All posts by thammelissa

An Engineer, a daughter, a mother to an adorable child who has passion in photography, food & travel. My photography covers food, people, landscape....whatever that caught my attention in just a click! I admired people who actually put effort in food arrangement before presenting it to guests. Presentation gives the first impression. I love to eat and also sharing it to my readers. I also love to travel. I meant who doesn't? Because that's the time when you are work free. LOL! You don't have to be rich to travel. A local trip is considered as traveling too. What matters most is the time. I am reachable at 'thammelissa@yahoo.com' Thanks for your visit!
Friends, TAIWAN, Travel

TAIWAN DAY 3 (Xin Zhu Leofoo Theme Park 新竹六福村, Wu Fen Pu 五分埔, Rao He Night Market 饶河夜市)

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We gotto be early today! Hence, we are still late for the day. To MRT station again. But this time, you gotto take take the MRT blue line to the Zhong Xiao Dun Hua (忠孝敦化) station, take the exit to Zhong Xiao Dun Hua road, go across the street, there is a bus stop there. Wait for the bus to go to Leofoo Village (六福村).

Waited  for about 1/2 hour for the bus to arrive. The journey took us about 1 hour to reach the destination. Slept all the way there. Wakakaka……

The weather wasn’t that good on Day 3. So windy and cold. Was about 13 degree. With my thin sweater, really could not withstand it. Luckily I got Phoebe to lend me her spare sweater. I’m wearing 2 coats….can you imagine how cold it was…

at then entrance of Leofoo

tigers in the cage

the roller coaster ride

merry-go-round.

Alex & I bought gloves here for less than RM10. Did not expect it was so cold.

Hoping to get into this ride. Unfortunately did not do so because afraid of getting wet and catch cold 😦

Andrew was so brave to take this ride. Screaming Condor (笑傲飞鹰)

I only took 2 different rides. Wasn’t that brave. The weather was so cold till I hardly want to walk.  Had our lunch there, took the fast food, all about burgers, fries & carbonated drinks. Well the food was good!

At about 3+pm; we took the bus back to Taipei City. From there; we went to Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) as planned. One can reach by MRT Bannan (板南) line to Houshanpi (后山卑) station. First it was cold & windy. And now…it was drizzling. Guessed Day 3 wasn’t a good day. Walked on wet roads with an opened umbrella all the way to Wu Fen Pu (五分埔). About 15 minutes away from the station. Had a light dinner there. I was told that the clothes in Wu Fen Pu (五分埔) are cheap. Well…. its not really that cheap. May be I put too high expectation or rather you gotto buy in bulks to enjoy the better bargains. Nevertheless; indeed a place with wide range of clothes!

From there; we walked over to Rao He Night Market (饶河夜市), which is quite near.

Rao He Night Market (饶河夜市)

a temple near Rao He

Wanyi bought this cake(with filling). Quite nice….

We did not spend much time there….While walking back to the MRT Station, we saw this COSMED (like Watson) recommended by my friend. Selling masks with good deals. Without any hesitation, each of us grabbed a few boxes. Returned to our hotel. There goes a tiring day…..

NOTE: Ashley’s Blog as reference 🙂

Friends, TAIWAN, Travel

TAIWAN DAY 2 (Yang Ming Shan 阳明山, Xin Bei Tou 新北投, Dan Shui 淡水, Shilin 士林夜市)

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A fine Day 2. Weather was good. Had our very first breakfast from the hotel.

got ready for Day 2

Walked down the street to Ximending MRT station(our main transportation) at about 9am, took the red line to Shilin (士林站) station. From the MRT station, walked few minutes to get a bus to Yang Ming Shan (阳明山). Once reached Yang Ming Shan (阳明山); we waited for a mini bus that fetched us right till the top of the hill. That pretty spot that we went called Xiao You Keng (小油坑). You can see there’s alot of sulfuric there. Strong sulfuric smell though. Confirmed no SNAKES. Hahahaha…

From YMS, we took the same Red 5 bus back to Shilin station. Then we took MRT red line to Beitou (北投) station. You have drop at Beitou station and then make transition to another train to get to Xin Bei Tou (新北投). It was already noon by then. The weather suddenly changed to hot & sunny. Simply, we picked a restaurant nearby to fill our hungry stomachs. Nevertheless, the food was good!

my very 1st cup of bubble milk tea. so nice….taste so much different from the one we had in Malaysia.

From there; we walked Xin Bei Tou Hot Spring Museum. We did not have any hot spring soaks .

no kidding. this is a library. saw it on our way to museum.

remove your shoes before entering. slippers are provided there.

OK. We are indeed just faking it…. LOL whenever i recall it again.

Now the guy’s turn….

From the museum, we walked back to the MRT station to board on the red line all the way to Dan Shui. Our destination was to Dan Shui old street (淡水老街).

All of sudden the weather changed to cold & windy. Everyone was shivering.

Dan Shui old street (淡水老街)

similar to “TAKO-TAO” that we used to buy from Malaysia

smelly tofu for Day 2 – from Dan Shui

all about dogs and clothes. you can get one for your dog. its very cheap there.

MOS Burger in Taipei.

It was already about 8pm. Hence we still want to carry on with the next destination, as the night is still early. Therefore we decided to go to Shilin Night Market (士林夜市). Take the MRT Red line to get to the Jian Tan station (剑潭). Shilin is just across the road. A huge night market with incredible full crowd.

NOTE: Ashley’s Blog as reference :-)


Friends, TAIWAN

TAIWAN- DAY 1 (Taipei 101, New York New York, Ximending 西门町

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Finally I’ve decided to blog on my Taiwan trip. Really trying hard to recall everything which I suppose it would be a tough one. Hope I could feed the readers with my simple yet brief iternary.

Booked our air ticket during Air Asia promo 1/2 year in advanced. Both ways for 2 person cost us only RM9XX.It was my first time traveling with a group of friends; Ashley, Andrew, Wanyi, Yew Kong, Phoebe and of cos with Alex. The temperature during the entire trip was 13-18 degrees. Traveled to Taipei on 20th January 2010. Flight took us 4 hours to reach Tao Yuen International Airport, arrival time : 3pm. Once reached, collected our luggage; moved to Hall 2(Tourism service center) to collect and register for Digital tour buddy and Youth Travel . If you are traveling on your own (free & easy); its best that you apply them 2 weeks before hand to avoid the long waits. Its beneficial as you can enjoy discounts on the entrance fee for certain places. Apart from that; its free of charge. You will also be given a set of handphone (manual book, sim card-with NT200 talk time, battery charger). Just go to any 7-eleven outlet to top up your phone credit.

After settling everything there; we headed over to the bus ticket counter(FREEGO) to purchase our ticket to Ximending 西门町. This bus eventually stops just a walking distance to our hotel – Rainbow Hotel (长虹大饭店). Booked the hotel 1 month ahead for the price of NT1680 (twin sharing) inclusive of a simple breakfast. Though the room wasn’t really huge nor luxury; but the location is really convenient and the service is good too.  By the time we check in to our respective rooms, leave our luggage; there goes we hunt for Ah Zong Mee Suah (阿宗面线) – juts few blocks away from our hotel. Still early; therefore less crowd. Sharing a bowl of warm noodles under the cold temperature; really feels good.

Ximending 西门町

After filling up our stomach with the yummy mee suah; we head over to Taipei 101 by taking the MRT blue line to Cityhall (台北市政府站). The MRT station is just a few minutes walk from our hotel. Convenient right? (Please purchase the EASY CARD from the MRT Station Information Counter. Quite similar to our TOUCHnGO card. Sky gets dark pretty early, by 5pm during cold season. Each and everyone of us was so excited though we walked for about 1/2 hour from the MRT exit without even realized the distance.

Taipei 101

Taipei 101 observatory

You can purchase the entrance ticket to Taipei 101 observatory at the fifth floor of the Taipei 101 shopping mall. It’s NTD400 per person, but with the Youth Travel Card, it is NTD350. After getting up till the roof of Taipei 101’s tower; we walked over to New York, New York Department Store which is quite near actually. Did not buy anything form there….

At about 9pm; we return back to Ximending and had our dinner there. Snacking around, munching, nomming till our stomach is real full!! At Ximending; you can see those traders setting up stalls along the street selling all kinds of food. But its illegal actually. You can witness the running as in Hong Kong drama, when the officers show up.

Our dinner for Day 1.

Clockwise: smelly tofu (臭豆腐), fried oyster/ohh chien, taiwan sausages, braised minced pork rice (卤肉饭)

NOTE: Ashley’s Blog as reference 🙂

Cyril Takayama

CYRIL….you rocks!!!!

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A very impressive magician I’ve just discovered recently. Cyril Takayama, the magician. Young, good looking,entertaining &  inspiring!

photo courtesy of wikipedia

I will never get bored viewing his new tricks each time. He never fails to disappoint the audience. What makes him proud of himself is whenever he receive the great applause from the audience.

Cyril Cup Ramen and Water Tricks

Cyril turns Apple into Watermelon

Coffee and cream magic


My Collection, Shopping

I found new love…..

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I found new love. My new collection indeed!

Was in Toy’s R Us on Saturday, where our love on first sight happens.

Was standing and admiring it for awhile. Till Alex came by…

———————————————————————————————————-

Alex : What are you doing??

Mel : Hey….see….these are so CUTE!! I want to collect them!

Alex : What for?

Mel : I want to collect them, if possibly display them on the wall shelve or a glass cabinet perhaps. (in my future home) ^_^

Alex : Ohhh….nice too….Next time only buy lar then…

Mel : ~~~~~ hhhmmm…..really arr? OK lor then… (kononnya listen to his advises lorr…)


DURING THE NIGHT**

Mel : Ling…I regretted didn’t buy it lar…  =(

Alex : Adui….so how? Return to the mall & buy?


THE FOLLOWING DAY**

Guess what; I went to Jusco Seremban with Alex, there I went to try my luck if I’m able to find it here…. guess guess guess…. (look photos below to get the answer).

couldn’t resist. Grabbed 3 boxes/types from the shelve.

(house, playground & cafe)

SET 1 – CAFE-TERRACE

SET 2 – MY HOUSE

SET 3 – PLAYGROUND

celebration, Hotels, Life, MALAYSIA, Port Dickson

AVILLION 2009

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This is an outdated post actually. It was on October 2009. I decided to blog on it now. Sweet memories are always the memorable ones. Kinda misses it now… Despite that; it meant 1 year is just ‘sap sap sui’. Really fast…..and its already September 2010 now.

It was a short getaway after our wedding.

We bought the room voucher during MATTA fair at the price of RM410 for the water chalet room. (rooms are built just above the sea). Inclusive of buffet breakfast for two. Avillion is located in Port Dickson, which is just approximately 30 minutes drive from my home.

We spent a night of relaxing & pampering ourselves here.

I would say its a prefect resort for me so far. A place which I hope to visit again. The room is clean, the surrounding is comfy, good environment and nice view.  We had a great time there….really hoping for something similar this year!!  😉

our room. unfortunately the rooms were quite occupied that day. we got no choice but to choose 2 single beds instead of 1 big bed.

view from the verandah

the bathroom. the opened-air shower is the best part or unique one.

there was a beach side wedding held on that night. Its so lovely…

changed into swimsuit and hooped into the adult’s pool. There are 2 swimming pools actually. Well….the adult pool is much better…less crowd.

night view of the other pool which located next to the restaurant. Had our supper there.

buffet breakfast….food not bad though

visited the mini petting zoo

feeding the cute & lovely pets

After the breakfast, zoo, we walked over to the beach. While relax, enjoyed the beautiful sandy beach .

-the end-

say goodbye~~~~

Avillion Port Dickson

3rd Mile, Jalan Pantai,

71000 Port Dickson,

Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.

Tel : +606-647 6688

Food, Life

It’s so convenient

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It’s so convenient nowadays. You can prepare a good meal with all the convenient stuff sold in supermarket. (good for lazy people like me..blek).       I cooked a simple dinner yesterday night. I’m preparing stuff for my spaghetti bolognese here. Got the tomato puree with herbs well-packed in a bottle, specially for spaghetti. A packet of mussel, a pack of minced chicken meat and a packet of spaghetti. Got it all from the supermarket.

these are all the ingredients

Ingredients:-

1 packet of mussel

1 packet of minced chicken – any brand

1 packet of spaghetti – any brand

1 bottle of  tomato puree (specially for bolognese) – any brand

2 shallot – minced


Method (a brief one) :-

1) Heat 2 tablespoon oil on pan

2) Brown minced shallot then add in the packet of minced chicken. Stir-fry till brown.

3) Add in 3/4 of the 750g (bottle) sauce into the pan. Add in water as desired.

Slowly boil & stir it well for around 10-15 minutes. If its too dry, do add water.

4) While waiting the sauce to cook; boil the mussel & noodles till its cooked. Make sure you have enough water to boil the noodles. (water must cover up noodles)

5) Ready to be serve.

taaa daahh….this is how it looks

a closer view

Hubby’s comment:- Nice…but abit dry. Can still improve.

Mummy’s comment:- Should add in some fresh tomatoes & tomato sauce for the extra taste.

Life, My Collection, Present

My new CRUMPLER 5 Million Dollar Home

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Yea….this year’s birthday present from Alex is a camera bag!! As I’ve wished..

I’ve wanted a CRUMPLER bag to store my camera, easier for me to carry it around. CRUMPLER is known for its trendiness & stylish designs. The only place which I can purchase it over in KL is at KLCC. Some might think that

5 Million Dollar Home might be quite small… But I think the size is good enough for me. Not too huge. If too huge, I afraid I will be lazy to carry it around. :-p  Yeap, I did tried on the 6 Million Dollar Home; but I felt that it looks rather huge on me….hahaha…

Therefore I picked 5 Million Dollar Home. Which comes in 4 colors. (Black, Grey, Green & Brown). The price for this bag is RM259. Its cheaper than shashinki(an online camera shop) by RM40.

I picked the Grey one…

adjustable divider. good protection with cushion

many compartments

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, DARLING!!!!  😉

Crumpler KLCC
Lot 321-B, Level 3,
Suria KLCC,
Kuala Lumpur City Centre,
50088 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.

+603 – 2161 2160

Monday – Sunday
(10:00am – 10:00pm)

birthday, celebration, Food, Life, Petaling Jaya, The Gardens

Mel’s birthday – Part 2

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Hubby celebrated my birthday over the passed weekend.

Initially we thought of dining at “Chili’s”. However I changed my mind few days ago. Thought of trying something new instead. Since I know there are plenty of new food or restaurant which I’ve not tried before. Despite of trying something new, I do not want it to be too pricey though. I asked my friend, asked Ashley for suggestion. She suggested Chinoz. Well, since it has good reviews from some food blogger too…Therefore I told Alex, the changed of plan. Alex answered; up to u….’lei wa si…lei tai sai today’ ~  (u decide, u are the host today) :-p

the sauces

Alex’s orange juice – RM13

My Mango Fizz – RM12

complimentary toast bread

crispy potato wedges – RM9

Fish & Chip – RM28

(the fish meat is very yummy)

Grill Chicken with brown sauce – RM25

I like the fries very much though!

CHURROS – RM20 (with hazelnut chocolate dipping sauce)

I seriously miss this dessert very very much. I have no idea what’s its made of. Its like a soft dough, like soft donuts texture, warm, top with cinnamon powder & sugar. Dip into the chocolate sauce when its warm. VOILA~~~

when I looked up; I noticed this beautiful high ceiling right above me.

Mel cam-whoring….

NOTE: Nice ambiance, cozy, quiet. Food are nice. Price is above average.

Food portion size is average.

chinoz @ THE GARDENS (no longer available here. pls head to KLCC outlet)
G212, Ground Floor
THE GARDENS Mid Valley
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +603-2287 8277

birthday, celebration, Family, Food, Life, Seremban

Mel’s Birthday – Part 1

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Owww…..sad to know that my 28th birthday has just over.

I’m aging year by year….gosh…time flies really fast without one realizing it..

As usual, I’ll be celebrating my birthday with my family & my loved one.

This year, I spared the earlier weekend to celebrate with my family.

We decided to have dinner at a cafe, which newly opens not long ago. Received some good reviews from friend & colleague. Therefore decided to give it a try. They serves fusion food. (western & chinese).

the very 1st dish. “tom yum soup” ..

not so good…. doesn’t taste like tom yum 😦

black pepper udon – NICE

fried chicken wings

-yummy….taste of ‘nam yi’ –

pork meat balls……tasty

Spaghetti – delicious

black pepper chicken chop

chicken maryland – SOSO only!

YOO….We siblings ROCKS!!

Note: This cafe is located in Uptown Avenue, Seremban 2.

I think their western food (those chop chop) so so only. Their chinese food taste nicer….. Out total bill came up to be RM80+ (with drinks). Quite fair lor…each person average less than RM20.

After our dinner; I suggested for 2nd round – ice cream as dessert over in A&W. The place where we able to makan cheap ice creams. Unfortunately, they no longer serves various types of ice creams anymore 😦

Therefore we were restricted to few types only…..*sigh*

I ordered the ‘chocolate ice cream’

with mom, niece, sis & bro

Hubby & I

After all the makan & food, we return home. My mom surprised me with a cheese cake which she made it the day before. Wahhh….I’m so happy & touched.Thank you mummy…thank you everyone!!  😉