Specialist placement meeting

Here's where everyone meets. Be it masters of internal medicine or mrcp graduates. After completion, we all end up in this meeting room at putrajaya ministry of health to search for our destiny. Cream of the crop with different purpose in life.

Before the meeting, we were required to submit proof of our exam results and rotations completed. Other documents needed were a passport sized photograph. The person in charge matron rohani will then ask us to complete a few forms stating our service history.

For those who have completed at least 3 year Medical officer training will be called for the specialist placement meeting. Then an excel marking sheet was filled in prior to the meeting to determine your score. One is ranked  based on years of service and places served (the more remote, the higher marks ). The higher you rank, the better chance you have to get your placement. Spots are service based, which means unpopular places, ie out of klang valley, have the highest need for new blood. New spots also open up when there are transfers.

Dr letchmann jokingly welcomed us to the fraternity of physicians, stating that diagnosticians are the most important in healthcare. He also told us not to snapshot  the legendary whiteboard which displays our placement and make it viral because it is not final. So sorry guys, no sneak peek.

We were then divided into 4 groups for brief individual interview. Met Dr Chris again. He remembered me as the noisy one from Serdang mrcp mock exam. Straight to the point, I was ranked 20 out of 56. Smacked in the middle. If luck has it, I'll get kuantan because we still have 3 vacancies. Had to put second and third options just in case someone with high marks decide to bump my place. The interview was straight forward and finished in 5mins. We then had to wait for everyone else to be interviewed. Then decision will be made.

Another long torturous wait when bosses are busy placing everyone's name on the board. Managed to meet my ex colleague during housemanship!

For those who are not satisfied with their placement, they can appeal once when they have received their placement letter.

Finally, the legendary white board is filled with names- new life and dream for this new batch of specialist! Good luck everyone.

Daddy's cafe Pangkor- western Asian fusion by the beach

After a whole morning of fun at the beach, we were so hungry when we spotted Daddy's cafe. 

It's located just by coral bay. Wonderful sunny day and cooling sea breeze. We chose a table outdoor. Who would want to sit inside when it's so beautiful outside?

Ryan and I found the most intriguing names on the menu. So we ordered

Twiggy bomb. It's a combination of lamb chop and roast tiger prawns. The huge slab of lamb was totally worth the price tag at RM29. But it was a tad too heavy on salt.

Fire twister. It's a rice dish with pan fried mackerel marinated in some spicy sauce, accompanied by fresh salad and sambal belacan. Fish was very fresh and the whole combination was just very soothing to the palate.

Fish and chips! Classic and well battered fillet. Crispiest chips which baby Bing enjoyed so much.

Seafood claypot cooked in tamarind based curry including soft shell crab, squid and prawns. Fresh seafood cooked to perfection.

Fried rice :) in all its glamour
I love prawns!

Vegetarian version

Cappuccino. Kind of disappointed because it's made with evaporated milk, not fresh milk. As a result it tasted kind of off.

Great atmosphere. Reasonable pricing with generous portion. Each main cost from RM20 and above. Taste slightly above average. Would have rated it higher if not for the over salty lamb. Given the chance will visit again.

Perak-selangor-kuantan -where to stop for food and local produce

Heading back from pangkor, we decided to have relaxing road trip back to kuantan.

First stop-Sitiawan.

Of course we have to stop at the famous mee suahfactory. Freshly made noodles at wholesale price!

Konpian Hook Chew Mee Suah 

Read about the dying art of making mee suah.

After buying mee suah, time to have some authentic red wine chicken mee suah! The best we have ever tried! Fragrant chicken braised in red wine sediment that's so rich in flavor and full of punch. The chicken was also well marinated in wine. The hard boiled egg was a perfect combination with the wine as well. If you like it good enough, you can bring home their home made red wine sediment at RM15 each.

生记栈红糟屋

They also sell home made tapai/ 酒饼

Besides chicken mee suah, they also have pork or rib mee suah!

Yummy pumpkin soup that Bing finished for his lunch.

Pretty difficult to find this shop.

How can one ever miss savouring a plate of kam pua noodles at sitiawan? Underneath the big tree, as the locals call it, nestle the most delicious noodles. The generous portion of caramel sauce with lean char siew goes really well with their signature sambal. All these goodness for RM3.60 only.

Lee Chuo restaurant 

Heading south, we then stopped at teluk intan.

The famous clock tower. Needs repainting though. A bit of history about the leaning tower.

We soon realise that most good things in Perak are located in the remote areas. Following the crowd, we managed to locate

新裕香糕饼厂 Sin Joo Heong Confectionery
It's famous for its Harimau brand Heong Peah and lotus seed paste cookies.

Extremely cripsy with fragrant taste of sesame.

Look at the crowd! 

They have the classic Heong peah, durian Heong peah and tau sar peah.

We then bought pao from
Yik Mun at Tanjung Malim.. Interesting flavors include kaya, curry chicken, red bean and curry minced beef. Personally still prefer Sri Jaya Pao. 

Last stop of the day was Ken Kee at Batang Kali. It's famous for its claypot yam pork rib braised noodles. Unique taste but not my cup of tea. Kind of pricey at RM13 per pax.

Their signature dishes all summarised on their wall.

Got home just in time to prepare for work on Monday. Looking forward to next holiday!

Pangkor- a planned weekend getaway

Baby Bing is indeed quite lucky to travel to so many places at such a young age. My first time to pangkor island as well to attend a close friend's wedding.

We drove from kl to lumut jetty. Ferries there leave every 30 minutes. The journey took about 30 to 40 minutes.

So lucky to have my friend arrange a huge and awesome homestay within walking distance to the beach adjacent to SMK Pangkor overlooking Pangkor Laut resort. Houses here have a shower head and tap outside the house just to show how much they love the beach.

We had a great time hanging out at Pasir Bogak beach. Swimming and building sand castles were Bing's favorite. He's not even scared when his feet were buried underneath the sand.

Great afternoon playing with water sports. It's actually my first time! Rm60 for 4 rides per pax by Mr Beh in front of sea view Resort. He also organised snorkeling trips to nearby islands for RM30 per pax. Started off with banana boat. Jumped off the boat when Angie lost balance and fell off. But couldn't use my strength to get back on because I was too weak from laughing too hard. Hubby's turn to get into the bumpy sofa ride in a srmi squatting position. And the last leg we got to get on the Superman in a prone position. Got an abrasion on my left elbow as a memory of how thrilling these games were. Not for the faint hearted.

Mr Beh asked us to advertise his water sports

Intoxicated by their romance

The evening ended with a romantic wedding ceremony and buffet dinner at Sea view Resort. The best sunset one can ever bargain for on their big day. Funny how everyone turned out to be extremely drunk but safely back home at last. The only sober person was the breastfeeding mother :p

Sekinchan half day trip

En route to Pangkor, we decided to stop by Sekinchan. This is Bing and my first time to Sekinchan.

I must say it's not easy to find the entrance as there's lots of roadworks and there's a lack of signage. 

After a hearty breakfast at Ri Ri Fatt restaurant, we headed to this antique shop called Granny's house which sold various local delicacies including homemade kuih kapit.

There was also an automated machine churning out fresh rice crackers.

The shop was decorated just like a simple wooden village house.

We were also lucky to witness golden ripe paddy field being harvested. The left hay were stacked up in the field.

 We also visited Sekinchan rice factory. We were briefed about details from planting to processing rice.

RM5 per adult entrance ticket with a small packet of rice as door gift.

Ended our journey at Redang Beach lunching at a temporary seafood stall savouring stir fry prawns and deep fry squid.



Half day well spent! With baby Bing totally exhausted after the visit ending with a 2 and half hours nap. 

Cream cheese bread- home made in bread maker

Since acquiring my Kenwood BM250 bread maker, we don't buy bread anymore.

This is one of our favorite recipes

Place these ingredients into the bread pan in sequence

320ml water
475g bread flour (we use a combination of high protein four and wholemeal flour from the Bake hut)
125g cream cheese (we use Tatura oz brand)
20g milk powder (we use Fernleaf)
40g butter (we don't believe in margarine or butter spread)
30g sugar
2tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast (we use mauripan instant yeast)

Be careful to separate yeast with sugar to allow the dough to rise perfectly.

Set the machine to 4 sweet bread, 1kg loaf and medium crust.



Tada. Wonderful fresh loaf

Little sidewalk cafe

Rarely do we get to have breakfast out during the weekend due to our busy on call schedules. Hubby scrolled through his offpeak app and decided we should give this cafe a try.

Here's their Facebook page
Little sidewalk cafe. It started off as a pub.

It's a bit tricky to get to the place because of the constructions happening around East coast mall but we managed to arrive at the stipulated time. Spacious cafe and suitable for children with clean baby chair. But customers are allowed to smoke as it's outdoor.

As advertised, the curry noodle here is a must try. Thick gravy with sinful coconut milk and fragrant lemongrass, it awakens your senses and appetite. Great combination with stuffed tofu and vege made on the spot.

The dried noodles tasted kind of bland. But it tasted superb once mixed with the curry gravy! Maybe the cafe chef can consider this new combination.

Top all this up with a cup of thick aromatic cam (coffee mixed with black tea sweetened by condensed milk)

By the time we finished savouring our breakfast, the place was already packed with hungry visitors.

And we got 10% off the bill using offpeak. Will definitely come for the curry again.