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Category: gastronomical adventures

silly pancakes.

Hello all !

Mr. Sunshine and I spent our last weekend in his hometown. We arrived safely in Kuala Berang yesterday afternoon and made it in time for my antenatal checkup.
Our time in Batu Pahat was spent mostly on eating !
But sadly, because we were too busy enjoying all the food that we forgot to take photos of them. The only food photo we took was of mum in-law’s ‘lempeng bodoh’ as she calls it but I beg to differ, it was simply delicious, eaten with her equally delicious sambal tumis. Yums !

Don’t let its simple appearance fool you, it’s SUPER SEDAP !

The highlight of my weekend was when mum in-law along with my sisters in-law cooked up a Raya feast for moi last Sunday ! Mr. Sunshine told his mum that I was craving for Raya food last month. There was nasi impit, chicken rendang, lodeh gravy and peanut gravy !
I had seconds and thirds, for sure. Hehe. YUMMY !!
Thank you so much mak & adik-adik ! ;D

Here are a few photos from the weekend. 🙂

Mr. Sunshine treated his mum & dad to a steamboat dinner to celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day AND Teacher’s Day ! Hehe.

Early morning before leaving to Kota Tinggi for a wedding.

At Kota Tinggi

The heat today is causing me to itch and perspire (heavily) all over. So uncomfortable lah. 🙁

xoxo

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right here waiting.

The title has nothing to do with the rest of this post. It’s just that I’ve had Richard Marx’s Right Here Waiting on repeat in my car for a couple of days now. Sure brings back good childhood memories when I used to imagine that Daddy’s golf tournament trophies were my microphones to sing. :p

I am watching the Top 5 contestants of American Idol sing their heart out while I am typing this.
I told myself I would stop watching if Casey Abrams fails to be in the Top 5 but I am weak (not much of a surprise ha). After being a fan of the show for the past 10 seasons, I just can’t refrain myself from turning on the telly at 6:05 pm every Thursdays & Fridays.

I took leave last Monday & Tuesday because Daddy, Marc, Lene and Linn came over to visit Mr. Sunshine and I. They arrived safely, Alhamdulillah, on Saturday evening just as I was starting to prepare the Soto I had planned to serve them for dinner. Lene & Linn were the first to comment on how big my belly is right now. Hehe.
Fair enough lah kan, the last time they met me in person was 3 months ago during Faizal & Dee’s wedding when I was still in my first trimester.
Lene was particularly amazed at the size of my breasts. Hahaha. Ok TMI, sorry.

Marc, Marlene and Linn helped out in the kitchen with the making of the bergedils and Mr. Sunshine fried the suhun and helped me to shred the chicken flesh into strips. 🙂
I’m glad all of them enjoyed my home cooked Soto. Marc even suggested I open a soto stall, hehe. But then again, they were all starving when dinner was served. :p

Our Sunday morning started with Mr Sunshine buying us Nasi Kerabu for breakfast. After that, we took our own sweet time to get ready for our trip to Kenyir Lake. We didn’t go on any boat rides this time around, we decided to just enjoy the scenery and snap photos. 🙂
We spent the rest of Sunday afternoon at home where I taught the girls how to make the infamous batik cake with Marie biscuits.

If you’re wondering why they were laughing, it was because Daddy was trying to suck in his tummy. Hehe.
 

Marc helped too !

Just in case anyone didn’t know how the batik cake looked like.

Mr Sunshine was kind enough to lend a hand in the kitchen when I was preparing dinner that evening. The soles of my heels hurts when I stand for too long (thanks to the huge amount of weight I have gained), so he actually brought in a chair for me to sit while I cook. Hehe.

Awww ! Hehe.

On Monday morning after a breakfast of home cooked fried rice and mihun, we drove to Pasar Payang where we went on a hunt for fish keropok.

Can you feel their excitement ? Ok let me rephrase that, can you feel Linn’s excitement ? Hehehe.

We drove to Kelulut with hopes of enjoying fried keropok lekor and fresh coconut water for tea after a stop at the Tengku Tengah Zaharah Mosque a.k.a the Floating Mosque (Masjid Terapung), but much to my disappointment, they were only catering for takeaway that day. So we adjourned to Kampung Losong for some keropok lekor.

It was obvious that Marc was starving. :p

Pandak Beach was our next stop, which is where we chose to relax & enjoy our A&W Rootbeer Floats. Daddy deserves a treat once in awhile. 🙂

Daddy walked a couple of meters away from us just to stand and enjoy his float. :p

Love !

And our final destination for the day was Payang Serai Restaurant in KT, where Marc & Linn treated us to a scrumptious seafood dinner in conjunction with my birthday last week. 😀

The food was delicious and the price was pretty reasonable. Thank you so much Marc & Linn !!

Time sure flies when you’re having a good time, and before we knew it, it was already Tuesday and they had to leave for Gombak. I woke up pretty early as I had my monthly antenatal checkup scheduled that morning during which I had to drink 75 grams of glucose but more on that later lah.
I was so touched to see this when I got back home from my checkup.

Sobs.

We said our goodbyes after having lunch at KFC, Kuala Berang.
As usual, I just had to cry after that. :p
It was great having the family over. We had a fabulous time although Manchester United lost to Arsenal (arghhh !). Hehe.

One for the road. 🙂

Moving on to what happened at my antenatal checkup last Tuesday morning. It was also the day I had to take the MOGTT test as mentioned in this previous post of mine (click, please).
It started out with the nurse drawing out 2 mls of my blood prior to me drinking 75 grams of glucose mixed with water. Then I had to wait for 2 whole hours before they would draw another 2 mls of blood out of me. As for other usual glucose tests, I had to fast starting from 10 pm the previous night.
While waiting, I went through the routine monthly checkup which consists of checking my weight, blood pressure, fundal height and urine for ketones. This time around I got to hear my baby’s heart beat through something which I think is a doppler. It was amazing ! MashaAllah. 🙂

The other amazing thing is that I found out that I had gained a good 5 kilograms over the past month. 5 KILOS !!!
As a result, the doctor told me to get my blood pressure checked every other day (starting today) since I already had the MOGTT test done. Yikes. Blood pressure was normal today, Alhamdulillah.
I’m pretty worried about my weight gain pattern, I don’t want to end up with gestational diabetes or any other complications related to excessive weight gain in pregnancy. 🙁
Mintak dijauhkan. Ameen.

All the other test results came out normal, Alhamdulillah, but I’ll only get my MOGTT results after 2 weeks. I think I’ll be living in fear until then. 🙁
Oh, I also received my first dose of the anti tetanus toxoid vaccine that day. My left arm is still sore from the injection. The second dose will be at the end of this month, InshaAllah.

Baby’s movements are getting stronger by the day. Alhamdulillah. Sometimes I wonder what he/she is doing in there. Hehe.
Mr. Sunshine is able to feel the kicks and movements from the outside already, Alhamdulillah. Lene felt some movements too ! 🙂

Now for a closer photo of my belly at 24 weeks (6 months) and 10 kilos heavier !

Ta-da ! Huge kan ? And my Daddy’s so comel. ;D

Before I end, I have a note for my family in reply to what they left on my whiteboard.


Dearest Daddy, Marc, Marlene & Linn, 

Thank you so much for driving all the way here to pay Mr Sunshine and I a visit. We truly appreciate the company and good times you spent with us ! Please do come again. Please. Please. Pleeeeeeaaasssssee ! 😀

Love,
Syafiq & Melissa

Until my next post, bye !

xoxo

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the halfway mark.

Good morning everyone.
Happy Saturday !

Mr Sunshine and I spent half of yesterday cleaning up the house and the both of us are sneezing like mad now. So you can just imagine the amount of dust we had to deal with yesterday. Bear in mind, we’re only halfway done !
Today will be my day of rest. The only chore I am gonna allow myself to do is cook.
Mr. Sunshine seemed enthusiastic about continuing the cleaning up process, so I am gonna let him do his thing. Hehe.

The both of us were in Kuantan last week from April 5th to the 8th because I had to attend an Antithrombotic Conference. I was fortunate enough to have Mr. Sunshine with me because I could not imagine traveling alone to Kuantan. While I was attending the conference, Mr. Sunshine lazed around in our hotel room. 🙂
I don’t know whether I have mentioned this before, but I love Kuantan ! Since I started working in Terengganu, being in Kuantan always seemed like the next best thing to being back in KL. I love the fact that it has shopping complexes, cinemas and most importantly food that my taste buds do not repulse.
I can’t help it, Terengganu food and I, we don’t do well together. Hehe.
I HAD NASI LEMAK FOR THREE DAYS IN A ROW while I was there.
That’s how happy I felt about getting to savor SPICY (instead of sweet) ANCHOVIES (instead of fish) sambal with my coconut milk rice.

Oh this is one of life’s simple pleasures. *drools*

And then, to be able to eat delicious fried squid which were not fried with banana fritters’ batter.

Thank you so much to Dollah and Cha for treating us to this. 🙂

I also got my Starbucks Chocolate Cream Chip Frappucino fix, and treated myself to two scoops of my favourite Baskin Robbins’ Pralines and Cream, which I finished on my own, thank you.

I can’t remember the other flavour I chose, but yums !

Mr Sunshine and I were able to make time to watch World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles and Just Go With It which we enjoyed very much. *smiles from ear to ear*

Thank you so much sayang !

I was a very happy (and stuffed) woman while we were in Kuantan. Hehe.

A week has passed since those happy days. Haha so drama.
It has been a super hectic and stressful week for me. I know I need to cut down on the stress levels for the sake of ‘Mini Mel’, as Felicia puts it, but I just don’t know how.
Is that good enough of an excuse ? *bats eyelids*

To add to all the stress, I think I am down with pregnancy brain. I forget things wayyyy too easily. There has been a few occasions in which I open my browser with intentions of searching for something, but by the time my browser loads (a few seconds only !), I just seemed to have forgotten what I wanted to do ! That’s bad, right ?

Oh, and I am a huge emotional wreck.
I know, I know, I am always an emotional wreck but this is WORSE, I tell you.
Yesterday, while I was preparing lunch, I could not find my blender’s stirrer (Is that what you call the plastic thing you put through the hole on top of a blender ? Do correct me if I am wrong), so I started to weep. Yes.
I just cried and cried while slicing my carrots and chillies etc etc. It’s not one of those situations that I would usually cry about !
It’s funny now that I think about it. Hehe.
I feel bad for Mr. Sunshine, having to put up with my erratic pregnancy mood swings. I know I am just testing his patience. 🙁
When I turned to Google to find out whether these unnecessary crying sessions are normal, I was relieved to know that there are many expectant mothers out there who are in the same boat. Hehe.

So far, this morning’s looking good, Alhamdulillah.
I’m gonna end this post with a latest photo of me, 5 1/2 kilos heavier at 20 weeks. 🙂

Ok bye !

xoxo

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