Puasa For A Day

Selamat Hary Raya, maaf zahir dan batin!

Don't fret, I haven't adopted any new religion. I'm still the Apatheist who loves pork XP However, in light of recent incidents that have happened which have gotten a lot of media attention, I probably shouldn't be so blatant =/ Despite the whole 1Malaysia thing, I think Malaysia still lacks behind in terms of racial tolerance, additional thanks to the politicians for making it an even bigger issue *rolls eyes*

According to the theory of in-group-out-group bias, it is easy to understand why some people say the things they say or do the things they do. However, I believe that this form of bias like any other can be overcome or minimized if both groups were to experience walking in each other's shoes and understanding each other.

That brings me to why I did what I did this Ramadan, which was accepting a challenge from a Malay colleague to fast for a day. Though to be honest, I was initially tempted by the prospect of being treated to a yummy break-fast meal *haha* XD Nonetheless, I managed to survived fasting through the day with no food or water. I woke up at 5am that day to have breakfast and didn't eat nor drink till 7.30pm. It wasn't too hard not to eat or feel tempted to eat throughout the day. I even browsed food blogs and sat through lunch with two colleagues eating pork noodles in front of me *LOL* However, the fact that I couldn't even drink a sip of water during the day really tested my perseverance. By 4.30pm in the evening, I thought I would die from thirst and was starting to feel drowsy because I skipped lunch. Come 6.30pm when my colleague finally said we could head to the restaurant where we will be breaking fast, I couldn't be more glad =D

When the break-fast prayers went off, I took my first bite of sweet date for the first time. It tasted better than I expected and the first sip of liquid other than my own saliva since 5.45am was like heaven. I shared a meal with 3 of my Malay colleagues in an Arab restaurant full of Muslims and was totally enjoying myself chomping down the food, talking about everything including my experience and the reason behind fasting.

It felt really good to have successfully fasted, and I totally understand what Muslims have to go through now. I really respect all the Muslims who truly fast for the right reasons *SALUTE!* And I know they would have been proud of me for what I've done just like my 3 Malay colleagues too =D By going through what they go through, I now understand them a little more and am happy for that =) For all those who have never tried fasting, let me tell you now that you will never know how it feels like until you have gone through it yourself. There is no way of describing the sort of hardship one goes through with no water or food when it is so readily available all around us.

Not long after my fasting experience, I came across this Joseph Germani's video which talks about his experience of fasting for a day as well during this Ramadan month.

I believe my thoughts on my experience and his are quite similar and that if more people are willing to put themselves in another's situation, there will definitely be a lot more understanding and tolerance of each other's culture and religion. The world will no doubt be a much better place if everyone strive towards a mutual understanding =)

PEACE OUT!

Cuti-Cuti Malaysia: Penang

Took Aeroline up to Penang this time around.

They've totally upgraded since the last time I took them. They now give you a blanket in addition to the small pillow, rice meals and personal in-bus entertainment! It really feels like you're on a plane, and the seats are so much more comfy than your average economy class passenger aircraft =)

I finally got to see Bibi and Ivy again like what?? After 3 years??!

I miss being in high school and being crazy XD

Penang has changed a lot since...
and so have our lives

Welcome to Straits Quay

The place feels so ang moh *LOL*

Other than the cute Charlie Brown decorations, there's really nothing to rave about this place because everything we ordered SUCKS! We didn't try their main course and stuff, but I doubt it'll be any better.

Visited the original T-Bowl Concept Restaurant in Queensbay Mall. All I can say is it's worst than the one in Sunway Pyramid =S The lighting is too dark and the drinks and dessert were sickly sweet...it SUPER SUCKS!

Out of the three concept stores we went to, Clinic Café has the most acceptable food. It's not great but they are definitely better than the other two. It could be due to us only ordering the fried snacks and drinks, so I can't say for the rest of their menu options.

Some things just don't change...
like friendship ♥ and a few other things

Ivy still likes her muscle men =P

Bibi still have her awesome BBQ ^_^

And I'm still me XD

It was really really great to be able to meet up again =)

If only we were complete *sigh* =(

Anyway...let's move on with the post...

Got to see Bibi's super cute nephews ^_^

Aren't they a bit Chinese-looking? *LOL*

Sorry David, I forgot to take picture of you =P

Managed to meet up with Boon Hoe and David as well =)

Thanks Boon Hoe for driving us around and bringing us go makan ^_^

Mee mamak at Bangkok Lane. It's a bit wet for my liking but the taste is not bad, and I really like how they added small pieces of cuttlefish inside for texture. There's however one thing with this place though, their service attitude is really TERRIBLE. It took them half an hour to get our order done just because we ordered one large plate to share amongst the three of us. The worst thing was they came to our table to confirm our order 3-4 times when Boon Hoe already went to order at the stall before we even sat down. Just because you serve good food doesn't mean you can bully your customers! >_<

Went to Viva Local Food Haven (东城饮食中心) for some good old hawker food. I finally got my fried oyster *wee~* ^_^ The oysters as you can see in the picture is quite huge compared to the usual ones you get in KL or even Gurney Drive, and it was relatively cheaper too =) We ordered grilled stingray as well, which was really good especially with the additional sauce YUM! But I only remembered I've forgotten to take a picture when the fish was half demolished, so I didn't bothered XD Didn't really like the 卤面 (loh mee) Boon Hoe got because there's one kind of taste to it, and I forgot what David ordered because it was nothing special *haha*

That wraps up the end of my Cuti-Cuti Malaysia to Penang.

Stay tuned for Cuti-Cuti Malaysia Sarawak and Ipoh =D

Most photos taken from Bibi's camera

Kung Fu Panda 2

It was my second time at Pavilion since it's opening. Had lunch at Grandmama's (the prawns in their 生虾河粉 - sang har hor fun were HUMONGOUS), and window-shopped around. Pavilion is SO not my place. All the branded stores are there with all their nice stuff on display and a very nice price tag attached to each and every item =_= How I wish I can sing ♪It's not about the money, money, money...forget about the price tag♪ at the top of my lungs and make it come true. Some people are just not born with a silver spoon in their mouth *sigh* =(

Watched Kung Fu Panda 2 at the GSC in Pavilion. I thought it'd have cost more than usual, but surprisingly they charged a pretty standard price. The seats are by far the best cinema seats I've tried. I've never been to their Gold and Premier Class cinemas so I can't compare, but the standard ones in GSC Pavilion were pretty darn comfy seats compare to your usual GSC seats elsewhere =P

Kung Fu Panda 2 was pretty good. I really like the graphics and the Oriental design and style of the backdrop and setting. There were a few really funny and cute scenes which I really like *hehe* However, I find that they frequently spoil the emotional scenes with inappropriately timed humor. It's like you are trying to get into how the characters are feeling and suddenly they pop in a lame joke -.- Other than that, it was pretty good, though not as good as Rio for me. Rio is still the best cartoon of the year!

Went to Fahrenheit 88 for the first time that day. There's nothing much there except Uniqlo and Sephora. The mall doesn't exude the type of atmosphere you get in Pavilion either. It feels empty and deserted inside. Even though I can't afford anything in Pavilion, I'd prefer it over Fahrenheit 88.

Final stop of the day was at Mid Valley. I can't remember the last time I've visited that many malls in one day *LOL* Had some supposedly Japanese soft-shell crab in Thai-style tasting sauce at Sushi Tei for dinner =S I find their chicken katsudon nicer; the breaded chicken had this unique taste to it which you don't usually find elsewhere. Didn't try any of their sushi, but they have uni (sea urchin) there!! Gonna go back to try their uni sushi someday *hehe* =P

***

March Babies

Here's prove of my extreme procrastination.

*sigh*

Presenting the March babies at the near end of April -_-''

Han Yin's surprise at Alexis =)

BBQ party at Han Yin's, where we ended up camwhoring like 99% of the time *LOL*

Brandon's surprise at Chili's with his "special" presents XP

Not descriptive enough? Well here's prove of my laziness then >_<

pictures courtesy of Brian

Umami Steamboat (甜味火锅放题)

It's very seldom and rare that the full set of OMEs get to gather. This time around we even got two new members to join us — Tze Mien who came back from the land down under and Sandy the exchange student from the land down there too XD

We had our first OMEs outing of the semester at Umami Steamboat (甜味火锅放题). I find the place quite okay as they have a rather wide variety of shellfish and enough variety of seafood, which was basically the only stuff I ate other than all the different mushrooms and a few other stuff *LOL* I especially love the scallops ♥ They have pretty nice beef and lamb too, though I find them a bit reluctant when it comes to giving it out, so if you are a big meat eater I'd recommend Chong Qing Steamboat Buffet (重庆麻辣自助生锅). They have a BBQ and grill outside as well, but the variety is lesser than 口味锅 Tasty Pot Restaurant (which has nice BBQ lamb and bad everything else -_-'') and only the satay was nice. It tasted sweet (the sweetness is different from the usual satay sweetness) and the meat was tender. One important piece of information: DO NOT GET THEIR CHICKEN WING! They probably have the worst chicken wing I've ever tasted. It was super dry and just *blargh*

If you are a fan of all those usual fish ball and steamboat-whatnots, they have a pretty large variety of those. Sandy was so amazed by all the colorful stuff she almost couldn't bare to eat them *LOL*

We got the tom yum and chicken soup base for our steamboat. The chicken soup one is just okay, but I really like the tom yum one as it wasn't too sour or spicy that you can keep drinking it *hehe* ^_^ They also have a D-I-Y 沙茶酱 (shacha sauce) station that I find pretty cool. I've never tried 沙茶 before and actually don't know what it is, so I just simply mixed a few of the ingredients together. I don't know whether what I made was really 沙茶酱, but it was really yummy *hehe* =P

Unlike most steamboat places at Sunway Mentari, they don't have round tables at Umami. We had to merge two separate tables together and had two different pots. I was actually quite glad we had two different pots since those at the other table just threw everything and absolutely anything into their pot till it resembled a mess of something I can't even begin to describe =S

They also stopped eating while we were just about halfway through and started camwhoring =_=

After dinner, it was of course time for dessert! Their ice cream was really nice. It didn't taste like the cheap ice creams you usually get for buffet, and they were colorful! *hehe* ^_^ When our tummies started to ache from too much food, we played Truth with the chopsticks and laughed till our tummies ached even more XD It was really good to finally have all the OMEs together again =)

All pictures courtesy of Tze Mien =)

Kikyo Japanese Restaurant

!!!DO NOT BE FOOL BY THE PHOTOS!!!

photos by Brian

Don't the food looks just AMAZING? They may look great here, but the taste is FAR from what you'd expect. Thanks to the deceiving lens of the Nokia N8 that manages to make highly unappetizing food looks heavenly.

The buffet was a TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT *boohoo* They hardly have any variety of sushi and sashimi as most of the stuff were cooked. Their fish were not fresh and their tactic is to stuff you full of cheap and tasteless carbs so you'll order less. I only like one of the tofu dishes, but got sick of it rather quickly as we had a lot of other tofu dishes with the same type of tofu but a different sauce =_= The best was probably the ice cream with cornflakes XD We go to a Japanese buffet and asked repeatedly for cornflakes *LOL*

CONCLUSION: The place SUCKS! DON'T GO THERE! And don't be fool by the nice looking pictures from other blogs, as that was what happened to us.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Double Double Birthday

It's a double double birthday because I turned 22 and also because I had double double celebrations ^_^

picture by hjstory

Pre-Birthday

My lovely scandal ♥ Shu Shan couldn't bare the thought of selling me off to some random fisherman at some secluded kampung port in Klang so we arrived at Perlama Seafood Restaurant instead XD It took us quite a while to find the place since it was really secluded. We ended up having lunch at 3pm if I'm not mistaken =S

The place is actually quite nice, as it had that kampung by the sea feeling, though not everyone can take the pungent dirty/salty seawater smell swirling around. Being a kampung girl myself, growing up in Kuala Terengganu and Kuantan, living mere minutes away from the sea, the smell had a weirdly homey feel to it *LOL*

Top: Steamed fish pieces with vermicelli and Superior Lala Clam Soup
The soup in both dishes were pretty good, and the Lala Clams were nice and juicy.
Middle: Stir-fried vegetables and Claypot Tofu
I can't tell if they put MSG in the vege but it was so good even the vege-hater Shu Shan liked it.
The Claypot Tofu was the most disappointing dish among all.
Bottom: Salted Egg Crab and Coconut water
Loved the salted egg on the crab YUM!
The coconut water sucked because it was too old, so the flesh was really hard.

♥ Super love this pic ♥

Since my lovely scandal couldn't sell me off, she decided to kill me instead.
She got me Tiramisu and Death by Chocolate *wakakaka*

Thank you people =)

pictures by Brian

The day itself

Mum made me a marble butter cake this year =D
but I forgot to take a picture =(
She was going to make noodles too,
but since my brother wasn't home,
we had it the next day instead.
Simplicity at it's best =)

Post-Birthday

A few of my lovely OMEs had a super belated celebration with me =P
We had dinner at Reminisce (舊相好) at Mid Valley.

The food wasn't great, but we were all pretty much broke so yea...
I'm sorry about The Library Ah-Ma =(

Thanks for Spongey-Blue though *hehe* I really really like it!!
And of course all the other prezzies too~~
They were all really pretty and nice ^_^

Thank you dearies ♥

pictures by Jaime

p.s. Thanks Brandon for Pink Day too XD No pictures because you didn't upload =P

Hellos & Goodbyes

This post is pretty much very overdue, but better late than never.


Goodbye to the last of 2010

Met up with Jin for dinner at Trattoria Cucina Italiana on Christmas Eve.
It was nice to finally meet again and catch up =)

Don't be fooled by the mamak-looking exterior and kitchen.

Their food is pretty decent as everything is freshly made.
I really liked the beef tenderloin with potatoes and cherry tomatoes (top left).
The prawns (bottom left) were okay, it had A LOT of spinach to go with it =_=
The gnocchi (right) was really cheesy, but apparently not chewy enough.

Their desserts were SUPERB!
Especially the chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream (left).
We finished it within minutes!

This was my favorite!!
chocolate + liquor = ♥
What more can a girl ask for?

The total bill came to RM288.65 (including 4 other drinks I didn't mention) for the three of us.
FUCKING EXPENSIVE would be very appropriate for three unemployed students -_-''

We couldn't make it for the countdown as my brother and I had to catch the train back.
So we celebrated by pouring overdue beer down the toilet instead -_-''

Had post-Christmas turkey dinner with Fabian and his family at Étoile Bistro, Equatorial Hotel.

Got a really cool present from Amy and Fabian too ^_^
I really ♥ it!


Hello to the beginning of 2011

Everyone was celebrating New Year's Eve with family.
So it was just the four of us, plus Viran's spirit XD

We had steamboat dinner at Chong Qing and went to Solaris for countdown.
The fireworks were soooooo pretty~

We had our celebratory drink at Berlin Biergarten after the countdown.
It was pretty funny how Shu Shan got drunk after just one cup of Long Island Iced Tea *LOL*
So not going to give her anymore alcohol after this incident -_-''


2010 was a great year, may 2011 be a great year too =)