Cooked alive

My best friend today is Edward. He told me today that "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

I set my alarm to ring at 4.45am so I can wake up in time for one of my odd ball meetings with the U.S folks. Since my wireless router (Damn that Linksys...I just found out the settings will only take effect if I save and reboot it.) is having problems with matching my laptop wireless adapter MAC with it's permit MAC address list, I had to pull the cable from my router outside to my laptop. 5 mins and a VPN connection later I noticed that the meeting was schedules for 4pm US Central time, that means its 6am here in KL. I was an hour early.

Fine. So I went back to sleep ... sleep ... sleep.

*ring ring* A colleague called. It was 11am. And I was blur. Answered a work related question and hung up. Went back to sleep.

I woke up at 1pm. ...and *jeng jeng jeng*. I missed my meeting.

Fast Forward to 4pm. Dad came back with the car from the service center. Dad gave me a look.. a look which I know I will not like what he is going to tell me.

My radiator pipe is leaking somewhere. The repairman added green coolen to find the hole in the pipes. (There are green patches on the floor under my car now.. *sign*) I need to get that fixed.

My back driver side suspension is messed up. I kind of know that already because the car is unstable when I make corners. Damn the port holes! I need to get that fixed.

Wiper replaced.

My passenger side back seat door.. well, all I can say is that it took me a couple of days to find out that where that sloshing sound came from. Initially I thought there was a water bottle at the back which was causing the sound but I found out that during a rainy day, the water sips through the window's rubber into the hollow of the door.

The last and the most expensive part to replace... the %#&(*^$@@#^&()*^%#@ gearbox. According to the repairman, the Perdana's gearbox is known to have issues. The one on the car right now was actually replaced before. This will be the third time replacing it. I knew this was coming... having gear box issues for a bit now... was just too lazy to send the car for "full body check up".

Well my day be better? I hope so... cos I'm feeling like the fish below. Cooked alive.



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Carlsberg

So sorry to the folks at theQguides.com but Carlsberg stole your lime light ;p

It's a small world because a friend of mine knows the folks at the Qguides. I was lucky because she happen to pass my contact to Liza, one of the co founder of the Qguides, and viola! I was at Carlsberg brewery newly renovated visitors lounge on Thursday for the soft launch of theQguides.com beta version.


For those who personally know me (or read my blog often enough), you know I not a fan of beer. I can even count the few too few times which I have taken beer and actually liked and finished it. Angkor Beer when I was in Siem Reap, the cheap fresh Bia Hoi in Hanoi town, and a light beer from Brewerkz in Singapore. See, 3 times. The rest of the time... no thank you.


But this.... I really like! 2 glasses and one bottle of Carlsberg after I was still craving for more. The only reason I didn't was because it was getting late and I had to drive home and work early the next day. Plus the sugar from Patchi chocolate that I got from the goodie bag ain't enough to keep me awake.


So I was thinking after that... how in the world did I manage to gulp down the booze when normal I don't even want to look at beers. I have drank Carlsberg before at pubs and clubs... (and maybe the Carlsberg Gold in the black can during CNY..that was nice but again I shared the can with someone else... beer isn't my thing la) The answer? I honestly don't know!!!


I wonder if the folks at Carlsberg Marketing can invite me for a couple more rounds of booze... you know... to let me do some research? hehe. Or maybe let me work there?

I am a proven a good dish/beer glass washer.


On a more serious note, I think I enjoyed the beer that day at Carlsberg because 1# It was really fresh and not watered down. You know la, sometimes at pubs you tend to get flat beers... the bars add water to the beer so they can sell cheap. 2# I didn't feel bloated after drink. I usually stop after half a glass cos I can't stop the burping but this one rock arse!. 3# I think the added flavor came with being in the new Carlsberg lounge itself. Would be kind of cool to work there.. Happy hour is just a walk down the stairs? Awesome! Haha!

oh ...and 4# The glass was frozen. Do the booze was cold...and stayed that way for sometime.


If my memory serves me well, the first glass I took was just the normal one. Second was the extra cold. Loved that. The last was a bottled Jacobsen Bramley Wit. Tasted a little different from the normal beer. ... a different kind of sweetness, but nice though.


Anyway, did meet a few new bloggers..and some old faces, meet with the whole Qguides team and of course the folks from Carlsberg. Jek Tan (the other co founder) walked us through on the whole idea of theQguides.com. All I can say for now is... look out for this site especially for those who just prefers doing things online. Did try out a couple of their features..make your reservation online and score points was quite a plus plus. Of course, theQguides also covers all the other "standard" stuff like reviews and stuff.


And before I forget, pictures here are taken by Chui from Integricity (the mami company of theQguides).. well except for this one above ;P

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Keep? Or not?

I know I know. CNY is over so why all the red decorations? Well, read on and you will find the connection.


This is the light lantern out at the porch of my house. Mom purposely bought a nice red one to match with her other CNY decorations.


The red blink blink decor surrounding the top of the main door out front. The blink blink was with us for a couple of years already.. only taken out during CNY.


The CNY "ang ang" (red red) Chinese banner. Honestly, I think it was red overload. Lookings more like someone was getting married at home! HAHA!


If you think the red stops there? Well, nope. This clay thing, I call urn because really looks like those cheap urns in Chinese ghost stories (Kiong Si). Mom heard that and scolded me. She said that they were wine bottles. (hmm ok la, but looks more like urn to me)

So anyway, I went back to my old home and continued my packing and I came across my Coke (The drink, not the drug haha) collection. I have a couple of Pepsi too but they are not as pretty as my Cokes.


I bought this from Vietnam because the can reminded me of flowery fireworks.


This, I forgot. HAHAHA! But.. 2005's New Year... I guess I bought this somewhere late 2004 to early 2005 from.. well, not sure where I bought this from. Hm....


My favorite can of Coke is this one with the Polar bear. This is a 2000 can from Italy. This was one of the reasons why I started to collect Cokes (thought not very actively).


My small collection of cokes. ...

I am thinking of not keeping them anymore because I don't have space for them at my new place. ...but I'll miss the cans of Coke!

Keep? Or not?

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Vegetarian steamboat

"So all 6 of us are going to celebrate our birthday together." The 6 of us was actually my mom and 5 for her "zhi mui" (highschool girl friends / sisters). Since their birthday fall so close to each other, they decided to meet up to have a nice dinner with all 6 of them with friends and family.


One of my mom's zhi mui suggested for a vegetarian dinner. All 6 of them believed it was better for karma and health to avoid meat (the killing of animals I guess) on their big birthday dinner.


A normal vegetarian dinner would be quite boring so all of them opt for a vegetarian steamboat at Bangsar Tea Club. The tea club is actually a corner teress house along Jalan Telawi 6 behind Mc'Donalds and in front of the BP petrol station. The house was renovated turned into a place to hold private functions. Really nice place and surprisingly not expensive!


The hall could fit about 25 people. They also have a smaller room for 12. (Which I feel I will find myself back there with another 11 more to have shabu-shabu!) Other than vegetarian steamboat, they have tom yam, shabu-shabu and local cuisine .


But of course, it's not really about the food, it's about the tea as well!


I tried asking of the type of tea blended in the few I have tried that night but sadly the boss wasn't in and folks who were running the place didn't know. I always wanted to try tea like these ever since I saw this curculating on email a couple of years ago.. and how I have!


I don't know the mix, but I tell you, all the teas were smooth and fragrant. The tea leaves are left in the hot water to "bloom" and while tea absorbed the water and settle, I could smell the fragrant from the tea and dried flower petal.


What I found unique about the tea was that it smelt different before and after the "bloom". It's like perfume (Go read the book or watch the movie! Perfume the story of a murderer), the first smell, the hours long smell, and the lingering smell after that. Good stuff.


I was babysitting one of the kids during dinner and boyyyy... I have never seen any other 10 year old boy who loves his tea so much! I think he was drinking tea more than eating this food.


The vegetarian steamboat consisted of quite basic stuff. Fresh vegetables, different types of mushrooms, tofu, yam and Japanese seaweed jelly.


If you noticed, there's none of those fake meat involved. I really like this concept of vegetarian steamboat because it's all about real vegeratbles and not processed vegetarian meat.


There were two types of tofu served that night. My favorite was the stuffed tofu skin. When the soup from the steamboat is absorbed by the tofu skin and cooks the minced vegetables and mushroom in it while retaining all the sweetness inside the tofu.


While I end most of my steamboats with noodles and a cracked egg in the soup, I ended this one by eating porridge!


All we did was sit back and let the folks at Bangsar Tea Club cook the porridge. Rice was added in the soup with eggs and spring onions. A drop of sesame oil on the bowl of porridge and violah! Good stuff!


To end the dinner, we were served apple flavored konyaku jellies.


...and red bean tong sui.


Overall a very nice meal. Love the ambiance, love the privacy, love the food.. and love this kid who is so so cute and sporting to cam whore for me! hehehe!

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Crystal Jade Restaurant

A couple of weeks ago my said "Let's have dim sum at Crystal Jade tomorrow". I was saying out loud in my mind "Dim sum? Ok... let's just see if this is all talk again". Why?

Only 1 out of 10 times when anyone suggests dim sum did we really have dim sum for breakfast. The rest if the time we spend our time;

Mom went to the market and got home late.
Change of mood. (Ya lah, having dim sum also must see the mood ma haha)
The butt apparently got stuck to the sofa and the eyes super glued to the TV.
We forgot that we were suppose to have dim sum.

This time, we all slept in and I was actually still in bed at noon. After all the "deli-dali" and the "ding-donging" we ended up at Crystal Jade Restaurant for dinner.


Crystal Jade Restaurant is located at The Gardens. Lot 210 on the third floor. Call 03-22833129 for reservations.


If you are there for dinner, you will notice that you will be ushered to the back of the restaurant where they have glass as walls. You can actually see the night view from there. Not very spectacular, but beats looking at the other tables.


I was quite disappointed that day. Even though we were that about 7pm, we were told that "Lap Mei Fan" was sold out! Chehhh.


Anyway, we opted for the Duck, Pork, Melon and Seafood Rice (RM30) which really really bland! The rice was cooked to perfection but honestly, I think I can work on a better sauce than this.


Thank god the Spinach Tofu with Mushrooms (RM22) was nice. I liked the texture that the crispy spinach gave the top layer of the tofu. The sauce filled with a nice fragrance of vegetable stock. Good stuff.


The Deep Fried White Bait Fish (RM16) was just so so. This fish dish should really have been ordered as a snack.


The Fried Yam Root with Fungus (RM18) aka "Lo Hon Chai" was another so so. Nothing great about it, nothing bad about it.


This "Siong Tong Yuin Choy" aka Poached Spinach with mushrooms (RM20) was good. I usually just finish the spinach and not take the soup, but this was different. I drank the flavorful soup till the last drop and didn't feel dehydrated later (No MSG)


Last but definitely not the least, meat!!! The Half Roast Duck (RM30) was awesome! If I knew this was so so good, I would have just pass on ordering all of the above and order a whole duck to eat. The skin was really crispy but not oily. The meat was tender and juicy. The sauce that came with it was "duckish" haha and wasn't too salty.

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Boozzie

Before I say anything else... No, this is not my work. It's a beer advertisement from Thailand I think. I found it quite funny.... (view it with an open mind la kay.. it's suppose to be a joke and not trying to be demeaning to the female species ;p)


Drink...


Drank...


Drunk!

I'm still in the CNY mood, hence this really short post.

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