One weekend in JB - one HUGE feast

Check out that plate.

No wait, check out the remnants on the plate.

To whom does it belong you wonder eh?

haha... isn't the answer so darn obvious.

yes yes it's me all right. My plate. after what i'd call a HUGE feast fit for starving people. Except that hmmm we weren't a bunch of starved people.

Who's the we? That's me and the bunch of my beloved family of friends from Amplify Ministry, SJC Connectors and John 10:10. Yea, we were in Johor Bahru (JB), Malaysia for the weekend.

We were there to conduct a spirit-filled retreat for some of the confirmands there. The retreat was held at the Sacred Heart Church. It's an annual routine. We always always have a HUGE supper at the near by hawker centre (at Taman Sri Tebrau, around Jalan Keris) after the first day. and here you can see the lovely Lydia a.k.a Auntie Dee, or the one with the saccharine sweet singing voice (she's one of the singer in the music side) and her crayfish:



yep, Crayfish. Butter Crayfish to be specific. That was the highlight of the day!


Jules and Grace going ga-ga at the sight of the mountain of butter crayfish

I'm sure you can see how enthused we are about butter crayfish. It's really that good! And really really cheap. It's like half the price of what you have to pay back in Singapore! check out more crayfish shots:


can you see the roe? - this particular photo was taken by Clarence.

ahh... the one and only oily, fattening moutain of pure buttery crayfish... who can resist? I know I can't....



and here's the next highlight, oatmeal prawns:



Now, you see the oatmeal bits there? We finished almost all. Very very oily but heh, it's just comforting to know that oats is healthy, no? =p



Oh my oh my... look at that meat above. Delicious looking ya? Well it was superbly yummy as well. They're pork ribs without the bones i think. The marinade makes it so scrumptious. awesome


prawn paste chicken


sambal kangkong

and yes we had some prawn paste chicken and sambal kangkong to go with the crayfish, prawns and pork. Now, can you guess how much we paid for all that? there was about 9 of us at that table, so after splitting the cost, each person had to pay only about 23 ringgit. That's like about 10 SGD. Now, is that cheap or is that CHEAP?! i love JB! I love the food, the seafood... amazing.

Did I forget to mention that a total of 40 of us were there? For the retreat? And about 3/4 of us occupied like 4 tables at the place to feast. And here's one of the table:




They look happy don't they? Of course they would. Their food came first. The rest of us were practically drooling whilst waiting for our own food to come.

Anyway, here's some of their food:


sambal stingray


kai lan

There were alot more other food but we were all so busy eating and my hands were so oily that I didn't want to risk dirtying my camera.

On Sunday, we headed down to City Square for dinner before going home and I just had to eat the cakes at Secret Recipe.

For the uninitiated, Secret Recipe is known for their cheesecakes. It's a Malaysia company and they have outlets in Singapore too. My favourite is the chocolate banana cake. Chocolate and bananas are like husband and wife, they look and taste good together!

In case you're wondering why I had to have the cakes there instead of waiting till I come home to Singapore. Well, the reason is simple. When faced with food cheaper than what you pay in your home country, would you want to give up that opportunity to eat more for less? haha.. okay now i'm starting to sound really cheapskate. heh it's not my fault that i'm a student who ain't that rich (ahem, considering how much money goes into my food endeavours).

The cakes at Secret recipe costs about 5 ringgit a slice there, which is about 2.50 SGD but here, whoa, they are going for 5 SGD per slice. so now you get the equation? hope you do. haha. anyway here are the cakes:


chocolate banana cake


blueberry cheesecake

So I suggest that if you happen to be really free one fine day, why not just go across the causeway and drop by the nearest mall: City Square and stuff yourself crazy.. and do some shopping too? It'll be a great way to destress I would vouch. But of course, you would have to exercise if you want to keep your flabs at bay. I actually ran 8km after I got home from JB last night. Well it's partly because I have to train for my half marathon this sunday... and it so happens that running is a good way to burn those calories ya know. that's the secret. =)