Wonderful Saturday

Usually I don't really do much but have a relaxing Saturday at home to catch up with the house chores. Honestly house chores is really frustrating as you've got bills to pay, clothes to wash and iron, toilets to wash, floors to sweep and mop and not forgeting rubbish to get rid off! Then, suddenly you found that the sis can't get the windows to close and you'll have to open that tool box and do something! That's not all. Then, there's this light bulb that doesn't light! OMG, it's so frustrating.

A friend organised a lunch get together at Wong Poh in Aman Suria. We were all from the same college but from different courses. However, we managed to meet and be friends through activities and clubs. It was fun to catch up and I've got this friend whom carries 3 iPhones! And I don't even own one! Why does one need 1 iPhone 4G and 2 of 3Gs?!! Bookie ah? We were making fun of him non-stop and I have 4 sim cards but only has 2 phones. Anyone wanna buy me an iPhone?

In the afternoon, I managed to book a full body massage at HerbaLine. I'm not someone who loves massages but I've got this very bad back problem that I need a massage so badly to help me ease the ache. It must be the laptop that I'm carrying everyday! Gadgets are really bummers when you need to carry theme everywhere! Herbaline runs a very good offer for massages. It's RM118 for 90 mins and if you go with someone, it's at RM177 for 2. On weekdays, it's RM118 for 2 persons!



The fish spa is complimentary. Never in my life I've tried something like this. And being the 1st timers, Yiling and I are practically scared to soak our feet into a tank full of fishes. They looked like they are ready to feast on my feet! During that 20 minutes, all I did was to sit by the side and look at the fishes without puting my feet in. I tried once or twice and finally decide to give up because it's too ticklish. No more fish spa for me thank you!



We were also given a good 5 minutes salt bath to soak our feet. After that, we are ushered into our massage room. It's a small and scented room with two beds and trays filled with a "sarong" and disposable underwear for you to change into. It was a Swedish massage and I like it as the masseuse is very professional and has a good strength to press the pressure points. However, I almost wanted to scream when she pressed on my thighs! It was damn painful.

I didn't want it to end! It's so comfortable and you wished that you could just sleep there.

I was running late to pick up Naz too as I agreed to have dinner with him and then later attend the Heineken Green Room party which was held at KL Live. It was also the night of MTV World Stage. As usual, the traffic getting into KL was terrible as it was also raining. We had dinner at Modestos which is just a walking distance from the party venue and it was like the biggest mistake of all times. The food was crap and the service was horrible! It's a no-no on my list and I hope I won't need to return. I feel so disappointed and partly pissed off with the attitudes of the staff.

I met Huai Bin @Sixthseal at the party. He was one of the crews and it was nice catching up. Haven't seen him for sometime after the Astro PVR event thing. After having 2 beers, I wanted to leave as it has been a tiring day for me. That night, I slept really well because I had a good massage. You know what, I'll make time for 1 massage a month from now on!

New Formosa @ SS2 PJ

It has been too long a time since I last catch a movie at the cinema. Sometimes I can't help but wonder that when one is single, one doesn't really go to the cinemas that often anymore. It's very silly to catch a movie by yourself and let alone go to the cinema. When I was attached, I was complaining why we always have to watch movies. So I guess, the grass is always greener on the other side.

Oh well, sad story apart, I was glad that my sisters were willing to catch the movie "Inception" with me. It was such a good movie but sadly we missed the first 10 minutes of the show cos we were late! Right after the movie, we did some shopping before adjourning for dinner. We actually went to 2 restaurants prior to this place and it was full. We didn't want to wait and thus we thought why not try New Formosa since we're in SS2 and we've read about this in other people's blogs.

We were starving and luckily there was a table available for 4 of us. The restaurant is full and so did the previous two we went to. We just couldn't stand waiting as Calvin can really get grumpy when he's hungry!

Sisters & Calvin fooling before dinner

Everyone gets to order one dish.

Fried Pork Strips with sesame and 3 different sauces

Beancurd with "mui choy"

Fish Fillet with Sweet & Sour sauce

San Bei Ji (chicken with basil leaves)

Spicy & Sour Soup

Since we read that their yam dessert with gingko nuts is a recommended dish, we had to order that. It was very funny because I had a feeling that the yam with the pumpkin paste tasted like baby food and to swallowing it was effortless! I do like the pumpkin paste.

Just as when we thought we were done, the lady boss, Mrs Jeanie Lee came and told us that she wants to let us try a special dessert. At first when we were waiting for our food, she came and greeted us and complimented us for being beautiful.. ahem ahem.. *blushes* She couldn't believe it when we told her that we are sisters.

Caramel Yam with sesame seeds and honey sauce.
It's deep fried and then soak in ice water before serving. The end product is a crispy fried yam coated with honey. The outside layer is hard and the inside is soft.

We were full to the brim and then one of the staff came and gave us our 2nd complimentary dessert! We were shocked.

Mochi (gultinous rice flour with peanuts)

We were about to leave and then the staff gave us each a glass of plum juice. That was our 3rd complimentary dish. We must be in luck or either that we were too pretty *lol* It was really nice to drink a glass of cool refreshing plum juice.

The bill totals up to about RM110 and the lady boss gave us a 10% discount too! It's really a nice place if you like Taiwanese dishes and we will come back for more as they have a vast variety of food such as the stone hot pot and also Sichuan spicy hot pot.

New Formosa Restaurant

46, Jalan SS2/24 (opposite the Mobil petrol station)

Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7875 1894

(Non Halal. Open daily from noon to 2.30 pm, 6 pm to 10.30 pm)

Chocolat

I'm so lazy to write anything today so why not hop on to Cumi & Ciki's blog to read about what I write about chocolates here!



Happy Friday!

Can't wait to get out and smell the weekend breeze.

Of good food and super fast car

Last Monday was another gathering for dinner with the usual suspects but this time, we had Patrick Teoh himself to join us together for dinner at Damansara Village Imbi. It was a dinner planned sometime ago but he was always too busy!

I brought along a bar of Valrhona Manjari and also a Beschle Trinitario Madagascar chocolate with both using the Madagascar beans and is of 64% cocoa. The reason why I brought these two bars is to conduct a side by side tasting to see which chocolatier makes it better. It seemed that the Beschle turned out to be outstanding too!

For aperitif, we had a bottle of Rose de Haut Bailly (pronounced as Ba-yi) and a bottle of red wine by Le Petit Lion Recolte 2007. And during the whole dinner, we were drinking this very nice bottle of Glenmorangie Extremely Rare 18 years old.

The food seemed to be never-ending as always...

I think there are easily 12 over dishes including the steamboat at the end of all the dishes. There's only 7 of us and we ate everything! The "sang yue" is very good that night and we were lucky that they happen to have a big one. With the bones, the chef makes a very nice herbal soup which was served right after we savour the fish. Very delicious loh...

But.....

The highlight of the dinner is making my dream come true. I've always, dreamt, and wanted, to have a chance to ride in a Lamborghini. I've tried a BMW M6 coupe, a Nissan Fairlady 370z, a Ferrari 360 spider, a Porsche Nine Eleven but have yet to try a Lambo!!!



Well, thanks to Patrick whom gave me a chance to do this because it so happened that one of his friends who happened to own one is there having dinner! And it's not any Lamborghini, it's a Gallardo Superleggera! What I heard was this model is one of the 7units in the world.


Superleggera stands for lightweight in Italian, the Gallardo LP 570-4 is 70 kg lighter and 10 horsepower more powerful compared to the Gallardo LP 560-4. The combination of lower weight and more power slashes the 0-100 km/h time from 3.7 seconds to 3.4 seconds.It's indeed true that this is a very lightweight car as there's no adjustable seats because the seats are tailored made to the driver, no door handles from the inside, just to cut down the weight.

Patrick was disappointed at how I rev the engine because I was such a sissy. Actually I was afraid. Lol...

The Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera would be beyond the average expensive category because the owner paid RM2.5 million for it. And even if you have the moolah, get into the queue. Lucky I don't need to pay to sit in there!

Such a ravishing Italian beauty

Cherry popped for a Lambo and I can continue on dreaming....
Next target: Aston Martin and a Audi R8

Happy Birthday to Hue Gee!

I think sometimes we do take friendships for granted and always assuming that they will be around when you need them. Or maybe it was the work that deters one from meeting up regularly. So, if there's a gathering of friends, I'll definitely be there!

Liwei and gang has been planning a surprise party for Hue Gee and I was supposed to gather up some of the old college mates to go together. In the end, only Hoong made it and the rest couldn't. The venue was at SkyBar @ Traders Hotel and we didn't realise it was Bollywood, Nite, Baby! So, the whole night was full of Bollywood banging tunes.

The nice view of KLCC Twin Towers from our seats

Keh Min, Li Wei & Me (all from Ipoh)

Cake cutting time for the Birthday Girl!

We wouldn't let her go so easily because the Flaming Lamborghini is coming.
She nailed it!

Photo sessions for old time sake

We were given complimentary fried rice!
This is really a first for me! Fried rice and white wine, you've gotta try!

We had fun dancing the night away but seriously it's a hassle to get up and down at the lounge area by the windows as you have to be careful not to fall into the pool with ultra short skirts and a pair of killer heels.

It's Hue Gee's birthday to day and Happy Birthday babe! Welcome to the 26-year-old-club.

Gao Ren Guan @ Jaya One

Recently I was invited by a dear friend of mine whom is a producer of TV shows and despite her busy schedule, she still have time to meet up for lunch. She wanted me to try one of her friend's restaurants which was newly opened at Jaya One. This is the 3rd branch of Gao Ren Guan 高人馆 after Puchong and the other one in SS15 Subang Jaya.

This restaurant serves dishes particularly from Gaozhou, a county-level city in Maoming city , Guangdong province of southwest China. That's why their dishes here are quite differentiated from the normal chinese restaurants that serve Cantonese, Shanghainese and Hakka cuisine. To me, this place serves very home-cooked-style dishes.

Big Menu, my friend and Mr. Loong

It so happened that the boss, Mr. Loong was there too. And so I asked him for recommendations on what to order. I already expected that he would be recommending this Braised Stuffed Bitter Gourd (RM18/4pcs). Oh God, why do I have to go through this again? You know, I really do hate bittergourd and for the past one week, I have been eating that nasty vegetable twice!



After much persuasion and assurance that it will not be bitter, I told him I'll give it a go. The cute little bittergourd is stuffed with minced meat and braised in superior stock for hours. I cut a small little section and attempt to give it a try. The 1st bite wasn't bitter but the aftertaste was! You can see that from my reaction. All I wanted was just to eat the stuffing!



The other highly recommended dishes are: Grandpa Omelette (RM12/small) where chicken and duck eggs are combined for this dish. That explains the unusually strong taste of eggs. The Crispy Nam Yue Pork (RM14/small) is something different to order from my usual staple of Char Siew and Siew Yoke.

They also serve a very special vege dish where it's called Stir Fried "Gao Zhou" Lettuce with Dace and Black Bean (RM16/small). I thought it was another bitter-torturing-vege but it turned out to be very nice and I licked the plate clean.

The Fried Squid with Garlic (RM18/small) is fried to a dry and crispy finish. You won't get the oily feel as this is fried to perfection. The accompanying fried garlic bits and some chilli makes this dish a winner.



The desserts served here are pretty normal like the Guilin Gao (herb jelly), Sea coconut with longan, Soya with white fungus and etc.

The shop was still in renovation when I ate there and it should be completely up and running by now. The pricing in this outlet is a little more expensive than the rest of the outlets but I don't mind with the nice ambiance and convenience of location.

Thank you very much to Mr. Loong because when I attempted to pay, he told me that he's buying lunch. I will definitely come back to try the other dishes like the Hot & Sour Vegetables, Hot Pepper Pig Stomach Soup and the Braised Pig Offal.

Gao Ren Guan

(beside Ducking)
M-10-G, Palm Square, Jaya One,
72A, Jalan Universiti,
46200 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor.

Tel: +603-79573266

Other Branches:

1. No. 07-01, Jalan Kenari 18B, Bandar Puchong Jaya, 47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia.
2. No. 43, Jalan SS15/4E, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

11:00am to 3:00pm, 6:00pm to 10:00pm (daily)

Contact:
603 8076 8766 (Puchong)
603 5621 0866 (Subang Jaya)

Wines just under RM200

I was invited for dinner with my usual wine suspects to try some new wines that apparently cost less than RM200 a bottle. Of course I was not told about this before we drink the wine and only after we have finished the 6 bottles, one of the ladies were asking about the price and the wine merchant discloses that the wines are in fact value for money!

Initially, we opened 3 bottles of wines for the 6 of us. Actually before dinner, I had just drank 3 glasses of whisky and then a glass of Processco and my quota for the night is almost filled. When I saw the 6 bottles, I almost fainted.

We started with some nice appetisers from Grand Palace in Pavilion and then we adjourned to a boat of fresh Salmon sashimi. The salmon sashimi that night was really fresh!

The sashimi were finished in a jiffy. And then, we were served some nice wild boar curry which I have blogged about here. After some curry, the pot of winter melon soup were brought into the room and poured into the smaller bowls for us. I was quite surprised to see that they had included 2 pieces of abalone in it. Besides the abalone that I wasn't very glad to eat due to certain reasons, I also disliked the amount of parsley they put. I hate parsley!

This is the first time that I was having braised oxtail at a chinese restaurant and I think I don't really like oxtail because I find the aroma of the beef rather too strong.

Next comes the roast chicken. The last time I had, it was stuffed with mushrooms and this time, they had it stuffed with glutinous rice. What I love about this chicken is that the skin is roast to a crispy texture and the meat is so flavourful.

Fish in claypot style, green veges and fried rice with "mui choy"

So after 8 of 9 dishes later, we found ourselves to be finishing the last bottle of the 6th bottle! Gosh, everyone could really drink like a fish! Only I was lagging behind with a tasting portion left on 4 glasses. In the end, I managed to finish all those! My "live life in moderation" resolution didn't really work well.

Now it's gone!


The Grand du Vin Chateau Citran 2006 is my favourite!
For under RM200, it's very worth drinking.


Then one for the road, they had a glass of Suntory Yamazaki 25yo while I continue to be sober and not drink a sip of this.

Roast Suckling Pig with Scallops Porridge

When you have leftovers of roast suckling pig such as the trotters, bones and head, the best thing is to use them to boil porridge! That's exactly what I did for the leftovers of suckling pig that we couldn't finish. It was in the freezer for a week and I decided to boil some porridge on Sunday.

The ingredients are simple:

Leftovers of Roast Suckling Pig
Minced Meat
Scallops
Rice

I was taught that the secret technique to make sure that the porridge is smooth and the rice completely breaks open is by soaking the rice with some oil and sugar. So, what I did was to wash the rice, pour a ladle of oil, and then half a table spoon of sugar into the rice and mix well. Leave it there for at least 30 minutes.

These are really big scallops so I used just 5 of them.

Then, the scallops are washed and soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes too. Do not throw away the water as it can be used to boil the porridge later. It adds flavour to the porridge and it's true!!

After 30 minutes, you can start by cooking the rice with water. I used 3 cups of rice and 9 cups of water. Pour in the water that was used to soak the scallop too! When the water is boiling, add in the leftovers of the roast suckling pig. Leave it to simmer for sometime until you could see that the rice are turning into porridge.

Then, you can add in the scallops and also the minced meat. Ensure that the minced meat is blanched in boiling water first before adding it into the porridge. Stir well and leave it to boil.



If you see that the water is fast evaporating, you can also add some boiling water to it. I like it to be watery so I did add some water to the pot when it's almost done. I boiled the porridge for 30 - 45 mins before serving. If you leave it there longer, the taste gets better!

The porridge can be served with Pickled Lettuce or simply Bovril!!

Honestly, I think I did a good job there because the porridge was really good and it was even better on the next day when I had some leftovers in the fridge. This is really one easy meal to cook but it's just that the pot washing is a little difficult as you have to scrape off the rice that was stuck to the bottom of the pot.