The White House

When I was small, maybe around 4 or 5 years old, my dad used to work in Kota Bharu for a brief period. I don't have much memories about that place, only pieces here and there of the good old days.

I remembered the stairs beside dad's office that leading up to second or third floor to our hostel; I remembered my metal frame bed where I always secretly throw grape seeds into a hole on that frame, hoping for a vine bed;

I remembered the flood and some weird Malay-grammar-hokkien;

I remembered the Malay girl that always come to play with me. I spoke zero Malay or English then, and she spoke zero English or Chinese. However, we did have great time playing masak-masak and many other games that I couldn't recall now;

I remembered the banana leaf curry house. Back then, eating with bare hand, taking food from the banana leaf was a special experience for me;

And among these, the one that I had the most vivid memory is "White House". Some how, I always remembered the red-brick columns, the chairs, and the perfect half-boiled-eggs. As a 4 years old (or 5), I think my mum fed me only the half-boiled eggs and bread from this shop while they had those awesome nasi dagang.

So every time I visit Kota Bharu, I have to make sure that "White House" is in my itinerary. For nostalgic reason, and for the great childhood food.

I respect the person who did the DOE and perfected the half-boiled-eggs. Today, they are still using this traditional method of metal cup and boiled water, and yet, the half-boiled-eggs are better than those that I cook with the Tupperware half-boiled eggs cooker.

All of us ordered a set of famous half-boiled eggs + roti bakar with kaya and butter + coffee. Of course, we also sampled all the types of rice being sold there. My personal favorite is the nasi dagang. THE BEST!

Nasi Topeng

Nasi Lemak

Nasi Dagang Ikan

Nasi Dagang Ayam

We were so impressed, that we stopped here for the kaya and coffee before we traveled back to Penang. However, by the time we reached, the shop was already half-closed. We plead to the shop owner and finally they agreed to sell us a dozen bottles of kaya, and a few loaves of bread. No chance for coffee though as the kitchen was already closed.


Address: 1329-L, Jalan Sultanah Zainab, 15050, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, 15050
Phone:09-748 4119

心系东海岸

我一向来爱东海岸。喜欢那纯朴，更爱南中国海的浩瀚。

我们沿着海岸线随意地驾着，我原本想要一路驾到丁加奴去，但我们之前在双龙寺多呆了一些时间，反正自驾游，反正东海岸必不差，也就找个无人海滩，铺上picnic mat，吹着海风，感受着真正的平静。

Wat Phothikyan Phutthaktham

Based on previous experience, I tried very hard not to visit all the famous temples in Kelantan under the hot sun. I asked the rest to pick their "must go" but no response. So we ended up with only one: Wat Phothikyan Phutthaktham (also known as Double Dragon Temple). I was planning for a brief stop at this place before our half-day-beach trip. However, we ended up spending hours here, mainly due to:

The white "Guan Yin" standing marvelously under the clear blue sky

The magnificent wishing tree:

And the cuteness overloaded puppies:

Of course, some spent great effort making wish:

And most importantly, Selfie Queen took tons of Wefie photos:

Batik Workshop

Attending batik workshop is one of the highlight of our previous trip. However, we had zero expectations and preparations then, causing us couldn't maximize our experience. Besides, our 'masterpieces' were accidentally sent to an Australian family when they left Pasir Belanda Resort. It took months for them to come back to us. By the time we received, the magic and excitement were already faded.

This round, we attended the workshop prepared. I warned everyone to think of what they want to draw, and everyone googled for their favorite pictures / pattern before the workshop.

So as soon as the teacher let us start drawing, everyone immediately jump into action.

The workshop is still at the same old place. Very basic, super hot and humid! As before, I wish I can complete my batik drawing as soon as possible so that I can run away from the heat.

This round, things get even excited! We met the super huge spider. It was just behind me, hanging, while I tried my very best to pretend that it was not there.

We suspected that it is our batik guru'e pet. "If you run out of ideas, you can just watch the spider and be inspired", that's what our guru told us. A totally not useful tip.

Very kind Jass added his hand in this picture to give you better perception of the size of the spider

Here are the tools for batik drawing. As I said, super basic. First, we use pencil to sketch on a white cloth. Once done, you can start to draw with hot wax by using the custom made fixture. It was done by dipping into the hot boiling wax, and slowly let the wax flowing out from the tip and cover the drawn lines. The thickness of the wax can be adjusted by controlling the flow of the wax.  

Step 1: draw

Step 2: cover the lines with wax

This is how it looks like after covered with wax

The final step for the participants is to colour the batik. We had great fun experimenting the colour mixing / layering and various technique.

Photo session with our drawings before the workshop owner process them with chemical

The next morning, we received our end products. We couldn't help but took tons of photos :)

My end product: much better than my first trial

The proud artist

Pasir Belanda

2 years ago, we had a family trip to East Coast Malaysia. We love Kelantan, and Pasir Belanda plays an important role. This lovely resort hide in the middle of Malay kampung, just right at the river bank. We had relaxing time enjoying the simplest happiness here.

So during this recent trip, of course we have to stay at this place again. The couple stay in one chalet and four girls in another. Since you will spend most of your time outdoor enjoying the kampung lifestyle, this room is big enough for us to stay comfortably for 3D2N.

Chalet #1 - room for 4 of us

Orchid at chalet #1

Resort facility including free wifi (top priority for most people), a tiny pool, a pondok in the middle of the garden, a small play ground including a tree house, swing, seesaw and slide. You can use their ping pong table and boat for free. There are bicycles available for rent too, RM 35 per bike.

Terrace by the river

Cute little tree house

View from the terrace

I can sit there for hours......

Here are some of the new stuffs:

For you to relax at poolside

Cute van

To show how much we love this place, when we were leaving, our Selfie Queen insisted to park our car at roadside and took photos at the entrance of the resort.

Zakka

GST 前最后一次淘宝，是到“全新全艺”买了一批摆设品，用来装饰我的宝贝空凤和多肉植物们。我个人对这家的产品非常满意，手工好细腻，非常温馨可爱的。

买了十多只的小动物，给同事们一人一只，让办公室增添一点活力：

买了一个农村小屋门面、一个英式邮筒、一个Mini、一辆怀旧三轮电单车和一个树桐，为家里入门角落增添一点二外国风味：

怀旧三轮电单车还可以载送我的小小空凤。农村小屋摆上空凤也很有家的味道：

两棵空凤就这样在树桐上争妍斗丽：

而最萌的，要数那爬缸小熊们。空凤、多肉都顿时亮眼起来：

Malaysia Best Khao Jam - U-lang Corner

Technically, I'm 1/8 Nyonya. I grow up eating 1/4 Nyonya food, 1/4 Hokkien food, and 1/2 of everything else. Among all the Nyonya food, ulam bui (nasi ulam in hokkien, steamed rice dish mixed with various herbs) is one of my favorite. We always call it 'ulam bui', until my Malay colleague corrected me a few years back. Technically not wrong, but to be more accurate, the one that I love is actuall nasi kerabu, a type of nasi ulam.

To me, my grand-aunt (and my mum master this later) cook the best 'ulam bui' (isn't everyone's favorite dishes from childhood are mum's / grandmas' / grand-aunts' / aunts' cooking?). So if I do think U-lang Corner sell the best Khao Jam in Malaysia, you can tell how high the quality is.

During our previous family trip to East Coast, we arrived at "U-Lang Corner" in late afternoon and the only thing left was the final set of Khao Jam. We 'da bao' the final set and ate at hotel later. Even the dabao one impressed my mum's golden tongue. We came back on the next day and it was closed. My mum and my aunts missed this a lot!

Finally, I'm here. Based on previous experience, the 'dabao' one is very good, so imagine how excited I was, waiting for the hot food to be served.

The first thing you’ll notice about their khao jam is the beautiful, vivid colour of the the greenish rice and the other herbs. Ulang Corner’s khao jam apparently made with the juice of more than 40 blended herbs. It also serves with kerisik ikan, sambal, fish crackers (out of stock when we were there) and raw / fresh vegetables. We ordered a set with turmeric fried kembong and 2 sets of turmeric fried chicken for side dishes. I LOVE the aroma!

Best khao jam!

We also cannot resist the smell of laksam and laksa. Though very full, we have to order one each to prevent we regret later. We had terrible laksam at Kopitiam Kita earlier in the morning. Luckily this amended others' opinion about laksam. I love the Kelantan version of asam laksa too. That colourful bowl, you'll love it even before your first bite.

3 plates of khao jam, one laksam, one asam laksa, one nasi berlauk, 6 glasses of drinks cost us RM41.
 

Laksam

Kelantan asam laksa - everything here is so colourful

Address: 4939-B, Jalan Wakaf Mek Zainab, 15300 Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

Business Hour: 11:30am – 2:30pm