Thanks to Wesak Day being a public holiday, I’m back in Penang now for the long weekend!

One of the best things about living in Malaysia is the insane amount of public holidays we have, I swear.

It’s so awesome that it’s ridiculous.

Our public holidays consist of holidays at national & state levels, royal installations, birthdays of the who’s who in our governing body, religious purposes and the fact that we comprise several different races would mean Malaysians observe almost every festive occasion there is to celebrate. 

Holidays can only spell more fun times out and about! 

Cuti awam, cuti umum, semua cuti pun kiterang sapu! Macam tiap2 hari ade cuti. Seronok giler!

It's crazy I know but hey, I'm not complaining! 

My purpose of returning to Penang this time was to visit and spend quality time with my family.

In the afternoon, we adjourned for some Japanese food, shopping and coffee. 

Just the weekend outfit of the day

Candid of my holding granny's hand. Priceless photograph. 

May 24, 2013 | Having a late #lunch with the #family at Sakae #Sushi! by imthejessicat on Keek.com

Hello from Sakae Sushi, Queensbay Mall! 

Coffee sesh with the family 

(Pardon the coincidental blinking by two people)

Had coffee right after

Uncle Mikey and I

At night, we were booked in for a nice Chinese banquet dinner at Jade Blosson Restaurant at Krystal Point. This is to celebrate the homecoming of one of my favorite cousins, Kevin, who came back to visit from Los Angeles, with his newly-built family. 

Couzzie Kevin and I

(P/S: He doesn't have sleepy eyes, just wasn't looking into the camera lens LOL)

As far as I can remember, I’ve never exactly been too fond of children and babies. 

I just don’t fathom how everybody finds them so amusing – give me cats anytime. They’re far more affectionate and entertaining.

Can't believe I'm an aunt already! 

Tonight, I held a toddler for the first time. He wriggled initially and I freaked out, but we eventually got along just fine. I was just happy I didn’t drop the kid. 

Photographic evidence that I ain't too shabby with children perhaps? 

Say hello to my 2 year old nephew. The very charming little one – Caleb.

How cute is he? Adorable beyond words! 

I think we are naturally gifted at posing for photographs HAHAHA

Dinner ensued at last, and more merriment soon followed. 

This was what we were served in our eight course dinner. (Photos aren't too pretty this time – sorry!)

Traditional Peking Duck (Skin) served with Chinese Pancakes and Condiments

★★★✩✩

Yam Ring Basket

★★★★✩

Chinese Herbal Chicken

★★★★★

Deep Fried Sweet and Sour Garupa Fish

★★✩✩✩

Traditional Peking Duck (meat)

★★★★★

Spinach Soup

★★✩✩✩

Braised Pork Belly

★★★✩✩

Pumpkin with Minced Meat and Dried Shrimp

★★★★★

To my surprise, my family didn’t fancy the food at all. LOL I think granny's expression says it all

I had no complaints, though.

What really left an impression were my two favorites, the Steamed Herbal Chicken and the Peking Duck.

The chicken was incredibly tender; bursting with a hint of Chinese herbal essences with each bite. The duck was tastefully done. It was so aromatic and flavorful; cooked to just the right texture – not too soft nor too chewy.

I was helping myself to them both one after another uncontrollably. 

The interior

The rest? Well… it wasn’t bad neither was it exceptionally good either.

I’d say it is just your average Chinese dinner fare.

***

The very next day, I made plans with Kevin and his lovely wife Rachel (whom I clicked with very well!) to spend some time together for an afternoon of lunch and coffee. 

You know, being cousins, it’ll be nice to do some cousin-to-cousin catching up and bonding sans the entire family.

Saturday outfit of the day

We went to my favorite restaurant in Queensbay Mall to have lunch.

It was T.G.I Friday’s!  Here's some of the food we had:

Jack Championship BBQ Beef Ribs

★★★★✩

Baked Potato Skins with Bacon & Cheese

[No ratings because I didn’t have any – but they seemed to like it!]

Baked Stuffed Mushrooms

★★★★✩

We didn't want to leave just yet – too engrossed in our world of conversations!

Coffee was at Old Town White Coffee, Queensbay Mall.

I never regretted making plans with them that afternoon.

There was so much catching up to do with Kevin, while Rachel and I got to know each other better. We talked, we ate, we laughed the afternoon away. I foresee myself jet-setting to Los Angeles sometime next year! 😀

Have a safe flight back to the US of A, guys! 

***

Being back in Penang for the long weekend, I wouldn’t miss a chance to party on my beloved island.

Especially when my bestest buddies are around with me! 

The night was Richard Durand presented by Twelve XII, QEII On the Sea and Heineken.

Partied with my fave Penang buddies! 

He played, in equal parts, uplifting trance as well as progressive trance. His remixes were wicked! 

Thanks to Sam for the help, I got to take a photo with world #89 Richard Durand himself.

***

After a hectic Thursday night, Saturday night was another night of partying.

It was Hennessy Artistry Penang! 

Suffered a very, very bad hairday so I decided to tie all my hair up for the night

I was surprised when I got told numerous times that I looked nice with my hair done up. 

Hennessy Artistry Penang was amazing, as usual.

It was fantastic being able to catch up and party with some of my favorite Penang friends again, as well as my buddies from KL.

The interior was magnificent!

May 25, 2013 | Thank you @HennessyMY for another great #party! I had a great time ❤ #hennessyartistry #penang by imthejessicat on Keek.com

More in another blog post.

***

Oh and… I got myself a new tattoo (again). 

One every year since the year 2007 and counting!

Remember the one that I sketched on my shoulder with markers?

Part of it came to life.

More in a full blog post soon.

Clearly, I had a great weekend. But what’s been happening earlier in the week? 

Gym, as usual. Decided to switch my routines to more interval and circuit ones for maximum efficiency.

Had time in between sets to steal a piccie

Weights. This is for the abductors and adductors

Barbells are my favorite

And so is the spinning/RPM sessions!

What else? Been cooking. A whole lot.

Here are some pictures of my post-workout meals to make you hungry hehe 

Hardboiled omega eggs with sliced tomatoes, tuna chunks,

cottage cheese and lettuce on wholewheat toast

Fluffy giant salmlon omelette and sides of garlic,

stir-fried organic pea-sprouts in olive oil and kidney beans

Platter of four: Grilled Shitake mushrooms and tomatoes, boiled carrots and steamed broccoli

Pan-fried brown rice in olive oil, eggs, kidney beans, organic peasprouts

with lots of garlic, quinoa, basil and black pepper! 

treasure pocket of brown rice baked in ricotta cheese & garlic, salmon, green & yellow zucchini,

baby carrots, pea sprouts and egg with a dash of quinoa seeds & black pepper!
 

Also been having sleepless nights. (Don’t ask why)

The things you do when you can't sleep.

My week also saw me going to Publika for the very first time.

I KNOW, I KNOW. DON'T CHIDE ME. Yes, believe it or not I have not been there ever. Well, I just had no specific reason of being there neither did I make the effort to drive there to check the place out or make any plans there. 

But that night, thanks to my buddies, plans were made at Publika!

We went to The Red Beanbag for dinner and drinkies at Barfly after. 

Wednesday night with my girls and the rest (not pictured)

Desserts after dinner at The Red Beanbag

More in a full post soon!

Had also been shopping at fashion bazaars!

The most recent one was the Markets @ Jaya One fashion flea market

Girls day out. En route for shopping and lunchie! 

We bought lots of pretty pieces. I think I ended up with a few dresses, tops and skirts.

Photo credits to Ning. Thanks girl! xo

Random, irrrelevant photo of my cat being confused as to why his picture is taken

Caught my sleeping child on the table LOL 

I woke up one day to find that my black kitty has turned snow-white.

LOL kidding. 

Last weekend was also BestiePam’s birthday!

It was a house-party at her crib and the theme was supposedly ‘Pyjama Party’ but I was the only guest who showed up in pyjamas. Grr. 

Fell in love with Rama's bunny slippers at the party and kept wearing it.

How can anyone not love this giant, fluffy thing? 

Random photo of the other half and I during her party

We played the classic Kings Cup!

Watched them down Jagermeister trains! It's cooler than regular Jagerbombs methinks.

Happy birthday Pammy, I enjoyed the party! Hope you liked the birthday present I got you 

Later that week, I was invited to a Star Trek Into the Darkness movie screening in Cathay Cineplex thanks to TalkFILM.

Never one to be into science-fiction action movies, I found myself scratching my head in dismay for the most part of the movie.

Admittedly, I have never watched any of the previous Star Trek movies and I stand completely at polar ends of being a trekkie. 

From a complete trekkie-noob standpoint, I found Spock rather peculiar-looking.

Oh and I could't help but to tune out without realizing and found myself organizing my schedule for the coming week on my PDA. Despite trying my level best, my attention span for this movie was next to nothing. I wasn’t even paying any attention half the time. I felt bad but ultimately felt better when I heard some snoring coming from the back of my seat.

Looks like it isn’t just me who found this movie utterly boring, eh? 

May 16, 2013 | Just got back from the movie screening of Star Trek Into Darkness! Go watch it!

Give me back Star Wars anytime.

Perhaps I would appreciate Star Trek better if I had a better comprehension of it, though I enjoyed watching Captain Kirk in action. I thought he was rather hot.

After the movie!

***

One afternoon, I found a pretty ingenious way of eating my favorite Secret Recipe cake, the White Dark Chocolate Cheesecake.

Though it may gross some of you out, I figured that I am going to share it regardless.

So this was what I did.

I cut off a spoonful of cake and dipped it into my cup of Flat White coffee for a few seconds before lifting it up and putting it straight into my mouth. 

Having white chocolate, dark chocolate and cheese mulled together into a cake is good enough, now with a touch of coffee-flavour? I’m a genius! LOL.

Sedap giler, percaye aku tak? Cube sendiri pastu habaq kat i camne okey? Haha.

Jokes aside, I loved how it tasted.

Dipping it into hot coffee made the crumbly chocolate half at the bottom disintegrate with moist, producing a wonderful melt-in-your-mouth texture.

And the cake wasn’t cold anymore, obviously. Not that I minded having it served cold – this was just so much better! Try it… and tell me what you think! 

So there you have it, a wrap-up of my busy fortnight.

Have a good week ahead, folks. Make every single day count! 

Much love,

Jessicat

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The Sunday Times is a weekly series; published every Sunday night to recap the highlights of my week, capture what piques my interest and to briefly highlight my recommendations for to-go and to-eat places!

Some photos were posted instantly on my Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & my Mini LIVE Blog

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