JO'Kalvier

暧昧

2010-09-21T15:30:00.000+08:00

據說現在很流行曖昧，朋友的事例太多：
你們認識很久，他天天朝九晚五噓寒問暖的電話比你的鐘錶還要準時，
你滿心歡喜你開始心懷期待，就連做夢都會笑出來，
可是他就是什麼也不說，你對自己說等等再等等，直到有一天你看到他身邊有了另一個身影，
你震驚"不是...這是....我是.....?"

在朋友眼裏你們很登對，每次聚會他做你的護花使者責無旁貸，
你也發現自己對他有了些些的依賴，他總是不經意的拍拍你的肩很寵愛的揉揉你的發，
朋友關於你們之間無傷大雅的玩笑讓你覺得很甜蜜，
你說你感覺幸福就在不遠的地方，
就在你以為一切都將水到渠成的時候睛天霹靂，
他說他從沒對你有過這種想法，
他說這是你的誤會，你呆住了"誤會?

那麼多人前的親昵.....竟...竟然是...誤會.....?"
傷心嗎?
難過嗎?
痛苦嗎?

只是，只是誰讓你把曖昧當愛情呢？

其實說穿了曖昧是可以推脫責任的遊戲，沒有承諾就無需負責。
曖昧是你會不時去他的BLOG看看有沒有更新；
而且你會留意字裏行間，他對你有沒有什麼暗示。

曖昧是明白人生有太多的無奈，現實有太多的限制。
你知道沒有可能，但又捨不得放手。
曖昧是雖然他不是你的情人，
但他卻會對你說：你對我是十分重要的。

曖昧是每當他提及他的另一半時，你會萬箭穿心。曖昧是甜津津又同時酸溜溜的。
往往從未開始，已叫人不安，患得患失。

曖昧是別人以為你們在搞地下情時，你會沾沾自喜。
曖昧是別人問你們是否戀愛中，你張口結舌。曖昧是常常掙扎表不表白。
你怕表白之後，你既得不到一個情人，卻又失去了一個知心好友。

曖昧是見到他，你會心跳。見不到他時，你會掛念他。
曖昧是你很想多走一步，但又怕會嚇怕了他。
你會很小心流露自己的感情。
曖昧是有進一步的衝動，卻沒有進一步的勇氣。

我們曖昧，我們卻不屬於對方...繞了一大圈的曖昧，最終還是回到原點。
曖昧完，發現世界沒變，變的只有我心碎的心。

汉拿山韩式烤肉，Viva Shopping Centre.

2009-03-01T13:44:00.017+08:00

Sometimes you just have to spend a little time

With the precious one

No matter how little time you have

You will never regret

Coming to my place all the way

Just to rescue my little Lenovo

When its owner was a total moron

When it comes to computer

Seafood Rice Cake RMB36

Time passes by quickly

And we missed our lunch

Seafood Rice Cake it meant to be

With mussels, clams, prawns and squids

Fried Chicken Cutlet

This little dish was surprisingly yummy. A fried dish that caught the heart of Karen. And it was complimentary. I should be on diet but one went down my throat, anyway.

Kimchi

A typical Korean must have cold dish. Simple. Nothing to shout about.

Spinach wih glass noodle

A not-so-Korean dish i think. This dish is being served in other Chinese restaurant or even small noodle shop. But again, it's complimentary. So... just eat what is being served.

Pork Jelly

For people like me, who doesn't like pork and any fat and lard that come together with it, you will be surprised that this is actually pretty good!!!!!! And when you see so many exclaimation mark from me, you know it's good! And fyi, pork jelly is good for ladies. It's high in collagen and protein and full of goodness for ladies complexion. So incorporate Pork Jelly into your weekly diet.

Korean-style Fermented Soy Bean

A dish that reminds me of the Malay tempeh. Chewy and full of flavour. An interesting started i should say. The more you chew into it, the more flavourful it becomes.

Garden Salad

And of cos, men need their daily dosage of vegetables before the arteries are being blocked by what we are going to have....

This meant for us to clear our tongue in the midst of eating....

Guess???

What???

Beef Platter RMB 168

To have a whole plate of beef from different parts of the cow to just the two ladies, hmm.... It's difficult not to get "rounder" each day just to portrait how fortunate or "hock hee" i am. Haha... And the beef in brown was the best that night! I bet there is wagyu beef somewhere...Somewhere...

Varieties of Roots RMB18

And there it goes on the charcoal stove....Sizzling sound... Aromatic smell... The smoke was removed immediately by the little exhaust on top.

And the best thing of all, you don't need to do the BBQ yourself. The waiters and waitresses will do it for you. One waiter per table. Woohoo~ And there were instances that i had to slow down the waitress cos there was still too much food in my plate. *lol* and oh boy, it was the first down i had so much beef at one go. I used to be a "hindi" when i was back in Malaysia cos i don't eat beef. Yucks. But beef in China is nice! Yummy! Tender! hehe... and Korean style BBQ is even better. They are really good in marinating and BBQ's their meat. And i'm loving it~

Complimentary Sweet Porridge

Complimentary ice-cream

This ice-cream seemed simple but it's extremely milky and yummy. Not too sweet like Baskin Robbin though BR remains as my fav. *bleah*

So my dinner treat ended.

With complementary fruits.

Drown with pear juice.

And oh wow, i can feel the cow swimming in my tummy.

班长日记。很多人的第一次 – 滑雪记 – 06-12-2008

2008-12-24T09:34:00.008+08:00

好不容易考完了内科与针灸的期中考，终于可以轻松轻松咯~ 冬季的来临，电视节目的介绍，一个提议，一群复议，在一个电话联系，就这样，一群没滑过雪的人们，浩浩荡荡来到了滑雪场。

周末的早晨，阳光普照，其实是寒流来袭的第二、第三天，室外令下十几度的气温却不减我们出游的兴致.坐着出租小巴，路途上有说有笑，口里还不断吃着美味的零嘴，我们一群朋友来到了八达岭滑雪场。第一次看到覆盖着绵绵细雪的山丘，好期待接下来的滑雪时刻！拿了出租的衣物、鞋具、雪具，把厚厚的滑雪服、千斤重的雪鞋套上，终于可以开始滑雪啦！

可是… … “我们都不会滑雪呀！”

原以为可以马上滑雪去，却… …连最基本的把学些套上滑雪板都不会的我们，跟别说是滑雪了！尤其是我，个长得高，重心当然高啦，再加上是扁平足，“我完蛋了”~ 不过有智慧的我们，决定聘请一个小时的滑雪教练，免了那皮肉之苦。一小时内，我们学会了用雪板行走、滑行、煞车，还有还有真学的跌倒姿势，跌倒也要跌得有style, 哈哈！一个小时后的我们，都各都可以在中级斜坡滑行了。

感觉如何？
I’m LOVING IT！

夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏。而且，太阳公公冬天时分总是爱提早打样。就这样，随着夕阳西下，也结束了我们的第一次滑雪日记。不过临走前当然不忘做一件很重要的事，那当然是拍照留念！！！Yeah~

疲惫的身躯，灿烂的笑脸

A little preview...

2008-10-18T07:14:00.004+08:00

A sneak preview of my next post *after next Wed ok? exam ar...*

So just a few quick pics...

Anyone wants to make a guess what we were doing?

No prizes though...But i do have a clue for you...

I am not in Malaysia... Haha, does it help? But the answer is easy.

Guess it!

I'm so sorry folks

2008-10-18T07:04:00.002+08:00

Dear Fellow Friends and Bloggers,

This blog has been long abandon but i didn't realise that there are still people reading my blog...
Or at least waiting accidentally link to my blog??? =p hee...

So..

I will try to revive it ok? No promise. Try.

A change of life since my FYP.
I have never have another second to stop and have a moment for myself. So my blog blog suffers. *ok, blog blog cos it always sound cuter when u double the words like boy boy, girl girl...haha*

Even when i have little time to do things i like, i am still very very awesomely blessed by God.

Apart from that, yes, i want to revive my blog.
But please wait, cos i will be sitting for anothere exam next Wed.

So please wait...

Ichiban Sushi, Jurong Point

2008-05-31T12:12:00.007+08:00

It was a long & tiring week,
eventhough it meant to be a short week,
with only 4 days,
Without Monday Blues~

Who knows that there was a Mistletoe Tuesday,
Which activated the whole lab to stay OT until 9++pm,
Meaning i had a 12+hrs of lab~ T.T
With a hungry stomach waiting to be fed.

Then came Wednesday which was disastrous,
Got reprimanded by my Big Boss,
For not practicing GLP,
Caught Red-Handed, My bad~ T.T

Then came Thursday,
Without much of a hiccup,
Beside not closing the column door properly,
Causing fluctuation of temperature of my HPLC~ T.T

Here it came, lonely Friday,
Which i thought it was,
FYP haunting my friends,
and I'm left all alone.

No that i had nothing to do,
Neither was i Bored,
Just feeling too tired,
Staying in NTU all week long.

A call at 4+pm changed it all,
Delighted, heart leaping in joy!
"I am GOING OUT!!! On a Friday NIGHT!!"
After all, I am not alone.

Finally, I have a date, on a Friday night...

************************************************************************************

Where to meet? A simple Question.
We are the West People and We are Tired.
Simple Answer. Boonlay.
Very straight forward.

It is the second time.
One-on-one.
I was the one waited,
On both occasions.

I am not complaining.
Cos he is a dear friend of mine.
Holding a special position.
That it is not easily shaken.

Primary & secondary schoolmate,
We were in the class of 2(3),
With Jesing as monitor,
Lu Yean & I were the Asst Monitresses.

Those were the days...

*****************************************************************************

Two tired people with lots to catch up.
Three meals in school/workplace.
We share such similarity.
It's time for some Food Comfort.

Japanese Food was our choice,
Dining of two made things even easier.
Skip the step of waiting for a table,
Table for two is easily available. *Yay*

Vegetable Roll SGD$2.10

A refreshing dish. Covered with sesame and bits of dried seaweed, and crunchy french beans, corn, carrot & cucumber in the center.

I gotta shout, " I am loving it~"

Ebiko Temaki @ SGD$2.10

Yup, it's a Temaki, but not with the normal seaweed wrap that you see. It's wrapped with crepe. Together with the crunchy salad leaf & the fried bacon stripe, i never know temaki can taste so GOoooD!!!

Maybe is the bacon... Maybe it's the Ebiko... Or maybe, it's because of the mayo they added that makes all the different. Or maybe, it's the cheapest of them all, the salad leaf???

Who knows?
But i fell in love with bacon for the first time.

Unagi with Cheese Sushi @ SGD$ 3.90

I gotta shout, I gotta Shout, I gotta SHOUT!!!
This is not the ordinary thinly-sliced-until-u-can't-taste kind of Unagi. This is the premium Unagi that you get on the Unagi Don!!!

The thick flesh of Unagi melting in your mouth before it burst into its full flavour. Enhanced with the flavour from the sliced Cheddar cheese&seaweed hidden between the Japanese rice, who could resist the heavenly-match sushi?

Especially to someone who loves both Unagi and cheese...

Inari Sushi @ SGD$2.10

A typical Inari Sushi caught my friend's attention. Nothing uncommon but nothing to complain about. It's just Inari Sushi.

Curry Chicken Katsu Don @ SGD$11.90

Jim Jim always wanted to try Japanese Curry. To his surprise (dismay perhaps?), he says it tasted exactly like the "ah neh's curry" aka indian curry when he was studying in UK. A tiny weeny bit of spice, more of the sweet curry. For me, its taste is comparable to the Japanese stall in the food court in NTU.

Hmm... I like it, i like Japanese Curry. But if i can pay 1/3 of the price here to eat the exact dish in NTU minus the two slices of oranges and the bowl of miso soup, why should i order this out of school? *i wonder, wonder*

************************************************************************************

Both of us were too full to have any dessert,
though the tempura ice-cream was calling,
and fiesta Japanese cheesecake is whistling,
"Jojo, Jojo, aren't we lovely?"

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,
On a Friday night,
It seems like a date,
With a primary schoolmate.

"I scare I'll fall asleep in the cinema" i was told,
Came out with lots of Q's marks in his head,
I felt bad to drag him for a show,
Which he didn't know what was going on.

Thank Q Jim Jim for the treat,
A lovely Friday evening indeed.
I am glad i have you,
As a friend who come to my rescue.

************************************************************************************

JOjo is very happy,
Cos I got my R square = 1.
Although my error bar "sucks",
I still thank God,
Cos I got R square equals to 1.
*Grinning away*

Kluang railway Coffee

2008-05-17T20:39:00.005+08:00

It is located at the Kluang railway station, at Jalan Station, right opposite Pejabat Pos Kluang and Telekom Kluang; right in the heart of Kluang town.

A place which my friends from Singapore gave up till RM40+++ of toast, half-boiled eggs, nasi lemak & mee siam. Mind you, the nasi lemak costs only 50cents. How did they do it? Good appetite+great companion+delicious food, i supposed.

It is SOooo well-known that even the Johor state minister visited the humble little coffee shop and when ex-PM, Dato Sri Dr Mahathir visited Kluang many years ago, they hosted our VVIP too!!! It was also featured in one of the flight magazine (which i couldn't remember which airline was that) many years ago. Run by Lim's family, a well-known family that runs a few coffee shop in Kluang including Hoover in Kluang Baru and Barney's Western Restaurant located in town center. Kluang Rail Coffee offers franchise and their outlet can be found in various shopping malls in KL and Malacca.

Round Kaya Toast with Butter @ RM 1.30

The one thing not to be missed when is their toast. They are famous for their Charcoal Toast, layered with thick layer of butter and homemade kaya. Absolutely addictive and i can assured you, one is never enough! You can find there different types of kaya butter toast, ie: Roti Bulat (round bun), Roti Keping (Square Bun) and Roti Jagung (wholemeal bun). I love them all !!!

You can also find some other variety of bread like Tuna Bun and Sambal Bun. Taste wise, not too bad but i prefer to have the kaya toast *bleah*

Pulut Panggang @ RM 0.50

Pulut panggang is a malay kuih, made by wrapping chilli fried shredded coconut core glutinuos rice in banana leaf. One of my favourite kuih. The one served here is chewy and with a delicious core!

Nasi Lemak @ RM 0.60

For 60cents, you don't expect a big portion. The nasi lemak is wrapped using banana leaves with adequate sambal and a few peanuts just for the tiny pack. Sometimes you can find ikan bilis in your packet. Due to popular demand, one supplier is just not enough to supply nasi lemak for the whole shop. So, there are three suppliers which explains why some have ikan bilis some don't. Nonetheless, all are delicious. Sambal cooked to perfection, spicy and a hint of sweetness at the same time.

A common view of what's on every table

A plate filled with packet nasi lemak, mee siam, fried mee, curry puff and pulut panggang is placed on almost every table. One can also find hard-boiled eggs on the same plate for you to eat with the nasi lemak. Normally patrons will help themselves to it while waiting for their coffee/tea, toast and half-boiled egg to be served. Oh, did i mention that their half-boiled eggs always have the same consistency? Runny Yolk = Yummy~ Whee~

The Ever-Consistent Half-Boiled Egg

Coffee served here is of fine quality, the robust flavour of freshly brewed coffee is simply irressistable. Selling @ RM 1.10, no wonder Starbucks and Coffe Bean do not have any outlet in Kluang.

Normally i would order Teh C Kosong meaning Teh C without sugar. I only order this at selective kopitiam because it must be "gao" enough to drink it without sugar. You can get a cup of Teh C filled with the aroma of evaporated milk, why do you need sugar anymore?

Other than eating in, many would also "da bao" back especially their curry puff.Selling at only 30cents, the crispy curry puff with potato stuffing is a hit and often sold out early in the afternoon. The shop also produce their homebrand coffee.Each packet of 20 coffee bags is selling @ RM 7.00. One can also purchase the homemade kaya selling @ RM 3.50 only.

This place is a must place for visit if you ever happen to come to Kluang, a little dot in the center of Johor state. It is a favourite Breakfast/Afternoon Tea place for the Kluang community and also a must go "tourist spot" whenever outstation friends come to visit my family.

When Exam is over~! So...

2008-05-13T18:26:00.011+08:00

Spring is gone and summer is here
Exam is gone and FYP* is here
Thursday, the 24th, The double shot
And Monday, the 28th, Started my FYP.

When others are on Holidays,
I'm more like a slave,
but i enjoy being one,
who is guided by a very good one.

Two weeks had passed,
more work to be done.
Computer is down and i haven't blog for a while.
Long hours in lab drains Jojo away.

Chemicals are dangerous so i practise GLP*.
Hair is tied, labcoat is put on,
Gloves in the pocket you can never go wrong,
Wearing Safety google is a norm.

Biohazard waste in biohazard bin,
Chemical-saturated lab is not a good thing.
Wash your hands before you leave,
You wouldn't want to bring back unwanted things.

So far so good, i would say,
Hope i can get result in the end.
Research is not as easy as i thought it would be,
But i want to give my best shot, none the less.

Pardon me for my lack of posting,
But my FYP is of 15 credits,
"Buang'ing" it is not in my dictionary,
For all the effort that i've put in.

So Thank YOU for your kind encouragement,
It keeps my research momentum,
11 weeks before my thesis submission,
Many late nights is in my prediction.

So, for now i'll slow down in my "Blog Spying" mission,
As well as for "Eye-looking, Mouth-drooling" reaction,
As i embark on my FYP mission,
Encouragement is much apprecitated.

So Thank You, Thank You, Thank You,
For i know i got your recognition,
I'm not gone, just missing for a moment,
So WATCH OUT, cos I'LL BE BACK!!!

It's a random post while waiting to check on my HPLC run. I'll be back in action real soon, when my pc is back. I'm actually using my phD mentor's laptop in the lab now *bleah* So back to work, tata for now~

HPLC: High-performance Liquid Chromatography

FYP: Final Year Project

GLP: Good Laboratory Practice

What Have I been Doing lately?

2008-04-21T19:49:00.009+08:00

What have i been doing lately ???

If there is somebody out there wondering......
Yes, I know you are.... Curious right?
Don't bluff, i know someone out is pretty concerned, about me.
Own up! Or else....

"I'll drown you with my M&M's Minis"

"And I'll get As Bitter As the Dark Choc..."

It is exam period... NOW!!!

And everybody should... *ahem* Listen to future sinseh-to-be and...

IMPT: "Chew On Vit C to get Healthy..."

"Get some dose of Caffeine in a form or another..."

"Have a cookie when you are hungry..."

"Be it Rich & Soft......"

"Or Crunchy & Nutty..."

Just Make Sure you get your staple food, every meal...
Meal Skipping is NOT ALLOWED during exam period...

"Be it Char Kwey Tiaw with Fish Slices...Called Sam Lou~"

"Or Sandwich called Italian B.M.T in Subway..."

Everybody needs their carb~ Mind you, your brain only uses glucose, the only source of energy consume by your brain cells.

"We need our sweet treats sometimes...to stay cool..."

And My friends...

"It's going to be a piece of cake..."

No one says it is going to be easy, but you reap what you sow.
Second week into exam, hang in there.
Everything is gonna be alright.

and Yes,
If you are wondering, did i took all that?
YES! YES! YES! And that's not all,
I had Loacker and more Meiji~ Matcha Fran And Banana Fran.
Too bad, my hp no batt and photos taken ended in Taz's hp.

Yes, exam period is a period to have more Meiji Collection.
Everybody needs their exam boost.

Calories? Who cares when it is exam time?
*Me!* *Me!* The inner me shouting.
Ok, if i'm gaining weight, i'm all prepared, for the weight gain. *grin*

And i forgot to mention Brand's Chicken Essence & Gingko Biloba extract capsule for the extra boost. Hope it did help in my memory and letting me staying awake in the wee hour in the morning.

Two more paper, on the same day. One hour apart. I need grace.

"He shall be like a tree,
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 1:3"

J.CO Donuts & Coffee @ Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore

2008-04-17T15:34:00.005+08:00

"The Heart of donut lies in its hole. Nonetheless, taste is equally important. Here in J.CO Donuts & Coffee, we value both of them. The making process engages the unbeatable collaboration between high technology machines that create the blissfull, and full-of-art human hands that create the precious holes. It's always the same hole, same taste, same quality... "

And so i was led here...

After attending Sunday service at Suntec, I decided to drop by Raffles City Shopping Centre with only one intention. VISIT J.CO Donuts ! It had been on my mind lately and i really wanted to try its donuts after reading many reviews regarding this Donut Chain that created a rave in KL. Good, now i don't need to join in the never-ending-horrendous queue @ Pavillion, KL to enjoy the highly-sought-after donuts.

I wanted to see what's the rave is all about...

Roommie told me during her previous visit to Raffles City Shopping Centre a couple of weeks ago, she didn't have a chance to savour J.Co Donuts. The perpetual line never seems to dry up! Phew~ I was early, wasn't I ? There was only two guys Queueing in front of me and a few more customers behind me. Meanwhile, there were quite a number of tables seated with families and couple savouring their coffee and donuts. It was 11.30am. Snack before lunch? I reckoned.

Left: Why Nut? Right: Don Mochino @ $1.30 each

I bet the waitress disliked me. First, I told her i'll have 1 Green Tea dine-in. Then i requested it to be changed to Don Mochino. When i reached the cashier, I told her that I would like to have one more donut, Why Nut?, and would like it to be taken it away. Ain't i troublesome? I just couldn't make up my mind whether i want to stay out to study or should i head straight back after the purchase. *speechless*

I didn't purchase their Signature Donut, Al capone, as i was craving for some donuts infused with filling.

Let's see what it is all about...

Don Mochino. I felt in love at the first sight i laid my eyes on thee. Not your appearance of the luscious chocolate coating, it was thy filling. On the tag, written "...filled with tiramisu cream...".

Yes, i knew it was you that i wanted.

You didn't disappoint. Coated with mild bitter sweet dark chocolate with coffee-flavoured cream. The cream is very light and not as sweet as those served in Dunkin or Donut Factory. You will not feel a bit of heaviness after eating.

One thing to note. You might not want to attempt to bite this in front of the girl you are interested in. As you sunk your teeth into this, you might ended up with chocolate-coated-brown-teeth unknowingly.

A surprise that delighted the little heart of mine....

Why Nut? My very last minute order. Just because i wanted to take away so i needed to purchase at least two to get it packed in a box.

Premium white chocolate topping with American peanut butter filling. Ooo.. So rich, so satisfying... The white chocolate was a great combination with the peanut butter. The taste of white chocolate was not over-powering and it was a well-balanced taste. Interestingly, the peanut butter filling was not sweet (Dunkin's was sweet and you get sick of it after one or two bites) and the sight of it oozing out of the donut was Soo.... Inviting!!!

Just when i was thinking of Jollibean's crispy peanut pancake...

J.Co Donuts & Coffee
Raffles City Shopping Centre
#B1-44
Tel: +65-63334258
HP: +65-97707770

Note: I seriously think i would lost my way at Raffles City B1, a place i'm so not familiar with *sigh*

Malay Delights @ Pioneer Mall,Singapore

2008-04-10T21:02:00.008+08:00

I promise, this is going to be real short. Exam ar...

Despite tight schedule, one still gotta eat right? and so this marked the first visit of mine to Pioneer Mall after studying in NTU for 3 years... (For those who don't know, Pioneer Mall is just a bus away from NTU, a common eating place for most NTU'ers).

It was raining, QQ (my best'ies in Hall) was in class. After some whining over the phone to my friend, we decided to go Holland V area to eat XO Fish Beehoon.

But... But...

The moment i hopped onto his car, i changed my mind due to the traffic and the rain. Sorry... Sorry... Always change my mind not too long after i make up my mind. (-__-)" Sumimasei...

So we ended up with these...At Pioneer Mall... The destination my friend suggested since i never step foot in it before. Better do so before i'm gone for good from NTU. Haha...

The Chille is SUPERB!!! Wonderful... Glorious... Leaving my tongue numb yet my stomach calling out for more.

The ladies fingers looked old and overfried but surprisingly it tasted good! None of the overfried taste neither is it too "old" and with strands of fiber.

No oysters, got mussels. Not the big big mussels, but good enought to satisfy. Not too spicy and very sweet, full of flavour from the sea. Fried mussels remains as one of my favourite dish at any Malay stalls. Who cares about hygiene? Hee...

I must say, this picture doesn't give justice to the taste of this yummy-licious piece of chicken. I seriously didn't what style of cooking when i ordered it. I thought it was rendan initially judging from the display but when it was served, it definitely didn't look like it was rendang *faintz* But it was Aww...Sooo... Soo.. Good! Even my friend who doesn't really take spicy was asking me for the "Kua" to go with his meal. It was sweet than spicy, i can see bits of tomatoes and dhal in the "kua" and the chicken was really tender despite it was fried before cooking with sauce. Sedapnya...

Time to head back to my books. I really can't waste anymore time. Time is running short.

Ganbatte~

Ok folks, after this, i might be away for one to two weeks. I'm trying not to log in at all, it's being very distracting especially when now, i'm being food deprived. *help*

Wish me all the best~

IT ROO Cafe @ Kotaraya, JB

2008-04-06T21:43:00.008+08:00

An impromptu lunch date on the last day of 2007 with my dearest brother who started working in Johor Bahru (JB) on 22nd November.

I hadn't been seeing my brother for quite some time for now. Our timing are so different. I once mentioned that we always take turn to go home. Hah.

Dear brother picked me up at city square. I was famished while waiting for his arrival. He promised to bring me to the best Chicken Chop served in JB voted by The Star. We parked at the side of the road (mind you, is yellow line) after making two rounds at the place looking for a parking.

Located at Jalan Dhoby. I started to wonder was there a lot of Dhoby shops here last time.

The humble looking shop didn't appear to be any award-winning cafe. A narrow & small shop. Simple chairs and tables. Nothing fanciful. Nothing extra. Very simple deco with old pics and old posters hanging on the wall. Just a very plain shop operated by 3 Malay lady. Did i mention that its kitchen is very small too?

But the dining crowd at almost 3pm justified its popularity.

A simple menu was presented to us upon our arrival. The Award-winning chicken chop was the first item on the menu. The menu is quite extensive (consider the shop is really quite small) ranging from Western dishes, Chinese dishes, Varity of Noodles, Soups and Sandwiches, drinks & dessert. For fried rice, you can opt for spicy and non-spicy. They offer fresh juices, local kopi, tea etc, "westernised" coffee like coffeecino and canned drinks for their drinks menu. They also have ice-cream for dessert. The price is pretty cheap, but of course it's higher than dining at a roadside coffee shop.

IT ROO Fried Rice spicy style @ RM 5.50 & Watermelon Juice @ RM 3.00

Grilled Chicken Chop with Black Pepper Sauce topped with fried egg (extra cost) @ RM 11.50

The fried rice is just a plate of very normal fried rice. Not spicy enough to give the kick. My brother even ate with chilli sauce. The famous chicken chop didn't earn my praise. Nothing to shout about. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe i'm not cut for chicken chop. Or maybe i didn't choose the fried chicken chop which is the original version. But overall, it was not that bad. It tasted alright. It was just me wondering what made it to be voted as the Best Chicken Chop by The Star in 2003. Or was it then in 2003 was its glorious moment and it went downhill? The chicken chop was served with green beans and slices of fried potatoes. The fried potatoes was nice. The green beans tasted like canned beans.

The watermelon juice is a little bit too sweet. But it complemented the fried rice and chicken chop well.

Overall, the ambience is pretty good. A nice place to have a meal with your friends and family.

IT Roo Cafe
17, Jalan Dhoby,
Johor Bahru, Johor.
Malaysia.

Chicken Udon @ Cafe by The Quad, NTU

2008-03-29T14:31:00.007+08:00

Know as The Quad, a cafe establised in 2005.

Located at the heart of Nanyang Technological University, where the two major academic spines meet. This centrally located cafe can seat up to 450 people, it is the latest hip eating place in NTU.

Offering international cuisines, from Western cuisine, Japanese cuisine to local and vegetarian delights, one will be spoilt for choices. Baked rice, spaghetti, roast chicken, laksa, beef noodles, mixed rice, udon and bento. You name it, they have it! A special salad counter that offers self-service salad @ $1.50/small bowl or $5/big bowl, everyone needs their serving of veg *wink*

By the way, it is also located at Basement 1 of School of Biological Sciences, the school i am studying currently. It has become a norm for us to dine there when we do not have sufficient time to travel (by walking of course!) to other canteens.

This serving of udon is definitely able to filled up an adult man. Generous in their serving, they are also very generous in their condiments. Topped with Japanese fish cake and 3 different types of mushroom ie: Straw Mushroom, Button Mushroom and Abalone Mushroom, i am well pleased. Sprinkle of Japanese red chille pepper, it is ready to go~ Into my mouth down to my oesophagus, dive right into my stomach of course! *grin*

Chicken-thigh, roasted yet tender and juicy. Served together with some brocolli and Ya-Chai (fried yam and brinjal tempura style), a wholesome and delicious meal. At $3.50 only, you can only get it in NTU.

So what are you waiting for? Come visit me in NTU and i'll bring you there~

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant @ Bugis Junction

2008-03-23T22:26:00.002+08:00

Bugis, located at the central of Singapore. Besides the buzz during weekends which is a killer, i still couldn't find another reason why i would choose to go here.

"3 years, 5 visits. I considered this as a record. "

So when it comes to food, the overwork auditor who works around the area recommended this place. We, a bunch of innocent-looking, stomach-growling young adults headed to this place after quite a while of you-know-what-reason-that-make-one-late waiting.

Located at level 2 of Bugis Junction, the escalator besides swenson sends you to the doorstep of the restaurant. Walking into Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, i felt as if i have walked into another Crystal Jade branch with better lighting (some CJ's branches have poor lighting which affect my pics). With the familiar wooden chairs and tables, we were comfortably sitted at the far end of the restaurant.

Pickles were served while we were flipping through the menu. The pickles were sour and pungent yet delicious. The cabbage and carrot were crunchy and full of flavour, a very refreshing starter.

Steamed Bun with Glutinous Rice 糯米烧卖 (3pcs) @ $4.20

It looks great on the menu, but the taste was just so-so. Nothing special and i didn't want to waste my calorie on it. Comment was based on JimJIm's feedback.

Abalone Mushroom Noodle 鲍汁菌菇面 @ $7.50

The noodle got nothing to shout about except for its soup. The soup was a very clear, subtly flavoured abalone soup with a hint of flavour derived from the thinly sliced leeks. Served with sliced abalone mushroom, it was the carb-source when your meal was protein laden, or should i say, pork-filled? *bleah*

Golden Fried Rice 黄金炒饭 @ $8.50

They said, " Name reflects one's appearance & personality".

Served with generous amount of pork floss topping, each grain of rice was coated with reddish-golden colour. From the cooking oil, i supposed??? It remained as an unknown. I love fried rice served in such a way. Grains of rice separated. I couldn't stand sticky-clumpy-sore-to-the-eye fried rice. This is good stuff! The first mouth burst into sweet & spicy flavour before the taste of eggs and dried shrimp surfaced to the taste bud.

"What comes to your mind when you see a saucer or vinegar with shredded ginger?"

Steamed Soup Bun with Pork Filling 鲜肉小笼 (6pcs) @ $6.00

"YES, You're right! It's Xiu Long Bao!!!"

Steamed Soup Bun with Crab Roe and Pork Filling 蟹黄小笼 (6pcs) @ $11.80

Did i mentioned that i was fascinated by the menu? especially the xiu long bao or steamed bun section? They serve not one, not two, not even three, but NINE TYPES of xiu long bao!!!!!!

From pork filling, crab meat with pork to mushroom, vegetables to SHARK FIN CRAB ROE WITH PORK filling~ Talk about looks can be deceiving. If they try serving the whole range of xiu long bao, i wouldn't be able to differentiate what is what by its appearance.

There are two categories of Xiu Long Bao, and by the way, they call their xiu long bao as steamed bun here. Special steamed bun and superior grade steamed bun. Price ranges from $6.00-$12.00 for 6pcs. It's pretty reasonable.

Up till now, i've only tried Crystal Jade's xiu long bao. If i am given a choice, i probably will choose here? *uncertain* First of all, i'm not a pork person. When it comes to pork, unless it is sweet and sour pork by my aunty and stewed pork ribs by my dearest ma-ma, i normally would turn it down. I still couldn't get used to the taste and smell of pork though my grandpa was a butcher and my uncle still is one...

Secondly, i don't chew on pork dish. Again, back to reason No.1. Cos i couldn't take the smell. So i couldn't really recall the taste of the filling of the xiu long bao. One thing for sure is, its skin is thin yet able to hold the flavourful soup.

Spicy Steamed Soup Bun with Crab Meat and Pork Filling 香辣蟹肉小笼 @ $9.80

This gigantic steamed bun occupied the whole small bamboo steaming tray. A straw was served together and it was meant to eat, or better known as drink the "gems" using the straw.

"Be careful, it's very hot" said the waiter.

We heeded his advice. There were so much xiu long bao on the table so we didn't mind to save it for the last. Didn't they say "save the best for last"? Yea, this was what we meant.

No one eats the bao here. The whole bao was left intact for almost all of us, except for the two with high level of curiousity (me inclusive).*haha*

I'm glad i opened it up cos it revealed the gems: dried scallop, shredded crab meat etc which made the soup luscious and extremely sweet and rich. Full of flavour!!! It is like having a bowl of superior soup in the form of xiu long bao. Erm...It shouldn't be called xiu long bao, it should be Big Long Bao~ *grin*

Now i know where i would head to when i want some xiu long bao.

Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant
200 Victoria Street
#02-53 Bugis Junction
Singapore 188024
Tel: 65-68357577
Fax: 65-68357877

Wong Kok Char Chan Teng, 1 Utama Shopping Centre (Old Wing)

2008-03-17T18:23:00.004+08:00

After a long day walking around in 1-Utama, mum wanted to go back to Uncle Vincent's place to take a shower before the last appointment with her ex-colleagues from the bookstore at 8pm.

It was 6.20pm and it was raining heavily. The long queue at the taxi stand was such a turn off. We probably need to wait for half an hour before we could hop into any taxi.

Bringing mum to a Char Chan Teng seems like a good idea. Let her rest her tired feet with some sweet bites seemed like the best solution.

I saw Wong Kok Char Chan Teng from the corner of my eyes when we were purchasing some gifts at Watson's. Its location was pretty hidden by the Nicole's Booth set up right in front of the shop. So we walked straight or to be exact, dragging our tired-self by walking slowly but directly to the shop from the taxi stand, without being distracted by anything.

I was still feeling very full from the Steamboat lunch. But the extensive and attractive menu fulfilled its purpose *lol* I was tempted. Extremely tempted. I ordered Banana Waffle with a scoop of ice-cream. 我敗給了美麗誘人的照片。。。*bang head, stupid menu*

芝士面包布丁 Peach & Cheese Bread Pudding @ RM 5.50

Mum ordered the bread pudding. She opted the sweet bread pudding (Wong Kok offers savoury bread pudding *roll eyes* ). Anyway, this bread pudding turns out ok. Served with two thick slices of peach, the bread pudding was covered with a very thick layer of cheese (Mozzarella cheese, if i tasted correctly). My mum liked it, but i still couldn't associate cheese with bread pudding. Maybe i was still in the era of egg+raisins+milk version of bread pudding. But taste wise, it was pretty ok. Bits of peach can be found at the layer of egg custard with trace of peach flavour. I supposed Peach Syrup was added.

香蕉淇淋夹饼 Banana Waffle with Single Scoop Ice-Cream @ RM 6.90

A little disappointed. First of all, i was expecting a light and crisp waffle. But it turned out to be soft and dense. Maybe its Hong Kong style? Secondly, i was looking forward for more banana on the waffle served. For the seven slices of banana, i could get one more scoop of ice-cream with the same price.

Mum had a cup of hot Hong Kong Style Yin-Yang 港式鸳鸯@ RM 2.50 but she claimed that the taste of tea overpowered the coffee. *Shrug* I thought it was decent. I had a cup of almond drink with egg white 杏仁蛋白露@ 3.80. Lovely. Smooth and aromatic. But too little egg white.

*No picture, cos too busy enjoying my almond drink *slurp*

Nontheless, it was an enjoyable time to dine with my dearest mummy.

It satisfied me.

Not the food.

But the look of my mum enjoying what's on the table.

Wong Kok Char Chan Teng
Lot F225, 1st Floor
1 Utama Shopping Centre
Bandar Utama, 47800 PJ
Tel: (03) 77108611

Plus One Shabu Shabu @ 1 Utama Shopping Centre

2008-03-12T17:35:00.003+08:00

Late breakfast, snacking here and there resulting us having lunch at almost 3pm. Hmm...But i kind of like this kinda lifestyle. My tummy grows but it does not growl... *wink* A lifestyle of Tai Tai that i'm looking forward...

Looking around at the "interactive directory" again, couldn't make up our mind what to eat. *what the heck, don't understand the machine at all!!! Too high tech~*

We were actually heading to Jack's Place because we saw they were providing set lunch promotion which was priced reasonably. On our way, mum saw this steamboat shop served individually. She was attracted to it. So we had steamboat in the afternoon instead or plain western.

Mixed Set 杂锦锅 @ RM 12.90

We ordered a mixed set which include the soup. Mum chose the Fish Head Soup. If you are ordering ala carte, you will need to pay for the soup. For set lunch, you can only choose between Winter Veg Pork Soup, Teow Chew Salted Veg Soup, Fish Head Soup and Ma La Soup. There are a few more variety of soup like TomYam but it is not included in the set lunch. The mixed set includes 2 prawns, 2 scallop, some fish, chicken & pork, beancurd skin aka Fu Chok with fishpaste, 2 crabsticks, a few miserable leaves of cabbage & 2 tiny weeny slices of pumpkin, an egg and one big ee-mee.

I'll not post the pic of the soup as the picture turned out to be foggy. Hungry girl wanted to fix her stomach than to take good pics. *giggle* But mum's soup came with many chunks of fried fish head. Nice!

I ordered Teow Chow Soup @ RM 6.00 which was the salted veg soup with toufu & tomatoes. It was salty but it meant to be that way. I shared the ingredients from the mixed set with mum topped with Tong Hou Veg. What's that in chinese, i don't know the PinYin so i can't type it out. So sorry. Anyway, it looks like this...

Tong Hou Vege @ RM 5.00

Overall, the ambience of the restaurant is good and you'll get free-flow drinks with the choice of Nestea Greentea or Ice Lemon Tea. Furthermore, Jelly-O will be served when you have finished youe meal. Service staffs are pretty attentive and the price is very reasonable. All set lunch are priced between RM 12.90 - RM 15.90 only.

If you are there, don't know what you want to eat, can try this restaurant. It's worth trying.

Plus One Shabu Shabu
Lot F337-338, 1st Floor,
1 Utama Shopping Centre.
Tel: (03) 77253322
Fax: (03) 77256322

Auntie Anne's @ 1 Utama (New Wing)

2008-03-09T22:27:00.001+08:00

On boxing day, my mum & i went gai-gai @ 1 Utama Shopping Centre.

It was the second time my mum is here after its expansion few years ago. It was still new and many shops weren't open at new wing then. So it was a "WOW" for my mum and we, Yup, it's "We" have difficulty locating the shops with its new interactive directory. Maybe i'm just not so IT-savvy??? It was my first time using too. An advanced technology but hmm... Maybe 1-U is just too big.

We reached 1-U around noon and we had a dinner appointment at 8pm at The Curve with mum's ex-colleagues some 20+ yrs ago. Both of us just wanted to take things slow and easy for the day. No rush, No rush for the last day in KL. Just wanted to have some mother-and-daughter time together *wink*

Since we had a light breakfast before we left Uncle Vincent & Aunty Ling's place, so we had...

Pretzel @ Auntie Anne's RM 4.00

Located at Lower Ground at the new wing, its location is not to be missed. Right beside Cinnabon, we had a pretty hard time deciding which to eat. Pretzel shall it be. So it was, Almond Pretzel with Chocolate dip. Dipping is free of charge for every pretzel purchased but extra dipping costs an additional RM 1.00. Both of us love the freshness and the chewy texture of Auntie Anne's pretzel. The almond bits turned out to be my mum's favourite. Slightly caramelised almond was crunchy and it complemented the chewy texture of the pretzel perfectly!

Btw, you can find many Auntie Anne's branches all around in Singapore but i never patronise any of them. Back in Malaysia, even it is priced at RM 4, i would still buy.... Because... It's cheaper than Singapore!!! Lol..

A snapshot in Padini Concept Store. A deco i like a lot and i love the Mini Cooper in red!!!

Isn't it interesting for a red mini to appear in a store? Cool eh?

Home-made Pasta

2008-03-08T01:22:00.001+08:00

Homemade Fusilli with Brinjal & Capsicum in Simple Tomato Sauce

A ticket to JB - RM 7.50
A phone call - RM 0.30
A plate of homemade pasta - Priceless

Sounds familiar? Haha, yup. The time spent with my brother in his humble-rented apartment with three handsome-bachelor residents. It was indeed priceless. *wink*

I was referring to the time spent with my brother as priceless, What are you thinking ??? Hah. It was a surprise visit to my brother.

It wasn't meant to be a visit.

Actually i was on my way back to Singapore while transiting at JB. Being too bored, i decided to give a call to my beloved brother in JB to tease & tempt him of all the good food i had at home, including "telling" him i "ta bao"=packed homecooked food from home to bring back to Sg. He, happily mistaken me sending homecook food for him. It was a bit complicated and I also didn't know how i ended being fetched by him at Larkin & the next thing i know i was already at his rented apartment, 1km away from Larkin. *my bro kept emphasized "my place is only 1KM away from larkin"*

Homecooked pasta was what he managed to whip up to welcome my first visit to his place.

My brother dotes on me a lot. All the little gestures showed it all.

Capsicum, brinjal & a handful of fusilli were all he had. Added with lots of love of a brother for extra flavour.

A bowl of Campbell Soup was all I can offer, using whatever that was leftover.

Mum's cooking is still the best! "Stainless-steel Pot Chicken" is what I meant. Well-marinated and full of flavour. Having it for 3 meals in 3 days was not bored at all.

At the end of the day, my brother was robbed by his little sister of his starbucks voucher.

It will be our next date. I promise...... together with mum & dad, hopefully...

Bruschetta @ Hall 8

2008-03-04T02:35:00.002+08:00

I was watching TV programme at my beloved QQ's room.
With the rest playing Mahjong.
I never learn how to play.

QQ says "don't bother to teach her", cos i always forget what i've learnt, even after Many Many times of viewing their MJ session.

No talent in Mahjong, perhaps.
But... I always wanted to learn, but without playing with $$$ *hint hint* Any taker?

So back to my room, there I go.
Left my key in QQ's room all alone.
Slippers i changed, downstairs i went.
To get my poor key was my aim.
To get back to my room, to bathe and sleep.
But... But... But...
Hijacked, there and then.
And this was what i did in the end.

Bruschetta with diced tomato in herbs & olive oil and mozzerella cheese

Being asked to be a Sous Chef, how could i resist??? Lol...

And we made, Bruschetta!!!

" Bruschetta is a food whose origin dates to at least the 15th century from central Italy. It consists of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Variations may include toppings of spicy red pepper, tomato, vegetables, beans, cured meat, and/or cheese; the most popular American recipe involves basil, fresh mozzarella, and tomato. Bruschetta is usually served as a snack or appetizer. "

It was tedious, for the 9 slices of Bonjour Herb Loaf, we took almost an hour to prepare. Restricted by the mini oven, or should i call it toaster instead, it's so small, food production was extremely slow. =(

People waiting and calling out for their supper, i heard from the pantry. They were drawn by the luscious buttered toast.

After a few mishaps, like

"The Fell of Cherry Tomato" by JOjo on the way to pantry,
"The Fell of Freshly Grilled Bruschetta in the Oven" by JOjo too and
"The Sticking of The Cheese on The Glass Panel" by our Ms.Shu Pei who claimed that she would make sure no more mishap happen to our Bruschetta,

our supper was finally ready to be served. Yeah!!!

The effort of putting the bread in and out of the oven for 3 times was paid off. Every bite of the Bruschetta was crispy and burst with the aromatic smell of butter and garlic. Extremely delectable!

A glass of Nepal's Mint tea (with compliment by ShuPei) with NTUC's honey and a slice of freshly made Bruschetta, Hall life couldn't be any better. Just for this once...

Ps: All the ingredients were provided by Swifthawk, with compliments. Lotsa thanks!

"Cooking is such a joy, with friends who love the process of cooking too..."

Kahang Pau @ Night

2008-03-04T02:29:00.002+08:00

Kahang is a small town, located at the outskirt of Kluang.

It's a town with just a street of double-storey shophouses and some housing estate. One couldn't believe in why so many banks swamp there to open their branches. Probably that's the attraction of a town rich in oil palm plantation.

Wild animals are commonly found in the restaurants in Kahang. Wild boar? Deer meat? Little cutie squirrel? Too common? Or would you like some bats? Crocodile? Or some exotic animals like tiger meat or bear palm? You name it, and it will be served on your dining table in no time.

But this is not what i wanted to introduce. What i wanted to introduce is this.

The man behind the scence, selling the yummylicous Kahang Pau

"A scene i'm so familiar with. A scene i miss. "

The uncle will always come at around 5+pm,just before 6pm to set up his little stall located at Jalan Lambak. Putting up the table, taking out the gas cylinder, stacking of the bamboo steaming tray and arranging the pau before he heads into heating up the pau and manning the stall for the rest of the night.

I've eaten the pau since young. During the late nights spent in my mum's office. Or just a pau for supper after attending church's prayer meeting. It holds my childhood memories.

He sells a varieties of pau. No too many though, but it's enough to appeal to customers like me. Reasonably priced for the yummy tasting pau, he has many regulars as well as customers who would just stop at the side of the stall to get a few of it.

Peanut Pau, Red Bean Pau, Kaya Pau, Veggie Pau are all priced at RM1 while my favourite of all time Lian Rong Pau (Sweet Lotus Paste Pau) is only selling at 70cents. Small Pau or Little Meat Pau and Char Siew Pau are priced at RM 1.20 and Big Pau is RM 2.30. He also sells Nor Mai Gai which is Steam Glutinous Rice with chicken and it is priced at RM 2.30.

"Never really treasure those days. It seems so common. So plain you might say. "

But now, i missed the chance of holding the warm pau in my hand, especially on a cold rainy night. Or what i miss the most is the pau bought by my dad & mum? I seriously don't know.

"Chewing on the handmade bun with piping hot filling, happiness filled my heart."

Then now i resorted to eating Kong Guan Pau in Singapore, which you didn't need to peel the skin off. (FYI, you can't get to peel it off anyway. It just stucked to the bun itself) And the bun has no texture at all =(

A Simple Peanut Pau that can bring a smile to my face

It was a joy when i managed to patronise his stall last friday when i was back in Kluang. I insisted that i want to buy a pau despite my family were going to have dinner right after that. The child in me was calling out for the familiar food that i missed when i was in Singapore. I wanted to get Lian Rong Pau but uncle said it wasn't hot yet. So i resorted to another fav of mine, peanut pau! The texture of the pau was just so right, soft yet chewy, with the sweet roasted peanut filling. Sugar grains were found in the filling and it added to the flavour and made the filling a little crunchy.

"And this is one of the things I missed, from my beloved town of Kluang...."

"Sometimes, enjoying the simplicity of life can be a form of happiness..."

Located at:
125, Jalan Lambak
86000 Kluang,Johor.

Lunch @ Maxwell Food Centre

2008-03-04T02:21:00.004+08:00

We said we are going to Bugis for shopping, cos Chun Chun wanted to buy New Year clothings. We wanted to help her makeover. We wanted to tag along. But it was last week.

This week. Everybody was too lazy to go shopping. No mood. Overwhelmed by lectures after lectures for the whole week. And it was only the second week since school started. Getting tired, faster than any other semester. At least for me...

A meal would be good.

In the end, there were 11 of us. Trying to conquer Maxwell. Trying... Trying... Haha...

Too much Dried Kiwi during lesson, keeping me awake yet made me felt bloated, even at 2pm.

I was looking for something that was not too heavy.

Browsing through the stalls. I like this food centre. Lots of variety though the food items sold are pretty generic.

I wanted to try everything but limited space in my tummy restricted me from doing so.

The little Hakka in me was pretty active on Friday. So when i saw this stall (Stall 32), i decided to order a bowl of Hakka Tou Fu @ $3.00. There were 2pcs of white toufu, 2pcs of Tou Fu Pok (Fried Toufu) & 2pcs of fish paste wrapped in Beancurd Skin. The Toufu's size was big and the stuffing was homemade. But i was expecting more. The stuffing wasn't really flavourful, just plain pork. The meat wasn't well-seasoned and the texture was too soft. A little bit of disappointment but Yu Chii said it was pretty nice. Different people different taste, i guess?

Hakka Yong Tau Fu @ $3.00

But something else surprised me.

This stall doesn't only sell Yong Tau Fu. They also have some other Hakka Dishes such as Shuan Pan Zi (Da-Pu Yam Nuggets) and Mei Chai Kou Rou (Braised Pork Slice with Mei Cai Veg).

Shuan Pan Zi @ $3.00

The Shuan Pan Zi was pretty good. Topped with fried shallots and spring onions which added crunchiness to the dish. An authentice Hakka dish which is not my favourite when i was in Kluang. But now, i sort of miss it. My evil twin said the one made by her grandmum tastes better. Duh...Homemade vs Hawker Centre. How to compare ???

We also had the Pisang goreng recommended by ieatishootipost which was superb. The Pisang Raja was moist and soft. The batter was crispy. A perfect Pisang Goreng! But priced at $1.20, a little too expensive for me.

Ice Kacang @ $1.20

We ordered a cup of High-Calcium Soy Bean. A tint Horlicks taste together with the thick homemade Soy Bean drink, it's a pretty filling yet satisfying after-meal-drink. Ice Kacang topped with peanuts from Red Bean Peanut House ended our meal and you know what? We all prefer the ice-kacang without the peanut topping. *lol*

A simple meal with my school friends. Not much of such oppurtunity to dine out as a group. I think this is the first time after 2 1/2 years of studies in NTU. So, it's time to go out more, folks!

Hehe... Then i can take more food pics.... *wink*

Lunch @ Ah Cheng Bistro

2008-03-04T00:51:00.014+08:00

Home coming,
that's where i am longing......
For some breath-taking,
to where i belonging......

Lian Seng Foodcourt or also known as Suria Foodcourt

A few streets away from the bus station,
Waiting for "the lunch" instruction,
With the phonecall i just returned,
That's where my dad asked us to station......

Thunder Tea Rice/"Ham Cha" @ RM3.00

Two bowls of "thunder tea" rice were on our table,
for the two ladies who were very sober,
Fiber and Minerals, a bowl of soup included,
at the price of RM 3, is this the healthiest meal in the world?

"Uncle, ADD SOUP pls...." at the cost of one dollar RM1 sahaja,
All you gotta do is to go there and order.
Bits of crunchy peanuts & crunchy vegetables,
Being a Hakka, is my honour.

A Stall that has been around for a long long time...

Daddy was wondering,
What he should be eating.
He did the ordering,
Even without thinking!

Yong Tau Foo, minimum order of RM3 inclusive of rice/choice of noodle

Not the Ampang Yong Tau Foo,
But is Mr.Zhang's Yong Tau Foo,
Not to try, you're a fool,
Cos it tastes very good too~

Located at:

Lian Seng Garden,

Behind Lian Seng Market.

86000 Kluang,

Johor.

May Tip Thai Food Restoran@Bukit Mertajam, Penang

2008-02-15T18:16:00.002+08:00

During my previous visit to the Northern Part of my beloved country, i had the chance of going into Penang island during the crazy period, just before Christmas. I felt like, "WOW! The whole world is heading to little Penang Island!!!" We wanted to take the ferry but the jam was like...Hmm...I shall not talk about it. It was beyond my imagination. Anyway, we used the Penang Bridge which we were caught in a jam too. At least 10 cars broke down at the entrance of the bridge (just after the toll) due to over-heating which worsen the jam.

But anyway, i didn't want to talk about the jam. I'm not going to tell you about why we went to Penang in the first place. If you know what we did there, you probably would knock on my head *real hard*!

This is about FOOD!!! About authentic yummy-licious THAI food~ Just before we got caught in the never-ending traffic congestion.

Located at Bukit Mertajam, at the small town area, hidden among the double-storey shophouses, who would thought of finding gems there?

Yup, i never thought of it either. But i found it, real GEMS! Glorious Thai Food. *drool*

Mixed Variety Savouries RM 12

Anyone who's a lover of Thai food should know this dish very well. Served as a starter, it resembles the Salad in Western cuisine. Roasted Peanuts, dried shrimp, freshly chopped ginger, onion, lime (all in small cubes) and cili padi served with roasted dessicated coconut. It is to be eaten by dipping the specialty sauce after wrapping the ingredients with the leave. One can add the ingredients according to one's taste. The trick is, include everything! Anything less (like minus-ing the ginger) will somehow loses its taste. I love mine with lots of cili and sauce! Spicy and sweet at the same time, it sends me straight up the rooftop! Whee~

Green Mango salad RM 12

I couldn't escape the fact that i love Thai green mango salad but this came as a disappointment. The taste of the dried shrimp is over-powering. It has got the fishy-smell, probably due to the same reason. The green mango isn't that crunchy and doesn't have the sourish taste. Although i love the taste of dried shrimp, but too much just spoilt it all.

Seafood Tom Yam RM 20

As the waitress served us with this pot of Tom Yam, we though we couldn't finish. Served in the traditional chinese steamboat pot, the portion is big, broth is sweet and thick with lots of fresh big succulent prawns, squid, thickly-sliced fish, tomatoes and onions. We drank to the very last bit of the soup. We almost wanted to turn over the pot and shake it all out.Haha...

Pandan Chicken @ RM 1.40 each

I don't know whether Pandan Chicken originated from Thailand but it's a highly sought after dish when it comes to Thai Cuisine (just like Thai Fish Cake). Well-marinated Tender Chicken wrapped with Pandan Leaves, grilled over charcoal fire, infusing the aromatic Pandan smell to the chicken, dipped with sweet and sour Thai Chilli sauce, perfect! Except that i don't know charcoal fire is involved here and it came soaking with oil, or honey? I simply didn't know. But it was well-marinated, it was tender, it was pleasing to my palate, these were all i knew.

Otah-Otah RM 12

This came as another big surprise, a negative one. Its portion was big & looked delectable. Nope, looks can be deceiving. It is a soft otah, way too soft and without texture. Probably too much santan (coconut milk)? One can find fish meat and prawns in it but it wasn't fresh. You can only get the strong lemongrass smell and nothing else. Not recommended. Utterly disappointed.

Stir-Fried Kai Lan with Siew York RM 12

In order to have a balance diet, one must include greens. It is a source of fiber, Vit K (exists in green leaves veg) which is important in blood coaagulation, minerals and anti-oxidant. So we had Kai Lan with the tender lean Siew York as the highlight of the dish. Even for a non-pork lover like me would shout out loud, "The Siew York is delicious!"

I was eyeing on the dessert of the day which was the Thai Red Ruby which is only available on weekends but i was stuffed to my max. Who said we have a 20% capacity for dessert no matter how full we are??? I think i had just used up all my space for dessert. Mind you, there were only three of us and all the dishes were whipped clean, most of it by me, of cos.

A big THANK Q to Aunty June who drove us to Penang despite the hot sun & expected jam & bringing us around for good food. But your company is actually the best part of the whole trip. *Hugz*

May Tip Thai Food Restaurant No.28, Lebuh Keranji, Taman Mutiara, 14000 Bukit Mertajam. Penang. Malaysia

Tel: 04-5399910 HP:012-4333910

Operation hours: 11.00am-3.00pm (lunch) 6.00pm - 11.00pm (dinner)

Post-Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T18:12:00.001+08:00

Okay, i admit, i'm slow.

Chinese New Year, V day... All Slow~

But still, i wanted to highlight something which touch my heart, something not expected.

Ms. ALIEN MADE CHOCOLATE!!!

For all of us...

Thanks dear for being so thoughtful. I know this is not your usual act or how you normally express yourself, but this is so SWEET~! XoXo

ps: Being able to share it out is good, letting people know you care is even better. Keep it up, my dear!

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T18:00:00.001+08:00

Busy is not a very good excuse for my absent in blogging when i can make this.

I sacrifice 2 nights of sleep to make V day gifts. Golden Photoframe for my dearie in Hall, QQ and best'est roommie, Ting Ting. I've made one for myself too~ Because i never use spray paint before, needed one to test it out. So i made myself a Valentine's Day gift too. *wink*

Spraying unevenly is inevitable. I couldn't help it. Beginner in using spraypaint. In the course of preparing my V day gifts, thanks Ting Ting for getting the spraypaint for me (of cos, i didn't tell her what i was doing) and Mr. Taz for helping me to develop photos.

Love is all around NTU. Couples are highlighted with bouquet of flowers. Helium-filled balloons seem to be everywhere too. Unexpected stalk of pink rose was what i got for V day. What about you?

X'mas Luncheon@CCO

2008-01-24T22:41:00.000+08:00

Received an email last week titled "Team Building Gathering" a.k.a X'mas Luncheon on 17th Dec, 10.30am-2.30pm.

I was told to prepare the games for the day. Other than that, the prior itenary would be a team learning session, to fix our broken english.

Event was held mainly in the limited spaced conference room. 14 staffs, 4 student assistants and 1 temporary staff.

Our "english teacher" of the day was Eileen. She prepared a worksheet consist of 20+ Q's with common English error for us. We were supposed to spot the mistakes and correct it.

Subject-verb agreement which operates sub-consciously was brought up to our attention. Sometimes automated operation fails hah.

Preposition that has been forgotten. Unnecessary preposition. Comma before and after a clause. The blur look on many made our director started to wonder whether we were taught of all these in school. Common mistakes like "well-wishers" and "good wishes" was highlighted. No proceed on to. Is repeatitive. Just proceed to is enough. Many of it which were so commonly found in Mediacorp or even newspaper. No wonder they say, language is alive! Unless you are taking about latin...

We had 4 games all together. The extremist, like send out candidates without knowing the category, when we were actually looking for the widest smile, strongest arm, smallest shoe size. A little get-to-know-your-colleague session. AMK won in distant while Swimming & Gyming make your arm strong. Mr.Keith won the widest smile with 8cm width while Chandra only wears a 5.5 shoe size. Amazingly small!

Usual Win-Lose-Or Draw was played with categories like movies, phrases, cartoon characters and drama series/Variety Show. Easy Bitsy for the office. A game they are too familiar with. Not challenging at all. No fun on my side. Haha.

A little Christmas Hunt in the office was fun! A list of items including wrapped presents and Christmas Socks were included. A Christmas pouch was presented while another drew the Christmas Socks. Wrapped presents under the Christmas Tree deco at the main lobby were borrowed (under the supervision of the guard uncle at the lobby) while it was forgotten by another team. Getting $3.95 using 13 coins was a bit too easy for Patrick when $1 coin was allowed. An item both teams couldn't fulfill was 2 Samsung handphones. Only 1 person in the whole office uses Samsung handphone. Careless on our side! Getting 3 stuffed toys was not challenging at all. Having a stuffed toy around has become an necessity in the office. It was really fun seeing them runnning around in the office gathering stuffs, working together to beat the 5 minutes limit. Although both couldn't present the complete list of items, it was of good effort.

The last game we played was Christmas Card Making Session. There was a 15 minutes time limit and the team must sing Christmas Carols while they make the card. The team must send in one representative to present their "creation" and describe why Corporate Communication Office should use the design. You will be surprise by the number of carols (including the lyrics) one can memorise. I observed there were basically three types of people when it comes to teamwork. 1. The leader or commander. 2. The hardworker. 3. The slacker or use-eyes-to-work type. Two innovative Christmas Cards were well presented by Director Tan and Keith.

One interesting thing i observed was, when we were annoucing the winner for the card making session, they started to cheer for their team. This was not seen in the games conducted earlier on.

My conclusion: you will only feel the pride of the card and be proud of your own team when you are involved in the making/when you feel the belonging.

The Christmas Card Making Session marked the end of the whole CCO Christmas Luncheon. I'm glad that they enjoyed the games and we got to know each other better through the games.

Corporate Communication Office Staffs

Oh, how can a foodie lover like me forget to show you a glimpse of what we had for the luncheon?

I'm really sorry because i was busy preparing the games session, that was the reason why i didn't shoot the full range of food as individuals. Some of the food feathured in the picture are Fried Rice, Braised Vegetables with Carrot and Mushrooms, Thai Green Curry Chicken, Sweet and Sour Dory Fillet, Prawn Roll, and Home-made Otah with Okra. Some food not shown in picture are Singapore Style Mee Siam (with gravy), Fried Softshell Crab with homemade gravy and Bor Bor Cha Cha.

It was a simple Christmas Luncheon with simple buffet layout. As many were on leave (year end annual leave clearing season), we were all fed to our max!

A Cuppa Warmth My Heart Away

2008-01-24T22:38:00.000+08:00

It's a bright Saturday morning, surprisingly. It has been raining for more than a week now. Most of the time, it will start raining at around 11am, until the next day. From drizzling from heavy downpour, it just couldn't stop raining.

OOps...Here comes the rain at 2pm. Haha, speak of the devil hah!

Had a good night sleep despite waking up at 3.30am, feeling nausea. It must be the cake and milk from the night before. My stomach couldn't take creamy stuff (come to think about ice-cream and cheesecake) since my diarrhoe last Sunday. I think I probably should keep myself away from the sweet bites for the time being.

It has been a really boring week. Day-in and day-out from work. I wasn't in the mood of working out in the gym. Too lazy to go swimming. Feeling even more lethargy with the rainy weather. Just feel like snuggle in my not-too-warm blanket.

Here comes Friday. Yeah, time for a movie. Alvin and the Chipmunks seems like a good choice. Indeed, it was a happy movie. Bring a smile for everyone sitted in the theatre, including me, especially Me holding the sweet popcorn in my hand!

Popcorn does fill you up! It did, at least to me. I haven't been feeling too well, especially appetite wise. Eating a little fills me up. I merely had 1/4 of the popcorn, or slightly more and I didn't have space for dinner.

In the end, decided to have a slice of cake at Coffee Bean. Looking at their cake selection, the cake-gluttony in me was awaken! Mixed-berries Meringue, Chocolate Toblerone, Traditional Carrot Cake, Christmas Pudding and Log Cake etc. were calling out for me. I wanted to try their carrot cake for some time for now but the Mixedberries Meringue is for a litmited season only, i think. So i ordered the meringue. I wanted to try their Chocolate Toblerone as well, but i was going to have the cake on my own. Looking at my condition, i doubt my stomach could take it (no space, no appetite, even for my fav cake!). So the Mixed-Berries Meringue was the only order.

My friend ordered a cup of Hot Caramel Latte which was very rich. I love Coffee Bean's Coffee! Simply delicious.

The slice of cake came with a little reindeer on it. To my dismay, the slice of cake was spoilt, at the center portion where the mixedberries were. The berries was too moist, i supposed, which led to the spoilage of the slice. Brought it to the attention of the barista, they exchanged a new slice at no cost.

The Mixed-Berries Meringue, with rasberry and strawberry (hope i didn't miss out any) in the middle was tasty nonetheless. The layer of not that soft sponge cake in the middle didn't appeal to my palate. The thick and generous layer of creamcheese layer didn't fail to satisfy me. But a tad too sweet even for my high sweet tolerance. The layer of meringue tasted a little like marshmallow.

In case you don't know what is meringue, it means a delicate, frothy mixture made with beaten egg whites and sugar or hot syrup, and browned, used as a topping for pies, pastry, etc.

After tasting the cup of caramel latte, i couldn't resist but to order a cup of non-caffeine drink. Didn't feel like having any dose of caffeine. I couldn't decide to have hot chocolate or hot vanilla. Hot vanilla which tasted more like a cup of sweetened milk was my choice.

I LOVE MILK! i must say... I hadn't been drinking any dairy product after my diarrhoe and fever last Sunday. Been drinking Teh-O from Canteen A. The vanilla wasn't distinct but the foamy milk was lovely. I love the feeling on savouring a cup of warm milk on a cold winter night.

Oops...No winter in Singapore. It's cold rainy night. The warm, closed to hot cup of milk sent warmth down my spine, right into my heart, keeping me warm inside out. I think a cup of warm yummy milk keep the loneliness of staying in Singapore without my family at bay. I always remember my dad would always make me a cup of hot milk (from Fernleaf milk powder) at night when i was young or when i couldn't get to sleep. Missing home again...

Sometimes, things just do not change even after two and a half years.

I still miss home.

Self Enjoyment when I'm Alone

2008-01-24T22:30:00.000+08:00

But, I was hungry... and actually i was craving for something...

TUNG YUAN !!!

I couldn't resist my craving. It led me to Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. If it was my oldself, before i had the current job, i wouldn't even have the thought of coming to Crystal Jade. I must count everything to the cents before i spend. Seriously, I really thank God for blessing me in every area of my life, financially, friends, church etc. I'm so much more blessed financially than i used to be two and a half years ago when i first came to Singapore.

Digress... That's another story all together. Anyway, served and sitted, the waitress was suprised i was alone. Seldom she sees people coming alone, i supposed.

Sitted and started looking around, La Mian and Xiao Long Bao are the most frequent ordered dishes. Stomach growling. Feeling slightly hungry. Browsing through the menu. La mian was calling out for me but i doubted, i was almost 100% certain i couldn't finish one bowl when i'm hungry. Let alone i wasn't that hungry! Suddenly i missed my eating partner, who could wallop almost everything that I couldn't finish.

After some good 5-10 mins, i sticked back to my original plane. I ordered 姜茶汤圆 Sweet Glutinous Dumpling in Ginger Soup $3.50, served hot. I waited for almost 10-15 mins for its arrival. As usual, took some picture while waiting. Again i took the picture of it before i started consuming it. Hardcore blogger. New found interest in blogging ok?

Here you go...

姜茶汤圆 Sweet Glutinous Dumpling in Ginger Soup came with only two glutinous tang yuan in it. *disappointed* I thought there should be three. Not sure. Never eaten.

The ginger soup was concentrated and slightly oversweet but with a very nice fragrance in it. Nice and delicious nontheless. The ginger soup tasted tangyly fresh and it was brown in colour. I supposed they cooked the ginger soup upon order using fresh ginger (by pounding it?) and they used brown or red sugar instead of the nromal white sugar. The 汤圆 tang yuan was soft with black sesame fillings and the skin wasn't too thick. It was made closed to perfection. Most probably it was handmade tang yuan because most packet tang yuan's skin were too thin and they couldn't hold the ingredients inside so the paste would burst out upon the first bite. This one, you could still chew the QQ skin made with glutinous rice flour.

A simple hot dessert that had won my heart over since young!

It was a pleasant me and myself session. I had a good time with myself, with lots of window shopping and eating one of my favourite food. I love my simple way of life.

Who says one can't have fun with oneself ???

Full entry on this can be found here http://jojo185.blogs.friendster.com/joannas_life/2007/12/self_enjoyment_.html

The Magic Of ChongQing Hot Pot @ Tanglin Shopping Centre

2008-01-24T22:17:00.000+08:00

It was Yueh Siang's Birthday.

It was officially the second last day of exam in NTU.

But for most of my close friends in hall, we already finished our exams or on that day itself.

We wanted to celebrate Yueh Siang's Birthday.

They decided on the place. I've decided not to look at the $$$ sign as i know it would make my heart bleed. But it has been a while since i dine out with my hall friends. So I just followed along.

We went to......

leaving poor Alvin Tong Xue in hall...

It was a Chinese Restaurant serving Si Chuan Cuisine and also ala-carte buffet steamboat. Located Tanglin Shopping Centre with another outlet at Suntec Fountain Terrace, this outlet was not a place where youngster would normally go. I'm pretty surprised that there was a good dinner crowd when we arrived.

The oriental design of the restaurant with attractive red lanterns, faux stucco walls and Oriental ornaments create the feel of a country house in Sichuan. Simple and attractive wooden chairs and tables complete the look.

There were two or three plates of Edamame or the green pea which we usually get in Japanese Restaurant on the table but none of us consume it as it didn't look fresh. We were served with The Duo-Flavoured ChongQing Hot Pot. In it were their famous "Ma La Tang" and "old faithful chicken stock". There were four different sauce on the sauce tray which were sesame oil, sesame paste, grind chilli and chilli with garlic.

The captain (is he? or he is just one of the waiter?? Not quite sure) recommended the "Eight Treasures Tea" or "Ba Bao Cha" when taking our drinks order. He mentioned it was free-flow Ba Bao Cha but actually it was just adding hot water to the cup filled with the eight ingredients. Occupational habit of mine made me looked into the cup and started counting and indentifying the eight ingredients. Hmm... The eight ingredients were some common herbs, Yong Sam Sou or "Foreign Ginseng Adventitial Roots" known to have cooling properties; Jasmine Tea Leaves; Wolfberry or "Gou Qi Zi"; Red Dates; Sugared Wintermelon; Sugared Orange Peel; Rock Sugar and last but not least, honey. The cup of tea tasted good and soothing but priced @ $4.00/cup was a little too expensive for me, especially when i can identified the ingredients and it weren't some exotic herbs or such.

We were also served with savoury dim sum before and in between meals such as fried spring roll, xiao long bao,guo tie (pan-fried dumpling) etc.

According to the "Captain Uncle", there were three magical steps to enjoy the Dup-Flavoured ChongQing Hot Pot which were:

Eat with the Sesame Paste/Sesame Dips. It was supposed to enhance the tastes of the various ingredients cooked in the broth and also to restore the pallate after eating the fiery spicy broth (Ma La Tang).

The savoury and sweet tid-bits (such as fried spring rolls, guo tie etc) were served to cleanse and relive the palate from the spiciness of the Ma La broth.

The Eight Treasures Tea was recommend to restore the body's Yin Yang balance after a spicy meal.

"Orh... " was our reaction after the enlightenment from Mr.Captain Uncle.

Thinly sliced beef (for you to do shabu-shabu), fish, chicken, quail eggs and a variety of veggies, all were common steamboat spread. The only worth thing worth mentioning was each person was entitled to one serving of raw salmon and abalone which turned out to be a slice only. Good things were hard to come by...

As usual, Kerry was with his toufu diet...

We were entertained by the person (Mr. Captain Uncle in the picture) who came and refilled our cup. The kettle used was with a very very Very VERY Long spout. It required experience and precision to get the water pour into the cup without getting the spill all over the table. Amazed!

I'm pretty astonished by the amount of food one can stuffed into one's stomach! We spent almost three hours at the restaurant and the last one standing was Steph with Glennis accompanying her. Phew~ We literally ate until the electric heater stopped and we had to call the waitress to on it back for us, cos they hadn't finish eating!

Desserts were limited to one serving each too, they were: Fried Man Tou (Bun) served with condensed milk, Fried White Nian Gao and Waterchestnut Kuih. The Man Tou was fried to its perfect texture: Crispy on the outside,soft and warm on the inside. A perfect match to go with the condensed milk. Fried White Nian Gao was chewy but nothing special. Waterchestnut kuey served slightly chilled and refreshing.

The last item served before we left the place was another dessert item. We could only choose between ice-cream or "Eight Treasure Porridge" / "Ba Bao Zhou" which was served hot. Everybody else went for the ice-cream except for me. I had the hot dessert and seriously, nothing special. The ice-cream wasn't some famous Haagen-Daz, i bet it was Magnolia/Cremo/Walls.

The bill came up to almost $40/person. Personally i didn't think i've eaten that much (even after skipping my lunch) neither did i felt the value of the meal especially when you can get some decent ChongQing Ma La steamboat at Bugis area.

The Magical ChongQing Hot Pot

19, Tanglin Road,

#04-06/07, Tanglin Shopping Centre,

Singapore.

Opening Hours:

12noon-3pm (Lunch)

6pm-11pm (Dinner)

Last Orders :
An hour before closing
Days Closed:
Lunch of Eve Of Chinese New Year
First day of Chinese New Year
Set Meals Served: Yes (Lunch only)
Buffets Served: Yes
Vegetarian Dishes: Yes
Private Function Rooms:
Yes, 4. Accommodate up to 50 pax.
Credit Cards:
Amex, Visa, MasterCard, Diners, JCB
Reservations: Required

Geláre Cafe @ Plaza Singapura

2008-01-24T22:15:00.000+08:00

It was a Tuesday evening.

And at Geláre, it's Half Price Waffles Day !!!

Yup, you heard me right, it's HALF PRICE, a 50% off on freshly baked waffles. It's only valid for the plain waffles with syrup and whip cream only. But what's a Geláre Waffles without the all time fav Gelare ice-cream? Furthermore Geláre ice-cream is low in fat content and Geláre sorbets are 100% fat and dairy free. Whee~ Making one less guilty upon eating the ice-cream *wink*

And you know what, i actually forgotten to take a picture of the waffles. Anyway, what we had was a large waffle topped with whip cream and maple syrup and a scoop of Swiss Caramel Chocolate ice-cream.

The combination was simply lovely. Just that the maple syrup not really visible except you can see a few strands at the side of the plate to assure you that there was maple syrup. As usual, Geláre ice-cream doesn't disappoint (except for its Rum & Raisins which was an ultimate disappointment). Its freshly baked waffles was served warm, crispy on the outside; warm and soft on the inside!

Priced at $5.90 after 50% off, no wonder there's always a long queue on Tuesday at every Geláre outlet.

Caesar Salad with Smoked Salmon $10.90

I love Caesar Salad! I will always order this if I caught it in the menu. This salad was a disappointment. I was expecting Romaine Lettuce with tiny bits of croutons. There were lettuce and croutons, but it wasn't Romaine lettuce, it was just some normal lettuce you buy in NTUC. The croutons wasn't fresh. It felt like some packet croutons with a heavy aftertaste. Shredded cheese was no where to be found neither could you trace the black pepper. Caesar dressing? Only bottled Mayonnaise squeezed on the salad. I still managed to finish up the salad eventhough the smoked salmon was too salty. I love veggies, what to do? *grin*

Seafood Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce $10.90

Sorry to say, the pasta didn't look appealing to me no matter how much i love seafood pasta. It looked pretty pathetic actually. Serving was small with little seafood. Only 2 miserable prawns and a few, probably 4 tiny pieces of squids which were both overcooked till rubbery texture. The only seafood that tasted "ok" was the fish bites, but it was small and limited in quantity too. After some tasting, we found out that it was actually shark's meat, which is a cheap-o kind of fish-lah. Disappointed. You can taste that the sauce should be some bottled sauce, not freshly cooked sauce. Overpriced, under-value pasta. What a let down!

Frappe Hazelnut Caramel Latte $5.40

Looked good? Please do not be deceived by its appearance. Both me and my makanmate found it diluted and a little yucky. How yucky to be called yucky, you might wonder? Let me described just a little more. Frappe - A beverage made of milk, flavoring, and ice cream, shaken or whipped until foamy. This one, the coffee and the cream part were separated, badly blended. I saw the separation process taking place slowly but surely, right in front of my eyes! Even after trying to blend it back manually by stirring with the straw and spoon, the shaved ice was just too rough and the coffee was just too diluted, close to tasteless. I felt Starbucks' Frappe is better even i'm not a Fan of Starbucks.

"Moral of the story : Only order Waffles and its ice-cream selection when you visit Geláre to avoid disappointment."

I'll still go back to Geláre, but definitely not for its main and salad.

A tale of an Excursion of 6 girls

2008-01-24T22:10:00.000+08:00

It was a Saturday.

The first day of Holidays for many in NTU but not us. It was already the 2nd Saturday into our Holidays! WhooHoo... A weird kind of feeling though, because for our course, we always have exam until the last day or second last day of the WHOLE exam period. Those were the days when i was still "mugging" aka studying for exam and my hallmates had already finish theirs. Finally things took a different turn. Hah.

3 sleepless girls - Wan Wan, Chii Chii and Karen, too excited for the outing perhaps.

10am at Kranji MRT marked the start of our outing.

A cup of tea while we waited for the late ones and do our "dirty laundry* " at the same time.

Finally, we got to embark on our journey out of Singapore at 10.55am.

Boarded The Smiley Bus - Causeway Link with 50cents. Cheers for Causeway link with student's price! Reminded my fellow singaporean friends to keep the stub of the ticket for re-boarding of the bus at custom.

Smooth clearance at Singapore custom, but not so smooth at Malaysia side. Whoah! "People Mountain People Sea", it's a common scene on a Saturday morning.

For Malaysian like me, it probably won't take you a moment, cos they don't really care, especially when you are a frequent traveller, in and out of Singapore. I usually just walk through showing my passport without scanning by the officer if i'm alone. My mum will definitely scan her passport.

Struggle to make my way through the crowd to get white cards for my friends. Getting my way back was worse, because i was against the flow of human traffic. Locating them among the crowd was difficult too. Phew~

After a long long wait for an hour, we finally made our way out of the custom with Chii Chii's dad waiting for us patiently. Yu Chii's dad was so kind to send us to our first destination, Plaza Pelangi.

Why Plaza Pelangi, if City Square that's bigger and newer is just within walking distant?

It was because we are going RED BOX located at Plaza Pelangi for K-session. Whoo~~~ Anticipated for this for a long long time. I hadn't been singing karaoke for ages. Really ages. A year or 6 months at least. Finally, i got to sing.

We took the K-lunch package at RM11++ which include one main and a drink. You can add RM2 to upgrade to 1 litre of drink of your choice! Yes, only RM2!!! Choices of food include Yang Chow Fried Rice RM11++ , Curry Laksa RM16++, Executive Sandwich RM11++ etc. You can also add on some side dishes for RM2 only, add-ons are Cheese Mussels, sausages and a few more which i couldn't remember. Choices of drinks available are soft drinks, fruit juices such as orange,guava etc and hot drinks like milo, tea and coffee are also available.

Not in my tip-top condition to sing but i had my share of fun, not hitting the right key, laughing through the part that i totally forgetten how to sing etc.

Celebrated Yu Chii and Yu Fei's Birthday at Red Box with 6 slices of Secret Recipe's Cake.

From its cheesecake counter: Chilled Blueberry Cheesecake & Rasberry Cheesecake, Healthy range: Hi-fibre Cheesecake & No-sugar Moist Chocolate Cake and we also had Chocolate Banana Cake & Mocha Walnut Cake from its creamcake selection.

Verdict: Secret Recipe's Cheesecake is Totally Awesome! So is my all time favourite Chocolate Banana. Surprisingly the healthy version of Secret Recipe's which were trans-fat free were delicious too. But the mocha walnut cake was a little disappointing.

6 girls couldn't finish the cakes. What a waste! I tried my best to eat off all the cakes but to my dismay, my tummy had its limit too. Ohh...my tummy was bloated with cakes. Satisfied!

Took a cab to City Square for only RM6.00 (less than SGD$3.00 !!!). If i used to stay in M'sia, i would say it's so expensive for such a short distant. But 2.5 yrs in Singapore changed me just a little. Because spending in Singapore is just too expensive, for me. According to my friends (as i don't take cab, bus is much cheaper), sometimes hopping into a cab during peak hour without going anywhere already cost you SGD$3-5++ for surchange. So I'm more willing to spend when i'm in M'sia.

Visited Wong Kok Char Chan Ting in City Square before we hit off for our movie, Stardust.

Wong Kok Char Chan Ting is another Hong Kong Style Restaurant Franchise which mushroom all over Malaysia. Similar to Kim Gary, which is another Hong Kong Restaurant, the food they serve are a little bit different. With 200++ items on the menu, one is overwhelmed by its selection. Colourful menu captured our attention but the fear of over-feeding ourselves stopped us eventually from order too much. Each order one main while i only ordered a cup of Hong Kong Yin-Yang, which is a cup of coffee and tea mixture.

I once heard, the ratio of a cup of Good Yin-Yang is 7-3. 7 parts of Tea and 3 parts of Coffee. I wonder is it so?

(1st row L to R: Iced Yin-Yang 冰鸳鸯, Special Golden XO Roll 金包银XO卷，Rice served with Fish and Vegetables 蛋包鱼菜饭

2nd row L to R: Special Golden XO Roll 金包银XO卷, Hot Yin-Yang 港式鸳鸯，Fried Hor-furn with Fish and Vegetables 菜元班腩炒河

3rd row L to R: Cheesebaked Prok Chop Rice 芝士猪扒锔饭，internal of the XO roll, Snow Veg Pork Ribs Noodles 雪菜排骨汤面）

The cup of Yin-Yang is nice. Just nice. A very simple and nice cup of beverage. The taste is not overwhelming yet aromatic. RM 2.90 for a cup of nice Yin-Yang, where can find in Singapore? I remembered I once tried a Hong Kong restaurant which serve the famous Hong Kong Milk Tea, Bleak, worse than the one serve at my home town and im paying SGD$2.90 for it!

The rest gave a thumb up for the Iced Yin-Yang too. So they had high expectatinon for the hot Yin-Yang ordered. But they were disappointed for a split moment as theirs didn't taste as good as mind, or should i say, tasteless. We eventually found out that Hot Yin-Yang is served sugarless, meaning one need to add in sugar to one's liking. This is another plus point, at least for me as i prefer coffee without sugar or less sweet.

I didn't order any main as i still feel really bloated with the previous cakes. According to my humble biology knowledge, fats take longer time to digest and the cakes eaten were all cream & cheese. Nevermind about the calories. I always have the soft spot when it comes to cakes, especially cheesecakes!

We shared a Special Golden XO Roll 金包银XO卷 @ RM7.50 . It was actually an omellette wrapped with chee-cheong-fun, chinese bacon bits, pork floss & some specialty sauce. Simply delicious!

Both the Fish Fillet Cheesebaked Rice @ RM14.50 and Pork Chop Cheesebaked Rice @ RM 13.80 were served in the container you probably seen in Chinese Dim Sum Restaurant. Both looked almost identical to each other until you cut open the generous layer of cheese topping. MMpphh... Yummy! There were three types of sauce for you to choose from: Cream Sauce, Tomato Sauce or Portugese Sauce. Both Wan Jing and Karen chose tomato sauce for their baked rice.

Yu Chun's Fried Hor Furn with Fish and Vegetables @ RM8.20 looked extremely "open stomach" aka 开胃 because of the salivating egg sauce with strains of egg yolk that you could see when it was served. It was nice but a little too salty.

Rice served with Fish and Vegetables 蛋包鱼菜饭 @ RM9.80, something light in flavour and taste for the palate after a whole lot of cheesecake. Didn't get to try but according to Yu Fei, it was nice! She didn't further describe it but she finished the whole bowl of rice, action showed them all, didn't it?

Snow Veg Pork Ribs Noodles 雪菜排骨汤面 @ RM7.20 took a long time before it was served. We started to wonder was it because it didn't snow in M'sia? Ok, a silly joke. Anyway, all of us felt it was over-salty but we were thinking was it because Hong Kong style cooking were all to the salty side? Probably. The noodles tasted a little like instant noodle too. Overall, it was not too bad.

Headed off to the cinema straight after the meal. We were late for five minutes due to the delay in the toilet. Movie started but luckily we didn't miss much, 1-2minutes at most. Stardust was a pretty good movie, worth watching! Highly recommended! We enjoyed the show a lot. Funny yet in depth, a meaningful movie.

Movie ended at 9.15pm. Yu Chii headed home and the rest of us headed back to Singapore with hee-hee-haa-haa all the way until we departed with each other at Kranji MRT station.

A simple yet enjoyable outing. Excursion experience for some. A bonding session for another.

I simply enjoyed the fellowship and laughter we shared with each other!

I LOVE MY TCM GIRLS !!!

*Dirty laundry* meaning writing the birthday card right in front of the birthday girl. -_-"

清新小品@Kluang

2008-01-24T22:04:00.000+08:00

I was back at home over the weekend.

I was told that Sis. Siew Ying is bringing my family out for dinner on Friday evening. She is a close family friend, attending the same church as my family, a caring teacher, someone you can share your thoughts and seek adcvice.

We went to a small tea-place restaurant. It is located way-off the town area of Kluang, hiding behind some shophouses. The entry to the restaurant gave a very nostalgia feeling and so did the interior.

T-time is a tea house that serves an extensive variety of Chinese Tea and Floral Tea. From Long Jin, Pu Er, Xiang Pian (Jasmine) to Chamomile, Rose and Lavender. Each can serve up to four persons and the tea leaves are packed individually into a zipper bag.

Yellow-lighting and wooden chairs & tables, with four individual cubicles separated by bamboo curtain (???). The frontdesk was surrounded with cupboards displaying various tea-pot sets and chinaware. It provides pretty good ambience for an afternoon catching-up yum-cha session where you can spend your whole afternoon comfortably in an air-con tea place.

Its specialty is Porridge. They serves a wide variety of Cantonese style porridge. Fish slice porridge, Century egg porridge, Minced meat porridfe, Chichken Porridge and the list goes on. I wasn't really hungry so i opted Vegetable and Anchovies Porridge priced @ RM 4.90. Sis Siew Ying needed something light from her late afternoon tea, so she ordered the same porridge.

Each serving of Porridge comes in individual pot with an empty bowl and a plate of fried cracker. I supposed the thin cracker is served in replacement of the normal fried cruller or You Tiao that we usually eat with the porridge.

The Vegetable and Ikan Bilis Porridge was pretty good. It's not exactly so smooth like authentic Cantonese Porridge. I can still taste individual grain in it. It had a generous amount of ikan bilis (anchovies) and veg. Both Sis Siew Ying and myself were wondering what veg they put in it. My guess was Sayur Kayu Manis and Sis Siew Ying guessed Long Bean Leaves. We didn't have chance to ask the boss but i felt it was more like Long Bean Leaves than Sayur Kayu Manis because the Veg was rather tasteless, unlike Sayur Kayu Manis. Sayur Kayu Manis is the normal veg you can find in Pan Mian or Min Fun Gou/Mian Fen Gao.

Mum ordered Spicy Fried Rice, not an order my mum would normally make. Nothing fascinating and it was not spicy enough.

Dad ordered Lor Mee. The bowl was big and so is the spoon. Blended Cili Padi and vinegar were served alongside with the bowl of noodles. It's tasty!

We ordered a bowl of specialty salad to share. Salad - It should come before the main but it was exactly opposite in this restaurant. It was only served when we were almost done with our food, hahaha! My mum's fav, the dressing was mayonnaise but it tasted a little different. I wonder why...

清新小品

Restaurant T-Time Cafe

Located behind The Cathay Restaurant

Taman Muhibah,

86000 Kluang, Johor.

PS: Mum fried Nian-gao especially for me! Lots and lots of Nian Gao, probably enough to feed 6 was served 4. I forgo the Chee Cheong Fun which eventually became my lunch for the sake of Fried Nian Gao. Yum~ Nian Gao was covered with thick batter made with eggs, flour, sugar and a pinch of salt. Extra batter was used to fried "Bok Chang" shown in pic. What's that, you may ask. I don't have an answer for you. But it's made with egg, sugar and flour. It can be made into savoury version by replacing sugar with salt and add in condiments like ikan billis (anchovies), spring onion, onions etc as you wish.

Three of us (mum, dad and I) attended Johore Kah Yin Association Fall(season) Celebration at Cin Cin Restaurant on Sunday. Cin Cin Restaurant is a well knowned restaurant for over 20 years which serves their famous Pi Pa Duck with sour plum sauce. Absolutely yummy! It is a dish that i eat from young. A dish that will make its appearance in every function held in the restaurant, wedding/birthday/association dinner.

The practice of starting all events on time is observed by Kah Yin Association and this is commentable. Mum & her association kakis presented 3 songs on stage, including one hakka Mountain Song.

Visited Uncle Chong and Aunty Siew Siew, our old neighbour. Uncle Chong injured his back and the inflammation was all the way from the back to his left hand. Sometimes he can feel the numbness and the pull. Currently Aunty Siew Siew is taking care of Siew Siew Jie Jie's two kids. The younger one is still a 2 or 3 months old infant. Really cute and adorable! Look exactly like Uncle Chong.

With two three more homecooked meals, Tuesday lunch at home marked the end of my trip back home. Ate a lot of Foodie every time i'm back at home, for my motto when i'm back at home is.

" 吃了再算!"

"Eat first Think later"

I'm a Happy Girl~ Suki Sushi Buffet@Cineleisure

2008-01-24T21:57:00.000+08:00

Recently, I mean this semester, i've got more chances to step in decent restaurants.

In year 1, I hardly stepped into a restaurant or a cinema.

To recall, i think i only went to eat in a restaurant once with QQ, YT, Kerry in the entire academic year! Serious!

Time passed and i'm already in my third year in NTU, life has changed. Not much, but surely for the better.

Now i wonder, is it me? Or my friends? Or just me being well taken care of?

This reminded me of a print on a Tee i saw today. "I'm not Spoilt, I'm just being well taken care of!" Hmm... A phrase well said? Or just an excuse?

But for my "improved" life, i guess probably is the latter two.

With more friends around me, more birthdays to celebrate, more reasons to eat out.

With friends who care whether you have taken your meal.

With friendship built up over-time, hanging out and spending time with each other is vital. Be it during term time (which is seldom for us due to extremely packed schedule) or after exam. For a bunch of girls not into retail therapy, what else besides food ???

Maybe is because i work a little here and there, thus i can afford a little pleasure in life. Sometimes. Just occassionally.

This is the 2nd Official Outing for The Six Girl Gang. Woahaha, a new name i thought of while typing this. 1st Outing was on 1st Oct, after our 《伤寒》exam. This time, was after our 《金匮要略》exam. Exam officially ended for us yesterday but all were too tired to go out. Both 1st & 2nd outing, we ate Japanese food.

Whoo~ I want to classify Japanese Food under my Fav Food Category and since my study here in Singapore, it slowly becomes one of my comfort food besides cakes and choc.

But when is a all girls outing, be ready to wait or be late! *grin* But all of us didn't mean to be late. Only YuChun turned up early cos she forgot about the meet up time agreed on yesterday. Everyone turned up late, yet almost at the same time.

We had a lot of food. Because it was a buffet so i won't go into details. These are some of the items we had.

1st row L to R : Salmon & Maguro Sashimi, Tai & dunno what Sashimi, Hana Maki (Salmon Wrapped sushi topped with mayo and ebikko)

2nd row: Ikura Sushi, Chuka Wakame (seaweed), shisamo

3rd row: Fried Ika (squid), Ajitsuke Idako (squid), and forgot-the-name some kind of pea, quite nice

Some other items we had were Chuka Kurage (Jellyfish) , Chuka Hotate (Clamshell meat), Fried Salmon Skin, Baked scallop with tomato and cheese, Chawamushi, Tuna Mayo Inari Sushi, Ebi Sushi, Unagi Sushi, Salmon Sushi, California Hand Roll, Fried Tofu, Cold Tofu and one more tofu dish which i couldn't remember, Kushiage (fried potato), Ebikko Sushi, Soft Shell Crab, Mini Cream Puff and Fruits.

It may sound a lot, but there were 6 of us. We only request one serving for most of the items listed except those tofu dishes and sashimi.

Oh, did i mentioned we get free-flow drinks too? Beverages ranging from fruit juices to hot green tea, but all of us opted the hot green tea.

We were having a good time eating and chit-chating. Talking nonsense, laughing at each other. Eat and eat and eat until peng, tummy bloated, almost couldn't straighten my back!

The conveyor belt behaved strangely, it was slow-fast-slow-fast. One can notice the change of speed through the movement of the sushi place. One has to be alert and act fast to "catch" the sushi plate you want when it's moving really fast. We came to the conclusion that the speed is controlled by the management to control the flow of sushi in and out of the kitchen.

One interesting event to highlight is, we saw FLYING MINI CREAM PUFF!!! The conveyor belt was moving in such a high speed and our dear Yu Chii couldn't decide whether she wanted another plate of creampuff. By the time she decided, the creampuff was already moving away from her. In order to catch it, she stretched our her mighty hand towards the plate, caught hold of the plate, lifted it up and "Kong", the plate knock on the cover of the next sushi plate, her hand trembled a little and the mini creampuffs FLEW! 4 creampuffs on a plate, left with only 1. Yu Chun with her "alien" superpower, swiftly caught hold of the other two mini creampuffs with her bare hand before it went disappeared along the conveyor belt. We were laughing our heads off while holding to our bloated tummies!

Service? Photo tells it all...

Too few waiters and waitresses to serve so many tables.

Orders tend to be a very slow or they might even forgot all about it. Hand roll was done terribly, the seaweed almost came off! Nothing worth commenting but i must say they serve quite good tofu dishes. Environment? A very noisy background but we were equally noisy as well.

Overall, not too bad for low-budget student like us. At least i get to eat my sashimi, free-flow. Paying around $21 after tax, with students that made up of most of the patrons, i'm not surprise with the service we get. Will we still come back? I think we probably going somewhere else to try oher food since we seldom dine out.

Suki Sushi

Cineleisure
8 Grange Road Cathay Cineleisure Orchard #04-02 Singapore 239695
Tel: 6737 9608
Fax: 6737 2605

Buffet available all day from 12pm - 5.30pm

(all $1.80 - $4.90 items only. Last order at 5.00pm)

Adults	$ 20.90++
Students/Senior Citizens	$ 17.90++
Kids (below 10yrs old)	$ 10.90++

Additional $1.00 for weekends. Price before tax & 7% GST

Free flow of Juices (Deserts not included in buffet)

Did we enjoy ourselves for the rest of the day?

I bet we did, at least for me. We were having fun with all the little things in store. It's so fun to just hang out with the friends you love, spending time together, laugh and giggle non-stop while creating memories that can last forever.

That's why i came back hall a happy girl.

Sakae Sushi @ The Frontier Community Club

2008-01-24T21:53:00.000+08:00

A recent visit to Sakae indicating my crave for Jap Food is getting more severe. Be it during plant bio lecture early in the morning or TCM lectures late in the afternoon. My mind is flashing with the picture of yummy-licious sushi, sashimi, bento....

I especially missed the Deluxe Bento by Sakae Sushi. I only time i tried it was in March, my first or second visit to Sakae. It was a treat from my cousin sister who started working in Singapore. I immediately fell in love with the particular bento set. It came with unagi that melts in your mouth and 3 other dishes including, Ajitsuke Idako (Baby Octopus), Inoki Niku Maki (golden mushroom wrapped in thin beef slice) and a soup with egg and some other ingredients which i couldn't remember. Served together with miso soup and watermelon, it was the best i've tasted then.

The crave for the bento set was too strong and i was drawn to the nearest Sakae Sushi, located right beside Jurong Community Library. Coincidentally, Sakae changed their menu on the day of my visit. Greeted by the newly printed menu, with pictures of varieties of sushi captured in vibrant colours.

To my horror, i couldn't find my Deluxe Bento!!!~ *scream* How could it be??? I found a Deluxe Bento featured in the menu but it didn't look like the one i had. One can tell the difference from the picture. Dream shattered in an instant.

Suddenly i'm lost.

I didn't know what to call for.

I just wanted my Deluxe Bento...

The computerised ordering system showed the Deluxe Bento that i wanted, but i doubted. Yet that was my order. I didn't want to give up.

My heart longed for thee...

I was disappointed...

Deluxe Bento $ 16.99

It turned out to be what i expected. It was the NEW deluxe bento. No Unagi. No Inoku Niku Maki. No watermelon. Only Chicken Karage. Fried Cod Fish. A few slices of sashimi. Yasai Tempura and a serving of Daikon Salad (eaten all by me, blue empty plate as shown). Diluter miso soup was served.

I want my Original Deluxe Bento.

Craving not satisfied.

To comfort the disappointed me, my friend ordered a number of other dished including my fav salmon sashimi and Inoki Niku Maki. Appreciated.

Enoki Niku Maki $ 6.99

Ikura Sushi $ 6.99

I was thinking of Ikura due to recent blog reading on Ikura Salmon Pasta in early November in boo_licious's blog. Been wondering what's Ikura which i later found out that's Salmon Roe and how it tastes like.

My friend told me that Ikura Sushi should be eaten in one mouth??! So that one can feel the salmon roe burst in your mouth and it will wash your mouth like a refreshing feel of seawater. Both of us didn't experience it. We deduce that the Ikura is not fresh.

If you really want to taste the freshest Ikura, go Hokkaido. *wink*

Due to my disappointment over the bento, i filled the emptiness with dessert~ Who can resist pretty looking dessert? I can't, especially when it's ice-cream *grin*

Apple Sensation $ 6.90

Ordered Apple Sensation. Pretty apple-looking Ice-cream, covered with white chocolate painted using edible red colouring. The stalk was made with mint flavour dark chocolate and the core was chocolate truffle. You might mistaken the core of the "apple" as rotten.

Apple flavoured ice-cream was truly refreshing and it led us to order another two more ice-cream. A chocolate flavoured ice-cream with vanilla ice-cream core and Pear XX something something. It was a pear-flavoured ice-cream with chocolate truffle core, similar to the Apple Sensation.

The Front Community Club
60 Jurong West Central 3
#01-05
Tel: 6792 2806

Opening Hours:
11.30am - 10.00pm daily

Fish & Co. @ Suntec Fountain Terrace

2008-01-23T16:35:00.000+08:00

Got a little treat from a friend from being a good emcee last Friday. Initial deal was a slice of Cheese Cake (Ummph...Drool...) but decided to have an early dinner (staple food) after Sunday service, to attend to my books which were calling out to me in hall.

Me being home-grown child, i'm taught about healthy diet and "brain food" which is important for ME! especially during exam...

"Brain food:

Some regular food items are rich sources of substances with alleged nootropic benefits:

Nuts, in particular walnuts, are rich sources of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a type of omega-3 fatty acid. A mixture of walnuts served with dried fruit pieces is known in some regions as student food (orig. German: Studentenfutter) and is there popularily recommended as a snack for students and other mental workers.

Oily fish, such as salmon or fresh tuna (not tuna canned in oil) are also good sources of omega-3 fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, whose lack in diet has been associated with increased risk of mental illnesses such as depression, aggressive behavior, schizophrenia, or hyper-activity in children. "

Fish & Co. there we came.

A very different ambience from the usual Fish & Co. outlet I visited 2 or 3 times (can't remember) at Jurong Point. Decorated in Black & White theme with a modern touch. Menu is in a completely different layout from JP outlet. Some dishes such as New York Fish & Chips - Cheese-stuffed Fish & Chips and a variety of pasta that are only available at selected outlet are included.

A new dish by Fish & Co. Mushroom salad - assorted green with olive oil and vinegar dressing topped with Sautéed mushroom with bits of garlic and generous black pepper. $ 8.90

Another new dish - Baked Ginza Salmon $ 16.90. It's actually a common baked salmon dish with a twist of Japanese. Being a newbie in food blogging, i'm not there yet to descirbe the taste, go try it yourself. But my palate is not used to this taste yet. Maybe you'll like it.

Baked salmon with Citrus herb crust served with creamy mushroom sauce $ 16.90

JOjo and her favourite baked salmon, 80% cooked. The first serving was returned due to overcook (Jojo's sense - salmon being flaky=overcook) and too salty! The floor manager explained that the Citrus crust contributed to the heavy taste and the Salmon is done perfect. She later on exchanged another one for me without the crust and at 80% cooked which i simply love it! The feeling of salmon melting in my mouth, umphh...

As usual, Fish & Co. main comes with Sautéed Vegetables and is served with chips or rice. For me, it's always 2 serving of Sautéed Vegetables instead of having the chips/rice.

Suntec City Mall
3 Temasek Boulevard #B1-048/049
Suntec City Mall Singapore 038983
Telephone: 6835 0180 Fax: 6835 0183
Opened since 28 November 1999
Opening hours: Sun - Thurs / PH: 11:30am to 9:30pm
Fri - Sat / Eve of PH: 11:30am to 10pm

What about the cake? You may asked. Although i was filled by the Salmon, my stomach always have a soft spot for cakes.

We had a "Not-Too-Warm" Warm Chocolate Cake and a "Less Guilt" Low Fat Mango Cheesecake shared between my friend and I at Starbucks, Raffles City Mall on our way heading to city hall MRT station.

The warm choc cake was rich and nice but i wish it could be a little warmer. It was cold and hard at the center when i was expecting it to be moist and soft.

I started to wonder did i request for the Warm Choc Cake because i want to eat the cake or is an excuse for me to eat the chocolate? (i still haven't recover from the heatiness). I wonder...

Starbucks - Raffles City

252 North Bridge Road
#01-46/47/48
Raffles City Shopping Centre
Tel: 6333 3083

PS: For your information, Chocolate especially RICH CHOCOLATE is really heaty and is bad for your throat. Experienced a change of voice in a masculine voice at later part of the night. My hall friends got a shock of their lifetime as they couldn't recognised me by my voice as i was talking outside their room. So Do Not try eating Rich Choc Cake when you know you shouldn't be eating it.

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao @ Jurong Point

2008-01-23T16:22:00.001+08:00

So who's Jim, our beloved Ah Jim??

Ah Jim

He's my primary schoolmate, my secondary schoolmate, my badminton kaki, Yum-Cha kaki, a friend in whom I trust, someone i can pour my heart out, a friend who cares, a friend who loves and a friend who will accompany you all the lonely days when no one else is back in KLUANG!!! Lol... The best part of all, Ah Jim is a homely guy who loves to cook! *common point* Always trying to "invent" his new dish, eg: a pita-taste-a-like pizza??? According to him, his record is cooking a total of 70 near to 80 meals in UK. He did all the cooking for his hostelmates during his stay there. He was the only cook.

Oh, did i mentioned that he knows how to make Rojak? To the uninitiated, rojak by definition is a mixed salad. Chinese Rojak usually consists of pineapples, cucumbers, sengkuang (turnip), kangkong, sotong (squid or cuttlefish) and Yu Tiao (fried fritters) covered with peanut crumb and dark sauce made of shrimp paste.Hhmm... Mamak rojak contains fried fritters, cucumbers, sengkuang (turnip), hard boiled eggs and sliced cuttlefish. A spicy peanut sauce is then poured over the rojak. Ah Jim is also capable of making Tang Yuen, a glutinous rice ball with peanut filling. Both are my favourite past time food!

On Tuesday night, 30th Oct,

"I'll be going to Changi for interview at 2.00pm"

"Go out leh, we go for dinner."

"Ok. Where and what time?"

"Jurong Point lo, nearer to me"

"Ok lo. Contact you through my sis' hp that day"

End of story. That's how we ended up going out together and Ah Jim was late for an hour! (how can a guy let a girl wait for an hour at mrt interchange???) Ah Jim was late with valid reason and we were really good buddy, so i didn't mind waiting for him. He was the guest and he got to choose. After giving him a few suggestions, with two desperate hungry stomach to feed, he laid his eyes on Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao.

Waited for almost 20 minutes for a table. The whole place was jam-packed during dinner hour. This was the third visit to the restaurant, i was still quite unfamiliar of what they've got to offer. The pictures in the menu gave us the rough ideas how the dishes look like. The indecisiveness in us couldn't come to a conclusion of what to order. After some time of struggle, I saw the promotion leaflet at the side of the table. $26.80 (before tax and GST) for a set meal for two which includes a starter (cold dish), a main, a rice/noodle and a dessert or specialty. Should have seen the promo earlier, save us the trouble of thinking what to eat.

This is what we ordered

皮蛋拌豆腐 (served cold)

Oops, forgot the name, is some fried noodles with shredded meat and shredded black fungus.

酸菜鱼汤

The two specialty that we ordered from the set meal was 小笼包 and we ordered one 狗不理包子on top of the set (picture not shown).

The cold dish looked ordinary but HmmHmmm... I experienced the unique flavour of the cold dish which both Ah Jim and myself couldn't figure it out. It was more to the salty side yet sweet at the same time. Century egg with soft, melt-in-your-mouth toufu with chicken floss,spring onion and peanut topping, a twist of taste!

But the excitement ended there.

The fried noodle was ok. Nothing spectacular for a restaurant standard. The soup dish was to my liking. Served with thick Cod Fish slices, Beancurd skin-made toufu, Kiam Chay, pepper and some other spices which i couldn't identify(it tasted like some pickles which i didn't like). Xiao long bao is their specialty and there's nothing to talk about. 狗不理包子was a chinese bao (a bun with filling). The filling is, to our disappointment, same as the 小笼包 except probably more 韭菜were in it.

The bill came up to SGD$36.25. A little bit taxing for my thin purse. What to do,有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？(Meaning: For old-time good friend's sake) But at the same time, i felt “花钱容易赚钱难”。 For those who doesn't read Chinese, it means $ is hard to earn yet it's spent easily.

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Jurong Point)

1 Jurong West Central 2
#03-18 Jurong Point
Singapore 648886
Telephone: 6790-2212

PS: My school friend bumped in us, and lots of Questions were arrowed to me that night and the day after. "Who's the guy?" "You sure he's only your friend?"

Yup, he's only my friend to those who are so concerned about me... *wink*

Bali Thai @ Suntec Fountain Terrace

2008-01-23T16:04:00.000+08:00

Lol...wanted to post this last Wed Nite but I was really busy, caught up with a lot of things.

This post is about my trip to Marina Sq last Wednesday, 24th Oct 2007. Yup, let me recall, it was my hmm....3rd time or 4th visit to Marina Sq. Oops, ok, i know...I've been in Singapore for 3yrs+ and my beloved New Creation Church is in Suntec, how can i not visit Marina Sq since it is located right opposite Suntec Convention Centre???!!! Yup, that's me, fr City Hall head straight to Suntec Tower 4 then head straight back to City Hall. Haha...Barely have time to hang around much with my coursemates, what else? So count yourself lucky if i contact u for yum-cha session when i'm back in Malaysia =) You are all my dearest friends of all... If I say i miss my school life or simply my simple life in Malaysia, yes! I mean it! I'm a typical Kluang girl, grown up in a simple town, leading a simple life! 100% Genuine Kluang-made.

Back to the topic, my friends and I had been planning a birthday celebration for Wan Wan, our dear friend in school. Gift and birthday cake of course! My sweet-tooth keep "psycho-ing" me to buy cake from Chocz. So...i obliged to the tiny little sinful idea of mine. Ordered the cake online, is Choc Tawa, an award winning cake it seems. I need to collect it on Wed, after lesson. But the nearest outlet is at Marina Sq or esplanade. If i were to go, i'm going alone, and is a far away destination. You know, 1++hr just to reach there from NTU (bus journey+MRT+walk distant). So i "jio" aka invite/request/ask-along my dear dear angel in hall, Mr.KY to go with me, so off we go in his little Mazda with teddy and Miss Miko in car at 6.45pm. Yeah, KY promised to go so that he can give me my little Birthday treat *grin* My angel in hall is the best buddy in the whole wide world!!! But of coz, i need to assure him that i know the direction and for this, he's amazed and he said "Today i just know another side of Joanna", of cos he was referring to my singing in the car as well =)

The journey to Marina Sq was smooth except the heavy traffic on AYE. After getting a beautiful parking lot right beside the escalator, we head to Chocz at level 3 to make our payment. Told the counter that we will come back to get the cake before their closing time. The cake looked absolutely yummy and the packaging is attractive. Beside putting the cake in a thick black-coloured box with gold-coloured Chocz. logo, the box was placed in a paper bag in the same theme. Superb! I must say it worth the price judging from its packaging alone. Come to think about it, for the price we paid, we deserved the packaging-lah. Or should i say, because of the packaging, we are paying "the" price???!!! *confused*... But anyway, the service attitude of Chocz. is worth praising and the guy (didn't get to see his nametag) was courteous and well-mannered. With lots of patient as well. Bravo!

Head to Suntec Tower 4, Doughnut Factory to get doughnuts.KY bought a dozen of them. We saw people carried tonnes, okay, i'm exaggerating it, boxes of donut factory's doughnuts in their hand. We even need to Queue for doughnuts on a weekday evening. Gosh. But the doughnuts looked yummy though in the end i still prefer Dunkin Donuts. KY, if there's chance, i'll definitely bring it back for you ok? YumYum... Both of us wanted to have doughnuts for supper,hehe. We head to Fountain Terrace to hunt for food. In the end, we settled in BaliThai, a Thai&Vietnamese Restaurant.

Initially wanted to settle for the executive set meal for 2 which include rice,soup,a veg dish,a meat dish and dessert of the day if i didn't left out anything. But the soup in the meal is Tomyam Soup. Ooohh...Not something my angel fancy in. Wanted to request for an exchange of item but both of us didn't know what soup we wanted when asked by the waitress. So...say good-bye to the set meal. After looking at the fancy pictures of the dishes on the menu for quite some time, we finally decided on Pineapple Fried Rice, Green Chicken Curry, Thai Fish Cake and Thai stuffed-chicken wing. Of course, how can i forget my lovely green Mango Salad. =)

We were served with Tapioca Chips and some Keropok with Thai Sauce dip while waiting for the food to be served. Of course, how could i miss the chance of taking picture of myself? A little shaken due to the slow respond time of my hp, Lol. Took of pic of my angel but he refused to let me post his pic cos he commented he doesn't look good in that pic. The dishes came in pretty fast, like 10+mins? It was really fast i must say for restaurant standard.

Green Mango Salad

Green Mango salad came in 5 mins cos it was the appetiser. KY was so funny, he thought the green mango is cucumber!!! Lol...He couldn't get used to the taste initially but after a while,he said the dish was pretty nice.

All the rest of the dishes came in together, so "Whoah!" our little table was filled with food. The serving for each dish is not big by its look but both of us were pretty excited by looking at the spread of food on our table. All the dishes are presented in such a exquisite way, with crafted vegetables eg:carrot as decoration at the side of the dish. It's been sometime now since i've been amazed by the look of food, said KY.

Pineapple Fried Rice

We shared the pineapple fried rice which look really good, fried in golden yellow colour with chunks of pineapple top with slices of sausage and prawns with some parsley leaves but the taste was just so-so.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

The bowl of Green Curry Chicken looked really small but don't be deceived by the look. This is the dish where both of us find difficulty in finishing it no matter how much we tugged in,haha. Maybe because it was served in a small-looking yet deep bowl =p The Green curry is really thick and the aroma of the herbs and spices blew me away! Yummy!

Thai Fish Cake

Stuffed Chicken Wing

The Thai Fish Cake was a disappointment, it tasted like some frozen fish cake. *shake head* But the disappointment was salvaged by the Thai Stuffed Chicken Wing. I'm really amazed by how the chef deboned the chicken wing without cutting off the skin and putting all the meat (after mincing it and some Thai herbs are added in the process) back into the wing. It kept me thinking while eating, but who really cares??? when the food is good!

The look of the food doesn't justify its amount. We had difficulty finishing the food but all the dishes were wiped clean in the end. I never agree on wasting on yummy food in the first place.

Bali Thai (formerly known as Renn Thai)

#B1-37/038/039

Fountain Terrace

Suntec City Mall

PS: Both of us was too full to have the doughnuts we bought earlier on for supper. It became my breakfast... FYI, "psycho"-ing means trying to persuade someone and "jio" means asking someone along. Some singapore slang here.

The Debut of JO'Kalvier

2008-01-23T15:06:00.000+08:00

I've been "boggled" by the limitation of Friendster blog eversince i start blogging about food. 50pictures/month wasn't really enough. But the lazybug in me refused to move my blog. I've put in quite a fair bit of effort of constructing my friendster blog to what it has become today *it was time consuming*, I simply refuse to start all over again. So i have been really... Really... REALLY... "thrifty" with the photos in my friendster blog. Several methods like making a variation of collages have been implemented to solve the problem.

But it failed. Terribly...
I normally will limit to less than 4 pictures per post yet towards the end of the month, i've already reached the limit.
I have just too many things to share with all of you out there.

And the absence of autosave function is disastrous!
Many times i had to retype everything for a single post. The lost of writing it the same style i want it to be. *sadden*

But fear not, here I come! Wanting to keep all the sweet memories of food hunting, i've finally made my way to Blogspot. *wink*
With the help of a sweet friend who enables me to take pictures of my food and my friends & family who are patient with me taking pictures of all the dishes, I believe this will be a fun-filled journey which i will not regret.

Cheerios!