smokin' shellfish!

We bought a nicely packed packaged of frozen tiger prawns recently for RM45 from Tawau and it contained close to 20pcs of these lovely morsels. Our minds wondered and wandered towards the different ways we can make them deletable - steam with garlic and ginger? steamboat? stir fry with oyster sauce and onions? sweet and sour? spicy with hot bean sauce? butter? oatmeal? curry? tom yam? The mental list soon became endless... not to mention very hungry.

The verdict : Cooked 8 pcs in oyster sauce with loads of onions yesterday served with rice and organic sawi stir fried with garlic. Simple but Scrumptious!

Can't wait to devour the prawn curry my MIL is gonna make this weekend. Bliss.

ping pong

This morning's drive to work really made my day. Taking the all too familiar route to the office, I decided to do something different for a change. I decided to join the ping pong game on 94.5 and see what I can win...

I turned off the radio when prompted to call the station and immediately got through (I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!!!). I was put against this guy who was very enthusiastic I must add... I tried to be so too. Our theme was 'Things that are Sweet' and almost immediately launched into a list of all things sweet, people included- durian, durian smoothie, ice cream, Bad Pitt... I lost the1st round but managed to win the other two rounds. Therefore, Me = WINNER!!!

I won a Lab Series Skincare Kit for Men worth RM200. Yahoo!!! Anticipating the parcel soon!

majestic KLCC

Sometimes we fail to appreciate things that are close to us ... like our family, our jobs, our friends and the KLCC Towers!

Taking these pictures from the 10th floor of Public Bank(located adjacent from KLCC), the view of KLCC was AMAZING! I felt a strange wave of pride of being Malaysian!

MERDEKA!

what is foong foong?

Foong Foong for all foodies is the legendary Ampang Yong Tau Foo located at Ampang Village very far away from everywhere else. Well-known for their yong tau foo, F2 offers no-frills, authentic fish paste stuffed in a myriad of vegetables from the ever popular chilli to the yummy brinjal and crunchy okra.

The dipping sauce available in squeeze bottles on every table came in the sweet sauce and the spicy sauce variety. The spicy cause was kinda dreadful as the colour was in some awful artificial red dye.

The soup that came together with our order of 30 pieces of mixed YTF was very flavourful like a consomme made from fish bones. The deep fried sui kow that came in a mixture of fish paste and chestnut and carrot were a great accompaniment to the meal.

We were pleased with the speed and the cleanliness of F2 and happy to see that they have set up different stations to tackle different tasks from order taking to stuffing and frying of YTF to collecting the $$$ and dishing out takeaways. Optimum Efficiency.

The Apprentice should take notes from Foong Foong.

cuppy cakes

My fascination with cupcakes occurred a while ago when the craze appeared on Sex In The City. Cupcakes then were hard to come by... Today, I am glad to state that it has reached our shores. Usually sold by someone's aunt or a friend's friend, cupcakes are usually peddled from home with very few available in cafes or food outlets. But I managed to find a few...

There is the tiny ones sold at Delicious by Ms. Read with a tiny gummy bear on top (taste so-so); Marmalade also has tiny ones with simple butter icing in pastel colours (taste ok); Fit for 2, a small size gym for mothers and babies has some larger ones in the size of muffins with a variety of fillings from peanut butter to nutella all topped with respective filling (very yummy) and then of course the yummilicious ones from Just Heavenly Pleasures with funky toppings - very nouveau cupcakes and they ROCK!

I have recently stumbled upon these fantabulous ones from my colleague's aunt which are near to perfect. Simple butter cupcakes topped with simple butter icing, just the right size to pop into the mouth. Comes in any colour icing you want. So far I have ordered pinks, whites, baby blues, lime green and the list keeps going on...

ah sang rocks!

During a rather HOT day, near lunchtime, we ran into the same predicament... where to go for lunch?

Instead of the usual someone making the decision (a person we call the HOLD aka Head Of Lunch Department) the self appointed HOLD for the day decided that we check out Ah Sang BKT at Sungei Way.

Housed in a shed like thingy complete with modern amenities and by than I mean ceiling fans, we got a table almost immediately (not to readers - it gets very crowded and we were very lucky to have got the table coz a group than came in later have to wait to be seated).

We placed our order of mixed meat except ribs complete with intestine and stomach. We also added an order of golden straw mushroom and the yiao tiao.

The soup was infused just nicely with herbs and the combination was POWERFUL.

The bill came up to over RM70 for 5pax including drinks and a few rounds of intestines and UFOs (unidentifiable foreign object).

moo is cool

Tetra Pak is one cool company. Recently they launched a charity programme at KL Sentral offering commuters opportunity to donate $$$ to the underpriviledge. Every RM5 purchase of milk (5 packets in total sponsored by nestle, marigold, etc) will be directly channeled to the cause.

Each purchase/donation comes also with a very cute moo bag made of the uber chic recycled material.

Cool.

sunway sushi

My husband had to be at the Ice Skating rink at Sunway Pyramid at 6.00pm last Saturday; I had no choice but to accompany him there. (I have my reservations when visiting SP. I hate the place. Major issues. Just don't like it and probably never will).

The event at the Ice Skating Rink finished at 7.30pm and we were off to look for a decent place to have dinner. Again, I stress, I never liked SP and was never interested to go on a dining escapade but it was raining and so no choice... stuck there.

My husband and I had a tough time figuring out what we wanted to eat but after being served very politely (so unlike SP) by the customer service lady, we decided to check out Jap food and finally settled on Sushi Zanmai.

Located one level above Kim Gary at the Oasis Boulevard, Sushi Zanmai has a very welcoming reception, complete with a very retro (and trendy now) circular chaise that is catered specifically for people waiting to be seated. The mix of wood and the plush diamond shape motifs in green, beige and pink wall made the whole restaurant look rather understate yet groovy; modern yet slightly whimsical.

We were seated next to the conveyor belt but instead of a grumpy chef like Genki and Sushi King , they had several chefs preparing the orders including several Japanese looking ones. Btw, were were served by one Jap, so thumbs up for authenticity.

We ordered the following items :

Dai Dai Roll (RM12.80) - Special roll like the spider or dragon. Similar to the Californian Maki but wrapped with salmon instead of seaweed. Topped with mayo and fish roe. Very nice. 6pcs

Agedashi Tofu (RM6.80) - Same like everywhere else. Very silky tofu with a light coating of batter. Nice and light. Not doughy like most. Nice

Miso Shiru (RM2.80) - Same old, same old but with tiny shitakes... made all the difference. Nice

California Temaki (RM4.80) - Usual crabstick, salmon, cucumber, rice combo. Very nice.Unagi Temaki (RM3.80) - Like the above but with eel instead of crabstick. Very nice

Ebi Mentaiyaki (RM12.80) - Grilled prawn - 2 pcs grilled with butter garlic topped with fish roe and accompanied with a wedge of lemon. Super. Abit too pricey for just 2 pcs

Our total order came to RM54.51 inclusive of 2 wet tissue and 2 ocha.

Verdict : My husband and I loved it. Food was of good quality and the price was very reasonable. The other plus point is that we can valet right by the side of the Oasis Boulevard.

Kanpai!

snack attack!

The office is usually a trap for SNACKING! Whether it is 11.00am or 3.30pm, whether it is after we have had lunch or when we are about to go for lunch, the situation is always the same--we snack.

This is especially evident when all around you sit containers filled with biscuits of almost every kind, from the self-professed health biscuits to crackers and wafers. Very much like a mom and pop sundry shop.

The highlight of the week was these yummy chocolate sticks... well they are not really chocolate sticks but actually column-like biscuit similar to the 'gulung' type of love letters but filled with chocolate. Delish!

They are quite additive too. One stick doesn't seem to be enough... Cheers to Munchy's Wafer Sticks!

going doughnutty

Big Apple - We came, we saw and we conquered!!! Verdict - Not great. Silly people who thought otherwise and queued...

These were some of the variants we got :- Peanut Butter (not shown in pic coz eaten already), green tea, oreo something, blueberry & strawberry, rice puff something, chocoloate coated thingy and glazed ones that no one has touched.

Krispy Kreme it is not,
Dunkin Doughnut also not,

Don't think I will go again,

So don't go and line up... after faint

starring ang kee

My cousins came over to KL from Singapore for the weekend for a few days of shopping, makan fest and just catching up with friends and families. Like all their previous visits, I am usually the partner-in-crime and evidently so this weekend since my husband was away golfing.

Afraid of the torrents that were about to hit, I packed 7 people in 2 cars and hit ANG KEE, the restaurant in SS2 for some yummy fare.

I have been in the vicinity many times for Kayu Nasi Kandar, Cheow Sang BKT and Yu Ai but somehow never quite paid any attention to this non-descript restaurant. Like all other chinese coffee shop that serves the usual dinner fare, AK was no different.

The restaurant was rather quiet when we were there about 6.30pm, but as soon as we placed our order, the people came flooding in occupying all the tables, both big and small.

We were rather cautious and conservative in what we ordered as my cousins had lunch only at 4.00pm... so there were only 3 hungry people out of the 7. These were what we had :

1) Pork Ribs in Special Sauce - Came highly recommended by AK. Came nicely presented with an artistic touch represented by a small cluster of broccoli. Not bad. The meat could have been more tender. Sauce was interesting with definitely a dash of Worcester sauce

2) Fish in Crispy Chicken - Again came highly recommended by AK. It is basically roast chicken stuffed with fish paste. Like Yong Tau Foo with out the Tau Foo. Quite an unusual fare, my cousins were amused. Nice

3) Crayfish in Butter Sauce - Yet another recommendation. Battered crayfish (flesh only) deepfried and sauteed with butter sauce with some curry leaves for the fragrant touch. Nice too


4) Vegetarian dish - The usual vegetarian combination of young corn, cabbage, beancurd sheet, snow peas, etc. Basic dish. Ok



5) Lettuce with garlic - Ok

The bill came up to RM86.00 inclusive of rice and drinks. But again, let me stressed, we were not wanting to eat to our fill coz the next stop was another makan session.

Before I end this update, I must also add that the service was prompt HOWEVER the person who took our order was an OGRE... RUDE. (No reference to Shrek)

All we did was ask about the dishes and what sauce, etc... and he said (such audacity!!!) "I don't knowlah, I am not in the kitchen, I am out serving customers??!!!" HELLO, WE ARE THE CUSTOMERS, WE ARE ALWAYS RIGHT!!! Thankk God the saving grace was the FOOD!

Anyway, would I go back to AK you ask, I would coz it was tasty and cheap. This is the testament of the quality :- ............ So the answer is an obvious and resounding YES!!!

lunch time again!

It's Friday afternoon and the same group of us in the office were debating places to go for lunch, you know it's Friday and all... like something's in the air.

We quickly came to a decision and off to Vivo we went.

There were 7 of us in total. Since we had to drive in 2 separate cars, 5 + 2, to the Curve, we had to split our orders and finally when the food came, it covered way more than the 3 tables we had adjoined. But no food was left uneaten!

We had the following long list of items :-

1. Garlic Bread - perfectly cut toast coated with garlic spread. yummy. good prelude to the things to come
2. Mushroom soup - good. nothing out of the ordinary
3. Baked Rice with Ham and Cheese - good. not too over the top. just right amount of cheese
4. Spaghetti Bolognaise - didn't try coz had pasta last night so can't critic but must have been good coz they polished it off
5. Hawaiian Pizza - good. just right amount of sauce but still can't understand the role of the cucumber
6. Meaty Pizza can't critic coz didn't taste but assumed based on the empty plate
7. Brownie with Vanilla ice cream - Ordinary
8. Blueberry Pizza with Vanilla ice cream - Thin crust pizza with slabs of blueberry preserve topped with lots of sesame seed

This was all accompanied by our choice of soft drinks. The above menu served 5 pax but we had help from the other 2. They in turn ordered the Caribbean Chicken (grilled chicken drumstick/thigh part with salad, fries and some fancy sauce) which was good, while the other had the Baked Rice with Fish (rice topped with cheese and fish with sauce) which was good too. The two sets came with soup and garlic bread.

The bill for the 7 of us came to RM120.00. Good food. Good service. Great place for casual dining and value for money.

VIVO, we shall GO

gone with the old, in with the new

I finally let go, quite happily for that matter, of my old Nokia (crap phone aka 6111) and got my spunky new Sony Ericsson as a birthday gift from my husband.

My husband understands me very well and usually, several months before my birthday, he would ask about my list of wants... of course my list is always exhaustive but this year,there was only one entry, a new handphone, Z6101 Sony Ericsson Black to be exact. Me. Happy.

As all new purchases or merchandise, the thrill is exhilarating. I stayed up till 2am downloading and bluetoothing (is there such a word??) all the information from my old old into the new. Happy. Me.

Today, I have a new casing for it and am looking for some embellishment to make it more ME. Still searching but I sense that the end is NEAR!

let's do the locomotion

Yesterday I had a moment somewhat like the scene from 'Sliding Doors'. 4 of us took the express train to the airport for a recee and came back to KL Sentral all in 60 minutes. Several 'what-ifs' did cross my mind...

The train ride was rather pleasant, cool, not crowded, clean but it eventually got quite annoying when they kept playing some kind of elevatorish music in the background... but what made up for it was the conversations we had and the most intriguing was when we spoke about our dreams. One said that he would love to climb up Everest (until another added that he read somewhere that the climb up is littered with bodies as they can't decompose in such low temperature) while I said that I would love to work with Jaime Oliver. I was expecting some snickering and blunt words but there were just, strangely, nods of approval. Cool. Then they became silent for a moment like they too were devising their next fantasy trip. Glad I unleashed some forgotten dreams...

We talked about everything under the Sun from the awful Malaysia, Truly Asia commercial (was playing on the screen) which was misrepresenting MALAYSIA, to the most desirable address in London (one of our fellow commuter is Scottish and worked in London). By the way, if you really want to know, its Hamstead according to him. I did pass the very pretty looking park at Hamstead when visiting relatives at Highgate and Golders Green.

Sorry for the diversion.

On the way back, we were discussing where we could have lunch at KL Sentral but after going down the list of options, none were appealing. We eventually concluded that KL Hilton was the preferred choice.

Okay since I was the fairer sex in this group of 4, I decided where to at KL Hilton... Caffe Cino/Cosmo. Since smoking seats were unavailable at Caffe Cino (was with 3 smokers), we were directed to Cosmo seated amidst cigar chugging diners... so much for No Tobacco Day.

We were greeted by this rather rude hostess at Cosmo coz apparently Caffe Cino diners should be seated only at their demarcated area... but as soon as I added that we were directed to do so by Caffe Cino, she, with her frown so deeply etched on her forehead, actually went over to confront her colleague about his 'wise' decision.

When we finally ordered our food, we have decided that KL Hilton food outlets are very much like most government offices - very regimented, too many red tapes, territorial and RUDE!!! WE DON'T LIKE.

We had very creamy and thick mushroom soup x 2, smoked salmon sandwich served on ciabata with mixed green and pine nuts topped with ricotta shavings, salmon quiche with the same accompaniment x 2 and a chicken curry dish for my very Malaysian friend. Soup was great but food was not bad only. Overpriced and I am saying that with my eyes wide open, with no qualms whatsoever because for a 5-star hotel, I expect the service to be, yes, 5-star too!

I promptly filled up the comments card and handed it over to the cashier with a little suspicion that it may not make it to the manager.

Happy days...