A short visit to Guangzhou

It 's end autumn .This southern city of China welcomed us in a sunny day.

Buses were not allowed to pick up tourists in front of arrival . We have to walk a long way out , across the street to board the bus .

Boarded , we were to visit the Sun Yat Sen Memorial  and the YueXiu Park.

 

A unique octagon roof top

Portrait of Dr Sun Yat Sen

The interior beneath the octagon roof --- no pillars blocking at all .

A copy of  Dr Sun's writing 

 From the memorial , just across the road not too far away is the Yuexiu Park which has a 5-goats Statue . The park was scenic but too pack with people on a hot sunny Thursday.

5 Goats Statue - symbol of Guangzhou 

The local tour leader seems eager to cover as much spots in the itinerary as possible. Soon after lunch, we visited the Shamian island which was an area leased to British & French those years in history.
Now, it is a beautiful leisure park, a popular scenic spot for bridal photo shooting , we were told. True enough, we were lucky to see the evidence .... many couples were there taking photos .

Different buildings with different architectual designs

young couples at the photo shooting session 

This bride-to-be was seen changing entire outfit there in the open .

Refreshing fountain

Artistic bronze scultures

There's even a primary school in the midst .

We found another interesting thing here in the park ...... it was equipped with fitness exercises tools , all in perfect condition . No vandalism .

Wonder how long would this metals last in our park before the 'collectors ' steal and sell it off ?

Deepavali eve 2011

Tomorrow is Deepavali.

This afternoon, I found that I still have more than half a packet of atta flour , and that gave me an idea of try making chapati for dinner !

I have not checked recipes, but just mix the atta flour with water to get a dough. Then I left it in container covered with wet cloth, for a few hours.

I soaked some dhall / lentils too.

After few hours, I knead & roll out the dough , before frying it on a flat ironcast pan.

The chapati did came out like chapati ....... not sure about the taste , though.
Then boiedl some dhall with carrot and potatoes, with pinch of curry powder.

I like colourful meal, and we surely need some green vegetables, so add in a plate of stir-fried sawi.

Meals seems  not complete without hot spicy curry ! Lucky that I managed to buy some chicken curry .

So, we had chapati for dinner , on a Deepavali eve !

Cake -in-a-mug

Watched a video posted by my daughter about  microwaved  ' cake -in-a-mug ' . I was amazed but was wondering if I can try out the recipe without a microwave. 

Hence , I get ready a mug .

Sieved 2 tablespoons self -raising flour , pinch of baking powder , 1 tablespoonful of caster sugar into the mug. Mixed well. Then break in an egg .

Beat to mix the batter .

Now add in 1 tablespoonful of milk .

Stir , and pour in melted butter.

Stir well , and add in raisins and sliced banana .

Place the mug in the pre-heated steamer , and steam for 10 mins .

And the result is.........

Maybe I should cover the mug with grease-proof paper to prvent water vapour from dropping back into the mug. The recipe allow us to eat direct from the mug , but I scoop it out to see clearer the texture inside .

This is it. Taste alright , but texture not fluffy .

So, this is a trial Steamed banana-raisin -cake-in-a -mug !

The " New " Puduraya Bus Station

Af ter long months of renovation, Puduraya Bus Station is back in action .

We have not been to this station for a long time , until two weeks ago. I took the opportunity to take a good look at the place.

the exterior

the departure / arrival hall

the numbered doors leading to the platforms for boarding

The interior is brightly lit, air-conditioned , and best of all , non-smoking . The waiting area is clean, well ventilated, and has sufficient chairs . 
The facelift gave Puduraya a good change and the public a good impression . Hope that the new look will be well maintained.

A day out in KL

We will only go to downtown KL when really needed, or we will not go. Recently, we went down around Petaling Street and it was near the Mid-autumn season.

Lanterns were hanging high along the street .

 We walked around the Jalan Sultan - Jalan Petaling area , and had quite a good look at some buildings .
Look at these old shops ....

 and the famous ones......

and of course , the nostalgic ones too......

 and here 's the venue ......

This is a historical location to be kept , definitely.

Festive August ends

Festive August in Malaysia ends with ' Merdeka ' !

31 August is our Independence Day , and it is the 54th anniversary this year. For the past 8 - 10 years, we have been celebrating it in the temple . So is this year.


We will raise the National flag, sing National Anthem, and prayer of blessing to the Nation for a better future. Finally we will invite all those born in the month of August to cut a Merdeka Cake together .

Here's this year's cake :

 And August ended with the cheers of Merdeka !

Festive August

This August was a festive month.

While the Taoist observe the Hungry Ghost's Lunar 7th month , which the Buddhist considered a filial piety month, the Muslims observed their fasting month of Ramadhan . This is the month when you can see the colourful delicacies spreading out in the Ramadhan bazaar .

Towards the end of  August , the Ghost festival ended , and the Chinese are ushering in mooncakes in conjuction of the Mid-autumn Festival which will be in the 8th Lunar month. The Muslims on the other side are celebrating the 1 Syawal's Hari Raya Aidil Fitri , coincidentally fall on 30th & 31st August this year .

And of course, the Merdeka Day is on 31st August ! What a festive season .

Talking about mooncakes, here's some pictures of my mooncakes  ....

moulded , before baked .

Aned this is freshly out from the oven . 

There is also a non-baked version .

This is unbaked , snow-skin , chilled  mooncakes

Home-baked or made mooncakes are of course healthier .