Valentine's Day 2009 in Kuantan

Dates: 13 - 15 February 2009, Friday - Sunday
Venue: Kuantan

Occasion: Weekend in Kuantan & Valentine's Day

I left for Kuantan right after work on the 13th...the bus ride was quite fast :) I left at 8pm & arrived in Kuantan town around 11.30pm... 3.5hours...not bad :)

By the time I arrived, it was somewhat too late to do anything productive already, thus the only sane thing to do is to head to the beach. I've always love beaches & being back at Teluk Cempedak just makes me nostalgic :)


Saturday, 14 February 2009
I spent almost the whole day out of the house...Aaron came over to pick me up for breakfast & we headed off to Kim Kee in Alor Akar; supposedly for the Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun, but the stall's gone! He hasn't been there for YEARS & thought that it'll still be around *sigh* We ended up having Pan Mee, but it wasn't all that great la.


After breakfast, we went back home & watched The Pink Panther Movie 1. I haven't watched it before, so I had a really good laugh throughout the entire movie :D I'm SO outdated in the movie industry :( I wanna watch Pink Panther 2 as well, but I just didn't really find the time to do so...been busy with all other things :P

Around 1pm, we left the house to pick Abigail up from school & went grocery shopping at East Coast Mall & Berjaya Megamall :) It was actually quite stressful for me as the variety of goods were quite limited in Kuantan, & I've to vary my ingredients & go without some as well :( Oh yeah, the groceries are specifically for dinner :D Yes, Miss Wong cooked for V-Day...which explains Experiment 1402 *wink*

By the time I'm done with shopping & got back to the house, it was around 5pm already *faints* I had to do a "one-leg-kick"...doing every other thing from chopping, marinating, stuffing, cutting, to cooking, baking, & decorating *really faints* Plus, Miss Wong is VERY ambitious! She wanted to do a 5-course meal!! *shakes head* In the end, I only managed a 4-course meal, & that also, it weren't all THAT excellent, much to my disappointment...

Anyways, we enjoyed the dinner together & had Abigail joining us as well (I thought it would be nice for her parents to just spend some time alone together while she just joins Aaron & I lar... :)) I made more stuffed mushrooms for the family (and their guests...uncle's ex-boss & ex-colleagues came over for dinner, but aunty cooked dinner for them lar, not me :S) & they said it was good, although I thought my experimental ones were better :( Salad was nice as well...the other 2 dishes were so-so only (in my personal opinion), but Abigail & Aaron gave thumbs up to all *smiles...appreciated*


Garden Salad with Bacon Bits
- Baby Butterhead Leaves
- Tomatoes
- Capsicums (Green & Yellow)
- Fried Streaky Bacon (cut into bits)
- Thousand Island Salad Sauce
- Honey
- Crushed Black Pepper


Baked Stuffed Mushrooms
- Swiss Brown Mushrooms & Swiss White Mushrooms
- Ham (chopped)
- Red Peppers (chopped)
- Pepper
- Corn Flour (just to ensure the stuffing-mixture sticks)
- Parmesan Cheese (I bought the wrong cheese, so it didn't taste as good :( )
* cooking directions can be found in the Experiment 1402 blog post


Baked Herbed Potatoes
- Red Potatoes (I can't find red potatoes in Kuantan, so I used Russet potatoes, which didn't taste as nice :( Russet's best for mash *sigh*)
- Mixed Italian Herbs
- Crushed Black Pepper
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt


Spaghetti with Salmon & Peppers (this dish is a true experiment...own imagination...not very nice la *wergh*)
- Spaghetti
- Salmon
- Fried/Grilled Capsicums (Red, Green, Yellow)
- Garlic
- Butter
- Italian Herbs


All in all, dinner & fellowship was great :) Food wasn't all that excellent, but Aaron highlighted that "as long as the main ingredient is love, it'll taste good" :) That phrase made me think.

I've been rating food & restaurants like nobody's business. I don't get paid for such a favour, neither do I get free food nor invites. Yet that phrase surely reminded me that even if the food tastes absolutely, indisputably, & indescribably good, without good company, it's all meaningless. Enjoying good food alone is very different from enjoying good food with family & friends :) This is "food for thought" for all my dear readers...

We ended the night with a movie at home (going out is too much hassle & everywhere would be packed) & I went home after the movie...

Sunday, 15 February 2009
It was one of those miraculous days where Aaron didn't need to work...his job requires him to work 7days/week :( After church, we basically spent time at my house before we left for the bus terminal. Bidding goodbye is always tough. I've no idea when we could meet again - looking at my mad schedule....all my weekends in February & March are fully-booked! *faints*

So how did your Valentine's Day go? Did you managed to spend it with your family, friends, or perhaps shy away from the crowd & spent some time relaxing alone?

- Ruth