Comparing Kamdar Brand Uniform Vs Kiko Brand Uniform

Most of you who read my earlier post, this and this maybe interested in this comparison.

Here is my take on Kamdar brand Uniform vs Kiko brand Uniform. Both are lasting. Zara had 2 Kamdar brand pinafores, and 1 Kiko brand pinafore, and her white blouses were all from Koko, all of which she wore for 2 years.

Just to compare the colour of the Pinafores.

From bottom to top. New Kiko band pinafore, Kiko pinafore which is 2 years old, Kamdar brand pinafore which is 2 years old.


The 2 years old Kiko brand pinafore is laid on top of the new Kiko. The colour has faded quite a lot, but it's still blue evenly.


Kamdar brand pinafore on top of 2 year old Kiko brand pinafore. The blue in Kamdar pinafore is still vibrant.


Kamdar brand pinafore on top of new Kiko brand pinafore. The blue from Kamdar brand is still more vibrant.


Kamdar definitely has nicer blur pinafore, and last longer.

How does it fit the girl?

Zaria wearing Zara's 2 year old Kamdar brand pinafore with back zipper (which Zara said it's easier to wear and remove). The shoulder straps of Kamdar brand are thicker, I guess making the child look a bit sloppier if they have small shoulders.


Kiko brand pinafore has slightly smaller shoulder strap, so they fit nicer.


Price wise, Kiko brand pinafore is almost RM15 more expensive than Kamdar. So I guess, if you can make a trip to their shop on Jalan TAR, Kamdar will be a better deal.

(Kiko brand uniform can be bought from Jusco.)

Soy Sauce Chicken 卤鸡

I bought a free range chicken on the weekend, and planned to cook the chicken whole. Hubs and the girls aren't a great fan of steam chicken, so I thought I'll try to make soy sauce chicken (卤鸡) instead.

I adapted the recipe from Rasa Malaysia, changing it based on what I have in the kitchen, and what I think would suit our taste more.

♥Recipe for Soy Sauce Chicken 卤鸡♥
Adapted from Rasa Malaysia.

You'll need :

For the ginger dipping sauce
2 inch ginger
2 cloves of garlic
sugar and salt to taste
1tsb oil

For the chicken
1 whole chicken 600g ~ 800g (my chicken was 600g, but I think I have enough sauce to cook a bigger chicken)
2-inch ginger (skin peeled and lightly pounded)
3 whole garlic (wash and lightly pounded)
1 stalk spring onion
2 cinnamon stick
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
1 tbs Chinese wine
3 dashes white pepper powder
1/4 tsp of five spice powder
120g rock sugar
4 cups water

Method:

For the dipping sauce
1) Skin ginger and garlic
2) Blend or pound ginger and half of the garlic until fine, place in a heat prove bowl
3) Finely chop the other half of garlic
4) Heat oil in small pan and fry the finely chop garlic until fragrant
5) Pour heated garlic oil over blended ginger and garlic, add salt (~ 1/2 tsp) and sugar (~ 2tsp) according to taste, stir mixture until well combined

For the chicken
1) Clean the chicken and pat dry
2) Add all ingredients (except the chicken) into a deep pot and bring it to boil on high heat for 15 minutes.
3) Add the chicken into the pot
4) and boil over high heat for about 10 minutes.
5) Lower the heat to simmer for about 30 minutes.
6) Turn off the heat and let the chicken steeped in the soy sauce mixture for an hour to soak in the flavor
7) Unless your pot is deep enough for the sauce to cover the chicken entirely, turn the chicken during 4), 5) & 6) a couple of times so that the soy sauce will coat the chicken evenly.
8 ) Dish out the chicken and chop into pieces and serve with the dipping sauce as well as the thick soy gravy separately.

The chicken has a nice brown sheen and was tasty and fragrant.

Note : For the left over sauce, you can keep it and make soy sauce egg (滷蛋) or soy sauce tofu (滷豆腐). i.e. Simmer the shelled hard boiled egg and tofu (choose the hard tofu) in the sauce for 15mins, and serve. The sauce becomes thicker and saltier with each simmering, so use just take enough to make whatever you wanted, and (do not simmer and) keep the rest for future use.

Penang 2011 - Part 1 Photos

We did our once a year trip to Penang during the Raya Holidays. Some may ask why go during peak season? Since Zara started schooling this year, we can only go away when she has holidays, so we are really not left with much choice.

♥Aug 27th♥
First time in our family history, we left the house before 11am to go on a road trip holiday! Yay to Daddy, who kept his promise of leaving the house by 7am to beat the jam.

We managed to have breakfast in Ipoh, and then have late lunch in Bukit Mertajam. Before lunch, we stopped by St Anne's church to say our thanks for another wonderful year.

Girls were facinated by the candles.


Zara giving thanks.


Girls collecting holy water playing water


St Anne's.


Since we'd never tried the Ferry before, we thought we would try out this time. Girls loved it.


It was so windy, the girls' hair was in a mess.


We got to the Traders Hotel (our current favourite hotel in Penang), by 5pm. It was nice to be greeted by a nice cool room with comfy beds. To the girls, this was when the holidays begun (getting into the hotel room).

That night dinner, we have it at Nonya Breeze (50, Abu Siti Lane, 10400 Georgetown, Penang), Zara's request. The team there has changed (as the original team had moved to Strait Quay to run the other newly opened Nonya Breeze), but the food was still equally good.

♥Aug 28th♥
After a sumptious breakfast at the hotel, we visited the market along Jalan Kuala Kangsar. Our 'must-do' in Penang.

Fresh oyster seller.


Jalan Kuala Kangsar.


Offerings to the Hungry Ghosts (孟兰节).




Popiah skin maker (last year, an elderly man was making them, this year, he's seen relaxing in the shop while this lady took over).


Poridge seller preparing the last few bowls of poridge for customers.


My favourite dry grocer Fook Weng, a yearly must stop.


Ointment seller giving extra service to get the sale.


Big Sale going on for Angry Bird stuff.


Girls choosing Agry Bird items.


By the time we were done, it was lunch time.

We went to Soul Kitchen (102, Muntri Street, 10200 Penang, Malaysia), a restaurant highly recommended by Tripadviser. Their pizza was one of the best I'd tasted!


We had to shelter ourselves after lunch from a down pour in a temple on Muntri Street. For Zaria, it meant play time!


After that it was back to the hotel for a rest.

One of the advantages of staying in Traders is everything is so near and within walking distant. For dinner, we walked out to De Happy Seafood Restaurant (62 Macalister Road 10400 Penang). Food wise, it was so-so, so I don't think we'll be going back there next year.

♥Aug 29th♥
Daddy woke up early, and went exploring George Town by foot before daybreak. He took these photos.













After breakfast, we decided to go to Penang Hill, since we didn't get to explore the place due to a downpour the last time we went there.

The old funicular train has been replaced with something more modern. It was going at faster speed as well.

View from the train.


It was a wet day, but we could still see George Town from the hill.


Because it's cooler environment, flowers bloom beautifully.




Besides the cool air, the train ride, Penang Hill has not much to offer. We had tea at the Bellevue Hotel, and then took the train down.


We headed back to the hotel to rest. Daddy took a nap with the girls, while I went to have a massage in the hotel.

For dinner, we decided to go to the Siam Road Char Kuey Teow.


More than 1hr wait later, we were rewarded with a plate of super delicious Char Kuey Teow.

Raptor Watch 2011

"Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) hosted the 12th Raptor Watch event at PNB Ilham Resort, 10th Mile Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson on the 12th and 13th March 2011."
It is a festival to celebrate the return of the migratory birds of prey or better known as raptors on their journey back to their breeding grounds in the northern hemisphere.

Thanks to Daddy (who likes this sort of outing), we are glad we joined in the fun, on 13th March, the Sunday the school holidays began.





The grounds in Ilham Resort has been set up with tents, with different companies either selling goods, or promoting their club. Monoculars and binoculars were at various booths where we can use to watch the raptors when they flew passed.





They were for all to use, and free!


We were actually a bit afraid the girls may break the thousands of dollars binoculars, but nobody seemed to be as worried as us.









It's not a guarentee that you may get to watch the raptors, but we were lucky, they were circlying above when we arrived, and appeared again later in the evening.

(That's what our camera could take. Well, Daddy thinks he should get a zoom lens for these kind of shot.)

When the raptors appear, the real bird watchers whipped out their own equipment.


There were face/body painting as well, all contribution will go to MNS. Of course, we all, except Daddy, went for it.
Isn't the owl cute?







The event being held next to the sea, the girls were so eager to move on and play at the beach. It was 3pm, HOT! But nothing is going to deter them.




It was low tide, very suitable for the girls to splash about (we were not really prepared for the trip, it was kind of impromptu, that's why the girls didn't get changed into swimming costumes).




Zaria seemed to like getting dirty wet.




There were crabs to be found as well.




Besides the beach, we explored a near by hill, with a 20min climb, got us to the lighthouse in Tanjung Tuan.


View from the hill.


Although it was a hot day, we all had fun! This might just become our yearly event.