The BIGGEST Party is Back.... Hennessy Artistry '09

Artistry

The whole KL was there, were you???

It was one of the most anticipated party of the year, having been to the last few (@Aloha, @Orange, @Bkt Kiara'08), when I heard over the grapevine that @Bkt Kiara'09 is coming, I know I'll not miss it for anything!


Danny, Jill, Me, Ziling

Many pictures ahead, and I'll let them do the storytelling. Sorry to waste your bandwidth for once!


Recession times calls for recession size glasses....

Of course not! For all the Artistries I've been to, good times or bad, the organizers never scrimp on the size of their free flows! These shots are only meant to tempt you for more drinks inside! But really nice touch though- the welcome drinks and the cute glasses. Wasn't drunk enough to steal a few of 'em home.




The very awesome DJ Decks

Following are pictures of my fellow colleagues (who are all very hip&haps).


Eric, Me, Jessie, Stef


Fellow MTs- Me, Stef, Danny, Jill


Aaron, Laurence, Me


Stef, Rachel, Me


Ziling sesat in the 'colleague' crowd


Some LED dancers and DJ spinnin' in the background


Fatman Scoop in da house!

I thought the only act worth listening to was only One Buck Short (yoohoo to our own homeband!) and the DJs spinning in the beginning and end. Nobody really paid attention to the rest in between as we were either, 1) Busy drinking 2) Merry-making 3) Don't know what they singing 4) All of the abovementioned.


For the Very Important Party People


... and the Super Important Party People

The VIP areas were segregated into 4 sections- V.S.O.P. All 4 VIP areas had their own bars, sitting lounges and great view of the stage.

Moving on to pictures of collegemates, long lost friends, family dan lain-lain!


Shoniya & Me- long lost&found high school classmates!


Jill is everything in between- colleague, collegemate, friend dan lain-lain!


Jill & Co


Jill, Suet Li, Me- long lost&found collegemate


Calvin, Jill, Jen, David, Me


Me, Citygal, Eiling- Ipoh girls reunited!


David, Jen, Calvin- Two photographers and one red chiq


Greg, Eiling, Me- The usual Artistry gang


Jen and Calvin- Spongebob's greatest fans!


... last but not least, some sisterly love!

Overall, I must admit the party's better than last year's but the drinks (mixers) were abit disappointing this time. I still prefer the Hennessy Miami (with lime juice and mint leaves). Full credits must be given to the organizer and event management co for the great set up of the event (from the breeze registration, photography sessions- where's ze polaroids?, security, entertainment, bartenders, design and set up of venue...). Hopefully the powers-to-be will stop being an ass and restrict this&that! Grrrrr.

Other than that, well I had a great night!

Did you?

Pernod Ricard CNY Dinner @ Ming Cuisine

The thing with working for a company that has dealings with liquor is the awesome invitations to dinners and functions with guaranteed goodies and free flow liquor. Sounds like a dreamjob, yes, no? Being a Buyer for the liquor category certainly has its perks ;)

I regretted not bringing my camera along the previous CNY Lunch organized by Bacardi Martini, which was quite interesting, both the dishes and the people. So I told myself I need to bring my camera this time around! After all, these are blogging materials what.



This year's dinner was held at Ming Cuisine, Section 19 PJ. It is a relatively new place that houses a chinese restaurant and nightclub... hmmm. Anyway, we were greeted by a lion dance at the entrance. Kinda 'extravagant' since it's after CNY and there's a lion dance!



Another reason why I said it's 'extravagant'. Look at the number of tables! From my guess, there should be at least 30 tables. Pernod Ricard literally booked the whole restaurant for the night's dinner. I told Iryna, my boss,"This looks like a wedding dinner!" True enough, it does seem like one with all the "Yammmmmmmmm SENGs!" and the VIPs hopping from table to table to shake hands and cheers. The only missing element is the karaoke session, haha!





Oh, yes. Before I forget about the big roasted pig at the restaurant entrance. The 'butcher' was chopping up plates after plates of delicious looking roasted pork belly for every table. Quite a pity that I didn't get to try it as this plate was taken from the VIP's table and I am not seated there :( When I went over to settle down at my own table, the whole plate is polished off already. Must be some really good roasted pork belly, eh.



Did I mention it was free flow of Chivas 12Yrs, Martell Cordon Bleu and some red wine and bubbly?



The dinner finally started and the obligatory Yee Sang was served. What makes this Yee Sang more special besides having one after CNY is the additional soft shell crab on top of the obligatory salmon slices. Oh and btw, the salmon slices were in thick cuts too. You know it's good when I have second servings! Ok, I had second servings.



Lou, lou, lou! Not low, low, low ok? Lou to good health! Lou to good wealth! Lou to wishes coming true! Lou to better economy, steady jobs, promotions, strike lottery, boss good mood, etcetera etcetera etcetera.



Instead of the usual sharks fin soup, we were each treated to a mini pot of Fatt Tiu Cheong, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall instead. Quite a lovely surprise I'll say. What's even better was when the 'uncle' seated next to me started adding 2 spoonfuls of Martell CB to everyone's pot claiming it tastes better that way! I was bit skeptical at first, not knowing if alcohol being added to hot soup will result to explosion or will speed the drunken process but ok it does tastes better :/

And then the fish, vegetarian dish and prawns came...







Followed by the must have CNY dish, glutinous rice with waxed meat...



And desserts! No, the free flow liquor isn't considered a dessert.





I love the desserts! It has been such a long time I had fried yam with nian gao!! And remember about my blog post on CNY Set Meals where I complained that restaurants don't serve memorable desserts anymore? Well thank god PR had Tong Yuen as the dessert. It was so good and comforting.

PR was very generous with the flow of liquor, I even saw people carrying cases of liquor to the makeshift bar as supplies were running low. And what's better is this miniature bottles of Martell CB and Chivas 12Yrs. They have the normal sized ones as well but we were more fascinated with the mini versions. I took 2 empty Martell CB and half a bottle of Chivas 12Yrs and subsequently gave a bottle of CB and Chivas to my boss as she loves Chivas. The way to buy (my) boss's heart is through whisky, yes Iryna? *wink wink*


Now you see a full bottle...


And now you don't!

Seriously, nolah it was my token of appreciation to her for bringing me to the dinner. Really wan!



The picture above has got to be my favourite shot of the night. Hardcore pimping for Martell not intended!

Last but not least, pictures with people!



Pernod Ricard's Managing Director, CK Tan a.k.a. Ze Big Boss addressing the crowd before chowing down!



Some of the powerful men and women in the industry. Not too sure about the guy in blue but the other guy next to him is Ze Owner of your favourite clubbing joints- Passion, Poppy and Rum Jungle. Should have asked for a No-Cover-Charge card from him haha. The lady next to him is his wife of course. My lady boss, Iryna hereafter known as Ze Boss is the one in red cheongsam.



Ze Boss seen here with Pernod Ricard's Ze Big Boss's wife.



Ze Boss with the guy with Iphone and cool cigarette case. Sorry mate, donch know your name!



And lastly, my own picture taken with my camera. Seen here with some of the Table 7 members and my supplier, Maria.

Thanks for the dinner Pernod Ricard, Maria for the invitation and Iryna for bringing me there, if you're reading this ;) I certainly had fun!



And this is PR's style of giving the Ang Pao. Either you strike alot or you got nothing in the end. I find this ang pao idea pretty ingenius. To married people, no you cannot do that next year, I still want my ang pao to be in cold hard cash tqverymuch.

Oh yeah the draw is on Sunday, tomorrow. Lookout for the winning numbers for me!

Happy Valentine's Day, peeps!

Highland Park @ 7atenine, The Ascott KL

"I have duly sampled [a bottle of Highland Park 20 year old] and am in the process of conversion to the idea that Highland Park is the only whisky worth drinking and that Johnnie Wlker is only fit for selling to deluded Sassenachs." Alexander Walker, 1914, grandson of the original Johnnie Walker and, at the time of the quote, the largest blender of Scotch whisky in the world.

Last week after a hard day's work back in the hotel in KK, my boss received an email on an invitation to Highland Park event at 7atenine, The Ascott KL. She asked me if I would wanna come along (actually she just said, "We RSVP first lah yea.") but who is silly enough to say "No" to a booze event!

Anyway, I had totally forgotten about it and confused with the dates until my boss came into office yesterday afternoon and casually said,

"So tonight you come to my house and we go together ok? Don't wanna stay long... you ok with it?"

"Okay, sure." (*grins silently at the thought of Highland Park whisky)


7atenine

After work, I followed my boss to her house and her driver drove us to The Ascott KL. It was so freaking jam, it took us more than an hour to get there. My boss even joked about having a bowl of noodles first and still can catch up with the car later! It was our first time to 7atenine and my first to such work-related night events, so you can tell I'm wee bit excited :D

Upon registration, we were given a welcome pack of $1000 gambling chips each and of course we grabbed a drink first before doing anything else! (p/s: My boss and I are known in the office as zhau gwai- alcoholics). We walked around abit desperately looking for food but later found our supplier and was ushered to their little corner... only after that we found food. There were fried meehoon served in chinese takeaway little boxes (makes fried meehoon suddenly taste so good), roast beef in little spoons, shrimp siew mai, pastries, and of course free flow of Highland Park 12 Years! :DDDDDD


Highland Park 12 YO- RM140 @KLIA

It was my first Highland Park as well. We had it on the rocks as opposed to some others who mixed it with orange juice. According to my boss, a whisky enthusiast said good whisky must be enjoyed neat, mixers are for cheap whiskies. So there you go.

Though it was just 12 Years which is the lowest price, it was very good and smooth. I suppose it's because Highland Park is Single Malt whisky and not like Hennessy/Chivas/Johnnie Walker which are blended whiskies. No wonder my boss and Eiling always rave about Single Malt whisky as it really taste very different- definitely for those with an acquired taste.


The bar

We chatted abit at the lounge area and after a few glasses, my supplier ajaked us to go upstairs. Now if you were wondering what the gambling chips given at the registration counter were for, it was for gambling of course! With $1000 capital, everyone can try their luck at getting a bottle home- $12,000 wins a bottle of 12 Years, $18,000 and $30,000 each wins a bottle of 18 Years and the exclusive 30 Years. My boss handed me her $1000 capital and hinted that she would be very happy with a bottle of 18 Years.


Highland Park 18 YO- RM 258 @KLIA
Awarded "Best Spirit in the World!" 2005

So with $2000 capital, it was like a make or break for my year-end bonus.
Just kidding of course, my boss is very nice one ;-)

There were 4 game tables- Bacarate, Black Jack, Big/Small, Roulette. I tried my hands on the Black Jack table and managed to win about $1000 until I lost it all on the Big/Small table. Clearly I have no luck on the gaming table :-( and there goes my year-end bonus too.......


Highland Park 30 YO- RM900+ @ KLIA

Hehe anyway, another guy on the table won the 30 Years and my boss was beaming with happiness. He was generous enough to open the bottle and share with the whole table, and we finished the whole bottle in about 20 mins. The taste is absolutely heavenly- smooth and easy to drink, with a smoky note, much much better than GlenOrd! My boss even got to keep the wood case and bottle. Believe me, she was beaming, grinning, smiling, laughing the whole night after getting a taste of 30 YO. Even I can't help to silently grin!


Chillout @ 7atenine

After a couple more drinks, my boss decided that we should make a move as she has a flight to catch the next day (today) at 5am! We were given a goodie bag each (love goodie bags!) which has a Highland Park namecard case (very pretty, ask me to show to you if you meet me) and an information booklet. We were both still sober but she drank till got hiccups! My head was feeling alittle heavy but I still managed to get myself home. Well today, I didn't wanna go to work....... and I woke up craving for watermelon juice!


My company's dutyfree liquor shop in Langkawi

But from now on, Highland Park and Single Malt whisky it is for me! I know what I should buy on my next trip to Langkawi!

"Quality in whisky is more than age. Even the poorest spirit can become old, though never palatable. Whiskies put down for ageing must have quality from the very start." Wine & Spirit Trade Record 1924