hello win

October 31st is celebrated by young and old all over the world - Halloween! In Malaysia, only the elite will go to the extend of decking their houses in the ghoulish mood. Also the children of the elite will dress up in all sorts of costumes from Spidey to Bart in effort to score some candies from their elite neighbours.

The not so elite individuals will check out the local joints to somehow get in the mood for a scary night out. So off we went to Tony Roma's at Cineleisure to check out the scene.

Strangely for a 'happening' night, the outlet was somewhat quiet with only a few tables occupied. The reception was complete with the cemetery scene and the hosts and hostesses were of course in the scary attire.

Our waiter for the night was this ugly looking chap whom we had problems try to decipher what he was saying under the mask. He was also cool about us taking pictures and started to pose. Thumbs up for that.

We were particularly curious about this other waiter and just had to ask him about his costume. He is a victim of a bad road accident and as for the sari he is in, he was on his way back from buying a sari for his girlfriend when the accident happened. Really ingenious and creative. Kudos to helmet guy.

Food wise it was same same but the effort they put in was great.

quest to success - the edamame way

I am perpetually on a diet. Well, all women are anyway. I have discovered the very simple truth about weight loss - have a daily deficit in one's calorie intake and lose weight; ingest more than you need will then result in a weight gain. Easy peasy.

So as of last week I have started to count my calories but firstly one must know what is ones daily calorie requirement.

Every morning I have a fruit or a yogurt because it is bad to start the day on an empty stomach. Then it lunch as usual minus the oily and fried stuff. Snacking is usually my biggest problem but ever since I have been transferred back to my original place, the snacks have reduced but still, I have on occasions succumbed.

Dinner is quite an episode. Having to prepare dinner for my husband would mean now being smart and cooking smaller portions. Since last week, my dinner has been either fruits or vegetables. No carbs or meat. And my latest craze and addiction are edamame beans. They are actually green soy beans still in their pods.

These yummy protein powerhouse usually served in Japanese restaurants can be found in the frozen food section. Dump them (frozen) in boiling water that is lightly salted for 1 minute and voila, goodness ready to eat!

Edamame , All the Way!

psychadelic

The look of the bottle and its unusual shape totally caught my eye during one recent grocery shopping trip. There were basically two variants to choose from - yogurt and sour. I decided to try the sour version and lo and behold, SOUR it was. The flavours were grape, green apple and lemon and very so strangely coloured that at some point I thought I was going to get colour poisoning (hey, manufactured in China lah... you know the bad press they have been getting!). Well, I didn't coz my neighbour at the office consumed most of it in one day, say like 20 pcs. By the way, he is still my neighbour if you were wondering.

Lesson of the day - Looks can be so deceiving. What you see may not be what you get.

So if you like the cute packaging and don't mind a little colour in your life that comes with a sour 'kick' that check them out at your local grocer.

simply

Today is one of those days that I feel that I am floating in mid air. No, I am not high, just drifting...

ho chak

My colleague recommended 'jing fan' aka steamed rice for lunch today after watching Ho Chak, the makan programme of 8tv last night. Well, we were not the only ones who had the same thought for lunch... (the amazing power of REACH of television).

We arrived at 12.45pm at the chinese styled coffee shop at Kelana Jaya (close to Giant Hypermarket) hoping to sample the talked about item but to our dismal, it was SOLD OUT!!! By the way the aunty was grinning when she said that. She did offer for us to try the soup with white rice in mushroom sauce. Sad. Never mind lor will conjure up the previous sensation when I sampled this amazing 'jing fan'. Anyways my colleague had the soup and rice combo and gave it two thumbs up.

***

This stall is not new to me as it is near where my parents live. We frequent this place quite often and is a favourite of my dad's. He always orders the ginger chicken variant. Always. There was also once when my cousin and I had lunch there at 2.30ish and was told that they had three portions left. We order two, one for each of us and was highlighted that there is only one more portion left and whether we would like to have that as well... (the owners are very friendly you see and that they know how devastated one can be when it runs out) My cousin, not having tasted it before politely said no and within seconds after taking his first mouthful stood up and walked over to the stall to place the order for the last portion. Too late! The last portion was already ordered buy someone else. Good things come to those who wait - NOT! Well not in this case anyway.

***

I had chicken varuval, beans and sambal potatoes with white rice from the indian stall. Chicken was great, beans were average and the sambal potatoes were burnt. My other colleagues order cantonese fry meehoon/kuey teow but portion was rather small so he had the appetite to consume half my other colleagues fried rice topped with a bull's eye. They said the fried rice was very great, full of lap cheong aka chinese sausage and other stuff. The other two had 'chap fan' aka economy rice and char siew wantan mee respectively. I wish I could have been more descriptive about the economy rice but he chomped/shoved it down before I could figure out the combo but the basic csw mee was given the two thumbs up.

The little corner coffee shop is choked with good food and great prices and that's one of the reasons why the place is always bursting with patrons. Hey, maybe I should consider highlighting this information when if I put my house up for sale...

hanging gems

It was a few years back when I acquired this piece of 'Art', if you wanted to call it that-- if permitted.

It is actually a poster I acquired to get it autographed by the visiting 'Stars' of Manchester United, namely Beckham, Giggs and Keane (only one remained at Man U). Soon, it may hang there no more.

You see, I am quite the budding entrepreneur. Having surveyed Ebay quite closely over the past couple of months, I discovered that there were some 'collectors' who would pay quite a fair bit for an autographed item by a sportsperson that they like, whats more, getting 3 for the price of 1.

I was contemplating on posting it on Ebay soon but perhaps I will wait till Giggsy retires from the team for it to fetch a higher price. What do you think?

ho ho ho weng kee

This makan place is famous for most KL and PJ folks. They first started their operations in Jalan Sultan, near the police station and the old post office which is now defunct. They moved over to SS2 for many years now and caters to the lunch crowd and basically everyone who wants great char siew wantan mee, ngau lam mee or the curry mee. My family used to dine quite frequently especially since my mum used to workout with the lady boss. That must have been about 20 years ago...

The thing about this legendary place is that the food still taste as good as before. The char siew is still tender, the curry is still thick and so fragrant and the hor fun, aka rice noodles, is still so smooth. Four of us went there for lunch today and all had the curry hor fun except for one who opted for the traditional char siew wantan mee. We also ordered the siu kau, aka dumpling.

The curry was scrumptious; thick and spicy yet not overly oily. The noodles were, once again I can't seem to stress this enough, so so smooth and there were also beansprouts, char siew and wantan. The wantan mee was nice too. Now the siu kau was kinda different from the ones that you may find at yong tau foo places complete with water chestnuts, etc... This version from HWK was simply filled with just PORK. There were moist and juicy nonetheless. Great when eaten with the pickled green chillies.

Good food, great taste at ho ho ho weng kee... Somethings just never change!

have a break

I love holidays even those that I have absolutely no plans for.

I welcomed the Hari Raya break with much gusto and anticipation although it was only a 'slightly' extended weekend of an additional day but nonetheless I was like a kid in a candy store or when I surprised my husband with the new Man U jersey. Beaming.

Today while most of us a back at work sans the usual traffic, I look forward for the next few days when the 'high' is still very much in me.

take 'n eat

This week has been really hectic with alot of running around whilst trying to skirt the pre-raya traffic. So much so that i have not cooked since last week due to the lack of fresh ingredients from my non-grocery outing last weekend. So yesterday being almost traffic free , my gf and I decided to stock up for the long weekend and have dinner at the same time.

Ok so let me digress a little. For me and many claustrophobic individuals, going to a shopping mall prior to a festive celebration is just wrong. Imagine the legions of people doing their last minute shopping (a well-known characteristic of Malaysians); those celebrating will be stocking up on canned drinks and cookies as well as fresh produce while those not celebrating will be buying gifts for those celebrating and of course stocking up for the holidays. Therefore, the malls WILL BE CROWDED.

Now back to the main story. We ended up at Ikano for 2 very simple reasons; 1stly coz it was close to where both of us work and 2ndly it is the least crowded mall in the vicinity.

This time having to decide where to eat was quite a non-event for us. We wanted to have a quick meal coz it was getting late and also coz a few minutes later could mean no tables as it was dinner time and for the Muslims, time for them to break their fast. So where can we literally take n' eat? Sushi King lor.

It has been a while since I have had Sushi King. The last time was probably a year ago but we made a good choice dining there as it was cheap and taste wise, not bad. Then again my expectations were not high and did not have anything that involved fish so ...

I had the potato salad sushi (RM3), californian roll (RM4), egg mayo sushi (RM2), edamame beans (RM4) and miso soup (RM4). See what I mean when I said there were no fish involved. My gf had the fried bento set that came with the usual plus a yakult which was a nice gesture.

All in all it went well and am quite glad to have gone back to the road less travelled.

balik kerja

It is Thursday and I can't wait for the weekend to start as it is an extended one due to the Raya holidays but at the sight of my desk, the situation does not permit me to 'lepak' yet; may even have to take some work home. Oh by the way, if you were wondering whose pair of lips are those, they belong to a model for an ad. And yes, I do leave my wallet exposed like that...

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY, soon.

benetton ad

Remember these old Benetton ads...

This is my version :

Cool isn't it...

snack time

In the midst of getting reports done and the menial but time consuming filling, we were all relieved to be treated to some goodies today.

We had LAYS which was kindly sponsored by our colleague and ice cream potong (CENDOL) courtesy of our supplier -- long story.

Anyway, it was a great way to rejuvenate and recharge for the next few hours before we pack up and leave. Hopefully some kind soul you do the same tomorrow but then again anticipation is never fun; surprise is.

believe it or not

Not long ago, my husband and I headed to Ipoh for a gathering at his grandparents house. There were more than 50 of us from all parts of the world including Germany, France and Sri Lanka. I met many of my extended family and was enamoured by how close they all are.

Since his uncle occupied the house next to his grandparents, they had a total of 8 rooms of which were made available but my husband and I opted to put up at a hotel to made way for other families. His grandparent's house also came with a garage that now houses a cendol man. This is where he stays and where he makes his cendol to sell. Oh and yes, this is where he stores his cendol cart as well.

Now the beauty of this set-up is that he sells the cendol right outside of the house which is a skip and a hop away from well, where he lives.

He has been living in the house for many years now and have become somewhat a part of the house--like an extension.

So every now and then, when the craving kicks in for cendol, we don't need to travel too far for a real, HOME MADE treat.

priceless

Rushing from the office to an appointment in the late afternoon yesterday was quite a struggle with the traffic building up and the sudden rain. Where I was headed to was not necessary the easiest place to park (strangely they don't allow visitors to park in the building-- go figure) but managed to get a spot at the open car park adjacent to the building.

I, for all those who know me, find inconvenience (aka using the umbrella) inconvenient. Hence I was debating whether to get wet or use the cumbersome rain shield. I gave in to the latter as it was raining harder by the second.

As I had to juggle between holding on to the gi-normous golf umbrella (courtesy of YTL) whilst rummaging my bag to pay for parking, I saw a pretty decent looking guy dashing out of his car to pay for his parking sans an umbrella.

Ok, lets pause for a moment-- what would a NICE, DECENT, WELL-BROUGHT UP INDIVIDUAL do in a similar scenario ... let's read on to find out.

As soon as I paid my parking and pretended to meddle with my phone, I offered the guy to share the umbrella if he was headed the same direction. The look on his face was PRICELESS. He was somewhat shy and a little apprehensive like he didn't know how to respond. When he finally came to his senses he jumped at the chance and before long we were sharing the umbrella.

What started off with a strange vibe was immediately broken by the customary questions about where we were going, blah, blah... midway, he decided to take over the reins and hold the umbrella instead... hey who said chivalry was DEAD!

Soon after we arrived at our destination and parted ways. I was happy to have done this very small deed to someone in need and I suppose he was sincere with his words of gratitude.

Moral of the story :

1) Small deeds make the world a much better place

His facial expression just said it all... People are just not friendly or helpful anymore. We have become selfish and totally ignorant. Sad reality.

2) Rihana's UMBRELLA rocks!!!

Pay it forward.

funny thing

Anyone who has tasted the famous funny mountain tau foo fah would know that it is the best in Ipoh, KL and some say the whole of Malaysia. I don't beg to differ but would like to confirm this fact as the TRUTH.

The numerous times that I have visited Ipoh, this is one joint I never miss. I can go without the curry mee or the hor fun, but this no way.

Smooth, silky and nutritious too,
You'll be suprised at how much it can do,
Funny Mountain is where you will find it,
No way to ever break this kick!

seasons

Like how seasons come and seasons go, how the green from leaves take a new colour come autumn, so many things have happened over the past month and a half.

My mum had a minor op to remove her piles. My family bonded like never before and thank God for family members to lean on during these times. She is back to normal now and all well.

My brother has just completed his big project assisting in Robinson and has finally come to an end with the launch just a few days ago. Kudos.

Daisy, my beagle, my little baby, has had to date two bouts of food poisoning. Two house calls later and two dose of antibiotics, she is back to normal. Good thing.

I am just recovering from flu that hit me over the weekend and am still recuperating but it has been tough coz stress doesn't really help one to recover faster.. I think it slows down the process.

In the midst of all these, I am trying to apply for withdrawal from my EPF to redeem my housing loan only to be plagued by incompetent people at StanChart. It has been 45 days and I am still waiting for the documents to be ready. Go figure.

But in lieu of being sad and down and disappointed, blah, blah.. life can be worst. At least I have my family, Daisy, health and my housing loan. And my husband has been GREAT.

Terima Kasih.

bob at work

It is now, officially Spongebob zone at our office; he has infiltrated our office... and yes, he isn't quite the looker and isn't very good with words but he doesn't mask his real personality and really, what you see is what you get. Wish 'real' people are like that...

bie-bie

My new colleague (abt 3 mths only) is saying goodbye to us. He has been summoned to join his family business that has now grown into a mammoth size.

All the best my new friend...

Remember, YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE!

little chickas

I was reading some blogs and stumbled upon this site www.blessthischick.com whereby you can create personalized characters such as this :-

or this :-

Have fun personalizing the little chicks. Great icons for your stationeries too.

transfixed on transformers

After missing the premier of Transformers many weeks ago, my husband and I have been trying to book tickets online and even on one Saturday lined up for the tickets but until today we have yet to watch the 'best blockbuster of the decade', TRANSFORMERS.

So come this Sunday we will finally be watching it but I won't be holding my breath coz I have got mixed reviews for the movies and no, there were actually some guys who told me that the movie was just so-so.

I will be watching it with alot of expectations yet I am also harbouring the feeling that I will not be blown away, oops... that was actually an expression more suitable for Die hard 4.0 that rocked! (Thanks Transformers for being so crowded and popular on the 'eventful' Saturday).

But like many other 'great' blockbusters, it is just something I have to watch and be able to converse intelligently about during mealtimes.

kawan-kawan

Paw has got a new friend. His name is Patrick. He is slightly pudgy and is neither pear shaped or hourglass. But glad that another friend has been added to Paw's small community of pals. They are meeting for tea again soon.

sinful 'sin kee'

Situated in Brickfields facing KL Sentral, there lies a fantastic little eating haunt that has satisfied many palates over several decades. Sin Kee is its name and great food is its game!

The usual on the menu is the legendary 'Mun Fan' which when directly translated means Braised Rice (RM6 only) and that is basically what it is. Loaded with slices of meat, seafood, onions and chinese sausages, the dish is so hearty and delish that it is hard to resist ordering it everytime you visit this place. So naturally that was what I had last week when I had lunch there.

It was with gravy and is always topped with an omelete for that complete meal. We also ordered the old cucumber soup (low wong kua RM6) and am glad to report that it was just too good!

Then we thought, hmm... must be the MSG but lo and behold I am glad to report that there is close to none coz we were not at all thirsty. Double yippee! Like many people, we kinda felt that the grass is always greener on the other side... when food is involved, the other person's dish always seemed yummier as we eyed this sweet and sour pork served with rice the guy seating a few seats from us was savouring. Jealous. Next time.

Gluttony is afterall a SIN.

whatonearthisthat?

guess?

not in a million years...

blended spinach soup

with cream

and nori sheets

taste better that it looks

paw paw

He is my favourite. Palm sized and white, well at least he used to be but after numerous outings and many hands, I am afraid it is not an accurate description of him now. He smells glorious and has a perpetual smile. A little rotund but belly is soft.

By the way, paw paw is also the name of Martha Stewart's dog...

cool gadget

New fridge. Parents happy. We pleased. Cool.

canned teh

By the way, if you are not a native Malaysian, you may think I spelt it wrongly but 'teh' means tea in Malay.

I take my canned drinks very seriously -- only coke or 100 plus, rarely anything else. Scared. So when someone ordered this, fear overtook me. To try or not to try, that was the question. I did take a straw-ful and it was not bad. It was grape flavoured green tea with aloe vera bits. Never judge a book by its cover nor a can by its colour. Cheers.

going green

I was miserable when I heard that the Anya Hindmarch 'I AM NOT A PLASTIC BAG' bag to SAVE THE WORLD has been sold out in KL... I really wanted to join in the green movement (in style) but no such luck.

So after some searching, I managed to track down the next sale of the bags only to find out that the next launch will be in Singapore. To cut the long story short, I have mobilised my cousin to get it for me and what's is waking up at 7.00am on a Saturday and waiting in line to buy a bag for your favourite cousin??!!.

THANK YOU.

crater...

The Tau Foo Fah Jelly

So cold and sweet

But wait...

Please look before you eat

Its a crater

Can't you see

But who cares...

I ate it for tea

wok hei

My husband and I were in search of a place to eat and quite quickly settled on Rakuzen at Plaza Damas. But like it was fated, the lack of parking space led us to park in front of the other entrance to Hartamas Shopping Centre near Kim Gary and Sao Nam. And no, we didn't makan there. We went to this place called WOK HEI and we were glad we did. A real GEM.

Very simple set-up with cement flooring and rubberwood furniture, the service was prompt and very friendly. The restaurant was packed by the way, almost fringing on the neighbour's space.

We ordered the following :-
Kangkong fried with garlic RM8.50
Simple yet so delish lah.
A must have.
Flavourful. Got real 'WOK HEI'



Lala with chili padi RM12.00
Fresh with a hint of spiciness. Yummy.
Another must have (but will prob. try the lala in superior soup next).
Robust. Got truly real 'WOK HEI'



Butter chicken RM9.50
Fried like the prawn counterpart.
A tad dry.
Must try the Vietnamese sizzling chicken dish next



We finished our meal with one mug of sugercane (chok cheh) each. Cooling. Cool. Full.

home is where homer is

The recent uproar at GSC over the missing 'Homer' was just too much to handle.


The local dailies reported that the 3D character, Homer, was missing from his spot at the MidValley GSC cinema. The police later discovered Homer in a upper class neighbourhood where the culprits tried to hide him amidst the gnomes and landscape.

Homer is now safe and back to the comfort of this (temporary) home.

potter has come to save the day... AGAIN!

The fifth instalment is finally here. We saw the movie last night and I must stress that it is not for the consumption of kids coz it has become kind of dark. Someone asked me whether it was good.. my thoughts "ok, it's just mediocre but it you don't watch it, it will be like eating banana split without the banana when the last sequel comes out".

So just go lah.

roti wow

Last night was quite a night for us when we went to the nearby nasi place for dinner. I was still quite full from lunch, I decided to have a light dinner so I proceeded to order roti tisu (tissue). And then looked what came ...


1st reaction, laughter. 2nd reaction, clicking away on our cameras. 3rd reaction, how to eat??? But of course, anyone with two cents worth of brain cell would know that it is impossible to eat it sitting down so what they did was they brought along three plates and placed them next to each other and lay the roti down. It was covered with sugar and was a tad oily. I was trying to mop up some excess oil with tissue and suddenly it hit me... maybe that is why it is called roti TISSUE.

sudah sampai

It has been almost two weeks and finally it has arrived! It's self-explanatory. If you don't get it, read my previous entry.


Thanks MIX FM!!! I will be calling you again in 20 days and counting coz you have to wait 30 days before you can participate in any other Mix FM competition. And other important note, this applies to the winners only.

coming out of the woods

I was devastated after lunch at Woods Macrobiotics in Bangsar because what I used to pay at their previous location in Damansara Uptown has increased by two folds, by an ASTOUNDING 200%!

Fine, they serve really authentic organic food specializing in macrobiotics , but come on... increasing the prices to accommodate their move to a more 'exclusive' and 'expensive' address is just WRONG.

Yuba Slices (like mock fish) in lemon sauce cost RM28 for 8 slices?? and the taste has also deteriorated. The slices were too dry and to a point where it was almost flaky. Then came the Peanut Sauce Tofu priced at RM18 for 4 pieces with dollops of peanut sauce much like satay sauce only less oily and less spicy. But the taste for the sauce has also gone bad. The tofu though was fried pretty well resembling a distant cousin to the Agedashi Tofu. The last dish was an order of broccoli sauteed with garlic at RM23.80 the only saving grace for the overpriced lunch as it was still tasty. But seriously, I could have paid just RM8 for a nice cluster of broccoli for AUSTRALIA. A glass of soy milk that was originally priced at RM2.50 has also become RM5.00... so go figure.

I have come out of the WOODS and I hope many will too as there are now many more choices.

kenny! rogers!

Makan, makan, makan... that is what are thoughts always revolve around. Boringlah. Some for the faint hearted this update is specially written and reviewed for you. To Kenny Rogers we went.


We had 2 coupons for KR whereby for every quarter meal we order, we would get the other free and since it was month's end, we decided to go the austere way... Out of the 4 of us, we ordered 2 sets to entitle for another two, so four for the price of just two meals.

The original variants was the most sought after followed by the three side orders. We had mac and cheese like 6 portions (yes, yes, we went slightly overboard), fruit salad x 3, garlic parsley potatoes x 1 and coleslaw x 2. Then of course we had the muffins too. All in all the chicken was ok but remember to order the original variant coz the black pepper ones are kinda funky and remember to ask for extra gravy; the mac and cheese were acceptable coming from a fast food joint and our fave amongst the side orders; fruit salad was mediocre and coleslaw was funky as well... maybe it was all the chives and coriander. The muffins ROCKED as usual!

A simple meal
Was what we wanted
And at Rogers
It was granted

No more, no less
We all expressed
But thank God
the muffins still kicked ASS!