have a break...have a kit kat...cuti-cuti

MALACCA - 9th June 2009

HOLLANDS CAFE

Inside Holland's Cafe in M'cca. we had been walking for like forever and our legs were kiling us and there was no sight of a muslim restaurant or cafe around that area.( rasa macam kat oversea pulak susah nak cari restoran melayu, or maybe it's us who didn't know if there were any in that particular area ) we did find one but it was closed! We decided to get back to our car and drove to Mahkota Parade , wherever that was , we need to find our way there first ), when we suddenly came across this cafe.it's called Holland CAfe, so we decided to ask if they serve halal food cos we were truly starving at that time and thankfully they did. So had our lunch or maybe high tea because it was way past lunch time,made ourselves comfortable there since we were the only customers at that time and we had the service all to ourselves , so we ordered beef lasagna, meat kroket ( the dutch specialty as recommended by the lady ), black pepper chicken pizza and Holland coffee which contained 20% coffee and 80% milk.

While waiting for the food, mama sempat gak pi one of the shops nearby which sold Kebaya Nyonya. I thot I must have one of those since I am in Melaka and got myself one green nyonya kebaya to be worn with green batik sarung. All these happened on the second day of our trip.

how we ended up in Melaka?


it's the school holiday but mama's schedule is very tight for the first week with weddings and kenduris and so mama decided to block the second week of the holidays, not to take any cake orders and Abah was also available...well...made himself available for the kids..so, the question is, where shall we go? locally, that is. a few options: Penang, KL, Kelantan? No theme park; be it water or land , cos it's the school holidays , for cying out loud, and most probably, well, surely these places will be packed with holiday-goers. we have been to most places be it on our own or office trips,Genting, Cameron, Langkawi, Danga Bay, A Famosa , Lost World, Bukit Merah, the Carnivall , etc....so we were totally clueless as to where we were heading as we set off for our journey on that particular Monday afternoon .

So, we decided to settle mummy's things first which were to look for baking stuff and books. went to one shop in Puchong, seronoknye tengok all the gadgets. At first, I just surveyed the items first, second round, baru start ambik things needed and suddenly heard the shutter being pulled down. It's only 6 pm! It seemed that the shop closed at 6pm. I rushed with my things and being the last customer to go out but I did managed to get a few things which I couldn't get back home. Okay, that's done. Went over to the nearby cafe where my hubby and kids were waiting for me and had kuayteow goreng there.

Where to next? It's still early, so off we went to KLCC, where the books were. I was looking for cake decorating books. Got myself a few books . , one of the books was by Martha Stewart, "Wedding Cakes", a gift from hubby for me. very expensive too, but I think it was worth it. this woman is so talented, with baking, cake deco, organising, house-keeping, crafting, you name it, she can do almost anything. Belum apa2 lagi, dah bertambah barang kat bonet kereta tu. itu baru first day, belum pun check in lagi.

Our eldest did mention that she wanted to go to the museum in Malacca and so on the second day, we decided to go there. The last time we went to Malacca was when Batrisyia was barely two months old. I had just finished my confinement period and had a few days left before I had to start working ( after the sixty day maternity leave ), so we decided to go for holiday , that was in the year 2004.

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we didn't go straight to M'cca but made a stop at the L*w Y*t Plaza to download some games , or something ( i dunno much about their games )to our kids DS and PSP. By noon, we made our journey to the land of HAng Tuah and Hang Li Poh and all the other "Hangs'"

We finally went to the museum, about half an hour before closing time!

before entering the museum.

had an ice-cream first...

whoa.a... sampai dua ice-cream.....perhaps the other one belongs to Kakak....

macam duk Holland lah pulak, with the windmill at the background...

love the view behind us, a narrow alley with trees crawling up the wall....

inside the museum

my hero with the patung hero....

peek ..a..boo...

My three Angels, not Charlie's Angels ya... ( my other angel is behind the camera)

After the museum tour in less than 45 minutes, we decided to leave Bandaraya Melaka Bandaraya Bersejarah and headed back to KL. After less than two hours, we reached Bukit Bintang area where we had our dinner of nasi ayam steam and kari kepala ikan. Feeling knackered and full , what more do we want but to put our heads on the pillows and to doze off into the dreamworld!

the next day, we decided to head home or should we go back to see Tok Abah and TokUmi. but before there one final shopping spree at the C*rve and IK*A.By evening, we finally left KL after stopping for satay kajang at the R&R, bought some for Tok Abah and Tok Umi cos we finally decided to go back to my hometown for a while, even it was just for one night cos I had to leave back to Alor Star on Thursday .

Arrived at Abah and Umi's place around midnite. Everybody at home, abah, my sister and her family except Umi were asleep. Umi waited for us. Everybody is tired..esp the driver, my other half...i only bawak sekejap sangat, from the R&R to a place (forgot the name of the place ) before we made the exit at Kuala Kangsar thru to Grik ( timur) to the East West highway.

Blur image of this elephant ( taken while driving ), spotted on the side of the road along the timur barat highway on our way back. We think this was the same elephant that we saw last night.perhaps he or she couldn't find her way back and was still lingering there trying to sort out where he or she could or should go. Poor thing, his habitat has been invaded, so where else could it go?

It's been quite some time since I last went back. the last time was for my youngest brother's wedding ceremony in January. So good to see them again. Umi bought macam2 for breakfast, from nasi berlauk to nasi dagang, to pulut pagi and roti goreng. All my favourite food. then went over to my sister's place off Jalan Telipot where we left our kids to play with her kids, their cousins while we went to another shop to get the stuff for my "keras tangan" project.

Nama je cuti tapi semua tempat pergi berkaitan dengan Zue's Oven. What to do, it has become part of my life now, but hey, I 'm not complaining cos am enjoying every minute of it despite the number of sleepless nights, the back aches, etc...it was worth it. Never before have I felt this good about something. It's a very satisfying new experience.

had "Nasi kak Wok" for lunch at my sister's place before we headed back to Abah and Umi's place before leaving for Alor Star.Umi was busy preparing dinner for us. She made us kari kepala ikan, ikan merah and goreng ikan kerisi ( my favourite when I as young ) and insisted that we brought them back untuk makan on the way or back home. That's Umi, she would cook our favourite dish everytime we come back, for me, she would either make sup ekor or sotong rebus or that ikan goreng tu, for my hubby, asam pedas ikan keli, same with my adik-beradik yang lain, She would go all out to make their favourie dishes.Abah, would normally go to his kebun and get the pisang rasa for me but not this trip because he wasn't feeling too good, baru lega from demam the last few days. Love Abah and Umi soooo much. unfortunately we can only stay a while, balik jus nak bersua muka, nak lepaskan rindu yang tak pandai nak diucapkan melalui kata2. We left just before 6 pm and arrived Home Sweet Home around 10 pm.

Subhanallah..teramatlah cantik, magnifique...breathtakingly beautiful sight to behold. If only i can capture this sight on canvas.this view was taken just after we passed the Puncak titiwangsa. We have always loved the trip to and from Kelantan because of the view.

we missed the actual sunset but this is still as beautiful .

It was quite a tiring trip but it was rather fun and worthwhile trip. Now that I am back, berasap baliklah oven at Zue's Oven for the black and white theme engagement cakes and cupcakes were waiting for me.

Back to reality, school holidays is over. Kids back to their routine, me and my baking , hubby and his work. Dunno when the next trip will be or where we are going. I just want to be thankful and grateful for what is bestowed upon us, syukur alhamdulillah.