Kleptopoly

  During one of the campaigns done by the opposition, they introduced a game called Kleptopoly. This game is loosely based on the doings of the No 1 officer in Malaysia at that time. However with the opposition winning the 14th general election, this game is slowly going out of phase. They are not producing anymore. So I thought, I just have to get my hands on it. When I ordered from the website, they do not have the premium version but only the ordinary version. With the ordinary version, the tokens were made out of paper. With the premium version, it is a 3D version of the tokens making up of 4 characters, Mr Klepto (which looks a lot like Jho Low), Malaysian Official 1 (he who should not be named), Shopping Mama (the pretty 1st lady) and also the very generous Rich Arab Donor. I bought it for a price of around RM110 (if my memory serves me right).
  The miniatures are grey in colour and very life like. The only thing that we are not happy about are the dices. However, we got our own pretty transparent dices for this game. We tried this game once only Kev and I. It started out interesting however the game slows down for us because we seem to keep landing on properties that we have already bought. This is basically monopoly with a twist. For every property you own you will have to attach an "Ong" card which says whether this property is corrupted or not. You can opt to hide your corrupted property after negotiation with anybody who has Cayman Island and escape exposure of your properties. All these kinda simulate what our previous Malaysian Official 1 did, Lolol.

The cover box for Kleptopoly

Mr Klepto and Shopping Mama

MO1 and Shopping Mama

Ong cards

Money money come

All the characters and the dices

Overview of the board

The play guide

Setting up, preparing to play

Ratings:

Price ★★★☆☆

Fun ★★★☆☆

Time ★★☆☆☆

Hai Peng Kuantan

This restaurant is my colleague's favorite. Though Kev had been in Kuantan for so long he had not been to this branch of Hai Peng. If you refer to my previous blog post about going to Kemaman here, you will know that we have been to the original shop. This is actually a branch from the original Kemaman shop. However, compared to the original shop, this branch does not offer as much variety. They only have nasi lemak, asam laksa and Toast with kaya and butter. I love their bread and toast. Kev was not impressed with their toast but he said that their other 2 dishes were nice. Their coffee is as good as the Kemaman original shop.

Not easy to notice the shop since their signage is not obvious from the outside

You can only notice the humble small signage behind the Milo shades

Typical Malaysian kopitiam

Teh Tarik served in cups that are a norm in the old kopitiams

Our toast with kaya and butter. It is crispy at the edges and soft in the centre. However Kev says he can find better ones in Kuantan

The nasi lemak with curry chicken. Not so bad

The asam laksa. It was a bit different from the usual laksa as they used yellow noodles instead of the big fat white noodles. I love the soup as it was really good, cooked with fish

  After eating here, Kev and his dad went to buy somemore food from other places. He said that the portion is too small for him at the price that we were paying. Food was not so bad but the variety was too little for our taste. Kev's dad only had the toast. 

Ratings:

Ambience ★★★☆☆

Food ★★☆☆☆

Cleanliness ★★★☆☆

Price ★★☆☆☆

Hai Peng Kopitiam,

Jalan Haji Abdul Aziz,

25000 Kuantan, Pahang.

Opening hours: Open daily from 8am to 3pm

Go Bang Patin Tempoyak Temerloh

  I was out of town to go for a course in Temerloh so Kev went down to Temerloh to bring me back. It took around 2 hours to travel from Kuantan in my humble Myvi. We wanted to try out the famous Patin Tempoyak there. There were quite a few restaurants to choose from however we decided to try out the most famous one. Kev said that the first restaurant that sold Patin Tempoyak is this so it became really famous. Patin is catfish in the Malay language while Tempoyak is fermented durian. For me I'm not brought up in an environment having tempoyak however I love to try new food and new things.
 Honestly, Kev and I did not enjoy the food there. Though I like the grilled fish with tempoyak, it's not good enough for me to go there another time. Kev disliked it because it was really sour for his taste. The tempoyak soup is too salty and both of us agree. Guess because it is a famous place, the food here is pretty pricey.

Their big signboard and whom I assume to be the shop owner

They do have other dishes too eg prawns

The Patin Tempoyak soup. They had a choice of fish or tail however on that day, there's only the head available. However a friend of us told us that the best part to have is actually the head

They have this grill counter where you can choose your fish and get it grilled with tempoyak. Since they are famous for their patin, of course it is our choice of fish

We chose top half of the fish and they cut the fish into half as well. I turned one half of the fish to show how it looked the other side. For me, I like this dish but I cant have much because it makes me feel stuffed with all the fatty skin that Patin had

Grilled Patin Tempoyak

It's self service here so you go through this lane of food choosing what you want and pay after you finish your meal

Their huge poster showing off their best seller

Cincau Bandung with ice-cream. Too sweet for my taste

Tepeh, not a big fan but Kev loves it

Rice to go with your ?salty/sour dish

Overall I did not like the food here. But they are so famous! Either they are usually good and we chose a bad day to go or Kev and I got weird tastebuds. We definitely wont be going back and if I do have the chance I want to try other restaurants that serve Patin Tempoyak in Temerloh.

Ratings:

Ambience ★★★☆☆

Food ★★☆☆☆

Cleanliness ★★★☆☆

Price ★★☆☆☆

Gobang Maju Patin Tempoyak,

1/4 Mile Jalan Triang, 

28000 Temerloh,

Pahang.

Tel: +6019-9569696

Opening hours: Open daily from 11am to 10pm except for Thursdays.

Chocolate Chilli Brownies

 

Chocolate brownies with a twist

This recipe was given to me by a colleague of mine when I was working in Sarawak 1 year ago. This used to be her secret weapon whereby she will bake this whenever there's a festival or someone's birthday. I like this cake so much that I used to have a few mouthful of it. It seems someone else gave her that recipe and that someone else might have gotten it from the internet. Anyway, credits to whoever who creates this recipe.
  Kevin is not really a fan of sweet desserts as compared to me. I have sweet tooth and i love creating desserts that looks appetizing and pretty. Kevin suggested to me to add chilli powder to my brownies so I added 2 tablespoons of it. Kev loves it lots! However for me I prefer the original one without chili. I also adjusted the sugar level here and there to suit our taste. For this recipe i used 150 grams of sugar however if you prefer the sweet version of this treat then you can cut down to 100 grams of sugar only and omit the chili. Kev has microwave in his house. So as compared to previously, where I used to double boil my butter and chocolate, now I only have to pop it into his microwave and it would be done by 1 minutes. You can choose to use my way to microwave it or to double boil the butter and chocolate if you don't have a microwave. Here goes!

Chocolate Chilli Brownies

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serving size: 16 pieces

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

100 grams of self-rising flour

2 tablespoons of chilli powder

150 grams of brown sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon of salt

100 grams of almond nibs

30 grams of cocoa powder

400 grams of dark chocolate compound

150 grams of unsalted butter

1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celcius.

2. Melt your chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute.

Dark Chocolate Compound in the form of coins

Melted dark chocolate compound

3. Melt your butter in the microwave for 1 minute. Add salt into the butter after that. 

Butter

Melted butter after putting it into the microwave for 1 minute. Add the salt

4. Add the sugar into the butter and beat. After that add the eggs and beat.

Mix sugar and the butter

Eggs to be added into the mixing bowl

4. Sieve the self rising flour, chilli powder and cocoa powder into a bowl.

Flour and cocoa powder

And not to forget the chilli powder

5. Pour in the dry ingredients in 3 batches.

Mixing all ingredients together except for the almond nibs

6. Add in the almond nibs.

Then we add in the almond nibs

7. Line your mold with parchment paper. If your mold is a non stick then you can skip this step.

8. When it is well mixed, put it into the 9x9 inches square mold.

9. Put it into the oven to cook for 40 minutes.

The awesome cake!

Cutting the cake

Look at the crispy top and the soft spongy centre

Ratings:

Kev ★★★★☆

Bunny C ★★★☆☆

Roti Canai Planta

This shop is claimed by Kevin being the best Roti Canai shop in Kuantan. If you order roti sardin they will actually pour a whole can of sardin into the roti. They use the brand Planta for all their roti and also they ?deep fry their roti. Oh well in short, this roti definitely will spoil your diet but true enough it tastes heavenly because if you order roti kosong, the roti is actually crispy instead of soggy in the other shops around. The locations is actually not so easy to notice because it is a humble shop underneath a large tree. The only clue that gives it away is that there's lots of cars parked by the roadside to have a taste of this heavenly dish.

Location of the Roti Canai Planta shop underneath a big tree much hidden from sight

Kevin told me it had been operating for the past few decades, people of all races will come here to have their breakfast or lunch

The roti and the fish sauce to go with it

Teh Tarik

Roti canai kosong

Roti canai sardin

Ratings:

Ambience ★★★☆☆

Food ★★★★☆

Cleanliness ★★☆☆☆

Price ★★★★☆

Taman Golden City, 

25200 Kuantan,

Pahang.

Opening hours: Open daily from 8am to 3pm except for Mondays

Kevin's Cock Show Episode 2 - Unboxing Kitchen Aid 5KSM150PS

Kevin's Cock Show Episode I - Ikan Kembung Bakar

Commitment to be Free From The Past Part 2

Evaluating the Past
1. Evaluate your life by completing your own family history. Father then Mother.
a. List what you feel are/were the positive qualities of your father/mother.
b. List what you feel are/were the negative qualities of your father/mother.
c. Describe how you feel/felt about your father/mother.
d. What emotions does/did he/she express openly to you and how?
e. Describe how you and your father/mother communicate/communicated.
f. Describe the most pleasant and unpleasant experiences with your father/mother.
g. What messages did your father/mother give you about yourself? Were they positive or negative? Please describe.
h. Describe how your father/mother punished or criticized you.
i. In what ways are you different from your father/mother.

2. Describe the history of your personal relationship with your father/mother from infancy to the present time.
a. What made the relationship close?
b. What made the relationship distant?

3. Describe the history of the sibling of the opposite sex who is closest in age to you. (or use same sex if necessary)

4. Describe the relationship your parents had as you grew up. Did they openly express feelings? Did they ever argue or fight? Was one domineering? Describe the kinds of difficulties you sensed between your parents. How did you feel about their relationship?

5. What were you most afraid of as a child (criticism, failure, rejection, competition, darkness, getting injured)? Tell, as best as you can, about the circumstances when you were most likely to have this fear.

6. Did you have any Christian training? Describe the role God has played in your life. What concerns, fears or problems have you had in relation to God? When were you first aware of them? What have been your most serious concerns?

7. List 10 adjectives that describe you.
Which of these adjectives are characteristic of each of the following.
Spouse
Father
Mother
Brother
Sister
Friend

8. Describe your earliest memory

to be continued

Materials taken from
Wright, H.N. (1985). So You're Getting Married. Ventura, California: Regal Books.

Commitment To Be Free From The Past Part 1

  There is one significant barrier that could stand in the way of happiness of a marriage. There are unresolved issues from the past that are still affecting and influencing our lives. Much of sufferings in marriages is caused by memories. Hiding unpleasant memories will prevent them from being completely healed. They continue to become anchor that we drag along as we limp through life. When we bury memories and wounds we bury them alive. Their resurrection comes when we least suspect it. Painful memories must be dredged up and faced for healing to occur. It surfaces when we encounter problems in marriage. It will determine how we face those problems. Marriage can reveal past hurts and all our efforts to keep those memories hidden may eventually result in a crumbling marriage. 

Where Memories Begin

The Inner Child of the Past

  Feelings and attitudes from even the earliest of years determine the present-day response. Bottled up unpleasant memories conflict with your adult life. These memories are "inner child of the past". Part of your discomfort arises because many of the feelings are not unreasonable for a child but seem undesirable and unreasonable for an adult. Parents usually responds to you as child. But when your parents are not around, you assumed the attitudes and beliefs of your parents so that you respond to yourself and to others the way they did, even though these attitudes are not your own. You respond to life partly as a mature adult and partly as your child of the past. 

The Old Patterns of the Past

  In becoming your own parent, you cling to old patterns from the past because they are familiar even though they hurt. It takes effort to break away from the past. Your past emerges more clearly when you marry. The child in us had numerous expectations. Childhood patterns, whether healthy or painful are familiar and familiarity brings security and comfort. We will probably get drawn towards people who are like our parents in many ways or people who are opposite of our parents. All people do not try to recreate their original families when they marry. Many wants to go for the opposite and look for a spouse who is different but they may overlook buried similarities that emerge later on. 

  As you grew your physical dependence becomes less and less from your parents but your dependence on your parents for good feelings decreases much more slowly and for some the decrease is negligible.

 to be continued...

Materials taken from
Wright, H.N. (1985). So You're Getting Married. Ventura, California: Regal Books.

Shang Hai Tang Restaurant

  My parents were here for the holidays. They wanted to ask my cousins who are staying half an hour away in Gambang for a dinner. I suggested Shang Hai Tang restaurant （上海滩）because i was craving for the fried lok lok. Kev told me this restaurant had been around for a long time and famous for its Hokkien Mee as well. From its sign, it was there since 1965. Oh well, since Kev doing the ordering, of course most of the dishes are my favourites!

Exterior of the shop

You choices of lok lok or yong taufu, GET IT FRIED!

Their menu

Fried yong taufu/loklok, this is their signature dish, A MUST ORDER.

The ying yong （鸳鸯面）

My dad's favorite! Hokkien mee. But a bit too salty

Vege

Fried pork but really salty

Almost a must when we visit seafood restaurants, lala!

Ratings: 

Ambience ★★★☆☆

Food ★★★☆☆

Cleanliness ★★☆☆☆

Price ★★★☆☆

A 8080, Jalan Besar,

25250 Kuantan,

Pahang, Malaysia.

Tel: 019-988 5193

Opening hours: Open daily 6pm to 1am except for Thursdays