Here's My Story

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The appointment was a week after discharged from hospital. It involved blood test and then consultation with doctor. For no strong reason other than wanting to trim a little the time spent, I asked Ban to drive us, despite the hospital being a mere 20-min away (normally I wouldn't want to involve him for such short non-strenuous appointment). I am grateful that he agreed because it went on much longer than expected. What happened was that after "recovering" for a few days, unexpectedly mum developed the itchy rashes again two days before the appointment date and condition worsened (there was discharge) around her groin area the next day. The doctor was quite alarmed by this. His initial guess was that she was allergic to prawns (she had it prior to reappearance of the rashes) despite not being the case previously. The summary is that mum could be allergic to prawns all the while but it reaches critical mass only now. Anyway, he decided to defer to his skin sp...

During CNY, my sister's family spent time at her in-laws place in Penang island. They invited mum to join them and I was glad that mum decided to go. However, when she was there, she had an allergic reaction: rashes, redness and itches over her body. She suspected it was the bar of soap. Mum had a history of contact dermatitis, the most serious were her fingers turning nearly black. Sister brought her to a 24-hour clinic for treatment. Was given antihistamine and calomine lotion. The next morning, my sister was helping to apply the lotion on mum when she suddenly collapsed on her bed, with hands pointing up (elbows on bed) and shaking. Mum didn't respond to sister's calling until a minute later when this seizure-like moment was over. Scary. After some discussion, my sister brought her back to the clinic. They said although it's possible that this is a side effect of antihistamine, it's rare and even more so for the one they prescribed i.e. chlorphenamine. However, i...

After the trip to Peranakan Mansion , we didn't really want to dine at another peranakan restaurant the next day but  we were sort of clueless on what to have. Fortunately, later, I remember that Ban wanted pie ti and so we searched online for restaurants that served pie ti. After some discussion, we settled on Nancy's Kitchen.   Pie ti was beautifully plated. Visually attractive. It was delicious and crunchy. The unusual addition of a tiny bit of tomato puree enhanced its flavour. Highly recommended. I passed my commendation to the staff manning the cashier. Chap chai was good. Tasted similar Peranakan Mansion's but the latter was better plated. Chak Bek was quite nice. Salty sourish. We were surprised at its servicing size (there was only one size): it was about two third the size of the chap chai. Fyi the chap chai was of small serving too.   For one dinner outing, I wanted something that had substantial amount of vegetables. So, we asked for recommendation from the ho...

Huang Chang Chicken Rice Restaurant. Best chicken rice ball ever! Probably best chicken rice too. The ginger taste was a little more distinctive compared to normal chicken rice. Unfortunately, its chicken was a little dry but compensated somewhat with delicious sauce.  10 Kopitiam @ Melaka. Best chai tau kuay (fried radish/carrot cake) in decades. Slightly crispy on the outside. Dark coloured. Two big prawns and appropriate amount of beansprout and spring onion. Their pandan egg tart was pretty good too. When we were first there just before 7pm, it was already sold out. Upon enquiry, I was told that it's typically sold out by 5pm. We dropped by the next day, just before 12 noon and there were only 4 left!

Recently, Ban made a short trip to Melaka to attend a pre-CNY gathering organised by his ex-high schoolmates. I followed him mainly because I was a bit concerned about him driving by himself. I thought of where to have our meals and planned out accordingly a few spots. One of them was Peranakan Mansion. Chap chai was quite flavourful and the plating was pretty good. The ayam ponteh was quite disappointing: sauce was mild and the chicken meat didn't absorb any of it. The otak-otak was the best dish of the night: soft and deliciously flavourful. The bunga telang tea was quite light and refreshing. It had pandan and a slice of lime in it. Cendol was good but too much coconut milk for me. Food was pricey but appropriate if one considers the good service rendered by waiters and waitresses who were in elegant uniform, and the environment/decoration (some shown in the photos below). Definitely a worthwhile experience.