CNY 2011~

Whoa, how much faster can the Earth spin??! Can't believe its Chinese New Year all over again! @.@ granted its in January this year instead of February like previous years, but the last CNY seemed like just awhile ago.. Hmm, or is it because I've been super unproductive in 2011 in terms of blog posts, since I'm digging this post out from my huge pile of drafts from last year.. *groan*

Last year was special for me since it was the first time that we had a reunion dinner with only three people.. I think Im getting used to the idea now :) (Just had our small but cosy reunion dinner just now and it was simply yummy~! Props to Mum!!) It was also the first time that I joined my friends to go about town to 拜年 and collect angpows.. Never got to do that since we moved to JB because we always went back to either Penang or KL for CNY.. Truth be told, it was rather fun to visit the houses of friends that I've known for ages but never got the chance to step into their homes.. :)

Will be starting work on the third day of CNY this year, sobs.. Will miss the extra day's holiday in during my old job.. Just to reminisce, last year, while still working in KL, I got to have Yee Sang i think twice in two days? Can't really remember.. but I know I had it more times than previously..

Our little 'feast' at Esquire Kitchen.. the food wasn't great but the company was.. :):) to my work-lunch gang, friends forever!!

The second time, went with my favourite boss to The Han Room at The Gardens.. After reading the reviews, I was really anticipating the food there.. In the end, I was greatly disappointed, the food was good but the services was so horrible, it put me off going a second time.. We waited more than 2 hours for our food and they still somehow managed to get the orders wrong.. and the waiter didn't even bother to tell me that the fried rice I ordered was meant to be shared by at least 2-3 people when I ordered.. so evil! I think they only serve the richer guests well, since those who ordered the expensive sets didn't face any problems..

Normal chopsticks vs Lou Sang chopsticks~~

With Ed, CLE and TAP.. smiling happily before we realised that we would be starving for another hour or so.. =.=

some of the leng luis in my ex-company.. :)

I was so curious what was in those colourful spoons.. thought they were swan shaped pastries at first @.@




happy angpow collecting gang.. We started with 6 people and ended the day with 10.. haha.. weird how people whom you have not spoken to in ages don't mind visiting your house to collect an angpow..

Oh yeah, and I also got to visit the Dong Zen Temple in Jenjarom with all its beautiful decorations for CNY ~ Like this pic cos my legs look really slim here.. too bad my face does not XD

Wonder what will this year's CNY be like.. Hope I get to go shopping.. really need a pair of new sneakers.. heh!

Lil's Birthday Part 2: Dessert at T Forty Two~

After lunch at Canoodling, I was telling Lil abt this place selling macarons (I used to spell it as macaroon but then read in wiki that most ppl use the French spelling macaron @.@~) in Bangsar Village II that I'd heard abt the last time I was there.. and being very suaku and not trying it before, I just had to find the place! We were very dumbo, cos we circled the whole building quite a few times searching for the shop, well to be fair BVII isnt that big... After quite a lot of walking, we decided to read the directory more carefully and realised there was a shop listed under cafe/confectionery that we didnt see at all...

Rupanya we'd already passed it quite a few times, but just the area outside and not the actual shop and shop window... T.T how stupid *facepalm*

Finally hit paydirt!! :)

The place is called T forty two.. and the decor is really nice... :)

got grand piano some more leh~! :P

Queen of the day in her high backed chair... the seats were damn comfy i must say~

another pretty dining area separated from us by glass windows :)

the menus were interesting, know why?

cos they had different quotes in front... Pink says "Tea is water bewitched" - Lu Wah, and Blue says "Love and scandals are the best sweeteners of tea" - Henry Fielding~ means anything to you???


Taadaa~ the stars of the day, heck they got even more photos than the birthday girl~ :P

L to R: Bittersweet Chocolate, Strawberry, Green Tea and Passion-fruit

My favourite surprisingly was bittersweet chocolate, cos i usually don't choose chocolate when it comes to flavouring i.e chocolate ice cream or chocolate pudding, etc... The strawberry and passion-fruit ones were surprisingly fruity, exactly like the real fruit itself, very fresh... the green tea one tasted a little to strong for my liking tho..

What surprised me was the texture of the macarons themselves.. I'd expected them to be cake-like, since they look like little cakes but its actually more like marzipan, and I was a little surprised when I took my first bite.. O.o... For RM3.90 each, they are pretty pricey, and very indulging.. not something tat I would consider for teatime any other day lor... hehe...

We also ordered the chocolate fudge cake (RM9.90) which looked crumbly but was actually very gooey and yummy and warm inside... :) nice... but better not eat it in front of someone you secretly admire cos the cocoa powder tends to stick to yr teeth :P

Other tantalising desserts.. chocolate tarts, passionfruit cheesecake slices, lemon meringue tart, chocolate fondant, strawberry shortcake etc etc etc.. A dessert lover's dream come true, sighhhh... The pink one in the middle is the rose macaron which costs a crazy RM13.90. omg! I can have a full meal for that price :S but secretly wondering whats so special abt it...

Other baked stuff with canggih-ranggih pronounceable names like croque monsieur, turkey ham and gruyere muffin, Spinach feta and pine nut briquette O.o..... extremely saliva inducing oso... *eyes glazing up*

We reached the cafe at around 2.15pm and were given a 25 minute window to finish playing around and eating as they were having an event at 2.30pm, a baby shower =.= I know kids nowadays are damn 'ho mia' but babies as well?! Gah.. But no worries, we still managed to finish in good time and had 2 refills of warm water each :P

A little something that deducted some marks from my macaron experience.. I saw a baby roach under the table! Arghhhhh... didnt say anything cos we'd finished eating at the time and I dont think the birthday girl noticed it... shocking eh? but not as shocking as seeing a full grown one in the middle of The Gardens Mall one fine day when we were going back to the office from lunch... *True story* This goes to show that high end places are not safe from nasty pests as well @.@~

So, YaY! cos I finally tried macarons after hearing abt them so long.. but i guess its just a fad, like cupcakes and donuts.. :P

Lil's Birthday Part 1: Lunch at Canoodling @ Bangsar Village II~

Another chance for celebrations... Lil's quarter of a century birthday is here!!! We were out and about all day on Sunday for an early celebration.. Part 1 was at Bangsar, Part 2 at Mont Kiara and Part 3 at SS2.. amazing right????! :):)

I'd visited Canoodling at Bangsar Village II once before, thanks to my food blogger colleague, Mr Wei Ming, I didn't really like the food that we tried that day but since I was having a serious bout of coughing the last time round, I decided to give it another try together with Lil, whom I figured would love the quirky decor, hehe....

At our table which had its own spotlight.... bright and cheery yellow makes you feel happy too!

The lights were hanging lamps, how creative~~

they had all sorts of doodles on the wall and crayons on the table for you to play around with... how fun~

Menus! The one looking extremely like an exercise book was from the place next door, called Ricetaurant..

see??? the horrible squares from my childhood, cos i had a hard time keeping the words in them, lol...

our appetiser, only RM4.90, tempura kangkung... It wasnt cheap considering that its just a few fried leaves... but it tasted yummy with the dip that they gave us which was a mixture of sweet and salty flavours and complemented the batter quite well :)

I quite liked this to be honest... who would have thought? Tempura kangkung @.@~

Lil's main... 'The Canoodle Oodles of Noodles' the flour wrap felt and tasted like chee cheong fun skin and it was quite fun to create our own roll plus the meat was quite tasty as well, so this this gets a thumbs up from me for being interesting and tasty... Hehe~

My claypot 老鼠粉 which which is the special dish or sundays... nothing special about it though. Apart from the pretty egg on top, it didnt taste that special and was rather salty.. Had to slather the accompanying chilli sauce on every spoonful before I could eat it... :S and I thought it could help change my perception abt the place having a cosy atmosphere but mediocre food, too bad....

I had this the last time -- Pasta Pad Thai, sounds interesting but a tad disappointing... the noodles were gluey and there just wasnt any oomph to the taste...

Crispy duck salad, if i remember correctly, this was rather good, the duck was flavourful enough and Vi ordered this as her dinner so the portion is quite satisfactory i must say~

Pandan Chicken Wings were ok oso... funny how all the appetisers and desserts are not bad but the actual noodle dishes are just so-so considering that its a shop selling mostly noodles @.@~

my dessert... Aloe Vera, Sea Coconut and Ginseng Roots served ice cold...very refreshing and for RM5.90 the bowl was filled to the brim with aloe cubes and sea coconut slices :)

Lil's dessert, creamy mango and pomelo dessert and a peek of my iPad in its new clothes, whee~

and before you forget me :P:P

All in all, the prices and service were quite reasonable and wifi quite fast, plus the ambience was cosy as expected.. but the food could be better, imho....

We had our second dessert at T Fourty Two, also at Bangsar Village II and I cant wait to share what we had that we'd never had before this~~~ to be continued.... cos im sleepy.... :P

Eleganz in Red-MAICSA Annual Dinner 2011

One fine day, I arrived at the office a little (itsy bitsy teeny weeny little bit) later than usual and found out that my head of department had been looking for me earlier... My brain started whirring, thinking abt what I could have done to cause her to want to see me that early in the morning :S:S:S turns out, she just wanted to ask me whether I would like to attend the MAICSA Annual Dinner on 16 April 2011 since I hadn't been to one before, phew... reason why she was choosing first timers to go was because most ppl wouldnt want to go a second time and she was having trouble finding seniors to go.. LoL~

I was eager to go upon finding out that it was going to be held at Renaissance Hotel (4 stars!) with free food and doorgifts and lucky draws... cracked my head a little over the theme tho "Eleganz in Red", cos I dont really have have a very vast wardrobe and hardly any red clothes, boo~

Ended up with:-

red skirt~

red nails~

and not that red lips..

Well, at least I tried my best, better than some people who ignored the theme completely.. most of the guests showed up in top to toe red tho, so I wasnt really red enough... hehehe...

Arrived at 7.20pm and only 5 out of the 10 people at our table had arrived, clockwise from top left. red shoes (not seen). red skirt, red accessories (including necklace, earrings and ring), splotches of red all over (my head of department) and red tie (bought for RM5, lol)

the thing that got me excited -- menu for the night!

The pretty chandelier~

First, the president of MAICSA, Ms Janet Ang gave a welcoming speech..

Then it was the guest of honour's turn...

Then I got distracted by the pile of lucky draw prizes by the stage :)

First dish -- Renaissance's Hot and Cold Combination Platter

Looked mighty pretty and we were served by a waiter whose division skills must have been pretty bad cos my colleague ended up with half a plate of seaweed... lol

my plate~

her plate~ spot the difference :P

Second dish -- Braised Seafood Soup with 8 Treasure, soup tasted ok

Some Corporate Governance Award being presented.. the plaque so shiny... and there was also a cheque for RM10k as part of the prize... Woot~

The VIPs were asked to stay on the stage to launch this something something guidebook, and then..

They were asked to stay again for the souvenir presentation

After spending so much time on stage, the guest of honour decided not to come down after all, and ended up performing a medley of one Malay, Chinese and Tamil song each, he sang 月亮代表我的心 by Teresa Teng and he was quite good.. he continued singing and dancing through the next few courses and i enjoyed his performance so much that I forgot to take pics of a few dishes.... =.=

Steamed Mandarin Fish, Ginger Puree...

Next performance was chinese traditional music..

Must be damn tiring to play the flute, have to blow and blow and keep bending down to change flutes~

On the pretext of going to the restroom during an especially boring bit during the performance, my colleague and I stumbled upon a room with this super bright chandelier :)

Then it was the games session where each table had to choose a leader and in the shortest time possible, find 10 items and get them on stage:- car keys, name card, red flower, credit card, earring, belt, napkin, a 10sen coin and a strand of white hair.. Eventho we werent the first, we would have lost anyway cos no one at our table had white hair T____T so wasted... the emcee actually told us to catch hold of any old uncle and yank his hair out, lol.. we were not so desperate for the prize lor :P

Dessert was a weird soya bean drink and these things that were called chinese pastries in the menu.. mochi is chinese pastry?? since when?! O.o...

red flowers to match the theme~~~ :D

The two pretty ladies whom i shared a ride with, Chooi Wei and Wai Ling :)

and here comes the best part, after the dinner ended and the rest of our table had left, the three of us fully utilised my camera and also played with the self timer while waiting for our driver to come.. hehehe...

oops, im not in yet....


with the doorgift, a book full of post its and signature stickers :):) and Wai Ling's lucky draw gift which turned out to be a kettle.. didnt expect much cos grand prize was a microwave oven only lor....

couldnt resist taking pics when i saw this nice door :):):)


couldnt resist the nice staircase also :P

All in a pretty enjoyable dinner, wonder why ppl dont want to go a second time.. maybe they are not cheapskate like me, hoping to go for a free meal and doorgift and hopefully win in the lucky draw as well... too bad for me, better luck next time~~~