Of Marmalade and Quality Times

Last week, I really couldn't wait for Sunday to arrive. Keeping my bubbling enthusiasm inside within myself, I was actually waiting for a surprise someone special promised me. Of course being the manly man I am (haha flabby man more like it :P), I kept my excitement hidden and at the same time, looked pretty cool about it.

Anyhow, Sunday came and it started pretty early in the morning with a ZL meeting at 9am, followed by service at church and then lunch! Wondering where I will be heading for lunch, I finally got a clue that it would be at Bangsar Village 2. After a quick drive over to Bangsar, I stepped out of my car in excitement and when the lift opened, I was quickly amazed by this new place which I've never been to, Marmalade.

Chicken Stew

A quick look at the menu and I decided to try out the Lamb Shank with brown rice while munZ took the chicken stew (picture above). Both dishes looked great and scrumptious and it tasted as good as it looked good. I tried taking more pictures from a different angle but the lighting and my IXUS 70 camera couldn't just cut it . Now where was my D40 when I needed it.

Lamb Shank with Brown Rice

The lamb shank with brown rice was extremely filling and it was great. I've had some wonderful lamb shank in the past (back in the days when I was in the UK) and this tasted pretty good. For a more comprehensive review about the food over there, you can head over to "a whiff of lemongrass" and "masak-masak" which are two dedicated food bloggers. I'm not much of a food critic and can't tell the difference between marinara sauce and seafood sauce.

The surprise really made me happy and I was filling full and contented and extremely happy and joyous. Activities after helped me settle my stomach especially after such a heavy meal like that. The shops in Bangsar Village 2 are way better than the original Bangsar Village.

After lunch, I went and watched Music and Lyrics which was a good movie and might probably write a short review on it. Had a lot of fun watching the movie too. Sunday ended with a good family dinner at Chilli's to celebrate Father's Day , the place wasn't too crowded and we managed to get seats pretty quickly as well.

All in all, last weekend was a blast!

My Favourite Chicken Rice Stall

If there is one place I frequent the most, it would definitely not be McDonalds or Starbucks. Actually it is one of my favourite stalls near my workplace. It is my favourite chicken rice stall. Well I don't usually eat just chicken of course, pork is a definite yes to my ever saddening diet because Cyberjaya is such a lousy place for good food.

Located in Sri Kembangan, near Jusco

If you asked me why do I love that place so much, I really can't tell you why. The food is excellent because there is also a mixed rice stall in there where I can still get some dosage of vegetables and fried egg and more fried pork!

I frequent the place quite often, well at least once a week that the chicken rice lady knows me pretty well. All I have to do is tell her how many people are in my group that day and she would just bring the food to us.

Super chicken rice lady in the middle

I really have to salute the chicken rice lady as she recently gave birth to her baby (I should ask her what sex her baby was), and previously while she was pregnant, she would still go about and serving chicken rice. Really, she always looked as if her baby was too heavy but she would go about serving people.

Now if you are wondering why there aren't any photos of the food here, lets just say that it is that nice that my colleagues can't wait to dig into the food. If you ever want directions I would be more than happy to give them to you. If you are ever stuck in Cyberjaya and you are craving for some chicken rice or good food for that matter, drop me a message and I will definitely guide you to this wonderful stall.

My colleagues think that there are drugs in the chilli because I consume so much of it and every time when we drive back, I seem a little "high". But then again, I think its because I had just fulfilled my pork cravings.

Of Sales and Quality times

I had an awesome weekend and in the words of Barney from the CBS TV series, How I Met Your Mother, it was "Legen....no wait for it....dary!". It all started out with me crawling out of bed at an insanely hour on Saturday morning after spending the night chatting on the phone. Of course a wonderful wake up call did the trick and I sped off to KLCC where I had a meeting there at my office.

Climbing up Tower 2 of KLCC was not an easy task going through the usual security check, figuring out why the stupid express lift wouldn't shut the doors and figuring out from the 41st floor why doesn't the lift register odd-numbered floors. So I had to climb down a floor and took the lift which only went to even-numbered floors, took a lift to a floor below my intended destination and then stepped out of the lift and pressed the up button so that it would enable the so-called even-numbered lift to travel to odd-numbered floors as well.

Entering my office, I dashed towards the pantry where the coffee machine was located only to see that the machine was down for maintenance. There goes my plan for a dose of caffeine until my eye spied a couple of tins of coffee mixture. "Manual mixture this time" went through my mind as I happily stirred sugar, cream and coffee into a coffee cup.

Sipping on coffee, the meeting went by pretty quickly and by the time the shops at the mall below were open, I was there at Isetan with munZ, browsing through the items which were on sale. The sale was pretty good and I managed to buy three items for work, a shirt and a set of cuff lings. Next on the list was Marks and Spencer where I spied a couple of nice shirts and ties but there wasn't any sale going on at the moment.

A quick lunch break at Madam Kwan's was good, ate Nasi Lemak over there but I realised that the nasi lemak served at Old Town Kopitiam tasted slightly nicer. The problem with Madam Kwan's nasi lemak was that it missed a fundamental ingredient which was the deep friend "ikan bilis" and peanuts.

Taking photos at KLCC park is not an easy task because I was using my point and shoot camera this time and I couldn't fit the entire twin towers into the view unless I stood super far away. Also its not easy to take pictures of me and munZ whilst holding the camera as well. Lets just say I got shaky hands.

A quick walk through the park and I arrived at the outdoor car park which was where I parked my car in the morning. Next on my agenda, my cell member's surprise birthday party which started at night and I had to buy ice for them. Trying to carry 5 bags of ice in the rain wasn't the easiest thing to do and I got soaked in the process.

The party was quite well planned out with caterers, decorations and a blue theme which I totally forgot about but thank goodness I was already wearing a blue shirt and blue jeans. Food was aplenty and the card/poster was pretty cool. The concept was to actually take pictures of the guests who were there, print out the photos and stick them on a huge decorated cardboard and everyone writes the message in there.

By night time I was totally wiped out and I really was looking forward to getting a good night's rest. Sunday was going to be awesome as well but right now, I am just too tired to blog about it.

Till then...

p.s. All images shown on this post was not taken by me and I "borrowed" some of them from images.google.com

Of Trinkets and Gifts

So whats a guy got to do to find a nifty little gift for their girlfriends or maybe something nice for their mums, sisters, cousins, family members who like jewelry or little trinkets? Prowling through countless of shops and stalls around the city is probably going to kill you because your feet would have been sore and you get pushed around by angry mobs scouring through the streets.

Why not head over to this place called Sze Accessories and do your picking and shopping there? Currently the official website is not up yet but I can already see wonderful products there for sale. Not something I can wear myself but definitely a great gift (from a guys point of view that is) for your loved ones.

At the prices they are being sold at, its a steal and worth every penny spent on it. So why not head over there and start your shopping! I'm saving my time by shopping at home, wouldn't want to bump into you all out there with that angry look on your faces ;)

Image source: Sze Accessories

Something interesting about me

I got this survey over at GooGurl's page and so I decided to fill it up and blog about it.

1) Name one person who made you smile last night.
Oooh....that's a secret ;)

2)What were you doing at 8:00 this morning?
I was still sleeping in bed reading an sms. Yes I can read in my sleep :P

3) What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
I was sitting at my desk in the office.

4) What was something that happened to you in 2006?
I changed companies. Finally left that God forsaken place in Shah Alam, JVC!

5)What is the last thing you said aloud?
"I need an XS sized shirt, I love body hugging jerseys!" - (said this while lining up to collect my sports jersey at the pantry 20 minutes ago)

6) How many different things did you drink today?
Water, Nescafe White Coffee, Old Town KopiTiam white coffee and more water.

7) What color is your hairbrush?
I don't own a hairbrush, I got short hair.

8) What was the last thing you paid for?
Lunch at Old Town Kopitiam, Cyberjaya.

9) Where were you last night?
Sitting at home, watching Greys Anatomy and chatting on the phone.

10) What color is your front door?
Dark brown.

11) Where do you keep your change?
At home, in a box which sits on top of my bedside table.

12) What is the weather like today?
Good, not too hot and not too cloudy.

13) What is the best ice cream flavor?
Chocolate Strawberry.

14) What is something you are excited about?
Everything!

15) Do you want to cut your hair?
Maybe in 2-3 weeks time.

16) Are you over the age of 25?
Nopes, I am exactly 25 ahhaha.

17) Do you talk a lot?
Yeah, my faculty at CAS said that I was full of crap. In my defense, I thought I had very "interesting points" to put forward. Note the air quotes :P

18) Do you watch The O.C.?
Nopes, only when they show it on tele and I have absolutely nothing else to watch. Longest view time, 15minutes.

19) Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes I do in fact.

20) Do you make up your own words?
Not really, do I sound like Willy Wonka to you?

21) Are you typically a jealous person?
Yes, I can be insanely jealous sometimes.

22) Name a friend whose name starts with the letter “A”
Adeboyega. I am not kidding you!

23) Name a friend whose name starts with the letter “K”
Katherine Keta Kones

24) Who’s the 1st person on your received calls list?
Oooh....that's a secret ;)

25) What did the last text message you received say?
Something about someone being 3 months pregnant :P

26) Do you chew on your straws?
Yes, I do that when I am bored.

27) Do you have curly hair?
Nopes, not interested!

28) Where is the next place you’re going?
To the gym downstairs.

29) Who is the rudest person in your life?
Rudeness cannot be measured. Usually if they are rude, I just slap some sense into them.

30) What is the last thing you ate?
Kaya and butter toast and two half boiled eggs for lunch.

31) Is marriage in your future?
Of course

32) What is the best movie you’ve seen in the past two weeks?
Shrek 3, but it was a tough choice choosing between that, Oceans 13 and Pirates of the Carribean.

33) Is there anyone you like right now?
Yeah of course. All my friends!

34) When was the last time you did the dishes?
If dishes meaning my coffee cup and water tumbler then just now when I got my coffee refill in the pantry.

35) Are you currently depressed?
Not at all.

36) Did you cry today?
Nopes, can't think of when was the last time I cried. (please don't kick my in the groin to prove a point!)

37) Why did you answer and post this?
I haven't done a survey in a while already.

38) Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
Whoever reads this and blogs.

Kanna Curry House

It was a wonderful Saturday evening when Jon and I decided to go eat at a place called Kanna Curry House somewhere in section 17 and I thought, wow, banana leaf rice. Something I haven't eaten in a long while. We agreed to meet there for some nosh and after digging through my memory banks (yes my brain), I remembered someone telling me where it was (located somewhere near the Rothmans roundabout).

After reaching the restaurant, Jon arrived slightly after and we headed in. The first thing I said to him was, "Wow, the food smells great here. Oh, did you know this is my first time here?".

And that was when it all happened. Jon being Jon, he started throwing a fit especially for a PJ boy to not come and have banana leaf rice at Kanna Curry house.


In my defence.......well actually I didn't have any defence. Nothing came out of my mouth, so I said, lets eat. Using a strategy known as "the diversion". I mean what best to fill your opponent's mouth with mouth savouring food than to go head on and debate about which curry house is the best and where can you find excellent banana leaf rice.

But to be perfectly honest, Jon was right in every word he said. The food tasted great, looked great and smelt awesome. The fried chicken and the squids were fried to perfection. If any of you decide to go there again, please give me a call and I will gladly bring you there.

More shots from Teluk Batik

As promised, here are two more shots I took while I was in Teluk Batik. The first one was taken somewhere at Kampung Koh while having breakfast in the morning. The second one was taken at the famous Sitiawan "Gong Pian" shop.

Some funky tasting noodles, yummmm!

Guy peeling onions

Ok, I got a lot of more photos to edit and I definitely don't have that much time to do that.

Sunrise At Teluk Batik

Here is a picture I took at Teluk Batik over the weekend. More to come, my PC is too slow to do quick processing.

Sunrise at Marina Cove

Of Traffic Jams and Impatientness

When I read in the newspapers that they were going to widen the highway stretches and the project should be completed by next year, it reminded me of the crawl I faced on Friday night and Saturday. Friday night was when I left PJ at 9.30pm towards Teluk Batik and it took me 5 hours to get there.

As soon as I hit the NKVE and went pass Sungai Buloh, the jam started there and it crawled on all the way to Bidor. I was glad that once after exiting the highway, driving towards Teluk Intan and Sitiawan was so much better. By the time I arrived at Marina Cove, it was already 2.30am. By the time I got to bed, it was 3.30am.

On Sunday, the traffic was worse. It took me approximately 8 hours from Teluk Batik to reach back to PJ. Crawling through the ultra congested NKVE, I could only wish that the road expansion would have been completed earlier.

Right now, I am just too tired to edit the photos which I took during the trip.

Bah, traffic jams, give me a bullet train anytime...

Boleh Cakap English?

The rise of globalization and the push for an integrated market has really taken shifted a paradigm mindset in terms of how we continue to pursue with the use of English as the main medium in the business world. Thanks to that, trying to converse with my colleague in Bahasa is really tricky as I can't seem to remember many words already (oh the shame!).

Well, what I heard today sort of made me realised that Bahasa is not too behind as well. It all started with me having to work in the KL office today located in KLCC. Being all gung-ho and ready to get out of the doldrums of Cyberjaya, I took the LRT and arived at the office earlier than usual only to find out that all the available hot desks were unavailable!

Ok, so I thought I would just sit in the pantry area and connect to the Wi-Fi and then my colleague told me that the Wi-Fi service is unavailable as well. That took the cake and I then decided to head downstairs to Starbucks to work there (pays to work in KLCC I guess).

So here I am sipping my coffee while connected to the local hotspot when an Australia couple sat at the table next to me (I guessed that they were Australians from their slang and their dress sense, beach wear in KLCC). Anyhow I was happily minding my own business when the Aussie dude got a phone call.

"Hello, good morning"

(some voice over the phone which I obviously cannot hear)

"I'm sorry, but could you speak in English?"

(some voice over the phone which I obviously cannot hear)

By this time I was guessing it was some wrong number and the person on the other line was either speaking in another local language.

"Boleh cakap dalam English?"

That caught my ear, he knew how to speak Malay? Wow, I was impressed that he was rather fluent in that.

"Saya tak boleh dengar atau faham kamu, boleh cakap dalam English?"

Amazing, that was definitely what went through my mind.

"Maaf, saya tak boleh faham, mungkin salah nombor" and he ended the call there.

I was just blown away. Interesting fact I learned today with most tourists, either he has been in Indonesia or working for a long time now in Malaysia to understand the local language and to speak it fluently.