Early this month, I was 'cajoled and conned' to attend a lunch which turned out to be a cookout session at Emily's bungalow in the neighbourhood. Emily is our insurance agent/mother's friend's daughter. When we arrived at her house, we were surprised that there were few other of her friends there cooking! (and we thought we could just eat, pat backside and leave hahah)
We felt abit out of place standing around doing nothing but before shame overcame us, we were roped in to help out in the cooking and soon after, we were both tasked with a recipe each! The following mouth watering dishes are what we cooked on that afternoon-night. I will post the recipes and some other pictures of the process in the following posts...
Enjoy now :D
Roast lamb by Emily
Hot diva pasta by Yours Truly :D
Nam Yu fried chicken by Emily
Russian dish of chicken and potatoes by Emily's Russian friend
Russian style soup by Russian friend
Non-alcoholic mojito by SC
Apple cinammon ricotta cheese bread by Lisa
Almond and apple cake by Agnes
Chocolate orange polenta cake by Eiling
It was such a wholesome and satisfying meal, eating what we have cooked ourselves. Mind you, all of us are amateur chefs and this is the first time we're trying out the recipes. Although the cost of this meal isn't exactly 'cheap thrills' but it certainly gave us the thrill that money can't buy. And we're planning to have a cookout session once a month! Pity the maid though, haha.
It is once again one of those weekend nights when we don't want to drive 20km out of the neighbourhood just for a simple meal. Even though with the fuel price reduction, I still don't feel the 'extras' I am actually saving as the tank doesn't get filled up all the time. However I do notice the 'extra' fuel I am getting, RM50 gets me 16 litres of petrol when it was RM2.55, now it gets me about 21 litres odd. Whatever 'extras' I am getting is all wasted at accelerating and breaking whhile stuck in the strawberry traffic jam, especially during this rainy season. Le tour de le sigh.
Chicken chop with mushroom sauce- RM8.80
Lemongrass Cafe is a relatively new cafe opened in the quiet little township of Kota Kemuning. The name should not be confused/misunderstood for a Thai cuisine place though. It is surprising that quite a few eateries have opened up in the past few months such as Domino's Pizza, Pizza Vs Satay, Secret Recipe and a few other still surviving stand-alone cafes such as Padi Prada, Cravings and Treats. Even the Bidor famous Pun Chun duck noodle is here!
The decoration at Lemongrass Cafe is pretty impressive considering the simplicity of its menu- oriental and fusion cuisines at reasonable/affordable pricing. I suppose it is trying to draw revenue from the working lunch crowd on weekdays. Eiling had the chicken chop with mushroom sauce (RM8.80). The chicken was breaded and fried to golden brown, served with fries and coleslaw sides. At such a price, the chicken was indeed a steal! It is not the best in town but I suppose it deserves a mention in the 'affordable/reasonable' category.
Special Butterworth Curry Mee- RM6.80
I had the special butterworth curry mee (RM6.80). Never was/am I a curry noodles fan but I decided to give this a try. The bowl of noodles came superfast, almost as instant as McDonalds. It came in a very pale and light orange color broth with generous servings of long beans, fu pok and prawns. After adding in the sambal, the color changed accordingly (as pictured above). The curry/sambal taste was not overpowering, a rather mild bowl of curry noodles I would say. Definitely not for those who enjoys a strong spicy kick in their bowl of curry noodles.
Papaya with milk- RM3.80, Sour plum with lemon- RM3.50
Lemongrass Cafe's beverages menu is worth a mention as it is very affordable, averaging from RM1+ to RM3+, making drinks obligatory with the meal. Although the papaya milk (RM3.80) is quite diluted, it still offered me a sense of satisfaction as papaya milk is very rare and together with carrot milk, the both orange-colored juices are my favourites!
As I am writing this entry, I am listening to the beautiful sounds of X'mas on Chinese musical instruments. How fusion is that! Oh how I long for the year end festive holidays! It's 10.15pm, I suppose this gives me the license to dream.........
Lemongrass Cafe & Restaurant No.41, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla X 31/X, Kota Kemuning, 40460 Shah Alam.
[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]
It was a porridge diet last weekend. On Saturday night, I was out for dinner with the sister and her future in laws. It was Aunt Mary's birthday. We went to Klang for porridge as recommended by Aunt Mary's friend. Trips to Klang for Bak Kut Teh is normal but for porridge is a first for me. Nonetheless, if it's recommended it can't be bad, right?
Fong Chuan's speciality lies in its variety of claypot porridge. The shop is humble looking, both exterior and interior. It is not that difficult to locate if you know where the famous Teluk Pulai BKT @ Taman Rasnah is. It is abit funny that on a Saturday night, there was hardly any customers patronizing the eateries there. The BKT shop opposite Fong Chuan was awfully quiet.
Fish porridge- RM11
Century egg porridge- RM11
After a quick browse-through of the typical paper laminated menu, we gave the honour of ordering the night's meal to the birthday girl. Aunt Mary ordered a serving of the fish porridge (RM11) and another serving of the century egg porridge (RM11). For me, I do not have any preference of what goes together in my porridge though my most favourite condiments would be peanuts and dried oyster. The fish and century egg porridge arrived in claypots, not too diluted and not too dried. Perfectly done :D It is the tastiness of such a simple meal that is rare these days...
Special fried chicken- RM12
To go with our porridge and our fix of meat, Eiling ordered the special fried chicken (RM12). It came piping hot with thinly sliced cucumber to 'cool' the dish down. The special fried chicken tasted great! The meat was fresh and tender (it instantly reminded me of the honey chicken I had in KK which was exactly the opposite: stiff and hard to chew), the skin was crispy and it was delicious. It certainly fits the name- special.
Stir fried string beans with dried shrimps- RM8 A mealcan never be balanced or healthy without a dose of greens. Eiling suggested the stir fried string beans done with dried shrimps (RM8). Another excellent choice I would say as the 'wok hei' that came with the cooked beans is something we cannot achieve at home. However, the star of the night IMHO, is the fried dried shrimps which was so flavourful and crunchy. It may be little and small but it was certainly a winner. I wished they had a bowl of this for me to go with my porridge. The dried shrimps reminded me of my favourite claypot loh she fun at Serdang which I haven't eaten for very long.
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The following morning, Eiling and I headed to Petaling Street for some materials/bargains-searching for our upcoming project which will be revealed very soon (stay tune!). I suggested that we should have the famous Hon Kee porridge for breakfast. Even though we just had porridge the night before, it is not everyday that we are at the Petaling Street area. Moreover, I miss the fried intestines (Non-Halal)! Yum yum. Raw fish porridge with fried intestines and a cup of herbal tea- RM9
I had blogged about Hon Kee famous porridge before. The fried intestines were awesome even after takeaway and left overnight. However, Eiling had a terrible first-time experience with the porridge as she found a metal piece of thing (those metal sponges to wash dishes?) halfway through her porridge and felt so disgusted after that. The owner only muttered, "Oh, sorry." and left things as it is without suggesting any compensation (monetary or non monetary). I don't know if it's far too common things like this happens in his shop but for now, I am not going back for the porridge. The fried intestines, that's another story... hehe :D
Restoran Fong Chuan No. 49A, Jalan 3, Kawasan 16, Taman Intan, 41300 Klang, Selangor. Tel: 019-2633139
[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]
raindrops and rainbows, these are a few of my favorite things!
I spotted a rainbow while driving along the LDP highway from work on Monday. I managed to take a picture of it (great driving & multi-tasking skillz I have!) and left it in my phone to be forgotten until I saw Suanie's post a few days back and got reminded of it again. Found an excuse to blog about it since the weather has been really crazy these days! I think the chances of seeing a real rainbow is as good as finding a pot of gold at the end of it. In my lifetime, I have probably never seen it more than my 10 fingers, or maybe I have but the point is... OMG. RAINBOW. HAPPY. HAPPY. JOY. JOY.
That btw, totally made my day and the ridiculous daily LDP jam worth it ;D
Look ma, there's a hole in the sky! Is that heaven?
This morning as usual I was turning into the Ara Damansara-Kelana Jaya connecting FAS tunnel and I spotted this unusual sighting of the moon. It is the moon right?? So round and just like a bright flawless round spot in the sky. Very unusual of me to be doing this but I decided to park my car aside to take a picture and share with you guys. Really unusual sightings. The clouds were slightly darker than usual and that only tells us one thing: It's gonna rain. And it did.
Traffic jam raspberry jam strawberry jam
And with rain came the jam. Very best friends one, inseparable. Yesterday it was raining so terribly heavy that while I was driving back from work at about 6.30pm, the sky looked like 8pm. When I reached Kesas at 7+pm it looked like it was 10pm. The world's biological clock is screwed up too!
My weekday 9-6pm crib
And finally, just to show you guys my invisible cubicle. The couch infront is always tempting me to sleep on it. I slept on it once after lunch, hehe. The super thick file, that's just for show, I only used it for about 2 hrs today. Sitting beside me is my colleague who is also a buyer and both of us are secluded from the rest of the accounts side, but near enough to hear them gossip. Sitting in the opposite room (the closed brown door) is my lady boss who can only see us both from her room. Good or bad thing? Well I am ok with it since she is not a boss from hell. On the chair, you can spot a pink thingy which is actually a furry pillow my sis gave to me. It sheds alot of pink fur. The blazer is just for show as well cos noone wears any in the office so I don't dare too unless I am freezing my head off. Or I just switch the air cond off lo.
Tomorrow I have to work in KLIA. But tomorrow night I will be partayyyyying at Avenue K for Club Quatrro's launch! Pls pls pls pls let me be allowed to go home at 6pm.
... then Africa will come to me! Well, at least that's what they always say.
Madagascar forms a part of the BIG Africa and is the fourth largest island in the world! *Gasps* bet you didn't know that! I didn't too, until Wikipedia told me, of course. Hehe. But if not for the DreamWorks animation, I bet most of us will not even ever bother to find out where Madagascar is (I know got Madagascar cockroach, cos they ate that in Fear Factor, yucks).
Madagascar, the animated movie is raved, loved, criticized, talked about by many but believe it or not I have never ever been a fan/loyal follower of movies with sequels or double-o-gies/trilogies. Shameless to say, I've never watched Madagascar 1. I've never watched any of the Star Wars movies. I've never watched any James Bond (but I know I like Pierce Brosnan, he is so 'man' lo). Nope I did not finish Harry Potter 1,2,3,4,5,6. Nor Lord of the Rings (couldn't stand all the ugly creatures and gory parts though I did forward to the final scene of ROTK where Frodo lost his finger hehe). What about Shrek? All I know he's a green monster, that's all. Austin Powers? Nope. Rush Hour? Nope. Fast and Furious? Nope.
I know. Shuddup.
The only movies with sequels I have probably followed are Princess Diaries (hehe! I love the PD series, believe me I read every single book), Batman, Spiderman, errrr... that's all? And High School Musical!! Yes! (though I didn't watch the 2nd one, I bought the book and read)
So, my point is... I want to watch Madagascar 2 lo. If not when people start talking about it I feel so left out. And because it is free somemore, you know la early/middle/end of the month also no money, it would be great if movie tickets drop from the sky or grow on trees for me. Believe me, the first ever time I scored a pair of free tickets from Nuffnang, I was overjoyed! I finally understood why Jen does things like this to get 'free swags' :p Aiyoh Jen, I am becoming like you already la how.
Just when I thought free things don't come easy and easy things don't come free (similar to 'cheap no good, good no cheap theory'), KYspeaks/clubs/gives/parties/drives etc gave me a chance to erase my thoughts. So pleasepleasepleaseplsplsplsplspls give me the free tickets ok? Help me to start knowing what Madagascar is about (though I roughly know it's a movie about some elephant, penguin, giraffe, zebra. Btw, I never knew penguins can live on dry humid land??) Help me embark on this journey of watching double-o-gies and trilogies. Hehe so kua cheong.
Okla, time to punch card and escape 2 Africa home.
If the pictures above failed to mesmerize you, I don't know what will. Maybe perhaps a diamond? Or Josh Duhamel? Hehe he is quite charming lo.
KL Lookout Point is very popular among photography enthusiasts and those who have never ever seen the whole of KL night scene before... like me. Eh don't lie, I know most of you have never seen it before too, photos in magazines and internet don't count. And I can proudly brag that I have been there, done that TWICE in 2 days. Yea crazy people like us take an hour drive to the same place in 2 consecutive nights.
This is of course a very long forgotten post, almost a month plus because I am so wonderful at digging things that happened long long ago to blog about :D
Colorful drink for your dull life!
On the first visit, we ended up getting a seat at Bread & Olive, a cafe that majors in Mediterranean cuisines. The name reminds me of Fig & Olive and I wonder if it's related. The menu is rather limited and since we had our dinner before heading to the Lookout Point, we ordered something to share.
For the lack of a better name, the juice shall be named 'Colourful Lava'. It has 4 layers of different colors (in other words, pewarna yang dibenarkan) and I suppose it represents and is made up of 4 different fruits. Mango, orange, kiwi, watermelon??? It is ice blended and not exactly a genius choice as it can be pretty chilling up there.
Mediterranean naans Again, I'm particularly bad with names of food I had more than a month ago. If I remember correctly, it has a name along the lines of 'Pizza'... perhaps Mediterranean Pizza or something. In actuality, it is a mediterranean style pizza as the dough is topped/enveloped with meat (chicken, lamb, beef i think?) and some herbs and spices and baked in a fire oven. The outcome is a plate of crispy and fluffy Mediterranean pizza. We didn't like the ones in the middle of the picture though. It is some herbs and spices flavour.
We did make a second trip the following night because some of our friends have never been up there too. On the second visit, we managed to get a table at the famous Gasoline Cafe but food was just okay (along the lines of Station One, Halo Cafe etc). The joint is managed by typical lala chais and patronized by typical mui mui chais too which makes us very lala that night too :p
With the people from college- Jimmy, Alex, Jen, Calvin and I
KLCC is so small that I can flip it with a flick of my fingers, bwahahahahahaa!
The sky was much orange-ier on the first night, but still as spectacular
When I first saw this view, my jaw literally dropped and I was dumbfounded, unable to believe there is such a place in KL/Malaysia/Earth that is so beautiful. The lights, the lights and the lights! Now I know why it is important to switch on lights at night, be it your car when you're driving, your house, appartment, streetlights etc because if whole of KL decides to be on an environment friendly and energy saving mode (which we all know will never happen), then you won't get to see this breathtaking view for yourself!
To see the very awesome pictures of the night scene, please visit Calvin's flickr. See it to believe it!
No trip will be complete without an obligatory post on the food savoured. Just too bad that the food we had on the 3 days do not truly reflect the gastronomic scene of Kota Kinabalu. We did not have a car and neither do we know our roads there, so it was hard for us to venture out of the airport and hotel area for our meals.
Upon touching down at Kota Kinabalu Low Cost Carrier Terminal 2 airport, we headed to Asian Delights Cafe (the only option we had apart from KFC), the same when we headed to the Kota Kinabalu International Airport Terminal 1 (new airport) for work on the 2nd day, we ended up having our lunch at this cafe as well (they have outlets in both airports), and on the final day before taking off, we had our lunch here too. Eating here means we have an extra 10% off our meals upon producing the MAB pass.
Beef rendang rice- RM6
Nasi Lemak special- RM5.50
Kampung fried rice- RM12.90 Honey chicken rice- RM12.90
Singapore fried meehoon- RM5.50
Curry chicken rice set with a drink- RM9.90 Normal curry chicken, no complains and no praises
One thing I noticed is that although Asian Delights operates at both airports, prices at the Terminal 1 airport is more expensive and the beverages selection are limited.
Imperial Hotel Rooftop
As I have mentioned in my earlier post, our hotel stay is inclusive of breakfast, and so this is where we had our breakfast for 2 mornings. No fuss to where we should go for breakfast ;D
My picks
The best thing on the buffet table- BEEF BACON!!!
Toasted bread with melting butter, mini doughnut and banana cake
Porridge with fried shalots and prawns
Lychee, honeydew and papaya for good digestion
BEEF BACON!!! Yumz!
How do you want your eggs to be? Sunny side up and mushroom omelet
Porridge with fried shallots, prawns and shredded chicken
I suppose you can tell beef bacon was my absolute favourite that two mornings, I stuffed myself silly with them. It was soooooooooooo sinful but I felt good. *burps* The coffee and tea tasted blehhhh, no matter how much sugar you add, it still taste the same -__- with a weird aftertaste.
Macau iced coffee- RM3.90 Too sweet for my liking
French toast- RM4.90 Nothing special but was really good to satisfy a hungry appetite
French fries- RM4.50 McDonald's still beats them hands down!
White fungus lotus dessert- RM5.90
Korean pork chop spicy noodles in wooden bowl- RM12.90 Nothing fantastic but credits for the unique presentation
Pan fried woh tip (dumplings) This was made by an ex-colleague who now has a stall selling woh tip at a neighborhood kopitiam. I think it's in Penampang (??)
On second night, we had our dinner at La Manila Cafe @ Warisan Square. There wasn't much options and we wanted to be within the allowance budget given by the company (which isn't much, really).
Wat tan hor- RM8.50
Marmite chicken rice- RM8.50 This is pretty delicious as the chicken are very tender and the gravy goes very well with the rice!
Eggtarts from Dotts @ Warisan Square- RM1.10 per piece It was pretty yummy and best thing is the egg center is still watery and it is pastry type instead of solid biscuit
Famous Taluwang ice cream potong from Sabah! Durian (yellow) and cempedak (orange) flavours at RM1.60 per stick
Handmade Chocolates from Simply Delicious @ Warisan Square - ranging from 60¢ to RM1+ a piece.
My verdict? Bullshit chocolates. Give me Fidani anytime!
And so I left KK with nothing much worth remembering (the food). On the last trip, my boss took us out for dinner at Ocean Village Seafood Restaurant and I had a jolly good time eating but was too shy to take pics :(
About 2 more weeks before I leave for KK again on another 'working' trip! Meanwhile, it is back to office tomorrow :(((((
