Long weekend away to Hong Kong

Kiddo and I just returned yesterday from an EXHAUSTING weekend away to Hong Kong. We're trying to pack as many holidays as we can into the next 6 months as Kiddo starts Grade 1 in August. As it is, her teacher is none too happy with the number of 'ponteng' (truant) days we have taken so far. The comment the other day was, 'Is your husband an athlete?? You've taken days off for his triathlon, diving and now skiing!' Um. Weeellll....

Anyhow, this holiday was planned in about 3 weeks. During the Christmas holidays, my Dad mentioned that he would be in Hong Kong for 5 days at the end of January. At that time, I didn't think much of it, but we later found out that the Man had to be there the same time on business. So, long story short, we cobbled together a trip for the same time. We even stayed in the same hotel in Kowloon although we only met for dinner on Saturday and Sunday, and lunch on Monday. Heh, Dad = food. We flew in Friday night and back to Jakarta Tuesday morning. The flight took about 4 hours and was really good. Set up of the video screen and meals was much better than our usual carriers. We flew Cathay Pacific and it was marvelous. Of course, they gave out little kiddy packs too. That always helps.

It's currently winter in Hong Kong. Meaning that for those of us who have lived in the UK, the weather was a balmy 20C with light breezes. A light cardi was all that was needed for the nights. Saw lots of winter coats and knee high boots around. Overkill, but super fashionable.

Saturday saw us hopping on the MTR (Hong Kong version of the London tube) to Disneyland. Brilliant way to travel. Convenient, fast, and announcements are trilingual. Disneyland was lovely. I have always loved Disneyland. Nice clean, organised streets. Cheerfully lit store fronts... Piped music... I want to LIVE there!! Imagine... Address: # Sleeping beauty Avenue, Disneytown. Or, Snow White Glade, Pocahontas Valley... I digress...

We hit easily 90% of the rides. Kiddo wanted to do EVERYTHING. Which was rather a surprise actually. We expected a fair bit of resistance, but once she tried out the Mad Hatter's tea cups, she was on a roll. We didn't even stop for lunch! Peckish? No problem! Box of yummy caramel popcorn while waiting to enter the stage show. Still hungry? Here, have a bite of a foot long hot dog while waiting to go into the Lion King show... That was the 1st time we've been so lax about food, but we knew dinner was going to be a feast, and since she wasn't complaining, and Daddy was given enough to prevent him from morphing into the monster at the climax of MIB I (the slimy roaring one that ate everything it saw!), I decided to just go with the flow... All the usual rides were there: it's a small world, pooh and the hundred acre wood, buzz lightyear, space mountain (we didn't go on that), princess carousel, flying dumbos, tarzan's treehouse (not sure the point of that actually)... The Lion King show was very, very good. Things have certainly changed since the last time we have been to a Disney park. Admittedly that was 10 years ago in Florida and we were still DINKs.

HK Disneyland opens at 10am. We got there just before 11am and stayed till almost 7pm.Prices were HKD 950 for the 3 of us (about RM450/ USD150). Food within the park is pretty expensive. Captive audience and all that. Not that we ate much. Still, as our little princess' 1st visit to a Disney park, it was a rousing success. If not for having to meet my Dad and his friends for dinner, we would have stayed for the fireworks. No matter. Tokyo Disneyland in 3 weeks!

Sunday, we hit the Science musueum in Tsim Tsa Tsui. The original plan was to do both the Science and history museums then go check into the Hotel we stayed in on HK island. Unfortunately, we ended up spending over 3 hours in the Science museum and ran out of time. Oh well, next time. The science museum was very interesting. They had old rotary phones that were exposed so that you could see how the connection went through. And also all sorts of games that illustrated how things worked... Power stations, electricity, phone operators, mobile phone towers... Fantastic. Sunday night we went to a Teo Chew restaurant on HK island. Can't remember the name but it's 37-39 Queen's road West. Incredibly yummy. Had food like my grandmother used to cook. It also cost HKD23,000 (RM12,000/ USD3,000) for the 18 of us. I only found out the cost the next day when I was chatting to my Dad. My jaw dropped and I'm so glad I only found out the next day. No WAY would I have been able to eat it if I knew the price beforehand...!

Monday Hubs had to go to work. So kiddo and I trekked up to Sham Sui Po on Kowloon island to do some bead shopping. Didn't buy much, but kiddo got a look at 'real' HK street shops. As it's nearing Chinese New Year, all the decorations were out, and there were vendors selling wax ducks etc. Wonderful. Lunch saw us wandering off to Harbour view City on the south west coast of Kowloon. We met my Dad and a couple of his friends there and had more good food. Then we walked around the shopping centre which was obscenely huge. LV is 3 stories high (!!). There's a Manolo Blahnik, Kate Spade and Jimmy Choo (drool)... And also any other branded goods store you can possible name. The entire ground level of the Ocean terminal (one end of this store) is devoted to kids stuff. Dior, Tommy Hilfiger... you name it. Tucked into a little corner next to Toys R us is a little bookstore called Book Buddy. Unassuming and messy from the outside, but if you spend a little time checking out the inside, it's chock full of fantastic finds... Kiddo was in heaven. And of course, since grandpa was there, she literally walked out with the whole store. Trust me, I know. I carried ALL of her finds...

Tuesday saw us returning to Jakarta. The Man moved on the Singapore for more work. HK was nice. Though very, very expensive. A bowl of noodles in a small restaurant can easily set you back USD10. Taxis are exorbitant. The meter starts at HKD18 (USD2.50). The MTR is a fantastic alternative. A HKD 100 trip from Kowloon to HK island cost HKD15.50 for kiddo and I. It truly is a shoppers' paradise. And so alive... I love the neon signs suspended over the streets...

All in all. Great trip. I would have liked to take her to Tai O village, a traditional fishing village built on stilts. But apparently it's better in summer. And being over an hour away, we just didn't have the time. End of the day, the only thing I would have done differently would have been to bring a bottle of face scrub along. Believe it or not, I actually think HK is just as dirty pollution wise as Jakarta (not general cleanliness though. Toilets=sparkling, streets=no trash. HKD1500 for littering). 5 days = 5 spots. Gaaakkk!!

Werner- the culinary maestro

Back in KL, in an old rehabbed alleyway (Changkat Tung Shin) that used to house dilapidated old buildings (and incidentally, my Dad's old family home), sit 4 of the most amazing European restaurants to be found. There's a wine cellar too, but that's not open yet. They are : El Cerdo (the piggy place), El Cerdito (the Tapas place), Lavaca (the beef place) and Piza (the pizza place (duh), which is the site of my Dad's old family house in the days when Pudu was considered suburban). Actually there's a little sign that says 'Werner's on Changkat Bukit Bintang'. Not sure what it's referring to, but it's very apt since it looks like he might be gradually taking over the whole street. I have but one thing to say... Bring it on Werner! I'll be there! (And so will my Dad, and cousins, and a whole host of other people who think Werner is a genius with food!)

Every time we go back on holiday, it's at least 1 if not 2 trips to El Cerdo. Werner must have started it about 5 years back. Possibly less. But the first I remember of it is my Dad taking me and a very little kiddo there for lunch when we happened to go by his clinic one day. In those days, it was a little, narrow, cubbyhole of a restaurant and honestly, we had our doubts that an upmarket (as opposed to your regular char siew stalls or family Chinese restaurants) piggy restaurant would survive long in a Muslim country. Especially since it was tucked away in a rather awkward place. In those days, there were only a couple of dingy looking pubs there and the parking was impossible. Werner and his nephew Andreas were there all the time, and the place was near deserted the afternoon we went. They were lovely towards kiddo (always a big plus), supplying her with colouring pencils and a piggy picture to colour in even though she was too little to do any of that. Since it was so quiet, the waitresses even came by and helped her do the colouring!! That's service for you... The food was AMAZING!!! The Jamon Serrano with rock melon even better than I remembered having in Spain. They even specially boiled pasta and brocolli for kiddo who, as expected, wouldn't touch anything on the menu.

Fast forward a few years to December 2009. Werner now has the 4 places up and running, countless renovations under his belt, and to hear my Dad describe it, is well on his way to monopolizing that street. There is also ample parking. Yay! And the dingy pubs are no longer dingy. Quite 'happening' now. Dad has got to know Werner quite well, and when Lavaca opened, was given a complimentary table to invite his friends! Wow... Stuff like that NEVER happens to me. According to Dad, Werner has worked all over the world, from Spain to Brazil. Ask him where he's from, and he'll say all over. Never got the details right since I'm usually too busy stuffing my face to pay attention to the 'grown ups' (go home, and I revert to being a kid again!) talk, but I think Werner is either German or Austrian. Hmm... Maybe Swiss... Ok, I'll stop now before I get more off mark.

I am delighted to say that over the past few years, the standards of his offerings have not dropped in the slightest. He's going from strength to strength and I VERY eagerly await what he's going to do next.

Last Saturday though, was truly something to write about... We (The Man, kiddo and I) had been to the new beef place with the Monkey family on the 26th and had a fabulous time. But The Man wanted the roasted suckling pig at ElCerdo, and I wanted MORE beef. After listening to us bicker about it for a while (a very SHORT while, it's my Dad after all, patience of a 2 year old except when it comes to his princess. That's the kiddo folks, not me, I'm just her PA :)... Just KIDDING Dad!!!), he suddenly whipped out his phone and called the ever capable Monica, Werner's right-hand-woman. Next thing you know, he arranged for dinner party of 16(!!) at ElCerdo, with beef coming over from Lavaca! They were willing to do him a favour 'cause he regularly does things like host dinners for 20 I guess. In any case, moos could go to the oink place but not the other way.

All I can says is, I salivate just remembering the food. I also remember that at one point I seriously thought that what the Romans used to do at banquets was very sensible (google it if you haven't got what I mean). The menu was as follows :
Starters - Jamon Serrano from Spain (RM38,~$10), Cesar's Salad (RM26), 4 different mini Sausages with sauerkraut and mash (RM24.50), Prawn cocktail (lost track for a bit while stuffing my face, so didn't get the price for this), Pork shoulder steak with foie gras (a New Year special, no price as not on the main menu- supremely yummy)
Mains - Wagyu rump (RM78- the MOST amazingly tender bum of a cow I've ever had the pleasure of sinking my teeth into *slurp*), Rib Eye (RM108), Slow cooked tender ribs (RM65), Roasted suckling pig (1/2 for 2 RM118, 1 for 4 RM219).
Dessert - Churros dipped in chocolate, apple crumble with ice cream (by now I was in NO shape to even look at the menu, so no prices. Sorry)

Like I said, not cheap, but worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!! When the roasted suckling pig is served, they offer you a plate to cut it with as proof of how tender it is. Word to the wise, unless you want to eat piggy chips, go ahead and make the first cut like they want you to, then give it over to the pros... You then have to smash the plate in a bucket. By putting your hands at certain points on the plate, you wish for love or money... Leave it to you to decide if if works. Werner allowed kiddo to smash an extra plate after she had so much fun with the first, thus forever ensuring a loyal customer in her.

They have a great selection of booze. But if you bring your own, be warned that corkage is steep. RM80 for wines and RM130 for hard liquor. They will provide the decanters if needed as well as water/ soda for mixing though.

All in all, Werner's restaurants are not to be missed. Can't wait for March when I go back again...

One man's food is another man's poison

It has come to me, rather uncomfortably tonight, that while avoiding shellfish is well and good (I have a horrendous shellfish sensitivity. Gives me heartburn like you wouldn't believe!), I should also, perhaps, be more cautious in scarfing down foods that are somewhat out of my usual menu.

While at Aladdin's cave (Kebayoran Market) yesterday, my maid asked if Mister and Missus would like to try cumi-cumi (cuttlefish). Being Malaysian and generally rather fond of my grub, I immediately said, sure, we'll try anything once... Except innards. I draw the line at that.

Well, IbuI stir-fried up a delicious plate of cuttlefish with chillies and 'stuff' (ginger and something else, I think). It was really yummy. Unfortunately. Because that meant I didn't realize the heartburn was coming on till I stopped for a breath and thought, 'Ooohhhh... My stomach definitely does not like that.' In fact I felt like I had swallowed a pot of chilli padi (for those Western friends who are prone to being the butt of practical jokes by Asian friends, if someone dares you to eat this cute little chilli, SAY NO! It's dynamite!). Totally unexpected. Cuttlefish isn't shellfish is it?!? Poor hubby. He's off to Hong Kong for work tomorrow and instead of some quality time with wifey, he has to put up with my moaning and groaning. Gaakkk...

Moral of the story, if you have ANY sort of food insensitivities/ allergies, BE CAREFUL! Especially if it's a food that you don't often eat. As some supermarkets back home sometimes post 'Come one, come all!' I shall now take myself and the towering inferno that occasionally doubles as my stomach off to bed...

Kebayoran Market

Following on from our recipe book acquisitions at the Indo Book Fair, my maid declared that the only place she could get certain ingredients (namely a duck for Bebek Bengil) was at a market. The largest one near us being the Kebayoran market. Neither one of us had been there before, and it fell to Mr.D, to take us to the market. Who needs the Jakarta Shopping Guide when I have a walking, talking version!

1st stop, ducks. There were big ducks, little ducks, super fat ducks (called 'entok'. Don't ask me what it means. Apparently it tastes the same, just fatter). All looked the same to me. My maid IbuI, seemed to do this weird squeezy, pokey thing and would reject some with a scoff and accept others for further consideration. These were live, flapping ducks, mind. They would then be presented to the totally useless money banks (that would be me) for perusal. The vendor would gleefully ask me to personally 'feel' the duck to see how fantastic the meat was. Uh. No. I could see them wallowing in their own poop. No feely for this missy... In any case, 2 ducks set me back Rp80k (about USD8 / RM25). I also bought 3 kampung chickens (free range chickens) for Rp135k. Cue the whole, 'Pegang aje Ibu. Bagus s'kali!!' (Hold it madam. Very good!) again. As I said just 2 minutes ago, NO HOLDING!! Or touching, or pulling of feathers. I ran off when I saw the guy whip out a machete the length of a saber to do the nasty. I insisted on taking home meat instead of a live animal lest my little sunshine decides to adopt dinner. Left D and I supervising the sectioning. My only request... Keep the duck livers. I want to make pate.
Ibu I doing whatever it is she does to get a good duck...

The fowl (foul too!) defeatherer. Birds are dipped in boiling water and tossed in this device. The little rubbery protrusions spin around and smash all the feathers off. Perhaps also adding a tenderizing effect? Out of the holes ooze icky blood and pulverized feather. Note to the curious, don't stand within 5ft of the thing, you'll get covered in the stuff.

After that it was spices, fish (1/3 the price of Hero!!) a wok (yeah, mine's not the right size apparently), some weird looking round, green eggplants for sambal, some tempe, and we were done. Tried to get a photo of the ginormous rat that was slinking around the fish seller, but it ran up a pipe before I could whip out my camera. I would say it was the same size as the rat that came by our place for a visit last week except it's fur was more, well, ratty. Perhaps the food it steals in the market is not quite as good as what is finds in the compound...The fish alley. Thank God for Crocs and a recent dry spell. Merely somewhat 'pongy'... But the ground was still a little fish gutty... No nice shoes here.

We walked past people selling hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, birds, eels... The was a man challenging people to beat him at chess in 3 moves. He had the king and a castle, the opponents virtually the whole board. It was something along the lines of if you won, he paid you 10k, if you lost, you'd pay him 10k. I wasn't going to pay someone to humiliate me, so onwards we went.
The chess player waiting for his marks...

The coconut grating machine. Watching them do it, I would suggest anyone who wants to eat grated coconut from the market makes sure that it's cooked very, very thoroughly. Goodness knows if the machine is EVER washed...

On the way home, IbuI and I were animatedly discussing the market when we realized that Mr.D was rather conspicuously quiet. Turns out he was amused at us raving about the market because he had only taken us to the periphery of the market as he felt the main bit was too hot and too crowded! What a man!! Sounds like something MY man would've done. Well, IbuI and I were not stinting on the abuse we heaped upon his head! So much more stuff to buy! We probably missed it all! Next time, we're leaving him with the car!! His point was that everything inside can be found outside. Why go in? But, but... What if there IS something different?? 'Nggak lah, Madam. Semuanya same aje...' (Nah Madam. It's all the same) Grrr... Even sounds like something 'Mister' would say.

All in all, I'm hot, sticky and tired. The distances weren't far, but dodging hand-drawn carts can be a rather athletic experience. By the time you hear, 'Permisi!!' (Excuse me), the cart can be practically on top of you. Couple of times, torn between the options of getting run over or cozying up to a bucket of slithery, slimy eels, I opted instead to stand with one foot parallel to the path (so the cart didn't lop off my toes!) and the other suspended over the bucket of eels. Lots of strange looks, but they saw my camera, so most just ignored me.

All in all, a rather interesting experience. Next time though, I will stand 10ft away from IbuI and pretend not to know her. I'm sure (and she agrees) that despite the prices being rather low, they were still artificially inflated when the sellers realized I was the person actually paying. Somehow, they can always spot an expat at 10 paces.

No school today...

It was Teacher's Day yesterday, and the school gave everyone a day off today. I went to bed last night with a certain sense of trepidation. What to do all day with the kid? She had her booster jab yesterday so I thought, perhaps nothing overly strenuous...

She woke at 715am. Ugh. I was really hoping for more of a lie in. Channeling evil mummy (twice in 2 days!!), I decided to leave her be. There was singing and story telling and goodness knows what else, but the guilt kicked in at 745am and I went in. Happily she was still involved in whatever story she had made up using her stuffed toys and wasn't bothered at all that mummy had been too lazy to go get her.

Then followed breakfast, reading, boochie ball, reading, country story, farmville, cafe world. Time check 1030am. Sigh. We went over to my friend (and neighbour) AL's house and spent an hour playing with her almost a year old Liverpool footie player in the making. He certainly moves as quickly as one! After all that, it was still only 1130am. Mummy, exhausted. Kiddo, still on full battery.

Lunch at Fj's on Jalan Kemang Raya (opposite Moms and I) was a lovely little girlie outing for us. Admittedly we stood out among the ladies (and gents) who lunched, but who cares. Kiddo had food packed from home, as she has had for the last 4.5 years whenever we eat somewhere not Japanese or Chinese. Mummy had the most fabulous 'mixed coloured pepper (actually, red, yellow and orange only) and prawn pasta'. A large deviation from my usual 'chicken and mushroom in cream sauce'. Note to self... keep working through the menu!!

We then dropped by my friendly tailor to pick up more breast feeding covers for the Christmas bazaars. As usual, delays. Not surprised. Would have been more surprised if he had actually handed them to me straight off. No matter, I usually build in a good 2 weeks extra for things like that. Not that I'll ever tell him. He's been in the process of making a blouse for me for over 6 months now. Here's hoping he still remembers what I want.

At this point, mummy's battery indicator was flashing red, and kiddo, predictably, was reading in the car. So, seeing as we had joined the usual Friday afternoon 'macet' (traffic jam), I decided to nap. Yay for books! Eventually the 500m 2min journey ended up over a km (diversions etc) and more than 30mins.

The rest of the day was just more of the same. Except kiddo did it all on her own 'cause mummy carried on napping after we got home! Kiddo eventually woke me at 4pm, 'Um, mummy, is it 4? Can I watch Diego?' Oops...

We did manage to speak, via skype, to my mom and grandma, followed by Uncle SH from Perth. So nice to catch up. Grandma has gone from Singapore to stay with my mom in KL and has apparently developed an addiction for televised tennis. She stopped watching the Shanghai Open for only a few minutes to say hi, then it was back to the telly. It's baffling since she has never EVER shown the slightly interest in sports of any kind... Maybe she and kiddo can play together. Probably the same standard... Speaking to Uncle SH is always interesting. He and Auntie YM are going to do the 'snow goose project' as she calls it and go live in New Zealand for the next 3 years, then the US I think. Not sure if there's some European bit thrown in too. Hats off... Anyway, he was saying that he watched some gardening show and learnt how to make the most effective anti bug mixture that was totally chemical free. Crush garlic into a jar of normal cooking oil and leave for a few days, strain and mix into water using a 1 (oil mix) : 20 (water) proportion. Spray liberally. He feels it's more effective than commercial pesticides and only smells a little if you go very near. I'd try it if I had plants...

All in all. We had a very nice day. Next time I'll make it a point to sleep extra early if the kid's got an extra day off. In retrospect, off days are more tiring than school days...

Day 4 : Still husbandless

Off to church we went today. Kiddo loves Sunday school. Yay!! Our church is called the Jakarta International Christian Fellowship (JICF). It's housed on the 2nd floor of the Graha Niaga building right in the middle of the central business district. Good atmosphere, good speakers and they have a really good children's program. It took us ages to find it, but once we did, we knew we were staying. There's either a 8.30am or 10.45am service. For reasons of HIS running, we can only ever make the 10.45am service. Today they had children from YWAM (the Panti Asuhan Pondok Taruna orphanage) singing a few songs. JICF members contribute about 50% of the orphanages running costs and the kids come from all over Jakarta. A couple of them are actually at Uni. Inspiring to see that happen.

After church, we popped into the Penang Bistro near Senayan for lunch. This is the kid's favourite eating place because of the feather light roti canai. The other stuff is a welcome taste of home too. Prices, however are in line with the Jakarta culinary scene and a meal for 2 is very unlike to ever be under Rp150,000 (about USD15 / RM50). I can see my Malaysian friends sputtering already...! For that price, you do, however get air conditioning, mood lighting, drinks with fancy names and (so far), no flies. The last being a major bonus in my book! The Hainanese chicken rice is very tasty, but the chicken portions are tiny (in general chickens here are about as scrawny as you would ever see. Something about people not trusting fat chickens to not have had hormones injected. perhaps by serving skinny chickens they are indicating the quality?), probably a quarter of the size of a portion ordered at the Jalan Gasing chicken rice shop in KL. Just another thing to get used too... The laksa and curry noodles are certainly approaching KL standard. In fact, the prawns are about double in size as you would get in KL. I leave it to you to weigh up, less chicken vs larger prawns. Hmmm... The nasi lemak tastes really good too. But I've never eaten it like that in KL. Usually hubs picks some up after his run and it's wrapped in banana leaf with a hodge podge of stuff thrown on it. Here everything is nicely displayed and separated. Gotta give it to them, they know their food presentation.

Am just waiting now to see if 'some people' will write to them saying they're breaking copyright laws by using the word 'Penang'...