Grand Straits Garden Seafood Restaurant

'Wan She Ru Yi', 'Gong Xi Fa Cai', 'Shen Ti Jian Kang', 'Xue Ye Jing Bu'

These are just among some of the propitious greetings that im pretty sure all Chinese are familiar with. Even the bananas.

We said these when we visit relatives, when we bumped into friends and of course, when we gather to lao yu sheng/ yee sang/lo hei.

Yee sang is a very popular CNY dish in Msia/Singapore region because it is a symbol of prosperity and abundance and i realized many of the food we comatose ourselves with during CNY are associated with prosperity and abundance.

Personally, i don tink doing or eating all these so called prosperity food will make you prosper at all if you do not realistically work hard or save up. It's just like you dont pray and ask to pass exam but don study and think miraculously u r gna pass.

Tossing yee sang can be such a noisy and messy affair but since when Chinese celebrations are quiet? Just look at how we yam seng at the end of a wedding dinner. Or how the drum can go so loud that it annoys neighbours 10 houses away when the lion dance come dance in your hse. Not lao-ing it during CNY just dont feels right. It's like something is amiss. CNY celebration is just not complete. I guess cz i had been doing it for so long, it's grows into a must to continue this tradition.

Besides, we always had fun tossing and tossing all those shredded raw vegetables and fish as we compete and see who can toss higher. And we will practice all our prospitous greetings as we wish each other well. :) Tossing it with family knits us tighter and tossing it with friends makes us feels like a family.

The most common yee sang is the salmon one altho nowadays there's the jelly fish, abalone and all the other weird versions.

Yee sang nowadays are modify from restaurants to restaurants but they typically consists of Chinese parsley, shredded raw vegetables such as white radish, carrots and red pepper, pomelos, crackers and toasted peanuts.

Adding raw salmon into the yee sang. The salmon had gotta be raw cz raw= sheng= prosper. (smt like dat i was told). And the salmons had gotta be fresh to reduce ur risk of getting H.Pylori infection after eating. You dont want to start prospering in the toilet.

Lastly, plum sauce and sesame oil are usually added in with the rest of the condiments.

Everyone will stand up cz the higher you toss the better. And some say the louder you are, the more likely ur wish is gna come true. hahaha. So, 'lao ah lao ah lao ah', lao (toss away) as long as you want and as high as you want. Inevitably, it can become very messy cz in the whole process, things can get tossed out of the plate but i guess that's the whole purpose anyway.

Probably, you are gna gather some attention, but thats normal. Cz when others are doing it, we look too. hehe

Of course, eating yee sang alone was not sufficient to satisfy our gastric calling.

You dont have to go 6 feet under the sea just to look for treasure and risk being bitten by the shark. Nowadays, Sea Treasure comes yummy and nourishing in a bowl. This Sea Treasure consists of abalone, fat choy ( not fat the English pronunciation but fat in Cantonese. And it is a type of black hair-like algae), scallops, oysters, sea cucumbers, clams and broccoli in thick superior gravy.

Soft shell crab with chicken floss- fluffy and crunchy at the same time

Roasted chicken with garlic - So craving for more

Yam basket - beautifully done

There's only one word, ok maybe two i can use to describe the end of the meal - Super Yummy. Really, all the food got us really satisfying our palates and leaves us with a sweet tinge of wanting for more even tho are tummies can take in no more.

But, the only thing is, pricewise, it's one of the more pricey Chinese restaurant here in JB.

My two sisters. They both wore cheongsam. So cute.

I'm the odd one out in a leopard print dress instead. Had to censored for viewers discretion. I'm sure there are 18 and below reading my blog. :)

Their galore of fishes. The higher it is, the more expensive the fish goes. So the one sitting right on top is like the most expensive, the queen.

This restaurant looks humongous. Well, it is actually really humongous. :)

PS : Some of you ask me why i censored my sis's and dad's faces, it's because they are too shy to appear on my blog. :)

Grand Straits Garden Seafood Restaurant Sdn Bhd,
3, Jln Persiaran Danga,
Kawasan Danga Bay,
81200 Johor Bahru
Tel : 07-2388118

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Check My IC Please

Surprisingly, in a long time, i felt like this is my first weekend where im actually free. Like i get out of bed and think to myself, 'Yay, i can clean my room today.' I like the feeling of a clean and neat room like how i am feeling right now, happy and contented with the condition of my own room but then again, i only clean my room whenever i feel like im really really free and has no other assignments to do. Or whenever it's my turn to clean the hall. I like my room clean but at the same time I dislike, dont like, unlike doing house chores. Me no like house chores. Eeee. I want irobot next time.

But you know what i like now? I dno any other time where i'll be happier to have a police stop and request to check my IC (identity card).

I think life is really full of irony. I been to Genting Highlands countless amount of times that i believe me and me family had contributed in many ways economically to them. I rmb that i used to walked pass the then (cz when u r small, the casinos look huge in comparison) magnificent looking casinos wondering how does it look like inside. Is it really all grand or is it filled with dodgy looking ppl. As i approached magical 21, i became a little mischievous and attempted to enter the casino cz the legal age is 21 and being 20, how different can you look. But my attempts all fail one surely. Each time i walked pass the entrance, the police guarding it surely will come up to me and said, 'Cik boleh tengok IC?' And not wanting to listen to a long lecture of the legal age of entering casino, i will mumble some excuses like i left my IC elsewhere and need to go back to get them first and turned to leave.

Now, 3 years later, i want them to check my IC instead. As i walked past the entrance the other day, my heart was secretly hoping that they will stop me and request for my IC. In fact I think i might be offended if they do not come up to me and say 'Cik, boleh tengok IC?'. Cz checking my IC means that they still suspect that im under the legal age, under 21. Yay :D

Yes yes so the other day i walked in with a whole bunch of ppl, some of them also looked like they are only in their twenties and to my much relieved and gladness, the police put out a hand to signal me to stop and i heard the golden ques. Ah. Happiness. Of course now, i proudly dig into my handbag and handed him my IC. I'm legal. HoHo. He took a look at my IC, looked at me twice with a disbelief expression, nodded and let me moved on. Woohoohoo. I was happy. I was glad. I was euphoric. And the best part was, it's not just that one police. I had to admit i was behaving a lil 'wuliao' but i kinda became hooked to that feeling, so i purposely walked out of the casino and entered again through a different entrance and every police asked me the golden ques. Yippee Yippee. :D What. It's not long b4 i wont get to enjoy such feeling anymore k. Who knows the next time i attempt to enter the casino, they just scan me through like the rest of the ppl and not ask me the golden ques anymore. I cant keep saying the police are lazy can i. So, yeah, im just gna enjoy it while ppl still think i look under 21. :p

Genting was seriously packed with human. There's no one corner that has no human. We skipped the theme parks cz there will definitely be a long queue for every ride and we dont want to waste time waiting for rides instead of having rides. We had steamboat dinner on our 1st night.

BBQ style Hotpot steamboat. RM 24.50++ per person. Eat all you want.

Unfortunately, the varieties aint much and after a while, the soup actually turned super super salty like im drinking undiluted salt.

And they never bother changing our foil even tho we bbqed until the foil all chao ta dy. My bro is not one that likes dressing up but guess as one age, they do really change.

Cameras and photo taking are actually prohibited in the casino but i din know. Instead of placing bets around, i was more attracted to this group of Caucasians in cheongsam and samfu performing CNY songs and dance. I have to say i think Chinese woman in cheongsam still looks better.

Gigantic God of Wealth. Well, it's Genting.

And a smaller version one. Basically, you see the God of Wealth everywhere.

In 3 months time, im sure i will want to shout like this at the top of my lungs. Freedom awaits in 3 months!!

Taizi Thai fried rice. I honestly think it's the best fried rice available in Tmn Connaught. Altho they had increased the price of their food, but it's such fond memories to be back eating there. Had dinner there b4 heading back home. Even tho it's quite a dangerous place to live, I do miss that place. Too many memories there. hehe. And going back there feels good. :)

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Spoonless Way To Eating Coconuts

It was like the hottest day ever when i was in Penang. It's usually already hot in Penang, but during CNY, it's like max hot. I truly suspect that the ozone layer in Pg is thinner or has a bigger hole than other parts of Msia. So, Penangites, do be double careful when u go under the sun. Now i understand why DD had a habit of blasting the air con to the max each time he enters the car. It must be a habit he develops because of living in Pg.

So, we decided we must had something to cool us down. Something to quenched our rapidly demanding thirst.

Faster take ur coconuts or you will be dead!

Yes, it's a genius idea to have coconut water on a max hot day because the water of this fruit of a 1000 use has a magical cooling effect that will almost instantaneously rehydrate ur drying throat and makes you feel better.

At this stall along Abu Siti Lane, you can drive right up to them, order ur coconut(s) and they will bring it straight to ur face like a VIP or you can get down and enjoy ur coconut (s) standing with the risk of having occasional coconut water flying in your direction.

We cant do it the VIP way cz there's already a few cars hogging right in front of the stall. So, we had no choice but to exercised a bit - parked our cars and walked to the stall under the burning sun. Then, you pick ur coconut and within seconds, they will have it cut open straightaway and serve it fresh to you.

And within minutes, all of us finished drinking the water. But because, it's a fruit of a 1000 use, you can also eat their meat. You know usually we will be given a spoon to eat the coconut meat while drinking the coconut dry.

But here, you gotta finish up the water first b4 you get to enjoy the meat. It's a must to follow this sequence because they dont provide you with any spoon.

Instead, once you finished drinking the water, you hand your coconut back to them. Then, they will skillfully chopped off a portion of the coconut for you to use as the spoon. (watch video below) Speak of reusing resources.

Using back a part of the coconut to eat the coconut meat.

Holding the 'spoon' in one hand, im attempting to open up my coconut into half to start eating it.

I dig and dig but my coconut meat stuck stubbornly to the coconut. After multiple attempts, all i got was an unsatisfying minute amount of meat.

However, when i looked to my left, i saw that DD was digging up copius amount of meat spoon after spoon with ease. Not fair. How come his coconut so guai one.

Then only i found out that it's because i had an old coconut and his was a young one. The young coconuts meat are usually tender, gel like and easily comes off compare to the old ones.

DD : Here, here try some of my young coconut meat. More tender right?
Me : Yes, yes. The young ones are really more tender and nicer. :)

It's a coconut world back there. Finished coconuts that is.

Where is it again? Anba Coconut at Abu Siti Lane. Dont try looking for a big signboard cz the name of their stall is only printed on their garbage bins. But you wont miss the stall due to the gigantous amount of coconuts, both new and finished ones. :)

I think my dress is frigging compatible with this tiger printed G. hehe.

Watch the video to see how they skillfully chopped out a spoon for you to eat your coconut and how you use it. :)

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Tee Nya Kuih

I think my brain is filled with too much carbon dioxide fr sleeping today. You know, when u sleep too much, u get overdose of carbon dioxide which actually makes u more sleepy.

Anyway, i was in Penang on the 2nd day of CNY. I tried this mouth watering desert very less seen this days known as the tee nya kuih fondly by the Penangites. I had not seen this anywhere else in Malaysia but i do know that it can be found at this one drink and desert stall in Penang.

Tee Nya Kuih- rice cakes serve with brown syrup (Gula Melaka). The green ones are the pandan flavors. I felt that the rice cakes in itself only has rice taste. But combine it with brown syrup, it makes a perfect combo. The sweetness of the brown syrup is neutralize by the bland rice cakes. And eating it serve cold makes a good desert on a frigging hot day. Just go try it the next time you drop by Penang. :)

@ New World Park waiting for all my food to come. hehe

New World Park,
102, Jalan Burma,
10050 Georgetown, Penang

Ok, the rest are just some pics i took on the 1st day of CNY. Actually, most of the time, it's just relatives visiting (pai nian) from one hse to the other.Sit sit, eat eat eat EAT and talk talk talk. Mostly, it will be the aunties asking us the usual questions. And all my aunties went 'Wa, Allison you grow prettier already la. Hows Miss World Malaysia?'. And so, i think i had repeated my story a thousand times. Not that i actually mind. Cz im sure many ppl are curious and interested to know what is it like to be in a pageant. To know if what they always hear is true. Those kinda thing. But, maybe i shd get a tape recorder next time. haha.

My relatives were all such generous hosts, each hse i went, they will offer me a varieties of cookies and food. Other times, i will just entertained myself with the television and poker games.

I super love this desert too. My aunties are really good in making them. It's bai guo (ginkgo biloba nut), a type of traditional Chinese herb with longan and brown syrup (Gula Melaka). Brown syrups make such good deserts. But it's a very sweet desert tho.

I dno why ppl love to eat steamboat during CNY especially when the weather is already hot as it is. But we had a lot of steamboats.

Family pic.

Because it is also Valentine's day, the hotel was actually preparing a Valentine's dinner celebration hence, the arch.


My sister and mua. Seriously, i think she looks more like my sis than my mum here. I wonder whats her secret. hehe

I managed to influenced some of my cousins to do the tiger pose too. haha

Side braid i like. Yes, recently, i realize i like putting my hair into a side braid cz its really easy to do. :)

2 more days b4 CNY ends. So, enjoy while u still can. haha *im such a bad influence*. :p

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Culprits For Growing Fat During CNY

So fast. It's already the 11th day of Chinese New Year. For those who dont already know, we Chinese celebrates CNY for 15 days. hehe.

CNY is seriously the most sinful festival of it all. Why? Because you will eat and eat and eat a lot of goodies for not just one or two days but 15 days non stop. For 15 days, you will give yourself all sort of excuses to justify your non stop eating. Like it's the holiday season and no one goes on diet during this time. In the olden days, most people are not rich and they can barely make ends meet, whats more having enough food for them to eat non stop for 15 days. But as time changes and ppl can afford to have more food on their table, the Chinese will be extremely generous with food during CNY in hope that the coming yr will bring them abundant of food as well (a symbol of prosperity throughout the yr).

One of those must-have-CNY food that are responsible for making anyone growing wider are the Chinese New Year cookies. It's like a tradition for Chinese to make and give away CNY cookies to relatives or friends. So without fail, every yr, my family will received a lot of these fattening mostly homemade CNY cookies from all my relatives and family friends. Sometimes, it will be just a few milk tins of it. Other times, they will come in all sizes and we will then had cookies for breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner and supper so that we can finish them all b4 molds started growing. Some years, my mum will be hardworking and make her famous pineapple tarts. But some years, she will be too occupied with other stuff that we just buy those readily available cookies to give out.

But im not definitely not complaining. I mean who dont love these cookies. After all, we only eat them once in a year. hehe. Rmb i said i was growing fat in my previous post? Nah, these are the culprits to my fat cells.

# 1 - Sugee cake. OMG. My absolute fav of all the culprits. I dont mind having it for breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner, supper. So damn yummy i shd had brought back to whole container.

# 2 - Tapioca chips. Tapioca is good for health so indirectly, this cant be that unhealthy rite? *denial mode*

# 3 - This is like the most common culprit found in everyone houses. It is known as the 'bee-hive' cz it looks like bee hives.

# 4 - Sugee cookies. Same ingredient, different texture. This one also absolutely yummy but my bro act faster than me. He kidnapped the entire container back to his college even b4 i can spared some for myself.

I officially loves sugee products now. Better than the normal self raising flour. And do you know sugee is a slang in Jap for super? So next time i dont say i super love sugee. I say i sugee love sugee.

# 5 - Almond cookies

# 6 - Seaweed butter cookies. If you like butter, this one butter sugee gao. I like also.

# 7 - Ribbon cookies. Even cookies wna catch up with the infamous ribbon hair. haha. Another all time fav.

# 8 - The other common cuplrit. Known as 'kuih kapit'. This one a lot of work to make one. It's basically made from flour, eggs and coconut. Then when it is sizzling hot, you will have to fold it into this shape. Sure a lot of fingers being burn one.

# 9 - Peanut cookies. F.a.t.t.e.n.i.n.g

# 10 - Butter cookies. This one also nice. But haih.. menggemukkan sahaja.

# 11 - Chocolate cake. With lots of chocolate chips.

# 12 - Pork floss rolls. Usually ppl put shrimp inside one. But these are specially made by DD's mum so ingredient also changed. Yum Yum.

# 13 - 'Kuih bangkit'. I like this too. Cz it melts in the mouth straightaway. It comes in a lot of shapes one. Too bad a lot already crush cz it crosses hundred of miles just to reach KT.

# 14 - Murukus. It's an Indian delicacy but it seems in the northen part, it is a popular CNY snack too. Whatever. I like.

# 15 - Pineapple tarts. Another popular culprit cz pineapple is 'ong lai' in Hokkien and 'ong' means luck that's why ppl loves pineapple tarts.

#16 - This is definitely not the cookies category but it is another notorious must-have-CNY food - the bak kua or bbq pork. But nowadays got the chicken and even wild boar version. Super unhealthy but yumyumyumyum.

I dont think any of the above dont scream the word F.A.T.T.E.N.I.N.G or U.N.H.E.A.L.T.H.Y. But why are they all so yummylicious. Not fair one.

Of course, taking too much of all these cholesterol, fat, sugar, salt and whats not will definitely cause sore throat and causes one to fall ill easily. So don't forget, while enjoying all your yummy cookies, drink plenty of water too. And get back to exercising after this so that you dont grow anymore wider. hehe. :)

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