Honey4Boyz

'189' and Seng Kee are household names for handmade  'heong peah ' in Gunung Rapat, Ipoh. '189' has been around longer than Seng Kee, but both are old timers, building their business from their backyards. Seng Kee is one of the very few remaining shops making the traditional 'heong peah ' broiled with coconut husks. Most of the other shops, like '189', are using the modern electronic ovens to enable them to produce big quantity of the biscuits. '189' has recently moved out of the residential area to a nearby shoplot.    If you're not a die-hard fan of ' heong peah ', you'll probably not able to tell the difference of the two ways of production. We're so used to buying from the famous Ching Han Guan, handmade using the modern oven, in Ipoh New Town. Only recently, we stumbled upon Seng Kee's traditionally broiled biscuits. Piping hot 'heong peah ' from the traditional barrel oven broiled with c...

I'm writing as a form of therapy to escape the overload of bad news on the state of our nation and my incessant cough that's aggravated by the haze. I missed the blue skies and fresh air at Perhentian Island. Is it only 3 weeks ago we're holidaying at Perhentian? Feel like so much longer. We haven't been to the East Coast like for more than 7 years. And we almost didn't make it last month. The weather forecast was very discouraging and there're a few ferocious tropical storms in the region. We picked up Samantha, my sister at 6am and the journey to Kuala Besut jetty took us almost 9 hours! Honestly, I thought that it's really a bad idea to cram 6 people in a car with so many baggage. I am one who didn't like to do things outside my comfort zone. A nervous freak. And when I stretch myself, I always gain much, much more... Pit stop at Hai Peng coffeeshop @ Chukai, Kemaman One of the few remaining coffeeshops run by the Hainanese Wong fa...

It's so easy to overlook Taipei cos it's not in the top must-see places. Hubby and I, minus the kids, went for a short trip to Taipei and we went without any expectation. We arrived very early and couldn't check into our hotel rooms yet, so we dropped by Chiang Kai Shek Memorial to get some fresh air. It's spring, and the air smelled like fragrant flowers. The park was very well-maintained, with info signs to educate us on different types of trees, flowers and birds. But the biggest surprise was to see the blooming cherry blossom trees!  Dozens of bird enthusiasts clicking away, but the pink cherry blossoms were not the Star, it's the white-eye bird! It was quite a sight to see all the expensive telephoto camera lens aiming at those small, active birds.  We enjoyed the walks very much - maybe it's the fresh spring air, the sakura season, the beautiful trees or the carefree holidays without kids... I loved it so much that I came ...

It's Christmas time!  We wanted to do something new together with some friends. Cupcake decoration with fondant sounded like a very cool idea. It's not as hard as we thought. Kids nowadays have been exposed to playing dough/clay so this is not very different. I bought the ready coloured fondant, ranging from RM8-9 per small tub. Most important - baking your own the cupcakes is definitely tastier and fresher. Most kids like chocolate, but I made marble cupcakes cos the recipe has been tested and easy. The other thing is the glue between the cake top and the fondant base. Buttercream is commonly used and it's available in almost ready made form. The design? Leave the kids alone. We're not making designer cupcakes, so the kids would figure it out. Let the fun begin...... Full concentration..... Rolling the fondant... A 3D snowman! Ryan's artwork with surgical finesse.... Putting in the final touches... Mother and son team! ...

Ipoh is always about eat, eat and eat. But now, we have one more reason to stay a little longer. The street art fever that started in Penang has now come to Ipoh. I don't know who commissioned the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, but it's an excellent idea. His paintings certainly caught the spirit of the Old Town. This is my favourite 'Kopi-O Bungkus' inspired by the local coffee culture in Ipoh. 'Thean Chun', one of the coffee shops from the tin mining days and still very, very popular. At 3pm, it's still crowded with customers waiting for their Ipoh  Hor Fun  (chicken noodle soup). A popular figure in the Old Town, the hunchback Uncle is still very much hands on in shredding the smooth poached chicken. Now at 71 years old, he's still standing on his feet from early morning to late afternoon until the last patron leaves. I always wonder why he does not train younger helpers, and take a more relaxed pace. Other than the perfect smooth  hor f...