Travels

Hainanese chicken with chicken rice balls are my absolute favorite and a must-eat item whenever I visit Malacca. So we all had to go to Jonker Street to satisfy my craving. Jonker St is really hard to miss if you are in Malacca as it is in the heart of town. Despite it being a little too tourist driven, I still feel that there is much charm to the place with its old shop houses. Having great food in the area sure helps its reputation as well!

After having my craving satisfied, we needed to satisfy my mothers’ craving by bringing her to eat her favorite Jonkers Street Gula Melaka chendol and  Nonya Rojak. My mum kept telling me that she was absolutely full from the chicken rice ball lunch but the chendol was so good she finished 2 bowls and then finished my remaining half a bowl. Gosh! Now I know where I get my gluttony genes from.

And in case you were wondering, we also managed somehow to find room for the rojak! I think we must have evolved to be cows with 4 stomachs. But then again it was planned as a food trip so it has to live up to the expectations!

I did mention in my last post that this was a foodie hunt trip to our friendly northern neighbor, Malaysia, right? So our first stop is Malacca. I usually give Johor Bahru a miss because of all the scary stories I ‘ve heard my Malaysian friends tell me. Thus the nearest town I’ll usually stop in when travelling north is Malacca.

The first stop is Baba Charlie. It’s a very famous nonya kueh shop ( I mean, they even have a Phua Chu Kang endorsement that says that it is the best!). The store only opens till 3pm everyday except Thursdays when they are closed.

And if you want to check the store out the next time you go to Malacca, here’s the address.

72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2 75200 Melaka

My mum was really excited about the nonya kueh here because she says that it’s difficult to find really good ones these days and this is about as authentic as you can get. They even use flowers to color their kuehs instead of commercial colorings! There were so many different varieties of kuehs, I didn’t know the names to most of it. I tried the Ondah-Ondah and it was really yummy with gula melaka (coconut sugar) oozing out with every bite!

The love letters were really fragrant and every one of their products is still handmade from scratch. The kitchen is an open concept next to the little food selection area and if you are lucky, you can smell the aroma of freshly made kuehs sifting through the air.

We bought tons of kuehs, and other nonya specialties. I’m sure you can tell from the pictures, the crazy amount we bought and my very happy mummy will be bugging me to bring her back to this treasure trove of nonya kueh soon.

My mom saw all the yummy food photos I took when I went up to Malaysia the last trip and she got really tempted. Since then, she has been bugging me to take her on a food trip in neighboring Malaysia. Some time last year, I finally found time to take her on a long drive up North with many stops along the way for food and sightseeing. I’ll be posting on this trip in the next couple of posts.

Here I am on my first day being the driver of this food expedition. I’m seriously the chauffeur in my family! Everyone expects me to drive all the time

Louis and Emmie were guarding my belongings and obviously wished they could come along too. I would love to bring them along if not because of the crazy quarantine restrictions they have to go through.

It was such a rainy drive. For a sneak preview of the up coming posts, watch the video below.

Video can be also found at http://youtu.be/0WkF3JFlwI4

Happy New Year to everyone! I’m currently in Bangkok doing my countdown this year. This is my 5th year in a row that I’ve spent my New Year Eve and the first day of they New Year abroad. I never really planned it that way but at the rate it’s going I’m starting to feel like it’s a tradition.

My 2011 flew by so quickly I can hardly keep up with my pace of life and neither can my blog so there’s still a lot of backdated posts. I’ll get them up on my blog sooner or later though Meanwhile here are some shots of my dog, Louis, after his bath to wish you a good year ahead!

And here’s Louis giving you a New Year’s gift! A January 2012 calendar!

This is my last post for my Switzerland trip. It’s a beautiful country and I was very tempted to spend my countdown to the year 2012 there as I was invited to a countdown party in Zurich this weekend. But as it’ll be only a very short weekend trip, I’ve decided to give the snowing countdown a miss and spend my last moments of 2011 elsewhere warmer. I won’t be in Singapore but I’m not revealing just yet as to where I’ll be doing my countdown.

On my last day in Switzerland, I woke up early to pack my luggages before heading out for brunch. The last day of the trip always descends upon me like a surprise. Time passes quickly when you are having fun! But no matter how wonderful a trip is, there is always a time to say goodbye.

I managed to squeeze in a short soak in the indoor whirlpool before setting off for the airport.

I’ll be back to visit this beautiful country again and maybe this time I’ll plan a pure ski trip hopping from mountain resort to mountain resort.

My last taste of Switzerland? Rich and creamy Movenpick swiss chocolate ice-cream on board my flight.

Wandering the city of Zurich and I came across this home next to a cafe with gorgeous flowers all around the garden. It’s such a refreshing sight in a city. I really do miss doing random walks around strange cities all over the world without a care in the world and not knowing my next destination.