Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Post - food poisoning food@Home

Two nights ago, I suffered from a bad case of food poisoning. Woke up in the middle of the night with an open tap, and the tap was my mouth. Could not stop vomiting until 6 plus am, I had no choice but to see a GP.

GP was always my last resort as most of them are con artists. I still have not found a good GP in KL.

As there aren't many 24 hour GPs available, especially nearby, the only choice was the GP in Bangsar. Which was another conartist also. The doctor, instead of giving me what fitted me most, asked me if I wanted an anti-vomiting injection or tablets. I wanted whichever method that would be the quickest to stop the vomiting.

The doctor asked me to relax my bum, and I told her I am nauseous, and nervous as I had not had an injection in years and I exercise, of course my bum would be tense. In turn, the doctor told me that, "Hey, you wanted injection right? This is what happensla"

I"m like, "Zzzzz..????"

It did not stop the vomiting, as I continued puking when I got home. From then on, I had been sleeping for a good two days with a few small wake-up intervals in between. My aunt came to visit, I got up to eat, and then it was back to Snooze-land.

Finally I'm slightly more alive today. No more foodventuras for the moment.

Be a good girl, boil some vegetables : mushrooms, cabbages, carrots, onions, garlic and some chicken.

Man .... and New Year is coming!

Come on tummy, heal heal heal heal!

p/s: Oh yeah.. this was HOW I cleared by bowels.. painful experience.


Home blended apricot peach smoothie

With both special occasions near by one another (Christmas and New Year), needless to say, EVERYONE is overindulging. Myself, a sinner also.

Excess spicy food, excess chilli, excess alchohol, excess junk food/chips, excess meat, under-excess water = constipation.

I decided to blend my own smoothie hoping to help me in my bowels.

Bought some apricot yoghurt, milk, peaches and bbbbbllllleeeennndddddddddddddd into one delicious smoothie :)

So much more delicious and fruitful than the ones you have from the juice bars. And oh yeah, a lot more cheaper too!

But did it help me clear my bowels? No...... but something else did. In a horrible, nasty, suffering way (To be continued....)





Sek Mee Choy@Kepong

One of those nights where the tongues were itching for good food.. but the hungry minds just could not decide on which food to eat. We stopped by the roadside just to crack our heads , " What to eat?! " Surely, this scenario is familiar to many of you isn't it?

Suddenly, the memory of my colleague and his hard efforts in driving us from work, through the heavy traffic to Sek Mee Choy at Salak South for lunch popped up.

We then decided to go to SMC, Kepong's branch. Also through the heavy traffic.

Thank you, smartphone. The GPS finally brought us here.


RM 2.00 a bowl of vegetable rice. I liked it for the the dried shrimps (Heh Bi, in hokkien). It reminded me of my mom's fried rice back at home. Dogma's expression , "Pfft! My mom always makes this at home. Very easy." OK - Lorrrrr.
 
Fried bittergourd with salted egg yolk. RM 8. The bittergourd was slightly undercooked, a little hard but still edible. Super bitter alright, but with a nice salty end palate with the shredded fried salted egg yolk. The portion was quite huge for 2. Initially, I was a little worried that we might not be able to finish the food, but who would've known... we DID clean up each plate. Sweats.

This was the star dish in my opinion. Star dish for the restaurant too. The Ba Kut Teh version from SMC is a peppery spicy one. Similar to Singapore's style, but 100 times tastier. What was good about it was that the soup was not oily at all, and clear too, thus you wouldn't developed that too-full-can't-digest-after-meal feeling. I would want to have sips of this soup if I'm having a bad flu. The peppery soup will totally clear off my nose boogies! RM 11/portion.

They were quite sincere with the meat also. Meat was tender and fresh. Thumbs up! The only slack part was there seemed to be a miscommunication between the chefs and the waiters. At first, we ordered lean meat with no inerts, but the BKT came totally opposite of what we've asked for. Of course, they changed for us.

Second miscommunication. We ordered Steamed tilapia with ginger, 600 g. Total damage was supposedly RM 18. This fish was the least boney fish among the list of fishes on the menu. I can't eat boney fishes as my tongue isn't slithery enough to separate the meat from bones skillfully. Boney fishes make me gag.

Then came this fish "Song Fish Head" (That's the name of the fish I've been told) and after a few bites, Dogma sniffed it out that this was the wrong fish while myself in stress mode, busy digging out the bones. Wrong fish, and wrong weight too. Heavier. RM 25 total damage.

The fish did have a slight muddy taste even with the piles of ginger on it. Definitely wasn't a satisfying fish meal.

The young owner however, was observant towards the series of misfortunes that we'd been facing. He came over and apologised for all the mistakes in the orders and offered us a free bowl of longan pandan jelly. It was a nice gesture from the owner, although Dogma thought that I am a sucker for freebies.

The food here ain't expensive, and very decently priced for the portions given. Thanks to the owner's attentive actions, my willingness to return for another meal is higher than the time I was eating my fish. But, the next time around, I may limit my choices to just the BKT.

Anyway, taste is subjective, I would still recommend this restaurant a worthy try for value-for-money meals!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Voyager estate chardonay 2005

Rich full of butter, cream, grapefruit, citrus note.
Finish was quite long.
Good effort but lacking in complexity and evolution

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Teatime with bestie@Haute Food n Co, Plaza Damas

 We decided to order something different, other than sticky date pudding and the scones (although I got tempted halfway through and ordered it anyway.. "sigh"). My bestie wanted to try the tiramisu but it was oh so sold out :/

We ordered the apple, pineapple and passionfruit crumble. It came with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream. The zingy-zesty fruity taste of of the crumble went really well with the vanilla ice cream. Good thing about the crumble was the ease in the sugar content. Else, it would have overpowered the taste of the fruits.

RM 16. Teatime promotion! (3-6 pm, with a cuppa coffee of your choice). You could choose from any cakes. RM 10, if you chose a pair of scones instead.


I had a Christmas dinner later on with the bible study group and some friends and this is my first ever Christmas gift! From a dear sweet 5 year old boy named Sean. He could recite the first 20 generations from Adam to Abraham! Amazing, how the work of Father God our Saviour.

Chicken Rice@Ah Kow, Food court near HKL

 My colleague brought us to this food court for lunch, nearby work area coverage, HKL.Many raved about this stall's chicken rice, especially its sesame fried chicken. What I found interesting was that the chef was run by a Chinese man, helped by a Malay lady and people from all races are eating his chicken rice. Now, this is what I call 1Malaysia. Not the freakishly brightly lited up UMNO building promoting 1Malaysia throughout the night, and not sure how they could cover their TNB expenses.

The famous sesame chicken. Not too bad, pretty crunchy on the outside. Being a meat lover however, I'd much prefer Yat Yeh Hing's chicken sitll (fat, thick and juicy), made my money's worth. Nevertheless, interesting taste, with the buttery sesame pungent aroma. Never ate it like this before.

Total foodie damage: RM 5.00. Not bad lah pricing!

Worthy try for a simple day and a simple meal.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Red Bean Bag cafe@Solaris Dutamas

The newly opened cafe in Solaris has a real cozy, warm aussie feel to it. Maybe its the wooden furnishings, or the smell of coffee, or the cool looking bean bags on the walls.

Glad to have our first trial attempt on the last day of 30% off all breakfast items.

The pancakes are quite nice. Not oily and light. Damn generous portion, easily 7-8 pieces. Only slack part was the portion of the poached fruits. Not enough for all pancakes. Nicely presented though.

Ori price rm16.90, for mine 30% off!

The smoked salmon with poached eggs, mushrooms and asparagus served with two slices of bread. I must give credits to the presentation skills. Nicely presented.

RM 17.90. At 30% off too!

Coffee was the one thing that i thought would impress me best as theyve got this cool looking coffee station by the entrance. However, the coffee tasted like the one brewed at home with the coffee press. So i guess.... Invest in a coffee press and good, good coffee roasted beans then?

Save cost and happiness.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Ch Pontac Lynch 01

My first Pontact Lynch.
Open up with slight red fruits and tobacco. But pretty weak on the palate.
Drink and forget.
Got it at rm138 during Hock Lee's sale

Gerard Tremblay 2005 Chablis 1er cru Montmain

Some said aged chablis is a rare gem because most pll drank it young.

I kept a bottle of gerard tremblay chablis 1er cru 2005 for a couple of years.
Surprisingly, the acid and fruit still is very much alive, but dissapointedly, the minerality is kinda lost compared to my first few bottles years ago.

Would suggest aging a grand cru instead

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Farah and her hubby, Shabir's wedding@tropicana golf resort

My dear friend is finally married.

My first time attending an indian-muslim wedding.

Im amazed.. This food .. Is all that is served for the wedding! So much contrast in comparison to a 10 course chinese wedding dinner.

Food's real yummy :)

Friday, December 16, 2011

Home cooked food for lunch at office

Economy crisis, all lost to wine and korean food.

Weight crisis, all lost to the food above.

Time to diet on ... Body and money. Aih

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Miolo Sparkling Brut, Brazil

Pretty interesting sparkling wine from brazil. Not too much complexity but with a distinct citrux, biscuit nose.
Enjoyable

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Chocolate cupcake@Patisserie Rui, along Jalan Mont Kiara

Pretty good chocolate cupcake although this wasnt what I intended to have, it was the red velvet cupcake that i was looking forward to!

Unfortunately, they were sold out and rui and her fellow sister bakers are busy baking cakes for the festive season.

Anyway this alternative cupcake is quite nice too! Only rm2. Real steal deal.

Coffee, i found, was a little pricey, small cuppa black coffee, RM9. Ouches!

Grey Label Shiraz 2003

Bought it around 2007.
Drank it at end 2011.
Big nose of dark fruits. Spiciness has rounded out. Good. Still carries a lot of fruit and body,but was pretty easy to drink.

Can kEep still but it will not improve further.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Uncountable Re-visits@Macguli Korean Restaurant, Desa Sri Hartamas.

 Macguli is speedily  growing to be one of the top favourite restaurants in Desa Sri Hartamas. This place is run by 4 chefs, and they serve really, really good Korean food. Generous serving of side dishes, and they all taste great! Especially, the sticky sweetened lotus roots, gelatinous sesame seed slices and of course, kim chi!
 A slice of grilled peppercorn pork loin nicely tucked in between the fresh cabbage leaves, with some grilled onions and chilli paste. Waiting to be stuffed into my mouth. YUMS!

 Very delicious. Half fatty half lean. Suited for a crowd mixed with fatty meat and lean meat lovers. You can slice off the fatty bits and eat the lean ones. Win-win! RM 27.


 Beef bulgogi was.. excellent. The broth was clear, yet so sweet. From the long hours of brewing the beefy meat in it. I was already full, but my hands were not listening to my mind. They just kept going back for more spoonfuls! RM 20.



One of my used to be favourite Korean restaurants was the Korean BBQ Restaurant, next to the New SEA chinese restaurant in Desa Sri Hartamas itself. It's no longer there now. Several other pretty good korean restaurants sometimes can't sustain their business for long. Now having found another really awesome Korean restaurant, I sure hope they can really sustain their business and here I am.. promoting on their behalf hoping that more patrons will come over to support them!

This place is famous for their home mixed Macguli.. very, delicious and fresh. Only RM 20. A great place for a group of friends, drinking and eating. They open from 11.30 am till 5 am in the morning. Imagine the hard work these fellas, 4 chefs! I sure hope they will be here for a long, long time.

After a flavourful, spicy meal you can request for a free cuppa Segafredo coffee. Ain't that nice? Wash down the palate with a great bitter fragrant sip of coffee.

Dogma visits this place few times every week, bringing customers and friends. He is already recognized as a VIP there. Acting like a TaiKoh there now. Phew. But hey, tummie growlers will not keep coming back if this place does not have what it takes to fullfill our tummies!


Kaya kok@aulong, taiping

Ive blogged about this before and i guess ill never get tired of it.

Hidden in the old township area of Aulong, this lady and her family is busy baking all her golden kaya goodies.

I dont know the address but if im in the car with you, ill direct u there.

I may be biased, as many raved the greatness of Ipoh's mini kaya koks but i think my hometown's version is so much better, especially freshly baked!

The warmth, crunchiness and buttery smell.. With creamy semi solidified kaya.

Best of all. Rm0.70 a piece. Steal deal!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Lousy korean dinner@Ummason, Desa Sri Hartamas

I am a fan of korean food. Flavourful, spicy and most all of.. Generous serving of vegs and meat!

Good thing there are plenty of pretty good korean restaurants in sri hartamas. Some very good, some average.. But the many that i've tried did leave a fairly good impression on me, except..... UMMASON!

It is situated on the 1st floor, along the row of shophouses with 7E and bestari mamak.

First impression, the decor of the restaurant was a bit run down. Next, no one seems to be there.

A foreign worker waiter came looking sloppy, with a not-bothered attitude. Taking our order seemed like such a pain for him.

Then ... No one served us side dishes at all unlike the others who immediately serve them to you. Until we had to get the lady owner to serve us.. And she was busy face-booking . ....Zzzzz! Worst of all, the side dishes were so cold i was quite sure it just came out from the fridge.

The spicy pork and cuttlefish was quite delicious, but for 45bucks... Abit of a rip off!

The fried chicken was sooooooo lousy. Rm17 for this. Even uncle KFC served better chicken than this.

We left restaurant feeling extremely unhappy. Those of you who love eating food will know that feeling when you get ripped off. Grrrrr

Please avoid this restaurant to avoid Grrrr-ing after your meal.

Hearty lunch@Haute Food n Co, Plaza Damas.

Haute food's one of the cafes i love. Small, cozy, homely, best of all.. Good food and cakes! A little pricey for normal eat-outs.

I ordered a smoked chicken ham, cheese and sun dried tomatoes sandwich. Really delicious and buttery. So filling, half a slice was enough to make you full. Freshly chopped vegs as side dish. Rm 11.90

The must try here is the scones which i so often rave highly on this blog and also to friends. Rm7 for two scones.

Another must try, the sticky date pudding. Heavenly oh heavenly. The taste of dates is not too much to overpower the palate. Just nice to make it bittersweet with a little sticky squishy texture making the cake moist.

To make it even a bigger kaboom, a sweet ball of vanilla ice cream on the side with really hot, melted caramel sauce drizzled on the cake.

Can you picture it? Cold ice cream, hot caramel sauce and a moist chunk of stickydate pudding. Rm11.

Orgasmic!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Journey back home@KLM Airways

 All great things must come to an end. Time to fly back to BOLEH-land. This was the food served on our connecting flight  from Rome to Amsterdam. Stewed chicken with grilled mushrooms. Food was.. So so. As expected.
So sweet of them to give us toiletries kit based on gender. Females get a nice ribbon kit. A glass of champagne for myself. I got a re-fill not long after, but the clumsy stewardness spilled it on my seat. Now my ass gets to drink champagne as well.


This was about one of the best NZ marlborough SB I've ever drank. I am a big fan of NZ SB wines, and had been trying out numerous bottles. So far, those topped the lists are Hole in the Water, Goldwater. Now I found another one.. MapMaker.. I haven't seen it on any shelves in KL just yet. :/


Some wierd grilled fish with greenish vege paste. Weirddddddd. I didn't like this at all.

Breakfast was quite hearty. It was my final meal on the plane, and glad the food was good! Especially the grilled mushrooms and smoked salmon with cheese.

Goodbye Italy *sniffs*. Hello, Malaysia.

When will I get this chance again ? (shakes head)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Senechaux 2005 CDP

Dark red fruits. Some blood and garrigue on the palate.
Pretty value for money.
Bought for 50sgd 5 years ago

Monday, December 5, 2011

Breakfast at the hotel before a stroll at Florence's wet market and leather market

 I do wish that I get to have breakfast like this everyday. I love granola cereal and yoghurt, and the combination of both together is awesome! Coffee was bad though. I quietly stole a few more chocolate spread, which serve as my breakfast spread on some lazy mornings now, back at home.

 The moment I stepped into the main entrance of the market, this was the view. Wine, and ham, and salami, and pasta, and the list goes on. The rush of excitement immediately gushed in. I am guilty of not being like a real girl. Girls get the adrenaline rush when they walk into the shoppers' street with all kinds of luxury goods. I get excited over the display of delicious food.

 At the yummy wummy ham hung on the top, while fresh blocks of different types of cheese were displayed in the cooling counter. I wanted to just buy everything from here and bring it back home in my 20 kg luggage bag. Sigh.

 If our wet markets looked as fresh and as good and as CLEAN as this, I wouldn't mind marketing everyday rather than buying from frozen food from the major hypermarts. Fresh meat can be obtained in those pasar pagi and wet markets, but not convenient for me in terms of location, timing and.. most importantly, cleanliness! The smelly water puddles on the ground and leftover unwanted perishables thrown all over the place deters me from buying groceries at the wet market. The view of a pasar pagi when food stallers are wrapping up is always horrific. Rubbish everywhere, smelly. 

Locals just popped by this bakery and have a cuppa coffee standing by the counter while having a sweet or savoury pastry from the display below. In a 10 degree weather. This is life man!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Macguli Korean@Hartamas

This gotta be the best Korean restaurant in KL so far. Situated opposite KFC hartamas, this little restaurant will win hands down any of the 20plus korean restaurant I had tried so far in KL.

Specializing in korean rice wine ( macguli), korean pancakes and others, this restaurant is helmed by 4 young chef from korea.

The food is good, with lots of extra freebies thrown in everytime we visit...
U better come try now....

I am here abt 5 times a week, and it opens till 5am daily. Perfect for a after drink supper.

Attached Is stirred fried pork + free soy soup.
Cost; rm30

Do try the macguli or lemon soju here!!

Hokkien dish

I went for a lunch at the most unlikely place, a 5 table "restaurant" sandwiched between car wash shop and a massage parlour, all within a run down wet market of kepong.

I'm not sure the name of the restaurant but it must have been there for ages.

It served authentic hokkien dish, with different parts of braised pork, skin. Knuckle, home made "white noodle", ginger clam soup and rough roast pork.

Interesting but only for those who wouldn't mind chewy porky fats

Friday, December 2, 2011

Guibbe Rosse@Piazza Della Republica, Florence

 Florence is a beautiful place. Love the scenery, the people, the ambience, the atmosphere. It was a slightly gloomy day in Florence, little drizzles and showers throughout making walking around slightly difficult. As it was our final night in Italy, we decided to splurge on a good meal. When we found some free wifi, we did a quicksearch and it seemed that this was a good place for a good meal.

 Home brewed beer. EURO 4. Very, good, fizzy, floral, yeasty beer. One of the better beers I drank in Italy. BUT.....

 Check out the size. This was their 1/2 pint. SO TINY. Unlike the other EURO 3/4 worth pint beers i drank which was at least 330 c. Pricey, phew. Lucky it was good.

 The only thing I dislike about the appetizer bread served in Italy. Besides charging you for the bread (unlike in Msia, all bread free flow) about EURO 2, they are usually cold and hard, and no olive oil and balsamic vinegar is served unless asked. With such hardened and cold bread, its unlikely to swallow it down without any dipping sauce. The only place which we had lightly toasted appetizer bread was in Siena, and boy we were so happy!

 This pizza.... WOO LALA. Was oh so good. Extremely authentic, and the salami i must say, very flavourful and spicy. They were very generous with the cheese toppings. Every slice we pulled out, had the 'Pizza Hut commercial" stringy cheese effect (when you order a real pizza from PH, chances are you will not get that stringy effect). Thin crunchy crusted. Yums. EURO 9.

 My colleague, a "Fan Thung" (Rice Barrel, literal translation) has to eat rice at least once a day. He ate a risotto meal almost everyday. Needless to say, this dinner is not excluded from his rice obsession. It was soooooo creamy. Only guys can eat those, ladies will flee when they see this. Carbs, and fats. EURO 9.

We could not finish the pizza. Ala Msian style, TAPAO! Was pleasantly surprised how pretty the take-away box was. It became our lunch food on the train next day, heading back to Rome.