Cucur and Cendol at Jalan Ismail Nagore

After noticing a cendol pulut stall near the Sungai Gelugor mosque, I did a Google search and stumbled upon reviews of the cucur (fritters) and cendol stalls at Jalan Ismail Nagore in Gelugor, Penang (the place used to be the Gelugor express bus stop). So, I decided that I'd have lunch there on 9 June 2011.

They were both simple roadside stalls, no names... just signs to indicate what they were selling. Cucur is a thick deep fried fritter made of flour, bean sprouts, and prawn. Cendol by default is a dessert made of coconut milk, brown sugar (gula Melaka), short green noodles, and kidney beans; while cendol pulut has glutinous rice added.

The cucur stall also serves taukua (tofu), egg, frankfurter, fishcake, potato, and a few other items... all deep fried.


[Cucur lunch: With taukua, potato, egg, and fishcake added. RM4.20]


[Cendol pulut: Refreshing. RM2.30]

My verdict? Delicious! I shall return...

Carpenter Street Cafe

With our holiday in Kuching still fresh in our minds, we dined at Carpenter Street Cafe in Bayan Baru, Penang twice in the past couple of weeks.

We have tried their Sarawak Laksa (RM7.90), Sarawak Kolomee (RM5.90) both the dry and "char siew" oil varieties, Sarawak Tomato Noodle (RM7.90), Fried Kolomee (RM7.90), and Pork Rib with rice (RM7.90). All are not bad.

Another very important point for us is that the boys ate pretty well there.


[Sarawak Laksa]


[Sarawak Kolomee]


[Sarawak Tomato Noodle]


[Pork Rib with rice]

Ayer Itam Dam in the Rain

Our recent outings to the Ayer Itam area seem to be dampened by rain. The latest outing-cut-short was to the Ayer Itam Dam on 29 May 2011. It was the first visit to the dam by the boys. The weather looked fine at first but after parking the car and before we could even start walking across the dam, it started to drizzle. Argghh!


[Julian and Mummy at the Ayer Itam Dam]

Julian is 4 Years Old!

Happy Birthday, Julian! Julian turned 4 years old on 28 May 2011.

Here are his updates:

• He has shown that he's the caring "big brother". There were times when Justin dilly-dallies when asked to go indoors, and when we threatened to walk-off, Julian would run over to Justin to hurry him on, or pull his hand.
  
• Currently he likes to ask Justin: "Justin, you want? Ya?" for a variety of things. Justin would always answer "Ya!"
  
• For a few months, he has been talking to Klaus Bear before he sleeps. We use Klaus Bear to ask him questions to engage him in conversation. They then tuck each other into bed.
  
• His reading continues to improve. He can now read simple phrases from newspapers and brochures.
  
• He's hooked on singing Kenny Roger's "Through the Years" by heart, and some parts of Kenny Nolan's "Love's Grown Deep". He had been hearing these songs from the family photo montages we made.
  
• Ever since our Kuching holiday, he's now a fan of 7-Eleven. When we ask him what he wants to do there he'd answer, "to buy something" or more precisely "to buy Slurpee!".

[Julian]


[Julian eating banana]


[Julian having a good laugh]

Julian has always been the very active-type. He doesn't sit still except when glued to the TV or computer, or when sitting in a baby chair during meals, or when "held at gunpoint" to do homework :o). However, he's showing some signs of "mellowing down"... perhaps he's maturing a little bit.

For quite some time running up to his birthday, he would often say "My birthday - Mickey Mouse!" (for his cake) and sometimes "My birthday, go restaurant". We eventually bought him a Mickey Mouse cake for him to celebrate with his friends in school the day before his birthday.


[Julian's Mickey Mouse cake to celebrate in school]

On his actual birthday, we celebrated with a lunch at Sea Palace Restaurant.


[Julian's ice-cream cake (from Ah Kong) with Mickey Mouse: For the family celebration at the restaurant]


[Julian cutting his birthday cake]


[Family photo]

Justin at 22 Months

Justin turned 22 months on 25 May 2011.

Here are his updates:

• He's gradually getting back into his bottle milk routine, almost always finishing 4 oz again. However, we noticed that he likes it earlier in the night and he does better when he's drinking in front of the computer *slap head*. Our primary objective now is to get him to drink... deal with the computer bit later...
  
• He can say 'stop' with hand action, 'tuck' (truck), 'ep' (help), 'mao' (mouth), ear, yellow, purple, 'dek yu' (thank you), 'beck' (black), bag, and 'shish' (fish).
  
• He sometimes dilly-dallies just before entering the apartment door. So, we resort to counting from one to three and he complies.
  
• He likes to line up vehicles, push them, and say 'teet-teet' (imitating Thomas the Tank Engine's whistle).
  
• He sometimes gasps when he sees something exciting... real drama king...
  

[Toys in line]


[Banana time!]


[Mummy giving Justin a lift]


[Justin in the pool]


[Justin the Drama King]

Penang Hill in the Rain

We took the boys for their maiden ascent up Penang Hill on 14 May 2011. It was our first trip on the new coaches.

The weather was good when we arrived at the foot of the hill at about 11am and there was no queue at the ticket counter. But everything else practically went "down hill" from then on.

We had to wait about 45 minutes (it was a weekend) before we could board the train for the 15-minute ride up. The ride up was smooth and comfortable in the new air-conditioned coaches. Shortly after we arrived at the hilltop, it started to drizzle. As it was about the boys' mealtime, we fed them buns that we brought along as the foodcourt was under construction and there weren't many stalls in the temporary location.

After about 20 minutes we decided that we should leave. So, after getting a couple of coconut leaf grasshoppers as souvenirs (RM1 each), we caught the train down without having to wait for long. On the way down, it started to rain very heavily. We were subsequently rained-in at the station. After nearly an hour, the rain was light enough for me to make a dash for the car and return to fetch Angie and the boys.


[Julian in the coach]


[View from the top station]


[Customary photo]


[Another customary photo]


[Coconut leaf grasshoppers]