is huge and clean but without any character. I think staying in the family villa would have been better (but they are quickly snapped up).


The hotel surrounding is beautiful, we only realised this when we stayed back on the last day for breakfast.


There's a natural stream and pool in the compound.




And there are chickens, ducks, turkey running around in the garden, which the girls were fascinated with, trying to feed them with bread from the breakfast buffet.


They also tried catching some fishes from the pond, and because there were so many, they could actually scoop them up with their bare hands.