B.B.Q. Sauce?

I was browsing the Internet and came across an interesting site which offered personality test by asking a few questions about your cooking or eating habit. Well, it turned out I am a "B.B.Q. Sauce"! LOL

Anyway, I feel it's not that accurate. Those who know me would have immediately refute the first sentence - I am not a social person at all. Quite the opposite. I need to get heated up or I must have known the person quite well before becoming talkative. Unfortunately, I am really lousy at starting up a conversation. Pardon me. Some may even think I am "cool" or arrogant. Truth is, I am thinking hard how to kick-start a conversation which would not bore the other person. And yes, I am a shy person.

In some ways, I do like complexity but not overly complexed. I do prefer simplicity in most things.

Can't help wondering who is the person with salsa personality, as mentioned below...

You Are Barbeque Sauce

You are a social person. You enjoy cooking for other people. You are both skillful and competitive. You enjoy mastering hard tasks. You appreciate complexity more than simplicity. Your taste in food tends to lean toward interesting flavors. You appreciate exotic spice combinations. You tend to like cutting edge, fusion cuisine. You get along with all personalities from a distance. Except salsa personalities, who always seem to annoy you.

What Condiment Are You?

Birthday Celebration at Halo Cafe

Last Saturday was a happening affair. Had a birthday celebration for one of my girl friends at Halo Cafe, Sunway Pyramid. It's my first visit there and so was the birthday girl (well actually her birthday is tomorrow. We are celebrating it earlier). The ambience of the cafe was comfortable and relaxing. While waiting for the singers to perform, soothing songs were played from the audio speaker to entertain the visitors.

The cafe was still rather empty when I arrived. Strangely, the serving time was long despite the fact there wasn't many customers. Diners are allowed to dedicate songs by listing the songs in a piece of paper and pass them to the singers on stage or the waitresses. This is an attractive offer. Apart from enjoying food, diners are able to indulge in live performance by professional singers. I must compliment the performers for their impressive performance. All the three of them have strong vocals and they have great chemistry working in a trio.

This is the lovely blackberry forest cake from Bread Story for the birthday girl. It's rich in chocolate and I like the sourish taste introduced by the blackberry jam sandwiched between the cake layers.

Upon lighting the candles on the cake and bringing it to the birthday girl, the singers on stage immediately switch to birthday talks and birthday songs. It felt good to see a huge grin on my friend's face (the birthday girl) and glad that she enjoyed the celebration.

Thanks to Eugene for the candid shot. It turns out pretty nice. Natural post, eh? LOL

After the dinner, we went to snap some photos around Sunway Lagoon. It was the first time I walked pass the new wing from the outside at night. It's really happening with the pubs and cafes operating till the wee hours.

Then, my friend suggested to have a drink (tea) at Winter Warmers. We ordered a pot of Blueberry Apple Tea. It didn't come cheap but the tea cups were cute and delicate. They reminded me of the quaint cutleries we used to play in "masak-masak". The tea was served with honey syrup, which could be added to taste.

My friend said the tea tasted like Ribena. Probably, but I kind of like it. The tea was fragant and a little sour.

We had a long chat during the windy night while sipping the freshly brewed tea. It felt so good to be in the company of my friends. Perhaps the fact that I know one of them would be posted to Kemaman for three months as offshore engineer, made me cherished the moment more. I would not be in Malaysia starting from this Saturday through the third week of October and that day could be the last day we see each other in 3 to 4 months to come.

Anyway, wanted to wish you (E-Wen) Happy Birthday! It's about 59 minutes away before it strikes 12am of 23rd September 2008. May all your wish come true and stay pretty! =)

Restaurant Sin Kee

Whenever I passed by Restaurant Sin Kee, the place would always be crowded. Is the food really that good, I wonder. I managed to try it out today. Located opposite KL Sentral, Sin Kee somewhat gives you the homely feel. Perhaps, it has taken the home-cooked food approach as its main concept. There's nothing unique or special about its menu but the portion is generous and the price is very reasonable.
Ah, one of my favourite food - sweet and sour pork (MYR 15). The combination of sweetness, sourness, and spiciness is just right. The meat was not over-cooked. It's tender and succulent.
Sambal prawn and squid is Sin Kee's specialty. Hence, it must not be missed. It's not as spicy as it may seem. The chef was extremely generous with prawns and squids. Definitely worth MYR16!

The claypot bean curd (MYR15) was superb. Apart from bean curd, it consists of mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, prawns and squids.

Can you see the generous sprinkle of anchovies? They indeed lightened up the dish. The crunchiness and saltiness of the anchovies added a special flavour to the plain greens. Delicious!

If you are looking for a hearty and reasonable meal, try Sin Kee. You will definitely leave home with a huge tummy. I could barely sit straight after the dinner ;p

Chef Choi, KL

Hurray!!! It's a public holiday at Selangor. I have been eyeing on this day since early this month. Since I have not been to The Pavillion after its grand opening, my sister and I decided to check it out. Before heading to The Pavillion, we had our lunch at Restaurant Chef Choi, which is located opposite of Corus Hotel. The restaurant looked luxurious and is highly recommended by my mom's friend. That's why my mom was so eager to try the food.

We are welcomed by a security guard and 2 waitresses. The entrance reminds me of a house entrance. I feel warm and being welcomed.
Ah, Chinese are really into Feng Shui. I suppose no one would mind to have more of gold. Wish those were real!
The waitress actually led us to this table but we decided to move to the next one as this table was located exactly beside the kitchen. Now, that's bad Feng Shui. At least we thought so =p
Didn't know what got into me. Just wanted to snap a photo of this Yin-Yang resemblance. The chilli sauce tasted good. Not that spicy. More to the sour and sweet side. Just nice for me but not for those we really love spicy things. This is the Yang Chow Fried Rice (MYR 18). I would rate it 7 out of 10 but it's quite oily and my mom complained the rice grains were hard. That's fine with me as I don't like them to be soft. Personally, I find the Yang Chow Fried Rice served at the restaurant near my office tasted much better and much cheaper. I could have about four plates of the latter with the price of MYR18! Anyway, I already expected that. Chef Choi is on the high-end side.
Chef Choi's Special Fried Noodle (MYR 32) was a major disappointment though the scallop tasted good and it was fresh. The noodles were slightly burned and were overly flavoured so much so they were very salty. It seems this dish was over priced as well.
Apart from rice and noodle, Chef Choi also offers Dim Sum but only a limited of variety. Mom ordered Celery & Water Chestnuts with Mushroom Dumpling (MYR7.50). Unfortunately, this dish was another disappointment.

BBQ pork bun (MYR 6.00) or better known as char siew pau fared better. However, the chef could consider to increase the size - it costs MYR2 per piece!
At last, I found a dish which I am satisfied with - Prawn Dumpling ala Teo Chew style (MYR 5). The prawn was fresh and springy. Some sprinkle of fish roes accentuate the sweetness of the prawns.

Finally, it's time to call for the bill. After signing the credit card receipt, I was presented with a copy of bill and credit card receipt in a quaint envelope. Impressive and yeah, because I paid for it. Part of the "service", eh? ;p

Details of the restaurant:
Restaurant Chef Choi Sdn Bhd (located opposite Corus Hotel)
159, Jalan Ampang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia
Tel: 03-21635866
Fax: 03-21646463

**The colours and outlines of the pictures are not that sharp as they are taken by a basic camera phone. Didn't want to carry my digital camera to shop around =p

Rolling Love OST

When I saw my sister after coming back from my colleague's wedding, she has been talking about Michelin. Who? Michelin. Who's that, I asked? Jiro Wang's character in Rolling Love. Oh,.....that Taiwanese Idol Drama. I have not been following it due to my working hours.

My sister's sudden craze our the OSTs have made its way to me too. I was listening to them with her and I agreed that they are pleasant to my ears.

Here is the video of the song, 告訴我 by Danson Tang [唐禹哲]. Do note that it may be a spoiler if you had not watched the drama yet.

Another OST of this drama that I equally like is by Fan Jia and the title is 直觉反应, which simply means Intuitive Reaction. The audio file can obtained from 4shared.com

One Noodle Restaurant, SS2 PJ

My colleagues and I went to One Noodle Restaurant last Friday. When I heard and saw the restaurant, I thought it's another Hong Kong style restaurant which food would be below average. Boy, was I wrong.

We ordered the set lunch/dinner for 4 pax which cost us MYR68++. The food and the service was good. We were given chilled towels to clean our hands once we were seated. They served braised peanuts as appetizer. Maybe I was hungry, they tasted great!

The set dinner consisted of Beancurd Soup, Dim Sum platter, Pork Ribs, Vegetable platter (brocollis), Ramen, Steamed Prawns with Garlics and Glass Noodles, and Glutinous Rice Balls as dessert.

Though I love beancurds, I must say the beancurd soup was a disappointment. It's too salty and the soup was too thick, thanks to the over usage of corn flour. This first dish had me minus off some points and I remained doubtful on the quality of the food in this restaurant.

To my surprise, the next dish refute my judegement of the restaurant. I like the Har Kaw or a.k.a Shrimp Dumpling from the Dim Sum Platter. The shrimp was big, fresh and succulent. Simply irresistable. The Fried Shrimp Dumpling from the Platter tasted as good.

One Noodle Restaurant is famous for its Ramen. Hence, it's included in the recommended set lunch/dinner. The Ramen we had was a little sourish and spicy. Excellent to wake up your sleeping taste buds and I personally think it made a good appetizer/starter. It was also cooked with brinjal, which absorbed the spicy and sour broth, making it simply appealing. Brilliant combination, chef!

I am usually lazy when come to eating prawns which the shell is still intact, when eating out. The chef was thoughtful as he had the prawns cut and presented in a way that's easy to remove the flesh from the shell. Good for me and for those who shares the same laziness =p The Steamed Prawns were just nice for people who like prawns that are cooked in a simple way and lightly flavoured. Its broth was fragant and contained the freshness and sweetness taste of the prawns. How smart of the chef to lay some glass noodles beneath the prawns to absorb the essence of the prawns.

The Pork Ribs lived up to the expectations like other dishes. However, I think it's a little on the salty side. Perhaps, it's best to be eaten with rice or ramen.

Unfortunately, the glutinous rice ball didn't get to win back the point lost from the beancurd soup. Being a huge fan of glutinous rice ball, I expected it to be chewy and smooth but it turned out to be powdery and too soft. The ginger soup was too "spicy" and it could have been a little sweeter.

Anyway, all in all, the food was satisfying and worth trying. The food portion was appropriate. We actually did not get to finish all of them despite there were four of us and we had a male colleague with us.

P/s: The name of the dishes are not accurate as I couldn't recall them. I didn't take any photos of the food. Blek, was rather tired to camwhore and we were starving. We had our dinner at about 8pm++ (close to 9pm, I think or was it 9pm?) and we were so worn out from work. Friday was THE battle day :S Pictures and details of the restaurant can be found here.

Preparation for the Big Day

My 3 other colleagues and myself headed to Peninsula Residence at Damansara after work on Friday. It's the place where my colleague would be marrying off. We stayed for a night there. Nice place with good security. Thanks to the tight security, it made our plan to trick the best men easier and smooth.

We were in an intensive discussion on our mischievous plan while browsing through the wedding photos taken earlier.Hehe...how mischievous of us,eh? But the questions are standard ones. I believe ours are still not that bad. Quite decent =p

Next, how can we not treat our macho best men "delicious" food prepared specially by pretty bridemaids? Hehehe..... No worries, they passed ISO standards ;p

Eat me....
Oooo....spicy
The bread and croissant looked harmless, huh?
Bitter and sweet drinkFood tasting session

The BIG Day

No, it isn't MY big day. My colleague's. Phew. Just woke up from slumberland. Was catching some sleep as I didn't sleep well (To be exact, I didn't sleep much the entire night! Nothing wrong with the hotel. It was great. It's just me *shrug*). Slept only for an hour but felt much better. Home is still best! ;-)

Okies, gotta make a move to prepare as I need to leave the house in less than an hours time. Pictures and more coverage on this meaningful day shall follow later. Again, I need to get the photographs from the photographer and my friend. Didn't get to snap much photos as we were busy with our role of bridesmaid (a.k.a zhi mui).

Signing off....

Pretty Lunch Box

I received the below pictures from a friend via email some time ago. Thought of sharing with you. Aren't they lovely and look too good to be eaten? Anyway, being such a glutton, they will definitely end up in my tummy if they are presented to me =p

Not only the person who prepared the lunch box is creative but he/she has lots of patience. Cutting and shaping the food to resemble something requires skills and not to forget colour-matching. It demands resourcefulness of a person. At least, one would need to know what ingredients are needed to resemble what. Mmm...anyone who has lunch like this everyday would have a very balanced diet. There are so many kind of vegetables (fibre and vitamins), source of proteins and carbohydrates in one lunch box. Time to think of packing food for lunch from home. Thrifty and healthy ;p