From Perak with Love : Tambun & The Haven

We head to Tambun for a short visit after the visit to Gunung Lang.

We did not managed to hike or climb our way up at Gunung Lang. Instead we went to the award-winning development of The Haven. The place is really a beautiful place to stay. According to GL, most locals will think you are mad to purchase a condominium. As land are a plenty, most of them are willing and afford to buy themselves landed properties of similar price.

Craving for Homemade Mocha Coconut Iced Coffee & Yogurt

The entire working weekdays got me feeling as though things were not running smoothly. And when times like this hitting me mercilessly, I will have this awfully strong desire to eat really desserts or some really happy drinks; just so to cheer myself up.

From my work desk, I quietly Google for anything that contains coffee and milk. These are my favourite drinks apart from wine itself.

I stumbled upon How Sweet Eats by blogger and food lover, Jessica. Her homemade mocha coconut iced coffee is something I will attempting to make this weekend ( hopefully ).

Homemade mocha coconut iced coffee by How Sweet Eats

Another thing to add to my wanted-to-do list is homemade yogurt. Ai Lee explained to me how it easy it can be in whacking out homemade yogurt. All I will need is a carton of vanilla flavoured HL milk and small amount of plain yogurt.

You see, I am never a cook. Does not mean I have no intention to learn. That will happen and hopefully soon as my dad is planning to repair and also renovate the little house of ours.

While waiting to spare some time in tidying up the small store room of our little apartment, I decided to make some small research and hunting for free recipe of homemade yogurts, and I found The Stone Soup.

Homemade yogurt by The Stone Soup

And there is another interesting blog on how to make your own yogurt too. There is this step-by-step tutorials by Michael W Reeps. Easy to understand and very much like what Ai Lee has shared with me.

Should I say happy experimenting?

The Markets : 10th Installation

Looking forward to be here tomorrow. I come to realize that have grown less nervous in running this. Maybe because I have had some experience now.

So, shall we be meeting tomorrow? See you there!

Autumn Inspiration #1

 I have some really interesting fine in Etsy for autumn. And I think the first finding here is the intricately done dog leash by Jennie B Goode.

Living in South Carolina with her husband, her work had been featured before in Modern Dog magazine.

Autumn paisley fall dog leash by Jennie B Goode

Bijoux dog collar by Jennie B Goode

Gigi's work is a joy to look at. I suppose it will be more interesting to have one of her work to be put your working desk. To me it is inspiring to have something really tiny and cute on your desk while brainstorming for the best creative idea around!

Leaf decoration felt doll by Gigi in Stitches

Tatyana lives in Bulgaria. Graduated with a bachelor of arts specialised in spatial design, Tatyana is a gifted artist in her own rights. She dabbles in various mediums ranging from oil, watercolour to wine and coffee.

Take a look at her work in her Etsy store for all her interesting pieces.

Original art piece by Tatyana Ilieva

With over 40 years of beading experience, Susan took a step to share her interesting pieces of delicately beaded pieces to Etsy. With much encouragement from her daughter, Oh My Beading Heart Shop is born.

I strongly recommend you to look at all the pieces she has in store! Man... they are all really amazing pieces of work! Not even I can bead in such detail!

Autumn bracelet by Susan of Oh My Beading Heart Shop

From Perak with Love - Zakka Loft ( Day 1 )

It took us some few rounds to find this place as it is at the very corner of a row of shops. We drove like about 20 minutes from Ipoh town for dinner. Located at Jalan Medan Ipoh, the shop is setup with really homey furniture, their handmade crafts can never stop to amaze passer-by.

We arrive at about 8:30 p.m. after a couple of times driving around for a good parking spot. For new tourist like me, it will take a while to find Zakka Loft as it is situated at a small corner of a boutique. Keep your eye glue to any lime green wall ( see the first photo below ).

Address : 2, Jalan Medan Ipoh 1C, Medan Ipoh Bistari, 31400 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Contact No. : +6 012 480 3591, +6 013 488 8503

Here is a map to help you to get here!

Zakka Loft, the handmade coffee hang out place of Ipoh

A corner where you can find some really interesting knick-knacks to be purchased before leaving Zakka Loft

A customer looking at some homemade cakes which was displayed while waiting for his take-away meal

Customers can browse through interesting handmade crafts while waiting for their meal to arrive

Ukulele for sale?

Two ukulele, some linen materials and socks dolls for sale

Some of veteran crafter Akoe Ai's work on display and for sale at Zakka Loft

Knitted stuffed teddy bears ( wedding ) suitable for wedding ceremony

Two more ukulele and some knick-knacks

The message corner!

A closer shot of the messages which are hung on the wall

Display of handmade soft dolls for sale

Another message board

A corner where photos were taken and been displayed. Happy customers

Menu list of Zakka Loft

This is my dinner - curry chicken bento set. Not bad at all!

Chicken wine bento set which my friend had. If only they could add a bit more wine to it and this will be a fabulous set to savour!

My dear friend enjoying her wine chicken bento set

Yeah... I am happy to be here! FINALLY!

Bye Zakka Loft!

From Perak with Love - Batu Gajah & Bidor ( Day 1 )

I just came back from Perak for a very short getaway. I may not be able to make it to Bangkok, Thailand or Garut, Indonesia as I hoped for. But, this short holiday is really worth it.

I fell in love with Perak instantly once GL and her husband brought me around for a mini tour. My goals had been fulfilled instantly and in a very short period of time.

Ipoh with majority of Chinese population is famous for its variety of Chinese food. As it is a Chinese populated town, the place is very warm and welcoming. I feel comfortable staying here even for a day because I am here for food hunting and language is the important ' weapon ' when it comes to ordering good food.

Fortunate enough for me, their main Chinese dialect is Cantonese language followed by Mandarin and Foo Chou. English is also widely spoken as Ipoh is becoming a favourite tourist destination. You have to really tour around to know its attraction and I will say that it will be the best to have someone you know to bring you around.

In my case, I have GL and his her husband! It took us about an hour 15 minutes to reach Bidor to try the duck mee at Pun Chun Restaurant. Got here about 11 in the morning and driving between the speed of 80 km to 110 km per hour.

Pun Chun is located at the old town of Bidor. A few minutes drive ( if you are at the right track ) from the toll, you will be able to reach this place.

Address : Pun Chun (Bidor) Restaurant, 38 & 40, Jalan Besar, 35500 Bidor, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 05- 434 1554 & 05-434 1562   

Pun Chun (Bidor) Restaurant

Handmade delicacies which came out fresh from the oven the time we arrived

Nicely taken photos of some of their famous menus available

More food options hanging near the ceiling!

A worker hard at work preparing dishes for customers

Duck mee at Pun Chun, Bidor as brunch

We continue our journey to Ipoh town after brunch. The journey takes us about 40 minutes, passing Batu Gajah. By the way, there is a reason why they call the place Batu Gajah ( 'rock elephant ' if I were to translate it directly to English ).

Take a look at the following photos and you will understand why. The shape of the mountain does look like an elephant!

Batu Gajah from afar

 Another angle of Batu Gajah taken while the car we were in moving

RM30 per night?! First time we saw such budget style hotel in Ipoh town