Ushering in 2009

I can still remember that last year was a hectic year for me. Much had been going on and I was still stuck with loads of work. This year is no different except for the extra activities that I had to kickstart the year. Work load has never decreased and life has never been this stressed. However, this year had been a really great year for me. I would say this is the best year of my life. Not only I felt a sense of achievement from work, I have also know uncountable people throughout my job, during my leisure and also through my blogging.

The amount of business cards I received could probably be made into wallpaper of one wall panel of my office. Many of those were just a hi-bye relationship friends but I kept in touch with a handful including those I got to know through KY (blogging scene), my important clients (whom I get to savour free liquor and food at the airport) and also my friends (wine, dine and everything nice). I would say it's not easy to keep in touch with so many people all the time and thus I apologize if I didn't make much efforts to keep our friendship going strong (for some of my friends reading this). As we progressed, we make new friends and forget the old. I hope I have not forgotten any of my friends here. I might be busy but I am not such person.

On 30th, I did something interesting with one of my wine drinking friends, which I have known for one year now starting from Christmas last year. I got to know him when I had a booth at Bangsar Village. He was my best customer and a memorable one because not only he bought RM1k worth of chocolates, he also bought me a packet of the Irish Carhill Cheese and also his favourite Nougat for me. After that, it was history. We met up at least once a month to wine, dine and puff. Then he texted me, "why not we do a reflexi and then dinner at Max's?". I thought it was a bloody good idea.

I met up with him at Changkat Bukit Bintang and parked my car there. He then had his driver to drive us to Tengkat Tongshin for a foot reflexology. It was so relaxing. It took us 1 hour and the ambiance was so nice. I thought I was in Bali and I did fell asleep during the massage. After that, we walked to Max's Kitchen which is just 3 doors away. It was my first time at Max's Kitchen, a continental western cuisine restaurant with an open kitchen concept. Max, the owner loves wine and cigar as much as we do and so we had a 4-course-dinner arranged by him (off the menu) and then we had a few glasses of wine and a cigar together alfresco style. He made very good dishes starting with the surf & turf dish, scallops, wagyu beef cheeks with truffles sauce and the Portobello mushroom was my favourite. The chocolate souffle dessert was good but the Valrhona chocolate was not lingering enough to my palate. He told me he would improve it the next time with 48 hours advance notice from me. You can check out the review here by one of the bloggers. I know the bill doesn't come cheap but I wasn't paying so I won't know how much it was....

At 9pm, I was supposed to attend an event invited by Rachel together with KY, Huai Bin & Suanie at Palate Palette which I didn't managed to join them because they all left early. My friend has his driver drove both of us there. Since I haven't been to No Black Tie, he suggested why not we go in and have a drink. I agreed. Before that, we went opposite and check out this place that serves Italian food. He asked the owner for the wine list and then he answered "there's no wine in your list that I can drink". Haha... I was laughing like mad! After checking out with the owner on the corkage charge, we walked over to No Black Tie. I had a Glenmorangie while he had two glasses of I-forgot-the-name-of-the-single-malt-whiskey-that-ends-with-the-word-wood.

My record breaking feat.

Over there, I had another cigar. Earlier I was having a Padron from Nicaragua, a 2000 series and then later I had a Dominican Partagas. Both was good but I prefer the Partagas more. We were on a competition to see who can keep the longest length of ashes without breaking it. I could proudly say that my sucking drawing had improved. Not only I get an even burn for my cigars now, I managed to keep a length of 2inches of ash attached to my burning cigar! After that, we had a few more Highland Park and played some dice games before I drove home.

On the last day of the year, I was still at work. But we had a company party at the other chocolate factory in Kota Damansara together with all the other chocolate operators and my bosses and colleagues. There were close to 600 people all together and we had a buffet lunch with rojak, satay and chendol. After lunch, we were allowed to go home as the factory was closed for the day. Wohoo... what a day!

And today, 1st of January 2009.... What would I do? Well, first thing in the morning at 11.30am, I had a booking for a full body massage at Pavilion. The massage was so good, so relaxing and so comforting. After that, I had a retail theraphy, starting with my Zara Jacket, some accessories at Diva and then 2 pairs of shoes at Charles & Keith. RM500 gone within a few hours excluding the massage. I had a simple lunch at FoodRepublic but an orgasmic tea time at Godiva Chocolatier @ Pavilion.

The Menu

It has just opened about 1-2 weeks ago and it's located just outside Tiffany & Co. I wanted to try their chocolate drinks and their desserts. Consider it as knowing your competitors well. The place was packed with customers. 4 pcs of Godiva's Truffles will cost you RM45. And I thought recession was going on?!!

I had a glass of the Dark Chocolate Decadence from their Godiva Chocolixir selection. It's RM16 a glass. The ice blended chocolate drink was good. Very smooth and just the right sweetness. But with the whipped cream, it makes it a little sweeter. They also have some iced coffee and Iced-tea selection costing between RM11-16.



I also chose a cup of the Godiva Milk Chocolate from the Hot Beverages selection. This is a little bit sweeter than the dark chocolate but it was good. Although the colour might resemble Milo but the taste is differentiated. There are a few of varieties to choose, from Chili Chocolate to Mint Chocolate costing from RM16 to RM22.



My visit will not be complete without a taste of Godiva's desserts. At first I wanted the Chocolate Molten cake with Vanilla Ice-Cream but it was sold out. Then I wanted the Tiramisu and it was also sold out and thus I opted for the Pistachio Macaroons. The Macaroon was nicely done but a little bit too sweet. Nothing spectacular, just a normal macaroon with chocolate sauce and some strawberries that burns RM14 off the pocket. They serves cakes and pastries ranging from RM10 to RM19.

The Godiva indulgence.

I would say, a visit to Godiva would not be cheap. However, it is still a must-have experience for a chocolate person like me. With the hefty prices, I would say I'm surprised that there were many people who patroned the outlet. Hasn't recession started or has it not kicked in yet? I guess chocolates really make one happy!

Enjoy the Godiva Experience Live!

After writing this, I truly still support Godiva Fidani!

Related Chocolate Tasting Post : http://eiling.blogspot.com/2008/09/theobroma-pavilion.html